Agenda and minutes

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Venue: Cabinet Room 'B' - The Diamond Jubilee Room, County Hall, Preston

Contact: Samantha Parker  Email: Tel: 01772 538221  sam.parker@lancashire.gov.uk

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Items
No. Item

The Chair welcomed a new member to the Internal Scrutiny Committee, County Councillor Matthew Salter.

1.

Apologies

Minutes:

There were no apologies.

2.

Appointment of Chair

Members to note the appointment of a new Chair of the Internal Scrutiny Committee

Minutes:

The Committee noted the appointment of County Councillor David O'Toole as chair of the Internal Scrutiny Committee in place of County Councillor John Shedwick as agreed under the use of the Urgent Business Procedure on 9 January 2018 to ensure implementation in time for the next round of scrutiny meetings.

3.

Disclosure of Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests

Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

Minutes:

County Councillor Erica Lewis disclosed a non-pecuniary interest for Item 5 – Scrutiny of Budget Proposals for 2018/19, in that she worked for Edge Hill University which was one of the Learning and Development providers for LCC.

4.

Minutes of the Meeting held on 17 November 2017 pdf icon PDF 71 KB

Minutes:

Resolved: That the minutes from the meeting held on 17 November 2017 be confirmed as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

5.

Scrutiny of Budget Proposals for 2018/19 pdf icon PDF 97 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 The Chair welcomed the following speakers to the Internal Scrutiny Committee meeting:

 

·  Neil Kissock, Director of Finance

·  Peter Buckley, Cabinet Member for Community and Cultural Services

·  Sarah Jenkins, Head of Service – Customer Access Service

·  Michael Green, Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Environment and Planning

·  Keith Iddon, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport

·  Phil Durnell, Head of Service Highways

·  Oliver Starkey, Head of Service Public and Integrated Transport

 

The report presented set out all the savings proposals as agreed by the Cabinet at its meetings between 14 September and 7 December 2017 inclusive that were relative to the Internal Scrutiny Committee's terms of reference for consideration. It was a revised process as agreed by the Chairs and Deputy Chairs of all relevant Scrutiny Committees for the scrutiny of Cabinet's budget proposals following the disestablishment of the Executive Scrutiny Committee and its Budget Scrutiny Working Group.

 

From discussions on the savings proposals outlined in Appendix 'A' of the report, the following items for future scrutiny review during 2018/19 were identified:

 

·  How vacancies were being addressed and the costs around the use of agency and consultancy staff.

·  Further information regarding Highways Asset Management and how reductions relating to revenue would have no impact on service delivery.

·  Further information on waste arisings in relation to the impact on resources within the service for delivery of this option.

·  The potential impact of the withdrawal of funding to and cessation of Member Grants, the Central Gateway Fund and the Local Initiative Fund.

·  The potential opportunity for more savings in Residual Waste which could reduce the impact to some services and areas of concern for residents.

·  Update on the impact from the changes outlined for the Customer Access Service.

·  The Conservation and Collection Team (for consultation) and whether the savings identified would continue to maintain the current team, potentially increase its activity and work more effectively and commercially.

·  Defect pothole repairs and the financial viability of the proposal.

·  Street lighting maintenance (for consultation) and the potential impact on the service performance levels.

·  Further detail on the Community Transport consultation and the potential additional costs that could be incurred as a result of the outlined saving proposal.

 

In addition it was agreed that early intervention and prevention in relation to the budget savings proposals be included in the work plan.

 

Members requested that those matters identified which were agreed for consultation only, the outcomes from the consultations be reported back to the committee.

 

The following matters were discussed and identified for potential review through the External Scrutiny Committee:

·  Customer Access operating hours – out of hour's access for LCC services and the Emergency Duty Team Service.

·  The removal of LCC funding for Police Community Support Officers.

·  Drainage Maintenance and the capitalisation of drainage repairs expenditure.

 

Resolved: That;

  1. Matters from the relevant Cabinet Members' budget proposals for 2018/19 to form the basis for scrutiny review during 2018/19 be determined.
  2. All matters determined by members be compiled from the minutes of the meeting and form part of the work  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Work Plan and Task Group Update 2017/18 pdf icon PDF 83 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The work plan for the Internal Scrutiny Committee for the 2017/18 year was presented. The topics included were identified at the work planning workshop held on 23 June 2017.

 

Regarding the Local Authority Funding and Income Generation Task Group, the Committee was informed that the various areas of work being undertaken would be compiled in a draft report for the March meeting of the Internal Scrutiny Committee for consideration and approval.

 

Resolved:  That the work plan be noted.

 

7.

Urgent Business

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency. Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Member's intention to raise a matter under this heading.

Minutes:

There were no items of Urgent Business

8.

Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Internal Scrutiny Committee will be held on Friday 16 March at 10:00am in Cabinet Room B, County Hall, Preston.

Minutes:

The next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee would take place on Friday 16 March 2018 at 10.00am in Cabinet Room B (The Diamond Jubilee Room) at the County Hall, Preston.