14 BC/21/5 OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE ANNUAL REPORT 2020/21 PDF 217 KB
Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee
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Minutes:
14.1 Councillor Alastair McCraw introduced the report which followed the same format as the last year.
14.2 Councillor McCraw thanked everybody that had worked with the Overview and Scrutiny Committee over the last four years as it was the first opportunity for Overview and Scrutiny Committee to operate under the Cabinet system. He hoped that a base had been established to provide a balance between the needs of Cabinet, Council and the communities. Members of the Committee had worked hard and had engaged with the Cabinet who had taken on Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommendations.
14.3 Councillor McCraw stated that being the Chairman had been a privilege. He felt that scrutiny was an essential and productive process and had been left in the capable hands of Councillor McLaren.
14.4 The Chair of the Council praised and thanked Councillor Alastair McCraw in his role as Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
14.5 Councillor Clive Arthey expressed gratitude to Councillor Alastair McCraw in his role as Chairman for Overview and Scrutiny and for his feedback of Overview and Scrutiny recommendations and actions to Cabinet and Council.
14.6 Councillor John Ward stated that Overview and Scrutiny has served a useful purpose to Cabinet especially on contentious issues and had highlighted areas that had made Cabinet rethink their stance.
It was RESOLVED:-
That Babergh Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Annual Report for 2020/21 be noted.
15 MC/21/5 MID SUFFOLK OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE ANNUAL REPORT 2020/21 PDF 217 KB
Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee
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Minutes:
15.1 Councillor Welham introduced the report and thanked the Committee and Councillors and officers who had taken part in the meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in what had been a very strange year.
15.2 Councillor Mansel asked Councillor Welham if he thought that the recommendations from Overview and Scrutiny Committee during the last year to Council, had been followed through in a timely and appropriate manner.
15.3 In response, Councillor Welham stated that the same question had cropped up in Committee recently and it was felt that there was very little feedback given and he was hoping to investigate ways to improve this.
15.4 The Chairman thanked Councillor Welham for his report which was for noting.
17 MC/20/5 OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE WORK PLAN 2020/21 PDF 217 KB
Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee
Additional documents:
Minutes:
17.1 Councillor Welham, Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee introduced Paper MC/20/5 The Overview and Scrutiny Committee Workplan 2020/21 and informed Members that the Committee worked with Babergh Overview and Scrutiny Committee and that most meetings were joint.
17.2 The Committee would not meet in October and would be undertaking a review of the Representations on Outside Bodies at the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee in November.
17.3 Councillor Otton asked if the Overview and Scrutiny Committee would consider the increasing number of people, who had applied for Universal Credit and Councillor Welham responded that he would raise the issue at the next Overview and Scrutiny Joint Chairs’ Briefing.
17.4 Councillor Whitehead enquired if the Overview and Scrutiny Committees intended to seek any feedback from Parish Councils when scrutinising Planning Enforcement.
It was RESOLVED:-
That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Work Plan for 2020/21 be noted.
16 BC/20/6 OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE WORK PLAN 2020/21 PDF 217 KB
Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee
Additional documents:
Minutes:
16.1 Councillor McCraw introduced report BC/20/6, which described the work plan for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the remainder of the municipal year.
16.2 Members were advised that the work of the Committee had been interrupted during the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic, however meetings had now resumed.
16.3 Members thanked Councillor McCraw and Councillor Osborne for their hard work on the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
16.4 Councillor Busby suggested that the Committee considered the effectiveness of joint meetings between Babergh District Council and Mid Suffolk District Council, in particular the Cabinet meetings, Cabinet Briefings and Joint Audit and Standards Committees.
16.5 In response Councillor McCraw observed that as many of the issues dealt with by both the Joint Audit and Standards Committee and the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committees were relevant to both Council’s, it was beneficial for both Councils to be working together and personally he had not felt that this posed any issues.
16.6 Councillor McCraw went on to comment that decisions regarding Cabinet meetings would be for Cabinet make.
16.7 Councillor Davis agreed that it would be worthwhile for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to look at the issue of joint meetings.
16.8 Councillor McCraw thanked the Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Members who have attended meetings, the Officers who support and attend meetings, and the Cabinet Members.
16.9 In response to a query from Councillor Hinton regarding annual monitoring reports from various departments, Councillor McCraw advised that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee do not have responsibility to scrutinise these reports.
16.10 The Assistant Director for Sustainable Communities advised Members that the Annual Monitoring Report for Planning had previously been published in September, however additional steps imposed in respect of public consultation this year had led to a delay in the publishing of the report. He went on to advise that the report would be published imminently.
It was RESOLVED:-
That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Work Plan for 2020/21 be noted.