Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils
Democratic Services

Mobile menu icon

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting

Media

Items
No. Item

24.

DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

Minutes:

24.1           Councillor Muller declared a local non-pecuniary interest in his capacity as a Member of the Board of Trustee for Mid Suffolk Local Citizens Advice.

 

25.

JOS/20/11 TO CONFIRM THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON THE 23 NOVEMBER 2020 pdf icon PDF 312 KB

Minutes:

It was RESOLVED: -

 

The Minutes of the meeting held on the 23 November 2020 be confirmed as a true record and signed at the next practicable opportunity.

 

Recorded Vote
TitleTypeRecorded Vote textResult
That the minutes of the meeting held on 23 November 2020 be confirmed as a true record and be signed at the next practicable opportunity. Ad-Hoc Carried
  • View Recorded Vote for this item
  • 26.

    TO CONFIRM THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON THE 14 DECEMBER 2020

    The minutes of this meeting are deferred to next Joint Overview and Committee Meeting in March.

    Minutes:

    26.1           The minutes from the meeting held on the 14 December 2020 was deferred to the next Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting in March 2021.

     

    27.

    BOS/20/5 TO CONFIRM THE BABERGH MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON THE 18 JANUARY 2021 pdf icon PDF 268 KB

    Babergh Members are asked to approve the Minutes of the Babergh Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on the 18 January 2021.

    Minutes:

    It was RESOLVED: -

     

    The Babergh Minutes of the meeting held on the 18 January 2021 be confirmed as a true record and signed at the next practicable opportunity.

     

    Recorded Vote
    TitleTypeRecorded Vote textResult
    That the minutes of the Babergh Overview and Scrutiny meeting held on 18 January 2021 be confirmed as a true record and be signed at the next practicable opportunity. Ad-Hoc Carried
  • View Recorded Vote for this item
  • 28.

    MOS/20/5 TO CONFIRM THE MID SUFFOLK MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON THE 14 JANUARY 2021 pdf icon PDF 225 KB

    Mid Suffolk Members are asked to approve the Minutes of the Mid Suffolk Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on the 14 January 2021.

     

    Minutes:

    It was RESOLVED: -

     

    The Mid Suffolk Minutes of the meeting held on the 14 January 2021 be confirmed as a true record and signed at the next practicable opportunity.

     

    Recorded Vote
    TitleTypeRecorded Vote textResult
    That the minutes of the Mid Suffolk Overview and Scrutiny meeting held on 14 January 2021 be confirmed as a true record and be signed at the next practicable opportunity. Ad-Hoc Carried
  • View Recorded Vote for this item
  • 29.

    TO RECEIVE NOTIFICATION OF PETITIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE COUNCIL'S PETITION SCHEME

    Minutes:

    There were no petitions received.

     

    30.

    QUESTIONS BY THE PUBLIC

    To consider questions from and provide answers to members of the public on any matter in relation to which the Committee has powers or duties and of which due notice has been given in accordance with the Committee and Sub-Committee Procedures Rules.

    Minutes:

    There were no questions received from the public.

     

    31.

    QUESTIONS BY COUNCILLORS

    To consider questions from and provide answers to Councillors on any matter in relation to which the Committee has powers or duties and of which due notice has been given in accordance with the Committee and Sub-Committee Procedure Rules.

    Minutes:

    There were no questions received from Councillors.

     

    32.

    JOS/20/12 REVIEW OF LOCAL CITIZENS ADVICE pdf icon PDF 234 KB

    Babergh Cabinet Member – Communities

    Mid Suffolk Cabinet Member - Communities

     

    Corporate Manager – Communities

     

    Members are asked to review the Local Citizens Advice.

    Minutes:

    32.1           The Chair invited the Corporate Manager for Communities, Vicky Mosley, to introduce Paper JOS/20/12.

     

    32.2            The Corporate Manager provided a brief introduction including that Cabinets had approved funding for Local Citizens Advice (LCA) on a Three-year rolling funding basis and that the Chief Officers from Local Citizens Advice would be providing a presentation during the meeting.

     

    32.3            Councillor Muller asked that as the Diss, Thetford and District Citizens Advice no longer provided a service to Mid Suffolk residents living to the north of the District and would no longer received any funding from Mid Suffolk District Council what would happen to this funding.

     

    32.4            The Corporate Manager – Communities responded that the Council would have to have a conversation around this issue with Mid Suffolk LCA for how to provide a LCA service to residents living north in the District.

     

    32.5            Councillor Ekpenyong referred to page 53 section 5 and 6 and that the LCA had to apply each year for funding despite the funding being provided on a 3 Year rolling basis, he thought this was a heavy burden for the LCAs to have to undertake each year.

     

    32.6            The Corporate Manager – Communities responded that this was a way to apply checks and balances, but that officers and the LCAs were working together to reduce administration. The three-year rolling funding meant that the LCA had a continued funding for the next three years and that each year they applied ensured funding for three years’ time. 

     

    32.7            Councillor McCraw believed that this it was a statutory requirement for organisations to apply for grants funding on an annual basis.

     

    32.8            The Assistant Director – Planning for Growth, added that if the rolling grant was not applied to every year, it would be a three-year grant.

     

    32.9            The Babergh Cabinet Member for Communities, Councillor Davis, advised Members that this had been discussed at lengths at Cabinet and it had been agreed that the three-year rolling process had an annual process to ensure the best solution.

     

    32.10         Councillor Welham referred to the high risk included in the report and ask if the Council would be able to provide further funding if other funders withdrew their support of if Covid-19 pandemic continued for much longer.

     

    32.11         The Corporate Manager – Communities responded if that should  be the case then the Council would do everything to support the LCAs, taking the Council’s budget constraints into account.

     

    32.12         The Chair introduce the Chief Officers from the LCAs and invited them to present their presentation:

     

    Nicky Willshere, Chief Officer – Citizens Advice Ipswich

    Simon Clifton, Chief Officer – Mid Suffolk Citizens Advice

    Colleen Sweeney, Chief Officer – Sudbury and District Citizens Advice

     

    32.13         The Chair invited questions from Members after the presentation.

     

    32.14         Councillor Scarff enquired if Mid Suffolk LCA had picked up work from Diss, Thetford and District LCA, to which the Chief Officer – Mid Suffolk LCA responded that previously Diss LCA had provided an out- reach service but due to Covid-19 and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

    Recorded Vote
    TitleTypeRecorded Vote textResult
    To vote on the Recommendations as read out by the Governance Officer Ad-Hoc

     

    1.1            That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee is satisfied and notes the content of the Report and commend the work as of the Mid Suffolk Local Citizens Advice, Ipswich Citizens Advice and Sudbury and District Local Citizens Advice

     

    1.2            That the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee confirm the previous resolution made at the last review that the three-year rolling funding arrangements review be subject to indexation on an annual review basis, finances permitting, as a measure of importance we attach to ongoing LCA funding.

     

    Carried
  • View Recorded Vote for this item
  • 33.

    PRESENTATION LOCAL CITIZENS ADVICE

    Chief Officers from the Local Citizens Advice will provide a presentation to Members.

     

    The Local Citizens Advice present are:

     

    Citizens Advice Diss, Thetford and District

    Citizens Advice Ipswich

    Citizens Advice Mid Suffolk

    Sudbury and District Citizens Advice

    Minutes:

    The minutes for this item are detailed in Item 10.

     

    34.

    JOS/20/13 INFORMATION BULLETIN pdf icon PDF 493 KB

    The Information Bulletin is a document that is made available to the public with the published agenda papers.  It can include update information requested by the Committee as well as information that a service considers should be made known to the Committee.

     

    This Information Bulletin contains updates on the following subjects:

     

    Responses to questions raised at Babergh Overview and Scrutiny Committee 18 January 2021

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    34.1           The Chair explained that the Information Bulletin and the tabled Information Bulletin were responses to questions raised at the Babergh Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting in January, but that the responses included information for both Councils.

     

    35.

    COMMUNITY GRANTS REVIEW UPDATE

     

    The Corporate Manager – Communities will provide a presentation updating Members on the Community Grants.

    Minutes:

    35.1           The Corporate Manager – Communities provided a presentation and updates on Community Grants and the work of the Grants Review Task and Finish Group.

     

    36.

    FORTHCOMING DECISIONS LIST

    To review the Council’s Forthcoming Decisions List and identify any items to be brought before the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

     

    Please note the most up to date version can be found via the Website:

     

    FORTHCOMING DECISIONS LIST

     

    Minutes:

    It was RESOLVED: -

     

    That the Forthcoming Decisions List be noted.

     

    37.

    JOS/20/14 BABERGH OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY WORK PLAN pdf icon PDF 487 KB

    To agree the Work Plan

    Minutes:

    It was RESOLVED: -

     

    That the Babergh Overview and Scrutiny Work Plan be noted.

     

     

    38.

    JOS/20/15 MID SUFFOLK OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY WORK PLAN pdf icon PDF 485 KB

    To agree the Work Plan

    Minutes:

    It was RESOLVED: -

     

    That the Mid Suffolk Overview and Scrutiny Work Plan be noted.