Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee

223.1         The Chair invited the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to present his report.

223.2         Councillor McCraw referred to agenda Item 8 on page 33 to 64 and said he was pleased to present the Annual Report, as Chair of the Babergh Overview and Scrutiny Committee, he continued:

That the 2020/21 Work Plan was made up of a varied range of topics to scrutinise but that the work was disrupted, first by the General Election and, then by the Covid - 19 pandemic.  From mid- March all meetings were cancelled until suitable arrangements for virtual meetings could be made.

Most of the meetings held during the year had been joint meetings with Mid Suffolk Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  Keith Welham, Chair of Mid Suffolk Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Councillor McCraw had alternated chairing these meetings.

The agendas had included pre-scrutiny of items prior to Cabinet or Council decisions, scrutiny of topics selected by the Committee or requested by Council, presentations of important matters by senior officers and witnesses from outside the two authorities, and Information Bulletins requested by the Committee. 

The Joint Committee set up a Task and Finish Group to work with Members and Officers from other Suffolk authorities to scrutinise the work of Citizens Advice and provide recommendations to the Scrutiny Committees of the authorities taking part.  This work was particularly helpful in providing a better understanding of the breadth of work covered by Citizens Advice, as well as the pressures they are under and how they are funded.

Due to its direct relevance to business on the agenda today, he drew attention to the June 2020 meeting, which examined the performance of CIFCO in 2019/20 and the business plan for 2020/21. This received heavy interest and a very large number of questions for witnesses from non-committee members. Questions and concerns were answered, and members would find many of them further addressed within the reports from CIFCO, they are considering today. In the final analysis, the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee endorsed these reports, as they had done in the previous two years, the entire lifetime of CIFCO.

Throughout the year the Committee had acted as a critical friend to officers and Cabinet by working with them to investigate improvements to service delivery.  The Committee had also continued to add value to the Council’s decision-making process.

He thanked Henriette Holloway, Senior Governance Support Officer – Committee Services, and Jan Robinson, Corporate Manager – Governance and Civic Office, for their input and support throughout the year, also Councillor Adrian Osborne & his predecessor Sue Ayers, who have been the Committee Vice-Chairs during the year.  He was grateful to members of the Committee for their commitment, and to officers for providing clear and concise responses to requests for information.  He thanked Keith Welham, Chair of Mid Suffolk Overview and Scrutiny, his Vice-Chair Keith Scarff and members of that Committee for working collaboratively with the Babergh Committee. 

Councillor McCraw was proud to have produced a draft work plan for 2020/21, which was included in the Annual Report.  However,  he was  confident that monthly meetings from now through to April 2021 would enable scrutiny of topics delayed from Spring 2020 to be completed; other issues would be incorporated into the Work Plan and this would be presented to Council in September.

223.3         Councillor McCraw MOVED recommendation 3.1 in the report which was SECONDED by Councillor Ayres.

223.4         Councillor Ward, the Leader, thanked, on behalf of the Cabinet, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the thorough work, which had made a valuable contribution to administration of the Council.

It was RESOLVED:-

That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Annual Report for 2019/2020 be noted.