Agenda and minutes

The Committee was advised of apologies for absence from Councillors Colin Cross and Liz Hogger and substitutes as detailed above.

In accordance with the local Code of Conduct, a councillor is required to disclose at the meeting any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (DPI) that they may have in respect of any matter for consideration on this agenda.  Any councillor with a DPI must not participate in any discussion or vote regarding that matter and they must withdraw from the meeting immediately before consideration of the matter.

If that DPI has not been registered, the councillor must notify the Monitoring Officer of the details of the DPI within 28 days of the date of the meeting.

Councillors are further invited to disclose any non-pecuniary interest which may be relevant to any matter on this agenda, in the interests of transparency, and to confirm that it will not affect their objectivity in relation to that matter.

There were no declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests.

The Chairman, Councillor Spooner, advised the Committee that, in accordance with Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 2 [specifically, that ‘no councillor may be involved in scrutinising a decision in which he or she has been directly involved (unless that involvement was only as a member of an EAB)’], he would withdraw from the meeting and hand over to the Vice-Chairman for item 5, Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report, 2018-19.  The Chairman indicated that his withdrawal was to avoid any appearance of conflict between his previous role on the Executive and his current role as a scrutineer and to maintain the integrity, transparency, and robustness of the system of checks and balances in relation to decision-making at the Council.

Similarly, Councillor Jackson indicated that as a former member of the Executive he would withdraw from the meeting for item 5, Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report, 2018-19.

To confirm the minutes of the Committee meeting held on 4 June 2019.

The minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 4 June 2019 were approved, subject to the attendance being amended to indicate Councillor Booth was present.

The Chairman welcomed the Community Safety Manager, Inspector Andy Hill from Surrey Police, Graham Mitchell from Surrey Fire and Rescue Service, Jo Caesar from Guildford Action, and the Managing Director (Chair of the Safer Guildford Partnership).  He advised the meeting of an apology for absence from the Deputy Leader of the Council and Lead Councillor for Safeguarding, Inclusion, Public Safety, Community Safety, Vulnerable Families.

With reference to the Safer Guildford Partnership (SGP) Annual Report 2019 submitted to the Committee, the Community Safety Manager highlighted both the progress achieved during the past year and the review of Surrey Fire and Rescue Services and its implications for Guildford and the Safer Guildford Partnership.

The Committee was advised that the membership of the Partnership had been expanded to include Surrey University, Experience Guildford, Surrey County Council Adult Services, and South West Surrey Domestic Abuse Outreach Services. 

The meeting was informed that the SGP strategic priorities were unchanged for 2019/20: 

·         Serious Organised Crime (including child exploitation and modern day slavery)

·         Domestic Abuse

·         Prevent – threat of radicalisation

·         To identify and tackle anti-social behaviour hotspot locations and perpetrators

·         To promote reassurance to our public to help make our communities stronger

In response to questions from the Committee, a number of points were made and clarifications offered:

·         The Community Safety Manager confirmed that the SGP commissioned Applied Resilience to deliver against all requirements  of the Prevent agenda, including the local strategy and a local training programm.  In reply to a question about whether the Prevent agenda might be counterproductive, the meeting was advised that referrals to the Channel programme were made by agreement and the consent of the person referred was required.  The Committee was informed that local referrals could be made to the Channel process.

·         The Committee was advised that Prevent training had been held for Council staff, Councillors, SGP members, and local businesses.  Local authorities had responsibility for the Prevent agenda, with overarching responsibility in the county held by Surrey County Council.

·         Inspector Hill indicated that police action and responses were dependent on a judgment of the threat, harm, and risk of an incident.  He advised the Committee that officers used the National Decision Model to help assess risk.

·         The SGP judged the effectiveness of its work not through numbers or performance indicators but by achieving community impacts and long-term change for individuals. 

·         In reply to a question about the number of health providers on the SGP, the Committee was advised that the NHS had limited resources and were represented on the SGP by the local Clinical Commissioning Group.  The Committee was advised that there remained gaps with mental health, and maybe emergency services, and this was to be explored further.

·         The Committee was informed that the SGP has a legal requirement to reduce re-offending.  The meeting was advised of the possible value of including social enterprises as part of a strategy to reduce re-offending.  Similarly, the addition of voluntary groups to the work of the SGP was suggested.

·         In addition to  ...  view the full minutes text for item OS9

In accordance with Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 2, the Chairman, Councillor Spooner, and Councillor Jackson both withdrew from the meeting.  The Vice-Chairman took the Chair for the item.

The Vice-Chairman introduced the item and indicated that the annual report outlined the work of overview and scrutiny (O&S) during the previous municipal year, its future work programme, recently issued statutory guidance on O&S, decisions taken in the previous year under the Constitution’s urgency provisions, and the use of call-in.  He drew attention to the possible development of a protocol for the management of disagreements between the executive and O&S.

A member of the Committee suggested the importance of re-establishing the Older People’s Services task group. 

Committee members discussed the value and format of consulting the public in the development of the O&S work programme.

A Committee member questioned the measurement of value for money and efficiency at the Council.  In response, the Managing Director referred to external audit, procurement benchmarking exercises, the Local Government Association Peer Review, and the scrutiny of major projects by O&S.

The Committee considered the decision to waive call-in in October 2018 over the submission of a Garden Village bid for Wisley Airfield.  Members discussed the value in asking the then Chair of the O&S Committee to attend and explain her decision to waive call-in, and the reasons why the Executive’s decision to bid for funding was not taken earlier.  The Vice-Chairman indicated that the matter might be scheduled for a subsequent O&S Committee meeting which the former chair of the Committee could attend.  [The Leader of the Council and former Chair of the O&S Committee had left the meeting prior to the commencement of this item].

The suggestion was put forward to increase the number of scheduled O&S Committee meetings.  In reply, the Committee was advised that there was provision within the Constitution for Councillors to call special meetings at any time.

RESOLVED:  (I) That the report submitted to the Committee be commended to Full Council as the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report, 2018-19;

(II) That the current rules relating to call in or urgency provisions remain unchanged; and

(III) That the policies, practices, and approaches identified within the statutory guidance on Overview and Scrutiny, attached as Appendix 2 to the report submitted to the Committee, be noted.

To consider the establishment of a working group to scrutinise the Council’s G-Live and Leisure Partnership Agreement contracts monitoring and report back to the Committee.  Since 2016, one group has undertaken this role, but there is the option for two separate groups.  The group’s membership for 2018-19 was Councillors Christiansen, Phillips, Sarti, and Searle.

[For information, the Council entered into a ten-year contract and lease to operate G Live with HQ Theatres Guildford Limited (HQT), ending on 30 September 2021.  The Council’s asset management responsibilities are for maintaining, repairing, and replacing the structural parts and the access road.  HQT are responsible for all other maintenance and replacement items for the building and equipment. 

The Council entered into a 10 year Leisure Partnership Agreement (LPA) with Greenwich Leisure Ltd (GLL) with effect from 1 November 2011, to deliver leisure services throughout the borough at Guildford Spectrum, Guildford Lido and Ash Manor Sports Centre.  GLL has sub-contracted elements of the service to Wealden Leisure Limited trading as Freedom Leisure.]

The Chairman confirmed that the Committee was being asked to consider the establishment of a working group to scrutinise the Council’s G-live and Leisure Partnership Agreement contracts monitoring and report back to the Committee.

The Lead Councillor for Leisure, Heritage, Tourism, and PR and Communications suggested that two working groups would be preferable to one.

RESOLVED:  That two working groups be established to scrutinise the Council’s G-Live and Leisure Partnership Agreement contracts monitoring and report back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The Committee considered an update on matters outstanding from previous meetings, including a response on emergency planning in the Borough.

With reference to Food Poverty – Report of the Overview and Scrutiny task and finish group [minute OS5, 4 June 2019, refers], the written update provided to the meeting indicated that details of Council employees not paid the real Living Wage were to follow.

RESOLVED:  That the updates on matters outstanding from previous meetings be noted.