To receive apologies for absence and any substitutes that may be notified.

Apologies were received from Councillors Nicholas Bardsley, Pauline Dee and John Hurst-Knight.

Councillor Peter Cherrington attended as substitute for Councillor Pauline Dee.

Members are reminded that they must not participate in the discussion or voting on any matter in which they have a Discloseable Pecuniary Interest and should leave the room prior to the commencement of the debate.

There were none disclosed.

To consider the minutes of the Enterprise and Growth Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 9^th October 2014.

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 9^th October 2014 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any questions, statements and petitions of which members of the public have given notice.  Deadline for notification is 5.00pm on Monday 3^rd November 2014.

There were no Public Questions.

To receive any questions, statements and petitions of which Members of Council have given notice.  Deadline for notification is 5.00pm on Monday 3^rd November 2014.

There were no questions from Members.

Frances Darling, Senior Commissioner, will provide an overview of the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing work and answer questions to help inform the Committee’s future work programme.

The Senior Commissioner for Public Protection, spoke on the system of licensing Private Hire Vehicles and Hackney Carriages. 

She explained that this was a significant part of the wider licensing regime delivered by the Council.

It was emphasised that the licensing process is underpinned by the Council’s Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy, although there was no specific legal requirement to have a Licensing Policy, in practice it was impossible to make fair and consistent decisions without one.  Whilst being aware of the need to support the trade the overriding aim of the Licensing Policy was Public Protection and in particular, the Council’s responsibility to ensure that children and vulnerable adults were protected in line with its safeguarding responsibilities.

She stated that the Policy was being reviewed and consultation had been undertaken.  If approved the new policy would come into force at the beginning of April 2015.  The scope and purpose of the proposed policy was presented to Members.  The Senior Commissioner informed Members that there remained an opportunity to influence the scope and purpose of the policy if they wished to do so.

The Members of the Strategic Licensing Committee had responsibility for giving strategic direction on licensing issues and the Licensing and Safety Sub-Committee and officers dealt with applications.  Due to a high number of applications in 2010/2011, the Strategic Licensing Committee had agreed to the creation of a panel with delegated powers given to the Licensing Manager. More complex cases were referred to the Licensing and Safety Sub-Committee.

The Senior Commissioner for Public Protection queried whether this situation should continue or whether all applications should be considered by the Licensing Sub-committee.  

Members asked for information regarding the level of information provided by the Police.  The Senior Commissioner for Public Protection explained that the Police fully supported the revised Licensing Policy.  Licensing Officers utilised all intelligence available to them on an individual, even where this would not satisfy the criteria of beyond reasonable doubt burden of proof.  The revised policy had been reworded to allow for any intelligence suggesting that the applicant was not a fit and proper person to lead to a license refusal. 

In response to a Member’s question regarding spot checks, the Senior Commissioner for Public Protection explained that the authority had the power to carry out routine assessments of vehicles and also worked with the VOSA, social security officers and police to carry out unannounced vehicle and driver checks.  These were generally undertaken on a quarterly basis and were often based on intelligence received.

A Member asked for details of how the policy ensured that drivers coming into the County from other areas had sufficient knowledge of the area they were working in and adequate language skills for communication with passengers.  The Team Manager for Operations Community Safety explained that all applicants were required to undertake a knowledge test which was written in English and interpreters were not allowed to be present during the examination.  The revised policy supported the continuation of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

Members will consider the progress in delivering the Council’s Financial Strategy [and therefore the Business Plan] and help inform the refresh and any refocus for 2015/16 onwards.

The Committee will work with the Financial Strategy and the Business Plan as 3 year rolling documents. Members will be given the opportunity to undertake proactive scrutiny by feeding back and sharing issues and thoughts on the areas that may require updating or refocusing in the coming year’s refresh of the Business Plan [as the delivery part of the Financial Strategy] to achieve the required savings.

The following documents are included:

a) Performance report and dashboards relevant to the Committee’s specific remit

b) Quarter 1 performance report and dashboards [from 15 October 2014 Cabinet meeting]

c) Business Plan and Financial Strategy document [from 27 February 2014 Council meeting]

d) Financial Strategy [from 30 July 2014 Cabinet]

The Director of Commissioning stated that the Council was undergoing a period of unprecedented change and had already made significant financial savings and was working to a Business Plan to further reduce spending. 

Referring to the reports despatched with the agenda, the Director of Commissioning stated that the Council was in Year 1 of the current cycle and £40m of savings had been identified.  Some of which had been achieved, some were proving more difficult and Officers were having to look to other areas.  He continued that some of the savings were taking longer to achieve than anticipated and there had to be some flexibility in the Business Plan.

The Commissioning Director identified the areas of interest to the Committee as business growth, public protection, transport and housing.

He continued to outline that the predicted savings for year 1 were in the region of £2.45m, and had been identified as attainable and agreed by Finance as such.  In year 2, it was anticipated that £800,060 would be saved and £1.7m for year 3.  Using the RAG system, savings for Year 2 were categorised as green and amber, but savings for Year 3 were amber and red.  This pattern mirrored what was happening across the Council.

The Commissioning Director continued that the service areas of the Council under the remit of the Committee were undergoing re-design.  It was noted that Members were aware of and involved in the Economic Re-design work, a business plan had been approved by Cabinet to combine Public Protection and business management into a new unit called RABBS which would be transferring to ip&e in April 2015.  The Portfolio Holder for Transport added that transport services were feeding into a wider transport review with a specific area of public transport and the achievement of efficiency savings.  The Commissioning Director continued that CCTV provision had been transferred from Customer Services to Public Health as it was recognised as a community safety issue.

It was noted that within the Housing section £500,000 would be saved in year 1, but savings in the next two years would be more challenging to find and depended on the co-operation of partner organisations.

A Member commented that the committee had received a presentation on the Tourism Economy at a previous meeting and no reference had been made to the £300,000 cuts in funding to be made. The Commissioning Director explained that some of the savings would be made through efficiency savings, others would be achieved through the increased use of commissioning, with other bodies taking on services previously provided by the Council.  The Commissioning Director replied that he was confident that savings could be made without diminishing services.

A Member observed that this report covered a huge area of Council work, which made it difficult to focus on particular items.  She asked the Commissioning Director to comment on outcomes and satisfaction for the people of the County.  She gave the example of Much Wenlock museum where much of the responsibility for its  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

To consider the proposals for the future work programme.  Draft work programme and Cabinet Forward Plan are attached for consideration.

RESOLVED:

That the Future Work Plan be noted and consideration be given to adding Business Rates as a future work area for the Committee.

Thursday 4 December 2014 at 10.00am

Thursday 29 January 2015 at 10am

Thursday 2 April 2015 at 10am

RESOLVED:

That the Committee next meets at 10.00am on Thursday 4^th December 2014.