Apologies for absence were received from Councillors P Adams, N Hartin and A Walpole.

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

None were declared.

To consider the Minutes of the Environment and Services Scrutiny Committee meetings held on 20 October and 10 November 2014.

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the meetings of the Environment and Services Scrutiny Committee held on 20 October 2014 and 10 November 2014 be approved as correct records and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any questions, statements or petitions from the public of which members of the public have given notice.  Deadline for notification for this meeting is Wednesday 3 December 2014.

There were no questions from members of the public.

To receive any questions of which members of the Council have given notice.  Deadline for notification for this meeting is Wednesday 3 December 2014.

There were no questions from Members.

The Director of Commissioning will provide an update on the future commissioning and provision of library services and community hubs. 

The CasCA Supervisor led the Committee on a tour of the building and provided information on the facilities available.

On return to the meeting room the Director of Commissioning drew Members’ attention to the savings target for Library Services of £1.3M over the three year period 2014/15 to 2016/2017.  Members noted that the first year savings had been achieved through a range of efficiency savings, improved operating arrangements as well as through voluntary redundancies.

The Director of Commissioning added that savings in the next two years would be delivered by transferring the operation of a number of libraries (not mobile libraries) to community organisations or Town or Parish Councils and/or by working in partnership with these organisations to manage provision differently.  The current provision amounted to 22 libraries and 4 mobile libraries.

The Library Service Manager continued and, with reference to presentation slides, explained that flexible delivery of the service was essential to future proof libraries.  [A copy of the presentation slides is included as part of the formal record of the meeting].  He added that local public consultation was being managed at a community level through ‘community conversations’ that gave local residents the opportunity to help shape the future direction of their local library and customer service points.  Members accepted that the status quo was no longer an option. 

The Library Service Manager explained that the expectation of ‘library’ was being broadened to service users; the baseline offer would aim to include customer service, library and registrar activities.  Future ‘community hubs’ would be broadened out as a commercial entity owned and run by the community for the community. Members noted that different offers would be made in different locations and it would not be a ‘one size fits all’.  The need for continued face to face contact was recognised and any reduction in staff would require the remaining staff to be provided with the necessary skill sets to work in a broader environment.  It was noted that staffing costs currently amounted to half of the service budget.

The Library Service Manager stated that he would hold a conversation outside of the meeting to answer a Member’s concerns relating to the Ludlow Library building but recognised that the issues related to staff IT issues, cold work environment caused by drafts from the door opening, lack of privacy and addressing damp problems with the fabric of the building.  Another Member requested that consideration be given to re-instating the facility to allow service users to make cash payments at the Market Drayton facility particularly as those making payments were often the least likely to have credit/debit cards of their own.

In answer to a Member’s concerns on the quality of the future library service offered, the Library Service Manager assured the Committee that a librarian would have oversight of each library in the county, the core collection of material was being maintained and the book request service was to continue.  He added that local communities were being given the opportunity to shape  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

The Committee is next scheduled to meet on Monday 2 February 2015 at 2.00pm.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee was scheduled to be held at 2.00pm on Monday 2 February 2015.