Shropshire Council website

This is the website of Shropshire Council

Contact information

E-mail

customer.service@shropshire.gov.uk

Telephone

0345 678 9000

Postal Address

Shropshire Council
Shirehall
Abbey Foregate
Shrewsbury
Shropshire
SY2 6ND

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Shirehall, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, SY2 6ND. View directions

Contact: Julie FIldes  Committee Officer

Items
No. Item

12.

Apologies for Absence and Substitutions

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillor D Tremellen.

13.

Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

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.

 

Minutes:

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

14.

Minutes of the meeting held on 5th July 2017

To consider the Minutes of the Performance Management Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 5th July 2017.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The last paragraph of item - 10 ‘Financial Outturn 2016/17 Revised’ was amended to read:  He continued that as Portfolio Holder he would be examining how the council worked to deliver services and would be considering whether the commissioning model the Council currently uses needs modification (to replace the text ‘whether the commissioning model still suited the Council’s requirements).  With this amendment, the minutes were confirmed as a correct record.

15.

Public Question Time

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 Monday 17th July 2017.

Minutes:

There were no questions from members of the public.

16.

Member Question Time

To receive any questions of which members of the Council have given notice. 

 

Deadline for notification for this meeting is Monday 17th July 2017.

Minutes:

There were no questions from members.

17.

Introduction to Scrutiny, Overview of Key Functional Areas and Key Development Areas Over the Next Two Years

Minutes:

The Statutory Scrutiny Officer gave a presentation on the role and principles of Overview and Scrutiny at Shropshire Council (a copy is attached to the signed minutes) and drew attention to key functional areas and key development areas for the Committee over the next two years.

 

Members discussed the mechanisms for adding items to overview and scrutiny work programmes and it was confirmed that the Performance Management Scrutiny Committee was the co-ordinating Committee for Overview and Scrutiny and that it would develop a strategic work programme and recommend to other Committees items for their work programmes.  Individual Committees would still be able to frame their own agendas. 

 

A Member emphasised the need for the Constitution to be amended to reflect the new names and remits of the overview and scrutiny committees and it was confirmed that this was underway as part of a wider review of the constitution.

 

Members also discussed and asked questions regarding:

 

the Performance Management Scrutiny Committee’s role in assessing and evaluating the effectiveness of overview and scrutiny;  whether the PMSC should take the role in the overview of the Corporate Strategy if its focus was to be scrutiny rather than overview;  urgent Cabinet items and the lack of opportunity for overview and scrutiny to consider recent proposals for Shrewsbury Town Centre;  whether PMSC would be the appropriate Committee to scrutinise town centre proposals once due diligence had been completed; the role of Overview and Scrutiny and the role of PMSC in particular in the development of the Council’s Financial Strategy

 

The Statutory Scrutiny Officer reported that he was developing criteria to establish what Overview and Scrutiny success looked like.  It was confirmed that there would also be a follow up to the Scrutiny Peer Review and the CFPS self assessment evaluation tool would help make an assessment of overview and scrutiny effectiveness.  

 

In relation to the town centre proposals, in some cases Cabinet decisions had to be made urgently and did not have the forward plan insight as other decisions.  A series of briefings had now been set up for Members in relation to the town centre proposals.

 

It was confirmed that the Cabinet was obliged to pay due regard to scrutiny recommendations, but it was up to them whether to take them up or not.  If a recommendation was not adopted, a response was required to explain why.

The Chief Executive confirmed that the Chair of a Committee in consultation with the Monitoring Officer made a decision as to whether a call-in was valid.

 

A Member reminded the Committee of the need to make a report back to Council on the Digital Transformation Programme, as requested at Council on 18 May 2017. 

18.

Update on Digital Transformation Programme

To receive a verbal update on the progress of the Digital Transformation Programme. 

Minutes:

The Committee had considered Digital Transformation at its recent meeting on 5 July 2017 and as it was a rolling programme had agreed to request an update at each meeting.    The Head of Human Resources circulated some information comparing the costs of interaction methods of members of the public with Shropshire Council (a copy is attached to the signed minutes).

                                                          

Members discussed the level of detail that they required from the programme.  Although they did not want officers to spend time writing reports specifically for scrutiny it was critical that they could assess whether the project was being managed properly or if there was any slippage in the implementation plan.   

 

Members asked for reassurance that the IT systems of Veolia and the new Highways contractor were compatible with those of the Council.  The Director of Place and Enterprise confirmed that there was confidence that these systems would plug into the Council’s CRM.

 

Members suggested that perhaps a short and punchy video be made to introduce assisted digital access, which could be put on the web and shown at schools, LJCs and at other meetings and events. 

19.

Date/Time of next meeting of the Committee

The Committee is scheduled to next meet at 2pm on Wednesday 13th September 2017.

Minutes:

It was agreed to change the next meeting date to Thursday 21 September at 12 noon, or on the rising of Council.  It was also agreed that a meeting of Scrutiny Chairs and Group Leaders be set up for Wednesday 13 September at 2pm.

 

Print this page

Back to top