Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the April meeting of the Scrutiny Board (Resources and Council Services).

To identify items which have been admitted to the agenda by the Chair for consideration.

(The special circumstances shall be specified in the minutes.)

There were no late items.

To disclose or draw attention to any disclosable pecuniary interests for the purposes of Section 31 of the Localism Act 2011 and paragraphs 13-16 of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests declared to the meeting, however in relation to the item entitled, ‘Community Centre Charges’, Councillor Lowe drew the Board’s attention to her role in Touchstone and this organisations use of Council’s premises.  (Minute No 114 refers)

To receive any apologies for absence and notifications of substitutes.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor R Grahame.

Notification had been received for Councillor J Jarosz to substitute.

To confirm as a correct record, the minutes of the meetings held on 18^th and 22^nd March 2013.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meetings held on 18^th March and 22^nd March 2013 be confirmed as a correct record.

To receive and consider a report from the Director of Environment and Neighbourhoods providing information on current charging arrangements for the use of the Council Community Centre portfolio that is delegated to Area Committees and overseen on their behalf by the Environment and Neighbourhoods directorate.

The Director of Environment and Neighbourhoods submitted a report on current charging arrangements for the use of the Council Community Centre portfolio.  This also included a suggested list of guiding principles as a basis for improving future charging arrangements.

The following were in attendance:

-  Councillor Peter Gruen – Executive Member Neighbourhoods, Planning and Support Services

-  Debra Scott – Head of Performance and Service Review, Environment and Neighbourhoods

-  Trudie Canavan – Programme Management Officer, Environment and Neighbourhoods.

In brief summary, the main areas of discussion were:

·  The complicated and bureaucratic arrangements in place for the use of community centres.

·  The apparent lack of transparency in how charging subsidies were provided to some organisations.

·  The numerous charging rates and there complicated application.

·  The involvement of numerous Directorates in the process and the consequential lack of accountability and plethora of bureaucratic recharges.

·  The need for continued involvement of Area Committees in the process.

RESOLVED –

(i)  To agree the guiding principles outlined in the report in terms of providing a basis for future policy and procedures and as a means of bringing consistency and transparency to the charging arrangements.

(ii)  To request that officers come back to a future meeting of Scrutiny to report on progress made to address the identified failings in the current process.

To receive and consider a report from the Chief Officer (Human Resources) providing information about how the Council manages health and safety in the current legal and political context.

The Chief Officer (HR) presented to the Board a report setting out information as to how health and safety is managed within Leeds City Council.

The following officer was in attendance:

-  Chris Ingham – Head of Health and Safety.

In brief summary, the key areas of discussion were:

·  Roles and responsibilities

·  Roles of Elected Members

·  The role of staff training to reduce incidents of accidents and incidents particularly verbal and physical assaults

·  Sensible Health and Safety

·  How Leeds City Council manage Occupational Safety and Health

·  Priorities for the future

·  Performance.

Responding to a specific question it was agreed that additional training for Elected Members with regards to their roles and responsibilities should be developed by the Head of Health and Safety and Member Development.

RESOLVED –  

(i)  To endorse the priorities identified for 2013/14

(ii)  To request that the Head of Health and Safety and Member Development deliver an appropriate training session for Members.

To receive and consider a report from the Chief Officer (Human Resources) providing an update on the use and requirements for agency workers, overtime and consultants.

The Chief Officer (HR) submitted a report setting out progress on the  

cost of agency workers and overtime and also the position of  

consultants.

In brief summary, the main points of discussion were:

·  How staffing budgets were built up.

·  The budgeted FTE for 2013/14.

·  The triangulation of Overtime/Agency spend and FTEs to better understand costs and activity.

·  The level of enhanced overtime within the overtime bill.

·  The need for Scrutiny to address its questions direct to Directorates.

RESOLVED –

(i)  To note the additional information requested

(ii)  To revisit this issue in the new municipal year. 

To receive and consider a report from the Assistant Chief Executive (Customer Access and Performance) presenting a number of changes and updates to the Council Business Plan for scrutiny prior to approval through Executive Board and Full Council.

(Copy of Council Business Plan to follow)

The Assistant Chief Executive (Customer Access and Performance) submitted to the Board the draft Best Council Business Plan 2013-17.  The Scrutiny Board was asked to provide its views and feedback on the proposals.

The following were in attendance:

-  Councillor Keith Wakefield – Leader of Council

-  Tom Riordan – Chief Executive.

In brief summary, the main issues of discussion were;

·  Clarification about the audience for the plan.  It was agreed that this was primarily internal (both officers and Members) as it aims to provide a clear set of priorities for the council.  But as we are a public facing organisation with links to the City Priority Plan and the Best City outcomes then it also had an external audience.

·  The need to look at the language used to ensure it is clear and accessible.

·  The need for targets/success measures to be more measurable with some related discussion about the balance between what we want to achieve by the end of 2013/14 verses what we want to achieve by March 2017.

·  Members felt that they needed more detail on the accountability arrangements to enable them to better fulfil their role as a critical friend.

·  Discussion about changing culture, the difficulties of doing this and the ways in which the draft plan might do this.  This included discussion about all staff and managers needing to be more flexible and adaptable to changing needs; working better across the council and with partners; the need for the council to be more enterprising to find innovative solutions to the problems we face and that this is essential to achieving the savings over the next four years.  There was recognition of progress in this area but also that there was work still to be done.

·  Discussion around the mind-set and culture related to the objective on maximising income and trading.   Members were keen that thought is given to potential un-intended consequences of trading where the council might be competing with local businesses.

·  The need for the document to acknowledge that there will be some services the Council may stop doing.

·  Specific gaps in the following areas:

(Cllr Lowe and Cllr Bentley left the meeting at 11.30am during this item)

RESOLVED –

(i)  To thank the Leader and Chief Executive for their attendance

(ii)  Request that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 113.

To receive and consider a report from the Head of Scrutiny and Member Development outlining the Scrutiny Board’s work schedule for the 2012/13 municipal year.

The Head of Scrutiny and Member Development submitted a copy of the Board’s work schedule.  An additional meeting has been called for 10^th May 2013 to consider, ‘West Yorkshire Governance Arrangements’.

RESOLVED –

(i)  To note the Board’s work schedule

(ii)  That the following items be put on a ‘pending’ list to be considered in the new municipal year: Community Right to Challenge (Update), HR recruitment, translation services, community centre charges.

Friday, 10^th May 2013 at 10.00am. (Pre-meeting for all Scrutiny Board Members at 9.30am.)

RESOLVED – To note the date of the next meeting as Friday, 10^th May at 10.00am.

(The meeting concluded at 11.55 am)