Agenda and minutes

Overview and Scrutiny Board - Monday 8th July 2019 6.00 p.m.

Venue: Parkside Suite - Parkside

Contact: Amanda Scarce and Jess Bayley

Items
No.	Item
14/19	Apologies for Absence and Named Substitutes View the background to item 14/19 Minutes: Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors A. J. B. Beaumont, M. Glass and M. Thompson. It was confirmed that Councillor M. Middleton was attending as a substitute for Councillor Beaumont.
15/19	Declarations of Interest and Whipping Arrangements View the background to item 15/19 To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests. Minutes: There were no declarations of interest nor of any whipping arrangements.
16/19	Minutes PDF 95 KB View the background to item 16/19 Minutes: The minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board held on 10^th June, 2019 were submitted for Members’ consideration. RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board held on 10^th June, 2019 be approved as an accurate record.
17/19	Bromsgrove District Council Low Emission Vehicle Strategy - Pre-scrutiny PDF 117 KB Additional documents: BDC ULEV Strategy FINAL , item 17/19 PDF 1 MB Appendix 2 Glossary of acronyms , item 17/19 PDF 38 KB Minutes: The Climate Change and Energy Support Officer and the Housing Policy Manager presented a report in respect of introducing an Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (ULEV) Strategy including a five year action plan. The policy was designed to assist in the development of the necessary infrastructure in light of the changeover to a wider use of electric vehicles. It was explained that officers were seeking delegated authority to allow them to apply for central government grant funding to enable the installation of electric vehicle charging points. Members welcomed the strategy, however it was noted that one of the challenges for the Council would be keeping up to date with the relevant technology. Following the presentation of the report Members discussed a number of points in detail: · The Capital Programme for 2019/20, in which the funding of £300k for the(ULEV) Ultra-Low Emission Taxi Infrastructure Scheme was separate from the £4.5m funding available to be allocated for the on street residential charge point scheme. · Concerns were raised that the cost of electric vehicle charging infrastructure could be quite high. · The proposed strategy would cover all vehicles including taxis. · The Council would encourage people to purchase renewable energy. Councillor M. Sherrey, Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services, stated that as this was the early stage of the programme all options would be considered during the roll out of the scheme. RESOLVED that the Bromsgrove District Low Emission Vehicle Strategy report be noted.
18/19	Enterprise Resource Planning System - Update (Briefing Paper) PDF 40 KB Minutes: The Executive Director of Finance and Corporate Resources provided an update in relation to the Enterprise Resources Planning System and in doing so highlighted the following points: · The system would be used for both Financial Services and for Human Resources purposes. · A contract had been agreed with TechnologyOne for the new system. · The system would be fully implemented within 18 months. · The system would have the capacity to integrate with other systems, as and when required in the future. · The Financial Services team was working to identify what information would need to be migrated into the new system as well as beginning the work of data cleansing. · The total cost of the project would be £790k, however, additional savings would be identified moving forward. RESOLVED that the report be noted.
19/19	Joint Staff Survey Task Group - Update on actions arising from the Survey and recommendations from the Task Group (to follow) PDF 69 KB Minutes: The Human Resources and Organisational Development Manager and Head of Business Transformation and Organisational Development provided an update in respect of the actions arising from the work of the Joint Staff Survey Task Group review. The following points were highlighted during the presentation of this report: · The Joint Staff Survey Task Group had been undertaken by Members of Bromsgrove District and Redditch Borough Councils in 2017. Councillors S. R. Colella, C. J. Spencer and S. A. Webb (Bromsgrove District Council) and Councillors J. Potter, T. Baker Price and J. Wheeler (Redditch Borough Council) had taken part in this exercise. · The review had been established due to concerns amongst Members that there had been a low rate of responses when the survey had been circulated previously. The group had proposed a number of recommendations that were designed to improve response rates and to address challenging areas that were impacting on employees. · The group’s recommendations had been taken on board by Officers and a lot of work had been undertaken, particularly in respect of organisational culture, in an attempt to address the issues raised by staff in completed surveys. · The Councils had engaged with Martin Reddington Associates (MRA) for advice as they specialised in employee engagement. · In that latest staff survey a total of 54% of staff had provided a response, which was a significant improvement compared to the previous survey. · The survey responses identified some areas of good practice. However, there were some issues that still needed to be addressed. · The next survey was due to be circulated in September, 2019. · The same questions would be included in the survey as in previous years to ensure that the data arising from the survey was comparable. Councillor Colella, the Chairman of the Task Group, explained that he and Councillor Potter, the Vice Chairman of the group, had been consulted prior to the circulation of the last survey. However, neither they nor the rest of the group had received further information about the feedback that had been provided in response to that survey and he expressed the view that it was important to ensure that these details were shared with Members prior to the circulation of the next survey. Officers explained that the data arising from the latest survey had been shared with Corporate Management Team. In addition, the Leaders of both Councils had met to discuss the data. Members questioned whether the next staff survey might need to be circulated at a later date than September 2019 to provide time for Councillors to review the feedback from the previous survey. Officers explained that a delay could occur if required, though the survey was due to be circulated in September. RESOLVED that a further update in respect of the outcomes of the previous staff survey together with information about the new staff survey to be provided for Members’ consideration at the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board due to take place in September 2019.
20/19	Finance and Budget Working Group - Verbal Update Minutes: Members were informed that the first meeting of this municipal year would be held in August 2019. At this meeting Members would be asked to consider the work programme for 2019/20.
21/19	Corporate Performance Working Group - Verbal Update Minutes: Members were informed that the first meeting of this municipal year had been arranged to take place on 25^th July, 2019.
22/19	Task Group Updates a) Business Rates Relief Short Sharp Review – Verbal update b) Bromsgrove Sporting Task Group – Verbal update Minutes: Business Rates Relief Short Sharp Review Members were advised the group met on 27^th June, 2019. The outcomes and findings of the review would be presented to the Committee in September 2019, for consideration. Bromsgrove Sporting Task Group Councillor C.A. Hotham informed Members that the Group had recently held a meeting and Members were keen to invite relevant officers to attend meetings to answer questions on the subject. Members were also keen to look at rent charges for Alvechurch F.C. as it was in the same league as Bromsgrove Sporting F.C. and in a similar position.
23/19	Worcestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Update Council representative - Councillor Till– verbal update Minutes: Councillor J. Till, the Council’s representative on the Worcestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC), provided an update with regard to the HOSC meeting held on 27^th June, 2019. Members were advised that during this meeting the following matters had been considered: · West Midlands Ambulance Service. The Director of Clinical Commissioning and Service Development provided an update in respect of the service. · An update had been provided on the subject of Worcestershire Acute Hospital Services, specifically for patients who had had strokes. · The proposed merger of the Worcestershire and Herefordshire NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). Consultation was being undertaken in respect of the potential to merge the CCGs.
24/19	Cabinet Work Programme PDF 89 KB View the background to item 24/19 Minutes: RESOLVED that the content of the latest edition of the Cabinet Work Programme be noted.
25/19	Overview and Scrutiny Board Work Programme PDF 234 KB View the background to item 25/19 Minutes: Members considered the Overview and Scrutiny Board’s Work Programme. Officers explained that items identified during the Overview and Scrutiny training event in June 2019 as potentially suitable for scrutiny would be considered in more detail at the following meeting of the Board. Any urgent items had already been incorporated onto the Board’s work programme. RESOLVED that the Overview and Scrutiny Board’s Work Programme be noted.