Agenda item

Councillor C. Hotham presented the Overview and Scrutiny Board Annual Report 2022-23 in his role as previous Chairman of the Board. Members were informed that this had been a very busy year for scrutiny at the Council and several recommendations had been made and agreed by Cabinet.

In particular, the excellent work by the Fuel Poverty Task Group, chaired by Councillor R. Hunter and supported by the relevant Cabinet Member, Councillor S. Webb, was noted.

There were areas that still needed to be monitored for the remainder of the municipal year including the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).

Council was informed that the Finance and Budget Working Group continued to meet and that the Corporate Performance Working Group had been suspended, however a six-monthly report was considered by the Board in respect of service performance.

Councillor Hotham thanked all Board Members, in particular former Councillor J. Till for her work as Vice-Chairman of the Board. In addition to this, all officers who had provided reports presented to the Board were also thanked as were members of the Democratic Services Team, Mrs. J. Gresham and Mr. M. Sliwinski, for their hard work in supporting the Board over the previous municipal year.

Councillor P. McDonald was invited to comment on the report as the current Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Board. In doing so, it was noted that some reports had not always been provided to the Board in good time, which had made it more difficult to undertake effective scrutiny and policy development work as outlined in the Annual Report. However, it was hoped that this would change in the future and that Members could be more involved in policy development, particularly in light of the cross party membership of the Cabinet. It was also queried whether the minutes of the Bromsgrove Partnership Board would be made available to Members of the Board as requested in the previous municipal year. Officers undertook to follow up on this request.

Members thanked Councillor Hotham for his successful work as Chairman of the Board in the previous municipal year and commented that many areas of work had been considered, which had included a successful change in the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, that had helped the poorest residents within the District. It was noted that there could potentially be some significant changes ahead, particularly in light of the Governance Systems Task Group investigation that was being undertaken which Members noted could result in changes to the Council’s Constitution.

There was a query in respect of the CCTV item contained within the report and it was clarified that there had been an upgrade to the District’s CCTV system in recent years. However, there were three cameras that still needed to be upgraded in Rubery, Wythall and Alvechurch. These were not new cameras but were still on the old analogue system. Members were informed that Cabinet had considered and approved a recommendation regarding the completion of the upgrade and associated maintenance costs at a meeting held on 18^th January 2023. It was further noted that there were three mobile cameras that could be deployed on request to areas that needed additional CCTV coverage.

The Leader also thanked the Board for their work over the previous years in this important area and commented that this was key to ensuring transparency in Council operations.

Members queried whether progress had been achieved on the recommendations made by the Fuel Poverty Task Group. The Cabinet Member for Strategic Housing, Health and Wellbeing explained that there was a Cost of Living Group that had been established and that they met on a regular basis. In addition to this, the Council continued to work with its energy service provider, Act on Energy. A Cost of Living leaflet had been circulated to all Members in order for them to distribute to residents and a further leaflet was due to be released very shortly. It was agreed that an all Member briefing be arranged in order to provide Members with an update.

RESOLVED that the Overview and Scrutiny Board Annual Report 2022/2023 be noted.