Agenda item

Report of the Corporate Director of Resources.

The Committee considered a report of the Corporate Director Resources which provided an updated work programme for 2022/23 (for copy see file of Minutes).

The Scrutiny Officer advised that Appendix 2 of the report outlined the proposed programme noting that it currently offered flexibility to respond to emerging issues with currently five scheduled meetings identified and two joint special meetings with the Environment and Sustainable Communities OSC focusing on integrated transport and the tourism and cultural offer.  The report asked the committee to identify a topic for in-depth or light touch review and reference was made to paragraph 17 of the report, informing the committee that discussion had taken place  at a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board suggesting that the various thematic OSCs may wish to consider undertaking a focused piece of work in relation to MTFP 13 looking to identify further efficiencies or areas of income generation.

Further to that discussion, Ian Herberson, Finance Manager for Resources and Regeneration was in attendance and provided a brief presentation on the development of the MTFP(13), the current role of scrutiny in its development and the proposed process to developing savings options. He commented that it was at the discretion of the committee to determine as to whether they undertake this focused piece of work and that existing work programme priorities would need to be considered.

The Chair added that this was brought forward as simply a suggestion and wasn’t something that the committee had to take on as the work programme of the committee was the key priority. Councillor Earley commented that he didn’t suspect there was a huge amount of savings in relation to the Service that could be explored within the remit of this committee.

Councillor Batey added that she did not see this topic as something which sat within the role of this committee and was something very much the role of Cabinet. She further noted that routes already existed for members to feed comments back into Cabinet on MTFP proposals. In addition, the committee has a large work programme to deliver which needs to be the priority. She further asked what the view of the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny was on the topic.

The Chair clarified that the focused piece of work would be additional and that delivering the work programme is the priority of the committee.

Councillor Martin commented that scrutiny’s role was key in promoting policy development and whilst the impacts on the MTFP were all down to money, by giving thematic scrutiny committee’s the option to feed into the process this provided a further opportunity for wider discussions.

Councillor Batey commented that she was very mindful of the time commitment for an additional piece of work and the resources required, from a members and officer perspective and she felt that there are other key areas which the committee need to be focusing on.

Further discussion took place regarding a resolution of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board and it was noted that Cabinet had responded positively to the request for attendance at thematic committees where the need arose.

Councillor Batey further asked whether there would be any additional meetings added to the diary noting that if the draft Inclusive Economic Strategy was not available in September this would then need to be considered at another meeting.

The Principal Overview and Scrutiny Officer advised that the report brought to the committee work programme options and flexibility to respond to emerging issues. He furthermore noted the various mechanisms available to the committee in order to discharge their responsibilities outside of the scheduled meetings.

The Chair confirmed that the committee would be focusing on the delivery of the work programme, that was the key priority for the committee and that if during the delivery of the work programme and the consideration of the quarterly budget reports they identified any potential savings then this information would be passed onto the appropriate Service Grouping.

Resolved:

a)       That the Economy and Enterprise OSC received and commented on the proposed draft work programme.

b)       That the Economy & Enterprise OSC work programme for 2022/23 and the flexibility it offered        to respond to emerging issues is agreed.

c)       That the Economy and Enterprise OSC does not undertake the suggested focused piece of work in relation to MTFP 13 and that the committee considers identifying an area of focused review during the delivery of the 2022/23 work programme.

d)       That any areas of savings, identified during the consideration of the quarterly budget reports are forwarded to the appropriate service grouping for consideration during the MTFP 13 process.