Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 4 June 2014 were taken as read, confirmed and signed.

The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 35.

The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 7(3) and 7(5).

There were no urgent items for consideration.

The Chairman invited members who wished to do so to declare any interest in respect of items on the agenda for the meeting.

Mr. S. D. Sheahan CC declared a personal interest in respect of item 11 on the agenda (minute 122 below refers) as a County Council appointee to the Ashby Canal Trust.

There were no declarations of the party whip.

The Chief Executive reported that no petitions had been received under Standing Order 36.

The Cabinet Lead Member for Transportation, Mr. P. C. Osborne CC, has been invited to the meeting for this item.

A copy of the report to be considered at the meeting of the Cabinet on 15 July is attached for the Commission’s consideration. The Commission’s comments will be reported to the Cabinet.

The Scrutiny Commission considered a joint report of the Director of Environment and Transport, the Director of Children and Family Services and the County Solicitor, the purpose of which was to consider proposals to implement a new Mainstream Home to School Transport Policy, following the conclusion of two public consultations, which would be considered by the Cabinet, for approval, on 15 July 2014. A copy of the report, marked ‘agenda item 8’, is filed with these minutes.

In presenting the outcomes of the second consultation, the Director of Environment and Transport confirmed that the total number of responses received had fallen to 398 responses compared to that of 2,027 received in the first consultation. Whilst this suggested that the new proposals had addressed many of the concerns raised in the first consultation the proportion of the 398 opposed to the revised consultation proposals remained high.

The Director also confirmed that a petition containing 1385 signatures, presented by Mr L. Yates CC to the Scrutiny Commission on 30th April 2014, requesting the provision of transport to the nearest Leicestershire County Catchment school containing 1385 signatures had also been considered and it was noted that the revised policy proposals addressed its main concerns, as detailed in paragraphs 43 to 49 of the report.

The Chairman welcomed to the meeting Mr. P. C. Osborne CC, the Lead Member for highways and transportation.

Mr Osborne welcomed the opportunity to bring back the outcome of the second consultation to the Scrutiny Commission and was grateful to all those who had replied, including local members, to both consultations. He hoped the revised proposals would be seen as equitable and acceptable to everyone.  and commended the frequently asked questions section of the report (appendix 7 to the report refers) which he hoped would help parents understanding of the issues raised.

Arising from issues raised by members regarding the appeals process against refusal of eligibility to transport assistance, the County Solicitor clarified the following points:-

     i)        Individual appeals by parents were processed by a two stage system under the jurisdiction of the County Solicitor which covered both mainstream and special educational needs home to school transport. In the first instance parents could appeal to another officer who had not been involved in the original decision. If parents remained dissatisfied they then had a right to request a further appeal considered by a panel of three officers who had been independent of the decision making process up until that point;

    ii)        There was no charge to parents who launched appeals to the local authority or via an academy as the provision of a free appeal service to parents was a statutory requirement. Where academy schools, which were independent of the local authority, had bought in its services, effectively as a traded activity the charge levied by the Local Authority was at the flat rate recommended by the Department for Education. It was also to be noted that the Education Funding Agency provided funds to academy schools to manage their appeals process.

   iii)        The County Council was required to follow a national scheme which required parents to express school preferences for their child by a date in October, with the final decision made and notified to parents by the end of March for secondary aged school transfers and during May for primary transfers. Only after those decisions were notified of allocation to nearest or second nearest school were parents expected to apply for school transport and places then allocated, which meant parents who appealed were not placed at a disadvantage in seeking transport availability. Should the consultation proposals be approved  ...  view the full minutes text for item 119.

The Cabinet Lead Member, Mrs. P. Posnett CC, has been invited to the meeting for this item.

A copy of the report to be considered at the meeting of the Cabinet on 15 July is attached for the Commission’s consideration. The Commission’s comments will be reported to the Cabinet.

The Commission considered a report of the Chief Executive, the purpose of which was to seek the Commission’s comments on the Council’s draft Communities Strategy. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 9’, is filed with these minutes.

The Chairman welcomed Mrs. P. Posnett CC, Lead Member for Communities to the meeting.

Arising from discussion, the following principal points were noted:

     i)        The draft Communities Strategy recognised that due to austerity, the County Council had to refocus its resources on delivering its statutory responsibilities, core functions, and protecting the most vulnerable people in Leicestershire. The Strategy also sought to make best use of the remaining resources still available to the Council to focus on helping communities to support individuals and families in most need, and enabling community groups to provide services for their communities, including services that the County Council could no longer afford to provide;

    ii)        There was some concern expressed as to whether there was a sufficient number of volunteers available to support the Council’s intentions to reduce the demand on public services and use community volunteers to help design and deliver some services that it currently provided;

   iii)        As such, members considered that capacity building of volunteers could be helped through a re-focusing of the support contract the Authority held with the Rural Community Council to ensure a greater amount of support to urban and built up un-parished areas. It was considered the development of community champions would also help in this regard, as would the cascading of information through District Voluntary Sector forums and via other networks such as Residents’ Associations;

   iv)        In seeking to broaden the pool of volunteers in Leicestershire,the Strategy would also seek to link in to the work and skills agenda, i.e. helping unemployed volunteers develop particular skill sets that could help them back into work;

    v)        With regard to supporting community groups in delivering relevant services that the County Council may no longer able to support, for example rural libraries, such support could include providing assistance to community groups in the recruitment of volunteers and providing a level of tapered infrastructure support;

   vi)        It was acknowledged that the level of support that the County Council needed to provide in support to community groups may differ between localities. In all cases where support was considered, an equality impact assessment would be undertaken;

 vii)        A criticism of the Government’s Big Society policy had been that it was very aspirational but difficult to measure in terms of performance outcomes. The intention of the draft Communities Strategy was to be more focussed and measurable, through the production of a delivery plan and targeted outcomes such as service devolution;

viii)        An all-member briefing would be held as part of the consultation on 7 August, prior to Cabinet considering the consultation outcome on 14 October 2014.

RESOLVED:

a)    That officers be requested to take into account the Scrutiny Commission’s comments mow made as part of the consultation process for the draft Communities Strategy;

b)    That a further report on the outcome of the consultation exercise be considered by the Scrutiny Commission prior to consideration by the Cabinet at its meeting on 14 October 2014.

The Scrutiny Commission considered a report of the Director of Corporate Resources which set out the proposed strategy and recommendations as to how energy was to be procured, planned and managed for the County Council’s property resources, which would be considered by the Cabinet on 15 July 2014, for its approval. A copy of the report, marked ‘agenda item 10, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussion, the following principal points were noted:

     i)        The acknowledgement in paragraph 21 of the report of the Council’s current weak position with regards to energy management and performance of its property resources reflected that in the past, energy quality criteria had a minor impact on the design and construction of buildings generally, including those which the County Council had decided to build and operate from. The proposals within the Property Energy Strategy to move from that weak position to one of strength and control was to be welcomed;

    ii)        The planned savings of at least £395,000 through to 2016/17 had already been factored in to the MTFS, but if further savings could be generated as a result of energy efficiency they would be pursued;

   iii)        The greatest opportunity for focussing effort to reduce and change current energy consumption levels was focussed around the three largest corporate buildings (which accounted for more than 50% of the total energy costs of corporately managed properties);

   iv)        However, all corporate managed properties would continue to be reviewed as part of the strategy and their energy performance monitored. Where buildings were under performing and didn’t have the capacity to improve they were likely to be disposed of at the opportune time when they could achieve a desirable market value.

RESOLVED:

a)    That the comments of the Scrutiny Commission as outlined above be submitted to the Cabinet for its consideration on 15 July 2014;

b)    That the Director of Corporate Resources be requested to present a report back to the Commission in 18 months, detailing progress in meeting the budget and performance monitoring targets contained in section 6.2 of the proposed Property Energy Strategy 2014.

The Commission considered a report of the Director of Corporate Resources which set out the provisional revenue and capital outturn for 2013/14, a copy of which is filed with these minutes, marked ‘agenda item 11’.

Arising from discussion, it was noted that:

       i)        the Authority had made progress in achieving its savings in the Medium Term Financial Strategy, but that austerity would continue until at least 2018/19, with additional savings of an estimated £27.5m likely to be required by 2018/19;

     ii)        Expenditure incurred in respect of the capital outturn was 97% which was a good outcome compared to the target of 95%;

    iii)        There was concern that the Adults and Communities Department, whilst delivering the £12.4m targeted level of savings in 2013/14, had overspent its budget by £4.6m, although it was noted that this was as a result of financial pressures due to an ageing population and pricing pressures;

    iv)        Scrutiny of financial performance within the current financial year would be kept under review at the next meeting of the Commission, at which it would receive its first budget monitoring report for 2014/15.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

The next meeting of the Commission is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 3 September at 2.00 pm.

NOTED:

That the next meeting of the Commission, currently scheduled for Wednesday 3 September, was likely to be postponed to a later date.

[Following the meeting it was confirmed that the next meeting would take place on Tuesday 16 September 2014 at 2.00 pm.]