Agenda for Overview & Scrutiny Commission on Tuesday, 3rd February, 2009, 4.00pm
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Agenda and minutes
PDF 193 KBVenue: Council Chamber, Hove Town Hall. View directions
Contact: Mary van Beinum, Scrutiny Support Officer
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Procedural Business
Procedural Business A. Declaration of Substitutes
Where a Member of the Commission is unable to attend a meeting for whatever reason, a substitute Member (who is not a Cabinet Member) may attend and speak and vote in their place for that meeting. Substitutes are not allowed on Scrutiny Select Committees or Scrutiny Panels.
The substitute Member shall be a Member of the Council drawn from the same political group as the Member who is unable to attend the meeting, and must not already be a Member of the Commission. The substitute Member must declare themselves as a substitute, and be minuted as such, at the beginning of the meeting or as soon as they arrive. B. Declarations of Interest
(1) To seek declarations of any personal or personal & prejudicial interests under Part 2 of the Code of Conduct for Members in relation to matters on the Agenda. Members who do declare such interests are required to clearly describe the nature of the interest.
(2) A Member of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission, an Overview and Scrutiny Committee or a Select Committee has a prejudicial interest in any business at meeting of that Committee where –
(a) that business relates to a decision made (whether implemented or not) or action taken by the Executive or another of the Council’s committees, sub-committees, joint committees or joint sub-committees; and
(b) at the time the decision was made or action was taken the Member was
(i) a Member of the Executive or that committee, sub-committee, joint committee or joint sub-committee and (ii) was present when the decision was made or action taken.
(3) If the interest is a prejudicial interest, the Code requires the Member concerned:- (a) to leave the room or chamber where the meeting takes place while the item in respect of which the declaration is made is under consideration. [There are three exceptions to this rule which are set out at paragraph (4) below]. (b) not to exercise executive functions in relation to that business and (c) not to seek improperly to influence a decision about that business.
(4) The circumstances in which a Member who has declared a prejudicial interest is permitted to remain while the item in respect of which the interest has been declared is under consideration are:-
(a) for the purpose of making representations, answering questions or giving evidence relating to the item, provided that the public are also allowed to attend the meeting for the same purpose, whether under a statutory right or otherwise, BUT the Member must leave immediately after he/she has made the representations, answered the questions, or given the evidence,
(b) if the Member has obtained a dispensation from the Standards Committee, or
(c) if the Member is the Leader or a Cabinet Member and has been required to attend before an Overview and Scrutiny Committee or Sub-Committee to answer questions. C. Declaration of party whip
To seek declarations of the existence and nature of any party whip in relation to any matter on the Agenda as set out at paragraph 8 of the Overview and Scrutiny Ways of Working. D. Exclusion of press and public
To consider whether, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, or the nature of the proceedings, the press and public should be excluded from the meeting when any of the following items are under consideration.
NOTE: Any item appearing in Part 2 of the Agenda states in its heading the category under which the information disclosed in the report is confidential and therefore not available to the public.
A list and description of the exempt categories is available for public inspection at Brighton and Hove Town Halls.
Additional documents: Minutes: 76.1 The Chairman welcomed everyone to the Budget meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission, especially the Cabinet Member for Finance Councillor Jan Young and senior officers.
76.2 Councillor Mitchell reminded the meeting that the proceedings were being filmed and the webcast would be archived.
76a Declarations of Substitutes
Councillor Ann Norman was substituting for Councillor Trevor Alford.
76b Declarations of Interests
There were none
76c Declaration of Party Whip
There were none.
76d Exclusion of Press and Public
In accordance with section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, it was considered whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of any items contained in the agenda, having regard to the nature of the business to be transacted and the nature of the proceedings and the likelihood as to whether, if members of the press and public were present, there would be disclosure to them of confidential or exempt information as defined in section 100I (1) of the said Act.
RESOLVED: That the press and public be not excluded from the meeting.
76e Access to Information Procedure rules – Special Circumstances
Under the Council's Access to Information Procedure Rules, the Council is required to make reports which do not contain confidential or exempt information available for public inspection at least five clear working days before the meeting. However, by virtue of section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, an item of business may be included with less notice where the chairman of the meeting is of the opinion, by reason of special circumstances, that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency. The special circumstances in question must be specified in the minutes.
In this instance, the special circumstances are that the budget reports items 77, 78 and 79 had not been finalised by the despatch deadline because certain detailed budget and council tax information was only recently available.
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Housing Revenue Account Budget 2009/2010 Report of the Director of Finance and Resources (to follow) Additional documents: Minutes: 77.1 The Cabinet Member introduced the draft Housing Revenue Account Budget 2009 – 2010 and there was a discussion of the key issues.
77.2 RESOLVED; (1) That the summarised areas of comments made by the Commission attached below, are taken forward to the 12 February Cabinet meeting
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General Fund Revenue Budget and Council Tax 2009/2010
Report of the Director of Finance and Resources (to follow) Additional documents: Minutes: 78.1 The Cabinet Member for Finance introduced the draft proposals for the General Fund Revenue Budget and Council Tax 2009 – 2010 and there was a discussion of the key issues.
78.2 It was suggested that ‘fees and charges’ reports previously taken to Cabinet Member Meetings as per paragraph 3.32 of the report, be attached to the report when it is presented to Cabinet and Council. This was agreed.
78.3 RESOLVED; (1) That the summarised areas of comments made by the Commission as attached below, are taken forward to the 12 February Cabinet meeting
(2) that the ‘fees and charges’ reports previously taken to Cabinet Members Meetings as per paragraph 3.32 of the report be attached to the Report when it is presented to Cabinet and Council.
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Capital Resources and Capital Investment Programme 2009/2010 Report of the Director of Finance and Resources (to follow) Additional documents: Minutes: 79.1 The Cabinet Member for Finance introduced the draft proposals for the Capital Resources and Capital Investment Programme 2009 – 2010 and there was a discussion of the key issues.
79.2 The Commission then considered the overall process of the scrutiny of the three reports. There was a question as to whether alternative budget proposals would be brought forward for scrutiny.
79.3 This was the first time that the drafts had been considered by Overview and Scrutiny before being presented to the Cabinet and it was generally felt that the discussion had been positive and constructive.
79.4 Members discussed the timing of the publication of the reports, noting that there had been only one full working day to read the papers before the meeting. It was agreed to make a recommendation on the timely involvement of the Commission in the 2010/2011 budget setting process.
79.5 On behalf of the Commission the Chairman thanked the Cabinet Member and senior officers for their helpful information and replies to questions.
79.5 RESOLVED; (1) That the summarised areas of comments made by the Commission as attached below, are taken forward to the 12 February Cabinet meeting.
(2) That the Committee meeting and budget setting timetables for 2010/11 allow for the full and timely involvement of OSC in the budget setting process.
(3) That a report be brought to a future OSC meeting on budget setting processes in other local authorities, including the role of overview and scrutiny, and stakeholder and public engagement.
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