Agenda, decisions and minutes

Please note that the Constitution requires that when considering any decision in respect of which a member of the Committee is subject to a party whip, the member must declare the existence of the whip. Under the Code of Conduct, any Councillor who has a personal or prejudicial interest should declare this at the meeting.

None.

None. 

The Chairman of the Scrutiny and Overview Committee called-in the decision, taken by the Cabinet on 11 February 2010, to ask Uttlesford District Council to guarantee the payment of the first £350,000 of any savings generated by the proposed shared services arrangement to South Cambridgeshire District Council.

The call-in was taken on the basis of Article 13 paragraph 13.02 Principles of Decision-Making of the Constitution with the possible contravention of the following principles:

(b) due consultation and the taking of professional advice.

(d) presumption in favour of openness, helpfulness and consistency.

(e) clarity of aims and desired outcomes.

(f) consideration of available options and giving reasons for decisions.

Witnesses invited:

Councillor Jim Ketteridge, Leader of Uttlesford District Council

Councillor Ray Manning, Leader of South Cambridgeshire District Council

Councillor Simon Edwards, Finance & Staffing Portfolio Holder South Cambridgeshire District Council

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee AGREED to uphold the 11 February 2010 decision of the Cabinet. 

The Chairman introduced this item by explaining that the object of the Committee was not to debate the merits of the decision itself, but to examine the process by which the decision was made. He explained that the call-in was made on the basis that the decision had possibly contravened the following four principles of decision making, as detailed in Article 13 of the Constitution:

• Due consultation and the taking of professional advice.
• Presumption in favour of openness, helpfulness and consistency.
• Clarity of aims and desired outcomes.
• Consideration of available options and giving reasons for decisions.

Paperwork

Councillor Ray Manning explained that Cabinet’s decision had been made on 11 February, so he expressed concern about the references being made to the Uttlesford Council meeting of 18 February, as these could not be relevant to the Cabinet’s decision which had been taken five days before and this paperwork was not part of the agenda and had not been distributed to him or the deputy Leader. It was understood that the paperwork from the Uttlesford District Council meeting provided background information to the issue under discussion.

Professional advice

The Chairman read out a statement from the Chief Executive. He explained that the only formal advice he had offered was contained in the Cabinet report of 11 February. Apart from that, he had advised: the decision could only be made formally at a meeting of the Executive; minimisation of risk would have to be balanced against the potential and likelihood of the other party finding the terms unacceptable; and the size of the guarantee and apportionment of future profits, would have to be weighted against the savings that could be achieved from the safer in-house option.

Councillor Simon Edwards reported that he had heeded officer advice on this project and he considered that the proposed financial arrangements were unlikely to be acceptable to Uttlesford District Council.

Scrutiny and Overview Committee 3 December 2009

In response to questioning Councillor Simon Edwards explained that he had deliberately stayed away from the Scrutiny Committee meeting of 3 December to allow the Committee to make its own resolutions free from his influence. He expressed disappointment that the Committee had merely noted the report on the Shared Services project. The Chairman express regret that Councillor Edwards had not shared his intentions or concerns with the Committee.

Council 28 January 2010

Councillor Ray Manning explained that Council had made the decision at its meeting on 28 January to refer the matter back to Cabinet, accepting that more work was required.

It was noted that only the decisions of the Executive could be called-in, whilst recommendations to Council could not.

Risk

Councillor Ray Manning explained that there was opposition to the project from all the Council’s political groups, which added to the risk and therefore influenced the Executive’s decision to address this by asking Uttlesford District Council to agree to allocate the first £350,000 of the savings to this authority.

Openness - Joint statement from the Leader and Chief Executive  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

2010: March 4 & April 1

All meetings will begin at 5.30pm. Next meeting at Linton Village College.

It was NOTED that the next meetings would be held on:

• 4 March & 1 April 2010 at 5:30pm.

The next meeting to be held at Linton Village College.