Agenda and draft minutes

Councillor Sally Ann Hart has sent apologies. To receive apologies for absence from othwe committee members. 

Councillors Sally Ann Hart (Scrutiny and Overview Committee member), Bill Handley (Lead Cabinet Member for Communities) and John Williams (Lead Cabinet Member for Resources) sent apologies.

There were no declarations of interest.

To authorise the Chair to sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 15 February 2024 as a correct record. 

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee authorised the Chair to sign, as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held on 15 February 2024. Councillor Judith Rippeth had not been at the previous meeting so abstained from approving the minutes.

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and contact the Scrutiny and Governance Adviser in Democratic Services by no later than 11.59pm three clear working days before the meeting.

There were no public questions or statements.

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee reviewed a report summarising how the Council proposed to respond to the recommendations made by the recent Peer Review.

Committee members spent some time discussing Recommendation 2 which they considered to be open to interpretation despite a request that the Peer Review Team clarify its meaning. They concluded that Cabinet and officers should continue to nurture working relationships with partners noting that a crucial step would be to capture feedback from partners such as Parish and Town Councils.

A general concern was to assess how actionable the Peer Review recommendations were and to understand how the Council should measure its achievements against such recommendations. An example of this was Peer Review Recommendation 3(a) (Finance - ‘accelerating the closure of outstanding accounts’) where the Committee said that Cabinet should emphasise the distinction between those things that were achievable internally and the role of External Audit over whose work practices and timescales the Council had no control. Councillor Helene Leeming referred to assurances given at the Audit & Corporate Governance Committee meeting on 20 March 2024 and suggested that Part (a) be treated separately from the rest of Recommendation 3.

With reference to Recommendation 6 about developing a community strategy, the Leader of the Council clarified the Council’s proposed action by describing a community statement as a promise as to what individual communities could expect from the Council. She assured the Committee that the Council would continue to develop a strategy through experience gathered in the District’s diverse communities including Cambourne, Northstowe and Waterbeach. The Head of Transformation, HR and Corporate Services said that the Council already had several ‘mini strategies’ and that a community statement would serve as an over-arching document. The Leader indicated that this was preferable to seeking a ‘one size fits all’ community strategy.

The Head of Transformation, HR and Corporate Services responded to the Committee’s interest in reviewing progress with, and the outcomes of, the Action Plan. Progress reports would be presented alongside existing Performance and progress against Business Plan reports. On a general point, it was important that appropriate narrative be used to provide an evidence-based link between recommendations and actions. Discussion ensued around the proposed action relating to Recommendation 9, namely that there should be a Member / officer workshop to review and revise existing Key Performance Indicators to ensure that they remain meaningful and relevant to the Business Plan.

Following further discussion between Committee members, officers and Leader of the Council, and having reviewed the report and received responses to questions posed by Committee members, the Scrutiny and Overview Committee endorsed the action plan shown in Appendix A to the report and made the following recommendations:

1.    That in respect of Peer Review Recommendation 2 (“Reset and define relationships at a local and regional level with key partners to support the delivery of business plan priorities”)

a.    Cabinet should interpret the word ‘reset’ as an opportunity to take stock of current working relationships and develop them where appropriate.

b.    in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Scrutiny and Overview Committee received and noted the work programme attached to the agenda.