Issue - meetings

The Scrutiny Officer submitted a report that presented the consolidated work programme for consideration by Members. She said that the Hertfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner had confirmed that he would be giving a presentation at the next Overview and Scrutiny meeting on 8 December, along with Chief Inspector Orton.

Members were advised that the Head of Operations would be presenting a report from the Parking Task and Finish Group to the Executive on 24 November 2020. The Scrutiny Officer reminded Members that this matter was first presented to the Executive on 11 February. She said however that this matter had been kept under review as the landscape of parking had changed due to Covid-19.

The Scrutiny Officer stated that she had been liaising with the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny regarding holding a Workshop Zoom meeting to enable Members to scrutinise the report that followed the review of Scrutiny. She said that all Members of Overview and Scrutiny and Audit and Governance Committees would be invited and she was awaiting confirmation that this would take place on 3 December 2020.

Members were advised that the report would be submitted to Overview and Scrutiny and then, if necessary, the Committee could make recommendations to the Executive.

The Scrutiny Officer drew Members’ attention to a number of issues which might be of interest and were contained within the Council’s Calendar:

·                                a briefing on 11 November 2020 on the Hertfordshire Growth Board and Capital Projects Review;

·                                training in respect of building control and social media on 12 November 2020;

·                                the Director of Public Health would be providing Members with a further briefing on Covid-19 on18 November 2020 at 2 pm, on how to respond to a Local Outbreak; and

·                                Clarion Housing will providing a further presentation on 19 November 2020 regarding how they had responded to Covid-19, including an update in relation to Clarion Futures.

The Scrutiny Officer advised that, as development of the Council’s Budget and the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) moved forward, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) had confirmed that they would be providing all Member Training on Local Government Finance on 1 and 14 December 2020.

In reply to a query from Councillor Kemp regarding diary indications showing one of the above meetings as cancelled, the Scrutiny Officer said that she would be resending a diary invitation to Members shortly.

The Scrutiny Officer responded to a query from Councillor Brady regarding the answer given to a public question by Councillor Williamson at Council on 21 October regarding the capital budget. She said that an all Member Briefing had been arranged for 11 November 2020 regarding a review of capital projects.

It was moved by Councillor Devonshire and seconded by Councillor Goldspink that the draft consolidated Work Programme be approved. After being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – that the draft consolidated work programme be approved.