Agenda and minutes

Venue: The John Meikle Room - The Deane House. View directions

Contact: Andrew Randell Email:  a.randell@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk  Marcus Prouse Email:  m.prouse@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk

Webcast: View the webcast

Items
No. Item

1.

Election of Vice-Chair

2.

Apologies

3.

Minutes of the previous Scrutiny Committee held on 7 and 28 April 2021. pdf icon PDF 154 KB

4.

Declarations of Interest

    To receive and note any declarations of disclosable pecuniary or prejudicial or personal interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.

     

    (The personal interests of Councillors and Clerks of Somerset County Council, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes.)

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Name

    Minute No.

    Description of Interest

    Reason

    Action Taken

    Cllr N Cavill

    All Items

    West Monkton

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr S Coles

    All Items

    SCC & Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr L Lisgo

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr R Tully

    All Items

    West Monkton

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr D Wedderkopp

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr L Whetlor

    All Items

    Watchet

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

     

5.

Public Participation

    The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.

     

    For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.

     

    Temporary measures during the Coronavirus pandemic

    Due to the temporary legislation (within the Coronavirus Act 2020, which allowed for use of virtual meetings) coming to an end on 6 May 2021, the council’s committee meetings will now take place in the office buildings at the John Meikle Room, Deane House, Belvedere Road, Taunton. Unfortunately due to capacity requirements the Chamber at West Somerset House is not able to be used at this current moment.

    Following the Government guidance on measures to reduce the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19), the council meeting rooms will have very limited capacity. With this in mind, we will only be allowing those members of the public who have registered to speak to attend the meetings in person at the office buildings, if they wish. (We will still be offering to those members of the public that are not comfortable in attending, for their statements to be read out by a member of the Governance team). Please can we urge all members of the public who are only interested in listening to the debate to view our live webcasts from the safety of their own home to help prevent the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19).

     

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    There was no public participation.

6.

Scrutiny Recommendation Tracker pdf icon PDF 338 KB

    To review the finalised Scrutiny Committee Recommendation Tracker for 2020-2021 Municipal Year.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    (Copy of the Scrutiny Committee Action Plan, circulated with the agenda).

     

     A progress report of the Climate Change Budget would be considered at the June meeting.

     

     The public transport task and finish group would report to the committee within two months.

     

     Resolved that the Scrutiny Committee Action Plan be noted.

7.

Corporate Scrutiny Committee Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 28 KB

    To receive items and review the Forward Plan.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    (Copy of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee Forward Plan, circulated with the agenda).

     

    Councillors were reminded that if they had an item they wanted to add to the agenda, that they should send their requests to the Governance Team.

     

    Resolved that the Corporate Scrutiny Committee Forward Plan be noted.

8.

Executive and Full Council Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 70 KB

9.

Executive Councillor Portfolio Holder Session - Leader of the Council and Communications pdf icon PDF 207 KB

    To consider reports from Executive Councillors on their respective Portfolios;

     

    ·       Councillor Federica Smith-Roberts – Leader of the Council and Communications

     

    3.2 of the Scrutiny Terms of Reference state that the Scrutiny Committee may review and scrutinise and ask questions of the Leader, lead Councillors, the Executive in relation to their portfolios.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    The Committee were informed that the Executive Councillor Portfolio Holder Session - Leader of the Council and Communications, would be considered at the meeting scheduled on 2nd June.

10.

Corporate Risk Management Update pdf icon PDF 266 KB

    This matter is the responsibility of the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Resources, Councillor Ross Henley.

     

    This paper provides an update on the current register of risks and issues.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    The Audit, Standards and Governance Committee agreed the councils updated Risk and Opportunity Management Strategy on 1st February 2021. The Strategy sets out that a quarterly report on risks and issues will be presented to both Scrutiny and Executive. As this is the first such report, it is a stand-alone item, and provides an update on the risks and issues as of March 2021. In future, regular reports on risks and issues will be included with the quarterly performance reports.

     

    The Risk and Opportunity Management Strategy states that only “key business risks”, i.e. those that have a score of between 15-25, will be reported to Executive and Scrutiny on a quarterly basis. As this is the first report, all risks have been included, but future reports will just include key business risks. There is a Corporate Risk Register and Corporate Issues Log which are supported by registers for each Directorate. The registers are fluid documents and are reviewed and updated on at least a monthly basis, and more frequently if required. The registers are also aligned to the Directorate service plans and to the delivery of the Corporate Plan and the council’s strategic objectives. Programmes and projects that the council is undertaking also capture risks relevant to the work being delivered.

     

    The Corporate Risk Register was set out in Appendix 1. There were currently 15 risks on the risk register. The RAG status of these and the risks were set out for the committees views.

     

    During the debate the following comments and questions were raised:-

     

    ·        Levels of risk were considered around risk Cr22 and levels of risk considered as part of the assessment process.

    ·        The risk register was updated on monthly basis and was reviewed corporately by directorates.

    ·        Due to the confidentiality and sensitivity of some of the risks not all were included as part of the report.

    ·        The risk assessment process in staff operations was considered inadequate and the seriousness of implications were encouraged to be considered in further detail.

    ·        A permanent solution to improve the power supply for the IT server room was encouraged and it was questioned why this was a green risk.

    ·        The risks were scored based on likelihood and impact alongside the severity and risk.

    ·        Backup supplies to the server room were in place in case of a power failure.

    ·        Audit Governance and Standards approved the Corporate Risk Policy in January 2020, and also approved in Feb 2021 which set out roles responsible for risk management.

    ·        Quarterly progress reports were set out in this report. Pg 256 of the February report considered at the Audit Governance and Standards Committee set out the roles of officers in the strategy which was communicated to officers and councillors, it was questioned if checks had been completed and actively monitored. The committee were reassured this would be communicated.

    ·        Clarification was provided that this was the first time the report had been to Scrutiny and Executive and would be considered every quarter. The Committee further questioned if Scrutiny would consider  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.