In his introductory remarks, the Chairman welcomed Mrs A Fisher and Mr RJ Fuller to their first meeting as Parent Governor Representatives, for the primary and secondary sectors respectively.

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillors JM Bartlett, CA Gandy and A Warmington.  Apologies had also been received from Councillors JG Lester (Cabinet Member, Young People and Children’s Wellbeing) and PD Price (Cabinet Member, Infrastructure).

To receive details of members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a member of the committee.

Councillor FM Norman substituted for Councillor JM Bartlett; Councillor MT McEvilly substituted for Councillor CA Gandy; and Councillor LC Tawn substituted for Councillor A Warmington.

To receive any declarations of interest by members.

No declarations of interest were made.

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 10 June 2015.

The minutes of the previous meeting were received.

RESOLVED:       That the minutes of the meeting held on 10 June 2015 be approved as a correct record.

To consider suggestions from the public on issues the committee could scrutinise in the future.

(There will be no discussion of the issue at the time when the matter is raised.  Consideration will be given to whether it should form part of the committee’s work programme when compared with other competing priorities.)

It was reported that a suggestion had been received from Mr. Peter McKay in relation to Highway Dedication Codes and Deregulation Bill provisions and safeguards; details about the suggestion and a related question to Council were included in a supplement to the agenda.

The Chairman thanked Mr. McKay for his interest and suggestion.  It was requested that committee members be provided with a briefing note on public rights of way, the definitive map and other matters raised by Mr. McKay.  In addition, the Chairman said that arrangements were being made for a member seminar/workshop on transportation issues where these matters could be explored.

To note questions received from the public and the items to which they relate.

(Questions are welcomed for consideration at a scrutiny committee meeting subject to the question being directly relevant to an item listed on the agenda below.  If you have a question you would like to ask then please submit it no later than 10.00am on Friday 17 July 2015 to bbaugh@herefordshire.gov.uk)

No questions had been received.

To receive the Executive response to committee recommendations made in relation to school examination performance.

The Chairman reminded members that a report had been considered on school examination performance at the committee meeting on 10 March 2015 (minute 63 refers) and a number of recommendations made.  The Executive response to those recommendations was detailed within Appendix 1 to this item.

The discussion centred on the following recommendation that had not been accepted:

Recommendation 1: That officers reprise the actions within the Herefordshire Food Strategy in the context of food provision and education in schools and that the committee be updated with the current position in terms of the delivery of those actions.

A committee member questioned whether the Food Strategy was still a live document and, whilst acknowledging the autonomy of schools, whether further thought should be given to the authority’s approach.

The Head of Additional Needs advised that the authority took the issue seriously, particularly in terms of nutrition, but responsibility for schools meals was delegated to individual schools.

Mr. Sell said that the discussion at the 10 March 2015 meeting had focussed on promoting the use of locally sourced produce but noted that this could not be imposed on schools.  Nevertheless, many schools did use local suppliers, adding that some schools involved pupils in the preparation of food as an educational activity.

The Chairman requested that a briefing note be prepared on the Food Strategy, with input from children’s wellbeing and public health directorates.

A committee member noted the strong causal link between nutrition, the ability of pupils to pay attention in class and examination performance.  As the Food Strategy had linkages to schools, it was suggested that an indication was needed about the direction of travel at a strategic level.

Noting the wording in the response that ‘there are recent examples of schools changing suppliers to achieve best value’, a committee member said that schools should be encouraged to achieve best value in the broadest sense rather than just being price focussed.  The Assistant Director Governance confirmed that price was only one aspect of best value. 

Mr. Burbidge said that he was aware of one school that had recently replaced an underperforming supplier and, in appointing a new caterer, had focused on quality and service.  He added that locally sourced produce should be promoted wherever possible but there was a need to give freedom to caterers to use their best judgement.

Mr. Knight commented that the attractiveness of the food offer to pupils needed to be factored into the way in which schools approached the issue.

The Chairman welcomed the update provided on looked after children activities.

RESOLVED:  That

(a)        the Executive response be noted; and

(b)        a briefing note be prepared on the Herefordshire Food Strategy and its linkages to schools.

To receive the draft Executive response to the task and finish group report on development management (planning).

The report of the task and finish group on development management (planning) had been considered at the committee meeting on 10 June 2015 (minute 9 refers).  The Chairman drew attention to the draft Executive response to the group’s recommendations detailed within Appendix A to this item.

Invited to express his views on the response, the group chairman noted that the majority of the recommendations had been accepted, demonstrating that the work had been worthwhile.  However, he considered that clarification was needed on five of the recommendations that had been partially accepted.

Recommendation 2: Downloadable and/or online editable applications be developed for all planning related application forms to encourage electronic applications.

The group chairman said that the recommendation was not about duplicating systems, it was about enhancing the existing planning portal.

A committee member commented on the need to explore the use of file compression software, as many service users found it difficult to download large images, particularly in areas with slow internet connectivity.

In response, the Head of Development Management and Environmental Health (subsequently ‘head of service’) reassured the committee that officers would endeavour to improve upon the planning portal in conjunction with Hoople Ltd, the council’s IT support provider.

Recommendation 3: That provision of a facility for subscription service to a given planning application giving updates is developed - this would enhance the service and reduce phone calls and planning officer time.

The group chairman said that the intention behind the recommendation was to provide alerts to interested parties about significant developments with planning applications.

The head of service said that, whilst many people followed the progress of planning applications closely, better ways of notifying applicants electronically would be considered.  It was noted that, with up to 4,000 applications received a year, the service needed to be mindful of the way in which it deployed resources.

Recommendation 5: Alternative means of managing the planning committee work schedule be explored to ensure that efficient and consistent planning decisions are made.

The group chairman said that the issue was about the workload and duration of Planning Committee meetings, rather than about member training.

The head of service commented on the need for consistent and robust decisions and acknowledged the importance of the democratic decision making process.  In terms of Planning Committee arrangements, it was noted that all day committee meetings had been split into morning and afternoon committee sessions, thereby providing greater flexibility in terms of substitutions.  Apart from occasional additional meetings, it was not considered that the committee could meet more frequently than every three weeks given the cycle of report preparation, publication, site visits, and meetings.

A committee member commented that consistency also had to apply to officer advice, as he considered that there had been some recent examples where the degree of weight given to emerging Core Strategy policies had been interpreted differently.

Recommendation 11: That employees’ well-being in terms of stress management should be monitored as part of the annual appraisal process.

The group chairman said  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

To receive a verbal update on performance changes since the introduction of fortnightly bin collection.

The Chairman said that, mindful of performance information reported to Cabinet on 10 June 2015, it would be helpful for the committee to receive an update on the Waste Management Service and the Waste Disposal Team Leader (subsequently ‘team leader’) was invited to give a presentation.

The principal points of the presentation (in italics) and discussion are provided below.

Waste Collection New Service

1.           In November 2014 the council commenced an alternate weekly refuse and recycling collection service (AWC)

2.           Green wheeled bin for recycling and a black bin for general rubbish collected fortnightly on alternate weeks

3.           Introduced to save £0.5 million per year, reduce general rubbish and increase recycling

Performance Improvement

4.           Average monthly general waste: prior to AWC 3,838 tonnes; after AWC 3,545 tonnes; difference - 293 tonnes

5.           Average monthly kerbside recycling: prior to AWC 1430 tonnes; after AWC 1,551 tonnes; difference + 121 tonnes

6.           Dry recycling %: prior to AWC 28.26%; after AWC 33.60%; difference + 5.34%

7.           Estimated recycling and composting rate: prior to AWC 40%; after AWC 42%; difference + 2% (estimated)

Summary

8.           Move to Alternate Weekly Collection has done what we wanted it to do: save £0.5 million per annum; reduced amount of general (residual) waste; and increased recycling

The team leader said that, although data was only available for a six month period, the performance indicators were encouraging and demonstrated that lower levels of general waste were being collected and higher levels of recycling were being achieved, from already good levels compared to other areas.  It was noted that this had offset recent changes to the treatment of wood waste.

The team leader responded to a number of questions from committee members:

i.             It was likely that AWC had reduced the amount of trade waste entering the system and that households were reusing, donating and compositing more materials than before.  The Chairman noted that the simplicity of the AWC arrangements made recycling easier to achieve than in some other areas of the country, where residents had to separate materials themselves.

ii.            From discussions with street cleansing and enforcement personnel and evidence from tonnage records, it did not appear that AWC had resulted in a discernible increase in levels of fly-tipping to date.

iii.          A main focus for the service in the current year was on communal properties, in terms of containment options and improving levels of recycling.

iv.          All waste was weighed, so the authority could have confidence in the data collected.

v.           Leaflets to explain AWC arrangements were available in the principal languages spoken in Herefordshire.

vi.          Members were invited to contact the service about opportunities to improve collection arrangements for residents locally.

vii.         There was an ongoing programme for bin swap requests and replacements for damaged units.  It was noted that black sacks would continue to be a feature for some residents, particularly for flats and communal developments.

viii.       Bags of rubbish left by the side of public litter bins were regularly inspected to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

To consider the committee’s work programme and related scrutiny activities.

A draft work programme was submitted for consideration.  The Chairman drew attention to the following:

1.      It was recommended that the September 2015 meeting be moved back to provide additional time for the task and finish group on the smallholdings estate to engage with tenants and stakeholders and to prepare its report.

2.      To inform any future activity on football provision and on Hereford racecourse, it was envisaged that reports would be received in January 2016 on Edgar Street Athletic Ground and on property matters.

3.      Arrangements were being made for an all member transportation workshop.

4.      The work programme would be adjusted to reflect the other matters identified during the meeting.

A committee member commented on: the potential of the Understanding Herefordshire report to inform future, independent work programming; and the need to review the committee’s topic selection criteria to ensure that issues were gathered and assessed on their merits rather than being filtered in the linear way suggested by the flow diagram and to reassess the meaning and approach to the ‘Will scrutiny involvement be duplicating some other work?’ box.

RESOLVED: That

(a)         the draft work programme, as amended, be noted; and

(b)        the meeting scheduled for Tuesday 8 September 2015 be moved to Wednesday 30 September 2015 at 10.00 am.

Subject to committee approval, it is proposed that the next scheduled meeting be held on Wednesday 30 September 2015, at 10.00am.

Wednesday 30 September 2015 at 10.00 am