To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors WU Attfield, PM Morgan, SJ Robertson and JK Swinburne.  Apologies were also received from Councillor RJ Phillips – Leader of the Council.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in respect of items on the Agenda.

GUIDANCE ON DECLARING PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS AT MEETINGS

The Council’s Members’ Code of Conduct requires Councillors to declare against an Agenda item(s) the nature of an interest and whether the interest is personal or prejudicial.  Councillors have to decide first whether or not they have a personal interest in the matter under discussion.  They will then have to decide whether that personal interest is also prejudicial.

A personal interest is an interest that affects the Councillor more than most other people in the area.  People in the area include those who live, work or have property in the area of the Council.  Councillors will also have a personal interest if their partner, relative or a close friend, or an organisation that they or the member works for, is affected more than other people in the area.  If they do have a personal interest, they must declare it but can stay and take part and vote in the meeting. 

Whether an interest is prejudicial is a matter of judgement for each Councillor.  What Councillors have to do is ask themselves whether a member of the public – if he or she knew all the facts – would think that the Councillor’s interest was so important that their decision would be affected by it.  If a Councillor has a prejudicial interest then they must declare what that interest is and leave the meeting room.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 16 February 2009.

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting held on 16 February 2009 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To consider suggestions from members of the public on issues the Committee could scrutinise in the future.

There were no suggestions from members of the public.

To consider Cabinet’s response to the recommendations made to it in the Scrutiny Review of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Services.

The Committee considered Cabinet’s response to the recommendations made to it in the Scrutiny Review of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) Services. 

The review had been approved by the Committee in November 2008 and Cabinet had considered its response to the findings on 19 February 2009. 

The interim Head of ICT Services (IHICT) presented the report.  He informed the Committee that since Cabinet had approved its response to the review, advice had been received from Human Resources on review recommendations v and w relating to recruitment of staff and reimbursement of training costs by employees who left the Council.  Conditions in the job market had changed since the review had been published making it easier to recruit to some posts.   Market supplements continued to be applied where that was necessary.  A study leave policy was being prepared that would address the issue of reimbursement of training costs.

In the course of discussion the following principal points were made:

·         Asked about the encryption of laptops and memory sticks the IHICT confirmed that it was intended to encrypt all mobile ICT devices.  Tests were currently being carried out prior to implementing the policy.  At this stage he could not confirm an implementation date but would inform the Committee of this, once agreed.

·         Replying to a question about progress in joint working between health and social care the IHICT said that it was a complex national issue.  There was no single ICT system available that would adequately cater for all health and social care requirements, however, standard “message sets” for exchanging information between systems were being defined and developed at national level and were planned to be in place by April 2010.  Locally, direct access to health care systems and social care systems for professionals from either organisation was available arranged on a case by case basis. 

·         Asked about links with Welsh ICT systems given the number of cross-border patients the IHICT said that these were less than ideal and although there are some high-level working groups on this subject, it is not an immediate priority on either side of the border.  However, the work on the national message sets should  be transferable.

·         Assurance was sought on the appropriateness of the arrangements for information sharing between health and social care having regard to failures in Haringey that had led to the death of “baby P”.  The IHICT observed that human interaction was more important than a technological solution and the development of integrated health and social care teams under the Herefordshire Public Services partnership provided grounds for reassurance.

·         In reply to a question about progress in providing Broadband to the Rotherwas Industrial Estate the IHICT said that discussions were continuing with British Telecom (BT).  Wales and the West Midlands formed one BT region and at the moment provision in Herefordshire was seen as the second highest priority in that region.  However, BT was a commercial organisation and determined its investment priorities on that basis.  The Council would, however, have the opportunity to press  ...  view the full minutes text for item 69.

To receive an update on the Parish and Council by-elections undertaken by Electoral Registration Services over the last 12 months.

The Committee considered an update on the Parish and Council by-elections undertaken by Electoral Registration Services over the last 12 months.

The Assistant Chief Executive – Legal and Democratic (ACELD) presented the report.  He highlighted the improved processes and procedures that had been implemented in accordance with the action plan developed following the May 2007 elections: improved communication arrangements; training provided in preparation for the forthcoming European elections and the performance standards introduced for electoral registration officers.  The action plan produced following the May 2007 elections showing progress made against the recommendations was appended to the report.

In the course of discussion the following principal points were made:

·         Some of the arrangements for the Aylestone Ward by-election for the City Council were criticised and the hope expressed that these issues would be remedied before the next Unitary Council elections.

·         Assurance was sought that steps had been taken to ensure that the difficulties encountered with postal votes in the May 2007 elections would not be repeated.  The Electoral Registration Services Manager reported that the Council would produce the paperwork in-house for the next elections.  It was considered that the external supplier had been responsible for many of the difficulties that had been encountered in May 2007.

·         Arrangements for billing Parish and Town Councils for elections were discussed.  The ACELD said that discussions were taking place with Herefordshire Association of Local Councils (HALC) to try to simplify costings and make clearer the costs councils could expect to bear.  He added that his advice to HALC was that councils should make provision in the precept for the cost of one by-election.  It was added that costings for the various actions associated with the elections had been agreed with HALC.

·         It was requested that the electoral registration service should keep parish and town councils informed of communications it sent to the electorate.

·         A Member questioned whether the cost of writing to every elector notifying them of parish council elections was justified.

·         Performance against the performance standards for electoral registration officers was noted, highlighting the Electoral Commission’s comment on the need for written evidence to demonstrate that measures to improve performance against the standards were in place.

The Committee noted the report.

To receive a presentation by the electoral commission.

Mr Adrian Green, Regional Manager – South West gave a presentation on the Electoral Commission’s work. He described the Commission’s structure noting that its two main functions were to regulate party and election finance and set standards for well-run elections.  This included registering parties and regulating finances, reporting on the conduct of elections and referendums, setting performance standards, advising on electoral law and procedures and providing public information and awareness.

He emphasised that the Commission did not make the rules or run elections or register electors.  Its role was to issue advice and guidance and make recommendations to government on election reporting.

He commented that many of the concerns expressed in the discussion of the previous agenda item on Electoral Registration Services had been shared regionally and nationally.  The 2007 elections had been very difficult because of the introduction of new legislation shortly beforehand and in particular the collection and checking of personal identifiers.

Key findings from the 2008 local elections were that they had generally run smoothly, election rules had been unchanged from 2007, the Electoral Administration Act was bedding down in England and Wales, there were a very small number of electoral fraud incidents, more people were voting by post, the majority of Returning Officers were checking 100% of postal voting identifiers (PVIs), and there was overall elector satisfaction with voting process

Key issues included concerns, if there were a general election, over the tightness of the electoral timetable, the higher number of late registration applications, the higher number of postal votes (printing, processing, checking PVIs) with possible capacity issues for suppliers, handling postal votes on cross local authority boundaries, and more postal votes being handed into polling station – with the consequent effect on the start of the count

Recommendations to government had included that there should be  a six-month period between legislation and the date of scheduled elections, standardisation of the  electoral timetable for all elections to 25 working days, enabling  independent candidates to have equal access to the register, the mandatory 100% checking of PVIs (whilst the legal minimum was 20% the Commission firmly believed it should be 100%), greater clarity on waiver rules and provision for refreshing personal identifiers, and mandatory standards for personal identifier storage, maintenance and exchange.

He added that the Political Parties and Elections Bill contained provisions for individual registration for electors in place of household registration.

Recommendations for electoral administrators had included that they should continue to hold briefings with candidates and agents, check 100% of PVI statements, write to electors whose signature or date of birth did not match, continue to provide training for all polling station staff (to a level equivalent to that of the presiding officer, as many problems seemed to occur in the temporary absence of the presiding officer), and provide better communication at counts for candidates and agents.

He commented also on the performance standards for electoral registration officers and the draft performance standards for returning officers.

In  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71.

To consider the Committee’s work programme.

It was noted that consideration of the work programme would form part of the informal meeting on 7 April.