Apologies had been received from Councillors CM Bartrum, FM Norman, J Stone and P J Watts.

8              NOTICES OF MOTION UNDER STANDING ORDERS

Councillor H Bramer, Personal

10           REVISED CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S SCHEME OF DELEGATION

Councillor RJ Phillips, Personal, as member of the National Joint Council.

11           SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITY ALLOWANCES

Councillor A Seldon, Personal

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 27 May 2011.

The Chairman, in her announcements informed Council that:

·       On 15 June she had jointly hosted with HM Lord-Lieutenant the Queens Award for Voluntary Service Awards Giving and Tea Party in the Council Chamber at Brockington. Herefordshire had two winners, Bromyard Light Brigade and Yarpole Community Shop.

·       On Monday 20 June 2011 she had hosted on behalf of the Council the Armed Forces Day Flag Raising Ceremony in the lead up to Armed Forces Day itself. The ceremony was attended by HM Lord-Lieutenant, the High Sheriff of Herefordshire, the Deputy Mayor of Hereford and representatives of all three Forces, the Royal British Legion, Market Town Mayors and our own Local Councillors.

·       On Wednesday 22 June 2011 the new Livestock Market held their first sale day, which had been well attended.

·       Members were reminded that nominations for the Pride of Herefordshire Awards had been requested.  The closing date for nominations was the 27 July 2011.

Two notices of motion have been submitted for consideration by Council.  The first notice of motion was submitted by Councillors: MAF Hubbard, AN Bridges, SM Michael, JD Woodward C Nicholls, MD Lloyd-Hayes, GA Powell, J Hardwick, AJ Hempton-Smith, CNH Attwood, J Knipe, A Seldon, GR Swinford, WLS Bowen, SJ Robertson, EPJ Harvey, FM Norman, JLV Kenyon, RI Matthews, R Preece and PJ Edwards.

The second notice of motion was submitted by Councillors: RI Matthews, MAF Hubbard, TM James, SJ Robertson, SJ Hempton-Smith, and A Seldon.

FIRST NOTICE OF MOTION

This Council notes:

1            The introduction of the new single Overview and Scrutiny Committee agreed at Annual Council meeting in May 2011.

2            The potential for improved policy development enshrined in the new system.

3            The “leaner meaner” nature of the proposed system, the potential savings and efficiencies the new system could produce.

4            The recommendation that any changes to scrutiny should be phased contained in the Review of the Overview and Scrutiny Function in Herefordshire Council (Lamb & Davis Dec 2008) and the lack of such phasing in the introduction of the new system by decision of Council at its annual meeting.

5            The current public perception, evidenced in the local press, that good practice is not being followed by having a member of the administration Chair the committee.

This Council resolves to offer the Chairmanship of Overview and Scrutiny Committee to an opposition member, restoring public confidence in the new scrutiny system.

SECOND NOTICE OF MOTION

This council notes that the economic situation is showing little sign of sustained recovery.  Budgets in all areas are under great pressure, and with the knowledge that there will be a further £6,000,000 cut in Government funding from 2012-2013, further pressure is anticipated.  This council therefore has no option but to make savings in order to protect frontline services, in particular where it affects the elderly and vulnerable generally.

This council therefore moves that an urgent meeting is arranged with the Chief Executive and Group Leaders to consider the possibility of a voluntary salary reduction of senior members of staff.  This would be in line with a number of local authorities who have recently implemented similar arrangements and would also assure the public that we are looking at all options during these challenging financial times.

Two notices of motion were submitted for consideration by Council.  The first notice of motion was submitted by Councillors: MAF Hubbard, AN Bridges, SM Michael, JD Woodward C Nicholls, MD Lloyd-Hayes, GA Powell, J Hardwick, AJ Hempton-Smith, CNH Attwood, J Knipe, A Seldon, GR Swinford, WLS Bowen, SJ Robertson, EPJ Harvey, FM Norman, JLV Kenyon, RI Matthews, R Preece and PJ Edwards.

The second notice of motion was submitted by Councillors: RI Matthews, MAF Hubbard, TM James, SJ Robertson, SJ Hempton-Smith, and A Seldon.

FIRST NOTICE OF MOTION

 This Council notes:

1            The introduction of the new single Overview and Scrutiny Committee agreed at Annual Council meeting in May 2011.

2            The potential for improved policy development enshrined in the new system.

3            The “leaner meaner” nature of the proposed system, the potential savings and efficiencies the new system could produce.

4            The recommendation that any changes to scrutiny should be phased contained in the Review of the Overview and Scrutiny Function in Herefordshire Council (Lamb & Davis Dec 2008) and the lack of such phasing in the introduction of the new system by decision of Council at its annual meeting.

5            The current public perception, evidenced in the local press, that good practice is not being followed by having a member of the administration Chair the committee.

This Council resolves to offer the Chairmanship of Overview and Scrutiny Committee to an opposition member, restoring public confidence in the new scrutiny system.

Councillor E Harvey proposed the Motion, and made the following points:

• That the Motion was not to be taken as a reflection of the competence of the present Chairman, but from best practice and the need for a pragmatic political approach to scrutiny. 
• Concerns had been raised at 27 May Council about the proposed plans for a single scrutiny committee,
• It was recognised that there was potential for change at Overview and Scrutiny in order that it was more effective, however, it was felt that proposals had been voted through with a slim majority and in the interests of the County it was important to have public support for the proposals. 
• It had been stated that the changes represented a 50% saving over the cost of the previous system, but there had been no clarity as to where these funds would come from. 
• With this system, there was a 12 month lead time before any impact might be felt on the operations of the council
• There was concern that in the Lamb and Davis Report on the Overview and Scrutiny function (2008), it had been suggested that any changes to the system should be phased in.  This had not taken place, and it was suggested that not more than one variable should be changed at any one time. 
• The new system was being brought in without allowing Officers time to understand how it would work.

Councillor MAF Hubbard seconded the motion.

In discussion, the following points were made:

• A Member was surprised by the Motion before  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor J Jarvis, presented his report to Council.

In highlighting aspects of the report, the Leader mentioned two recent achievements for Herefordshire:

·       The Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) had selected Herefordshire’s Rotherwas based bid for enterprise zone status.  The proposal had been jointly developed by the Herefordshire Business Board and Herefordshire Council, had been submitted to Government for consideration.

·       The County had secured £4.9m Government funding from the Local Sustainable Transport Fund.  Funding would support a range of activities within the County.

In the ensuing discussion the following points were raised:

·       A Member expressed concern that the application for the Sustainable Transport Fund monies lacked imagination and had been submitted with no consultation with local Members.  The leader undertook to discuss this matter further with them.

·       That it appeared that the Council budget for 2010/11 had only been balanced by the use of extensive borrowing.

The Cabinet Member, Enterprise and Culture replied that the budget had been balanced by the use of earmarked reserves that had been put aside for that purpose.  An additional £500k had been spent on winter maintenance after a particularly hard winter and £4m had been allocated to the Social Care budget in order to address issues around mental health and care for the elderly.  Recovery budgets had been put in place in order to balance the other budgets.

He pointed out that the public sector operated by borrowing and that 20% of the borrowing was prudential, underwritten by the tax payer.  All Unitary Authorities would carry levels of debt.  The measures that had been taken should be seen against the requirement for £10.3m in cuts that had been imposed on the Council in 2010/11, together with an additional £6m in 2012.

·       In reply to a Member’s question, the Leader said that the Local Enterprise Partnership bid had made it into the last 29 in the country, and that the Defence Industries in the county had been considered as part of the bid.

·       The Leader stated that Hereford needed a bypass of some description in order to alleviate traffic congestion, but that the statement in his report did not prejudge the issue, pre-empt where a road would be sited, or how it would be utilised.  A Members’ workshop on the matter would be held on the matter in August.

·       That the main objective with the new scrutiny model was to get Members working on policy through Task and Finish Groups.  The structure would be reviewed in 12 months time, and reconsidered if it had not delivered the required outcomes.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

To note the revised Chief Executive’s Scheme of Delegation.

To consider a report on the payment of special responsibility allowances to Vice-Chairmen of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Council considered a report on the payment of special responsibility allowances to Vice-Chairmen of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Councillor MAF Hubbard proposed that an additional recommendation be included, to read: That 50% of the annual savings made from the reduction in expenditure on Special Responsibility Allowances allocated to the Scrutiny process be set aside to be used as a discrete budget accessed by Chairman of Task & Finish Groups to cover the expenses of expert witnesses for particular reviews.

Councillor A Seldon seconded the amendment.

The Leader said that he agreed with the sentiments of the amendment, but that it was not possible to provide funding from this source for technical reasons.   He undertook to find funding for expert witnesses from other sources, and would discuss the matter further with the Chief Executive.

RESOLVED: 

THAT special responsibility allowances be payable as follows:

                        -     to the Vice-Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee with responsibility for Health and Wellbeing the sum of £4,000 per annum;

-     to all other such Vice-Chairmen the sum of £3,500 per annum

To consider revisions to the Constitution as a consequence of Council’s adoption of a new scrutiny model.

Please note that the Council may be asked under this item to approve alternative arrangements to strict political proportionality for appointments to Committees and other bodies in accordance with Regulation 20 of the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990.

Council considered a paper on revisions to the Constitution as a consequence of Council’s adoption of a new scrutiny model.

In discussion, the following points were raised:

·       A Member questioned the Call in provision at section 4.5.16.3, which limited Call-in to members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  He asked that the provision be reconsidered in order to allow all Members to have the opportunity to call in decisions.  The Leader replied this suggestion would be given further consideration outside of the Council meeting.

·       A Member questioned the provision at section 4.5.7.1 that allowed for the Chairman to cancel or postpone meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee if there was no business to be conducted.  He said that, by its very nature, there would always be business to be conducted by the Committee, and asked that this provision be removed.

·       A Member asked that section 4.5.13.4 be amended to read ‘if a Cabinet Member wishes to extended the deadline a report will be made to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee explaining why this is considered necessary.’

The Leader thanked Members for their comments, and said that they would be given further consideration outside of the Council meeting.

RESOLVED

            THAT:

(a)              the revisions to the Constitution as set out in the appendix to this report be approved;

(b)             the proportionality rules be suspended for Scrutiny Task and Finish Groups, on condition that no Task and Finish Group will consist solely of Members of one Political Group and the aim should be to secure cross-party engagement; and

(c)             the Monitoring Officer be authorised to make any further consequential amendments to the Constitution.

To receive the report and to consider any recommendations to Council arising from the meeting held on 15 July 2011.

To receive the report of the meeting of the West Mercia Police Authority held on 14 and 28 June 2011.

To receive the report of the meetings of the Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Authority held on 22 June 2011.