Agenda and minutes

The Committee is asked to elect a Chairman for 2023-24 from the committee members listed below: -

Cllr Baldwin, Cllr Boram, Cllr Britton, Cllr Burrett, Cllr Elkins, Cllr Gibson, Cllr Linehan, Cllr Lord, Cllr McDonald, Cllr McKnight, Cllr Milne,
Cllr Montyn, Cllr Sparkes, Cllr Turley, Cllr Wall.

If the election is contested, a secret ballot will be held in accordance with Standing Order 2.17.

1.1        Cllr Montyn was proposed for the position of Chairman for one year by Cllr Britton. The proposal was seconded by Cllr Baldwin. There were no other nominations.

1.2        Resolved – that Cllr Montyn is duly elected as Chairman of the Committee for a period of one year.

The Committee is asked to elect a Vice-Chairman for 2023-24 from the committee members listed below: -

Cllr Baldwin, Cllr Boram, Cllr Britton, Cllr Burrett, Cllr Elkins, Cllr Gibson, Cllr Linehan, Cllr Lord, Cllr McDonald, Cllr McKnight, Cllr Milne,

Cllr Montyn, Cllr Sparkes, Cllr Turley, Cllr Wall.

If the election is contested, a secret ballot will be held in accordance with Standing Order 2.17.

2.1        Cllr Burrett was proposed for the position of Vice-Chairman for one year by Cllr Sparkes. The proposal was seconded by Cllr Boram. There were no other nominations.

2.2        Resolved – that Cllr Burrett is duly elected as Vice-Chairman of the Committee for a period of one year.

The Committee is asked to review the membership of the Business Planning Group in view of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman appointments.

The Group should have five members including the Committee’s Chairman, Vice-Chairman, and two minority group members.

3.1        Resolved – that the Committee appoints the following members to its Business Planning Group: Cllr Montyn (Chairman), Cllr Burrett (Vice Chairman), Cllr Sparkes, Cllr Lord and Cllr Turley.

Members and officers must declare any pecuniary or personal interest in any business on the agenda.  They should also make declarations at any stage such an interest becomes apparent during the meeting.  Consideration should be given to leaving the meeting if the nature of the interest warrants it.  If in doubt please contact Democratic Services before the meeting.

4.1        In accordance with the code of conduct, the following personal interest was declared:

4.2        Cllr Boram declared a personal interest as a member of Adur District Council.

4.3        Cllr Turley declared a personal interest as a member of Worthing Borough Council.

The Committee is asked to agree the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 10 March 2023 (cream paper).

5.1        Resolved – That the Part I Minutes of the meeting held on 10 March 2023 be approved as a correct record and that they be signed by the Chairman.

The Committee is asked to agree the Part II minutes of the meeting held on 10 March 2023 (attached for Members of the Committee only, gold paper).

6.1        Resolved – That the Part II Minutes of the meeting held on 10 March 2023 be approved as a correct record and that they be signed by the Chairman.

Items not on the agenda which the Chairman of the meeting is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency by reason of special circumstances, including cases where the Committee needs to be informed of budgetary or performance issues affecting matters within its terms of reference, which have emerged since the publication of the agenda.

7.1        No urgent matters were raised.

The Committee is asked to note the responses to recommendations made at previous meetings of the Committee.

8.1        Resolved – that the Committee notes the responses to recommendations made at its 10 March 2023 meeting.

A report by the Chief Executive and Director of Finance and Support Services setting out the corporate performance, finance, workforce, risk and capital programme positions as at the end of March 2023.

The Committee is asked to examine the data and supporting commentary for the Performance and Resources report and make any recommendations for action to the relevant Cabinet Member or Scrutiny Committee.

9.1        The Committee considered a report by the Chief Executive and Director of Finance and Support Services (copy appended to the signed minutes).

9.2        Summary of responses to committee members’ questions and comments:

9.3        The Committee were advised that funding issues for Adult Social Care was a national issue, that shire counties were less well funded per head of population than urban areas, and that it also likely to cost more to deliver services in a more rural community.  Adult and children’s social care is a key priority where a significant amount of the County Council’s funding is allocated.  Funding levels were raised by the Leader at a meeting on government funding with the Secretary of State, through the County Council via the Local Government Association, Association of Directors of Social Services, and many other professional bodies.  The first request is to have funding evenly shared across authorities to reflect need. 

9.4        A member asked if the results of the 2021 census, which were showing a change of profile of population in the county due to an increase in the number of older residents, were taken into account for funding allocations? The Committee were advised that the Government use a template of needs but that it had not been reviewed for a long time.  It was anticipated that the awaited review of funding and Business Rates Retention review would not happen until the next parliament, probably late 2024 at the earliest.

9.5        Budget underspends, due to staff vacancies, were being partly used to offset overspends.  Action: The Committee asked for further information on underspends on staffing costs to be reported in the next Performance and Resources report.

9.6        Members acknowledged that inflation rates were still high and were advised that part of the budget process for 2024-25 would be to consider the figure needed for the inflation reserve.  Inflation is built into the budgets for Capital Programme schemes so can be contained in most scheme budgets and therefore the overspend has not been as high as expected.

9.7        The Government is reviewing Local Enterprise Partnerships as they have signalled that they do not see them running beyond April 2024.  The services are expected to move to local authorities at county level, and the County Council is seeking advice on what that might look like and what funding might be available, and awaits the Government’s final conclusions.

9.8        A member asked whether the proposed target for the new KPI on percentage of adults with learning disability living in settled accommodation, was sufficiently challenging. Should the target be higher to drive performance and it was explained that the target was more about achievability, with a 5% rise equalling about 150 people. 

9.9        Members heard that the increase in Doubtful Debt Provision (DDP) had mainly been caused by the reduction in the Minimum Income Guarantee used in adult social care assessments leading to a delay in assessments.  An action plan was now in place to address the backlog of assessments.  Much  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The Committee is asked to review the Scrutiny Annual Report which summarises the main outcomes of scrutiny, best practice, lessons learnt, and any development issues identified during 2022/23.

10.1     The Committee considered a report by the Director of Law and Assurance (copy appended to the signed minutes).

10.2     Summary of responses to committee members’ questions and comments:

10.3     Members acknowledged the large amount of work that had been covered by the scrutiny committees over the last year.  The inter-relationship between the Regulation, Audit and Accounts Committee and the scrutiny committees should be explored going forwards.

10.4     It was felt the paragraph on the liaison with Surrey County Council needed fleshing out more and a reference to hosting the Surrey Councillors in return should be added.  A meeting of officers, after the return visits has taken place, was planned to discuss findings and lessons learned.  This would be reported in the 2023-24 annual scrutiny report.

10.5     Members agreed the scrutiny protocol was working well, informal briefings were helpful and well attended and that the annual scrutiny report, with the amendments in para 10.4, should be presented to County Council in July for discussion.

10.6     Resolved – that the Committee:

1.   Recognises the importance of informal briefings to support the work of scrutiny.

2.   Considers the links between Performance and Finance Scrutiny Committee and Regulation, Audit and Accounts Committee should be explored.

3.   Welcomes and supports the Executive Scrutiny Protocol.

4.   Supports the report being presented to County Council in July 2023.

5.   Welcomes the visits to Surrey County Council and looks forward to the return visits and reflections on lessons learnt.

There have been no requests for call-in to the scrutiny committee within its constitutional remit since the date of the last meeting.  The Director of Law and Assurance will report any requests since the publication of the agenda papers.

11.1     There had been no request for call-in to the Scrutiny Committee within its constitutional remit since the date of the last meeting.

The Committee is asked to review its current draft work programme taking into account the scrutiny checklist (Appendix A) and highlight any further possible items for future scrutiny.

If any member puts forward such an item, the Committee’s role at this meeting is to assess, briefly, whether to refer the matter to its Business Planning Group to consider in detail.

The Committee is also asked to review the Forward Plan of Key Decisions (Appendix B) and consider whether it wishes to enquire about any of the forthcoming decisions within its portfolio.

12.1     Resolved – that the Committee notes the Work Programme.

The next meeting of the Committee will be at 10.30am on 7 September 2023 at County Hall, Chichester.  Probable agenda items include: -

·         End of June 2023 (Quarter 1) Quarterly Performance and Resources Report

·         IT Policy and Digitisation Strategy

·         Medium Term Financial Strategy

·         Skills and Employment

·         Pre-decision scrutiny – Centenary House Durrington and the Property Joint Venture

Any member wishing to place an item on the agenda for the meeting must notify the Director of Law and Assurance by 22 August 2023.

13.1     The next meeting of the Committee will be held on 7 September 2023 at 10.30 am at County Hall, Chichester.