Council and councillors

To receive any apologies from Members.

Apologies were received from Councillors Cross, Fox, and Mann.

To confirm the record of the meeting of the Growth, Infrastructure and Resources Scrutiny Panel held on 15 November 2018 and the Special Growth, Infrastructure and Resources Budget Scrutiny Panel on 24 January 2019 (previously circulated).

The minutes of the Growth, Infrastructure and Resources Scrutiny Panel held on 15 November 2018 and the Special Growth, Infrastructure and Resources Scrutiny Panel on 24 January 2019 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

In accordance with the Regulations, Members are invited to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have and the nature of those interests in respect of items on this Agenda and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Act 1992 applies to them.

No declarations of interest had been received.

To receive any petitions, deputations and questions received from Members of the Public in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 217.

The total time allowed for this item shall be 30 minutes. Petitions, declarations and questions shall be dealt with in the order in which they are received. Questions may also be submitted at short notice by giving a written copy to the Committee Administrator 15 minutes before the start of the meeting.

The total time allowed for questions at short notice is 15 minutes of the total time for 30 minutes. Any petitions, deputations and questions that have been submitted with prior formal notice will take precedence over questions submitted at short notice. Any questions that are not considered within the time limit shall receive a written response after the meeting and be the subject of a report to the next meeting.

No petitions, deputations or questions had been received.

To consider any questions with notice from Members received in accordance with the provisions of Procedure rule No. 219 and No. 219A.

No questions with notice had been received from Members.

To consider any Notices of Motion from Members submitted in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule No. 220.

No notices of motion had been received from Members.

To consider any matter referred to the Panel for a decision in relation to call in of a decision in accordance with Procedure Rule 206.

No matter had been referred to the Panel for a decision in relation to a call-in of a decision in accordance with Procedure Rule 206.

To receive Report No. 45/2019 from the Strategic Director for Resources.

Report No. 45/2019 was received from the Strategic Director for Resources.

Mr Hemsley, Leader and Portfolio Holder for Rutland One Public Estate & Growth, Tourism & Economic Development, Resources (not Finance or Communications), introduced the report, the purpose of which was to ask Members to review the proposals for the induction and ongoing development plan and provide feedback and suggestions for improvement.

During discussion the following points were noted:

      i.        It was suggested that Member and staff relations should be included within the induction, including detail of the best way to obtain guidance and whether this should be sought from officers or directors.

    ii.        It was felt by the Panel that Scrutiny training, how to be an effective Ward Councillor, and Finance should be mandatory training for all members.

   iii.        Miss Waller felt there needed to be more flexibility with the technology on offer for Councillors as there was no mention of a desktop computer being available as she had been given one by the Council. Miss Waller also suggested it would be useful to give Members a demonstration of how to use IT equipment so they could get a better idea of what they preferred.

   iv.        It was stated by Members of the Panel that they would often initially read the reports on their tablet and would then make notes on a hardcopy. Mr Hemsley suggested Members use the Mod.Gov application which enables users to annotate and bookmark reports. Training would be available to Members on the application.

    v.        While Members could be encouraged to go paperless, Miss Waller stated it needed to be accepted that people would ultimately work in the way most comfortable to them.

   vi.        Members welcomed the idea of having role profiles for all key Councillor Roles. Other role profiles suggested included Group Leaders and Deputy Chairs.

  vii.        Miss Waller stated that a mentoring system for new Members needed to be set up thoughtfully and professionally with a structure.

viii.        Miss Waller mentioned she was not completely clear how to sign up to external training as it seemed old fashioned to ask the Leader of the Council if they could attend training.

   ix.        Mr Baines was not keen on the idea of having a short training session before committee meetings as it would mean there was potential for Members to be at a meeting for over 3 hours causing the meeting and Members to be less efficient. Miss Waller stated however that she and other Members felt the training received before every other Audit and Risk Committee was very useful and could be applied to other committees. The training received before the meetings was tailored to the items being discussed at that meeting and in turn make the meeting more efficient.

    x.        Mr Bird suggested it would be useful to have dry runs of committees to explain to Members how the meetings were run.

   xi.        Miss Waller suggested that Member Development should be a part of the Constitution Review Working Group.

  xii.        Miss Waller suggested information regarding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 613.

To receive Report No. 10/2019 from the Strategic Director for Resources.

1.    The above report is due to be presented at Cabinet on 19 February 2019.

2.    Scrutiny has requested this report so that it can review and comment on proposals before the Cabinet meeting so as to inform the decision making process.

3.    Scrutiny is asked to consider the report and provide feedback to the

Portfolio Holder and Director

(Report circulated under separate cover)

Report No. 10/2019 was received from the Strategic Director for Resources.

Mr Brown, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Planning, environment, Property and Finance, introduced the report, the purpose of which was to inform Members of the full year forecast position as at Quarter 3 for 2018/19 and to highlight issues that may impact on the Medium Term Financial Plan to enable them to maintain sound financial management of the Council’s operations.

During discussion the following points were noted:

      i.        Appendix B of the report did not include information regarding adverse variances over £25k for Development Control but this would be added to the Cabinet report and distributed to Members.

    ii.        There was a loss of planning income due to a reduction in number and complexity of planning applications.

   iii.        Receipt of £148k towards debt outstanding from the East Leicestershire and Rutland Clinical Commissioning Group was welcomed by the Panel.

   iv.        New playground developments were the responsibility of the developers. The Council took over responsibility at a later stage. Villages had the responsibility of their playgrounds whilst the playgrounds in towns were the County Council’s responsibility rather than the Town Council.

To receive Report No. 25/2019 from the Strategic Director for Resources, and to receive a presentation from Carol Snell, Head of Human Resources.

Report No. 25/2019 was received from the Strategic Director for Resources.

Mr Della Rocca, Strategic Director for Resources, introduced the report, the purpose of which was to advise the Panel of the Council’s approach to recruitment and retention to ensure the Council effectively managed any risks in vacancy management.

Miss Snell, Head of Human Resources, provided the Panel with a demonstration to the Panel of the Council’s recently implemented Applicant Tracking System.

During discussion the following points were noted:

      i.        Mr Baines suggested that offering career paths would encourage the younger generation to stay in Rutland. Miss Snell stated that relationships were progressing with universities (e.g. University of Lincoln regarding social care). Recent work had also been done with local schools which was generating interest.

    ii.        With the new Applicant Tracking System it was now possible to view the level of interest in a role, i.e. how many people have looked at a job advert and then also the number of individuals who start an application and the numbers who submit an application.

   iii.        The Chair noted that the new tracking system meant those that were not IT literate may not be able to fill out an application. Miss Snell stated that alternatives were still available. There had so far not been any feedback to say people could not follow the new process, and the number of handwritten applications received in the older system were limited.

   iv.        Miss Snell would test the software to see if it could accommodate for those with eyesight difficulties.

RESOLVED

That the Panel NOTED the report.

To consider the current Forward Plan and identify any relevant items for inclusion in the Growth, Infrastructure and Resources Scrutiny Panel Annual Work Plan, or to request further information.

Copies of the Forward Plan and Work Plan will be available at the meeting, and can be found on the website using the following link:

https://rutlandcounty.moderngov.co.uk/mgListPlans.aspx?RPId=133&RD=0

Due to the next Growth, Infrastructure and Resources Scrutiny Panel would take place during Purdah, the agenda items going forward to the Panel would be considered carefully, and would only be updates rather than items for a decision.

To receive any other items of urgent business which have been previously notified to the person presiding.

No other urgent business was received.

Thursday 28 March 2019 at 7pm

Thursday 28 March 2019 at 7pm