Agenda and minutes

To note any declarations of interest from the Councillors.  They are asked to indicate the relevant agenda item, the nature of the interest and in particular whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest.

Any declarations of interest made at the meeting which is not on the register of interests should be notified to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion.

RESOLVED; that consideration for the minutes from 24th July 17 be deferred until the meeting on 20th September 17.

To note any announcements from the Chair

The Chair advised that as the Resources Scrutiny Commission had not yet met in 2017/18 the Vice Chair for that body had not been elected asking the Commission to note that it was important that this position be filled due to the potential role for Scrutiny Chairs and Vice Chairs on leading future task and finish groups. The Overview and Scrutiny Management Board (OSM) unanimously agreed to appoint Councillor Stephen Clarke to the position with immediate effect (moved by Councillor Gollop and seconded by Councillor Goulandris).

The Board were then advised that feedback had been provided from Members regarding the length of previous meetings. As a result Councillor Gollop confirmed he would try to keep the meeting to time, if possible.

RESOLVED; that Councillor Stephen Clarke be elected as a Scrutiny Vice-Chair

Up to 30 minutes is allowed for this item

Any member of the public or Councillor may participate in Public Forum.  The detailed arrangements for so doing are set out in the Public Information Sheet at the back of this agenda.  Public Forum items should be emailed to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk and please note that the following deadlines will apply in relation to this meeting:-

Questions - Written questions must be received 3 clear working days prior to the meeting.  For this meeting, this means that your question(s) must be received in this office at the latest by 5 pm on *name deadline date*

Petitions and Statements - Petitions and statements must be received on the working day prior to the meeting.  For this meeting this means that your submission must be received in this office at the latest by 12.00 noon on *name deadline date*.

The Board received one public forum statement in relation to Metrobus, a copy of which can be found in the Minute Book.

Members noted that the statement had also been received by the Place Scrutiny Commission and commented that a reply to the resident had been provided by the Mayor. Some Members were concerned that the Mayor’s response did contain sufficient information and suggested that the current public forum arrangements did not enable enough opportunities for the public to engage.

Members discussed the need to work more closely with Cabinet Member to resolve ward issues where appropriate since not all issues needed to route through scrutiny. It was noted that in most cases the Cabinet Members were happy to engage with other Members on matters relating to their portfolios. Alternatively, Members could use the OSM Mayoral Question Time to direct queries to the Mayor if that was felt a more suitable avenue.

Members went on to discuss Mayoral Question Time generally, noting that to date it had not been fully utilised and often presented a missed opportunity. The Board were advised that one of the changes being put forward as part of the Constitutional review was that Mayoral Question Time be replaced with a less formal conversation between OSM and the Mayor but that in the meantime, until any such changes had been approved, the arrangements could be implemented informally if all parties were in agreement.

The work programme must evolve and not be static. Members (and officers) should highlight topics that they have concerns about so that they can be considered.

 It was noted that the next approach to setting the work programme should be more scientific and should involve the whole member cohort.

 One member expressed concern about the limiting of scrutiny activity, the risk of overload on OSM and the decision making being within the OSMB committee. The chair reminded the committee about the earlier decision to move forward with the trial.

Scrutiny Work Programme – Task and Finish Updates (verbal)

As not all groups had commenced only a small number had updates at this time.

MTFP

 The scoping group has met three times and feel that it has been a very meaningful engagement on the MTFP. Members would like to thank the officers for their support in engaging with this.

 It was noted that going forward this would be a significant area of work.

Council Assets

 The council’s current policy direction is not clear in this area and this is a very live issue given our budget position. A policy review is required of this area and members are encouraged to be involved in this and work quickly.

Libraries

 Information is being chased from officers and this is required in order to progress.

To note the work programme and members to provide a verbal update on the work to date.