Agenda and minutes

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Items
No. Item

24.

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

 

25.

EMERGENCY EVACUATION PROCEDURE

The Chair will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out under Note 6.

 

Minutes:

The Chairman drew attention to the emergency evacuation procedure.

 

26.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS

Minutes:

Councillor Furse gave his apologies and was substituted by Councillor Richard Samuel.

27.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

Minutes:

Councillor Charles Gerrish, Cabinet Member for Finance and Efficiency declared an interest in Item 8 ‘Protocol on Council Company Governance’ as Chair of the Board of ADL (Council Company).

28.

TO ANNOUNCE ANY URGENT BUSINESS AGREED BY THE CHAIRMAN

Minutes:

There was none.

29.

ITEMS FROM THE PUBLIC OR COUNCILLORS - TO RECEIVE DEPUTATIONS, STATEMENTS, PETITIONS OR QUESTIONS RELATING TO THE BUSINESS OF THIS MEETING

At the time of publication no notifications had been received.

 

Minutes:

There were none.

30.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 81 KB

Minutes:

The Panel confirmed the minutes of the previous meeting as a true record and they were duly signed by the Chair.

31.

Protocol on Council Company Governance pdf icon PDF 73 KB

A report on ‘Council Company Governance Update’ is attached. There will also be a presentation at the meeting.

 

Please note this report is also on the agenda for the 8th November Council meeting. 

 

Minutes:

Maria Lucas, Director of Legal and Democratic Services, gave a presentation to the Panel on ‘Company Governance’ which covered the following points:

 

·  Overview

·  Background

·  Recommendations from EY

·  Protocol on Company Governance

·  Group Structure

·  2017 Council Report resolutions

·  Report for Council

·  Scrutiny

 

Panel members asked the following questions and made the following points:

 

Councillor Samuel asked if Group Leaders (referred to in Appendix E) would be able to share information from their meeting with the group. He explained that this could cause a disconnect between Groups Leaders and their group which was not acceptable. The officer explained there would be a duty of confidentiality and that information on decisions could be accessed by members of the group via the weekly list which the Group Leader could draw attention to. Councillor Gerrish, Cabinet Member for Finance and Efficiency, explained that he understood the concern but that a balance must be sought as this would be potentially commercially sensitive information so details could not be widely shared.

 

Councillor Rayment stated that he wanted to see more robust scrutiny and suggested that the Group Leaders meeting be replaced with this Panel or a duplicate as Group Leaders may not be the right people to scrutinise proposals. The Panel includes opposition members and back bench members. The officer responded that the report presents a working model and all authorities are learning on this issue. She explained that the Panel will have 6 monthly performance reports and could also ask questions through the Weekly List process. Councillor Rayment stated that he wanted pre decision scrutiny.

 

Councillor O Brien stated that pre decision scrutiny would be logistically difficult to arrange. She stated that she agreed that the Group Leaders may not be the best people to scrutinize but that she was reassured that the 151 officer and Monitoring Officer would also be there to advise. She suggested that confidential minutes should be taken and that the Panel should see reports every 3 months rather than every 6 months.

 

Councillor Gerrish, Cabinet Member for Finance and Efficiency, explained that there would be occasions where the Panel could consider a business case of a proposal and this would be in the cases where ADL also had a planning application to be considered. A planning application can take 6-8 weeks so a meeting of this Panel could be called to consider the business case. He did add that where ADL want to acquire a site not in the Council ownership and a rapid decision is needed, this would have to be done under the urgent process. Councillor Davis agreed that this is a good way forward.

 

Councillor Becker stated that he had strong misgivings about a Panel discussing commercial issues as the item may become political. Councillor Gerrish explained that the difference between this Council and others is that the Council own ADL and provide funding which is public money so it would be right for the Council to take an interest in how the Company operates. Councillor Gerrish stated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

32.

Cabinet Member update

The Cabinet Member will update the Panel on any relevant issues. Panel members may ask questions on the update provided.

 

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Efficiency, Councillor Charles Gerrish updated the Panel on a paper ‘Medium Term Financial Strategy’ that was considered by the Cabinet at its meeting on 31st October 2018. He explained that the report presented a professional assessment of the Council’s financial challenges over the next 5 years.

 

33.

Panel Workplan pdf icon PDF 108 KB

This report presents the latest workplan for the Panel. Any suggestions for further items or amendments to the current programme will be logged and scheduled in consultation with the Panel’s Chair and supporting officers.

Minutes:

The Panel noted the workplan with the following amendments:

 

·  28th November 2018 – items ‘Member Development Programme’ and ‘Demonstration of Council Website’ be withdrawn from the workplan and sent to Councillors outside of the meeting. This allows more time at the meeting to discuss the remaining items.