Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting - online. View directions

Contact: Carol Tague  Email: carol.tague@kirklees.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

79.

Membership of Committee

To receive apologies for absence of Members who are unable to attend the meeting.

Minutes:

All members of the Committee were present.

80.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 167 KB

To approve the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 9 June 2020

Minutes:

The minutes of the Committee meeting held on 9 June 2020 were agreed as a correct record.

 

With regards to Item 74 (Request to Re-establish and Ad-Hoc Scrutiny Panel) it was noted that an informal OSMC meeting has been arranged on 29 September at 1000 am to consider a report of the Ad Hoc - Future arrangements for the Council’s Residential Housing Stock prior to Cabinet.

 

81.

Interests pdf icon PDF 20 KB

The Councillors will be asked to say if there are any items on the Agenda in which they have disclosable pecuniary interests, which would prevent them from participating in any discussion of the items or participating in any vote upon the items, or any other interests.

Minutes:

No interests were declared.

82.

Admission of the Public

Most debates take place in public. This only changes when there is a need to consider certain issues, for instance, commercially sensitive information or details concerning an individual. You will be told at this point whether there are any items on the Agenda which are to be discussed in private.

Minutes:

All items were considered in public session.

83.

Deputations/Petitions

The Committee will receive any petitions and hear any deputations from members of the public. A deputation is where up to five people can attend the meeting and make a presentation on some particular issue of concern. A member of the public can also hand in a petition at the meeting but that petition should relate to something on which the body has powers and responsibilities.

 

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10 (2), Members of the Public should provide at least 24 hours’ notice of presenting a deputation.

Minutes:

No deputations or petitions were received.

84.

Public Question Time

Due to current covid-19 restrictions, members of the public may submit written questions to the Committee. 

 

Questions should be emailed toexecutive.governance@kirklees.gov.uk no later than 1000 am on 19 August June 2020.

 

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 51(10) each person may submit a maximum of 4 written questions. 

 

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11(5), the period allowed for the asking and answering of public questions will not exceed 15 minutes. 

 

Minutes:

There were no public questions received.

85.

Our Council Plan pdf icon PDF 247 KB

The Committee will consider a report which provides information on the development of Our Council Plan, and how it builds on previous approaches.   The final Plan will be considered for sign off by Council in October 2020.  The report also provides an update on the Council’s approach to communication in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Contact:

 

·               Rachel Spencer Henshall – Strategic Director, Corporate Strategy Commissioning and Public Health

·               Kate McNicholas, Head of Policy, Partnerships and Corporate Planning

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report which provided information on the development of Our Council Plan, and how it built on previous approaches.  The report also provided an update on the Council’s approach to communication in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Rachel Spencer Henshall (Strategic Director, Corporate Strategy Commissioning and Public Health), Kate McNicholas (Head of Policy, Partnerships and Corporate Planning) and Marcus Bonnell (Head of Strategic Communications) were in attendance for the item.

 

The Committee were advised that the original intention had been to carry out substantial review to establish a 3 year Council Plan.  However, given the context in which the Council was now operating, it had been agreed to proceed with a 1 year extension of the existing Corporate Plan, rather than carrying out a detailed piece of work at this point in time.  This extension would focus on the consolidation of response and recovery work and play in the learning to date regarding the values of the organisation.  Follow up work would be carried out next year to consolidate those values and embed within the organisation.

 

The Plan would continue to be structured around the 7 shared outcomes and a commitment to People, Partners and Place. 

 

In terms of the reporting flightpath, it was noted that the Council Plan and associated Recovery Plan would be considered at the Corporate Scrutiny Panel on 10 September, Cabinet on 22 September and Council on 21 October 2020.

 

A clear commitment to tackling inequalities was set out within the Recovery Plan and this would be accompanied by a Tackling Inequalities Action Plan, which would set out specific actions.  As part of this coherent approach to planning, the refreshed People Strategy would also be considered at the same time.

 

Key communication approaches taken through the pandemic were outlined and it was noted that a new Communications Strategy was at the early stages of development and would be aligned to the Council Plan.

 

The Committee asked a number of questions and a summary of responses is noted below:-

 

-        The Committee asked that the phase title ‘Forever Kirklees’ be changed.

 

-        Resilience, both in terms of personal, community and organisational, was critical and reference to this would be strengthened within the report

 

-        Funding made available to improve cycling should be dedicated to longer term projects, such as greenways, rather than short term fixes.

 

-        In terms of improving outcomes for children, the positive impact of food vouchers for children on free school meals was highlighted as was the need for an examination of connectivity and digital exclusion.  It was noted that this would form part of the Inequalities Action Plan moving forward.

 

-        Communications had improved and the internal communications were welcomed. Recent web posts were clearer and information regarding Covid-19 data was more accessible.  In terms of communication more generally, it was suggested that there should be a move from internal/external language with just one clear way of communication.

 

-        The priority being given to tackling inequalities was welcomed, but  ...  view the full minutes text for item 85.

86.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 296 KB

To consider items for inclusion in the Scrutiny Work Programme

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The work programmes for the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committees and Scrutiny Panels were noted.

 

The Committee were informed that the Place Based Working Group had received an update on the place based approach during Covid-19.  The Group were reassessing priorities in the light of this, but it was intended that areas for consideration would include discussion with the Place leads and an examination of place based partnerships.

 

87.

Any Other Business

Minutes:

The Chair reported that an urgent item in relation to the purchase of the George Hotel had been taken to Cabinet on 16 June 2020.  It was agreed that the item would be exempt from call-in, but on the proviso that relevant information be taken to the Economy and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Panel at the earliest opportunity and the report submitted to Cabinet should reflect that.  It was confirmed that the item had been considered by the Panel on 9 July 2020.

 

88.

Date of Next Meeting

29 October 2020 at 1400

Minutes:

It was noted that there would be an informal meeting of the Committee on 29 September at 1000 and the next public meeting would be on 29 October 2020 at 1400.