Agenda and minutes

The Committee is asked to note any apologies for absence and substitutions received from Members.

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillor Coley (with no substitute)

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee, held on 19 March 2018

The minutes of the final meeting of the Community Leadership and Partnerships Committee held on 19 March 2018 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Personal Interest, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest made on this occasion.

To report to the Committee a motion submitted by Councillor Pemberton to the meeting of the Council held on 15 May 2018 relating to the flying of the national English flag at the Town Hall on St George’s Day and which was referred to the Community Leadership Overview and Scrutiny Committee by the Chairman of the Council for consideration and report, in accordance with the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 12.4.

The Committee recalled that, at the meeting of the Council held on 15 May 2018, the following motion had been moved by Councillor Pemberton and seconded by Councillor Porter and, in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.4, had stood referred to the Cabinet for consideration and report:

“That this Council approves that, in addition to Armed Forces Day, Merchant Navy Day and Commonwealth Day, St George’s Day be added as a flag raising day at the Town Hall and that the national flag of England be flown on that day.”

Members were informed that the Council currently raised flags for Armed Forces Day, Merchant Navy Day and Commonwealth Day. The Council was invited by the Ministry of Defence, Seafarers UK and The Commonwealth Pageantmaster respectively each year to raise those flags and the Council then accepted those invitations to take part in those nationwide events. At present the Council did not raise any flags based on a local policy decision so consideration could need to be given by the Committee to the parameters of local flag raising when considering the motion.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 12.5, Councillor Pemberton explained the motion.

Having debated and discussed the motion at length, it was resolved that the Committee supported the motion with an amendment. It was therefore:-

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL that Councillor Pemberton’s motion be amended as follows:-

“That this Council approves that, in addition to Armed Forces Day, Merchant Navy Day and Commonwealth Day, St George’s Day be added as a flag raising day at the Town Hall and that the national flag of England be flown on that day subject to a protocol being prepared by officers and agreed by Council and that the protocol includes the ability to fly more than one flag on any one day.”

To agree the topics, scope and membership of Task and Finish Groups for the Committee for 2018/19 and to agree any changes to the Work Programme for 2018/19.

The Committee had before it a report of the Head of Leadership Support and Community (A.2) which sought its agreement with regard to the topics, scope and membership of Task and Finish Groups for the Committee for 2018/19 and its agreement with regard to any changes to the Work Programme for 2018/19.

Members were aware that an item to review the recent closed road rally in Tendring had now been added to its Work Programme rather than that of the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee as the Council had not been the organiser for this event. It was suggested by Officers that this item could be looked at by a task and finish working group.

The Committee was also aware that an informal meeting of committee members had been held on 11 May 2018 in order to give some consideration to possible task and finish topic though the final topics and membership needed to be formally considered and agreed by the Committee. Not all members of the Committee had been able to attend the informal meeting. However, to inform the formal discussion the essence of the informal consideration was set out in the Officer’s report.

It was reported that the informal discussion had focussed on considering the overarching main issues for the Committee in accordance with its terms of reference, topics that fell within those issues and focussed questions that could be taken forward as task and finish topics. Those Members who had been present at the informal discussion had expressed a preference for areas that they would be willing to be involved in.

Therefore, the Committee was now asked to consider the above and to determine:-

·           the topics and scope and the focussed task and finish groups; and

·           the membership of each task and finish group.

After due consideration and discussion it was agreed to commence work on two task and finish reviews around the Road Rally and Alcohol Abuse. The Head of Leadership Support and Community undertook to engage with these two groups to take this work forward.

Topics that were identified for possible future task and finish reviews were Adult Literacy and Numeracy, Communication and Transportation (particularly with reference to the recent withdrawal of routes by First Buses). The Chairman undertook to engage with members of the Committee to draw up scoping documents on these topics for future consideration.

With regard to the work programme, the Committee agreed to leave this unchanged but the Chairman undertook to review the situation closer to the meeting on 3 September to consider the likely workload for that meeting and whether an additional meeting would be required.

 It was RESOLVED that:-

a)    The Terms of Reference for Task and Finish Reviews be agreed as follows:-

To agree the speakers / topics in relation to Health and Well Being to be considered at the meeting on 3 September 2018.

The Committee gave due consideration to the speakers / topics in relation to Health and Well Being to be considered at its next meeting due to be held on 3 September 2018.

It was RESOLVED that:-

Dr Mike Gogarty, Director of Public Health, Essex County Council be invited to speak at the meeting on 3 September.