Agenda and minutes

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

An apology for absence was received from Councillors Bensilum (with no substitution).

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee, held on 5 March 2024.

It was RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee, held on 5 March 2024, be approved as a correct record and be signed by the Chairman.

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, Other Registerable Interests of Non-Registerable Interests, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest by Councillors in relation to any item on the agenda for this meeting.

Subject to providing two working days' notice, a Member of the Committee may ask the Chairman of the Committee a question on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties which affect the Tendring District and which falls within the terms of reference of the Committee.

On this occasion no Councillor had submitted notice of a question.

The Resources and Services OSC recorded at its meeting on 21 June 2023 (minute 21 refers) that there was, in its view, value in inviting to each of its next several meetings, a different Portfolio Holder to address it on the focus for their Portfolio. For this meeting, Councillor Bush (Portfolio Holder for the Environment) has been invited to address the Committee in respect of his Portfolio. Previously, the Committee has been addressed by the Leader & Corporate Finance and Governance Portfolio Holder (Cllr M Stephenson), the Deputy Leader & Economic Growth, Regeneration and Tourism Portfolio Holder (Cllr I Henderson) and the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning (Councillor Baker). The purpose of the invitation is to enable the Portfolio Holder to provide a broad introduction to their Portfolio, including their current issues and challenges (as well as priorities for 2024/25).

This Committee had recorded, at its meeting on 21 June 2023 (Minute 21 referred), that there was, in its view, value in inviting to each of its next several meetings, a different Portfolio Holder to address it on the focus for their Portfolio. For this meeting, Councillor Bush (Portfolio Holder for the Environment) addressed the Committee in respect of his Portfolio.  His introduction is recorded in summary immediately below.

 Councillor Bush thanked the Committee for the invitation to come to this meeting and to give an overview of his portfolio. He explained how it was quite a diverse portfolio which included a  focus on Environmental Protection, addressing complaints related to noise, smoke, bonfires, pollution, etc. His political oversight also encompassed various environmental permits, monitoring of air quality and managed private water supplies that were in the District. He explained that his Portfolio also covered food safety as well as some health and safety provisions and this work incorporated, but was not limited to, inspections related to health and safety, sanitation, food control, and funeral directors. He told the Committee that this was just a snapshot of a very varied Portfolio.

The Portfolio Holder also updated the Committee on the position of the new waste contract.

The Committee heard that the current waste contract was 12 years old and that, in that time, there had been a lot of change. To aid the Council in understanding that change, outside expert consultants had been engaged to aid in the development of a new contract specification. Solicitors had been also consulted on the legal aspects of its development of that specification.

The Portfolio Holder explained how a lot of input had been received from Members via a Portfolio Holder’s Working Group and the Waste Board.

He also told the Committee that a waste contract report would be submitted to the meeting of Cabinet on 26 July 2024, with recommendations that looked to start the new waste contract tender process later on in 2024. Subject to Cabinets decision, the tender process would combine the waste collection contract with the street sweeping contract with the potential of the addition of a glass doorstep collection.

 Members heard that potential contractors, outside of the existing contractor, had already expressed interest in the new contract and that some of the difficulties in developing the new waste contract, was that it was an intedned 8 year-long contract, with the potential for an 8-year extension. With constant change in the landscape of waste collection, due to shifting legislation, this meant forward forecasting was complicated but necessary, but with the strong internal team at the Council and a strong team of external partners, the Council was in a good position to deliver a good value for money contract that met the statutory requirements for waste collection.

The Committee also heard how the implementation of a new Public Spaces Protection Order in respect of dog control and dog fouling, would aid the enforcement team, of 2 officers, to issue on the spot  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

To consider the circumstances that led to the unauthorized expenditure being incurred in respect of the reconfiguration of Spendells House, Naze Park Road, Walton on the Naze, to provide temporary housing.

The enquiry shall receive an update on the Spendells project, the outcomes of the investigations into the unauthorised expenditure and the learning (and application of that learning) to other major projects and programmes.

The Committee had before it a report that provided an update on the progress of the Spendells project. The report also reminded Members of the relevant national guidance for Overview and Scrutiny, namely that the Committee was there to:

• “provide constructive ‘critical friend’ challenge
• amplify the voices and concerns of the public
• be led by independent people who take responsibility for their role
• drive improvement in public services and strategic decision-making”

And that the Councils own Scrutiny Protocols required;

“All Members should promote an atmosphere of openness at Overview & Scrutiny Committee meetings and should strive to ensure that questioning and debate takes place within a climate of mutual respect and trust.”

It was also advised that, within the Government’s Statutory Guidance on the Best Value Duty (“the Guidance”) reference was made to the importance of scrutiny and accountability throughout, and that the Governance Best Value Theme was described within the Guidance as:

“In a well-run council officers and members will have a clear understanding of the democratic mandate as it operates in the organisation.

There will be clear and robust governance and scrutiny arrangements in place that are fit for purpose, appropriate to the governance arrangements adopted locally (executive / committee system), and in accordance with statutory or sector guidance such as statutory guidance on overview and scrutiny and the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny’s governance risk and resilience framework. These arrangements should be understood by members and officers alike, reviewed regularly and accurately described in the Annual Governance Statement.”

The report informed the Committee that scrutiny was concerned with the review of policy, its formulation and implementation. The areas (from Centre for Governance and Scurinty’s Guidance) highlighted for consideration were:

• Action on mindset and culture
• Securing good governance
• Risk
• Value for Money
• Wider policy issues, and the impact of the Council’s strategy on financial management

The Committee was joined by the following invitees:

• The Leader of the Council (Councillor M Stephenson) and the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning (Councillor Baker).
• The Chief Executive, the Corporate Director (Operations and Delivery), the Assistant Director (Building and Public Realm), the Assistant Director (Finance and IT) and the Assistant Director (Governance).

 Members of the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee then proceeded to ask the invitees a series of questions on the Spendells project to create temporary accommodation for homeless individuals/families at Spendells House,  Naze Park Road, Walton-on-the-Naze. The Committee was considering this project due to unauthorised expenditure of several hundreds of thousands of pounds. This had resulted in a report to the Cabinet on 24 May 2024 under section 5A of the Local Government and Housing Act, 1989. This report was provided to this Committee for this enquiry along with the comments of the Councils Assistant Director of Finance and IT (the Councils Statutory 151 Officer) provided in the form of a supplementary report to Cabinet.

Below are the questions proposed and the responses provided:

The report provides the Committee with an update on its approved Work Programme for 2023/24 (including progress with enquiries set out in its Work Programme), feedback to the Committee on the decisions in respect of previous recommendations from the Committee in respects of enquiries undertaken and a list of forthcoming decisions for which notice has been given since publication of the agenda for the Committee’s last meeting.

The report also provides an update of the current position on the development of the work programme for 2024/25. This Committee is specifically invited to determine a proposed Work Programme to be submitted to the meeting of Council on 6 August 2024 for approval.

The Committee was provided with a report setting out a proposed work programme for 2024/25 for consideration as to whether to recommend the work programme to Council for adoption in accordance with point.3 of Article 6.01 of the Council’s Constitution.

The report also set out the response from Cabinet to recommendations from the Committee in respect of Budget Scrutiny (Cabinet minute 74, 26 January 2024 referred) and Sunspots, Jaywick Sands (Cabinet minute 61, 15 December referred).

The Committee also received details of proposals for Cabinet Decisions published between 5 March 2024 to 22 July 2024.

An early draft of the report from the two Overview and Scrutiny Committees on their review of work undertaken in 2023/24 was circulated at the meeting.

After a short discussion the Committee unanimously RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL that the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee's work programme 2024/25, as approved at this meeting, be approved by Full Council at its meeting on 6 August 2024, subject to the inclusion therein of the minor corrections to the work programme and the additions to the articulated value column for the Budget Scrutiny Item as raised by the Head of Democratic Services & Elections at the meeting.

The Committee RESOLVED to note the contents of the report in respect of the monitoring of previous recommendations and in respect of the list of forthcoming Cabinet decisions and to request that the recommendation monitoring, for the Committees decisions on 5 March 2024 be provided to it at its next meeting.

It was further RESOLVED that the Head of Democratic Services and Elections be authorised, following consultation with the Committee's Chairman, to:

a)    finalise the review of the year 2023/24 Overview and Scrutiny Report to be submitted to Council; and

b)    appoint individual Councillors to Task and Finish Groups referenced in the Work Programme as, ultimately approved by Council, and then to make appropriate arrangements to call meetings of those Task and Finish Groups.