Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Elaine Holmes.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 3 March 2020.

The minutes of the Scrutiny Meeting held on 3 March 2020 have a slight amendment to be made, the last paragraph should read Council and not Cabinet.

The Minutes of the Scrutiny Meeting held on 3 March 2020 were approved and requested to be signed by the Chair, subject to the following amendment.:

Minute number 53.  “Members voted in favour of the Scrutiny Annual Report going to Council”

Members to declare any interest as appropriate in respect of items to be considered at this meeting.

There were no Declarations of Interest to be recorded for this meeting.

The Scrutiny Workplan will be discussed and developed at the Scrutiny Workshop in July – date to be confirmed.

The Chairman confirmed that the Scrutiny Workshop was being held on Thursday 16 July 2020 at 6pm via Zoom where work on the Scrutiny Work Plan 2020 would commence.

1     Recovery and the Corporate Strategy  (5 Mins)

2     Recovery Introduction (5 Mins)

2.1 Financial Impacts of Covid-19 (5 Mins)

2.2 Recovery and Priority themes:

a.    Helping People to Recover (priority 1 and 2) Impacts and Response – Director Presentation and Views/Scrutiny Feedback (35 Mins)

b.    Shaping Places in Recovery (priority 3 and 4)Impacts and Response – Director Presentation and Views/Scrutiny Feedback (35 Mins)

c.    Great Council:  Community Focused Recovery (priority 5 and 6) Impacts and Response – Director Presentation and Views/Scrutiny Feedback (35 Mins)

To follow.

During the presentation the following points were raised:

Recovery and Corporate Strategy – presented by the Chief Executive

The Chief Executive provided a brief summary of the recovery context.  He confirmed that we were still in the response phase and also looking towards recovery at the same time.

Recovery would be discussed in the context of the Corporate Strategy which was built over many months up to adoption in February 2020.  It provided clear strategic intent, but now needed to be reviewed in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Corporate Strategy provided for 6 priorities under the three broad themes of Helping People, Shaping Places and Great Council.  The Senior Leadership Team considered that these themes remain relevant, but there is a need to discuss and understand the impacts of Covid-19 on each of the three priority areas and consider how the Council might respond.

There would be a presentation for each of the main priority themes with some initial reflections from the Senior Leadership Team.  Scrutiny Committee were being asked to provide feedback in order to inform on what is happening in the community, what the main issues are and what can be done to address these issues.

The Director for Growth and Regeneration provided a brief summary on the recovery process and highlighted the following points:

·         Currently looking at risk assessments to customers, visitors to staff and members in re-opening services.

The Director for Corporate Services provided a brief summary of the Financial Impacts of Covid–19 and highlighted the following

·         The figures are updated on a weekly basis as more information comes through.

During discussion the following points were noted:

·         A Member enquired how the Council is preparing to support people after furlough with the high possibility that there will be a number of job losses. The Director for Corporate Services advised that there is no enforcement action being undertaken. Reminders are being issued to encourage those that can pay to pay and those that can’t to help put payment plans in place.

·         Concerns were raised that in the event the Council decided to sell any of its assets at this time to raise capital or revenue that there would be a significant loss of revenue due to the fall in property values following the impact of Covid-19.

·         The Director for Corporate Services advised members that any asset sale would be capital and therefore could not be used for revenue purposes. Due to the current financial climate and the fall in land/property prices, should the Council look at selling some assets it will make sure the business case is right.

·         Was it possible to compare collection rates against the last 2 years? The Director for Corporate Services advised that capacity had been an issue, as business rents, various reliefs and discounts had been prioritised, collection was down on council tax and business rates and this will be explored and analysed in more detail but it is too early to say what the bad debts could be.

Members  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59.

To consider any other items that the Chair considers urgent

There was no urgent business to discuss.