The following scrutiny committee reports have been submitted to this meeting:-

The following reports from scrutiny were submitted:-

(1)   Periodic reporting, Finance, Performance and Risk 2012/2013 – integrated report, 2^nd Quarter 2012/2013.  Councillor Mike Rowley presented this report to the Board. Comments are detailed under the appropriate agenda item (minute 64 refers);

(2)   Treasury Management mid year review - Councillor Mike Rowley presented this report to the Board. Comments are detailed under the appropriate agenda item (minute 65 refers);

(3)   Homelessness Strategy Review – Councillor Stuart McCready presented the report.  Councillor Scott Seamons gave the following responses to the scrutiny recommendations:-

(a)     The City Council had reached an agreement with Oxfordshire County Council to keep the hostel open for 2013, and will work together to develop and approach for the future. This cut is the responsibility of Oxfordshire County Council. District Councils within Oxfordshire have a desire to protect this budget;

(b)      The ring fence around the Supporting People budget was removed by Government, thus enabling councils to use the funding elsewhere. Many Councils have started to cut budgets;

(c)      Consultation with landlords is ongoing and the suggestion made at recommendation 2 will be taken forwards;

(d)     The Action Plan that is to be presented to CEB in February witll deal with mediation services and monitoring;

(e)     It was agreed that the Action Plan could be presented to the Housing Scrutiny Panel for review and monitoring.

(4)   Procurement Strategy - Pat Jones, Principal Scrutiny Officer presented the report to the Board. Comments are detailed under the appropriate agenda item (minute 59 refers);

(5)   Charging for parking in City-owned Parks - Pat Jones, Principal Scrutiny Officer presented the report to the Board. This item was the subject of a call in which was not upheld, however comments were made about signage. Tim Sadler Executive Director, Community services, observed that he was mindful of all the recommendations, however he felt that the balance of signs was now correct and that there was nothing further to do.

(6)   Area Forum – Review of first year - Pat Jones, Principal Scrutiny Officer presented the report to the Board. Councillor Bob price explained that a cross party working group was considering the whole issue of Council Governance, and intended to have a report ready by the end of the Council year. Ho noted that “variable geometry” had always been part of Area Forums since their inception.  Councillor Dee Sinclair thanked Councillors Saunders and Wilkinson for all their hard work on this topic. She noted that forums were only one of many tools for engaging the public. She endorsed the scrutiny recommendations.

Resolved to agree the following recommendations:-

(1)    That an informed debate takes place between Councillors in their area grouping and community development officers to agree how Councillors’ community leadership roles can best be delivered and supported in their areas, within the Councillor, officer and likely resident resources available;

(2)    For the various mechanisms already available to councillors to   champion the views of their communities within the organisation to be detailed clearly within protocols and made clear to all.;

(3) That the Chief Executive facilitates a cross party debate on the various roles played by elected councillors as ward representatives and members of the Council.  The aim of these debates would be to get broad agreement on the expectations and requirements to allow training and support programmes to be designed, put in place and command the respect and engagement of all.

The following was not accepted because this matter was already in hand and would be picked up as part of the review of Governance structures;

(4) That the Council considers within its governance structures how the community voice can be heard in a way that allows:

·                    Ideas, issues and solutions from communities to be heard and considered by decision makers through their ward councillors in a timely manner.

·                    For service and officer protocols to exist that link community views within service construction and outcomes. 

·                    In all circumstances for the views and challenges of communities to be responded to via their local councillors or decision makers whichever is more appropriate.