Agenda and minutes

The Board is asked to note the following dates for its meetings for 2011.

Tue 1, February 2011

Thurs, 10 March 2011

Wed, 27 April 2011

Thurs, 26 May 2011

Thurs, 23 June 2011

Wed, 13 July 2011

Wed, 28 September 2011

Wed, 2 November 2011

Thursday, 1 December 2011

All meetings will start at 10.00 am at County Hall and may run into the afternoon if the weight of business dictates.

RESOLVED that the Board noted the dates of its meetings for 2011 as follows:-

Tuesday, 1 February 2011

Thursday, 10 March 2011

Wednesday, 27 April 2011

Thursday, 26 May 2011

Thursday, 23 June 2011

Wednesday, 13 July 2011

Wednesday, 28 September 2011

Wednesday, 2 November 2011

Thursday, 1 December 2011

It was noted that all meetings will start at 10.00am and may go on into the afternoon.

(Mrs S Hohler and Mr C Jones were present for this item)

(1)       Mrs Hohler explained that there was an unexpected pressure on primary school places in the Kings Hill area in 2010.  It had been anticipated that schools on Kings Hill might not be able to meet demand for places by 2011 and Mr Jones held a meeting with the affected Headteachers in autumn 2009 to make this clear.  It was thought at that time that it would just be possible to cope with 2010 admissions while plans were put in place for the future. There was a discussion on options which included putting an additional class or part of a class at the Discovery School, or directing additional children to Wateringbury School or siting a mobile classroom at West Malling school.  

(2)       Subsequently talks were held with the Liberty Group (the developers of Kings Hill) and an agreement reached in principle that an empty class room at the Discovery School could be used.  The Headteacher of the Discovery School agreed that she would be happy to admit an additional form of entry in the future if need arose.   After the cut off period for admission at the end of March 2010, Mr Long (local Member), Mrs Hohler,  Mr Jones and the Headteacher of Discovery School received a number of emails from parents about the pressure on places at Kings Hill, and their inability to access a place at their local schools.   It was understood that 11 Kings Hill children had been allocated Wateringbury Primary School plus 3 at  West Malling and 3 at St James the Great school.  Mrs Hohler had also heard from parents of children at Wateringbury Primary School that they did not want the school to be under pressure in future years from sibling links due to the allocation of places to children from Kings Hill.

 (3)      At the end of the spring term, Mr Jones met with the Headteacher, Mr Long and a governor of Discovery School and following this meeting 27 children from Kings Hill were found not to have been allocated a place at a Kings Hill Primary School.  During the Easter holidays, it became difficult to contact some Headteachers who were on vacation, in fact a number of them were delayed in returning from abroad due to the Icelandic volcanic ash situation.  Mr Jones managed to contact the Headteacher of the Discovery School who was in France and she agreed to admit an additional class. The Headteacher of Wateringbury Primary School was in agreement with this, while the Headteachers of West Malling Primary School and St James the Great were not happy with this arrangement.  The former in particular was concerned about the impact which it might have on his school’s September 2010 admissions.  There were two other affected schools whose headteachers could not be contacted.

4)         On 19 May Mr Jones met with the Chairman of Governors and Headteacher of West Malling School to discuss their concerns  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

(1)       Mr King introduced this discussion report.  He stated that it was clear that the whole process of overview and scrutiny was evolving rapidly and would continue to do so for some time to come and that it was also part of the localism agenda.   

(2)       Mr Chrysostomou emphasised that this was a discussion paper and Members views were sought on how to go forward and make the public more aware of scrutiny.  He stated that it was the big local issues that excited people and that not everything that the county council did was of interest. It was important to look at how we engage the public, the public should also have the opportunity to put forward subjects as part of the localism agenda

(3)       Members emphasised the importance of there being greater clarity for the pubic around which tier of local government was responsible for services.  The way in which “local boards” and other pilot models of community engagement could be used to bring together the separate tiers of local government at a local level to engage with the public and address issues of local concern was highlighted. 

(4)       Mr Smith emphasised the need to make Overview and Scrutiny meetings exciting and of interest to the public.  He gave the example of the last meeting of the Learning and Development POSC where beforehand he had sought advice from Mr Chrysostomou as to what elements of the meeting would be of interest to the press and public and how best to translate the story.  

(5)       Mrs Tweed stated that the public only took an interest in the work of local government when it directly affected them.   More use should be made of the press to publicise that it was possible for the public to “let the County Council know how you feel and to ask for an item to be place on the agenda for an POSC Committee”. 

(6)       Mr Wickenden stated that the main area of Overview and Scrutiny which got interest and engagement were Select Committees, which had a protocol for engaging with the press approved by the County Council.  There was a tendency for others to take the credit for the work of Overview and Scrutiny.  There was the lack of a link between Overview and Scrutiny and the press and media.  There needed to be engagement with corporate communications as part of the agenda setting process so that potential areas of interest for the media could be highlighted at an early stage and the best way of engaging with the press and media established.  In future there would be more scrutiny at a local level which would have a community focus and should generate public and press interest.

(7)  Mr Hibberd expressed the view that in order to have more pubic interest meetings of POSC’s could be held in the evenings rather then during the day.  He stated that an officer from Corporate Communications attended the agenda meetings for Environment, Highways and Waste POSC and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

(1)       The Board received a report on the outcomes to date of the consideration by the Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committees (POSC’s) of the request to formulate their arrangements to contribute to the development of the Budget.  Verbal updates were given for the POSC which had not met before the agenda for this meeting was published.

(2)       Mrs Tweed informed the Board that the Communities POSC were having an IMG (Informal Member Group) meeting on 29 July 2010 at 2.00pm. This meeting would discuss the ground rules and what was known so far in preparation for a further meeting in early September 2010.

(3)       Mr Dance reported that the Regeneration and Economic Development POSC had decided that as they only had a very small budget and a lot of their grants were under review it as too early to form an IMG.  It had been agreed that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman would be kept up to date at agenda meetings and if necessary an IMG would be formed at the appropriate time.

(4)       Mr Hotson informed the Board that the IMG for Corporate POSC would be held on 12 August 2010.  Mr Kit Smith stated that the IMG for the three Children, Families and Education (CFE) POSC’s would be held on 30 July 2010.  In response to a request from Mr Christie it was agreed that the Labour Group would be welcome to send a Member to the IMG for the CFE POSC.

(5)       In response to a question on how public the information from the IMG’s would be, the Chairman stated that as happened last year he would expect there to be feedback to the open POSC meeting. 

(6)       Mr Wood stated that although they knew the scale of the financial problem they did not have the details at this time, however it was important for the IMGs to start looking at the situation in their areas.  The process needed to be started as soon as possible and to have a long lead in time in order to build and understanding of the impact.  He referred to the training session that he would be facilitating that afternoon which would attempt to give Members an idea of the scale of the problem and how they could make a contribution.  He confirmed that all heads of finance had undertaken to be at the first meeting of their IMG’s and it was important to also have policy officers along to support the Members.

(7)       Mr Lake stated that although the IMG for the Adult Social Services POSC was due to meet in September in light of the update from Mr Wood he would now be bringing that meeting forward.

RESOLVED that the progress made to establish IMGs to assist with the development of the budget be noted.

(1)       Mr King introduced a report on the work of the Member Information Member Officer Group (MIMOG).  He commended the good job done by Ms Sage and Mr Thomas, the officers supporting the group, and informed the Board that Dr Walsh was now leading on this and his final report was due on 12 September 2010. 

(2)       RESOLVED that the progress in implementing the recommendations of the IMG: Member Information endorsed by the County Council in December 2008 be noted.

(1)       Mr King introduced a report which set out an option for a feedback mechanism from the Overview and Scrutiny Committees to Cabinet. He encouraged POSC Chairman to ensure that their Committees exercised their right to make recommendations, when they considered it appropriate, to Cabinet or Cabinet Member rather then just noting the position.  He believed that this feedback mechanism would strengthen the relationship between Executive and non-executive Members. 

(2)       Mrs Dean welcomed the proposal as a way of helping POSC ‘s to focus on outcomes.  She emphasised the importance of ensuring that Cabinet responded appropriately.  Mr King assured Members that they would get a response from Cabinet to their recommendations.

RESOLVED that the feedback of outcomes from Cabinet Scrutiny Committee to Cabinet be expanded to include feedback from Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

(1)       Mr Kit Smith suggested that there should be a standing item to this Board to update them on the work of the Select Committees.

(2)       Mr Smith informed the Board that he had submitted an assessment form setting out a proposal for him to act as a Rapporteur.  Mr Wickenden reminded Members that at their last meeting they had considered a report on the process for the Rapporteur scheme and a draft assessment form for proposals and had Members had made a number of suggestions. This was in the process of going to Cabinet Members and Chief Officers Group for their feedback.  Therefore it would be premature to consider a Rapporteur proposal. 

(3)       Mrs Tweed raised the matter of the number of POSC in a year and especially the July cycle when her POSC had been poorly attended. Mr Hotson agreed to speak with her about this outside of the meeting.

(4)       Mr Horne emphasised the importance of reminding Members that their meetings are being webcast and that they should take care about how they refer to individuals. 

(5)       Mrs Allen referred to the challenge that she was having to get health related items on the agenda for her POSC.  The Chairman and Overview, Scrutiny and Localism Manager were supporting her with this.

(6)       Mr Wickenden referred to the issue of the officer culture and the importance of raising the profile of Overview and scrutiny in order to get full engagement.

(7)       RESOLVED that the comments be noted.