Issue - items at meetings - Chair's Communications

9.1      The Chair gave the following communication:

I’d like to thank everyone for coming to this special meeting of Place Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

This meeting has been called in order to give O&S members the opportunity to consider and comment on the council’s response to the recent Social Housing Regulator judgement on the city council’s performance as a social landlord. The report that we’re considering today, and which was circulated to committee at the end of last week, is due to be agreed by Cabinet on the 26th of September.

An extract of the draft minutes of this meeting will be shared with Cabinet Members ahead of their meeting, so any comments or recommendations that O&S members make today will go to inform the Cabinet decision.

The Social Housing Regulator judgement focuses mainly on issues relating to repairs and maintenance, which are within the remit of Place committee. However, the Social Housing Regulator Report also covers resident engagement, which sits within the remit of People committee. It isn’t practical for the report to go to both scrutiny committees, so I have invited members of People O&S committee to attend today’s meeting. People members are welcome to ask questions and discuss the report, but if we are required to vote, please note that this will just be for the voting members of Place committee.

As implementation of measures in response to the Housing Regulator judgement progresses, I will expect regular updates at Place committee. I will invite People O&S members to attend for these items also.

3.1       The Chair gave the following communication:

It was always likely to be challenging holding the first Overview and Scrutiny Committee meetings following the change to an Executive and scrutiny model of governance. We’re all on a learning curve, and there are decisions already being made that are realistically too far along for us to scrutinise in any meaningful way.

Therefore, in this first meeting, as in the People Overview as Scrutiny Committee a week or two ago, we are going to be hearing from those Cabinet Members whose portfolios align with our remit. They will be telling us about their priorities over the coming months and taking questions from us. In an Executive and Scrutiny system the relationship between the two is incredibly important. We want to form a good working relationship with the cabinet and to be able to be a critical friend to them. It’s also so important, in my view, that we form good working relationships between ourselves as a committee.

During the training sessions provided I was quite inspired by some of the content about what makes scrutiny successful. Whatever our political views – and we do all have them, obviously – we are here either as co-opted representatives from partner organisations or as elected representatives of our ward residents & businesses and of the city as a whole.

While we can spend our time asking questions about decisions already made – and it is our right to do so – I believe we would serve our city much better if we concentrate our time and limited resources in those areas of upcoming decision making where we can help to inform and improve policy and hopefully make a real difference for all of us who live and work here. I am looking forward to taking part in site visits, setting up formal and informal working groups, and actively listening to as many residents and experts as possible to help this process, and I hope you all are too.

Given the length of the first People Committee, which had only four cabinet members to question – we have seven! - we will need to strictly limit the amount of time that we have with each of them to 20 minutes. So I thank them for having submitted slides in advance, which you’ve all hopefully had a chance to look at. I would ask them to be as succinct as possible in presenting to us, for members to be brief with questions, and Cabinet members to also be brief in their answers. I will need to move on to the next presentation once the 20 minutes are up whether or not members still have questions to ask.

We are joined by Cllrs Gill Williams, Cabinet member for housing and new homes; Tristram Burden, presenting to this committee on service transformation; Trevor Muten, transport, parking and public realm; Mitchie Alexander who is covering Birgit Miller’s position on culture, heritage and tourism, Alan Robins, sport and recreation; Jacob Taylor, finance and city regeneration; and finally Tim Rowkins, cabinet member for net zero and environmental services.

Following this meeting, I will ask officers to arrange an informal meeting for all Place committee members to agree an outline 2024-25 Place O&S work plan, drawing on the presentations we hear today plus additional ideas from committee members. Scrutiny is a member led process, so it is up to us to form our work programme, but we do need executive member and officer input to ensure we are adding value by our work.

Going forward into the Autumn and beyond, we will have a chance to look more closely at plans and strategies as they are formed, have an input into council policies, and to scrutinise decision making.