Issue - items at meetings - The Council's New Constitution, Overview & Scrutiny Arrangements and role of the Community Safety Forum

7.1

Ian Glossop, Interim Head of Scrutiny, gave an overview of how scrutiny would work under the new governance arrangements (for copy see minute book). He stated that the scrutiny committee of relevance and interest to the Forum would be the Environment & Community Safety Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

7.2

Councillor Morgan extended an open invitation to all Members of the Forum to come and view a meeting, as the Environment & Community Safety Overview & Scrutiny Committee, which had issues pertaining to community safety at its heart.

7.3

Mr D Peacock, of St. James’ Street Community Safety Group, stated that he was concerned that under the new arrangements, the Forum would move further away from its grassroots level of involvement and become too “technical” for people to feel involved. He stated that he was concerned about the level of participation that people would need to put in to the relevant groups following the governance change.

7.4

Councillor Duncan stated that he was concerned about the capacity of the Environment & Community Safety Overview & Scrutiny Committee and whether it would be able to persevere under a potentially very heavy workload. Councillor Duncan stated that he wanted to believe that the Committee would be able to cope with workloads but that he was pessimistic. Mr Stevens, Area Housing Panels Representative, expressed a similar sentiment and requested that the there be enough resources available so that the Committee is not overloaded by work requests.

7.5

Mr Glossop stated that he would ensure that the work programmes for the Scrutiny Committees were robust and properly resourced and that he wanted to develop a Scrutiny focussed on outcomes. Ms Beanlands stated that the Community Safety Forum would have the same functions as before, and that the Forum would continue to ask questions and examine ideas/reports. Ms Beanlands stated that the Forum could call for reports and if the Forum was not happy with outcomes, she stated that the Forum could call for scrutiny and request that a matter be considered for inclusion within the work programme.

7.6

Councillor Morgan stated that he wanted to see a crossover between the CSF and the ECSOSC but that he wanted to avoid duplication.