Issue - meetings

1.               The Community Partnership Public Value Review and its recommendations (as summarised in paragraph 6 and detailed in this report) be noted.

2.               That the Cabinet Member for Community Services and the 2012 Games discuss the conclusions of the PVR report with the Local Committee Chairmen and agree how the recommendations will be taken forward.

3.               That some of the recommendations will need full Council agreement be noted.

Reason for Decisions

The aim of the Community Partnership PVR was to review the role of SCC’s Local Committees and the Community Partnership Team “to improve outcomes for residents by strengthening local democracy and placing much greater emphasis on partnership working.” (David Hodge, Leader of SCC).  

The recommendations in this report are designed to:

·        support Members in their role as community leaders and champions

·        improve decision making and speed-up processes

·        promote greater accountability and local scrutiny

·        increase the involvement of residents, local communities, businesses and partners.

The recommendations recognise that each local area is different and attempt to create flexibility within a framework, allowing each Local Committee to operate in a way which best suits the local need.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Communities Select Committee]

The comments from the Communities Select Committee together with the Cabinet Member for Community Services and the 2012 Games’ response were tabled at the meeting (Appendix 4a and 4b).

Also, tabled were the comments from the Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Cabinet Member for Community Services and the 2012 Games’ response. (Appendix 5a and 5b)

Mr Cosser, Chairman of Communities Select Committee was invited to speak and present his report. He began by complimenting officers on how this Public Value Review had been conducted. He also asked the Cabinet Member for assurance on issues pertaining to Localism and the recommendations from his select committee’s Localism Task Group.

The Cabinet Member thanked both the Communities Select Committee and the Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee for their comments and made reference to her tabled responses. She confirmed that she was willing to continue to work with Members to take the recommendations forward. She fully supported the outcomes of this PVR but acknowledged that some recommendations, such as consideration of a joint committee model would require a constitutional change.

She thanked both Mark Irons, Head of Customer Services, who had worked hard to engage with all stakeholders and partners in this review and all the Community Partnership teams for their input.

The Leader of the Council expressed concern on two points; (i) paragraph 44, he said that the Council would not be in a position to give a definitive response until the forthcoming Government settlement had been received later in December, and (ii) the proposal for joint committees would stretch resources.

After a discussion on the report in which some concerns were raised, the Cabinet Member for Community Services and the 2012 Games confirmed that this was an ‘in principle’ decision, to deliver some services locally and that all recommendations were subject to further work.

RESOLVED:

1.            The Community Partnership Public Value Review and its recommendations (as summarised in paragraph 6 and detailed in this report) be noted.

2.            That the Cabinet Member for Community Services and the 2012 Games discuss the conclusions of the PVR report with the Local Committee Chairmen and agree how the recommendations will be taken forward.

3.            That some of the recommendations will need full Council agreement be noted.

Reason for Decisions

The aim of the Community Partnership PVR was to review the role of SCC’s Local Committees and the Community Partnership Team “to improve outcomes for residents by strengthening local democracy and placing much greater emphasis on partnership working.” (David Hodge, Leader of SCC).  

The recommendations in this report are designed to:

·         support Members in their role as community leaders and champions

·         improve decision making and speed-up processes

·         promote greater accountability and local scrutiny

·         increase the involvement of residents, local communities, businesses and partners.

The recommendations recognise that each local area is different and attempt to create flexibility within a framework, allowing each Local Committee to operate in a way which best suits the local need.