Agenda item

The Committee is asked to monitor progress on the implementation of recommendations from previous meetings and to review the forward work programme for each of the Select Committees.

Declarations of interest:

None

Witnesses:

Kevin Kilburn, Deputy Chief Finance Officer

Key points raised during the discussion:

1.    The Chairman informed the Committee that the Council had been invited to participate in a one year Business Rate Retention pilot and that a decision was due to be taken under Special Urgency at Cabinet on 26 September 2017. 

2.    The Chairman sought the Committee’s view on participating in the scheme in order to feedback to Cabinet to help inform the decision.  Members were of the view that after heavy lobbying for additional funding, it was imperative that the Council accepted the proposal.

3.    The Deputy Chief Finance Officer informed the Committee that applications for the Business Rates Retention scheme were due to be submitted by 27 October 2017. 

4.    Due to the application deadline falling before the October 2017 Cabinet meeting, Members were informed that the Leader was expected to request delegated authority to deal with the application when Cabinet met on 26 September 2017.

5.    Members were informed that the Council’s pilot area pool would include the 11 Surrey district and borough councils, all of whom would need to agree in order for the application to be valid.

6.    The Deputy Chief Finance Officer explained that pilot authorities needed to outline how they proposed for gains to be split between the pool of districts, boroughs and County.  It would also need to demonstrate how the money would be spent to support financial sustainability and economic growth.  Pilot authorities would also be required to submit proposed governance arrangements and acknowledge that they were content with the lack of detriment clause within the scheme.

RESOLVED

The Chairman agreed to submit a note to Cabinet reflecting the Committee’s consensus of support of the council’s participation in the pilot scheme.

Recommendations Tracker:

7.    The Chairman highlighted that the recommendation for Select Committees to review their service risk registers on a six-monthly basis was not currently reflected in the proposed forward plans, and that Select Committee Chairmen would be reminded of this.

Forward Work Programmes:

Overview & Budget Scrutiny Committee

8.    Members suggested that the proposed item on the Investment Strategy and Shareholder Board should also include a review of the criteria for property investments that were approved by Cabinet in March 2017, amid concerns that the criteria was not robust enough to protect the council from investments making losses over long periods of time.

9.    Furthermore, Members raised concerns about the ethical stance of some investments, specifically investments in other counties.

RESOLVED:

It was agreed that the Investment Strategy item should include a review of the criteria for property investments, and that this paper would be requested for the Committee’s next meeting on 16 November 2017.

Adults & Health Select Committee

10.  The Chairman suggested that the proposed item “Access to primary care and GP services” could be addressed within the Surrey Heartlands STP Task Group.  Members noted that a similar piece of work had been undertaken previously, however they were of the view that if access to services was still an issue being raised by residents, then it ought to be reviewed.

11.  A Member commented that having attended stakeholder meetings for Surrey Heartlands STP, it appeared that access to services was not currently a priority and therefore scrutiny of this area could be useful.

12.  Members noted and approved the Terms of Reference for the Surrey Heartlands STP Task Group, with a caveat that details of the group’s membership were specified.

Children & Education Select Committee

13.  Members indicated the need to ensure there was clear co-ordination between the Performance Monitoring Group and the Improvement Board, so not to duplicate work and put unnecessary demands on officer time.

Communities Select Committee

14.  Members noted that the item on Armed Forces Covenant was an item of interest rather than a priority scrutiny item.  It was suggested that as the Select Committee Chairman was also the Council’s Armed Forces Champion, she could prepare a report on the implementation of the Covenant to present to the Select Committee before pursuing this item further.

Corporate Services Select Committee

15.  Members noted that whilst the Select Committee’s proposed Forward Work programme appeared to be quite light, some of the items that the committee had planned to cover were broad areas where scrutiny would be of value.

Environment & Infrastructure Select Committee

16.  Members noted that the Committee had already met to consider an item about Community Recycling Centres on 7 September 2017.

17.  The Chairman highlighted that areas of scrutiny suggested by Overview & Budget Scrutiny Committee (OBSC) at its meeting of 12 July 2017 did not yet feature on the Committee’s proposed Forward Work Programme.

RESOLVED

The Chairman agreed to contact the Chairman of the Environment & Infrastructure Select Committee to ensure that the areas of scrutiny suggested by OBSC had been considered.