Issue - meetings

Report of the Leader

RESOLVED that:

1. the new structures for partnership working in Cheltenham as set out in appendix 2 be endorsed.

2. the issues raised by the consultees and the responses of the CSP task and finish group in appendix 3 be noted.

The Leader of the Council introduced the report which sought Cabinet’s endorsement for the new structures for partnership working in Cheltenham. He reported that a consultation process had been undertaken, the responses to which were outlined in Appendix 3. The Council placed great value on the voluntary and community sector being involved in discussions at the highest level. The Leader explained that all partner bodies were currently examining what the proposed new structure entailed for them and the December meeting of the Cheltenham Strategic Partnership would approve the new structure.

Councillor Regan was invited to address Cabinet. She expressed her concern that very few non Cabinet Members were represented on any of the committees or task forces in the new structure. In response the Cabinet Member Corporate Services explained that Cabinet members were in the best place to serve on the partnerships as they were the decision makers. However he referred to the current review of the Council’s scrutiny arrangements which could provide an opportunity in the future for non Cabinet member involvement in terms of scrutiny of the partnerships.

The Cabinet Member Corporate Services referred to the Economy and Business Improvement Scrutiny Committee’s request for additional information as to whether the new structures would generate any savings. This point was accepted. In his view in the future scrutiny would need to look at how best to scrutinise the partnerships effectively and what kind of reporting to scrutiny was required.

Cabinet welcomed the new structure which would avoid the current duplication and provide more clarity. It acknowledged that the relationship between the elected member and the partnerships still needed to be developed.

RESOLVED that:

1. the new structures for partnership working in Cheltenham as set out in appendix 2 be endorsed.

2. the issues raised by the consultees and the responses of the CSP task and finish group in appendix 3 be noted.