Issue - meetings

Report of the Leader

RESOLVED THAT

1.     the draft action plan as set out in appendix 3 be approved

2.     the LGA be requested to undertake a follow up review in six months’ time

3.     the Overview and Scrutiny Committee be requested to oversee the monitoring of the action plan.

The Leader introduced the report on the LGA peer review feedback and action plan and took the opportunity to thank those officers and members who had been involved in the process.

The Leader reminded members that the peer challenge had been requested by the Council and particular attention was given to governance, decision-making, scrutiny and the council’s future. He reported that positive feedback had been received although there were some issues, these were identified in Appendix 2 and Appendix 3 of the report. He highlighted that as an organisation CBC was changing rapidly and the Peer Review Team highlighted that it was important that strategies and plans were in line with the corporate strategy being developed for 2015-18 and communicated effectively to all. The Leader acknowledged that public consultation was an issue. There had not been a detailed budget consultation for some time but he suggested that the new corporate strategy may be an opportune time to engage.

The Leader referred to the recommendation that scrutiny would benefit from targeting its effort on key projects and that the use of members’ skills be maximised collectively. There were also key examples where project management had not been effective and it was important to learn the lessons from this. The review team also recognised that there were ongoing issues with the council’s ICT and as the Forest of Dean/West Oxfordshire and Cotswold were working on a platform for more stability as part of the long term investment in the service.

The Leader reported that Overview and Scrutiny had considered the report at its meeting on 3 November but had not yet taken a view on a more formalised way to be involved in implementing the recommendations.

He also reported that the LGA would be requested to undertake a follow up review in six months time.

RESOLVED THAT

1.    the draft action plan as set out in appendix 3 be approved

2.    the LGA be requested to undertake a follow up review in six months’ time

3.    the Overview and Scrutiny Committee be requested to oversee the monitoring of the action plan.