Agenda and minutes

In the event the fire alarm sounds attendees will be advised to evacuate the building via the nearest fire exit and assemble at the Bottle of Notes opposite MIMA.

Fire alarm tests take place in Municipal Buildings at 10.30am on Tuesday mornings. In the event the fire alarm sounds at this time for more than 10 seconds attendees will be advised to evacuate the building via the nearest fire exit and assemble at the Bottle of Notes opposite MIMA.

The Chair welcomed those present and advised that as there were no scheduled tests, should the fire alarm sound, attendees should evacuate the building via the nearest fire exit and assemble at the Bottle of Notes opposite MIMA.

There were no declarations of interest received at this point in the meeting.

The minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting held on 7 May 2024 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

The Interim Manager of Democratic Services was in attendance to provide the Board with a presentation in relation to scrutiny work planning. 

Background was provided in relation to the scrutiny function and changes to the scrutiny structure in Middlesbrough, as agreed by the Overview and Scrutiny Board at its previous meeting on 7 May 2024.

It was highlighted that, as the parent body, the Overview and Scrutiny Board would continue to oversee the work of the two newly formed Scrutiny Panels – People and Place.  The scrutiny process itself would largely continue as it had done previously, with the relevant Directors attending each of the Panels’ first meetings in July, to provide a service overview of the areas within the Panels’ remits, whilst highlighting priorities for the forthcoming year. 

Both Scrutiny Panels would also consider a Work Programme report setting out relevant topic suggestions that had been received as part of the consultation exercise seeking suitable topics.  The Panels would set their own proposed work programmes and this would be submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Board for approval.  It was suggested that the Panels should chose no more than three topics.  Democratic Services Officers would meet with Chairs and Vice Chairs during August to scope the selected topics and reviews would commence in September.

Reference was made to the role and responsibilities of Scrutiny Chairs which included providing regular updates on the Panels’ work to the Overview and Scrutiny Board and presenting Final Reports to the Executive.

Prior to commencing a scrutiny investigation, Chairs would be expected to work with the Panel to determine key lines of enquiry and terms of reference for the topic and to hold planning meetings with the Democratic Services Officers.

During the course of a review, in conjunction with Democratic Services Officers, Chairs would ensure that the review adhered to the terms of reference, ensure any witnesses were briefed accordingly and to consider the format of the meeting.

During Scrutiny Panel meetings, the Chair would be expected to introduce the meeting and guests and to explain the purpose of the meeting.  It was important to ensure the meeting did not become confrontational and stayed on topic, avoiding personal and/or Ward issues unless relevant to the review, to identify and allocate any tasks and to recap at the end of the meeting to identify any actions.

All Scrutiny Panel Members would be invited to contribute towards:-

·         Agenda Setting – suggesting areas for investigation and to identify relevant witnesses that would contribute to the current topic.

·         Preparation – ensure meeting dates were in their diaries; read through the agenda pack prior to the meeting; prepare questions/possible areas of challenge; stick to the agenda and stay on topic.

·         Evidence Gathering – research the topic, question witnesses, visit other organisations/relevant witnesses and report back to the Panel.

The role of Democratic Services Officers would be to arrange the meetings; prepare and publish agendas, reports and minutes; undertake research when requested by the Panel; liaise with officers and external  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24/4

The Chair introduced the item and highlighted that previously the Overview and Scrutiny Board had received the Executive Forward Work Programme at each meeting for noting and proposed that the Board should look at each item on the Programme in greater detail, going forward.

The Overview and Scrutiny Board had delegated powers to manage the work of scrutiny and was able to undertake investigations itself or delegate the work to individual scrutiny panels.

A key duty of OSB was to hold the Executive to account by considering forthcoming decisions of the Executive and to decide whether scrutiny could add value by considering any matter in advance of decisions being made.  Greater involvement in pre-decision scrutiny would help to negate a non-executive member’s ability to call-in a decision after it had been made.

Suggestions were sought from the Board regarding the possible ways in which to have involvement in pre-decision scrutiny and the following issues were raised:-

·         A Member commented that some of the items contained on the Forward Work Programme had been made in May and, therefore, it was too late for OSB to have any input into, whilst other items were due to be decided upon in July so it was unlikely that a report had yet been compiled for submission to Executive and it was queried at what stage OSB could become involved.  It was acknowledged that it was difficult in terms of timing and background to the Forward Work Programme was provided.

·         It was explained that any decisions which involved spending £250,000 or more and/or affected two or more wards in Middlesbrough was a key decision and must be placed on the Forward Work Programme at least 28 days prior to a decision being made by the Executive.  It was considered best practice to also add non-key decisions to the Programme, as was the case in Middlesbrough.  In terms of the report creation process, there should be a 46-day lead in period prior to the report being submitted for decision, so it would be possible to speak to Executive Members (and/or relevant officers) prior to the decision being made.  Once the Executive had made a decision, it would become live within five days of the decision being made but remained on the Forward Work Programme, therefore, there would always be items on the programme where decisions had already taken place.

·         It was also highlighted that the Forward Work Programme was available to view on the Council’s website, so Members could view it at any time.  Where the Board wished to find out more about a particular item, the further ahead the decision was due to be made, the better it would be in terms of having the opportunity to have input.

·         In addition, it was suggested that the Chair and Members may wish to agree to set up their own small task and finish groups to look at specific issues and report back to the following meeting of OSB.

·         In summary, the Forward Work Programme could  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24/5

A report was submitted to invite the Overview and Scrutiny Board to consider its work programme for the 2024/25 Municipal Year and to suggest potential topics for the People and Places Scrutiny Panels.

Members were aware that at the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting held on 7 May 2024, a new structure for scrutiny arrangements in Middlesbrough was agreed. Consequently, OSB would work with both the People and Place Scrutiny Panels to deliver scrutiny in Middlesbrough.  The following topics were placed on OSB’s work programme last year (2023/24) but were not progressed due to other emerging issues:-

·         Homelessness

·         Electoral Registration

·         Cyber Security

A review of Homelessness had initially been commenced by a previous Ad-Hoc Scrutiny Panel and was carried over to OSB last year.  The review had been partially scoped following the agreement of terms of reference to investigate what support is provided for those who find themselves homeless and how they could be helped out of homelessness.

No scoping exercises had been undertaken for either the electoral registration or cyber security topics. 

The submitted report also outlined a number of topic suggestions received as part of the scrutiny consultation exercise which sought suitable topic suggestions from Council Officers, Partner organisations, Members and members of the public.  Suggested topics had been allocated to the relevant Scrutiny Panel (People or Place) for consideration at their respective first meetings.  In addition, each of the Scrutiny Panels were also required to receive a number of statutory updates throughout the year and these were also listed in the report.

The Board was asked to consider whether it wished to continue with any of the three topics it had placed on its work programme last year; whether it wished to allocate any of them to the People or Place Scrutiny Panels; or whether it had any additional suggestions it wished to place on its own work programme or to put forward to the other scrutiny panels for consideration.

A discussion took place and the Chair expressed the view that the topic of homelessness would be best placed with the People Scrutiny Panel and proposed it should be put forward as a suggestion for consideration to be included within its work programme.  The Chair suggested that the topic of electoral registration be put to one side until after the general election on 4 July as the position on this may change depending on the Government elected to power and could always be revisited at a later date if appropriate.

With regard to cyber security, it was noted that this was being investigated by other Government organisations and it was considered that OSB should not duplicate the work already being done.

The Chair suggested that scrutiny should consider the issue of Home to School Transport and the Chair of the People Scrutiny Panel confirmed that he would discuss this with the Scrutiny Panel for inclusion on its work programme.

The Chair of the Place Scrutiny Panel advised that he would be suggesting the topic of environmental maintenance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24/6

None.