Agenda and minutes

None.

None.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 14 January 2020 were accepted as a true and accurate record.

A member queried the last paragraph on page 7, has the Fairness and Equalities been published? The Head of Law and Regulations advised the committee that the actions from this meeting would have been completed before the Budget, so they would have been published.

Attendees

 – Gareth Price (Head of Law and Regulations)

The Chair presented the item to the committee. It was suggested that the committee look at the Covid Strategic Recovery Aims report that was agreed at Cabinet on 24 June 2020. Members would be able to scrutinise the Council’s response in the areas that concern the committee.

Members asked the following:

-       When will the committee receive the six monthly service plans?

Members were advised that they will be received by November 2020 at the latest. They are currently going through a lot of updating. It is hopeful that one or two plans will be ready in October.

-       Members voiced concern tht Members were advised that the agenda for the 16^th September 2020 Cabinet meeting will be published tomorrow. It was contain the Covid report which will give more details on what service areas have doing. Members were reminded that they are able to view the live broadcast of the meeting.

-       Members advised that they would like to see how the placements for children who cannot attend mainstream schools, and looked after children that have been placed out of area have fared during the pandemic.

-       Members commented that on the Covid Strategic Recovery Aims report there are no dates on when they are aimed to be completed. Are there going to be dates issued or is it a document on what the Council is hoping to achieve?

The Head of Law and Regulation advised the committee that the document are high level strategic aims that are linked into the Corporate Plan and the Well-being objectives so against these particular objectives there are no target date. However, if the committee drill down into service plans so that within each of these strategic aims, there will be actions and objectives for each of the service areas.

Within those services plans, service areas will put a target date and a deadline for completion of those actions.  All details will appear in the service plans and performance plans for this year.

-       Concern was raised about residents being unable to access help and information as the Information Station during the pandemic and the reception desk at the Civic Centre being closed, and being faced with long call wait times. What plans are in place to reopen these channels?

Members were advised that these details will be given when other service areas report back on how this translates into what action they are delivering, which will feed into the strategic aims that will go to Cabinet about the New Normal and New Ways of Working. There will be a detailed report on this in regards to what Customer Services intend on doing what is planned for the reopening of public buildings and the Information Station, acknowledging that things can never go back completely to the way they were. There will be an opportunity for Scrutiny to have input and to challenge the basis of that proposal.

-       Over the next couple of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To view the webcast, please click the link below:

https://youtu.be/VKtUDgPjAsQ