Corporate Resources Overview & Scrutiny Panel Date: Tuesday 19 October 2010 Time: 10.00am Venue: Edwards Room, County Hall, Norwich Persons attending the meeting are requested to turn off mobile phones. Membership Mr M Brindle Mrs D Clarke (Liberal Democrat Spokesperson) Mr S Clancy Mr B Collins Mr J Dobson Mr R Hanton Mr C Jordan (Chairman) Mr M Langwade Ms J Mickleburgh Mr J Mooney Mr A Proctor (Vice Chairman) Mr R Smith Dr M Strong Mrs J Toms (Green Spokesperson) Mr A White Mrs C Walker (Labour Spokesperson) Mr T Williams Cabinet Members (Non-Voting) Mr B Borrett Efficiency Mr I Mackie Finance and Performance Mr J Carswell Culture Customer Services and Communications Deputy Cabinet Members (Non-Voting) Mr J Herbert Corporate Affairs For further details and general enquiries about this Agenda please contact: Catherine Wilkinson on 01603 223230 or email [email protected] Corporate Resources Overview & Scrutiny Panel – 19 October 2010 A g e n d a 1. To receive apologies and details of any substitute members attending. 2. Minutes To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 15 September 2010. (Page 1) 3. Members to Declare any Interests Please indicate whether the interest is a personal one only or one which is prejudicial. A declaration of a personal interest should indicate the nature of the interest and the agenda item to which it relates. In the case of a personal interest, the member may speak and vote on the matter. Please note that if you are exempt from declaring a personal interest because it arises solely from your position on a body to which you were nominated by the County Council or a body exercising functions of a public nature (e.g. another local authority), you need only declare your interest if and when you intend to speak on a matter. If a prejudicial interest is declared, the member should withdraw from the room whilst the matter is discussed unless members of the public are allowed to make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter, in which case you may attend the meeting for that purpose. You must immediately leave the room when you have finished or the meeting decides you have finished, if earlier. These declarations apply to all those members present, whether the member is part of the meeting, attending to speak as a local member on an item or simply observing the meeting from the public seating area. 4. To receive any items of business which the Chairman decides should be considered as a matter of urgency 5. Public Question Time 15 minutes for questions from members of the public of which due notice has been given. Please note that all questions must be received by 5pm on Thursday 14 October 2010. Please submit your question(s) to the person named on the front of this agenda. For guidance on submitting public questions, please view the Council Constitution, Appendix 10, Council Procedure Rules at www.norfolk.gov.uk/reviewpanelquestions. 6. Local Member Issues/Member Questions 15 minutes for local members to raise issues of concern of which due notice has been given. Please note that all questions must be received by 5pm on Thursday 14 October 2010. Please submit your question(s) to the person named on the front of this agenda. Corporate Resources Overview & Scrutiny Panel – 19 October 2010 7. Cabinet Member Feedback on Previous Overview & Scrutiny Panel Comments (if any) 8.a Scrutiny – Norse Governance Arrangements 8.b Scrutiny – Norse (Page 10) Report by the Managing Director of the Norse Group Ltd. This report seeks to clarify the details of the Norse arrangements by (Page 31) responding to a series of questions and issues raised by members and aims to improve Members’ general level of understanding about how the Group operates, its value to Norfolk County Council and, more widely, the people of Norfolk. 9. Scrutiny – Role of Customer Services and Communications Report by Head of Customer Service and Communications (Page 56) This paper summarises the role and purpose of this service and function in helping to achieve the Council’s overall objectives and in particular that of improving customer focus, to inform members of the service. 10. Scrutiny - Review of the Council's Constitution Report by the Chairman of the Scrutiny Working Group (Page 73) The report provides further findings and recommendations of the Scrutiny Working Group established by the Panel. 11. Scrutiny – Forward Work Programme Report by the Director of Corporate Resources. (Page95) Members to review and develop the scrutiny programme. Group Meetings Conservative 9.00am Colman Room Green Party 9.00am Room 532 Liberal Democrat 9.00am Room 504 Chris Walton Head of Democratic Services and Scrutiny County Hall Martineau Lane Norwich NR1 2DH Date Agenda Published: 11 October 2010 If you need this Agenda in large print, audio, Braille, alternative format or in a different language please contact Catherine Wilkinson 0344 800 8020 or 0344 800 8011 (textphone) and we will do our best to help. Corporate Resources Overview & Scrutiny Panel Minutes of the Meeting Held on 15 September 2010 Present: Mr C Jordan (Chairman) Mr J Mooney Mr M Brindle Mr G Nobbs Mr S Clancy Mr A Proctor Mrs D Clarke Mr R Smith Mr B Collins Dr M Strong Mr J Dobson Ms J Toms Mr R Hanton Mr A White Mr M Langwade Mr T Williams Mrs J Mickleburgh Cabinet Member Present: Mr D Murphy Culture, Customer Services and Communications Deputy Cabinet Member Present: Mr J Herbert Corporate Affairs 1 Apologies Apologies were received from Mrs C Walker with Mr G Nobbs substituting. 2 Minutes The minutes of the previous meeting held 14 July 2010 were considered by the Panel, with the addition of a bullet point to item 10 - West Norfolk Partnership: The question was asked to Martin Slater of the LSP – why were 25% of looked after children placed out of county? This could not be answered at the time. With this amendment, the minutes were agreed by the Panel and signed by the Chairman. 3 Declarations of Interest Mr T Williams declared a personal interest in item 8 as a Director of Norse. Mr J Herbert declared a personal interest as the Council’s nominated shareholder representative. Mr D Murphy, Mr G Nobbs and Mrs D Clarke declared personal interests as members of the Shareholder Committee. Mr S Clancy declared a personal interest as a customer of Norse. - 1 - 4 Urgent Business There were no items of urgent business. 5 Public Question Time (a) Question from Mr John Martin: “The total remuneration cost of the six chief officers together in 2009 - 2010 was £1.05m with the Chief Executive accounting for one quarter of that. Will the Panel take into account, when reviewing the role of the chief executive, that there is not only a considerable overlap between his role and the roles of the other five chief officers, but also his role and that of the Leader?” In reply the Chairman answered that this would be considered as part of the scrutiny. 6 Local Member Issues / Member Questions There were no local member issues or questions. 7 Cabinet Member Feedback There was no Cabinet Member feedback. 8 Scrutiny – City of Norwich Partnership (LSP) The Panel received a presentation by Laura McGillivray, Chief Executive of Norwich City Council, Graham Creelman, Chairman of City of Norwich Partnership, and Rachael Metson, Partnerships Manager, Norwich City Council together with a report by the Director of Children’s Services (annexe 8). Following the presentation, the following points were raised: It was confirmed that the Partnership invited neighbouring districts to participate in meetings, and the County Council representative regularly attended meetings. The Greater Norwich Development Partnership (GNDP) was working on the Joint Core Strategy (JCS) on wider boundaries than those of Norwich City Council. Lord Mayors Receptions focussed on the widest possible boundaries. Boundaries were flexible according to topic. Sustainable Development came under the remit of the GNDP who were looking at physical planning of the city. Norwich City Council worked with the Shaping Norfolk’s Future partnership. New arrangements for Local Enterprise Partnerships were being considered by Government Partners were not required to directly contribute financially, however if an agreed specific work programme involved a partner a contribution could be expected. Core funding was small and the partnership was managed within this. Housing stock condition was being improved in line with the Decent Home target and was set to be completed by the end of March 2011, although it was - 2 - acknowledged that the Connaught collapse could delay this slightly. Emergency plans and contracts were being put in place for the short and medium term. Funding for capital projects was queried and it was agreed that a report on this would be sent to all members. Future challenges in relation to young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) would be met with the resources available at the time. The Sustainable Community Strategy had been refreshed around 4 years previously and would be looked at again once the Comprehensive Spending Review had been published. Homelessness was being tackled through tenanting empty homes and maximising the use of both public and privately owned properties. Family Units were also successful in giving money advice, furniture etc. A draft homelessness strategy would soon be out for consultation Crackdowns on bad behaviour were being instigated with the police as the community safety aspect of the Local Strategic Partnership. Different localities presented different challenges and work was underway to improve physical locations. The Committee noted the presentation and thanked the speakers for an informative session.