Agenda and minutes

To receive details of any changes in membership of this Committee notified since the agenda was printed.

There were no changes.

(a) Communications (if any) relating to business on the agenda.

(b) Apologies for absence.

There were none.

Members are required to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests they or their spouse/partner have in any matter which is to be considered at this meeting. Members must also declare any other pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests they have in any matter to be considered at this meeting. The responsibility for declaring an interest rests solely with the Member concerned.

Members must clearly state to the meeting the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest, other pecuniary interest or non-pecuniary interest and the agenda item(s) to which it/they apply.

Disclosable Pecuniary Interests are prescribed by the Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012 as follows:

a. Employment, office, trade, profession or vocation

Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

b. Sponsorship

Any payment or provision of any other financial benefit (other than from the relevant authority) made or provided within the relevant period in respect of any expenses incurred by a member in carrying out duties as a member, or towards your election expenses. This includes any payment or financial benefit from a trade union within the meaning of the Trade Union and Labour

Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.

c. Contracts

Any contract which is made between the relevant person (or a body in which the relevant person has a beneficial interest) and the relevant authority— (a) under which goods or services are to be provided or works are to be executed; and (b) which has not been fully discharged.

d. Land

Any beneficial interest in land which is within the area of the relevant authority.

e. Licences

Any licence (alone or jointly with others) to occupy land in the area of the relevant authority for a month or longer.

f. Corporate tenancies

Any tenancy where (to the member’s knowledge) - (a) the landlord is the relevant authority; and (b) the tenant is a body in which the relevant person has a beneficial interest.

g. Securities

Any beneficial interest in securities of a body where – (a) that body (to the member’s knowledge) has a place of business or land in the area of the relevant authority; and (b) either (i) the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that

body; or (ii) if the share capital of that body is of more than one class, the

total nominal value of the shares of any one class in which the relevant person has a beneficial interest exceeds one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that class.

In cases of Disclosable Pecuniary Interest, Members must withdraw from the meeting room while the matter is being considered.

There were none.

To confirm and sign the ATTACHED minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 7 March 2019 and the Annual Special Meeting held on 15 May 2019.

In accordance with the Constitution no discussion shall take place upon the minutes, except upon their accuracy.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meetings held on 7 March 2019 and 15 May 2019 be approved and signed as a correct record.

To note the ATTACHED report.

The Head of Planning and Economic Development and the Planning Strategy Manager were in attendance for this item, supported by the Planning Portfolioholder, Councillor Cohen.

The report was presented and a number of points discussed, including:

-       Hertsmere Borough Council (HBC) had collected a total of around £9M of Community Infrastructure Levy payments as at 31 March 2019. The Council was required to pass on 15% of CIL collected in parished areas directly to the relevant Town & Parish Councils (T&PCs).

-       HBC was the only Local Authority in Hertfordshire to have started spending Community Infrastructure Funds (CIF). CIF bids were considered by the Council’s Community Infrastructure Levy and Investment Panel (CILIP), whose recommendations were then referred to Executive for the final decision on the allocation of CIF.

-       An internal review was being carried out to consider the spending process and whether improvements could be made. HBC had participated in a CIL Pilot Project, commissioned by the Government through the Planning Advisory Service (PAS). The report from the PAS would be circulated to Members shortly.

-       Members discussed the possibilities and challenges of match funding. There was little national guidance available regarding match funding and it was an area which required further clarification.

-       Crowd-funding was discussed and Members agreed that it was an area worth further consideration. It would potentially be a good platform to engage with the local community and could be useful for spending smaller portions of CIF.

-       Members discussed whether current available CIL money should be used for larger infrastructure projects rather than several small ones. They also discussed the possibility of smaller level funding being directed to T&PCs.

-       Members discussed the 5% admin charge paid by T&PCs. Officers explained that the charge covered software expenditure, the cost of Officer time and the costs of running the bid process.

-       New CIL regulations were due to come into effect on 1 September 2019. They were expected to give more flexibility on how CIL monies were spent.

RESOLVED that at the Policy Review meeting of 17 December 2019, the Committee would consider:

1. An update of the CIL/CIF Policy and the CIL regulations due to come into effect on 1 September 2019.

2. Feedback from the CILIP Panel.

3. Recommendations from the Internal Review.

4. Report from the Planning Advisory Service.

To discuss whether further work is required following the ATTACHED response of the Executive to the Scrutiny Review’s recommendations.

The Committee discussed the response of the Executive to the recommendations and the implementation of those recommendations.

RESOLVED that no further work on the Physical Access Security Policy was required at present.

To consider whether further work is required from 7 March 2019 briefing report.

In response to the recommendations arising from the Briefing on Mental Health at the last meeting, the Committee was informed that:

-       Managers in Customer Services, Environmental Health, Housing, Revenues and Benefits and Parking Services had been advised that it was mandatory for all relevant customer-facing staff to complete online Mental Health Awareness training via the Learning Zone. Staff had until 30 September 2019 to complete this training. All relevant new starters would have this training added as mandatory to their induction training requirements.

-       The majority of teams throughout the Council had at least one person trained as a Mental Health First Aider.

-       The Member Development Panel had not met since the last Committee meeting, so the Committee’s recommendations would be passed to the Panel at their next meeting.

The Committee welcomed the training initiatives organised by Human Resources and discussed if further work was required regarding the motion on Neurodiversity and Mental Health submitted to Full Council in November 2018.

RESOLVED that at the next meeting, the Committee would request:

1. A report on the progress of the issues raised in the motion on Neurodiversity and Mental Health at the Full Council meeting of November 2018.

2. Feedback on the number of staff who have completed the online Mental Health Awareness training.

To agree what areas should be scrutinised in the next 12 – 18 months.

Areas for future scrutiny were discussed. The main areas of interest were:

1. A Task and Finish Review of the Scrutiny function, to consider:

-       How Scrutiny was working for this Local Authority?

-       If the changes to the scrutiny structure, implemented in 2015 following a review, had been effective?

-       What areas had not been effective?

-       What could be done to make scrutiny more effective?

The Mapping of Partnerships Review currently taking place by Operations Review Committee would be considered as part of this review. The recommendations from the Mapping of Partnerships Review were due to come to Policy Review Committee in March 2020. 

The Review Group would be comprised of three or four Members, with Councillor Newmark as Lead Member and two or three Members who were not Members of the Committee. Councillor Newmark would email the Chair a Scoping Briefing advance of the Policy Review Committee meeting in October.

2. A Task and Finish Review of the Data Security Policy, to consider:

-       The Data Management processes of this Council.

-       How security risks had been mitigated now that data was stored on the Cloud?

-       Was data security sufficiently robust to give residents assurance that their data was secure?

The Review Group would be comprised of three Members, with Councillor Briski as Lead Member and two Members who were not Members of the Committee. Councillor Briski would email the Chair with a Scoping Brief in advance of the Policy Review Committee Meeting in October.

3. Procurement and Modern-Slavery Statement:

Following the Modern Slavery Review Motion in Full Council and further to the setting up of the Herts Modern Slavery Partnership, staff in the Procurement Department received training on slavery within supply chains. The Committee agreed a review on anti-slavery policy within Procurement as well as an update on Hertsmere Borough Council’s Procurement and Modern Slavery Statement.

RESOLVED that:

(i) A Task and Finish Scrutiny Review on Scrutiny Functions be set up, as follows:

-       Review membership to comprise Members would be Councillor Newmark (as Lead Member) plus two or three non-Policy Review Committee Members.

-       Councillor Newmark to email the Scoping Brief to the Chair before the next Committee meeting.

(ii) A Task & Finish Scrutiny Review on the Data Security Policy be set up, as follows:

-           Review membership to comprise Councillor Briski (as Lead Member) plus two non-Policy Review Committee Members.

-               Councillor Briski to email the Scoping Brief to the Chair before the next Committee meeting.

(iii) a report on Procurement and Modern Slavery be presented to the 3 October 2019 Committee meeting.

To consider the ATTACHED Forward Planning Programme and identify possible issues for scrutiny.

To consider the Committee’s ATTACHED Workprogramme and requirements for Officer and/or Portfolio Holder attendance.

The Forward Planning Programme was NOTED.

AGREED following changes to the Work Programme:

-       add an item on Procurement and Modern-Slavery to October 2019 meeting.

In accordance with S100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, amended by the Access to Information Act of 1985, no urgent business may be raised unless it has been approved by the Chair. The item and reason for urgency must be announced at the start of the meeting.

There was none.

The next meeting will be at 7.30pm at Hertsmere Civic Offices on:

-       03 October 2019

-       17 December 2019

-       28 January 2020

The next meeting was scheduled for 3 October 2019.