Issue - meetings

(Report of the Assistant Chief Executives, Access, Strategy & OD) To update Members on the financial planning process and to consider the pre business plan reviews for the following business units: Equalities, Libraries, Archives & Museums, Neighbourhood Management and Customer Services (note areas highlighted)

The Leader of the Council, Cllr Adje, gave a brief introduction on the Equalities business unit. The Committee raised the issue of increased spending on Black History Month events and it was commented that this figure was increasing due to the programme gathering momentum and more people getting involved. The Committee approved of this increase, and agreed with the leader that it was a matter of pride that the Borough invested in this area. The proposed loss of post in Equalities was raised, and the Leader commented that he hoped that the Committee would not approve this measure. The Committee commented that it was unhappy with being advised to reject proposals put before them by Executive Members. The Leader commented that the Executive wished to have the proposals prepared by officers looked at by the Committee before they were considered by the Executive. It was agreed to reject the proposed review of the role of Equalities.

The Executive Member for Community Involvement gave a brief introduction on the business units in the portfolio. The Committee raised a number of issues with figures in the report being inaccurate, and it was noted that these need to be checked more thoroughly before being presented before the Committee. The Committee also requested that in future an extra column be added to the sheets noting the Executive Member’s responsible for each proposal.

The issue of funding for the schools libraries service was raised, and it was commented that the schools would withdraw from the service if their costs were increased, so investment would have to be made. The issue of Member Learning and Development was discussed and it was commented that member attendance at training sessions was higher than perceived, and that an induction programme would be developed for new Members following the forthcoming Council Elections. The role of the proposed new Member Learning and Development Manager and the contingency budget for Member Services Review were discussed, and it was agreed that more information would be distributed to the Committee before 9^th December before these proposals could be agreed.

The Committee raised the issue of the proposal to roll out the new areas for Neighbourhood Management. It was commented that these areas would be based on the seven area assembly boundaries, and that the proposed figure would be divided equally between each of the seven areas for the Neighbourhood Managers to use for driving forward area based working. Cllr Davies requested that it be noted that he believed this to be an unfair distribution of funds as the area assembly for his area covered four wards. Cllr Dawson requested that it be noted that these proposals were in line with the discussions of the Regeneration Scrutiny Panel on this issue. It was agreed that the proposal would not be agreed without more information being provided to the Committee before 9 December.

The proposed restructure of Member Services was discussed and it was agreed to reject this proposal. the issue of town twinning budget  ...  view the full minutes text for item 104