Issue - meetings

Consideration was given to the Budget Scrutiny Café which took place on 17 January 2013. There was bad weather on 17 January and clashes with Parish Council meetings were only identified the week before the cafe. It had been impractical to reschedule the event when it had already been carefully planned. Around ten councillors attended, which was less than anticipated. Officers still considered it to have been a worthwhile exercise which could be a stepping stone to build on, not only for budget scrutiny, but for other areas too. It was also good to see Officers who did not regularly attend scrutiny committee meetings. There had been an attempt to encapsulate the range of questions asked, in order that it might highlight an area to the Committee which required further scrutiny.

From the Cabinet perspective, the Leader advised it had been an interesting evening, with Cabinet members having the chance to hold worthwhile discussions with opposition Councillors. The Cabinet would be happy to take part in future cafés as it was a format that could clearly be built on. The Cabinet had tried to be transparent and the Leader thanked the Chair and the Committee for hosting the event. The Chair was pleased that members of all political parties attended.  

The cost of holding the café was questioned and it was considered that the date was already scheduled for a Transformation and Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting, so some of the Officers who attended would have already been in attendance if it had remained as a committee meeting.

Members considered the summary of questions asked, in particular the staffing efficiencies and how these would be monitored and managed. It was confirmed that only the themes of the questions asked had been captured and if Members had been satisfied with the answers provided their questions had not been pursued further; which had been the case for the monitoring and managing of staffing efficiencies. There were two questions that required further answer and the responses were distributed at the beginning of the meeting, with the Members who had asked the questions to receive a copy too. However, it was advised that Heads of Service would be managing staffing efficiencies for their own areas. They would report to the Executive Management Team who in turn would report to the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Budget Management. Any efficiencies would then come to Transformation and Resources for scrutiny. Conversations had taken place with Stafford Borough Council regarding waste and the potential to harmonise collection systems and conversations had also taken place with Stoke-on-Trent City Council regarding the disposal of waste. These were the only significant shared service conversations that had taken place. The Council were open to discuss the potential for working together with other local authorities. No response had been received regarding working together, but nothing was being ruled out.

RESOLVED:              That the information be received.