Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Members.

Apologies were received from Cllr M Cox and Cllr L Dedman.

To receive information on any changes in the membership of the Committee.

Note – When a member of a Committee is unable to attend a meeting of a Committee or Sub-Committee, the relevant Political Group Leader (or their nominated representative) may, by notice to the Monitoring Officer (or their nominated representative) prior to the meeting, appoint a substitute member from within the same Political Group. The contact details on the front of this agenda should be used for notifications. 

Cllr R Burton substituted for Cllr M Cox and Cllr S McCormack substituted for Cllr L Dedman for this meeting.

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

Agenda Item 7 - BCP Transformation: Cllr J Edwards declared for transparency that one of her relatives was a Council employee.

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the meetings held on 19 July 2021.

The minutes of the meetings held on 19 July 2021 were confirmed as a correct record.

To note and comment on the attached action sheet which tracks decisions, actions and recommendations from previous meetings.

The Chairman provided the following update on actions arising from previous meetings:

·       14 June 2021, minute number 28 – partly actioned but awaiting further response from Portfolio Holder to complete action.

·       19 July 2021, minute number 43a – the Board could discuss the request for regular enforcement reporting to Planning Committee as part of the BCP Planning update item on 15 November.

·       19 July 2021, minute number 43a – Poole Quay toilets now open

·       19 July 2021, minute number 54 – the Monitoring Officer had provided a detailed explanation of the specific cases referred to and there were valid reasons why the financial legal agreements had not yet been signed off. The matter was due to be considered by Executive Board.

The Vice-Chair reported that the Local Plan Working Group had yet to receive the Housing Needs Assessment (19 July, minute numbers 46/47). There were concerns this may delay the consultation. The Chairman agreed to contact the Portfolio Holder to ask when this would be available.

To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution, which is available to view at the following link:

https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeID=151&Info=1&bcr=1

The deadline for the submission of a public question is 4 clear working days before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a statement is midday the working day before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a petition is 10 working days before the meeting.

There were no public issues submitted for this meeting.

To consider and amend the Board’s Forward Plan as appropriate and to consider the published Cabinet Forward Plan.

A Board Member asked whether there was defined process for Lead Members to report to overview and scrutiny (O&S). The Monitoring Officer advised that there was no legal or constitutional provision for the Lead Member position. Their role was to advise and assist the Cabinet, but they did not take decisions and were not formally accountable to O&S.

The Leader of the Council explained that the work of Lead Members was available to the Board as and when it considered reports where they had input. Some Board Members supported this approach and agreed that their input was evident in these reports. Others felt that there was a lack of information and visibility from some Lead Members in supporting their Portfolio Holders. The Board discussed whether a formal request should be issued to Lead Members to attend O&S as a matter of course for items where they had input. As a way forward the Chairman explained that improvements to the Cabinet Forward Plan would make it easier to plan ahead and identify those parties the Board wished to invite for specific items. The Chairman also agreed to make a written request to the Leader putting forward the Vice Chair’s suggestion of an annual report on the work of Lead Members.

A Board Member expressed his frustration at how the item on Poole Regeneration was being dealt with and asked if a date could be agreed for the report to come to O&S. It was suggested that he raise these concerns when the Board considered the Cabinet report on BCP New Approach to Regeneration in October.

The Chairman asked the Board Member who had suggested an item on Poole Bay/Wessex Water to complete the formal scrutiny request form.

The Overview and Scrutiny Board are asked to consider the progress and current status of BCP Council’s Transformation Programme.

The Board has invited Council Officers, Portfolio Holders and Partners to attend the Board to respond to enquiries from Board members and other Councillors on the progress of the Transformation Programme. The Board will consider the three elements of the programme:

·       Our New Organisational Design

·       Where and How we Work

·       Supporting Our Colleagues

The Board are invited to consider and comment on the information received and make recommendations or observations as appropriate.

In attendance by invitation for this item:

From BCP Council:

Cllr Drew Mellor, Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder

Graham Farrant, Chief Executive

Julian Osgathorpe, Corporate Director, Transformation

Adam Richens, Director, Finance (Section 151 Officer)

Lucy Eldred, Head of Human Resources and Organisational Delivery

Matti Raudsepp, Director of Customer and Business Delivery

Maria Bourton, Head of Project Management and Major Change

From Unison:

Jon Hartley – Branch Secretary

From Strategic Implementation Partners:

Ruth Morgan – KPMG (and representing Agilisys)

The Chairman explained that this was an opportunity for the Board and other Members of the Council to ask questions of Council Officers, the Leader of the Council, and other Partners, on the progress of BCP Transformation. He invited the Corporate Director to give a brief overview, followed by the Chief Executive and the Leader.

The Corporate Director outlined the three integral elements of the programme, which were Organisational Design, Supporting our Colleagues, and Where and How We Work. These formed part of a single, internal governance structure under the Transformation Board but were subject to three separate political decision-making processes. The Board was shown a short video provided by KPMG, the Council’s Strategic Implementation Partner (SIP) which illustrated ways in which the Council could transform into a more modern, accessible organisation. Transformation was intended to deliver expectations and outcomes more efficiently at reduced cost.    

The Chief Executive spoke about the challenges of transformation in the wider context of Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), particularly in view of the unique scale and complexity of LGR in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. Bringing together, modernising and transforming systems, services and structures, within the financial constraints of the public sector and at an accelerated timescale, was a huge undertaking for the Council, the scale of which should not be underestimated.

The Leader referred to the progress made in the years preceding the more recent work with KPMG and Agilisys, including shared services, the procurement phase and Smarter. He underlined the ambition of the project, which aimed to deliver a modern, effective and excellent Council and achieve savings of £40million annually.

The Chairman responded to a concern from the Leader that the meeting wasn’t following a more Member led approach to answering questions. He explained that the Board needed to hear from officers on how the programme was being implemented at an operational level.

Council Officers, the Leader of the Council, and Council Partners responded to questions from Councillors on the following themes:

Governance arrangements and Member engagement:

There was no Cabinet working group at present, but the existing governance framework would evolve as the programme started to be delivered. Opportunities for Member engagement were now increasing and this included O&S. The current administration still intended to bring forward a working party to deliver on a cross party basis. The next Cabinet report on Organisational Design included a proposal to create a working party as suggested. A Civic Space Working Group had already been established as part of the Estates and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71.