To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution. Further information on the requirements for submitting these is available to view at the following link:-
The deadline for the submission of public questions is Monday 3 June 2019.
The deadline for the submission of a statement is 12.00 noon on Friday 7 June 2019.
The deadline for the submission of a petition is 12.00 noon on Friday 7 June 2019.
Minutes:
The Democratic Services Officer reported that there was one question and one statement received. The question and response received were as follows:
Question from Angela Pooley
“Prior to the Council merger it was agreed at a Shadow meeting that Co-opted members would still be part of the Scrutiny Panels. Could you please confirm that this will still be taking place?”
Response from Councillor Phillip Broadhead (Chairman)
“The Overview and Scrutiny elements of the constitution were developed in liaison with the Centre for Public Scrutiny and are based on best practices in scrutiny. Enabling the voice and concerns of the public is one of the six principles of Overview and Scrutiny as outlined in Part 1 of the Council’s Constitution. Article 6 in Part 2 of the Constitution allows for this to happen in a flexible way. It says the following about involving non-elected members of Overview and Scrutiny Committees:
‘In addition to the Councillors elected to the Committee, members of the public can be invited to attend and contribute to meetings as required to provide insight to a matter under discussion. This may include but is not limited to subject experts with relevant specialist knowledge or expertise, representatives of stakeholder groups or service users. These attendees will not have voting rights.’
Paragraph 2.11 of The Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules at Part 4 of the Constitution also states:
‘Consideration will be given at the scoping stage as to how others, in addition to Councillors and Officers of the Council, may be engaged in the work of Overview and Scrutiny and the benefit that this engagement will bring to the work. This may include, but is not limited to, contribution from subject experts with relevant specialist knowledge and/or expertise; representatives of stakeholder groups and service users.’
The constitution therefore enables the O&S Board and each O&S Committee to invite members of the public to attend meetings as appropriate to the subject matter and seek input to matters under discussion. This is not limited to Committee meetings and can include involvement in commissioned work such as working groups and detailed inquiries. It will be for each individual Overview and Scrutiny body to consider what action it would like to take in relation to involvement of non-elected members in its work and this will form part of its work planning process to ensure that scrutiny work is scoped to involve others who will add value to the matter under review.
Public involvement in Overview and Scrutiny is not limited to attendance at meetings and can also include:
·
contributing evidence to an Overview and Scrutiny
review;
· suggesting topics to be
considered for Overview and Scrutiny;
Any member of the public interested in overview and scrutiny work is encouraged to ‘subscribe to updates’ for Overview and Scrutiny Committees via the Council’s website.
Note - the Constitution gives separate direction on the matter of members to be co-opted to the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee, which is required by legislation.”
The Board noted that the following statement did not directly relate to an item of business on the agenda for the meeting but was within the remit of the Overview and Scrutiny Board. Therefore, the Board agreed to hear the below statement:
Statement by Susan Chapman
“Safeguarding young people is everybody's business as the BCP website tells us. Currently the climatically illiterate promotion of Extinction Energies is failing the YouthStrike4Climate generation. Melbourne's Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration warns of climate collapse and end of civilisation by 2050 unless we can overnight transform systems, stop vandalising failing Mother Nature and incentivise and motivate behaviour change at speed and scale with D-Day determination.
Sacrificing the next generation to dangerous anachronistic mindsets & Extinction Energies and to the carbon bombing now impacting the whole world would betray previous astonishing sacrifices and heroism.”