A MEETING OF THE POLICY OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
WAS HELD ON 7 DECEMBER 2005
Councillors Bone, Mrs Cully (P), Dickson (P), Edgar (P), Jacobs (P), Kimber (P), Philpott (P), Redrup (P), Mrs Salter (P) and Train (P).
32. APOLOGIES
No apologies for inability to attend the meeting had been received.
33. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
There were no declarations of interest.
34. MINUTES
RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 12 October 2005 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a true and correct record.
35. AUDIT AND RISK SUB COMMITTEE
RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the Audit and Risk Sub-Committee meeting held on 21 November 2005 be received and noted.
36. REVIEW OF PROGRESS OF SCRUTINIES BEING UNDERTAKEN
(i) Public Toilets Working Group
The Committee received a copy of the Working Group’s Action Plan, showing the areas of investigation to date and outlining the information that had been provided by officers as part of the scrutiny process.
The Committee were informed that, following their site visits to various public toilets in the Borough, the Working Group considered that there was a potential to demolish some of those facilities that were already currently closed. The toilet block at Stanley Park that had been closed for some time could possibly be utilised for a store/staff mess room. The Head of Parks and Service Facilities was in negotiations with Alverbank Hotel with a view to the public being able to use the hotel toilet facilities.
It was noted that Ward Councillors would be consulted on their views about possible demolition and potential future use or otherwise of the public toilets in their areas.
A Member requested that, although the new facilities at Lee on the Solent had been included in the site visit, consideration should be given to the other public toilets in Lee, especially the block at the recreation ground and at the eastern end of the town.
Reference was made to the public toilets in Rowner, which were thought to be frequented by drug addicts and it was suggested that perhaps a “blue light” could be installed to overcome the associated problems of anti-social behaviour.
The Working Group felt they were making good progress with the scrutiny investigation and the Committee commended them on their detailed work to date.
RESOLVED: That the action plan and the report of the Working Group be noted.
(ii) Constitution Working Group
The Committee received the Working Group’s report, informing them of the work undertaken to date and seeking further guidance on how they wished to progress the development and implementation of scrutiny in Gosport.
During the scrutiny process, the Working Group had received information from the Centre for Public Scrutiny on overview and scrutiny guidance that related to councils such as Gosport, i.e. Fourth Option – Alternative Arrangements local authorities. The Working Group had also received examples of successful policy reviews and development that had been carried out by other councils. It was acknowledged that there were different structural approaches for undertaking scrutiny functions and the Working Group had given consideration to alternative structures that might be introduced for Gosport Borough Council.
The Borough Solicitor advised the Committee that the Council’s democratic arrangements were to be reviewed by the end of the current Municipal Year and that a Members Working Group was to be established to work with her to consider amendments to the Constitution, which would include a review of the scrutiny process. All Members would be consulted and given an opportunity to express their views. Suggestions for improvement would be welcomed from both Members and Officers.
The Committee discussed various options that could be adopted in respect of scrutiny, e.g:
o One Overview and Scrutiny Committee;
o several Overview and Scrutiny Committees to mirror the Council’s main boards; and
o a Scrutiny Management Board to co-ordinate work for scrutiny in consultation with Chairmen of the Boards.
Members debated the select committee approach and it was suggested that the Committee would benefit from viewing a session of a Parliamentary Select Committee to perhaps learn and understand from that process.
With regard to the development of an Overview and Scrutiny Handbook, the Committee were mindful that although some work had been undertaken the draft document would need updating and expanding as a consequence of any changes to the democratic arrangements of the Council and revision to the Council’s Constitution.
RESOLVED: That
(a) The Working Group’s report be noted;
(b) Members’ views be sought on how they wish to progress the future development and implementation of scrutiny in Gosport;
(c) With regard to (b) above, it was noted that the Members Working Group is to be set up to review the Council’s Constitution including the scrutiny function;
(d) The Committee view a video of a Parliamentary Select Committee at the start of their next meeting;
(e) The Overview and Scrutiny Handbook be reviewed in March 2006 in the light of revisions of the Constitution;
(iii) Tourism
Following the decision at their meeting on 12 October 2005 to scrutinize the issue of tourism, marketing and promotion of the Borough, all members of the Committee had received copies of the documents that were currently available in connection with:
• Fareham and Gosport Joint Tourism Strategy 1996-2000
• Copy of the Agreement for the Tourist Information Centre
• Marketing & Tourism budget
• Tourist Information Centre budget
• Overall Marketing Plan – GBC funded
• Partners Advertising Plan – Joint funding
• Draft Visitors Guide 2006
• Southern & South East England Tourist Board – Service Level Agreement for the provision of the tourism function
• Gosport – The Way Forward for Tourism
Leaflets that were published and available for the public had also been considered.
Having considered the documents provided, the Committee requested that the paper on Fareham and Gosport Joint Tourism Strategy be updated to reflect the situation in Gosport and that the Leisure and Cultural Services Manager be requested to provide comparison with other local authorities’ tourism promotion strategies/policies.
During discussion, it was proposed that scrutiny be undertaken by the whole Committee as a working group and that a meeting be arranged when representatives from Tourism South East and the Tourist Information Centre Manager, as well as the Leisure and Cultural Services Manager, be invited to explain their roles and the present arrangements for effective tourism marketing. An opportunity to seek improvement for promotion of tourism and the economic activity in the Borough would be explored during the course of the scrutiny process
RESOLVED: That
(a) The scrutiny investigation into marketing and tourism in the Borough be carried out by a working group involving all members of the Committee; The Task and Finish Scrutiny to be completed by April 2006:
(b) A meeting be arranged to
(i) View a video of a Parliamentary Select Committee;
(ii) Hear from representatives from Tourism South East and Tourist Information Centre and the Leisure and Cultural Services Manager about the present arrangements for promoting tourism in the Borough;
(c) The Leisure and Cultural Services Manager be requested to provide an update on the Tourism Audit of Fareham and Gosport Joint Tourism Strategy in respect of Gosport;
(d) The Leisure and Cultural Services Manager be requested to investigate other local authorities’ approaches to tourism.
37. CONSIDERATION OF REQUESTS FOR SCRUTINY
It was reported that the Borough Solicitor had not received any requests for matters to be scrutinised.
38. STRATEGY GUIDANCE
The Head of Corporate Policy and Performance had provided a draft document entitled “Guidance on Strategy Production” and sought the Committee’s views on the value of the document in assisting them in their scrutiny role of strategies.
The guidance explained that the terms “strategy” and “policy” were often confused as being interchangeable or meaning the same thing. However, they were not the same. Strategy was an overall process of deciding where the Council wanted to get to and how the Council was going to get there. Policy provided the means of moving in that direction and set out ways of working but often became integrated into daily business. Policies should exist within the strategic framework as they helped to deliver the design the desired outcomes contained in strategies. The document on guidance provided to the Committee applied solely to strategies. In answer to Members questions, the Head of Corporate Policy and Performance agreed that, when finalised, the document would be made available on the Infonet and the Members Portal and she would ensure that an electronic version was accessible.
The Head of Corporate Policy and Performance was thanked for developing the guidance document.
RESOLVED: That the draft strategy guidance be noted.
39. WORK PROGRAMME
The Committee considered and agreed their work programme which now included:
1 Public Toilets; and
2 Marketing and Tourism
40 ANY OTHER BUSINESS
There was no other business to discuss.
The meeting commenced at 6pm and concluded at 7.25pm
CHAIRMAN
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