Havant Borough Council Joint Scrutiny Board Meeting

RESOLVED that Councillor Lloyd be appointed Chairman  of ths meeting of the Joint Scrutiny Board.

The following Councillors declared non-pecuniary interests in Items 6, 7 and 9 of the agenda on the grounds that they had supported or been members/trustees of groups that had sought aid:

(i)           Councillor P Bains;

(ii)          Councillor Lloyd;

(iii)         Councillor Lowe;

(iv)         Councillor Milne;

(v)          Councillor Patel;

(vi)         Councillor Raines; and

(vii)        Councillor Thain-Smith.

All the above Councillors also declared that they had not reached a conclusive view of the issues raised in the agenda.

The Board considered the work programme for all three Boards in 2020/21. The Board noted that approval of the work programme at this meeting did not prevent future amendments to this programme by the Boards.

RESOLVED that:

(a)          The work programme attached as an Appendix to these minutes be approved subject to such amendments as the individual scrutiny boards considered appropriate; and

(b)          Boards be permitted to accept referral of reviews from another Board provided that the Chairmen of the relevant boards agree to this arrangement.

RESOLVED that Councillor Branson be elected Chairman of the Business and Commercial Services Board until the next meeting of the Annual Council.

RESOLVED that

(i)           a Governance, Audit and Finance Sub Committee be appointed to deal with complaints against Councillors and any breaches of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct; and

(ii)          the membership of the sub-committee referred to in (i) above be Councillors Bains, Briggs, Crellin, Patel and Thomas for the ensuing municipal year.

RESOLVED that the Governance, Audit and Finance Board accept the referral from Cabinet to undertake a review of the actions taken by the Council in response to the Covid 19 pandemic.

The Governance, Audit and Finance Board discussed:

(i)           what topics the Governance, Audit and Finance Board wished to include in the scrutiny;

(ii)          what topics the Governance, Audit and Finance Board was prepared to include in the scrutiny; and

(iii)         what topics it would to refer to the other Boards.

RESOLVED that:

(i)           a task and finish panel be appointed to undertake a review, on behalf of the Governance, Audit and Finance Board, into the following areas of the Council’s response to the Covid 19 pandemic:

              1.           the financial Implications of Business Support;

              2.           service delivery; and

              3.           the financial Implications of the following Covid workstreams

                            (a)     support schemes available (Council Tax and Business Support)

                            (b)     financial impact on the Authority

                            (c)     supplier/contractor relief

                            (d)     commercial property relief

                             and report its findings and recommendations to the Governance, Audit and Finance Board before the end of August 2020

(ii)          the Operations and Place Shaping Board be requested to undertake a review of the following areas of the Council’s response to the Covid 19 pandemic:

              1.           community support; and

              2.           communications

              and report its findings and recommendations to the Governance, Audit and Finance Board before the end of August 2020.

(iii)         the Business and Commercial Services Board be requested to undertake a review of the following areas of the Council’s response to the Covid 19 pandemic:

              1.           business support; and

              2.           staff welfare and deployment

              and report its findings and recommendations to the Governance, Audit and Finance Board before the end of August 2020.

RESOLVED that the request of the Governance, Audit and Finance Board that the Business and Commercial Services Board undertake a review of the following areas of the Council’s response to the Covid 19 pandemic be accepted:

1.           business support; and

2.           staff welfare and deployment

and that the findings and recommendations of this review be reported to the Governance, Audit and Finance Board before the end of August 2020.

RESOLVED that the request of the Governance, Audit and Finance Board that the Operations and Place Shaping Board undertake a review of the following areas of the Council’s response to the Covid 19 pandemic be accepted:

1.           community support; and

2.           communications

and that the findings and recommendations of this review be reported to the Governance, Audit and Finance Board before the end of August 2020.