Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence and notifications of substitutions.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Betton, Davison, Eldon, Troughton and Tucker.

To receive declarations by Members and/or co-optees of disclosable pecuniary interests, other registrable interests and any other interests in respect of items on this agenda.

There were no Declarations of Interest received.

To consider whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of any items of business on the agenda.

RESOLVED that the press and public not be excluded from the meeting for any items of business on the agenda.

The Chair will move the minutes of the meeting held on 21 December 2022 as a correct record.  The only part of the minutes that may be discussed is their accuracy.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 21 December 2022 be confirmed as a correct record.

It was noted that the draft Calendar of Meetings as referenced in Minute Number 22 would be circulated to members as soon as it was available.

The Scrutiny Officers to provide an overview of matters related to the Committee’s work, including the current version of the Scrutiny Work Programme.

The Scrutiny Officers provided the Committee with an overview of matters related to the Committees work, along with the current version of the Scrutiny Work Programme.

The Committee considered and noted the current Forward Plan of Key Decisions.

With regards to the Draft Budget 2023/24 it was noted that discussions were taking place with the Finance team around the budget setting timetable with a view to hopefully arranging a Scrutiny consultation session before the draft budget went before the Council for approval. If a session was looking possible the group would be contacted by Democratic Services for their availability in the coming days. Members expressed the importance of Scrutiny’s involvement in the draft budget setting process and suggested a Teams session may assist if timescales were to be tight.

Members then discussed the information provided on the cost of living crisis as requested at a previous meeting.

Making reference to the Cost of Living motion approved at the full Council meeting on 11 October 2022, detailed on page 24 of the report, one member highlighted the importance of the motion for the sake of supporting the local communities and expressed it would require support from both the Scrutiny Committee and Executive.

Councillor M Hawkins proposed a motion to request that the Executive update the Scrutiny Committee on the plans to address the cost of living crisis and how they intend to support what was already taking place and available.

This was seconded by Councillor S Pollen. The motion was agreed.

RESOLVED That:

a)    The items on the most recent Forward Plan of Key Decisions be noted;

b)    The update on Scrutiny Arrangements for Cumberland Council be noted;

c)    The current Work Programme, work planning activity and comment on the programme, in particular on items for the next Committee meeting be noted;

d)    The update report on Scrutiny activity undertaken by Sovereign Councils on the Cost of Living Crisis and wider activity being undertaking to address the Cost of Living Crisis be noted;

e)    The Executive update the Scrutiny Committee on the plans to address the cost of living crisis and how they intend to support what was already taking place and available.

The LGR Programme Director to submit an update on the Programme in place to support Local Government Reorganisation in Cumbria.

The LGR Programme Manager provided the Committee with an overview of the report and highlighted the main points to note.

Now 48.6% of the programmes milestones had now been fully completed, equating to 648 milestones, with 29 of the 227 Day 1 Requirements fulfilled and 34 near completion.

The Chief Officer and Assistant Director roles and structures were now complete and recruitment was well underway.

From the staff allocation process only 192 roles out of near 8,000 were remaining of the more complex cases.

From the list of 20 key milestones detailed in the attached Programme Dashboard, 14 had now been completed and 6 were in progress, those being Numbers 4, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 20.

An update was also provided on the Key Strategic Risks.

One member said that generally the update report had been very reassuring however asked for an opinion on what the three most important outstanding issues were causing the most concern for officers. The LGR Programme Manger offered in their opinion those were probably to be ICT, that area was to be covered in more detail later in the meeting, staffing issues and the budget, in that it all must be managed appropriately.

One member asked whether it was likely that much work for the new Cumberland Council could be undertaken in Year 1 or would time still be required dealing with legacy issues. The Portfolio Holder for Governance and Thriving Communities explained that it was likely to be a mixture, some areas would take many years to be fully transitioned and it would be the job of the Executive and Scrutiny to identify where they could begin to put their own stamp.

It was suggested it may be worthwhile for a piece of work to be carried out to compile a list of all legacy projects that may hang over from Day 1, which Scrutiny could monitor. The LGR Manager agreed to look in to whether that would be possible to undertake.

With regards to the Highways Information Asset Management System and the use of a ‘Hotline’ one member pointed out that it was generally a big issue for councillors and asked whether the service transition would be seamless. It was explained that there were to be two golden telephone numbers, one for each new authority customer services and the calls would be directed accordingly.

The Committee then received a verbal update on the HR and OD activities related to LGR.

The current priorities were highlighted to members as follows;

-       Reviewing staff allocations against budget

-       Completion of the remaining 192

-       Agency workers – understanding the rights and how they fit in

-       Development and principles

-       Finalising the TUPE letter templates

-       Design of HR Policies and Procedures for Day 1 onwards

Of the TUPE process, 97% of staff had been allocated. Staff were to receive their TUPE confirmation letter by the end of February and in March HR were to share the employee liability information to the new Head  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

To note that the next meeting of the Committee will be held on 22 March 2023 at 10.30 am at Cumbria House, Carlisle.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on 22 March 2023 at 10.30 am at Cumbria House, Carlisle.