(Verbal)

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services explained that training was being provided to give Members an introduction to how scrutiny worked at the District Council. Formal Scrutiny Training had taken place on 1 June 2011 but not all Members had been able to attend. Members then watched a DVD which outlined the general process and key aims of Scrutiny.

The Head of Housing and Communications informed Members that in 2008 the Services Select Committee had undertaken an in-depth scrutiny exercise which had focused on Empty Homes. Democratic Services had created a Guide to In-depth Scrutiny which was distributed to Members. As set out in the Guide, a sub-group had been formed to consider the issues. Housing Officers had provided the sub-group with case studies to consider and relevant information which included funding and information about landlords. The sub-group had decided to set up a Panel of experts, which had included the Manager of the Kent County Council’s “No Use Empty Scheme”, the Director of West Kent Housing Association and the Chair of the Landlords’ Association as well as other relevant Officers and interested parties. The sub-group had devised questions to ask the Panel and had carried out a question and answer session at a meeting of the Committee.

The Head of Housing and Communications informed Members that, at the time, there had been 600 empty properties in the District with ten properties per year being brought back into use. She noted that the question and answer session had generated a good discussion of the issues and led to an Action Plan being produced at the meeting. An Empty Homes Officer had been created within the Housing team and an amount of funding had been secured. A new target had been set to bring 20 properties per year back into use and the Head of Housing and Communications felt that Members had successfully supported Officers in achieving this target in 2009 and 2010.

When considering items for scrutiny, the Head of Legal and Democratic Services advised that, due to the difficult financial situation of the Council, Members should be mindful of costs associated with a particular topic. Scrutiny exercises should also be “task and finish” time limited.

With regard to the Localism Bill, the Head of Legal and Democratic Services advised that it made no substantial changes to the operation of Overview and Scrutiny. The Bill would also give council’s the option to return to the Committee System and Members might be asked by the County Council to sit on Police and Health Boards. However, the details of these boards were yet to be known.

Members were then split into three groups to complete a scrutiny exercise. They were given a case study relating to Carmarthenshire Coastal Erosion and were asked to consider how they would scrutinise this issue. Following the exercise they reported their ideas back to the Committee. The Head of Legal and Democratic Services explained that should Members wish to view further case studies, a library of over 2,000 cases was available on the Centre for Public Scrutiny website.