Agenda and minutes

The Chairman reported that he had attended 21 events since the last Council meeting and the Vice Chairman had attended six events on behalf of the Council.

The Chairman noted that the West Berkshire Community Champion Awards had been launched and he encouraged Members to promote the scheme within their communities.

The Chairman to sign as a correct record the Minutes of the Council meeting held on 4^th July 2017.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 04^th July 2017 were approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chairman subject to the inclusion of the word ‘Councillor’ before ‘Manohar Gopal’ on page 10 of the agenda.

To remind Members of the need to record the existence and nature of any personal, disclosable pecuniary or other registrable interests in items on the agenda, in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct.

There were no declarations of interest received.

There were no petitions presented at the meeting.

Members of the Executive to answer the following questions submitted by members of the public in accordance with the Council’s Constitution:

A full transcription of the public and Member question and answer sessions are available from the following link: Transcription of Q&As. (right click on link and ‘Edit Hyperlink’. Insert URL to pdf on website in ‘address’ field)

a)            A question standing in the name of Mr Jamie Heath on the subject of  the difference between WBC 'Pothole Policy and Guidance' and WBC intervention levels  document would receive a written response from the Portfolio Holder for  Highways and Transport as Mr Heath was not able to attend the meeting.

b)            A question standing in the name of Mr Jamie Heath on the subject of  the Council’s adherence to the Pothole Policy would receive a written response from the Portfolio Holder for  Highways and Transport as Mr Heath was not able to attend the meeting.

The Monitoring Officer to advise of any changes to the membership of Committees since the previous Council meeting.

Councillor Graham Jones proposed that Councillor James Cole replace Councillor Nick Goodes on the Licensing Committee. The recommendation was seconded by Councillor Hilary Cole.

The Motion was put to the meeting and duly RESOLVED

The Council is asked to note that since the last meeting of the Council, the Licensing Committee met on 18^th July 2017.  Copies of the Minutes of this meeting can be obtained from Strategic Support or via the Council’s website.

The Council noted that, since the last meeting, the Licensing Committee had met on 18 July 2017.

The Council is asked to note that since the last meeting of the Council, the Personnel Committee has not met.

The Council noted that, since the last meeting, the Personnel Committee had not met

The Council is asked to note that since the last meeting of Council, the Governance and Ethics Committee met on 21^st August 2017.  Copies of the Minutes of this meeting can be obtained from Strategic Support or via the Council’s website.

The Council noted that, since the last meeting, the Governance and Ethics Committee had met on 21 August 2017.

The Council is asked to note that since the last meeting of the Council, the District Planning Committee met on 23^rd August 2017.  Copies of the Minutes of this meeting can be obtained from Strategic Support or via the Council’s website.

The Council noted that, since the last meeting, the District Planning Committee had met on 23 August 2017.

The Council is asked to note that since the last meeting of the Council, the Overview and Scrutiny Management Commission has not met.

The Council noted that, since the last meeting, the Overview and Scrutiny Management Commission had not met.

The Council is asked to note that since the last meeting of the Council, the Joint Public Protection Committee has not met.

The Council noted that, since the last meeting, the Joint Public Protection Committee had not met.

Purpose: To agree the membership of the West Berkshire Council Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) for 2017 and the scope of the allowances the IRP will consider at its next meeting

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 14) concerning the membership of the West Berkshire Council Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) for 2017 and which sought agreement on the scope of the allowances the IRP would consider at its next meeting.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Graham Jones and seconded by Councillor Lee Dillon:

“That the Council:

“1         Agrees the membership of the West Berkshire Council IRP.

2          Agrees that the scope that the IRP will consider will include:

·         Basic Allowance

·         Special Responsibility Allowances - with particular attention to the following:

o   Governance and Ethics Committee

o   Personnel Committee

o   Overview and Scrutiny Management Commission

o   Standards Committee

·         Allowances for Independent Members

·         Childcare and Dependent Carers Allowance

·         Travelling Allowance

·         Subsistence Allowance

·         The administration of the scheme”

Councillor Graham Jones in introducing the item noted that The Local Authorities (Members’ Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003 required Councils to establish and maintain an Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP).

The last meeting of the panel took place in February 2015 and provided an extensive review of Members’ Allowances. The panel members at that time were Ms Lindsey Appleton, Mr David Danielli and Mr Declan Hall. Ms Appleton was now a West Berkshire Council Independent Person and could therefore not form part of the panel. Mr Hall was employed as an advisory consultant for the Panel and it was not intended that he be employed on this occasion.

Given the need to replace two of the previous panel members, and in line with the statutory requirements, the proposed membership of the Panel for November 2017 was as follows: Mr David Danielli, Mr Jonathon Hopson and Mr Tim Renouf.

Councillor Graham Jones asked Members to support the scope of the review and highlighted that there was a statutory requirement for the Panel to meet and that he anticipated that this would be a ‘light touch’ review.

Councillor Lee Dillon supported the membership of the Panel and the scope of the review.

The Motion was put to the meeting and duly RESOLVED.

Purpose: To propose an increase in the number of Members on an Appeals Panel from three to four and to remove the requirement for a substitute.

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 15) which proposed an increase in the number of Members on an Appeals Panel from three to four and to remove the requirement for a substitute.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Graham Jones and seconded by Councillor James Cole:

“That the Council:

“1  Agrees that the Panel for future Appeals Panel meetings will consist of four         Members with no substitute required.

2   Agrees that subject to agreement with the paragraph above the necessary            changes be made to the Council’s Constitution.”

Councillor Graham Jones noted that the report set out a change to the way Appeals Panels currently operated. Where an appeal needed to be heard an Appeals Panel of three Members and a substitute was constituted by the Head of Strategic Support. The substitute was required to attend the whole hearing in case an unexpected conflict of interest or illness arose, but they were precluded from taking part in the deliberations and final decision making.

Members had found this frustrating. It was proposed that in order to fully involve all Appeals Panel Members in the decision making process and provide them with the opportunity to gain necessary relevant experience and to make better use of their time the number of Members sitting on an Appeals Panel should be increased to four, but with substitutes no longer being appointed.

Councillor James Cole noted that the amendment had received the full support of the Governance and Ethics Committee when it was discussed at that meeting.

The Motion was put to the meeting and duly RESOLVED.

Purpose: The report  informs Council of the outcome of the Children’s Services Ofsted Inspection of May 2017, responds to Ofsted’s recommendations arising from that inspection and sets out our ambition to build on the successful ‘Good’ Ofsted grading to achieve excellent and sustainable Children’s Services. The report also notes that future consideration will be given to going beyond the action plan in response to Ofsted’s seven recommendations, to further develop and improve the service.

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 16) which sought to inform Council of the outcome of the Children’s Services Ofsted Inspection of May 2017, responded to Ofsted’s recommendations arising from that inspection and which set out the Council’s ambition to build on the successful ‘Good’ Ofsted grading to achieve excellent and sustainable Children’s Services.

The report also noted that future consideration would be given to going beyond the action plan in response to Ofsted’s seven recommendations, in order to further develop and improve the service.

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Lynne Doherty and seconded by Councillor Gordon Lundie:

“That the Council:

1.    Notes the progress made by West Berkshire Children Services since its Ofsted inspection in March 2015 to achieve a ‘good’ judgement in the inspection undertaken in May in 2017.

2.    Endorses the service’s Action Plan in response to the seven recommendations in Ofsted’s inspection report published in July 2017.

3.    Notes that further consideration will be given to the next steps for the development of West Berkshire Children Services to further embed good practice and consider what more needs to be achieved to progress beyond “good” to great services.”

Councillor Lynne Doherty explained that the report served to inform Members of the outcome of the Children’s Services Ofsted Inspection which took place in May 2017. The report also included an Action Plan which had been drafted in order to respond to Ofsted’s recommendations. She was delighted to present the report but recognised that there was further work to do and that the Council would not be complacent. The Service, which had been on a journey over the last two years, had now been transformed from inadequate to good.

One of the core functions of the service was to protect the District’s children and the Service noted the outcome of the inspection which showed that ‘children who need help and protection’ still required improvement.

The inspection had identified the following key points:

·         The workforce had been stabilised. At the time of the initial inspection in 2015 the agency rate was 50% which had been reduced to 12% at the time of the 2017 inspection.

·         Timely decision making had been aided by the introduction of the multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH).

·         Leaders demonstrated their care for looked after children through thoughtful attention to improving services.

·         Members through their role as corporate parents encouraged children to achieve all they could.

·         The relationships between various agencies including foster carers and social workers were good.

Councillor Doherty thanked all those involved in making this happen including frontline staff, social workers, the leadership team, administrative team, Education Services, Prevention Team, Safeguarding Team, Members and partner agencies. She appreciated the level of commitment that was required to achieve this result.

She also thanked Councillor Gordon Lundie for appointing her to the role as Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services, Rachael Wardell for her steadfast leadership and Dr Mac Heath who was instrumental in driving the improvement plan forward.

While she was pleased to reflect on the successes  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

Members of the Executive to answer the following questions submitted by Councillors in accordance with the Council’s Constitution:

(a)          Question to be answered by the Portfolio Holder for Culture and Environment submitted by Councillor Mollie Lock:

“Can the Portfolio Holder please explain the delays in the Highwood Copse School building program and outline what steps they are undertaking to get this project back on track?”

(b)          Question to be answered by the Portfolio Holder for Culture and Environment submitted by Councillor Alan Macro:

“Will the Council review the payment charges at HWRC in light of the public outrage of this latest round in increase and new charges?”

(c)          Question to be answered by the Leader of the Council submitted by Councillor Lee Dillon:

“Would the Leader of Council agree that the current proposals from the Boundary Commission do not take enough local views on board?”

A full transcription of the Member question and answer session is available from the following link: (link to pdf on website)

(a)          A question standing in the name of Councillor * on the subject of * was answered by the Executive Member for *.

(b)          A question standing in the name of Councillor * on the subject of * was answered by the Executive Member for *.

A full transcription of the public and Member question and answer sessions are available from the following link: Transcription of Q&As. (right click on link and ‘Edit Hyperlink’. Insert URL to pdf on website in ‘address’ field)