Agenda and minutes

To elect the Chairman for the 2017-18 Municipal Year.

RESOLVED that: Councillor Norman Jorgensen be elected Chairman of the Joint Public Protection Committee for the 2017/18 Municipal Year.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on the 14 March 2017.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 14 March 2017 were approved as a true and correct record by the Committee and signed by the Chairman.

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration, and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Disclosable Pecuniary Interest is not entered on the register of Members’ Interests, the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

There were no declarations of interest received.

To note those agenda items which have received an application for public speaking.

A period of 30 minutes will be allowed for members of the public to ask questions submitted under notice.

The Partnership welcomes questions from members of the public about their work.

Subject to meeting certain timescales, questions can relate to general issues concerned with the work of the Partnership or an item which is on the agenda for this meeting. For full details of the procedure for submitting questions please contact Democratic Services.

No notice had been received that members of the public wished to address the Committee on any of the agenda items.

No public questions were submitted in relation to general issues concerned with the work of the Partnership  or any items which were on the agenda for the meeting.

To consider the draft plan for the enforcement of food and animal feed controls and to seek approval for the plan.

Prior to introducing the report Steve Loudon explained that as the current Chairman of the Joint Management Board it had been agreed that he would be responsible for presenting reports to the Board. Officers would be on hand to provide detailed explanation where appropriate.

The Committee considered a report Agenda Item 6) which set out the  draft plans for the enforcement of both the food and animal feed controls for Members to approve.. Steve Loudon explained that due to time constraints two separate reports had been presented this year but that it was anticipated that for 2018/19 they would be condensed into a single document. It was noted that the two reports differed in style and that the two sets of information would be presented in a single format the following year. A common approach had been adopted across the three authorities. Councillor Marcus Franks commented that these reports illustrated the positive benefits of a joint working as each authority would have had to produce their own reports in the past.

Steve Loudon noted that the Inter Authority Agreement (IAA) set out the functions that were delegated to the Joint Committee. These included an array of functions that related to the enforcement of food hygiene, safety, quality, labelling and health nutrition claims. There were also a range of functions pertaining to safety, standards, labelling and hygiene of animal feed.

This area of work was controlled through a combination of EU and domestic implementing legislation.Statutory codes were issued under the Food safety Act 1990 that dealt with a range of issues. The controls referred to in the Act were subject to a range of reporting requirements as well as a Framework Agreement. One of the requirements of the Framework Agreement was that local authorities produced a plan in a prescribed format which needed to set out how they intended to discharge their statutory functions in relation to food and animal feed. The plans needed to set out priorities, inspection targets, areas for improvement and resource levels. 

While it was proposed that in future years one plan would be produced for the 2017/18 year the functions were  set out in two separate documents. The first plan had been produced by Environment Health and set out the activity in relation to food hygiene and safety. The second plan had been produced by Trading Standards and encompassed work on farms and in relation to food standards, quality, labelling and animal feed controls.

Public Protection Partnership Food safety Service Plan 2017-18

In relation to a query from Councillor Nick Allen, Paul Anstey explained that all new premises had to be inspected within 28 days . Councillor Allen queried if the regeneration of Bracknell Town Centre would create a spike in activity for the Team Paul Anstey confirmed that it would but that Officers did not anticipate that it would cause any operational difficulties. Paul Anstey explained that the production and submission of this document was a requirement of the Food Service Agency (FSA). The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

To consider a proposal for the delivery of the Public Protection Community Fund application and evaluation  process.

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 7) which explained how the Public Protection Partnership (PPP) would be implementing the Community Fund as agreed through the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS).

Steve Loudon explained that the fund was established by virtue of the Committee decision to implement the ARIS at the 14 March 2017 meeting. The Committee agreed at that time that they wished to determine all grant applications as part of their routine agenda. It was noted that the size of the fund has been capped at 20% of the total Proceeds of Crime Act POCA reserve held. The reserve currently stood at about £300k but it was acknowledged that this would vary year on year depending on cases that were successfully prosecuted. Once agreed the process would be published on all three authority’s websites. It was noted that as part of the Communications Strategy adopted at the last meeting a person would be employed to undertake public relations activity. They would promote this activity.

A discussion ensued as to the maximum limit that could be applied for and it was agreed that it should be set at ‘up to’ £7.5k initially and that this could then be amended if necessary. Councillor Norman Jorgensen also requested that the form be amended so that applicants would need to state how many residents would be helped by their scheme. (PA to ACTION).  It was also agreed that all applications would be brought tot he Committee on an ad hoc basis. In the event that this became overly onerous a sub-committee (comprising one councillor from each of the three authorities) would be set up and they would be tasked with making recommendations to the Full Committee. These sub-committee meetings could take place virtually.

Councillor Marcus Franks requested that the references to affiliations to a recognised sporting or children’s group be removed from the key elements of an application (see page 77). (PA to ACTION), Members also requested that the last line of the first paragraph of section 2 (Public Protection Community Fund) on page 85 be amended. (PA to ACTION) which made reference to an annual allocation of the POCA reserve.

Once the amendments had been made Paul Anstey would ask Moira Fraser to circulate the revised documentation to the Committee. (PA/MF to ACTION)

RESOLVED that:

1.            the principles outlined in the Community Fund report be approved and it be adopted as policy;

2.            individual grants be limited to £4,000 per application

To consider an update 2016/17 performance and budget outturn and progress on delivering the operating model set out in the Business Plan.

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 8) which asked Members to consider the proposed structure and content of the performance report they were due to receive each year, as agreed by the business plan. The report also provided year end financial information from 2016/17.

Steve Loudoun explained that the Business Plan  which was agreed at the 14 March 2017 meeting identified the headline priorities and the form of future performance reports.

During the 2016/17 financial year the Public Protection Partnership (PPP) had  operated between  09 January 2017 31 March 2017.  Performance monitoring during this time was based on legacy arrangements from each of the three Partner authorities. Financial monitoring was conducted by West Berkshire, with assistance from Bracknell Forest for the purposes of year end reconciliation. Bracknell Forest paid £284k for that period and the PPP spent £280.7k over the same period, resulting in an outturn of -£3.3k.

Wokingham and West Berkshire Councils, by virtue of legacy financial arrangements over the full year 2016/17 were £31.6k overspent. No specific Quarter Four budget analysis had been conducted to align with Bracknell Forest but this would be conducted in 2017/18.

Councillor Marcus Franks, given the earlier discussion on inspection of food premises, asked if it would be possible to include additional information pertaining to categories 0 and 1 and Cs and Ds in this report. Officers noted that this information was already presented in the Annual Plan. The purpose of this report was largely to inform budget discussions. It was agreed that officers would populate the documentation and then circulate it to Members which might it easier for them top see what information was being presented and therefore easier to identify any gaps.

Paul Anstey also drew Members’ attention to the additional information pertaining to Primary Authority Partnerships  set out in section 10 of the report.  The team were providing advice and had set up trading relationships with some major organisations. It was hoped that the PPP could illustrate that it was developing economic activity and not just placing a burden on businesses.

Resolved that:

1.            the format of the template and the subject headers identifying the nature of the performance information to be presented during 2017/18 be agreed.

2.            any minor amendments required to the performance report be delegated to the Joint Management Board.

To detail future items that the Committee will be considering.

It was noted that the following issues would be included on the agenda for the September  2017meeting:

·         Accommodation

·         Budget strategic assessment

·         Any additional common policies that were identified in the interim

Business development would be included on the agenda for the December 2017 meeting.

Paul Anstey noted that the PPP were putting together a calendar of activities which could also be shared with Members.

Members also requested that they be informed about any media activity.

The Chairman did not raise any further items.

·         19 September 2017

·         12 December 2017

·         19 March 2018

·         12 June 2018

·         25 July 2017 (Special)

·         19 September 2017

·         12 December 2017

·         19 March 2018

All meetings will start at 7.00pm and will be held at the Wokingham Borough Council Offices.