Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Commission held on 1^st March June 2011.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Commission held on 17^th May 2011.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Special Overview and Scrutiny Management Commission held on 18^th June 2011.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 1 March 2011 were approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 17 May 2011 were approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 18 May 2011 were approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chairman, subject to the following amendment:

Item 7 – Membership and Terms of Reference for the Resource Management Working Group – resolutions one and two:

(1)       Councillor Tony Vickers would be appointed as the Chairman of the Resource Management Working Group.

(2)       Councillor David Holtby would be appointed as the Vice-Chairman of the Resource Management Working Group.

To receive any Declarations of Interest from Members.

Councillors Dave Goff and Mike Johnston declared an interest in Agenda Item 8, but reported that, as their interest was personal and not prejudicial, they determined to remain to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.

Councillor David Rendel declared an interest in Agenda Item 9, but reported that, as his interest was personal and not prejudicial, he determined to remain to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.

To receive an update on actions following the previous Commission meeting.

The Commission received an update on actions following the previous meetings (Agenda Item 4).

1 March 2011 – the Council’s Response to the Severe Weather of Winter 2010/11

It was agreed that an update would be requested from the Head of Highways and Transport in relation to the resolutions agreed for this item.

18 May 2011 – the Three Year Highway Improvement Programme 2011/12 – 2013/14

A request had been made for a training session for Members to provide a greater understanding on how the road condition was assessed and the process used in determining the annual Highways Improvement Programme. It was agreed that the Head of Highways and Transport would be asked to confirm progress with this.

RESOLVED that the Head of Highways and Transport would be asked to provide an update on the areas described above.

Purpose: To consider any items called-in by the requisite number of Members following the previous Executive meeting.

No items were called-in following the last Executive meeting.  

Purpose: To consider any items proposed for a Councillor Call for Action. 

No new Councillor Call for Action (CCfA) items were raised for discussion.

Purpose: To consider any petitions requiring an Officer response. 

No petitions were brought to the Commission for consideration.

Purpose: To review the Council’s transfer of the CCTV Control Room Function to the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

(Councillor Dave Goff declared a personal interest in Agenda item 8 by virtue of the fact that he worked for Virgin Media, however he was not involved in this project. As his interest was personal and not prejudicial he determined to take part in the debate and vote on the matter).

(Councillor Mike Johnston declared a personal interest in Agenda item 8 by virtue of the fact that he worked for a communications company, however it had no involvement in this project. As his interest was personal and not prejudicial he determined to take part in the debate and vote on the matter).

The Commission considered a report (Agenda Item 8) reviewing the Council’s transfer of the CCTV Control Room function to the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM).

Andy Day gave a presentation to the Commission by way of introducing the item and made the following points:

·                    The responsibility for CCTV had been with Policy and Communication since May 2008.

·                    The previous system was analogue based and VHS recorders underpinned this system. Reliability was an issue as were the quality of the images produced. The cameras were analogue tilt and zoom. The system was not fit for purpose and had revenue costs of approximately £500k per annum which was unsustainable.

·                    The provision of CCTV was a non statutory service and as such a full tendering exercise was conducted on the open market.

·                    The contract was awarded to the RBWM who were found to be the most competitive in terms of price and quality. The contract provided live monitoring for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The revised contract achieved an annual revenue saving of £250k. In addition the support of the Shop Safe and Pub Watch schemes was retained and the improved digital system gave better quality evidential images.

·                    The Prince 2 Project Management Methodology Principles were adopted for the project. A Project Board and Project Team were also put in place.

·                    A range of providers were involved. On West Berkshire Council’s (WBC’s) side, services were procured from BT (Redcare) – which was responsible for BT commissioning; BT (Openreach) – which was responsible for operational activities such as cabling and equipment installation; Virgin Media – which was responsible for operational activities such as cabling and equipment installation and Co Channel – which was responsible for operational activities in respect of radio transmissions. The RBWM procured services from Chubb – which was responsible for operational activities in respect of the CCTV cameras and Access Infrastructure – which was responsible for operational activities in respect of computer equipment and software.

·                    For compatibility with the digital Control Room and image storage systems new Dome CCTV cameras were installed to replace the ‘old’ analogue cameras. Dome CCTV cameras have the distinct advantage in that it is not easy to see where they are pointing, a significant improvement on the previous cameras and in addition they provide superior quality images.

·                    In advance of the ‘shift’ to the new system there was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

Purpose: To provide an update on the work of the Healthier Select Committee.

(The meeting resumed at 8.38pm).

(Councillor David Rendel declared a personal interest in Agenda item 9 by virtue of the fact that his wife was a GP in West Berkshire. As his interest was personal and not prejudicial he determined to take part in the debate and vote on the matter).

The Commission considered a report (Agenda Item 9) on the work of the Healthier Select Committee. This was the last report from the Select Committee, with its workload transferring to the newly formed Health Scrutiny Panel.

Councillor Quentin Webb, as Chairman of the Health Scrutiny Panel, referred to the items on the work programme. The item on the capacity of maternity services at the Royal Berkshire Foundation Hospital could be removed from the work programme. The remaining item would be reviewed when the agenda was set for the next meeting.

RESOLVED that the report would be noted and amendments made to the work programme.

Purpose: To provide an update on the work of the Resource Management Select Committee.

The Commission considered a report (Agenda Item 10) on the work of the Resource Management Select Committee. This was the last report from the Select Committee, with its workload transferring to the newly formed Resource Management Working Group which would be chaired by Councillor Tony Vickers.

Councillor Jeff Brooks, as chairman of the Select Committee, referred Members to two recommendations in the report for the Commission’s approval:

(1)       The Head of Human Resources should establish a mechanism whereby Heads of Service provide the relevant data to Human Resources to enable a forecast to be added to future Establishment Reports for both Council and joint/externally funded posts.

(2)       The GIS Projects Analyst should formulate a project plan with the intention of enabling all the Council’s systems to be compliant with the Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG).

The Commission gave its support to both these recommendations which would be forwarded to the Executive for consideration.

It was confirmed that outstanding actions/requests for information would not be lost as they would be forwarded to the Resource Management Working Group.

The work of the other disbanded select committees had already been or would be reported through to the Commission.

RESOLVED that the report would be noted and both recommendations would be forwarded to the Executive for consideration.

Purpose: To advise the Commission of items to be considered by West Berkshire Council from June – Sept 2011 and decide whether to review any of the proposed items prior to the meeting indicated in the plan

The Commission considered the West Berkshire Forward Plan (Agenda Item 11) for the period covering June to September 2011.

RESOLVED that the Forward Plan would be noted.

Purpose: To receive, agree and prioritise the work programme of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Commission for  2011/12 Municipal Year. 

The Commission considered its work programme and that of the Health Scrutiny Panel and Resource Management Working Group for 2011/12 (Agenda Item 12).

Councillors Brian Bedwell and Jeff Brooks agreed that they would spend time, after their meeting to discuss the CCTV recommendations, on the work programme for the year.

RESOLVED that the work programme would be noted and Councillors Brian Bedwell and Jeff Brooks would meet to discuss the work programme in advance of the next meeting.