Agenda and minutes

No apologies for absence were received.

Confirmation of the minutes held on 20^th June 2023.

Matters Arising

It was mentioned that the previous meeting started at 2pm and finished at 12.38am, this was incorrect and needed to be corrected.  

It was proposed by Councillor J Craigie, seconded by Councillor W Lo-Vel and –

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 20^th June 2023 be agreed and recorded as correct.

(Vote: For – 5, Against – 0, Abstentions - 5)

Councillor Hodson was yet to arrive, therefore took no part in the vote. 

No outstanding actions.

A 15-minute period for public contributions.  (The deadline for registering to speak is by 2pm Friday 21^st July. To register please email dem.services@torridge.gov.uk).

There were no public contributions.

Members with interests should refer to the agenda item and describe the nature of their interest when the item is considered.

Members were reminded that declarations of interest should be made as and when the specific agenda item to which they related was under discussion.

No matters were brought forward.

There were no Part II items.

To be presented by the Strategy, Performance and ICT Manager.

The Strategy, Performance & ICT manager presented this item advising it had been agreed previously to set up a Social Value Task and Finish Group. It was added that the Procurement Bill is still waiting to go through the legislative process.

Councillors J Craigie and C Hodson along with non-elected Member Mr S Dengate had volunteered to be part of the Task and Finish Group that would draft a policy to be presented at both Internal Overview & Scrutiny Committee and Community & Resources Committee.

The Chair requested an additional Member join the group. Councillor Cottle-Hunkin volunteered for the position.

The discussion progressed where it was agreed that the Task & Finish Group would put together the terms of reference for the group and bring back to the Internal Overview & Scrutiny Committee. 

To receive an update from the Strategy, Performance and ICT Manager.

Benchmarking - please review the Benchmarking report via the link which will provide useful comparison data - https://www.torridge.gov.uk/benchmarking

The Strategy, Performance & ICT Manager presented this item by way of displaying slides to the Committee on the Census and other Statistical Data.

A brief background of the Census was given.

The Strategy, Performance & ICT Manager advised he would circulate the slides to the Committee.

Councillor Hodson joined the meeting at 6.15pm.

Slides included:

·         An introduction to the Census for England and Wales

·         Population changes and growth

·         Age of residents

·         Labour market to include employment and benefit claimants

·         Fuel poverty

·         Children living in low-income households and poverty

·         Economically inactive

·         Retired

·         Self employed

·         Education

·         Life expectancy

·         Deprivation

·         Housing

A discussion followed where questions were answered.

It was confirmed that the data does not identify if people have multiple part time jobs or if it a choice to work part time.

The data shown was for 15 districts across the country that are comparable to Torridge District Council.

The Chair expressed the importance of Members reading the Benchmarking report included in the agenda.

Confirmation was given that the Census is carried out every 10 years whereas the Benchmarking is updated every year to two years.

In response to a comment, the Chief Executive advised TDC could assist in areas that need improvement by setting out strategic priorities within the new Strategic Plan. There is a workshop for the Strategic Plan scheduled for 14^th August with invites being sent shortly.

To agree the Committee work programme – Initial suggestions and Previous work programme documents attached

The Chair presented this item advising of the need to develop the work programme which would then feed into the Committee’s forward plan. The Chair had asked the Committee to suggest areas that Internal Overview & Scrutiny could investigate in addition to the Quarterly Business Report (QBR). He stressed the importance of understanding the QBR when sitting on the Internal Overview & Scrutiny Committee and if Members had any queries to speak to the Strategy, Performance & ICT Manager.

Initial suggestions for the work programme are detailed below. Each item was discussed individually to ascertain whether they would progress onto the work programme.

After a lengthy discussion the following was considered appropriate to be developed into the work programme. The suggestions that have been removed were deemed to be outside the scope of the Internal Overview & Scrutiny Committee and sit with other Committees or Working Groups.

When discussing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 256.

To create the Forward Plan.

As the previous item included a discussion on the forward plan it was not discussed here.