From Councillor Wainwright:
“Would the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee please update Members on the work of that Committee?”
From Councillor Wainwright:
“Would the Chairman of the Commissioning Board please update Members on the work of that Board?”
Minutes:
1. Councillor Wainwright submitted the following question:
“Would the Chairman of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee please update Members on the work of that Committee?”
The Chairman of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Mrs Shields, replied:
“At the last meeting of the Committee held on 24 February 2011 we welcomed Inspector Tim Hutchinson. Inspector Hutchinson then shared with the Committee the re-structuring of the North Yorkshire Police Authority’s plan, which was due to be made public later in the month. I cannot therefore give details here but we are assured that crime has continued to fall in North Yorkshire and the North Yorkshire Force continue to be completely focussed on maintaining this low level of crime and anti-social behaviour.
The next item was on the Treasury Management and Annual Investment Strategy, which were addressed by our finance officers and the contents of the report were discussed and noted. The Corporate Director and Mr James Ingham, North Yorkshire Audit Partnership Manager, spoke to the Annual Governance Action Plan, the progress made in the past year was noted.
Mr Ingham then presented the Annual Audit and the third quarter report. Again progress was outlined against the approved internal audit plan and likewise was noted by Members.
The half year corporate risk management report was introduced by Clare Slater, Head of Transformation. In all but one of the aspects of Council policy covered in the report, the status was ‘green’ denoting an OK position, or ‘yellow’ indicating a warning to improve. The Committee then considered the Service Risk Register, where almost every department had been awarded an OK status, which indicated that the delivery of the Council priorities were being achieved. Many thanks to Clare and her team for their continued work in this matter.
Jos Holmes introduced her report with regard to the current position on Safer Ryedale. This document set out the objectives of the Partnership Plan for 2011-2014, with a draft action plan for community safety for the coming year. It included actions which were awaited from safer roads, domestic abuse and alcohol harm reduction task groups.
In addition to the main meeting Members had met to consider progress on our own two task groups. The Post Office Group met with Mr Mark Wright, whom we were very fortunate to have at the meeting, as he is the Programme Stakeholder Manager for the whole country. There were some interesting insights into the use and deployment of mobile postal facilities as well as the situation with regard to current post offices. We hope that there may be a further visit from Mr Wright with updates later this summer.
The group looking at Healthy Weight had met twice since January and set out its scope for the topic. We decided to look particularly at 16-25 year olds, to try to discover whether the interest in sport, or perhaps the lack of it, affected their weight. Earlier this week we invited Chris Chatten, the Council’s project manager for sport and recreation, to address this group and learnt of the ‘Sport and Living strategy’ proposed to be investigated through communication with sports clubs and similar enterprises throughout Ryedale. Surveys were going to the Citizens’ Panel and also to individual clubs. The general objective was to discover whether or how we can motivate people to be interested in sport. We expect the results of the surveys to be known in July.
Finally, I would like to thank all officers and members of the committee for their support this past year.”
2. Councillor Wainwright submitted the following question:
“Would the Chairman of the Commissioning Board please update Members on the work of that Committee?”
The Chairman of the Commissioning Board, Councillor Mrs Cowling, replied:
“At the last meeting of the Commissioning Board, Members heard a presentation from Simon Dickinson from Aperia Ltd who had carried out a piece of work on behalf of all the North Yorkshire Councils around how older people access council services. The presentation gave both Members and Officers much food for thought and the findings from Aperia’s study will be used to inform the Board’s next agreed commissioning project was agreed at the meeting as “Meeting the housing needs of older people”.
The Board considered a range of housing issues and agreed the arrangements for the funding of the Housing development post, the extension of the Mortgage Rescue Scheme and the investigation of a partnership project to develop a new build supported accommodation facility.
The last meeting also agreed the outcomes of the Tourism Commissioning Project. This was the first service to be commissioned by the Board. The process has taught the Board a lot both about the power of the commissioning process and also about the Tourism service and how it is best delivered in the future. The Board agreed to commission a range of providers in the future to provide its tourism marketing services including Welcome to Yorkshire, Visit Hull and East Yorkshire and Tourism Association North Yorkshire who represent the local Ryedale tourism operators.
It was agreed to have a final meeting with the providers to feedback the outcomes and decisions of the Board.
The Board also agreed how local communities be consulted regarding the Sustainable Communities Act and the progress of the Active and Environment JCG.”
With regard to the work of the Licensing Committee, the Chairman, Councillor Mrs Arnold, reported that there had been one item of business at the last meeting of the Committee and this related to the procedure in relation to the licensing of Sexual Establishment Venues.
The Councillor Wainwright thanked Councillors Mrs Cowling and Mrs Arnold for all the work undertaken by their respective Committees.
3. Councillor Woodward submitted the following question:
(a) Can the Leader of Council please tell me how much did the electronic voting system cost?
(b) When was it purchased?
The Leader of the Council, Councillor Knaggs, responded:
The cost of the electronic voting system was £793.80. The system was purchased on 11 January 2010.
Councillor Woodward asked a supplementary question relating to the total cost of the system of £50k and sought clarification of what this had been spent on. Councillor Knaggs reported that Councillor Woodward would receive a written reply.
4. Councillor Clark asked the following question:
(a) Could the Chair of Policy & Resources Committee please tell me when the Council last received a report from the York and North Yorkshire Transport Board?
(b) When should Council expect to receive the next one?
The Chairman of the Policy & Resources Committee, Councillor Wainwright, responded:
Policy & Resources Committee would only receive a report from the York and North Yorkshire Transport Board if recommendations from the Board required changes to existing Ryedale District Council policy or funding contributions. The Board has directly consulted all Council Members in the past 12 months seeking comments on the draft A64 study.
Policy & Resources Committee would only expect a report if and when the Board required a decision from this Council or when its recommendations conflicted with existing Ryedale District Council Policy. None are thought to be imminent.
Councillor Clark asked the following supplementary question:
“Should this Council not be aware that there is a fund of up to £500m for which organisations can apply for up to £50m and should RDC not only be made aware of this but also that Ryedale apply for a share?”
The Chairman of Policy & Resources reported that Councillor Clark would receive a written reply. Councillor Clark requested that all Members of the Council receive a copy of the response.
5. Councillor Clark asked the following question:
(a) Could the Chair of the Commissioning Board please tell me when the Commissioning Board last received a report from the York and North Yorkshire Waste Partnership?
(b) When should Council expect to receive the next one?
The Chairman of the Commissioning Board, Councillor Mrs Cowling, reported:
The Commissioning Board would receive reports from the York and North Yorkshire Waste Partnership only if recommendations from the Partnership required changes to existing Ryedale District Council policy. During the time of the Commissioning Board no such recommendations have been made.
The Commissioning Board would expect a report if and when Partnership recommendations conflicted with existing Ryedale District Council policy. None are thought to be imminent.
Councillor Clark asked the following supplementary question:
“When was any report received in the past by the Community Services & Licensing Committee?” Councillor Mrs Cowling reported that Councillor Clark would receive a written reply. Councillor Clark requested that the response be circulated to all Members of the Council.
5. Councillor Clark asked the following question:
(a) Could the Chair of Planning please tell me the number of housing units approved/completed in each of the following years?
2007/08, 2008/09, 2009/10 and 2010/11 to date
(b) For each year, how many were affordable?
The Chairman of Planning, Councillor Cottam, reported that:
Answer to a & b
|
|
07/08 |
08/09 |
09/10 |
10/11 to date |
|
Planning Permission Granted |
283 |
232 |
229 |
417 |
|
Completed |
233 |
106 |
122 |
98 |
|
New Affordable Stock delivered |
55 |
57 |
96 |
54 Expected |
NB: The affordable stock delivered figures include housing association purchase and repair, homebuyer direct, any delivered in the National Park and ExtraCare Units.
Councillor Clark asked the following supplementary question:
“602 planning permissions had been granted and not built – what effect does this have on the 5 year land supply?” Councillor Cottam reported that Councillor Clark would receive a written reply. Councillor Clark requested that the response be circulated to all Members of the Council.