Archived decisions

    AT A MEETING of the POLICY AND RESOURCES POLICY REVIEW COMMITTEE of the County Council held at The Castle, Winchester on 26 June, 2003.

PRESENT:

Councillors: P.A. Pierce (Vice-Chairman) (In the Chair); Mrs P.G. Banks; I.F.E. Beagley; J.V. Bryant; P.J. Chegwyn; A.P. Collett; B.D. Dash;

C.R.H. Davidovitz; A.G. Dowden; R.J. Ellis; K. House; P.R.C. Hutcheson;

Mrs C.A. Leversha; T. Ludlow; A.W. Rice TD; M.J. Roberts; J.G.L. Wall; J.K. West; W.H. Wheeler.

129 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should, normally at the time of the debate, declare their interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed.

130 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 29 May, 2003 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

131 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

There were no Chairman's communications.

132 MEMBERS' QUESTIONS

There were no Members' questions.

133 DEPUTATIONS

There were no deputations.

134 VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY SECTOR BEST VALUE REVIEW - OUTCOME REPORT

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Executive (Item 6(i) in the Minute Book) on the outcomes and revised improvement programme resulting from the review of support for the voluntary and community sector and subsequent Best Value Inspection.

In supporting the improvements identified in the report, Members felt it was important to monitor the implementation of the improvement plan and those developments arising from the better information on grants and the other improvements.


RESOLVED:

      (i) That the updated outcome report and improvement plan be agreed as representing the views of this Policy Review Committee.

      (ii) That Cabinet are advised of the outcome of the Best Value review so that they can implement the improvement plan.

      (iii) That Councillors Mrs P.G. Banks; P.J. Chegwyn; A.G. Dowden; R.J. Ellis and A.W. Rice TD be involved in monitoring developments and that progress reports be made to this Committee on a six monthly basis until the improvement plan is completed.

      (iv) That a summary of the review be prepared in the standard format for inclusion in the Best Value Performance Plan.

135 DEMOCRATIC SERVICES BEST VALUE REVIEW - OUTCOME REPORT

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Executive (Item 6(ii) in the Minute Book) on the outcome of the Democratic Services Best Value review.

The Committee supported the service improvements set out in the report and paid particular attention to the development of Information Technology and related issues, the Year Book and the diary of meetings, and the reinstatement of a staff telephone directory for Members. Also, the Committee wished to be involved in monitoring the improvement plan.

RESOLVED:

      (i) That the outcome report and improvement plan be agreed as representing the views of this Policy Review Committee.

      (ii) That the Cabinet be advised of the outcome of the Best Value review so that they can implement the improvement plan.

      (iii) That arrangements be made for this Committee to receive annual progress reports until the improvement plan is completed.

      (iv) That a summary of the review be prepared in the standard format for inclusion in the Best Value Performance Plan.

      (v) That Councillors M.F. Cartwright; T. Ludlow; and A.W. Rice TD; be appointed to oversee the implementation of the improvement plan.

      (vi) That a report be made to the next meeting concerning diary conflicts for Members and how IT can be employed to minimise them.

136 REGIONAL ECONOMIC STRATEGY

Councillor K. House declared a non-pecuniary interest in this item, as a Member of the SEEDA Board, and left the meeting at this point.

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Economic Development (Item 7 in the Minute Book) summarising the main points of the latest Regional Economic Strategy and their links to Hampshire Economic Partnership's plan and the County Council's own services.

In response to a Member's comment, the Head of Economic Development agreed to amend the wording on page 2, paragraph 2 the second sentence with:

"It will also play an important role in the allocation of funding from the RDA to its partners. In those parts of the region where an Area Investment Framework is being established, it will be important for Local Strategic Partnerships to take account of the objectives of the Regional Economic Strategy in making any bids for funding from SEEDA". .

Members raised a number of individual points on the report which were noted by the Head of Economic Development and felt it would be helpful to learn more about the current SEEDA plans in respect of the matter.

RESOLVED:

      (i) That the Committee welcome the publication of the latest Regional Economic Strategy and support a continuing active partnership between the County Council and SEEDA.

      (ii) That the Head of Economic Development be asked to invite the Area Director of SEEDA to a future meeting of this Committee to report on their Action Plans in respect of the Strategy.

      (iii) That an annual report be brought to this Committee reviewing the progress of the Strategy.

137 COMMITTEE'S TIMETABLE AND FUTURE DECISIONS

The Committee received the report of the Chief Executive (Item 8 in the Minute Book) on forthcoming key-decisions which may be made by the Leader and the Committee's timetable of future activity which had been updated since the last meeting.

In discussion, Councillor M.J. Roberts undertook to advise the Chief Executive of two possible items for the Committee to agree to include or otherwise as reports for a future meeting.



RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

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