1. BACKGROUND
Article 6 of the Council’s Constitution requires Select Committees to report annually to the full Council and make recommendations for future work programmes and amended working methods if appropriate.
The work programme for the 2003/04 municipal year was:
The following explains the approach and learning of the Committee during the year:
2. PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT
Emphasis continued on trying to gain public participation at Committee and dialogue with stakeholders in working groups. A website which details the role, of membership and meetings of the Committee gives the facility for people to e-1485 visits.
The main Committee meeting has a public participation slot at the start of the meeting. A protocol is in place regarding this slot. As a result a variety of questions have been raised.
There has been significant media coverage of the work of the Committee during the course of the year.
3. WORKING GROUPS
At the end of January 2004 the committee set up a Working Group to examine the issues emanating from the Draft Playing Pitch Strategy which was produced by Consultants Strategic Leisure as a result of their review of playing pitch provision. The Working Group is meeting with key stakeholders. The aim of the Working Group is to make proposals regarding the strategy to the second meeting of the Select Committee in the new municipal year. The strategy and any proposals agreed by the Committee will then be recommended to the Lead Member for Leisure for implementation and will be reviewed by the Select Committee towards the end of the municipal year.
At the start of February 2004 the committee set up a Working Group to review aspects of Town Halls operations, which affect users of the halls. The aim of the Working Group is to make recommendations to the Lead Member for Leisure regarding policies operating within the Town Halls. Implementation of these policies will be reviewed by the Select Committee towards the end of the municipal year.
4. SCRUTINY
There were a lack of decisions relating to the remit of the Committee made through the decision sheet process, which meant the Committee did not scrutinise any decision sheets in this municipal year. However the Committee scrutinised areas of service delivery, which led into our role of policy development.
The Committee has also scrutinised performance of several leisure and cultural services.
5. POLICY DEVELOPMENT
As a result of areas of interest to Members and issues raised by stakeholders including the public, the Committee identified several areas where policy was missing e.g. the Borough Festival and Playing Pitch provision. The Committee became involved in developing policy for these areas and recommending implementation to the Lead Member. Following policy development they did the year before, the Committee also planned to review implementation of policies including: Contact Sports, Skate & Wheeled Sports and key to leisure. However, it was felt longer implementation periods needed to be reviewed and therefore these are being carried forward to the 2004/05 work plan.
6. CONCLUSIONS FOR 2003/04
Continued public participation in the work of the committee has had positive benefits, especially in terms of highlighting policy gaps. Public attendance at Committees has been low but people do attend if there is an item of interest to them and they are using the website. The Committee has maintained a wide remit of leisure and cultural services and there has been an emphasis on the policy development role
The Select Committee at its meeting on 22nd April 2004 approved the following outline work programme for 2004/05 in addition to any scrutiny of decisions:
- Leisure Centre Options Appraisal (Scrutiny & Policy Development)
- Erection and maintenance of statues & monuments in public places & on Council owned land. (Policy Development)
- 2004/05 Performance (Scrutiny) – Including: Council Plan monitoring, Performance Indicators, Service Continuous Improvement Plans, Culture and Recreation Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) & Regular Performance Assessment (RPA) Action Plan Progress and Urban Environment 04/05 Equality and Diversity Action Plan (Scrutiny)
- Contact Sports Policy (Scrutiny)
- Evaluation of Borough Festival (scrutiny)
- Key to Leisure Scheme (scrutiny)
- Playing Pitch Strategy and Provision (Policy Scrutiny & Development)
- Insurance arrangements for community groups using Council Facilities (Policy Development)
