A summary of the discussions and recommendations from the Broadland Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting, that took place on Tuesday 20 October 2015.

1. Scrutiny
Snippets
20 October 2015

2. RESILIENCE UPDATE
 Broadland Resilience Group
disbanded post elections,
updates will now come to
Committee to keep members
appraised of projects and
achievements
 Emergency Planning Manager
keen to work with Councillors
more proactively to obtain
parish information and input
 Resilience Team role is to help
communities recover post
emergency
 Capitalising on what people in
the community already do,
encouraging parish/town
councils formalising roles in an
emergency plan

3. RESILIENCE UPDATE
 Preparation and plans are
put together with
communities and
responders through the
Norfolk Resilience Forum
(NRF)
 NRF manage the Norfolk
Prepared scheme and
Broadland’s Chief
Executive is the NRF
chairman
 Anyone can download the
Norfolk Prepared App –
includes live updates
 Android or itunes

4. POLICE CRIME PANEL UPDATE (PCP)
 Committee appraised of recent activity
on the Police and Crime Panel (PCP)
coordinated by Norfolk County Council.
 PCP training has been held delivered by
Norfolk County Council. Covered role of
PCP, devolution, and partnership
working.
 Police Crime Commissioner’s annual
report has been considered by the PCP
and accepted
 There has been crime reduction across
Norfolk
 Domestic Abuse training by Leeway
delivered to GP’s and soon to blue light
services
 PCP have reviewed the Police and
Crime Plan for 2014 to 2016 and
scrutnised progress against the plan
 Review of Police Complaints Procedure
in early consultation and PCP can feed
in views.

5. NOMINATION FEE PANEL RECOMMENDATIONS
 The Panel conducted
extensive research into the
proposed future
arrangements for nomination
fee charges to Registered
Housing Providers.
 The Panel compared the
draft agreement to other
Norfolk, Suffolk and other rural
councils and concluded that
the proposal is consistent with
emerging arrangements
elsewhere.
 The panel supported the
adoptions of the draft Service
Level Agreement (SLA).

6. NORFOLK HEALTH OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY
 A contentious item discussed was
the expectations of paramedic
teams and staff shortages. NHOSC
satisfied that training is taking
place but will continue to monitor
ambulance service performance
and staff care.
 Councillor’s discussed that
although Broadland is a rural
area, ambulances respond within
times that can be considered
reasonable in traffic and location,
but outside the required response
times. It was suggested that sub
stations should be considered if
the response time target will not
be reduced or reviewed.

7. EQUALITY AWARENESS TRAINING
 Committee was
reminded of the
e-learning opportunity
on equality awareness.
 The Committee is the
leading Councillor body
to monitor equality and
diversity delivered by the
Council and has
representatives on the
internal officer
Corporate Equality
Group.

8. SCRUTINY OF CABINET
PAPERS
The following points were discussed against
upcoming Cabinet papers for the meeting 27
October 2015

9. BUDGET FORWARD LOOK
 The Head of Finance and
Revenues presented the
proposed budget
considerations that will be fed
into the draft Budget
expected early 2016.
 The joint meeting with
Cabinet will take place on
the 15 December to scrutinise
the draft Budget, giving
Councillors opportunity to
look at the draft budget in
more detail
 Committee preparation to
scrutinise the budget will take
place with Officers 3
November 2015

10. BUDGET FORWARD LOOK
 Further Government Revenue
Grant cuts have been taken
into consideration in the
forward look and therefore
new growth (e.g. business
rates) has not been predicted
 Committee felt wider public
consultation beyond
businesses regarding business
rates would not be value for
money
 The Head of Finance and
Revenues confirmed that
Broadland Businesses would
be contacted under a
statutory requirement

11. CAPITAL STRATEGY
 The Head of Finance and
Revenues has been reviewed
with minor amendments to
new panel structures
 Ring-fenced grant
applications have changed
to Portfolio Holder decision to
enable the process to be
more efficient within time
constraints
 The Head of Finance and
Revenues confirmed that
Broadland District Council
remained a debt free
authority at this time
 Committee noted the report
and supported
recommendations 1 to 4

12. DISCRETIONARY BUSINESS RATE RELIEF SCHEME
 The scheme has been reviewed to
bring it into line with other Council
policies, merging with other
overlapping policies and brings in
Childcare providers and Community
Interest Companies.
 Councillors interested if Communities
took on responsibility for libraries if they
would be more sustainable and subject
to rate relief. SIMON considered that
should the County Council withdraw
services, relief schemes could be
applied if volunteers took over the
running of libraries but not if the County
Council remains the building occupier.
 Councillors investigated if all charities
received 100% relief and further
impacts of accommodating CIC’s that
may come forward without applying a
cap on the fund.
 Committee approved the
recommendations to adopt the
changes outlined in the report

13. HOUSING AND ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES
SYSTEM THINKING REVIEW
 The Head of Housing and
Environmental Services
presented a report on the
progress of the multiple
service reviews undertaken
using the System Thinking
principles
 System Thinking principles
aim to improve services
and maximise resources.
 Environmental
Enforcement Team have
been the most recent
element of the department
to undertake a review

14. HOUSING AND ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES
SYSTEM THINKING REVIEW
 Councillors disagreed with
the reduction in Health
and Safety visits. Officers
explained the level of
demand that justifies the
recommendation to
reduce H&S visits and
move to a reactive service
 Upon considering all the
information presented and
further scrutiny of the Head
of Housing and
Environmental Services,
Committee supported
recommendations to
Cabinet

15. HOUSING BRIEFING REPORT
 An update was
presented to Committee
providing wider detailed
information to that
reported
 Committee supported all
recommendations within
the report and noted the
improving figures
 Committee supported
the draft SLA for Housing
Nomination Fees

16. SMOKE AND CARBON MONOXIDE ALARM
REGULATION
 Committee was
appraised of the new
legislation and necessary
impacts to be aware of
with regards to Council
policy and
responsibilities.
 Committee supported
options 1 to 4

17. PEST CONTROL SERVICES
 The Pest Control service
contract in Broadland is
due for renewal March
2016 and currently
outsourced.
 A review of the service was
presented to Committee
indicating performance to
date and proposed future
arrangements
 Committee considered
each of the options and
supported Option 4 while
continuing to monitor
performance of the
service.

18. MANAGING PERFORMANCE AND RISK
 Officers presented a
proposal to combine the
performance framework
and risk strategy
documents
 Committee felt it was a
sensible option and
supported the
amalgamation