Policy and Resources Committee - 5 November 2018

POLICY AND RESOURCES COMMITTEE

NOTICE AND AGENDA

For a meeting to be held in the Penn Chamber, Three Rivers House, Rickmansworth, on Monday 5 November 2018 at 7.30pm.

Members of the Policy and Resources Committee:-

Councillors Sara Bedford (Chairman)      Chris Lloyd (Vice-Chairman) (Leisure)

Rupert Barnes

Matthew Bedford (Resources and Shared Services)      Alex Michaels (Environmental Services)

Angela Killick

David Sansom

Stephen Cox      Andrew Scarth (Housing)

Stephen Giles-Medhurst (Economic Development)      Roger Seabourne (Community Safety and Partnerships)

Alex Hayward

Paula Hiscocks      Martin Trevett (Infrastructure and Planning Policy)

Alison Wall

Steven Halls, Chief Executive

26 October 2018

The Policy and Resources Committee welcomes contributions from Members of the public to its discussion on agenda items. Contributions will be limited to one person speaking for and one against each item for not more than three minutes. Please note that in the event of registering your interest to speak on an agenda item but not taking up that right because the item is deferred, you will automatically be given the right to speak on that item at the next meeting of the Policy and Resources Committee. Details of the procedure and the list for registering the wish to speak will be available for a short period before the meeting.

In accordance with The Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 any matters considered under Part I business only of the meeting may be filmed, recorded, photographed, broadcast or reported via social media by any person.

Recording and reporting the Council’s meetings is subject to the law and it is the responsibility of those doing the recording and reporting to ensure compliance. This will include the Human Rights Act, the Data Protection Act and the laws of libel and defamation.

1.         APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

2.         MINUTES

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the Policy and Resources Committee meeting held on 4 September 2018 and the Minutes of the Extraordinary Policy and Resources Committee meeting held on 22 October 2018.

3.   NOTICE OF OTHER BUSINESS

Items of other business notified under Council Procedure Rule 30 to be announced, together with the special circumstances that justify their consideration as a matter of urgency. The Chairman to rule on the admission of such items.

4.  DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

To receive any declarations of interest.

POLICY

5.  ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT

To agree the Environmental Enforcement Policy for Three Rivers.

To increase the level of FPN for littering, graffiti and fly posting.

To agree the introduction of a civil Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) for Littering from Vehicles.

6.  ALL OUT DISTRICT ELECTIONS (EVERY FOUR YEARS)

To receive a report of the Returning Officer.

7.  CALENDAR OF MEETINGS 2020/21

To consider the draft Calendar of Meetings for the Local Government Year 2020/21.

RESOURCES

8.  ANIMAL ACTIVITIES LICENSING FEES AND CHARGES 2018/19

On 23 October 2018 Council agreed to make all necessary amendments to the Constitution including in the Scheme of Delegation to Officers to provide:

a) That the conditions of licensing are adopted and included in the Constitution

b) That the necessary changes are made to the Council’s Constitution to reflect the changes in the legislation

c) That the Terms of Reference of Service Committees are updated as appropriate

d) That where the Constitution refers to Animal Control Enforcement Officer this to be changed to Animal Welfare and Licensing Inspector and all documents amended accordingly.

e) That Appeals from businesses disputing a star rating or a decision to vary, suspend or revoke a licence will be made to the director of Community and Environmental Services who will have delegated authority to determine such appeals in accordance with the Regulations and the Scheme of Delegation, which will be amended accordingly, and

f) That the Chief Executive be given delegated authority, in consultation with the Chairman and the Spokesperson of the Regulatory Services committee, to finalise all the necessary amendments.

That the licensing fees for animal related licences be determined for 2018/19 on consideration of the information and options contained in this report.

9.  MEMBER TRAINING

Members are asked to consider increasing the Member training budget to £5,000.

10.  RECOMMENDATION FROM THE AUDIT COMMITTEE – RISK MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

To receive the recommendation from the Audit Committee meeting held on 27 September 2018 as follows:

This report proposed that a revised Risk Management Strategy be recommended to the Policy and Resources Committee.

The Data Protection Officer advised they had simplified both the process and scoring system of the register.

The Committee agreed that the revised format of the Risk Register had been well written and provided all the information required.  The Data Protection Officer advised that the format allowed for each of the columns to be filtered as required but agreed that the standard format would be to list the higher risks at the top.

Members felt the new Strategy was very clear, easy to understand and a great improvement.

The Chairman suggested that it would be beneficial for Officers to be invited in to do a deep dive on key risks to give the Committee a better understanding.  This was agreed in principal.  The Head of Finance agreed to talk about any particular risks should there be any at the Audit Committee Meeting on 4 December.

Section 9 Roles and Responsibilities, the Committee agreed were accurate for Audit.

Also under Roles and Responsibilities the various levels and risks listed but did not include a reporting line.  It was requested for this information to be added.

The Chairman asked whether there was a report to track how progress was being made against the objectives.  The Data Protection Officer replied that the objective was to embed Risk Management into the Council and so could be difficult to measure.  However the following examples were suggested:

• All staff have been trained
• Risk registers have been updated
• Senior roles to have risk management within the job description

These objectives would be linked back to the Risk Management Strategy. This information would be requested for a report for the Audit Committee Meeting on 4 December

RECOMMENDED:

That the Audit Committee noted the review and updating of the Risk Management Strategy and recommended that the Policy and Resources Committee agree the Risk Management Strategy attached to the report at Appendix 1.

11.  BUDGET MONITORING – (MONTH 6–SEPTEMBER)

Budget monitoring report is a key tool in scrutinising the Council’s financial performance. It is designed to provide an overview to all relevant stakeholders. It is essential that the council monitors its budgets throughout the year to ensure that it is meeting its strategic objectives and that corrective action is taken where necessary.

This report seeks approval to a change in the Committee’s 2018-2021 medium-term revenue financial plan. The report shows the Council’s overall consolidated medium term financial plan for both revenue and capital.

12.  WORK PROGRAMME

To receive the Committee’s work programme.

13.  OTHER BUSINESS – If approved under Item 3 above

14.  EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC

If the Committee wishes to consider the remaining item in private, it will be appropriate for a resolution to be passed in the following terms:-

“that under Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined under paragraphs (1 -7) of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act. It has been decided by the Council that in all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.”

(Note: If other confidential business is approved under item 3, it will also be necessary to specify the class of exempt or confidential information in the additional items.)