To approve as a correct record the public minutes of General Services Committee meeting held on the 16 January 2024.

To approve as a correct record the public minutes of General Services Committee meeting held on the 22 January 2024.

To approve as a correct record the public minutes of General Services Committee meeting held on the 23 January 2024.

To approve as a correct record the public minutes of General Services Committee meeting held on the 24 January 2024.

To approve as a correct record the public minutes of General Services Committee meeting held on the 29 January 2024.

To approve as a correct record the public minutes of General Services Committee meeting held on the 30 January 2024.

Minutes of the General Services Committee held on the 16^th, 22^nd, 23^rd, 24^th, 29^th and 30^th January were approved as a correct record.

To receive additional items that the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency, in accordance with Section 100B (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no urgent items of business.

There were no declarations of interest.

The report presented the progress and decisions required to action improvement activity around the Overview and Scrutiny (O & S) Function. The report asked Members to support the introduction of a new Overview and Scrutiny Committee Structure with a view to further developing culture, skills, work programming and constitutional procedures of the function in future months. Contact had been made with the Independent Renumeration Panel Chair who had agreed to convene a panel in late March to consider the changing of roles and associated numerations.

The following points were raised:

·       Members welcomed the proposed three Overview and Scrutiny Committee structure.

·       Members discussed their concerns on the recommendation to cease the Lower Thames Crossing Task Force Group.

·       Members agreed that Lower Thames Crossing Task Force should continue as a body until such time the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered creating a Lower Thames Crossing Task Force Group.

·       Members also agreed that the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee be able to create two task and finish groups in addition to a Lower Thames Crossing Task and Finish Group.

·       The Chair stated there was an opportunity for all Overview and Scrutiny Committees chairs to feed back to cabinet and had been disappointed that no committee chairs had attended cabinet this year to do so.

·       Members discussed committee substitutions and agreed that each Overview and Scrutiny Committee should have two substitutes per political group added to each committee.

RESOLVED

To recommend to Full Council:

1.    Agree the restructuring of the Overview and Scrutiny Function to consist of three committees: People, Place and Corporate, as detailed in this report and appendices.

2.    That the new Overview and Scrutiny committee structure starts for the municipal year 2024/25.

3.    Subject to the addition of two substitutes per political group to be added to each committee, agree the terms of reference of these committees at appendix 1 and delegate authority to the Monitoring Officer to include them in the Constitution.

4.  Cease the Local Development Plan Task Force and the Hidden and Extreme Harms Prevention Committee from the 2024/25 municipal year in accordance with Centre for Governance and Scrutiny’s (CfGS) findings and recommendations.

5.Formally adopt the Overview and Scrutiny Protocol attached at
 appendix 2 and incorporate it into the constitution as part of the
 forthcoming revised Overview and Scrutiny Chapter.

6.That the Lower Thames Crossing Task Force continued as a body until such time the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered creating a Lower Thames Crossing Task and Finish Group.

7.That the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee be able to create two task and finish groups in addition to a Lower Thames Crossing Task and Finish Group.

At 7.36pm, Asmat Hussain and Matthew Boulter left the meeting.

At 7.36pm, the meeting went into exempt session.

At 8.03pm, the meeting convened back into public session.

The public recording of this meeting can be viewed from the following link:

General Services Committee - Tuesday 13 February 2024, 7:00pm - Thurrock Council committee meeting webcasts (public-i.tv)