Issue - meetings

That the Committee notes the progress which has been made.

In receiving progress on actions arising from previous meetings, the following points were raised:

On the approach to scrutinising decisions on the North Wales Economic Ambition Board (NWEAB), Councillor Heesom highlighted the importance of open dialogue and information sharing with elected Members at an early stage.

The Chief Officer (Governance) gave assurance that no decisions had yet been made and that officers from the six North Wales councils would shortly be meeting to consider options for the Overview & Scrutiny model which would then be brought forward for Members’ determination.

Councillor Heesom said that Members should have been made aware that such meetings were scheduled.  Councillor Jones suggested a future agenda item to discuss the approach to scrutinising across North Wales.

Councillor Roberts drew comparison with the establishment of GwE (the regional School Effectiveness and Improvement Service) and its interaction with each of the six councils through the Overview & Scrutiny committees.

The Chief Officer explained that the forthcoming meeting would consider the whole range of issues for the NWEAB which would first require agreement across all six councils.

The Facilitator suggested that Members may wish to attend the Community and Enterprise Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting in December to receive an update on the Growth Deal.  The Environment Overview & Scrutiny Committee was also to be invited.

In acknowledging the concerns raised, Councillor Shotton reminded Members of previous discussions on the timetable needed to finalise arrangements and pointed out that the Growth Deal had not yet been signed off.

Councillor Jones gave a reminder of the action agreed at the previous meeting (resolution 42(g)) for a report back to the Committee on the outcome of statistical analysis of Flintshire’s higher recorded incidents of parental substance/alcohol misuse etc.  A further outstanding action was the provision of North Wales Police performance data which had been missing from the late addendum circulated at the meeting.  Progress on both actions would be recorded in the next monthly Action Tracking report.

Councillor Peers referred to the sharing of further reports on the Flintshire bridge ‘when available’ and asked that a timescale be set, even if this meant deferring to a later date.  The Facilitator agreed to pursue this with officers.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee notes the progress which has been made.