Agenda, decisions and minutes

No declarations of interest were made.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 25 July 2013. 

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman. 

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 25 July 2013 had been circulated to Members with the agenda. 

RESOLVED:

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman. 

To receive a presentation from the RNLI.

(a)       That the presentation be received;

(b)       That a letter be sent to Mr. Richard Polden, thanking him for his contributon; and 

(c)        That the Member Engagement Manager make arrangements for the Committee to visit Flint Lifeboat Station.       

The Chairman introduced Mr. Richard Polden who was the Volunteer Press Officer for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). 

Mr. Polden detailed the history of the RNLI and provided information on some of the incidents that the volunteers from Flint Lifeboat Station had been involved with.  The RNLI was a registered charity and had 237 lifeboat stations in the United Kingdom with 32 lifeboat stations and 41 lifeboats in Wales.  There were 4600 volunteer crew in the UK, both men and women, and the Flint lifeboat station that opened in 1966 currently had a crew of 10 men and two women and covered an area from Chester to Talacre including three major launch points.  A total of 40 people were involved with the RNLI in Flint which included the crew and fundraisers.  Mr. Polden explained that it cost £1300 per annum to train each volunteer crew member and the RNLI had a college in Poole, Dorset which trained the lifeboat volunteers.  The college also provided training to volunteers from abroad for a fee and this provided revenue for the RNLI.  The number of people who drowned each year totalled 1.2 million worldwide with 150 drowning near the coast of the UK.  The RNLI had an education programme which it was hoped would reduce the numbers of people who drowned.  The causes of drowning included rip currents, cold water shock, trips & slips, alcohol and fatigue. 

Mr. Polden detailed the incidents that the RNLI had responded to throughout the UK which totalled 9000 per year for lifeboats and 16000 for lifeguards.  The work of the RNLI was not just about rescuing people and Mr. Polden spoke of the recent rescue of a dolphin in the River Dee.  He also explained that there were inland lifeboat stations and hovercrafts and national and international flood rescue teams. 

Councillor Ian Dunbar thanked Mr. Polden for the presentation and commented on the plaque which had been unveiled in Rhyl about the lifeboat men who had lost their lives in 1853.  He queried whether it was expected that there would be an impact on the lifeboat station because of the proposed closures of the Coastguard stations.  Mr. Polden said that it was difficult to answer but said that if Liverpool and Holyhead coastguard stations closed, it could have an impact on Flint and Rhyl lifeboat stations.  He reminded Members of the importance of local knowledge and said that if this was lost it could cause a problem. 

In response to a question from Councillor Ron Hampson about how much training the volunteer crew undertook, Mr. Polden said that Flint station carried out their training on a Sunday but there may also be times when they needed to attend the college at Poole for more detailed training.  He explained that any funding collected in Flint would go towards the Flint lifeboat station but that any monies raised above what was required would be put in the central ‘pot’. 

Councillor Paul Shotton asked if there  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

(a)       That the new approach to performance reporting be supported; and

(b)       That performance data for the Community Safety Partnership be considered by the Committee in due course. 

The Member Engagement Manager introduced a report to provide an update on the streamlined and corporate approach to performance reporting. 

He explained that this Committee would receive performance reporting updates for Community Safety at future meetings.

RESOLVED:

 (a)      That the new approach to performance reporting be supported; and

(b)       That performance data for the Community Safety Partnership be considered by the Committee in due course. 

(a)       That the report be received; and

(b)       That the recommendation to the Constitution Committee be that the draft response should be amended to include all statutory public bodies, whether they be devolved functions or not. 

The Member Engagement Manager introduced the report to enable the Committee to consider the draft response to the Welsh Government Consultation Document number WG17306, Designated Persons Order (Number 1) which had been made to provide specific external scrutiny powers under Section 59 of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011.

He explained that this Committee had been created to concentrate predominantly on external scrutiny and detailed the work which had already been undertaken by the Committee.  However Members had often expressed frustration at the lack of progress with statutory guidance as to which public organisations would become ‘designated persons’ under section 59 of the Measure. 

Paragraph 3.02 detailed the statutory basis for designated persons and the bodies being considered for the first designation phase were listed in paragraph 3.03.  The Member Engagement Manager welcomed that Local Health Boards were included in the list but explained that higher and further education had not been included as they had not been listed in section 38 of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009 for inclusion in the draft first designation order.  The Chief Executive had suggested that all statutory bodies should be included in the first tranche regardless of whether they were devolved or not.   The Member Engagement Manager said that for the future it could be reasonable to include public service broadcasters such as the BBC and S4C and transport providers who received public subsidies could also be considered. 

The Member Engagement Manager explained that a draft response was attached to the report which advised that it was not considered necessary or appropriate to designate Town & Community Councils as there were already close working arrangements which included meetings to discuss matters of mutual interest.  He advised that any comments from Members at this meeting would be reported to the Constitution Committee on 16 October 2013 for inclusion in the response to the consultation document. 

Councillor David Mackie said that he had previously raised concern about the ability to scrutinise joint ventures with other local authorities.  He thanked the Member Engagement Manager for the report and proposed that the Committee support the recommendation.  Following a question from Councillor Nigel Steele-Mortimer, the Member Engagement Manager detailed which Overview & Scrutiny Committee the designated bodies would be scrutinised by.  He also discussed with the Committee whether they supported the recommendation by the Chief Executive to include all of the statutory bodies; this was agreed by the Committee.       

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the report be received; and

(b)       That the recommendation to the Constitution Committee be that the draft response should be amended to include all statutory public bodies, whether they be devolved functions or not. 

(a)       That the Forward Work Programme be noted;

(b)       That the change of the meeting from 28 October to 7 November 2013 be noted;

(b)       That a visit to the Lifeboat Station at Flint be arranged; and

(c)        That consideration be given to inviting the Red Cross to provide a presentation to the Committee. 

The Member Engagement Manager introduced the report to consider the Forward Work Programme of the Committee. 

He explained that the next meeting had been rescheduled from 28 October to 7 November 2013.  He detailed the items for consideration at the meeting and advised that a report on performance would also be considered. 

The Member Engagement Manager asked Members to contact the Chairman or himself if they had any additional items for consideration at future meetings.  A visit to the Lifeboat Station at Flint would be arranged following the invitation from Richard Polden earlier in the meeting. 

Councillor Nigel Steele-Mortimer asked whether the Red Cross could be invited to attend a future meeting to provide a presentation.  The Member Engagement Manager confirmed that this could be considered. 

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the Forward Work Programme be noted;

(b)       That the change of the meeting from 28 October to 7 November 2013 be noted;

(b)       That a visit to the Lifeboat Station at Flint be arranged; and

(c)        That consideration be given to inviting the Red Cross to provide a presentation to the Committee. 

There was one member of the press and no members of the public in attendance.