Agenda item
UNRESTRICTED MINUTES
- Meeting of Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Tuesday, 3rd December, 2013 7.00 p.m. (Item 3.)
- View the background to item 3.
To confirm as a correct record of the proceedings the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 5th November 2013.
Minutes:
The Chair informed OSC members that:
· At the last OSC meeting he had indicated that:
o He would be inviting the Mayor to attend the next OSC meeting [3rd December], for one of a series of ‘spotlight sessions’ during the year.
o He would again be requesting the Mayor’s diary commitments on future scheduled OSC meeting dates, so as to identify an OSC meeting he could attend, if he could not attend on 3rd December, and if necessary would submit a Freedom of Information request for this information.
· He had extended the invitation at Cabinet on 6th November and formalised this in a subsequent letter. Unfortunately the Mayor had declined the invitation, because of prior commitments and this was the sixth such declined invitation.
· He had received no response to his written request for the Mayor’s diary sheets, and consequently had submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for this information. As yet there had been no response to the FOI request and the information had not been provided.
· The Mayor’s absence was extremely disappointing, as the OSC had constantly asked him to attend so he could be held to account for his decisions, including his decision on Watts Grove Depot (to be discussed later in the meeting) to scrap 149 affordable new homes badly needed by the community, but he had refused to attend. The OSC’s role was to hold the Executive to account, but it was clear the Mayor was not interested in the democratic process, he just wanted power without a care for the consequences of his decisions. The Mayor had also refused to answer questions at full Council so there was no public forum where he was prepared to answer questions, it was not just an issue relating to OSC.
· The Chair considered that as the spotlight was intended to focus on the challenges and opportunities the Mayor foresaw for delivery of improved quality of life for local people in the year ahead, with the passage of time the spotlight theme would be less meaningful. Additionally the Chair felt that the Mayor’s attendance should be congruent with the 2013/14 OSC Work Programme and to determine this he required details of the Mayor’s diary commitments on other scheduled OSC meeting dates. He considered that this OSC request/ FOI request were important, and the diary sheets should have been provided.
· Therefore, with OSC agreement, he intended to invite the Mayor to the next OSC meeting [7th January} for the spotlight session, but also to press for a response to his Freedom of Information request for details of the Mayor’s diary commitments on future scheduled OSC meeting dates, should he not be able to attend the meeting on 7th January.
The Chair Moved and it was:-
Resolved
That the unrestricted minutes of the ordinary meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, held on 5th November 2013, be agreed as a correct record of the proceedings, and the Chair be authorised to sign them accordingly.
Action by:
Angus Taylor (Principal Committee Officer, Democratic Services, CE’s)
Supporting documents: