DECISION

To note the report (Appendix 1 of the report) of the scrutiny challenge session on examining the council’s revised approach to Idea Stores and library services; and

Agree the action plan (Appendix 2 of the report) in response to the scrutiny recommendations.

Action by:

CORPORATE DIRECTOR, PLACE (A. SUTCLIFFE)

(Director, Customer Services (R. Chand)

Reasons for the decisions

To provide a formal response to the OSC report and an action plan to cover any recommendations, or elements thereof, not already included in the report that was taken to Cabinet on the 3 March 2021.

The attached report is the Executive’s response to the scrutiny recommendations arising from the scrutiny challenge session’s examination of the council’s revised approach to Idea Stores and library services.

In practice, the challenge session formed part of the consultation process that fed into the final report on the revised approach to Idea Stores and library services taken to Cabinet on 3 March 2021

Alternative options

The alternative option would have been to delay the cabinet report until after the formal report from OSC had been received.  This was not acceptable as it would have delayed the timing of any savings agreed in the final report.

The option to delay engaging with OSC was dismissed as this would have reduced the potential for the session to influence design and decisions.