Agenda and minutes

No declarations of interest were made.

RESOLVED

that the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 12 December 2024, be received and approved as a correct record.

The Service Manager for Governance gave a brief update on the Select Committee Work Programme and advised Members that Cabinet had recently considered the Committee’s recommendations in respect of the 2025 No Mow May Campaign and had agreed them in their entirety.

At a recent Chairs/Vice Chairs meeting, a new review topic had been considered in respect of Council organised events and it was agreed to ask Committee Members for their approval to add it to the Work Programme.

RESOLVED that

a)    progress of the 2024/25 Select Committee Work Programme, as presented, be received and noted;

b)    the suggested ‘Council Organised Events’ review topic be added to the Work Programme for consideration at the next meeting of the Committee;

c)    as a result of b) above, the Executive Lead Member for Leisure, Health and Wellbeing be invited to the next meeting to provide some insight into how the Council selects, prioritises and facilitates its organised events.

At this point in the proceedings and in accordance with Council Procedure

Rule 4 (Order of Business), the Chairman advised that he would be amending the order of the agenda slightly by taking agenda items 5 (Corporate Plan Delivery - Quarter 2 2024/25) and 6 (Corporate Peer Challenge Progress) together.  Members concurred with this course of action.

The Assistant Director for Policy and Performance undertook a presentation to Members regarding progress against delivery of the new Corporate Plan 2023-2027 in respect of the quarter 2 position for 2024/25.

The overall position from April to September 2024 was as follows:

·         78% of measures achieving or exceeding target, or within 10% variance of target.

·         92% of measures indicating an improved position compared to the same period in the previous year, or within 5% of previous year’s performance levels.

Members received summaries in relation to some of the key delivery

successes and then any areas of the Council that had been earmarked for improvement and development.

In relation to the Corporate Peer Challenge, Members were advised as to current progress being made against implementation of the Peer Challenge Action Plan.  Following the LGA Peer Challenge Review that took place in June 2004, an action plan had been developed to address some of the outcomes and recommendations from the review.  A follow up day had also been arranged for 15 July 2025 to enable the Peer Challenge Group to revisit the Council and assess what progress had been made since the review.

The key recommendations from the Peer Challenge Review had included the following:

·         Member/Officer Relationships

·         Proactive Council role within EMCCA

·         Governance for Regeneration Schemes

·         Alignment of Regeneration, Commercial Investment and Climate Change

·         Strengthening of Audit Committee Governance

·         Further implementation of DMA

·         Review of HR Arrangements

·         Review of Performance Management Framework.

Members were advised that a further update report would be submitted to the Principal Select Committee before July 2025.

RESOLVED that

a)    the levels of delivery achieved against the Corporate Plan Priorities, as outlined in the report, be received and noted;

b)    the levels of performance achieved against the Corporate Scorecard as of March 2024, as presented, be also noted;

c)    progress being made against implementation of the Corporate Peer Challenge Action Plan, as presented, be also noted.

The Corporate Resources Director and Section 151 Officer will provide a presentation to the Committee.

The Corporate Resources Director (and Section 151 Officer) attended the

meeting to provide a presentation on the 2025/26 Annual Budget and an

update on the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS).

Members were advised that the 2025/26 Annual Budget would be fully

considered by Cabinet at its meeting on 17 February 2025 in readiness for its

final approval at the Extraordinary Council (Tax Setting) meeting on 3 March

2025.

(At this point in the proceedings a suspension of Council Procedure Rule 23.1 (Conclusion of Proceedings) was moved and seconded to enable the business of the meeting to be concluded, and upon being put to the vote it was duly carried.)

RESOLVED

that the presentation from the Corporate Resources Director (and Section 151

Officer) on the 2025/26 Annual Budget and the update on the Medium

Term Financial Strategy, be received and duly noted.