My Report to Council

Posted By: David Clayton
Date Posted: 15/01/2010

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

This report covers the Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committees of both the 24th November and 17th December.

One of the more controversial matters that the committee has looked at is the issue of the Rochdale Development Agency and in particular its relation to the council. Members were keen to see how Rochdale MBC was monitoring the Value for Money of the Rochdale Development Agency. As such we requested that the Chief Executive be asked to respond and at the November meeting we had the Value for Money and Service Level Agreement from the Rochdale Development Agency. Another issue that was raised was perceived lack of communication in keeping members of council informed of developments RDA were making. This was acknowledged to be a problem and we were told that improvements are already in place. It was felt that this had been a very constructive and open debate and it was also suggested that it might be useful to have a joint meeting in the future with the Performance overview committee so that all aspects of RDA could be scrutinised as effectively as possible. We also requested that the Executive Leadership Team and RDA produce an Action Plan on how to improve the working relationship between the Council and the RDA and that this be reported back to the meeting of the Policy Overview Committee to be held in April 2010.

We also discussed the following policy areas at the November meeting :

Environmental Policy - This was presented as the first steps towards creating a corporate environmental policy which members were pleased to see. It was requested however that the committee be given more information at a later meeting in regard to the different subheadings that the policy covered. In particular we requested that a report be brought to a future meeting of the committee dealing with the 10;10 commitment and the Council’s work in achieving this objective.

Rochdale MBC Housing Allocations Policy - A big issue here is that members sought assurances that potential applicants who did not have access to the internet would not be disadvantaged by the new policy.

The committee also noted the reports covering The Draft Boroughwide Older Persons Strategy 2010/2013, Budget Report Updates, Review of Discretionary Fees and Charges 2010/11 and a Review of the councils Fraud Policy .

At the December meeting of the Committee we had further updates of the Budget and looked at the new Discretionary Fees and Charges that cover the Adult Care Service. We also looked at the Councils Procurement Policy where members expressed a desire to see more information on the balance between buying locally and being able to obtain value for money – as well as the sustainability aspect that many of us are keen to see achieved.

Councillor David Clayton

Thank you Mr Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matter relating to the Policy Overview Committee.