Agenda and minutes

The Chair, Councillor N Akhtar, placed on record his thanks and appreciation  for all of the work undertaken by Councillor E Ruane and Councillor R Thay in their roles during the Municipal Year 2023/24 as Chair of the Finance and Corporate Services Scrutiny Board (1) and the Deputy Chair of the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee respectively.

The Chair welcomed Councillor L Kelly to her new role as Deputy Chair of the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee for 2024/25.

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

The Minutes of the meeting heldon 11 April, 2024 were agreed and signed as a true record.

Further to Minute 56/23 relating to “Parking Enforcement and Road Safety”, the Committee noted that the relevant Cabinet Members has accepted the Committee’s Recommendations in relation to this matter.

Report of the Chief Executive

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Executive which outlined the outcome of the Local Government Association (LGA) Corporate Peer Challenge held in Coventry in January, 2024. The Committee noted that the report would also be considered by Cabinet at their meeting on 11 June, 2024, prior to consideration by Council on 9 July, 2024.

The report indicated that that the Local Government Association (LGA) is the national voice of local government, working with Councils to support, promote, and improve local government. The LGA’s Corporate Peer Challenge offer is effective and well regarded by the sector and provides robust, strategic and credible challenge and support to Councils.

It is expected that all Councils receive a Corporate Peer Challenge at least every five years covering core areas and any specific areas requested by the Council. Coventry City Council’s first Corporate Peer Challenge took place in October 2018. In 2023, it was agreed that Coventry City Council would again host a Corporate Peer Challenge as this was now timely.

The Peer Challenge took place from 15th to 18th January 2024. The visit focused on five core themes (local priorities and outcomes, organisational and place leadership, governance and culture, financial planning and management, and capacity for improvement). These areas are critical to Councils’ performance and improvement.

The Peer Team were also asked to provide feedback on transformation: the organisation’s corporate capacity and plans for service transformation. Transformation was specifically chosen on the basis that it would benefit from some external challenge and feedback on future delivery plans.

The LGA Corporate Peer Challenge feedback report was provided as an appendix to the report (Appendix A). This report provided a detailed response on findings, including a number of observations and suggestions within the main section of the report.

In summary, during the course of the Peer Challenge week, the Peer Team found that:

•  Coventry is an ambitious place that is on the up, with examples of innovation and a willingness to embrace change, whilst not forgetting its heritage

•  Coventry is a well-run Council, with strong officer and political leadership

•  Employees and elected members are passionate and proud about what they do

•  The Council should take further steps to improve diversity across the organisation at all levels

•  There is recognition that tough times are still ahead, but people are up for the challenge

•  There is a need to ensure that the transformation programme is adequately resourced to enable delivery at pace

•  The Council should use the established performance framework to drive improvement and bring greater prioritisation and visibility to areas that require improvement

•  Partners and residents are eager to step up and become more involved at an earlier and more strategic level

•  There is a need to review our external and internal communications and engagement strategy

There are some areas where further work is suggested by the Peer Team. These areas are described in the ‘Key recommendations’ section of the LGA’s feedback report.

Following the Peer  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Report of Director of Law and Governance

The Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee received a Briefing Note of the Director of Law and Governance appended to which was the Scrutiny Annual Report 2023/24.  The report details highlights from the year, including cross-cutting themes considered by the Committee as well as work undertaken by the individual Scrutiny Boards. The Constitution requires that Scrutiny report annually to inform Council of its work.

RESOLVED that the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee:

1)  Accept the content of the draft report at Appendix 1.

2)  Recommends that Council considers the Scrutiny Annual Report at its meeting on 9 July, 2024.

Report of the Director of Law and Governance

The Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee considered their Work Programme for the Municipal Year 2024/25.

Further to Minute 4 above, it was noted that the following items would be added to the Work Programme:-

·  Major Cultural Events (Godiva/Motofest etc)

·  Recruitment and Retention

·  CCC Transformation Programme

RESOLVED that the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee notes and approves the Work Programme and Outstanding Issues for 2024/25.

Councillor N Akhtar, Chair of the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee, attended the meeting of Cabinet Member for Jobs, Regeneration and Climate Change on 13 May, 2024 for consideration of an item relating to “Progress House, Westwood Way Westwood Business Park Coventry - Lease Re- gear”

Councillor Akhtar agreed that the decision was urgent and that call in should not apply. In accordance with the Constitution, this matter is reported to inform the Committee of the reason for urgency which is:-

“In order to meet the construction programme and complete the new development for the occupation by students before commencement of the academic year in September 2026, the legal agreement and commitment was required to be completed by the 20^th May 2024. If this timescale is not achieved, then a delay of a further 12 months would be incurred, which would mean that the improved income for the Council is also delayed by a year. “

In accordance with the Constitution, the Committee were informed that Councillor N Akhtar, Chair of the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee, attended the meeting of Cabinet Member for Jobs, Regeneration and Climate Change on 13 May, 2024 for consideration of an item relating to “Progress House, Westwood Way Westwood Business Park Coventry - Lease Re- gear ”

Councillor Akhtar agreed that the decision was urgent and that call in should not apply. In accordance with the Constitution, this matter is reported to inform the Committee of the reason for urgency which is:-

“In order to meet the construction programme and complete the new development for the occupation by students before the commencement of the academic year in September 2026, the legal agreement and commitment were required to be completed by the 20th May 2024. If this timescale is not achieved, then a delay of a further 12 months would be incurred, which would mean that the improved income for the Council is also delayed by a year. “

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as a matter of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

The Committee were informed that, in order to enable and ensure cross party discussion,  the Chair of the Committee, Councillor N Akhtar, had extended an invitation for a Member of the Green Group to attend all future meetings of the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee as a non-voting Member.