Local democracy

Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: Remote Virtual Meeting

Contact: Mustansir Butt 

Items
No. Item

115.

ALTERNATE MEMBERS (Standing Order 34)

The City Solicitor will report the names of alternate Members who are attending the meeting in place of appointed Members. 

 

Minutes:

Cllr Sullivan for Cllr Goodall.

116.

DISCLOSURES OF INTEREST

(Members Code of Conduct - Part 4A of the Constitution)

 

To receive disclosures of interests from members and co-opted members on matters to be considered at the meeting. The disclosure must include the nature of the interest.

 

An interest must also be disclosed in the meeting when it becomes apparent to the member during the meeting.

 

Notes:

 

(1)       Members may remain in the meeting and take part fully in discussion and voting unless the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an interest which the Member feels would call into question their compliance with the wider principles set out in the Code of Conduct.  Disclosable pecuniary interests relate to the Member concerned or their spouse/partner.

 

(2)       Members in arrears of Council Tax by more than two months must not vote in decisions on, or which might affect, budget calculations, and must disclose at the meeting that this restriction applies to them.  A failure to comply with these requirements is a criminal offence under section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. 

 

(3)       Members are also welcome to disclose interests which are not disclosable pecuniary interests but which they consider should be made in the interest of clarity.

 

(4)       Officers must disclose interests in accordance with Council Standing Order 44.

 

Minutes:

No disclosures of interest in matters under consideration were received.

117.

INSPECTION OF REPORTS AND BACKGROUND PAPERS

(Access to Information Procedure Rules – Part 3B of the Constitution)

 

Reports and background papers for agenda items may be inspected by contacting the person shown after each agenda item.  Certain reports and background papers may be restricted. 

 

Any request to remove the restriction on a report or background paper should be made to the relevant Strategic Director or Assistant Director whose name is shown on the front page of the report. 

 

If that request is refused, there is a right of appeal to this meeting. 

 

Please contact the officer shown below in advance of the meeting if you wish to appeal. 

 

(Yusuf Patel - 01274 434579)

 

Minutes:

There were no appeals submitted to review decisions to restrict documents.

118.

REFERRALS TO THE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

No referrals have been made to this Committee up to and including the date of publication of this agenda.

 

Minutes:

There were no referrals to the Committee.

119.

ADVANCED FUEL CENTRE FOR BRADFORD pdf icon PDF 2 MB

The Strategic Director, Place will present a report (Document “S”) to advise Members of the intention to undertake a procurement in excess of £2m to design & build, maintain and operate a compressed gas refuelling facility at Bowling Back Lane in accordance with the requirements of Contract Standing Order 4.7.4.

 

Recommended –

 

That the Committee note the contents of this report.

 

(Andrew Whittles – 07584058868)

 

Minutes:

The purpose of this report is to advise Members of the intention to undertake a procurement in excess of £2m to design and build, maintain and operate a compressed gas refuelling facility at Bowling Back Lance in accordance with the requirements of Contract Standing Order 4.7.4.

 

Bradford Council officers also explained that the Council had also submitted its Final Business Case to the Government for the Bradford Clean Air Plan, to achieve compliance with nitrogen dioxide legal limits in the shortest possible timeframe.

 

Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee members were keen to explore the funding projections and viewed the projections as being vague and were keen to explore this further.

 

In response, Officers stated that the funding was for a period of 10 years and would be paid back based on the gas sales over the 10 years.  Officers also highlighted to the Committee that they were also considering Prudential Borrowing, which would be based on the interest rates.  As well as this, Councillors also heard that the project plan had been completed and the finances for this procurement project has been considered by the Executive.  Bradford Councils Legal services had also been involved with this Procurement project.

 

Furthermore, members were keen to understand why the timeline for this Procurement exercise was challenging.

 

Officers indicated that this was due to preliminary work that needed to be undertaken to the site, which had been acquired.  Moreover, members also heard that it would take a year for construction to take place on site and it would also take approximately nine months for the delivery of the gas vehicles.

 

Corporate Overview & Scrutiny Committee members did welcome the scheme particularly in relation to its environmental benefits, however members did feel that finances and of this scheme should have been brought to this committee much earlier.

 

Continuing on from this, Councillors also wanted clarification in relation to the travelling community that was on site, with regards to the consultation that hade been undertaken.

 

Bradford Council officers highlighted here that they had liaised with the Travellers Liaison Service, with a view to determining the best manner in consulting with the travelling community on site.

 

Resolved-

 

(1)  That the comments made by this Committee be considered as part of the procurement exercise for the Advanced Fuel Centre for Bradford.

 

(2)  That future procurement reports should include the full financial information, to enable members to consider relevant  information relating to financial management of the contract.

 

Action:  Strategic Director, Place

 

                                                            (Andrew Whittles – 07584 058868)

120.

PROGRESS OF THE PROGRAMME OF WORK UNDERTAKEN BY IMPOWER AND THE COUNCIL pdf icon PDF 164 KB

Previous Reference: Minute 86 (2020/21)

 

The Committee is asked to consider Document “T” which provides a summary of the progress made by the Council in partnership with IMPOWER since the commencement of the new IMPOWER contract on the 1st September 2020.

 

Recommended –

 

(1)  That the Committee to note the content of this report

 

(2)  That a further progress report to be presented to the Committee in March 2021.

 

 

(Parveen Akhtar – 01274 432496/ Mark Douglas – 01274 431266/

Ian McBeath – 01274 432900)

 

 

 

Minutes:

This report focused on the progress made by the Council in partnership with IMPOWER, since the commencement of the new IMPOWER contract on 1 September 2020.

 

As previously requested by Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee members, the report also included:

 

  • A summary of the projects developed and being progressed which commenced in September 2020;
  • Progress and benefits realisation, projects progress to date and the current and expected impact;
  • Building capacity and resilience, the impact of work undertaken together on skills and expertise n the Council;
  • Next steps.

 

Councillors were keen to know, if there were any plans to actually talk to the service users and if that was a part of the IMPOWER process.

In response, Bradford Council officers stated that IMPOWER were not directly impacting with people, but that Council employees were.  However, IMPOWER did assist in project planning and part of their work was to pass on their skills.  For instance, IMPOWER had been training Social Workers and Commissioners in Health and Social Care.

 

Furthermore, Councillors indicated that they understood the costs associated with this work, but that this work should really be about outcomes for the service users and were keen to explore how outcomes would be measured.

 

Bradford Council Officers responded by saying that they would be engaging with service users about outcomes and the improvements that the work undertaken as part of IMPOWER that have been made.

 

Resolved-

 

That a further progress report be presented to the Committee in March 2021, focusing specifically on outcomes from the work being delivered by IMPOWER.

 

Action:  Strategic Director, Corporate Resources

 

                                                            (Ian MacBeath – 01274 432900)

 

121.

WORK PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 88 KB

The Chair of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee will submit a report (Document “U”) which sets out the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee work programme for 2020/21. 

 

Recommended –

 

(1)       That members consider and comment on the areas of work        included in the work programme.

 

(2)       That members consider any detailed scrutiny reviews that          they may wish to conduct.

(Mustansir Butt - 01274 432574)

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report included the Corporate Overview & Scrutiny Committee work programme for 2020-21, as well as the list of unscheduled topics.

 

The work programme also contained details of the scrutiny reviews, that the Corporate Overview & Scrutiny Committee, is currently undertaking.

 

Corporate Overview & Scrutiny Committee members discussed and made amendments to the work programme. 

 

As well as this, members also discussed the ongoing Hate Crime and Domestic Violence Scrutiny Reviews, along with the work the Committee is undertaking in relation to Gambling.

 

 

Resolved-

 

Members considered and agreed to keep an overview of the work programme.

 

                                                                        (Mustansir Butt – 01274 432574)