Agenda and minutes

The Committee noted, following approval by Council that Councillor Kaur had permanently replaced Councillor Renyard as a Member of this Committee. 

It was noted that following receipt of the temporary resignation of Councillors Fuller and Kaur from the Committee the Service Director – Legal and Business Operations, acting under delegated powers, had appointed Councillor Rayment to replace Councillor Kaur, for the purposes of this meeting.   The Committee also noted the apologies of Appointed Member Rob Sanders. 

The Committee consideredthe report of the Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care which provided an update on progress against each of the recommendations of the Childhood Obesity Scrutiny Inquiry.

Councillor P Baillie, Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care and Debbie Chase, Director of Public Health were present and with the consent of the Chair addressed the Committee.

Discussions took place with the Cabinet Member and officers with regards to how the pandemic had affected the aspirations of the reports recommendations and how the Council would be dealing with timescales and milestones as we are now in a stage of living with COVID.

RESOLVED to note the progress made implementing the approved recommendations emanating from the Tackling Childhood Obesity Scrutiny Inquiry.

To move that in accordance with the Council’s Constitution, specifically the Access to Information Procedure Rules contained within the Constitution, the press and public be excluded from the meeting in respect of any consideration of the confidential appendicesto the following Item.

Confidential appendix 1 contains information deemed to be exempt from general publication based on Category 3 of paragraph 10.4 of the Council’s Access to Information Procedure Rules. It is not in the public interest to disclose this because doing so would prejudice the Authority’s ability to achieve best consideration.

Confidential appendix 2 contains information deemed to be exempt from general publication based on Categories 3 and 7a of paragraph 10.4 of the Council’s Access to Information Procedure Rules.  It is not considered to be in the public interest to disclose the information because doing so would put the Council or other parties at a commercial disadvantage and prejudice the Council’s negotiating position and its ability to achieve best consideration.

The Chair moved that in accordance with the Council’s Constitution, specifically the Access to Information Procedure Rules contained within the Constitution, the press and public be excluded from the meeting in respect of any consideration of the confidential appendicesto the following Item.

Confidential appendix 1 contains information deemed to be exempt from general publication based on Category 3 of paragraph 10.4 of the Council’s Access to Information Procedure Rules. It is not in the public interest to disclose this because doing so would prejudice the Authority’s ability to achieve best consideration.

Confidential appendix 2 contains information deemed to be exempt from general publication based on Categories 3 and 7a of paragraph 10.4 of the Council’s Access to Information Procedure Rules.  It is not considered to be in the public interest to disclose the information because doing so would put the Council or other parties at a commercial disadvantage and prejudice the Council’s negotiating position and its ability to achieve best consideration.

(a)   Southampton Bus Service Improvement Plan

The Committee considered the briefing paper of the Cabinet Member for Growth which summarised the draft Southampton Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), a requirement of the Department for Transport’s National Bus

Strategy. The BSIP is the first phase towards Southampton City Council

establishing an Enhanced Partnership with the local bus operators

Councillor Moulton, Cabinet Member for Growth was in attendance and with the consent of the Chair addressed the meeting. 

RESOLVED that:

i)  the Council would work with Xelabus to encourage and support them to modernise their fleet;

ii)  the Cabinet Member gave consideration to the support that the Council could provide to the Southampton Bus User Group to ensure that it was both active and effective;

iii)  a summary of the consultation findings that informed the Bus Service Improvement Plan was circulated to the Committee;

iv)  to encourage feedback, future consultation on plans and proposals relating to bus services was publicised and promoted more widely, across various platforms and channels;

v)  to enable oversight, the Committee were provided with an update on the current status of the various bus service improvement schemes included within the Transforming Cities Fund programme;

vi)  the Committee were provided with outline timescales for the delivery of the key ambitions and actions contained within the Bus Service Improvement Plan.

(b)  Provision of a Litter Enforcement Service

The Committee considered the confidential briefing paper of the Cabinet Member for Environment regarding the provision of a Litter Enforcement Service. 

Councillor Galton, Cabinet Member for Environment was in attendance and with the consent of the Chair addressed the meeting. 

RESOLVED:

i)  that the Administration reflected on the application of the Council’s Access to Information Procedure Rules and discouraged the use of reports that were entirely confidential, unless absolutely necessary;

ii)  that the Council promoted the use of data to develop an intelligence led approach to littering enforcement activity;

iii)  that officers obtain littering enforcement performance data from, and benchmark against other local authorities, to identify if Southampton was an outlier, particularly with regards to the non-payment of fines; and

iv)  that the service developed alternative criteria by which the effectiveness and success of the littering enforcement service was measured. 

(c)   Northern Above Bar Properties

The Committee considered the confidential briefing paper of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Capital Assets concerning the Council’s strategy regarding Northern Above Bar Properties. 

Councillor Hannides, Cabinet Member for Finance and Capital Assets was in attendance and with the consent of the Chair addressed the meeting.

Following discussion the Committee made recommendations to the Cabinet Member in confidential session. 

The Committee noted the report of the Service Director – Legal and Business Operations enabling the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee to monitor and track progress on recommendations made to the Executive at previous meetings.