Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor B Price.

Apologies were received from Councillor G Coates that he would need to leave the meeting at 7:30pm.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 13^th August 2024 were approved as a correct record.

(Moved by Councillor T Jay and seconded by Councillor A Wells)

There were none.

The Chair reminded the Committee of the upcoming scrutiny training session on the 16^th September with the LGA.

The Chair thanked Councillor Wells for attending Cabinet on their behalf on the 29^th August to present the Committees recommendations.

The Chair highlighted that this is an issue that the Council need to work collaboratively on and this would have been a good opportunity for the Council and the Executive to talk about some of the recommendations that directly affect leaseholders and put their minds at ease over renewals.

There were none.

(Report of the Leader of the Council)

The Chair welcomed the Assistant Director People and the Leader of the Council to introduce the Report, who handed over to the Portfolio Holder for People Services, Engagement and Leisure.

The Portfolio Holder introduced the report and highlighted that recent research carried out as part of the corporate plan consultation, highlighted that priorities for residents included Council accessibility and communication, and improving face to face services and this was also the experience of Members. It would also be available for the voluntary sector to use and create a town hub, confirming the proposed opening times. The Assembly Rooms did not provide a suitable alternative to a front desk as it failed to provide decency to people who may already be in a vulnerable situation.

The Leader of the Council highlighted that the report also dealt with the issue of moving committee meetings to Marmion House where it was more accessible, there would be a bigger public gallery and give opportunities for better ICT whilst giving the Council an exciting opportunity to look embrace the heritage of the building and engage residents to look at use of the Town Hall for other purposes.

The Committee made the following comments/observations and asked the following questions:

1.     Whether the item had been on the forward plan?

It was confirmed that the matter had gone on to the plan on the 14^th august.

2.     Whether the Council were turning their back on its heritage by using some of the budget for the town hall improvements for this project highlighting that the town hall was still available for use during the day?

Whether spending money on new items such as ICT and furniture in a temporary location was a waste of money and how could this be justified knowing that moving forward there are more budgetary pressures on the Council and whether accessibility should be considered at all costs? It was highlighted that the public gallery was rarely filled at the Town Hall.

The Leader of the Council highlighted that whilst the building was only used for meetings in the evening, it was set up as a Chamber all the time. When there had been matters of public interest in recent years the Town Hall had not been able to accommodate all of the public who attended. Currently staff must move between two buildings, there are times that two buildings are using heating and lighting. Whilst there is a lift the building is still not disabled friendly, and the location meant that there were issues getting to and from the building. Freeing up the Town Hall would enable a piece of work to be carried out to look at what else the building could be used for. The hope would be that in the future that this could form part of a heritage trail. Contracts on Marmion House would mean that they would expect to be using this for at least 5 years.

The Portfolio Holder confirmed that there were constant complaints about the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

(Report of the Leader of the Council/Assistant Director – People)

The Chair welcomed the Assistant Director People, the Head of Technology and Information Services and the Leader of the Council, thanking the Officers for providing a very comprehensive report.

The Leader of the Council introduced the report before handing over to the Head of Technology who provided an overview of the report detailing information on the 5 themes of the current strategy.

The Committee made the following comments/observations and asked the following questions:

1. Members highlighted from experience that transitions to the Cloud and working with SharePoint and MS Teams had been a good thing.
2. The Committee highlighted that usability was important and that it reports updates on status back to the people using the system and that systems were integrated and talking to each other across departments.
3. Clarification around security and where the Councils data is held, and if this was offshore, could these go bankrupt and is there a need for penetration testing?

Officers confirmed that there was a requirement for penetration testing and one of the Council requirements is that all of the data is held in UK based Microsoft data centre in the south of the country and all migrations to the cloud were UK based.

4. It was highlighted by the Committee that using Power BI that could produce data metrics, and that the authority needed to be data driven organisation to be effective.
5. The report referred to implementing a new system at the Council Chamber at Marmion House and that this would go ahead in November, and where the governance was around this as the decision to return to committee meetings at Marmion House had not yet been made?

Officers confirmed that the work had gone out to tender to give an idea of costings but that no award would be made until a decision had been made. It was confirmed that the works could be transferred to be considered to the current building if necessary.

The Leader of the Council apologised and acknowledged for the wording within the report.

6. It was highlighted by the Committee that it would be good to have a commitment to bring these matters back on a regular basis.

Councillor G Coates left the meeting at 7:30pm.

The Chair acknowledged the report and confirmed that there were no recommendations and thank Officers for their input and invited them to leave.

To provide an update on any working groups

There were no updates.

(Discussion item – link to the Forward Plan attached)

Browse plans - Cabinet, 2024 :: Tamworth Borough Council

The Committee agreed to add the following items to the workplan for the next meetings –

Update on Strategic Review of Leaseholder Service Charges

Update on the Housing Repairs Contract

(Discussion Item – to review the Committees work plan)

The Chair confirmed that the next meeting was on the 9^th October and that they are expecting the Social Housing Regulatory Update.

The Committee highlighted that in the future it would like to see the following –

Complaints, Compliments and Comments

Housing Voids Update

Damp and Mould

To consider excluding the Press and Public from the meeting by passing the following resolution:-

“That in accordance with the provisions of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meeting and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012, and Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public  interest in disclosing the information to the public”

That in accordance with the provisions of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meeting and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012, and Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.

(Moved by Councillor M Couchman and Seconded by Councillor A Wells)

(Report of the Portfolio Holder for Infrastructure, Heritage and Local Economy

Deferred from the 13^th August 2024)

Report of the Portfolio Holder for Infrastructure, Heritage and Economy and the Executive Director Communities to provide an update on the current status of lease negotiations at the former Frankie and Benny’s site on Bolebridge Street, Tamworth.

(Report of the Portfolio Holder for Infrastructure, Heritage and Local Economy

Deferred from the 13^th August 2024)

Report of the Portfolio Holder for Infrastructure, Heritage and Economy and the Executive Director Communities to provide an update on the current status of the commercial Lease, it sets out actions that have been taken to date and considers options for the future

As no motion was moved by the meeting at 8:30 the item was deemed formally move under procedure rule 7.2 of schedule 1.