principal scrutiny committee meeting - Meetings, agendas, and ...

MERTHYR TYDFIL COUNTY BOROUGH COUNCIL
MINUTES OF MEETING
PRINCIPAL SCRUTINY
COMMITTEE MEETING
WEDNESDAY, 10TH OCTOBER, 2007
PRESENT:
Councillor A Jones (In the Chair)
Councillors J Amos, C J Barry, C G Barsi, R A Clark,
A M Davies, C T Jones and L E Smart
Howard Jones (Scrutiny Support Officer)
Gaynor Francis-Jones (Democratic Services Officer)
ITEM
NO.
AGENDA MATTER
DECISION
1 Apologies Apologies received from Councillors P Williams and D
Lewis.
2 Declarations of Interest No declarations of interest were received.
3 Improvement report
2007
The Chair welcomed Paul Phillpott to the meeting.
Mr Phillpott outlined the nature of the report.
It was queried whether the report could be condensed as it
was a lengthy document.
Mt Phillpott stated that all the information contained in the
report needed to be included.
A member queried whether budget had a measuring
improvement plan and it was recommended that a quarterly
report be included on the agenda.

It was agreed that a letter be sent to the WLGA to seek
opinions on streamlining.
Mr Phillpott stated that hourly sessions with Councillors
could be arranged in required to discuss the report in more
detail.
It was noted that the current structure of QBR meetings
would be reduced from 2 to 1 day on a trial basis.
The general feeling was that the current 2 days period
would be preferred.
The Chair thanked Mr Phillpott for attending the meeting
and he then left.
After consideration it was
Resolved.
1. That Mr Paul Phillpott attends Principal Scrutiny
every quarter with an update on the
Improvement Plan report to include
performance data.
2. That a letter be sent to the WLGA to seek
opinions on streamlining the Improvement Plan
report.
4 Minutes of previous
meeting and matters
arising (18/7/07)
The draft minutes of the meeting held 18 July 2007 were
accepted as a true record.
MATTERS ARISING
Arising on Item 6 Councillor J Amos stated that he was
waiting for information in regard to agency workers within
MTCBC.
At present there were 17 temporary staff working with
general refuse
It was agreed that Mrs T Thomas be asked to provide more
information and figures in relation to agency workers and
that Mrs Thomas be asked to attend the next Principal
Scrutiny meeting.
Some areas to be discussed would be current contract
arrangements and length of employment.
5 Scrutiny Panel
Committee Reports
The Annual Principal Scrutiny report was considered and
after discussion it was
Resolved
That the report be submitted to Council
6 Call - ins and Referrals The Chair advised that there were no call-ins or referrals to

from Cabinet
7 Scrutiny Panel
Updates
be considered.
MILLENIUM PARK
Councillor L Smart was pleased to confirm that the issue
regarding the Millennium Park had been successfully
resolved.
Meetings had been held regarding the lack of core funding
and strategic support.
Councillor Smart confirmed that the report compiled by the
Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Customer Corporate
Services and also the Director of Customer Community
Services had held meetings to discuss the future of the
Millennium Park.
The Council had now accepted the recommendations of the
Deputy Chief Executive and the park was now in Council
control.
Councillor Smart also confirmed that a strategic plan would
be devised for the future.
ABERFAN AND MERTHYR VALE
Councillor Smart confirmed that a report was due to
finalised for Cabinet and that the investigation had been
lengthy. He also stated that a series of recommendations
had been designed.
CUSTOMER COMMUNITY SERVICES
As there had been no meeting there was nothing to report.
INTEGRATED ADULT SERVICES
The Draft Panel minutes of the meeting held 25 September
2007 were received by the Committee.
It was confirmed that the last meeting had been held at the
NLC and there was nothing further to report.
INTEGRATED CHILDREN’S SERVICES
The Draft Panel Minutes of the Meeting held 23 July 2007
and 24 September 2007 were received by the Committee.
Councillor Clive Jones detailed the attendance issue with
update 2008 to be discussed at next months meeting.
It was also noted that the task and finish group had met to
discuss the dyslexia issue.
8 Any other business
deemed urgent by the
Chair
No other business was discussed.