Agenda and minutes

Members and officers must declare any disclosable pecuniary interests in relation to any business on the agenda. Declarations should also be made at any stage such an interest becomes apparent during the meeting.

If in doubt contact the Legal or Democratic Services representative for this meeting.

Councillor Elizabeth Sparkes declared her interest as a West Sussex County Councillor.

Councillor Nowak substituted for Councillor Humphreys.

To approve the minutes of the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 8 June 2023, copies of which have been previously circulated.

Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting of the 8 June 2023 were approved as a correct record and be signed by the Chairman

So as to provide the best opportunity for the Committee to provide the public with the fullest answer, questions from the public should be submitted by 12.00 noon Monday 3 July

Where relevant notice of a question has not been given, the person presiding may either choose to give a response at the meeting or respond by undertaking to provide a written response within three working days.

Questions should be submitted to Democratic Services democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk  

(Note: Public Question Time will operate for a maximum of 30 minutes.)

There were no public questions

Councillors who are not members of this committee can ask questions under CPR 12  Questions should be relevant to the committee where the question is being asked and also relevant to an item on the agenda. Please contact Democratic Services for more information

Members question time is 30 minutes and questions should be submitted no later than 12.00 noon on Monday 3 July 2023.

Questions should be submitted to Democratic Services democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk 

(Note: Members’ Question Time will operate for a maximum of 30 minutes.)

There were no questions from Members

To consider any items the Chairman of the meeting considers to be urgent

There were no urgent items

A Call-In had been received regarding decision JAW/002/23-24 Emergency  accommodation Contract Award. An extra meeting of the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee had been scheduled for 25 July to hear this matter.

To consider a report by the Director for Sustainability and Resources, copy attached as item 8

The Committee had a report before it attached as item 8, which had been circulated to all Members and is attached to a signed copy of these minutes. This report set out background information on the Portfolio of the Adur Leader to enable the Committee to consider and question the Leader on issues within their portfolio and any high-level strategic issues which the Leader was involved in, connected with the work of the Council and the Adur communities.

A Member asked, “has the council considered any further joint working arrangements with neighboring councils where they can deliver services using economies of scale across a larger region as they've done for instance with the litter and dog fouling enforcement?”

Members were told the Council was in discussions with other local councils and groups such as the Greater Brighton Economic board about options and would bring those to committee should any of those discussions prove fruitful. The Levelling Up White Paper had some good ideas in it that they were keen to explore, but they would like to see a stronger role for districts and boroughs in the final bill.

To consider a report by the Director for Sustainability and Resources copy attached as item 9

The Committee had a report before it attached as item 9, which had been circulated to all Members and is attached to a signed copy of these minutes. This report set out background information on the Portfolio of the Worthing Leader to enable the Committee to consider and question the Leader on issues within their portfolio and any high-level strategic issues which the Leader was involved in, connected with the work of the Council and the Worthing communities.

A Member asked “The update on our Strategic Priorities and the Cost of Living Emergency in JSC 13th June 4.6 refers to:

“Setting up a community pantry as part of a co-produced work with local food groups and sustainability groups and as a forerunner to developing a new sustainable food system for Worthing.” Finding the funds and community space will prove a challenge, yet I have been informed by a local resident that in January this year, he offered a building to the Council to use for a pantry and said he would renovate and kit it out at his expense. It is now July and the resident is so concerned that no progress seems to have been made that he has offered it to Broadwater Support Community Hub. Can we be assured that this property is being treated as a priority and have an update on the progress?

Members were told that 2 potential buildings had been identified to support the delivery of this ambition, due diligence processes were undertaken in both cases, and the conclusion was that these buildings were not viable, one was deemed unsuitable in terms of the building lay out and footprint and the other due to the costs associated with getting the building fit for use and the length of the lease term available for use.

The business owner approached the Council in January and an action plan was drawn up to support this activity, there had been two in person meetings at the site, and the following activity had taken place. 

• Engaged Community Works to support the Council and business to facilitate activity
• Linked the business owner with food groups who might be interested in partnering the business 
• Referred them to specialist advice to explore the potential of setting up a charitable arm 
• Referred the business to legal advice via Community Works to explore with a  solicitor the charitable arm options 
• Pre planning advice gained, so they could support the taxi team to develop their plans

Officers continued to work with the business owner and Community Works and would prioritise accelerating this potential.

Chief Executive Catherine Howe, chaired a meeting with multiple partners to explore the next steps for a sustainable food system, this meeting had resulted in an action plan, which had recently been drawn up to support that vision.

A Member asked, “The same update says “the Council aims to support our food banks as the frontline of community action,” however Government money released for food support has been delivered to West Sussex  ...  view the full minutes text for item JOSC/21/23-24

To consider a report by the Director for Sustainability & Resources, copy attached as item 10

The Committee had a report before it, attached as item 10, which had been circulated to all Members and is attached to a signed copy of these minutes. This report would assist JOSC in questioning the Chief Executive on the progress in delivering the objectives in ‘Our Plan’ which was agreed by the Councils as the new Corporate Plan in Autumn 2022. This report provided the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JOSC) with the details of the Corporate Plan, ‘Our Plan’, which was reported to the Joint Strategic Committee (JSC) on 11 October 2022. A copy of that report and the finalised Corporate Plan is attached as an Appendix to this report.

A Member asked, “given the paucity of detailed specific and measurable deliverables, how does the Chief Executive envisage that those who are responsible for holding her to account for her performance and specifically for the delivery of “Our Plan”, and for the scrutiny of its execution, will be able to assess whether it is in fact being delivered, to what extent, at what speed, and with what degree of success?”

Members were told they were in the process of establishing their Mission Control team to oversee the delivery and performance management of the plan. Each of the missions in the plan had a road map setting out how each area would be delivered and what success would look like. The directors had already formed multi disciplinary teams to deliver the road maps.  Recruitment to the Mission Control team was about to start and the monitoring and reporting would be managed and reported through a project and information management tool called Asana. Service planning had also started and this would support the councils’ ability to report on service related outputs and outcomes.

A Member asked “ref paragraph 3.2 of the report to JSC on 11 October 2020 - What has the impact been of having shared services and staff across 2 councils, now with different political administrations and therefore differing strategic priorities?”

Members were told the shared service agreement between Adur and Worthing continued to work well, delivering services (many of which were shared) to a high standard, whilst realising considerable savings through scale and joint working. One staff team delivery for two councils with separate priorities and ambitions had been a defining feature of the agreement since its foundation. 

Having said this there were of course challenges in meeting the needs of two different authorities which is why they had a shared corporate plan. Our Plan sought to set out how they would deliver for each authority and how they worked together on shared priorities, including services that were better delivered at scale and were complex and cross cutting. Key to working in this partnership agreement context for the staff was clarity on how they worked together, the principles that directed and informed the work and the required focus of the organisation on core and support services, plus cross cutting missions.

A Member asked “ref paragraph 3.9 of  ...  view the full minutes text for item JOSC/22/23-24

To consider a report by the Director for Housing and Communities, copy attached as item 11

The Committee had a report before it, attached as item 11, which had been circulated to all Members and is attached to a signed copy of these minutes. The purpose of the report was to provide Members with a detailed understanding of the approach being taken to deliver the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) in Adur District and Worthing Borough, and how this was responding to local resident and business needs, aligned to the fund criteria. It was also to update Members on procedures and regulations associated with the awarding of UKSPF, including the monitoring and evaluation of outcomes.

A Member asked if the Councils didn’t deliver their investment plan within the timescale was there a penalty. Members were told that the government could be flexible with the revenue but the officers intention was to deliver the plan on time.

Resolved: The Committee agreed to

I.                Note the overall approach to UKSPF in Adur and Worthing to deliver place-based interventions and activities to support the most vulnerable residents, support businesses and to provide sustainable solutions.

II.                Receive an annual report that provided a high level view of progress of the interventions associated with UKSPF funding.

To consider a report by the Director for Sustainability and Resources, copy attached as item 12

The Committee had a report before it, attached as item 12, which had been circulated to all Members and is attached to a signed copy of these minutes. This report outlined progress and plans for implementing the work contained in the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JOSC) Work Programme for 2023/24.

Resolved: The committee agreed to

I.                Invite the Chief Executive to attend a meeting of the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee on November 30th, to provide an update on the implementation of Our Plan

II.                Invite the Police and Crime Commissioner and Commander to a future meeting of JOSC

III.                Invite the chief executive of Southern Water to a future meeting of JOSC.