Agenda item

To receive questions from Members of the Council to the relevant Portfolio Holders for this Scrutiny Committee. The Portfolio Holders reporting to this Scrutiny Committee are:

Councillor Bialyk -       Leader

Councillor Patrick -     Portfolio Holder City Development

Councillor Vizard -      Portfolio Holder Climate, Ecological Change and Communities

Councillor Wood -       Portfolio Holder Leisure Services and Physical Activity

Councillor Wright -      Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder Corporate Services and City Centre

Councillor Foale -       Portfolio Holder Arts, Culture and Tourism

Advance questions from Members relating to the Portfolio Holders above should be notified to the Democratic Services Manager.

In accordance with Standing Order No. 20, the following questions were submitted by Councillor Wetenhall in relation to the Portfolio of the Leader who attended the meeting.

Question

“Councillors have been waiting for an update on a review of CIL governance since November 2024 when internal audit identified as an area of weakness. In January this year, you said in an email to me that “The Task Group is an officer meeting to explore governance models and approaches for CIL/S106. This part of the work is now complete, and the Head of City Development is finalising draft proposals for SMB to consider.  Last week’s Audit and Governance Committee was informed that a further internal audit is now being undertaken next financial year.

Can the Portfolio Holder answer the following questions, to enable Strategic Scrutiny members to have an oversight of what is happening given the long delay and no date being provided as to when Councillors will have further information.

1. When do you expect SMB to consider proposals from the work of the Task Group given that you said the work was complete in January of this year?
2. What changes or improvements are already in place on CIL governance, if any, since the audit report of Nov 24?
3. How and when will Councillors have an opportunity to see any aspect of this ongoing work?”

Response

1. SMB had reviewed the draft proposals for CIL/s106 governance and the Leader would meet with Directors next week.

2. A report to the Executive on 28 April would recommend a new governance framework

3. All the actions recommended by the audit review have been completed and will be reported to the Audit and Governance Committee in due course. 

Supplementary Questions and Responses

1. Councillor Wetenhall asked why the Strategic Director had stated that the report would be ready in two weeks if the Leader was meeting with him next week? The Leader responded stating that officers were bringing forward the proposal for him to consider and it would likely be complete by next week but he may ask for amendments to be made.

2. Councillor Wetenhall asked if she could see the work of the task group, which she had asked the Director. The Leader responded that audit had identified a weakness which the Council was looking at. He also informed the committee that officers had been working on this and had met with him once and there had been further work to complete and he had received a draft last week. The Leader added that he would discuss this with the Portfolio Holder and report back to the Executive team but not necessarily a committee.

3. Councillor Wetenhall asked if there had been changes or improvements and the Leader responded that SMB were working on the issues raised, that CIL money was present and when a project arose funding was considered however, proposals for how to handle these in future.

During discussion about procedure the Chair agreed to speak to the Monitoring Officer as Councillor Wetenhall had requested sight of the original report.

In accordance with Standing Order No. 20, the following questions were submitted by Councillor Moore in relation to the Portfolio of the Leader who attended the meeting.

Questions for the Leader from Councillor Moore: 

1. ?Please can you explain what happened to the Bronze plaque on Mallison Bridge and can it be given to the Mallison family? 

2. Cllr B: What are you doing to ensure there is increased transparency around assets that may be disposed of that might be of interest to communities? 

3. Cllr?B:? a community asset transfer request was submitted by the community for Bromham's hut on 20 February and there has been no reply. Why is this? 

RESPONSE: 

1. Officers will look into this and respond outside the meeting. 

2. This is currently being reviewed to ensure that any potential opportunities are communicated. ? 

3. The asset has a complex ownership structure which prior to responding on the CAT proposal we were attempting to clarify with the EA – but to no avail so far. The Bromhams CAT proposal is being allocated to an Officer to progress and Estates will contact the community representative as soon as possible. They apologise for not having sent an acknowledgement email in a timely manner.