Agenda item

Cllr David Hopkins (Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Performance) and Chris Williams (Head of Commercial Services)

The Panel welcomed the Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Performance, the Head of Commercial Services and the Principal Officer Commercial Services to the meeting. They updated the Panel on progress with the recommendations contained in the original scrutiny report, that had been agreed by Cabinet on the 20 October 2022. 

The Panel heard that 9 of the 14 recommendations were completed and agreed that good progress had been made with the remaining 5. (It was agreed that recommendations 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 11, 12, 13, 14 were considered complete and recommendations 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 making good progress.   The Panel were therefore pleased to be able to sign the inquiry off as completed.

The Panel were pleased to hear from the Cabinet Member that the inquiry had been an inclusive and beneficial piece of work.

The Panel were also encouraged to hear about the impact of the inquiry, that:

·       As a result of the Inquiry the profile of the matters raised by the Panel has increased significantly - across the entire Council – from those working on climate change matters through to Audit, for example, as well as at senior management level, so the Panel’s focus and interest has highlighted the importance of the matters reviewed, particularly this work area’s ability to be a driver of and an agent of important change.

·       Wider trends have been magnified by the Panel’s focus and there has been a high degree of alignment between the Panel’s focus and Cabinet’s response and thus a general commitment to the direction of travel articulated, showing the strategic alignment of the work and its importance to the future of the Council’s operation and impact on its wider environment

A letter will be written to the Cabinet Member detailing the Panels thoughts following the discussion today.