Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made.

The Chair detailed the procedure of the meeting and outlined how the Overview & Scrutiny Committee would consider the reasons for call in.

The Committee noted that Councillor James Hockney would present the reasons for the call-in as the Lead Call-in Member and in view of this he was substituted on the Overview & Scrutiny Committee by Cllr Edward Smith.

It was also noted that Cllr Leaver, Cabinet Member for Finance & Procurement would be responding to the reasons for the call-in alongside officers in attendance.

Members of the Council are invited to identify any disclosable pecuniary, other pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests relevant to the items on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest received regarding any item on the agenda.

To review the decision of the Cabinet Member for Finance & Procurement taken on 13 October 2023 as a result of the matter having been called-in.

The Overview & Scrutiny Committee were to consider and review KD5579 – Digital Services EUC (End User Computing) - taken on 13 October 2023 and included on the Publication of Decision List No. 25/23-24.

The decision had been called in for review by 7 members of the Council, namely Councillors: James Hockney (Lead), Lee Chamberlain, Chris Dey, David Skelton, Adrian Grumi, Paul Pratt, and Andrew Thorp.

The report sets out the officer response to the reasons for call-in.

The reasons for call-in received from seven Members of the Council, together with officer responses.

Reasons for the call-in were presented by Councillor James Hockney, Lead Call-in Member for the decision.

Cllr Hockney summarised the reasons for the call-in of the decision.

Cllr Hockney asked that Members refer the decision back to the decision taker for reconsideration.

Cllr Leaver and officers spoke in response to the reasons for call-in, and questions posed by Members of the committee.

The original decision documents.

Cllr Hockney summarised the points made during the discussion and reiterated his view that Members should refer the decision back to the decision taker.

The Chair summarised the key points made throughout the discussion and took Members of the committee through the options available to them, namely: refer the decision back to the decision-making person/body for reconsideration; refer the matter to full Council; or confirm the original decision.

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered the reasons provided for the Call-In and responses set out in the Officer’s report. Having considered the verbal responses and the information presented by the Cllr Leaver and relevant Officers, the Committee AGREED to confirm the original decision.

To note that the next scheduled date of the Overview & Scrutiny Business meeting is 14 November 2023 at 7:00pm in the Conference Room at the Civic Centre.

Members NOTED the date of the next meeting, as set out in the agenda, namely Tuesday 14 November 2023.

The Chair thanked everyone for their time and contributions, and the meeting ended at 20:20.