Agenda and decisions

The Chair to welcome members of the Sub-Committee, officers, any external witnesses, and the public to the meeting and introduce committee members, officers and witnesses who are present.

To receive any apologies.

Councillors to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests, other registerable interests, or non-registerable interests (including other pecuniary interests) they may have in the business to be transacted, and officers to declare any interests they may have in any contract to be considered.

The above decision was called-in by the following parties, in accordance with Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 16 (c):

1.             Councillors Peter Geary and Shazna Muzammil (28 March 2025)

The Sub-Committee is requested to consider the reasons set out in the call-in requests and, in accordance with the Council’s Constitution, either:

·               refer the item back to the Cabinet member, setting out the nature of the Committee’s concerns;

·               not refer the item back; or

·               refer its views to the Council.

1.             That the public and press be excluded from the meeting by virtue of Paragraph 3 (Information relating to the Financial or Business Affairs of the Authority) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, in order that the meeting consider the exempt annex to the report.

2.             That the Called-In decision of 18 March 2025 (Procurement of Works for the Integrated Care Hub at Linford Wood Place) not be referred back to the decision-maker.

3.             The Sub-Committee asks that the Budget and Resources Scrutiny Committee Planning Group consider adding scrutiny of capital projects to its work programme.

4.             The Sub-Committee asks that the Audit Committee ensure that the outstanding focused review on Procurement and Contract Management Risk is completed as quickly as possible.

5.             That the Monitoring Officer be asked to prepare a briefing note on whether the thresholds and procedures used by this Council for Executive Call-In are in line with that of other similar councils, and that Council use this report to review if the current arrangements strike an appropriate balance between the need for proper scrutiny against those wishing to disrupt the decision-making process.

The delegated decision report for Item 1, 18 March 2025, is set out in full (note that decisions in the report were agreed by the Cabinet member unchanged).

Only decisions 2,4 & 5 are subject to this call-in. Decision 3 was recommended to full Council and agreed unanimously on 19 March.