Agenda - 10 October 2006

Members

Mr J C Brand
Mr D M Busby
Mrs S Carpendale

Mrs S P Clarke
Mr N H J Irwin
Ms J A Jenkins

Mr J M Owen
Mrs W J Sadler
Mr G S White

ITEM

BUSINESS

1

SUBSTITUTES AND APOLOGIES

Any Member attending as an approved substitute to report giving his/her name and the name of the Member being substituted.

To receive apologies for absence.

2

DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

Members to declare any interests as appropriate in respect of items to be considered at this meeting.

3

MINUTES

To confirm and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 29 August 2006 as a correct record.

4

PETITIONS

The Head of Corporate Services to report, in accordance with Council Procedure Rule No. 13, the receipt of any petitions submitted to the Chief Executive.

5

QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS

The Chairman to answer any questions on any matters in relation to which the Council has powers or duties which affect the District and which fall within the terms of reference of the Committee of which due notice has been given in accordance with Council Procedure Rule No. 15.4 – (a) and (b).

Paper F102

6

WORK PLAN

The Committee’s Work Plan is attached as Paper F102 together with an appendix detailing items in the Strategy Committee’s Work Plan which are relevant to the Terms of Reference of the Overview and Scrutiny (Stewardship) Committee, and including matters which could potentially be “called in” by this Committee.

Paper F103

7

REVIEW OF CALL-IN PROCEDURES

Report by the Working Group on Call-In Procedures attached.

Paper F104

8

IMPROVING USE OF RESOURCES

Report by the Head of Finance attached.

Paper F105

9

BENEFITS SERVICE – QUARTERLY REPORT

Report by the Head of Customer Services attached.

10

DISTRICT AND PARISH/TOWN COUNCIL ELECTIONS

The Head of Corporate Services to report that since the last meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny (Stewardship) Committee, further discussions have been undertaken with Officers from the Department of Constitutional Affairs (DCA).

The view of the Project Board that is developing the prospectus for pilots in 2007, which needs to be ratified by the Minister, is that all-postal voting pilots are very unlikely to gain approval. The requirements relating to postal voting and, specifically, the checks that need to be made when postal votes are returned, mean that all-postal voting is impossible without the personal identifiers (signatures and dates of birth) first being collected for all the electors involved. Otherwise it would mean that Parliament had gone to great lengths to include security checks for postal voters in the Electoral Administration Act only for them to be disapplied as part of a pilot; this is considered to be highly unlikely. Further, if it were decided to attempt to collect those identifiers from, say, all the electors in the five wards* that were mentioned at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting, this would have to be done at the cost of the authority and it would only take one elector to refuse to supply the information because, for example, they preferred to vote in person or did not trust postal voting, to compromise the whole proposal. There can be no compulsion on electors who do not wish to vote by post to provide the information and the DCA, obviously, would not countenance any scheme that might have the effect of disenfranchising anyone who did not wish, for any reason, to supply their signature and date of birth.

* Great Cornard North, Great Cornard South, Pinewood, Sudbury North, Sudbury South

For these reasons, therefore, the officials at the DCA believe that no more all-postal electoral pilots are likely to be approved. They hope to be in a position to provide general advice about the future of such schemes in the prospectus, which it is anticipated will be published before the end of October.

This information was reported to the Strategy Committee at its meeting on 28 September 2006, when it was resolved:

“That the report on District and Parish/Town Council Elections in 2007 (Postal Voting) set out in Paper F73 be noted, and that the measures set out in paragraph 4.23 of Paper F73 be undertaken, subject to funding being made available, and with particular emphasis on publicising the availability of postal voting in the five selected Wards.”

Notes:

(1)     Members of Forest Heath District Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee, together with FHDC officers, will be attending the meeting as observers. At the beginning of the meeting they will speak briefly to outline the arrangements for scrutiny at Forest Heath and to explain what they are hoping to learn from their visit to Babergh.

(2)     A buffet lunch has been arranged for Members in Committee Room 1.

(3)     The next meeting of the Committee is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 28 November 2006 at 9.30am.

For further information on any of the Part 1 items listed above, please contact Linda Pattle on Ipswich (01473) 826652 or via email at committeeservices@babergh.gov.uk