Governance Committee
MINUTES of a meeting of the Governance Committee held at Council Chamber, County Hall, Lewes on 29 September 2022.
PRESENT Councillors Keith Glazier (Chair), Nick Bennett, Rupert Simmons, David Tutt and Trevor Webb
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ALSO PRESENT |
Councillors Maples, Stephen Shing and Georgia Taylor.
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17. Minutes of the meeting held on 2 September 2022
17.1 RESOLVED – that the minutes of the previous meeting of the Committee held on 2 September 2022 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.
18. Apologies for absence
18.1 Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Collier. It was noted that Councillor Webb was substituting for him.
19. Reports
19.1 Copies of the reports referred to below are included in the minute book.
20. Annual Customer Experience Report
20.1 The Committee considered a report by the Director of Communities, Economy and Transport on the customer experience annual report.
20.2 The Committee RESOLVED to:
1) note the progress of the Customer Experience Board in the implementation of a series of new measures to improve customer experience:
2) support the Customer Experience Board’s online payments workstream and endorse future work with the MBOS system to make the customer payments process as easy and intuitive as possible given the technology available;
3) support the Customer Experience Board’s workstream to develop the reporting of Council-wide customer contact data in order to gain oversight and inform service delivery and improvements;
4) note the number and nature of complaints made to the Council in 2021/22; and
5) note the contents of the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman's annual letter to the Chief Executive.
21. Amendment to Constitution - Scheme of Delegation to Officers
21.1 The Committee considered a report by the Chief Operating Officer regarding proposed changes to the Scheme of Delegation to Officers.
21.2 The Committee RESOLVED to recommend the County Council approve the amendments to the Scheme of Delegation to Officers set out in Appendices 1 and 2 of the report.
22. Scrutiny Committee Activity
22.1 The Committee considered a report by the Assistant Chief Executive that provided an overview of scrutiny activity being undertaken by the People, Place and Health Overview Scrutiny Committees and an update on the work of the Audit Committee.
22.2 The Committee RESOLVED to note the updates on recent Scrutiny and Audit Committee activity and the current work programmes as set out at Appendices 1 to 5 of the report.
23. Employee Loan Scheme
23.1 The Committee considered a report by the Chief Operating Officer regarding proposed changes to the Council’s employee loan scheme and its bicycle salary sacrifice scheme
23.2 The Committee RESOLVED to:
1) agree that the requirement that employees must have completed their first probationary review be removed for rental deposit loans;
2) agree to the loan scheme being expanded to allow loans to be issued for employee visa application fees;
3) agree to the loan scheme being expanded to allow senior managers to approve loans for purposes other than those specified in the policy, provided there is a robust business case to support this; and
4) agree to the employee loan limit for bicycles, and for the separate bicycle salary sacrifice scheme, be increased to £5000
24. Amendment to Constitution - Health and Wellbeing Board Terms of Reference
24.1 The Committee considered a report by the Assistant Chief Executive seeking approval to amend the Terms of Reference of the Health and Wellbeing Board to reflect changes in membership of NHS England and NHS provider trusts.
24.2 The Committee RESOLVED to recommend the County Council approve the revised Health and Wellbeing Board Terms of Reference set out at appendix 1 to the report and that the Constitution be amended accordingly.