The Chairman welcomed all to the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor Price. Councillor Davey was substituting.

To receive any declarations of interest.

No declarations of interest were received.

To agree the minutes of the last meeting held on 15 June 2021.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: that the minutes of the last meeting on 15 June 2021 were a true and accurate record.

This was proposed by Councillor Bhangra and seconded by Councillor Greg Jones.

The meeting will commence with a presentation by the Chief Constable.

Any questions by Panel Members that have been submitted in advance of the meeting will then be considered and answered.

Matthew Barber, Police and Crime Commissioner gave a presentation to the Panel and the Cabinet.

Councillor Johnson commented that it had been a challenging few weeks for the police force, not just in the Thames Valley area but all over. As a councillor, the confidence in the force was very strong. Councillor Johnson was very happy to hear the increase in officers and to hear where the police were concentrating their efforts such as cyber-crime and environmental crime. The Council were happy to assist in any way. Councillor Johnson made mention to a crime summit, bringing together all of the issues.

Matthew Barber commented that on three of the points raised by Councillor Johnson, firstly, special constables and the potential specific for local authorities to consider and this would be something that Matthew Barber would write to all councils about which was that local authorities had the ability to provide council tax relief for special constables and some authorities had done this up and down the country. There was a challenge in Thames Valley are as there were thirteen billing areas in the Thames Valley area and all thirteen would need to sign up. There would need to be a consistent approach. Secondly, neighbourhood crime, there was a challenge for the Chief Constable and the force but it was hugely important because of the confidence in policing. For most people it was about how the force responded to the everyday incidents such as car crime, antisocial behaviour and how quickly you could get through to 101. The final point around confidence in the forces, there were several strands of work in this area including the vetting and reviewing the process that took place to accept officers into the force. Matthew Barber commented that getting the culture right in the organisation was very important and work was being carried out in this area too.

Councillor Jon Davey commented that residents were being asked to pay more and more in precepts and it would be interesting to understand where these monies went. Councillor Davey continued that the community speedwatch had been taken away from the police as they were not building confidence. Matthew Barber commented that the operational work would still be carried out by the force and the PCC office would oversee some of this by funding the move to the new organisation. The PCC’s role was to support the force where they needed it. Councillor Davey continued that he understood that this was now that a resident could come forward with measurements and submit them and if it was found that too many people were speeding down then the force would get involved. The PCC was taking responsibility and putting more funding into the process.

Councillor Jon Davey commented that it would be interesting to understand why officers were leaving the force. Matthew Barber commented that we were not struggling, the numbers fluctuated, and the biggest number of leavers were retirees. The discussion of maintaining recruitment and retaining staff occurred  ...  view the full minutes text for item 173.

To consider the report.

David Scott presented the Q1 Performance Management report.

David Scott clarified a couple of contextual points and remind the panel of or explain for the that as a council, we had adopted an interim strategy last year as we settled into the impact of the pandemic and the reports in the quarterly update were still being reported against the priorities that were identified in that interim strategy and the council was in the process of developing its new corporate plan which would succeed the interim strategy and the reporting of the performance for the quarter one and two would be against the interim plan. The other point of note was that what had previously been reported under the headings of commissioning and infrastructure and communities was now being reported under the neighbourhood services.

For quarter one, four of the seven measures were meeting or exceeding the targets, three out of the seven were short and set within the tolerances and there was a bit more detail. In summary in terms of the reflections on quarter one, there were a number of points in relation to covid and covid related activity and everyone would appreciate that had been an ever-changing activity and indeed some of the narrative that had been included and articulated in the quarter

one report now felt very old.

The contact tracing service continued and in early June, which was the end of the quarter, some new elements were introduced. This included texting and part of the focus that had been done since then was moved to an even greater local emphasis on local contact tracing to try and ensure that we had been able to be responsive to those people who had been identified through positive testing to then have a follow-up call and indeed we entered something called local xero which you'll hear more about in future performance periods but there was a reference to it in the report in terms of the lateral flow device tests.

Of the decision to start local testing through lateral flow devices using the two main leisure centres as a very significant part of our response at Braywick and at Windsor and we had continued to support that testing for supervised testing’s and it had also been complemented through the introduction of various mobile response type arrangements which have been adjusted and flexed to reflect where there had been higher cases identified through the testing programmes

and that had continued to evolve and adapt over the quarter two period from the details in the leading on the quarter one in addition to the supervised testing through the pop-up sites or the static operations. We had also been supporting the home-based arrangements either through the distribution of community collect kits from the static sites or through the pop-up arrangements.

During the last quarter that had evolved further in that home testing through online requests had grown significantly and had now taken over as the greatest supply element in terms of home  ...  view the full minutes text for item 174.

To consider the report.

Nikki Craig, Head of HR, Corporate Projects and IT presented the report.

Councillor Del Campo commented that one of the issues for residents was lack of action, how was this reacted to and how was this fed back? Nikki Craig responded that the reasons for the complaints are self-selected by the complainant, the selected options with the high-volume complaints are relooked at to see if there were any patterns, were they upheld, partially upheld or not and then looking at these in more detail and then going forward there would potentially be some improvement.

Councillor Davey commented that it would be good to proactively encourage residents to get positive solutions to make sure that they made a positive cost.

Parish Councillor Margaret Lenton commented that there was a lot of concern about Tivoli in Windsor and that many residents, especially in the villages had no access to computers and found themselves more and more disadvantaged. Parish Councillor Pat McDonald agreed with comments raised. Nikki Craig commented that if residents called the customer services, they were happy to make a note and log it for the resident and agree for the compliment and complaints team to get back to the resident with a response.

Verbal Update from Clerk.

The clerk informed the Panel that the co-optees on the Panel, from Parish Councils, one from the north area and one from the south area. Both areas to also have a deputy, if there was more than one person interested. Any interested parties would need to send a statement of why they were interested. The clerk would send out something soon. The Cox Green clerk, Stephen Hedges, would also assist in the process.

To consider the Panel’s work programme for the remainder of the Municipal year.

To include consideration of items scheduled on the Cabinet Forward Plan.

The clerk requested that the Panel look at the Tivoli scoping document and that Alysse Strachan and Andrew Durrant were online to assist and answer any questions. The Panel were only given the document recently, so it was still a work in progress document. The issue was raised by the Panel, Councillor Bhangra and Councillor Davey. This was being taken forward in the new way by preparing a scoping document and after the corporate plan, this was the second one.

The clerk asked that Panel Members study the scoping document and send any comments/questions to the clerk by the following Friday. The scoping document would be amended and finalised and then a specific meeting would be had for the Tivoli performance and Grounds Maintenance work. A new date for the meeting would have to be found. The clerk suggested switching the items from the 9 November meeting to the 26^th October date and having the Tivoli meeting on 9 November. The Panel unanimously agreed.

Councillor Davey requested that existing data be looked at and included. Alysse Strachan agreed that this would be fine.

The clerk asked Andrew Durrant for an update on the Maidenhead Gold Course. Andrew Durrant requested more direction around what aspects they wanted to know. A revised offer had been offered to the golf course and all Members were aware of this. The Chairman asked the Panel if a further update was required. Councillor Del Campo commented that the item should stay on the agenda as it was an item of huge public interest.

The clerk reminded the Panel that item that Panel Members wanted on the agenda, now required a scoping document. The briefing notes were no longer part of the scrutiny process. If items could be addressed in another way then that would be preferred.

The clerk went through all items on the work programme. Andrew Durrant commented that there was nothing to scrutinise on the Alexander Gardens car park so the item should be taken off. The Panel agreed to take this off the work programme.

The clerk asked if a scoping document could be done for the waste management strategy and Alysse Strachan commented this could be taken forward. The Panel would be required to prepare a scoping document. The minerals element would need to be looked at separately. The clerk could check with Councillor Price.

The Monitoring Officer commented that the scrutiny committee needed to add value to the work of the council and the scoping document would be really focussed on what difference the work would make to that particular item. Outcomes and the difference the discussion would make would be very important.

Councillor Del Campo commented that some items were time limited and needed to be considered in a timely manner.

The clerk suggested inviting the Lead Officer to the December meeting to discuss and give further information on Norden Farm and The Old Court. The Panel agreed.

Councillor Del Campo suggested that she would prepare the scoping document  ...  view the full minutes text for item 177.