To note the report.

Emma Duncan, Director of Law, Governance and Public Health, said that an action plan had been developed after the peer review team visited the council in January 2022. The peer review team had revisited the council later in the year to consider the progress made on the action plan, the report highlighted the recommendations that had been made as a result.

Councillor Price made a comment on the Windsor Town Council, the peer review team had been told that only 3% of residents had responded to the public consultation. Councillor Price disputed this figure, she felt that it was closer to 10% as this included the number of residents who had signed the e-petition.

Councillor L Jones noted that the peer review team had suggested that the council needed to invest to save. She wanted to see some service areas given the proper resource to allow transformation to happen.

Adele Taylor said that through the capital programme there were some schemes that were funded through borrowing and these were invest to save.

Councillor L Jones felt that more could be done on governance and culture, some progress had been made but scrutiny needed to be embedded on all policy papers. Draft proposals should be seen by scrutiny so that they could add value, rather than being brought for consideration at the end of the process.

Councillor Bond considered what he knew already and what he had only been informed about through the peer review, there was probably an even split. Briefings could be used to help improve the Panel’s knowledge for certain issues. Councillor Bond questioned if the peer review team were aware of a number of changes in the Corporate Leadership Team at the council. He noted that the health scrutiny terms of reference were being reviewed by the Head of Governance, who had left the council at the end of 2022. He asked what was being planned for this piece of work.

Emma Duncan said that the peer review team had revisited the council just after the departure of the previous Chief Executive. It was the job of all employees at the council to ensure good governance, there would be a change in the leadership team but there had been substantial improvements in the governance of the council. RBWM was in a better place now than when Emma Duncan had joined the council. On health scrutiny, the council was considering how it could best perform the health scrutiny role, particularly as the footprint of the healthcare system was different to that of local authorities. It was likely that this would be resolved after the election.

Councillor Price expressed concern that the Cabinet Transformation Sub Committee was not meeting four times a year and therefore it was not effectively monitoring how transformation had been taking place across the council. She did not feel it had the weight of importance that the committee should have. An annual governance statement being produced had been referenced in the report, Councillor Price asked when this annual governance statement would be available. A planning service improvement plan was also mentioned in the report, Councillor Price queried whether this was something that either the Corporate or the Place Overview and Scrutiny Panel should consider.

Adele Taylor clarified that the meeting of the Cabinet Transformation Sub Committee scheduled for early February had been postponed to March due to the budget being prioritised, the meeting would still take place. The annual governance statement was published annually with the statement of accounts, these reports were considered by the Audit and Governance Committee.

Emma Duncan added that the planning service improvement plan could be considered by the Place Overview and Scrutiny Panel, should they wish to add the item to their work programme. The best course of action could be for the Panel to ask the Head of Planning for a briefing on the item, so that the Panel could understand the context of the plan.

Councillor Walters asked if investment zones were still planned to happen or if the government had scrapped them.

Adele Taylor said that investment zones had been scrapped by the government.

Emma Duncan said that often councils did support developments depending on the application and service requirements. However, the council did not have to grant every application which was made.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel noted the report and the comments that had been made by the Peer Review Team.