Apologies were received from Councillor Devonish; Councillor Martins attended as a substitute.

Apologies for absence had also been received from Councillor Ahmed.

Members noted that, following this meeting, Councillor Martins would permanently replace Councillor Devonish on the committee.

There were no disclosures of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2022 to be submitted and signed.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2022 were agreed. 

The committee is asked to agree the establishment of a new task group and appoint members and a chair.

The scrutiny committee received a report of the Senior Democratic Services Officer setting out a proposed task group to review the renewed Sustainability Strategy.

It was noted that this was a valuable opportunity to feed into the policy development process. Dates for the meetings would be agreed to dovetail with the wider project timeline and in consultation with task group members.

The committee agreed the establishment of the task group, the membership and the chair as set out in the appendix to the report.

RESOLVED –

1.                  That a scrutiny task group be established to review the sustainability strategy.

2.                  That the membership of the task group be as follows:

·                    Councillor Jessica Stiff (Chair)

·                    Councillor Mark Hofman

·                    Councillor Peter Jeffree

·                    Councillor Rabi Martins

·                    Councillor Sara-Jane Trebar

The scrutiny committee is asked to review the current version of the work programme and consider any additional areas councillors wish to scrutinise.

Members were invited to review Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s draft work programme for 2022/23. 

Introducing the item, the Chair highlighted some key areas of the work programme. He noted that it provided an outline, but it was for the members to direct the focus of the committee’s investigations and establish the outcomes they wished to achieve.  The work programme was flexible and issues could be added, removed and rescheduled during the year and into the following municipal year.

RESOLVED –

that the Chair work with officers to incorporate members’ suggestions into the 2022/23 work programme.

The Scrutiny Committee is asked to review the latest edition of the Executive Decision Progress Report and consider whether any further information is required.

The scrutiny committee was invited to review the current Executive Decision Progress Report for 2022-23 and consider whether any further information was required.

RESOLVED –

that the current 2022/23 Executive Decision Progress report be noted.

Councillor Feldman, the Council’s appointed representative to the County Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee to provide an update.

The Chair, as the council’s appointed representative on Hertfordshire County Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee, noted that the next meeting was scheduled to take place on 1 July 2022 and an update on its activities would be provided at Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 20 July.  Members were invited to send topics to Councillor Feldman to raise at the meetings.

·               Wednesday 29 June (Call-in only) – this meeting will be cancelled if there is no call-in.

·               Wednesday  20 July

It was noted that the meeting scheduled for Wednesday 29 June had been cancelled as no call-in had been received.

The next meeting would take place on Wednesday 20 July.