Agenda item

To consider and endorse the outline schedule of scrutiny work for the 2025-2026 municipal year.

The Governance Advisor introduced the work programme report and drew Members’ attention to the following developments:

·       School Road Safety Review:

Two further meetings of this Review group had taken place with officers in Highways at RMBC and an officer from Sheffield City Council, who had been involved in implementing a School Streets scheme. The group would be moving on to look at crossing patrol and enforcement and hoped to make contact with the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority.

·       Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Workshop – 4 December 2025

The ASB workshop had taken place on 4^th December 2025 and was a very useful and insightful workshop which allowed Members the opportunity to ask questions of a number of Officers who worked within Housing across the borough.

The Housing team delivered a very informative presentation, covering topics such as: what does and doesn’t constitute ASB; the legal position under the Council’s tenancy agreement; what tools and powers were available to tackle ASB; and service KPI data and customer feedback. Input was also provided from the Community Protection Unit, which worked closely with Housing Officers on tackling ASB.

Members also took part in a breakout Case Study group session where Members and Officers worked together through real-life scenarios and were able to discuss the particular complexities of each case and valuable lessons learnt. Feedback from the session was that both Members and Officers found it very useful to consider each other’s experiences and the session could be rolled out further to wider Members.

·       Markets/Library Redevelopment Site Visit (joint with OSMB)

This visit had been planned for 10 December 2025 but had to be rescheduled due to the timing of key works on site during that week which made visits impossible. It was hoped to reschedule this visit for the end of January/beginning of February 2026 and those IPSC members who were due to attend would report back on findings.

·       Municipal Year 2026-2027

The Governance team were working to set dates for the calendar of meetings for the next municipal year (2026-2027) and it was felt that this would be a good opportunity to conduct a survey of IPSC Members as to the future timing of meetings. The Governance Advisor advised that a Microsoft Forms survey would be sent out to collate responses so that preferences could be considered when planning future meetings.

The Chair asked Members to consider as part of the survey, whether Members felt that IPSC were conducting effective scrutiny and also, whether a formal pre-meet should be structured into the meeting schedule. Councillor Lelliott commented that in her view, a pre-meet should take place to allow Members to get into the detail of the items prior to the meetings. However, Councillor Allen felt that pre-meets were not necessary and would not suit everyone’s way of working when reviewing papers prior to meetings.

Councillor Lelliott commented that the schedule substantive item within the Work Programme on Children’s Capital of Culture, should be undertaken as a full review of the programme. The Governance Advisor explained that the current plan was for the Improving Lives Select Commission to look at the impact on children and the legacy of the programme, and that the item scheduled to come to IPSC would be a review of the related events programme that had taken place within the town centre and across the Borough. Councillor Lelliott responded that she felt that the item should be a joint item in order that the programme could be considered as a whole.

Councillor Allen expressed surprise at the number of future items that were “To Be Confirmed” and also, were due to be covered via off-agenda means. Councillor Allen felt that items should be given confirmed dates as soon as possible and that if something was deemed suitable for IPSC to consider, it should come to a formal meeting.

The Governance Manager explained that some items on the Work Programme that were currently listed as off-agenda items were joint items with the Overview & Scrutiny Management Board - namely Waste Service Route Optimisation and the Street Safe Team. It was possible that these items would develop into more substantive items for scheduling as more information became available following implementation.

Councillor Allen further commented that there should be more focus within the work programme on “Places” and what is happening in different places within the Borough. The Governance Advisor advised Members that an Agenda Planning meeting was due to take place the following day and asked Members to submit any topics they would want the Chair and Vice-Chair to consider.

Resolved:-

1.    That the current work programme be noted;

2.    That that the Governance Advisor be authorised to make any required changes to the work programme in consultation with the Chair/Vice Chair, and would report any such changes back at the next meeting for endorsement;

3.    That IPSC would consider scheduling more “place based” items on upcoming agendas, with Members asked to provide any suggested topics to the Chair. Vice Chair and Governance Advisor; and

4.    That Members would respond to a survey to be circulated by the Governance Advisor asking for feedback on preferred days and timing of future IPSC meetings and proposed IPSC pre-meetings for the 2026-2027 municipal year.