Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Carlin; Councillor Robinson and his Substitute Councillor Thomas.

Members are requested at a meeting where a disclosable pecuniary interest or personal interest arises, which is not already included in their Register of Members' Interests, todeclare any interests that relate to an item on the agenda.

Where a Member discloses a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest, he/she must withdraw from the meeting room, including from the public gallery, during the whole consideration of any item of business in which he/she has an interest, except where he/she is permitted to remain as a result of a grant of a dispensation.

Where a Member discloses a personal interest he/she must seek advice from the Monitoring Officer or staff member representing the Monitoring Officer to determine whether the Member should withdraw from the meeting room, including from the public gallery, during the whole consideration of any item of business in which he/she has an interest or whether the Member can remain in the meeting or remain in the meeting and vote on the relevant decision.

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests were received.

Minutes of the meeting held on 7 February 2023

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 7 February 2023 be confirmed as a correct record.

Report of the Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services

The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services that provided a summary of the performance of the Managed Services ICT Contract over the last 12 months, currently outsourced to Agilisys. The report covered the following areas: Agilisys Contract Performance against key performance indicators; project delivery and security; and the wider work of the ICT Client team in relation to ICT and Digital.

The report concluded that the current contract with Agilisys had performed well and had delivered significant savings for the authority compared to the previous contractual arrangement; and that the relationship between the partners was good, with robust challenge where needed, with a shared vision and approach to service improvement and risk, which had provided significant benefits to the authority, particularly around security challenges.

ICT KPI Performance was attached to the report as Appendix A.

Members of the Committee asked questions/commented on the following issues:

·       Methods by which the Council was kept updated on risks associated with cyber security.

·       The need to be vigilant of phishing and impersonation attacks.

·       Difficulties associated with obtaining sufficient evidence to prosecute those responsible for phishing and impersonation attacks.

RESOLVED:

That the report on the performance of the Managed Services ICT Contract over the last 12 months be noted.

Report of the Assistant Director of Place (Highways and Public Protection)

The Committee considered the report of the Assistant Director of Place (Highways and Public Protection) that updated on local air quality management activities/actions in Sefton during 2022.

The report indicated that Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) was introduced under the Environment Act 1995 and that evidence had shown that certain atmospheric pollutants were linked to poor health; that the Act placed a statutory duty on all Local Authorities to regularly review and assess air quality in their areas and produce a yearly Air Quality Annual Status Report (ASR) which provided a detailed account of air quality in its area; and that as a result of ongoing monitoring and assessment, air quality in the majority of Sefton had been shown to be of a good standard and levels were well within the National Air Quality Standard Objectives; but that there were however areas in the South of the Borough, where due to high levels of traffic, and other localised sources, levels of NO2 were above or close to the national standard. Accordingly, Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) had been declared in the four locations at:

• Princess Way, Seaforth
• Millers Bridge, Bootle
• Crosby Road North and South Road Junction, Waterloo
• Hawthorne Road and Church Road Junction, Litherland

The report also provided information on:

·       real time automatic monitoring stations; and the use of diffusion tubes to measure monthly NO₂ levels at 80 sites across the Borough

·       particulate matter

·       PM2.5 monitoring

·       A summary of monitoring results in 2021

·       Actions to improve air quality which included Sefton Clean Air Plan Outline Business Case, Joint Sefton/ Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) Emissions Enforcement Project, Low-Cost Sensor co-location project Sefton /JMU and the DEFRA grant funded behaviour change project

·       Low cost AQ sensor Trial

·       Traffic signal upgrade/incorporation of AQ sensors

The report concluded that air quality in the majority of Sefton was within NAQS, but that the main on-going priority in Sefton for the coming years was to fully understand the effects that the predicted increase in HGVs due to port expansion would have on air quality and how this could be mitigated; that the development of the Outline Business Case for a Sefton based CAZ under the overarching Clean Air Plan was complete and had demonstrated that a corridor HGV charging CAZ covering the A5036 and A565 could achieve significant air quality improvements within the CAZ boundary and wider borough; and the progression of the CAP scheme to the next stage, i.e. Full Business Case, would depend on a number of factors, which included key risks and constraints identified in the OBC work along with identification of a funding source.

Peter Moore, Assistant Director of Place (Highways and Public Protection) and Helen Cumiskey, Strategic Infrastructure Planner gave a presentation that outlined:

·       What the Air Quality Update Report Provided;

·       Local Air Quality Management;

·       Air Quality Management (AQMA);

·       Location of AQMAs;

·       AQ Monitoring Results – Automatic Sites;

·       AQ Monitoring – Automatic Sites – Locations and Pollutants Monitored;

·       Automatic Monitoring – NO2 – Results and Trends;  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

Report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer

Further to Minute No. 35 of the meeting held on 11 January 2022, the Committee considered the report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer that updated on the implementation of recommendations contained in the final report of the Ethical Business Practices Working Group that was approved by the Council in February 2020; and to seeking approval for the cessation of further updates.

The latest update of the Assistant Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services (Strategic Support) on the recommendations were contained in the report; and it was the Assistant Director’s view that all the recommendations contained in the Final Report had now been implemented. Accordingly, it was recommended that no further update reports be submitted to the Committee.

RESOLVED: That:

(1)      the report updating on the implementation of recommendations contained in the final report of the Ethical Business Practices Working Group be noted; and

(2)      no further update reports be submitted to the Committee.

Report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer

Further to Minute No. 34 (3) of the meeting held on 10 January 2023, the Committee considered the report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer that advised of the deliberations of the informal meeting of the Committee held on 3 February 2023, in respect of Corporate Communications and Covid-19; and which sought formal approval of the recommendations made at the informal meeting.

Members of the Committee asked questions/commented on the following matters:

·       It was considered that the Council had reacted positively in disseminating information and advice to local communities during the pandemic and that Corporate Communications was essentially a profession.

RESOLVED: That the Cabinet Member – Regulatory, Compliance and Corporate Services be requested to approve the following recommendations:

That:

Report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer that sought the views of the Committee on the Work Programme for 2022/23; the identification of potential topics for scrutiny reviews to be undertaken by a Working Group(s) appointed by the Committee or at an informal meeting; the identification of any items for pre-scrutiny by the Committee from the Key Decision Forward Plan; and that updated on the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Members of the Committee asked questions/commented on the following issues:

·       Training for Members on IT and cyber security in particular.

RESOLVED: That

(1)      the Work Programme for 2022/23, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report, be noted;

(2)      further consideration be given to training on IT and cyber security in particular, during 2023/24;

(3)      the contents of the Key Decision Forward Plan for the period 1 March – 30 June 2023 be noted; and

(4)      the update on the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee be noted.

Report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer that included the most recent report from the Cabinet Member – Regulatory, Compliance and Corporate Services.

RESOLVED: That

(1)      the update report from the Cabinet Member – Regulatory, Compliance and Corporate Services be noted; and

(2)      Councillor Lappin be thanked for her attendance at the meeting.

The Chair, Councillor Bradshaw advised that this evening’s meeting was the final meeting of the 2022/23 municipal year and she thanked all Members and officers for their help and support during the year; and indicated that the cross-party collaboration of Members had resulted in a productive year for the Committee.