Flooding Task and Finish Review Group
This Review was prompted by the recent flooding which occurred in the Borough in June 2007 and Members of the Group examined the potential causes of flooding, how cases of flooding are handled, the procedures in place to deal with cases of flooding, public perceptions and future plans. The Group presented their final report with their findings and recommendations to the Scrutiny Meeting held on 17th December, 2007, and these recommendations were forwarded to Cabinet for approval on 15th January, 2008.
Flooding Review Group final report pdf document
This is the major review for the Municipal Year 2006/07, following a Task and Finish Review Group being undertaken during February and March 2006 to investigate food safety in relation to food standards and food hygiene. The Review Group have now met on a number of occasions and have interviewed officers involved with the service and also representatives from the Health Protection Agency, the Director of Public Health, the Public Analyst at Durham and the appointed Proper Officer for Darlington. The purpose of the Review is to examine food safety and food hygiene, examine statutory inspection requirements and targets, examine staffing arrangements, investigate the numbers of premises at risk, examine requests for the service and to investigate links with other organisations. The final report and recommendations of the Review Group was presented to the Scrutiny Meeting held for 27th March, 2007.
Food Safety Review Group final report pdf document
Food Safety Review Group final report appendix pdf document
CCTV in Bus Shelters
A Task and Finish Review is ongoing into the provision of CCTV in bus shelters following a successful bid for Rural Bus Challenge funding to encourage the use of buses in rural areas of the Borough via improvements in the condition of selected bus shelters and the provision of CCTV cameras. At the Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 10th October, 2006, the Transport Policy Manager advised Members that 80 per cent of the specified works had now been completed, however the CCTV element remained outstanding. He gave the reasons for this delay and advised that the CCTV system was scheduled to "go live" on 17th October, 2006. The Review Group Members have continued to monitor this situation presented their final report with recommendations to the Scrutiny Meeting held on 27th March, 2007.
CCTV in Bus Shelters Task and Finish Review Group final report pdf document
CCTV in Bus Shelters Task and Finish Review final report appendix pdf document
Uniformed Warden Service
Following the initial findings of the Task and Finish Review Group on the Uniformed Warden Service September, 2006 the Group have continued to investigate and a final report was presented to Members at the Scrutiny Meeting held on 23rd January, 2007 with their recommendations. During their investigations Members of the Review Group have met with Anti-Social Behaviour Officers and accompanied the Wardens on their evening patrol.
Uniformed Warden Service Task and Finish Review Final Report pdf document
Dogs Review Group
This Scrutiny Committee have recently undertaken a Review of Dogs and investigated the problems associated with dogs, including dog fouling, noise nuisance and the Dog Warden Service generally. The Group have held a number of meetings and undertook site visits to the Council’s kennel, Deerness Kennels and Hartlepool Borough Council and Richmondshire District Council who contract out privately their Dog Warden Service. A presentation was also given to the Group from Animal Wardens who can provide local authorities with a full Dog Warden Service.
The Review Group upon completion of this Review came to their conclusions which covered areas of customer focus and promotion, work priorities, kennelling arrangements, enforcement of fixed penalty notices and options for service delivery and made their recommendations thereon.
Dogs Review Group Final Report pdf document
Progress Report on the Recommendations of the Group pdf document
Bank Holiday Refuse and Recycling Collection
This Committee have been instrumental in considering proposals for future bank holiday refuse and recycling collection with particular reference to the Christmas collection, following their dissatisfaction with arrangements for Christmas 2004 when the recycling service was suspended.
For Christmas 2005 this Scrutiny Committee recommended that resources were doubled-up for both refuse and recycling to alleviate any problems over this period. They also made recommendations in relation to future bank holiday arrangements.
Christmas Recycling Collection Arrangements Report pdf document
Bank Holiday Working Refuse and Recycling Collection Report pdf document
Bank Holiday Working Refuse and Recycling Collection Appendix pdf document
Joint Review Group on Gully Cleaning
A Joint Task and Finish Review Group was established by this Scrutiny Committee and the Environment Scrutiny Committee to examine gully cleaning, which included examining the type of gullies, cleaning and inspection regimes, reporting procedures for blockages and flooding, complaints procedure and priorities and to recurring problem gullies. Following this review Members made a number of recommendations which they felt would improve overall service delivery.
View the final report of the Task and Finish Review Group pdf document
Progress report on the recommendations of the Group pdf document
Best Value Review of Regulatory Services
During the Best Value Review of Regulatory Services, this Scrutiny Committee established working groups assist with the process in examining Licensing and its link to IT applications and to investigate the provision of an Out of Hours Service for the Council's regulatory services. Full details of the methods of investigations by the Working Groups and their recommendations are contained in the final reports below.
View the final report of the Licensing and IT Working Group pdf document
View the final report of the Out of Hours Service Working Group pdf document
View the Best Value Review of Regulatory Services Final Report pdf document
View the Best Value Review of Regulatory Services Final Report Appendix pdf document
Public Protection Strategy Review Group
This review was established to investigate the workings and effectiveness of the public protection process in Darlington. The detailed findings of the Group are outlined in the final report and although the concluded that established links between the partners involved in the public protection process were in place and Darlington was well represented in the overall process of public protection arrangements established under the County Durham and Darlington Public Protection Strategy, there were areas for improvement and these are also detailed in the final report. All actions detailed in the Improvement Action Plan were either completed or in the process of completion by June, 2004.
View the Public Protection Strategy Review Group Final Report pdf document
View the Public Protection Strategy Improvement Action Plan pdf document
View the Home Office Website
View the MAPPA Annual Report web page pdf document
Provision of Youth Pods Review Group
Established to investigate the provision of Youths Pods within the Borough the Group concluded that Youth Pods were an important tool in reducing anti-social behaviour and that they would like to see further Youth Pods being purchased but in recommending this accepted that there was a problem with staffing of these Pods. The relocation of existing Pods and the issue of the lack of volunteers was also discussed including 'joint working' arrangements between the various organisations involved with youngsters.
The Group made various recommendations and full details of these can be found in the Group's Final Report however, the Public Protection and Community Partnerships Scrutiny Committee at a recent meeting were disappointed that none of their recommendations had been enacted and therefore wish to revisit this Review.
View the Provision of Youth Pods Review Group Final Report pdf document
Kerbside Recycling Task and Finish Review Group
Following the introduction of the Council's Kerbside Recycling Scheme in September, 2003, it was agreed that this Scrutiny would establish a Task and Finish Review Group to examine participation rates and to 'target' areas that had low participation rates by undertaking a 'door knocking; exercise to establish the reasons why they were not taking part in the scheme by the use of a questionnaire.
Full details of the methods of investigation by the Group are contained in the final report and analysis of the questionnaires, which revealed that there is good overall knowledge of the 'Time To Recycle' kerbside scheme, but only a 50 per cent participation rate of those areas targeted.
View the Kerbside Recycling Task and Finish Review Group Final Report pdf document
More Information on the Kerbside Recycling Scheme
Waste Management Helpline Number Task and Finish Review Group
A Task and Finish Review Group was established to investigate how easy it is to find the helpline number ie. telephone book, leaflets, internet etc. and how and where it operates i.e. staffing. The Group also looked at the number of calls received and what facilities where in place for reporting back on complaints. Members of the Review Group also acted as ‘mystery shoppers’ and following the above investigations concluded that the Waste Management Helpline Number was operating to their satisfaction.
View the Waste Management Helpline Number Task and Finish Review Final Report pdf document
Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) Review Group
This Review looked at various areas of the Closed Circuit Television system (CCTV) including the impact CCTV has on crime together with any possible infringements on human rights including Data Protection; working arrangements with outside agencies; the funding of the system and ways to generate further income; and the expansion of the service into other residential areas. The Review Group produced an Improvement Action Plan to improve service delivery and recommended that a Policy be developed to reflect the current situation with CCTV and to take into account new proposals in relation to the Government White Paper.
View the CCTV Review Group's Final Report pdf document
View the Human Rights Act web page
View the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIPA) Act 2000 web page