Agenda and minutes

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 23rd July 2018.

The minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 23rd July 2018 were confirmed as a correct record and signed.

No disclosures of pecuniary and personal interests were made.

No declarations of the existence of the Party Whip were made.

No questions submitted.

No questions had been submitted.

A report of the Head of Strategic Support providing performance information for the first quarter of 2018 - 2019, in respect of the Corporate Plan objectives and key performance indicators together with the 2017- 2018 Annual Report.

A report of the Head of Strategic Support providing performance information for the first quarter of 2018 - 2019, in respect of the Corporate Plan objectives and key performance indicatorstogether with a copy of the Annual Report for 2017-18 was submitted (item 6 on the agenda filed with these minutes).

The Corporate Improvement and Policy Officer and Head of Strategic Support attended to assist the Panel with the consideration of the item and drew the Panel’s attention to the supplementary report regarding sickness.

A typographical error was noted with respect to DES2 PROG (1) (develop a cloud based booking system) whereby the success criteria should state that ‘the system would be implemented and fully operational by July 2018 with 100 transactions taking place by March 2019’.

The Chair requested that the Corporate Improvement and Policy Officer reported to the Panel the amber indicators, but noted that as Cabinet Lead Members and Officers were not usually invited to the meeting for amber indicators, none were present. 

In response to issues raised by the Panel regarding amber indicators, the following comments were made:

·         with respect to SLE2 PR (complete milestones in the Local Development Scheme 2018-2021) revised time scales would be reported to the Project Board in August 2018.

·         with respect to ERM1 RS (1) (undertake range of actions as part of the Food Hygiene Rating scheme) it was slightly behind its predicted target due to other priorities in the Service but it was anticipated to meet its target in Quarter 2.  The increase in food complaints referred to all establishments that were required to meet level 3 of the Charnwood Food Hygiene Rating system.

·         with respect to ERM5 SS (undertake regular satisfaction surveys with members of the public to ensure improvement in the web service they receive) the number of customers surveyed was low in comparison to the total number of users of the Council’s website.  The information was not sufficiently detailed regarding the type of complaints received to determine how to increase the number of responses.

·         with respect to DES2 PROG (1) (develop a cloud based booking system) the ‘Go Live’ date had slipped to September 2018.

·         with respect to DES3 SS (1) (deliver the Digital Democracy project), it might be considered a challenging target for 52 councillors to be successfully using the system; an update would be provided at the next quarter.

It was noted if an indicator was amber for the first two quarters it would be reviewed by the relevant Head of Service whether it should convert to a red indicator.  At Quarter 3 the relevant Head of Service would be requested to predict if an indicator would convert to red at the end of Quarter 4.

The Corporate Improvement and Policy Officer noted that there was an error in the report with respect to the Business Plan Indicators.  There were 11 green indicators (not 12) and 10 indicators not started.

In respect of the red Key Corporate Indicator KI10 (the number of working days /  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

A report of the Head of Landlord Services providing an update on the internal processes for dealing with rent arrears, the value of arrears by ward and the pattern of arrears.

A report of the Head of Landlord Services providing an update on the internal processes for dealing with rent arrears, the value of arrears by ward and the pattern of arrears was submitted (item 7 on the agenda filed with these minutes).

The Cabinet Lead Member for Housing and the Head of Landlord Services attended to assist the Panel with the consideration of the item and noted that the last table on page 3 of the report also included complaints that had not been upheld in addition to the upheld or partially upheld stage 1 & 2 complaints.

In response to issues raised by the Panel, the Cabinet Lead Member for Housing and the Head of Landlord Services stated that:

·         the Council could consider supporting residents with respect to fencing between properties.

·         the stage 0 complaints reported for Asset Management did not exclusively relate to the previous contractor, work carried out by other contractors was also included.  The new contract had started at the end of March 2018 and this report did not cover complaints received relating to the new contractor.

·         the increase observed for stage 0 complaints reported for Repairs was due to service delay, service failure and disagreements with policy.

RESOLVED that the information contained in the report of the Head of Landlord Servicesbe noted. 

Reason

The Panel was satisfied with the information provided.

A report of the Head of Cleansing and Open Services providing an update  regarding the performance of the strategy approximately half way through its period. 

A report of the Head of Cleansing and Open Services providing an update  regarding the performance of the strategy approximately half way through its period was submitted (item 8 on the agenda filed with these minutes). 

It was noted that this item had been included on the agenda to enable the Panel to scrutinise the Zero Waste Strategy part way through its review cycle as a test case to determine the benefits of the Panel scrutinising policies and strategies.

The Cabinet Lead Member for Performance of Major Contracts and the Head of Cleansing and Open Services attended to assist the Panel with the consideration of the item and in response to issues raised by the Panel stated that:

·         when the strategy was initiated in 2012, the Council aspired to send zero waste to land fill.  As Leicestershire County Council act as the Waste Disposal Authority, the amount of residual waste being sent to landfill was not within the Borough Council’s direct control.

·         the Government would be publishing a Resources and Waste Strategy later this year which could impact the Council’s strategy; for example the implementation of a bottle deposit scheme could impact the waste recyclate collection.

·         although the Council were performing better than other local authorities, the targets were ambitious and it would be appropriate for the Council to review the Strategy and consider setting more realistic and obtainable targets.

·         it was possible to improve the Council’s performance in managing waste but it would require investment. Other local authorities performing well with respect to waste collection targets were providing free garden waste collections and food waste collection services but were reducing the frequency of the collection of other waste materials. To implement these schemes in Charnwood would require significant investment and it would be challenging for the Council to lose the £1.2million income provided by charging for collection of garden waste.

·         the Council was not receiving many complaints regarding the waste collection service.  Awareness campaigns were helping towards improving the achievement of the targets.

·         the Council was part of a Local Government Association benchmarking group and was considered average within its audit family.  The Council also monitored contamination of individual collection rounds to determine performance.

·         30-40% of residual waste collected was food waste.  To collect food waste separately would require altering how residents disposed of their waste.

Members of the Panel made the following comments:

·         the waste management situation had changed over the last six years and it was appropriate to review the strategy.  The level of recyclate collected had altered with respect to less glass being used and the reduction in popularity of newspapers.

·         as achieving zero waste was no longer an attainable target of the Council it would be beneficial to change the name of the strategy from Zero Waste Strategy to Waste Management Strategy.

·         the strategy had not achieved its targets over the last six years and as the report noted that the cost of providing the service was below average, the performance of the Council could  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

A report of the Head of Strategic Support, enabling the Panel to consider its Work Programme, to propose to Scrutiny Management Board any additions, deletions or amendments as appropriate.

A report of the Head of Strategic Support was submitted to enable the Panel to consider its work programme and to propose to the Scrutiny Management Board any additions, deletions and amendments as appropriate (item 9 on the agenda filed with these minutes).

The Head of Strategic Support assisted the Panel with the consideration of this item.

RESOLVED

1.            that the scrutiny of the Lightbulb Service Implementation be added to the Panel’s Work Programme and scheduled to its meeting to be held on 20th November 2018;

2.            that a further report in relation to KI10 (the number of working days / shifts lost to the local authority due to sickness absence) be added to the Panel’s Work Programme and scheduled to its meeting to be held on 20th November 2018;

3.            that a further report in relation to ERM5 SS (undertake regular satisfaction surveys with members of the public to ensure improvement in the web services they receive) be added to the Panel’s Work Programme and scheduled to its meeting to be held on 20th November 2018;

4.         that the Strategic Director of Neighbourhoods and Community Wellbeing be requested to provide the Panel with the likely start date for the implementation of the Charnwood Lottery;

5.         that the current position with the Panel’s Work Programme be noted.

Reasons

1.            The Panel considered that it would be appropriate due to its workload to review the Lightbulb Service Implementation at its meeting in November 2018. 

2 & 3.  The Panel considered that it would be helpful to scrutinise these matters at its meeting in November 2018 to allow for two quarters of information to be considered.

4.         The scrutiny of the Charnwood Lottery was currently scheduled for the Panel’s meeting to be held on 19th February 2019 and it wished to understand whether this date was appropriate to monitor the performance of the Charnwood Lottery six clear months after commencement of the scheme.

5.         To make the Panel aware of the current position with its Work Programme.