Agenda and minutes

The Group is asked to confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 13th November 2018.

The minutes of the meeting held on 13th November 2018 were confirmed as a correct record and signed.

No disclosures of interests were made.

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

No questions were submitted.

No questions had been submitted.

The Chair of the Performance Scrutiny Panel and the Head of Strategic Support will provide a verbal update on the current position regarding the work of the Performance Scrutiny Panel.

The Chair of the Performance Scrutiny Panel and the Head of Strategic Support attended the meeting to provide an update on the current position regarding the work of the Performance Scrutiny Panel.

The Chair of the Performance Scrutiny Panel and the Head of Strategic Support provided the following information:

(i)            New items had been added to the Panel’s work programme to enable scrutiny of the five-year housing land supply position and to review the performance of the Charnwood Lottery after it had been running for an appropriate length of time.

(ii)          The Panel operated by identifying issues from the regular performance reports it received and seeking further information or hearing evidence regarding those.  Only if concerns still remained would it make a report to the Cabinet.

(iii)         Changes had been made to ensure that the information that the Panel received regarding performance was as up to date as possible.  That was beneficial for effective scrutiny.

(iv)         The Panel had begun to review policies and strategies halfway through their life cycle to determine whether the objectives that were set out in them were being achieved.  As a result, the need to review the Council’s Zero Waste Strategy had been identified.

RESOLVED that the information be noted.

Reason

To acknowledge the information received.

A report of the Chief Executive, providing the Group with an overview of the corporate business planning process and informing the Group of the progress to date towards the development of the draft Corporate Business Plan 2019/20.

A report of the Chief Executive, providing the Group with an overview of the corporate business planning process and informing the Group of the progress to date towards the development of the draft Corporate Business Plan for 2019/20, was submitted (item 7 on the agenda filed with these minutes).

The Leader of the Council, the Chief Executive and the Corporate Improvement and Policy Officer assisted with consideration of the item and provided the following responses to issues raised:

(i)            The Business Plan for 2019/20 would be the last relating to the current Corporate Plan.  As a result, work had been done to check the three previous Business Plans to identify whether all of the activities set out in the Corporate Plan for the four-year period had been addressed.  That work had identified that all the headline issues had been addressed and the vast majority, but not all, of the activities.  One of the activities that had not been delivered in the way originally envisaged was producing a town centre masterplan for Shepshed.

(ii)          It was important that the actions set out in the Business Plan related to the objectives in the Corporate Plan.  The targets that were set for the performance indicators in the Business Plan should be challenging and set out what the Council wished to achieve, but there needed to be a degree of pragmatism too.

(iii)         In respect of the Corporate Plan outcome ‘Encourage new jobs to the Borough through promoting the delivery of the Science Park and Enterprise Zone and encouraging new businesses to towns and villages’, officers would review the actions set out in the draft Business Plan for 2019/20 to strengthen the link with ongoing work relating to the Science Park and the Enterprise Zones in the Borough.

(iv)         New performance indicators were being proposed for the Business Plan for 2019/20 relating to the times for determining planning applications as this had been raised as a concern by Councillors.  There were also other proposed new indicators including one in relation to the Council providing trees to the public.  Overall there should be a balance of indicators across Directorates and the Corporate Plan themes.  Indicators that were new could be identified to make clear that there would not be previous performance information for them.

(v)          The Business Plan was intended to provide a summary of key headlines in relation to the Council’s activities and performance measures.  Further detail in relation to particular services and teams was provided in Team Plans.

(vi)         The guidance note that had been circulated with the report had been prepared at the request of the Performance Scrutiny Panel and circulated to members of the Panel. 

(vii)        Performance data was auditable and subject to scrutiny by the Performance Scrutiny Panel.  Checks on the data could and did take place.  All Councillors could access the Council’s performance management software (known as SPOTlite) if they wanted to check performance.

(viii)       The Business Plan was approved by the Cabinet and used as a corporate management  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

A report of the Strategic and Private Sector Housing, enabling the Group to consider the fees and charges that the Strategic and Private Sector Housing Services can request for both statutory and non-statutory services, is to follow.

This report is being submitted to the Cabinet meeting on 14th February 2019, the agenda for which is due to be published on 1st February 2019.

A report relating to the matter had not been included on the agenda for the Cabinet meeting to be held on 14th February 2019 and there was therefore no item for the Group to consider.

A briefing will be provided by the Head of Cleansing and Open Spaces on the Government’s Resources and Waste Strategy and the effect that this will have on the Council’s Zero Waste Strategy.

The Lead Member for Performance of Major Contracts, the Strategic Director of Neighbourhoods and Community Wellbeing and the Head of Cleansing and Open Spaces provided a briefing on the Government’s Resources and Waste Strategy and the effect that it would have on the Council’s Zero Waste Strategy (supplementary report to the agenda filed with these minutes) and provided the following responses to issues raised:

(i)            The Borough had not suffered from the scale of flytips associated with organised crime.  Most of the flytips in the Borough were of material that could not be taken to the County Council’s recycling and household waste sites.  Households and businesses had responsibilities to ensure that the contractors they used to dispose of waste were properly accredited.  The public could be reminded about the consequences of not doing so.

(ii)          The Council’s current arrangements for bulky waste collections were generous compared to other local authorities.  However, it was the case that doors were not accepted for bulky waste collections.

(iii)         The Council provided garden waste and trade waste collection as discretionary services and could consider establishing other types of waste collection.  However, those could have significant set up costs, for example the provision of skips for collecting construction waste.

(iv)         There would be significant implications should the proposed requirements in the Government’s Resources and Waste Strategy to provide weekly food waste collection and free garden waste collection be introduced.  For example, the annual income from the current garden waste service of £1.4million would be lost and there would be additional costs to extend the service beyond the 50% of households that currently used it.  It was estimated that the cost of introducing a food waste collection service would be £700,000 per year.

(v)          The Government’s Waste and Resources Strategy suggested that waste collection authorities, such as the Borough Council, could be provided with additional resources, possibly through the extended producer responsibility set out in the Strategy and/or a review of recycling credits.

(vi)         The best performing councils achieved 60 to 65% of waste being recycled and they provided food waste collection and a free garden waste service.  The majority of those councils collected black bins every three weeks.

(vii)        The Council would consider whether to participate in any pilot schemes but there had not been any invitations issued by the Government to date.  In considering whether to do so the Council would wish to ensure there would be no reduction in customer satisfaction or any costs to the Council associated with doing so.

(viii)       The Government would be consulting with local authorities and others regarding the proposed requirements to provide weekly food waste collection and free garden waste collection.  Should those proposals be taken forward the Council would need to review its Zero Waste Strategy.  The Government had identified those changes because the disposal of food waste and garden waste in black bins generated significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.

(ix)         Some authorities offered on-demand collection services for certain types of waste such as nappies.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

A report of the Head of Strategic Support, providing an update on the establishment and progress of scrutiny panels. 

A report of the Head of Strategic Support, providing an update on the current position with scrutiny panels, was submitted (item 10 on the agenda filed with these minutes).

The Democratic Services Manager assisted with consideration of the item.

RESOLVED that the current position with scrutiny panels be noted.

Reason

To ensure that the Group was aware of the current position with scrutiny panels.

A report of the Head of Strategic Support, enabling the Group to consider its work programme and propose to the Scrutiny Management Board any additions, deletions and amendments as appropriate.

For the Group’s assistance, meeting dates for the remainder of the 2018/19 Council year have been set as follows:

9th April 2019.

A report of the Head of Strategic Support, enabling the Group to consider its work programme and propose to the Scrutiny Management Board any additions, deletions and amendments as appropriate, was submitted (item 11 on the agenda filed with these minutes).

The Democratic Services Manager assisted with consideration of the item.

RESOLVED

1.         that the Cabinet’s response to the recommendations initially made by the Group regarding the management and adoption of open space and the observations made by the Scrutiny Management Board on that response be noted;

2.         that information be provided to the Group regarding the outcome of the meeting between the Leader, the Chief Executive and local MPs at which the issue of the management and adoption of open space referred to above was discussed;

3.         that the actions that had been taken regarding privacy for customers in the Council’s main reception area be noted;

4.         that the changes made by the Chair and Vice-chair of the Group to the Group’s work programme be noted.

Reasons

1.         To acknowledge the decisions made by the Board.

2.        To inform the Group of the outcome of the meeting recommended by the Group and to assist in determining whether any further action was required.

3.         To acknowledge how a matter that had been raised by the Group at its meeting on 13th November 2018 had been dealt with.

4.         To acknowledge the decisions made by the Chair and Vice-chair of the Group.