Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 6th September 2022 were confirmed as a correct record and signed.

For information, disclosable pecuniary interests and registrable interests relate to entries that are included, or should be included, on a councillor’s register of interest.  Non-registrable interests relate to any other matters.

Councillors Fryer, Grimley Shepherd and Taylor declared interests as Leicestershire County Councillors.

No declarations were made.

No questions were submitted.

No questions had been submitted.

A report of the Head of Regulatory and Community Safety to scrutinise the Community Safety Partnership (statutory responsibility at least every 6 months)

Considered a report of the Head of Regulatory and Community Safety providing the Committee with the opportunity to scrutinise the Community Safety Partnership (item 6 on the agenda filed with these minutes).

Assisting with the consideration of this report: Cabinet Lead Member for Community Support, Head of Regulatory and Community Safety, Inspector Stokes and Sergeant Else (Leicestershire Police).

Inspector Stokes and Sergeant Else introduced themselves and the Cabinet Lead Member for Community Support and Head of Regulatory and Community Safety introduced the report.

Summary, key points of discussion:

·         increase in burglary (business) -  the majority of businesses affected were shops and factory premises and were targeted at night and during weekends when closed. There had been a decrease during the pandemic, but incident numbers were rising again. The main burglar profile linked back to drug use and the financing of the habit.  Premise owners were being advised on security measures, Loughborough BID  were attending meetings and CCTV was used to tackle issues.  Outside of Loughborough, the Council liaised with relevant police officer, Town and Parish Councils and used CCTV to support businesses under threat. Campaign information was shared with relevant businesses in the Borough and support was provided to help with security.  Communication was key and in addition to the Council, all partner social media streams were utilised.

·         there was a significant drug issue in Charnwood and the borough was seen as a ‘soft touch’.  It was important to send a strong message and to tackle the problem.  Examples were given of recent drug enforcement activity by the police.  Smart policing was required when taking drugs off the streets to ensure other support mechanisms were in place to minimise any upsurge of incidents.

·         key aggravating factors such as mental health – whether the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) was being supported by Health Services.  Noted some historical issues with attendance but work in progress with police and external partners including funding of agencies such as Living without Abuse, 20:20 and Turning Point to resource outreach activities.

·         tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) and whether the positive actions taken had resulted in improvements – there had been a reduction in reported ASB due to a coordinated approach by the Council with its CSP partners.  The Council had improved its signposting to information, in particular on its website, training of staff had been completed and reporting of ASB and management of assessing risk factors for ASB, with high/medium risk incidents uploaded to Sentinel was enabling the Police to focus its resources appropriately.

·         whether reduction in reported ASB was due to improved reporting procedures and that some specific areas appeared to show an increase in ASB – the total ASB had reduced across the borough, but there were certain ‘hotspot’ locations that could be challenging to resource, although utilising officers across the borough was a priority.  It was necessary to work with partners to focus on behaviour rather than locations in general, as once ASB in one area had been resolved, the perpetrators were likely to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

A report of the Head of Finance setting out the Capital Spend position at period 7.

The Vice-chair of the Audit Committee will attend to provide a verbal update from the Committee’s meeting held on 8th November 2022.

Considered a report of the Head of Finance setting out the capital monitoring position for period 7 (agenda item 7 filed with these minutes).

Assisting with the consideration of this item:  Cabinet Lead Member for Finance and Property Services, Cabinet Lead Member for Investment, Director, Finance, Governance and Contracts and the Head of Finance.

The Head of Finance apologised that Appendix 1 was missing from the published report and that it would be circulated after the meeting.  She and the Cabinet Lead Member for Finance and Property Services in introducing the report explained that the executive summary had been divided into three sections, clarifying that place markers had been included for provisional schemes.

Summary, key points of discussion:

·         Disabled Facility Grants (DFG) – slippage had occurred due to the backlog after the pandemic and there were some resource shortages.  There had been delays in completing assessments but the funding was available and residents were encouraged to apply. 

·         the underspend in HRA Capital Budget was significant (25%) - there was funds available for improvements to bathrooms and kitchens but it had been challenging to find appropriate contractors to perform the work.  Contractors had been in place between April and October but they had not been able to fulfil the contract as anticipated.  The decision to appoint multiple contractors had resulted in the first half of the year being focussed on going out to tender but the work was beginning to be cleared.  There would be an underspend of approximately 50% by year end and a Capital Plan Amendment report would be submitted to Cabinet at its December meeting.

·         concerns regarding completion deadlines for housing stock improvements, whether there was a target to achieve this and when the backlog would be cleared -  everything possible to speed the work along was being done despite the shortage of materials and it was important to procure appropriate contractors to complete the work to a satisfactory standard.

The Vice-Chair of the Audit Committee attended to present a statement of the Committee and  noted that although it was not the role of the Audit Committee to scrutinise financial performance, it was within its remit to report issues of concern.

With reference to several reports between the Audit Committee, the Budget Scrutiny Panel and the Cabinet over the years 2015-2022 he highlighted the following concerns:

·         that over the period of 2015-16 and 2021-22 the Statement of Accounts had stated that the Council would be spending £185,752,000 but had in fact spent just over 50% (£93,708,000).  Although there were mitigating circumstances this appeared to show a systemic issue of either unrealistim in creating the Capital Plan and/or ineffective management of projects.

·         a request by Scrutiny that projects that were undelivered were dated so it could be monitored how long the projects were undelivered for had enabled unready and undelivered projects to be removed. 

·         that although a process for all projects applications to proceed through a robust mechanism to be included on the Capital Plan had been implemented there  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

A report of the Head of Finance setting out the revenue position for the General Fund and HRA at the end of period 7.

Considered a report of the Head of Finance setting out the General Fund and HRA Revenue monitoring position for October 2022 (item 8 on the agenda filed with these minutes).

Assisting with the consideration of the report; Cabinet Lead Member for Finance and Property Services, Cabinet Lead Member for Investments, Director, Finance, Governance and Contracts and the Head of Finance

The Head of Finance noted that the recently agreed pay award offer of £714K for the year had not been included in the data as this information became available after the end of period 7 accounting.  £300K had been set aside so there would be an additional cost of £414K.

Summary, key points of discussion:

·         the unexpected circumstances of the Ukraine War, cost of living crisis, increased homelessness and inflation had impacted the HRA fund for 2022.  Inflation of over 10% had not been predicted when the budget was set in February 2022.

·         concerns regarding the high overspend on B&Bs – a shortage in accommodation and the increase in refugees and asylum seekers partly due to the Ukraine War had resulted in the use of more expensive and some non-borough B&Bs.  Some B&B users were having to stay in the accommodation for an extended period.  The increase was being seen nationally and the Council had a legal duty to house homeless people.  Long term solutions were challenging to determine and the increased numbers of people in the Borough would impact on other services of the Council.  A new Head of Service had been appointed and would be monitoring the situation closely.

·         concerns regarding the number of void properties, the type of properties and whether they could be re-developed – this was also a national issue and it was noted that some of the older council properties were unsuitable for improvement and were not popular.  The number of void properties were a mix of empty bedsits and properties requiring refurbishment and there were some supply chain contractor delays.  A project to re-develop accommodation at St Michaels was shortly to begin and it was hoped to use this as a template for future re-development.  Some of the unsuitable properties could be sold but it was important to be sensitive to the tenants living in the properties and it was hoped to make the new development desirable to live in.

During this item Councillor Ward left the meeting.  It was confirmed by the Democratic Services Officer that the meeting was still quorate.

Members were concerned that despite the issue with void rent losses being raised at several meetings the situation did not appear to have improved. The constraints facing the Council in resolving this matter were acknowledged but this was still a significant and urgent issue.  It was welcomed that Scrutiny Commission would be reviewing the situation at its meeting in December.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

Reason

The Committee’s remit includes receiving regular financial monitoring reports and having noted its concerns were content to note the revenue position.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

A report of the Head of Transformation, Strategy and Performance providing quarter 2 performance monitoring information

Considered a report of the Head of Transformation, Strategy and Performance providing Quarter 2 performance monitoring information, (item 9 on the agenda filed with these minutes).

Assisting with the consideration of the report: Director, Finance, Governance and Contracts and the Organisational Change officer.

The Organisational Change Officer drew the Committee’s attention to the addition of Appendices providing contextual information for benchmarking the Council.  She noted it had been agreed by Cabinet in April 2022 to remove indirect KPIs and to provide wider information on a six monthly basis due to availability of data sets.  Once established the Council would be participating in an East Midlands Councils benchmarking group.  Members of the Committee welcomed the additional information.

In response to a question it was clarified with regard to the purchase of only one property under the right to first refusal that there had been a changeover in staff and the transition was in progress.  The new Head of Service would be focusing on voids and resources to purchase properties to meet the housing needs of the Borough.

Further commentary was requested as follows:

·         from the Head of Contracts, Leisure, Waste and Environment with respect to undertaking mowing trials in some locations and how this would alter mowing frequencies.

RESOLVED that the Committee noted the performance results, associated commentary and the explanations provided.

Reason

To ensure that targets and objectives are being met, and to identify areas where performance might be improved.

A report of the Director, Finance, Governance and Contracts.

Considered a report of the Director, Finance, Governance and Contracts to assist the Committee in determining its work programme (item 10 on the agenda filed with these minutes).

RESOLVED that the Committee’s work programme as set out in the report and with any amendments made at this meeting be agreed.

Reason

To enable the Council’s scrutiny arrangements to operate efficiently and effectively.