Agenda for Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Monday 18th July 2016, 7.30 pm

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Campus East, Welwyn Garden City, Herts, AL8 6AE. View directions

Contact: Suzanne Hulks 

Items
No. Item

1.

APPOINTMENT OF CHAIRMAN AND VICE CHAIRMAN

To note that at the Annual Council Meeting held on 23 May 2016, Councillor S Markiewicz was appointed Chairman and Councillor M Levitt Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the municipal year 2016-2017.

Minutes:

It was noted that at the Annual Council meeting held on 23 May, 2016, Councillors S Markiewicz and M Levitt were appointed as Chairman and Vice-Chairman respectively of this Committee.

2.

SUBSTITUTION OF MEMBERS

To note any substitution of Members made in accordance with Council Procedure Rules 19-22.

 

Minutes:

Councillor J Cragg substituted for Councillor J Boulton and Councillor M Spinks for Councillor G Michaelides.

3.

APOLOGIES

To note any apologies.

Minutes:

Councillors J Boulton and G Michaelides submitted apologies for the meeting.

4.

MINUTES

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 22 February 2016 (previously circulated).

 

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 22 February 2016 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

5.

ACTIONS UPDATE

Report of the Director (Governance) on the status of actions agreed at the last meeting of this Committee/Board/Panel.

 

Minutes:

There were no actions requiring update.

6.

NOTIFICATION OF URGENT BUSINESS TO BE CONSIDERED UNDER ITEM 20

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

7.

DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS BY MEMBERS

To note declarations of Members’ disclosable pecuniary interests, non-disclosable pecuniary interests and non-pecuniary interests in respect of items on the Agenda.

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest made.

8.

PUBLIC QUESTION TIME AND PETITIONS

Up to fifteen minutes will be made available for questions from members of the public on issues relating to the work of the Committee and to receive any petitions.

Minutes:

No public questions or petitions had been received.

9.

SOPRA STERIA CONTRACT MONITORING 2015-2016 pdf icon PDF 94 KB

Report of the Director (Finance and Operations) providing information on the performance of Sopra Steria against key performance indicators.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members received a report which provided them with details of performance against target for Sopra Steria.

 

All targets had been met or exceeded.

 

Members asked whether there was Councillor involvement in setting the targets.  They were informed that targets were set with the knowledge of the Portfolio Holder.

 

Members asked whether the reduction in the number of days to process new benefits claims impacted on overpayment of benefits.  They were advised that there was no impact.

 

Members commented that they were pleased that targets were being exceeded.

 

NOTED the report.

10.

PERFORMANCE INDICATOR ANNUAL REPORT pdf icon PDF 124 KB

Report of the Director (Finance and Operations) which provides information on the Performance Indicators for the services that fall within the remit of this committee.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members received a report which provided details of performance indicator data for the services that fell within the remit of the Committee.

 

One quarterly target had not been met, that being the number of employee working days lost to sickness absence.  Three annual targets were not met.

 

Members asked the following questions:

 

Q         How many people were surveyed for the satisfaction data?

 

A          350 people per quarter

 

Q         Why is the satisfaction score so low?  Is there a particular area in which there is a problem?

 

A          There is no supplementary data available to answer this.

 

Q         Were some suppliers paid in less than 30 days of the invoice date?

 

A          Yes, there were arrangements with some suppliers for payment to be made in a shorter time.

 

Q         How much was paid to SOCITM for the data produced by them on user satisfaction of the website?

 

A          Officers to provide this by email.

 

Q         Was there an area of the Council which had a higher rate of sickness absence?

 

A          No, there was no evidence of any area being worse than any other.

 

Q         Did the Council use agency staff to cover periods of sickness absence?

 

A          It would depend on the role to be covered.  Generally other members of the team would provide cover.

 

Q         Is there an Action Plan in place to address the low level of employees who are registered as disabled and the low level of ethnic minority employees?

 

A          An Action Plan will be prepared once a data integrity check had been made of the current data.  The Council will look at ways of encouraging applications from these groups and how support could be provided.

 

NOTED the report.

11.

COMPLAINTS MONITORING REPORT 2015-2016 pdf icon PDF 169 KB

Report of the Director (Strategy and Development) informing Members of the type and number of complaints reported on Lagan during 2015-2016.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members received a report which provided information on the number and type of complaints received during 2015-16.

 

There had been a reduction in the number of complaints received compared to 2014-15.  During the same period there had been an increase in the number of compliments.

 

The report provided a breakdown on the access channels used, the types of complaint and whether or not the complaint was justified.

 

Members asked whether, when a complainant was not happy with the outcome of their complaint, this would count as another complaint.  They were informed that it would not.

 

Members were advised that not all complaints were entered on Lagan and that some services had their own system.  This would be addressed during the Customer Services Review.

 

Members commented that the number of surveys returned was very small.  Officers said that it was possible that, if they were happy with the outcome, they might not feel the need to complete a survey saying that.

 

Members requested a copy of the survey that was sent out.  Officers to supply.

 

Members asked whether it was possible for them to be provided with details of complaints at Ward level.  Officers agreed that this could be considered as part of the Customer Services Review.

 

Members requested that they were kept informed about the Customer Services Review and they noted that the Portfolio Holder was a member of the working group.

 

Members requested that benchmarking data should be circulated so that they could see how this Council compares to others.  Officers to circulate.

 

NOTED the report.

 

 

 

 

12.

FINANCIAL OUTTURN REPORT 2015-2016 pdf icon PDF 102 KB

Report of the Director (Finance and Operations) which provides the outturn information for Revenue and Capital 2015-2016.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members received a report which provided final outturn figures for 2015-16.

 

Members asked why the report compared to the current figures and not the original figures.  They were informed that the figures were monitored throughout the year and variances were adjusted at these times.

 

Members asked why there had been an increase in income for Law and Administration.  It was explained that there had been an unexpected grant from the government towards the cost of the legal case in respect of Land Charges.

 

It was noted that finance officers were working closely with Campus West staff to address some of the issues that had happened during the year, such as the late accounting for the expense of hiring films, particularly in quarter 4.

 

The Campus West Cabinet Panel was to be revived so that closer attention could be paid to issues that had arisen in order to prevent them being repeated.

 

Members asked where the Performance Indicators for Campus West were monitored.  It was noted that these would fall within the remit of the Social Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

 

Officers advised that the £45k outstanding over 90 days was collectable and legal process would be followed if required.

 

Members asked why there had been a big difference in the recycling waste subsidy.  Officers advised that Herts County Council had advised the District Councils that they would be making savings so this was taken into account within the budget.  However, the subsidy was not reduced which resulted in a saving of £147k.

 

It was noted that the provision for support for significant rent increases to tenants of properties acquired from St Modwen in Hatfield had not been used.  The amount for this had been reduced in the 2016-17 budget.

 

Members asked for more information about the KGV pitches.  They were advised that two of the pitches were to be relocated to Hatfield and the other two would remain in situ subject to the outcome of the consultation with residents regarding sound-proofing.  More information would be provided at the Social Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

 

NOTED the report.

 

 

 

 

13.

COMMITTEE OVERVIEW WORK PROGRAMME 2016/17 pdf icon PDF 76 KB

The pro-forma which sets out the Committee’s overview work programme has been updated since the last meeting to enable forward planning of items to be considered to take place.  Items which the Committee agrees it would like to consider will be scheduled into the work programme.

Minutes:

The work programme for the year was agreed.

 

NOTED the work programme.

14.

RESPONSE FROM CABINET/COUNCIL TO OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

There are XX response to report to this meeting.

Minutes:

None.

15.

CONSIDERATION OF ITEMS FOR SCRUTINY

To consider

 

1.    Whether any Cabinet decisions should be scrutinised post-implementation (Paragraph 14.1 of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules)

 

2.    Whether any items which relate to areas covered by the Committee which a member of the Committee may wish to raise with a view to deciding whether an issue should be scrutinised.

 

The Administration and Opposition Groups each have the right within the Municipal Year to have one scrutiny topic referred to a Sub-Committee.

 

Where the Committee decides an issue should be scrutinised, a scrutiny Sub-Committee should be appointed to carry out the specific piece of scrutiny work (Paragraph 6.3 of the Procedure for the Operation of the Overview and Scrutiny Function).

Minutes:

Members commented that they felt that they should identify decisions made by Cabinet which would be suitable for scrutiny.

 

It was felt that it was quite difficult to identify topics for this committee.

 

It was noted that the scrutiny on the topic of Enforcement Agents was ongoing.

16.

SUCH OTHER BUSINESS AS, IN THE OPINION OF THE CHAIRMAN, IS OF SUFFICIENT URGENCY TO WARRANT IMMEDIATE CONSIDERATION

Minutes:

None.