Agenda and minutes

Venue: David Hicks 1 - Civic Offices, Shute End, Wokingham RG40 1BN

Contact: Neil Carr  Democratic & Electoral Services Specialist

Items
No. Item

65.

Election of Chairman

To elect a Chairman for the remainder of the 2017/18 Municipal Year.

Minutes:

Councillor Laura Blumenthal reminded Members that Keith Baker had accepted a position on the Executive and, consequently, could not continue in the role as Chairman of the Committee. It was proposed by Laura Blumenthal and seconded by Lindsay Ferris that John Kaiser be appointed as Chairman of the Committee for the remainder of the Municipal Year.

 

RESOLVED: That John Kaiser be elected as Chairman of the Committee for the remainder of the 2017/18 Municipal Year.

66.

Apologies

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Parry Batth, Kate Haines, Pauline Helliar-Symons, Ian Pittock and Bill Soane.

 

Imogen Shepherd-Dubey attended as a substitute for Ian Pittock.

67.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 76 KB

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 9 January 2018.

 

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 9 January 2018 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

68.

Declarations of Interest

To receive any declarations of interest.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

69.

Public Question Time

To answer any public questions.

 

A period of 30 minutes will be allowed for members of the public to ask questions submitted under notice.

 

The Council welcomes questions from members of the public about the work of this committee.

 

Subject to meeting certain timescales, questions can relate to general issues concerned with the work of the Committee or an item which is on the Agenda for this meeting.  For full details of the procedure for submitting questions please contact the Democratic Services Section on the numbers given below or go to www.wokingham.gov.uk/publicquestions

Minutes:

There were no public questions.

70.

Member Question Time

To answer any Member questions.

 

 

Minutes:

There were no Member questions.

71.

Council Plan Performance Monitoring Q3 pdf icon PDF 82 KB

To consider the Council Plan Performance Monitoring report for Quarter 3 – October – December 2017.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report, set out on Agenda pages 11 to 20, which gave details of Council Plan performance monitoring for the third quarter of 2017/18 (October to December).

 

The report covered 48 performance indicators and 19 key projects. It stated that the majority of measures (78%) were achieving the assigned targets (Green) whilst 19% were slightly off target (Amber). Only two measures were reported as being off target (Red). These were:

 

·           Percentage of child protection visits due in the period which were completed within 10 days of the previous visit;

 

·           Percentage of household waste reused, recycled and composted.

 

The report gave details of a specific service area showing improved performance – number of affordable homes completed. The target for 2017/18 was completion of 372 affordable homes. It was expected that the final number of completions for the year would be over 450. Furthermore, over 100 of these completions will have been delivered by the Council’s own housing companies in relation to projects commissioned and funded by the Council on its land holdings.

 

During the ensuing discussion Members raised the following points and questions:

 

·                L&CS3: Household waste reused, recycled and composted. Following recent announcements about the collection of additional types of plastic it was felt that performance should be monitored to assess the impact on the overall performance figures.

 

·                CS2: Homelessness decisions made within 45 working days. The loss of a key member of staff had impacted on performance. What was the contingency plan for situations such as this and was effective succession planning in place?

 

·                PS9: Child protection visits completed within 10 days of the previous visit. Why was performance lower than the previous year? In light of the information in the report, was this a SMART target?

 

·                PS15: Leisure centre attendances. Was there any evidence that attendances had picked up in January/February 2018?

 

·                CS10: Business Rates collection. Was performance on track to achieve the 2017/18 target? Why was the 2017/18 target lower than the 2016/17 actual?

 

·                CS14: Percentage of calls answered. What was the number of calls received compared to the number of contacts via the website? In line with the principles of the 21st Century Council programme, what were the targets for call diversion to self-service using the Council website?

 

·                General – what was the process for identifying Key Performance Indicators, setting the relevant targets and setting the Red, Amber and Green thresholds? Who decided on the removal and/or introduction of new indicators?

 

RESOLVED That:

 

1)         the Quarter 3 Council Plan Performance Monitoring report be noted;

 

2)         answers to the questions and queries raised by Members be circulated to the Committee;

 

3)         Members submit any further questions or queries to John Kaiser;

 

4)         Shahid Younis formulate an appropriate question relating to customer contact and the 21st Century Council changes;

 

5)         John Kaiser discuss relevant indicators for the measurement of traffic congestion with the Executive Member for Highways and Transport;

 

6)         draft Key Performance Indicators for 2018/19 be submitted to the Committee for consideration  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71.

72.

Overview and Scrutiny Work Programmes 2018-19 pdf icon PDF 82 KB

To consider the draft Overview and Scrutiny Work Programmes for 2018/19 and to agree the process for inviting and considering items from residents, community groups and other key stakeholders.

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report, set out at Agenda pages 21 to 28, which gave details of proposals for the development of Overview and Scrutiny work programmes for 2018/19.

 

The report stated that effective work programming was an essential part of Overview and Scrutiny. It was a Member-led process aimed at shortlisting and prioritising issues of community concern together with issues arising out of the Council Plan and major policy or service changes.

 

Appended to the report were draft work programmes for the Management Committee and the three Overview and Scrutiny Committees. The report stated that press and social media releases had also been circulated in order to generate additional items for inclusion from residents, community groups and Town/Parish Councils.

 

John Kaiser informed the Committee that a discussion paper would be circulated to Members setting out a proposed direction of travel for the Overview and Scrutiny function. The paper would propose the division of scrutiny into three broad categories:

 

·           Horizon Scanning – looking ahead to changes that will impact on the Council such as central Government initiatives and changes in local government finance;

·           Pre-decision Scrutiny – examining draft policies and programmes before they were enacted;

·           Post-decision Scrutiny – examining the implementation of new policies and programmes, their effectiveness and the achievement of value for money.

 

Members considered the draft work programmes and highlighted specific areas of interest. During the ensuing discussion, Members highlighted the following priorities for the Overview and Scrutiny Committees in 2018/19:

 

Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee

 

·           21st Century Council Programme;

·           £500m infrastructure investment – SCAPE contract;

·           Local Plan Update;

·           Vision and Priorities – Leader and Chief Executive to attend in June 2018;

·           General Data Protection Regulations;

·           Outcomes from the Traffic Congestion working group.

 

Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee

 

·           Fairer funding for schools;

·           Allocation of school places.

 

Community and Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee

 

·           Waste and recycling (including the collection of food waste);

·           Town centre regeneration (including car parking provision);

·           Impact of changes to train services.

 

Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee

 

·           Air quality monitoring;

·           Future delivery of Healthwatch.

 

RESOLVED That:

 

1)    the draft work programmes for 2018/19 be amended to reflect the priorities identified by the Committee;

 

2)    the draft work programmes be considered further at the next meeting of the Committee alongside suggestions from residents, community groups and other stakeholders;

 

3)    Members submit comments on the future direction of the Overview and Scrutiny function to John Kaiser;

 

4)    Data Protection changes be considered at the next meeting of the Committee with an invite to all Overview and Scrutiny Members;

 

5)    mid-year progress on delivering the work programmes be considered at the meeting of the Committee in November 2018.

73.

Consideration of the current Executive and Individual Member Decision Forward Programmes pdf icon PDF 67 KB

To consider the current published version of the Executive Forward Programme and the Individual Member Decision Forward Programme.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a copy of the Executive Forward Programme and the Individual Executive Member Forward Programme, as set out on Agenda pages 29 to 40.

 

RESOLVED: That the Executive and Individual Executive Member Decision Forward Programmes be noted.

 

74.

Committee Work Programmes 2017-18 pdf icon PDF 76 KB

To discuss the work programme of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee and Overview and Scrutiny Committees

Minutes:

The Committee considered its 2017/18 forward work programme and that of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees as set out on Agenda pages 41 to 46.

 

RESOLVED: That the forward work programmes for 2107/18 be noted.

75.

Update reports from Chairmen or Nominated member of the Overview and Scrutiny committees

For the Chairman or nominated Member of the Committee to report back on its activities including any requests to undertake reviews.

 

Minutes:

The Committee considered updates from the Chairmen of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

 

RESOLVED: That the updates be noted.