Agenda and minutes

Jim Frewin made the following statement:

“Members of the Committee will be aware that, at the start of the year, we received a number of actions and suggestions from a Scrutiny Improvement Review. We have worked hard to take on board the suggestions for improvement. The previous meeting was independently reviewed and we have now received feedback which suggests that we are moving in the right direction with Overview and Scrutiny. The next step is to hold an externally facilitated workshop for Overview and Scrutiny Members. This will be arranged at a suitable time for Members. In the meantime, a big thank you from me to everyone who took part in the Scrutiny Improvement Review”

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were submitted by Peter Dennis and Adrian Mather.

Morag Malvern and Al Neal attended the meeting as substitutes.

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 18 January 2023.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 18 January 2023 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

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

There were no public questions.

To answer any Member questions.

There were no Member questions.

To scrutinise draft proposals for changes to the waste collection service.

The Committee considered a report on proposed changes to the Waste Collection Service, set out at Agenda pages 13 to 26. The Committee also received two supplementary presentations providing more detail on specific issues raised by Members prior to the meeting.

Ian Shenton (Executive Member for Environment, Sport and Leisure) attended the meeting supported by officers – Rebecca Bird, Richard Bisset, Oliver Burt (re3), Simon Dale, Fran Hobson and Emma Tilbrook (Eunomia).

Ian Shenton introduced the item, referring to the aims of the proposed changes – driving forward its commitment to waste minimisation, diversion, recycling and carbon reduction whilst helping to tackle the financial challenges facing the Council.

The report gave details of the proposal for the Council to move from its current arrangements of weekly refuse and recycling collections to an Alternate Weekly Waste (AWC) collection model for the Borough. The proposal was in line with WBC’s environmental and climate commitments as a move to AWC would encourage residents to dispose of recyclable material more effectively as well as minimising overall waste generation. In summary, the proposal was that WBC would:

·           move to a fortnightly collection of refuse in wheeled bins, ceasing the supply of blue bags;

·           move to a fortnightly collection of dry recycling using the existing green reusable sacks, already available to residents;

·           maintain the existing weekly food recycling collections and the paid-for garden waste collections.

The proposed changes would apply to kerbside properties only. Other arrangements would be put in place for flats and those properties without access to kerbside collection.

The report stated that, across England, many councils had been running AWC’s for over 25 years. Nearly 80% of English councils already carried out AWC collections to boost recycling and restrict the amount of refuse produced. Neighbouring councils, Bracknell Forest and Reading moved to AWC some time ago. Bracknell Forest changed in 2007, increasing their recycling rate by 13% per annum. Reading changed in 2006, increasing their recycling rate by 10% per annum. Bracknell Forest had subsequently moved to three weekly collections.

The future of the Council’s waste collection service had been considered initially by a cross-party working group. The working group had commissioned work on potential options from specialist organisations – WRAP and Eumonia. The modelling work had reduced an initial 12 options down to four. Two options were then subject to public consultation. The report stated that the two options would deliver savings and environmental improvements within the constraints of the existing waste collection contract. Option 1 would implement AWC for refuse and mixed dry recycling. Option 2 would implement three weekly collection of refuse with fortnightly collections for mixed dry recycling.

As a result of the modelling, benchmarking and two consultation exercises, the proposal was for Option 1, which would be submitted to the Executive in March 2023. The benefits of moving to AWC were summarised as:

·           Savings upwards of circa £0.5m in 2024/25 rising to circa £1.5m in 2025/26;

·           An increased recycling rate of circa 64%, up from 54% currently;

·           A  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To consider an update on the Customer Excellence Programme including progress on developing an improved WBC website.

The Committee considered a presentation on the Customer Excellence Programme, set out at Agenda pages 27 to 34. Jackie Whitney and Sarah Zama attended the meeting to give the presentation and answer Member questions.

The presentation gave details of the aims of the Council’s Customer Excellence Programme. These included:

·           Customer experience – improved and consistent customer experience across services and ownership to be organisation-wide;

·           WBC Website – new website which centred on the needs of customers;

·           Customer Data & Insight – customer insight used proactively as part of a customer-centric strategy to drive continuous improvement across WBC;

·           Customer Journey Management – easy access to services for all, focussed on customer need. Clear organisation-wide accountability for the success of customer journeys.

The presentation highlighted a number of activities over the next 3-6 months, including:

·           bringing together Customer Excellence with the Community and Partnership Organisational Foundation Programme;

·           developing Customer Experience key performance indicators, e.g. a service reporting dashboard for Housing;

·           new website – design and develop new pages for the corporate website and six service-specific sites (to launch in July 2023);

·           new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system – review existing digital customer journeys and build improved journeys (to launch in spring 2024);

·           Customer Strategy – public consultation with a view to launch in early summer 2023 (report to the Executive in March 2023);

·           customer journey mapping – Children’s Services (SEND), Council Tax and Digital journeys ready for new CRM development;

·           Library Offer – outputs of discovery phase and engagement with library teams/customers to inform a Community Strategy during 2023.

In the ensuing discussion, Members raised the following points:

In relation to customer accessibility, what steps were being taken to maximise the use of plain English in WBC services and publications? It was confirmed that three key principles were being applied: Care, Clarity and Confidence. Officers were working with CLASP to review the Council’s communications with residents. The new Customer Charter was due to be launched in the summer of 2023.

In relation to the new website, it was important to ensure that map-based pages were kept up to date.

As with all IT projects, there was a risk of project failure. If the project failed, was there a recovery plan? If the project was a success, would it raise expectations in terms of additional resources? Officers confirmed that the risk of failure was mitigated by the strength of the team working on the project.

Were there safeguards in place to control the sharing of confidential data? It was confirmed that safeguards were built into the CRM system to ensure oversight of any privacy issues.

Was the system operationally critical? What safeguards were there in case of system failure? Officers confirmed that the CRM system was not the system used by WBC. For example, Social Care and Planning had their own systems. The new system would deal with high volume enquiries such as waste and recycling.

How had the voice of WBC staff been incorporated into the development of the new system? It was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To consider the draft Overview and Scrutiny Committee Annual Reports for 2022/23.

The Committee considered the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Reports for 2022/23, set out at Agenda pages 35 to 56. As set out in the Council Constitution, each of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees was required to submit an Annual Report to Council in March each year. The Annual Reports included an introduction to Overview and Scrutiny and a summary of the issues considered in 2022/23.

RESOLVED: That the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Reports for 2022/23 be approved for submission to Council in March 2023.

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

The Committee considered a copy of the Executive Forward Programme and the Individual Executive Member Decision Forward Programme, as set out on Agenda pages 57 to 68.

It was noted that the latest report on proposed increases to Off Street Parking charges would be considered by the Executive in March 2023.

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

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

The Committee considered its forward work programme and that of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees as set out on Agenda pages 69 to 76.

RESOLVED: That the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programmes for the remainder of 2022/23 be noted.

To consider the regular Action Tracker report.

The Committee considered the latest Action Tracker report, as set out at Agenda pages 77 to 80.

RESOLVED: That the Action Tracker report be noted.