Agenda and minutes

Venue: Main Committee Room, Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil. View directions

Contact: Becky Sanders, Democratic Services Officer 01935 462596  Email: becky.sanders@southsomerset.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

16.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 218 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on 1 June 2017.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 1 June 2017 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

17.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Jason Baker, Tony Local, Paul Maxwell, Gerard Tucker and Martin Wale.

18.

Declarations of Interest

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (as amended 26 February 2015), which includes all the provisions relating to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI), personal and prejudicial interests, Members are asked to declare any DPI and also any personal interests (and whether or not such personal interests are also "prejudicial") in relation to any matter on the Agenda for this meeting.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

19.

Public question time

Minutes:

There were no members of public present at the meeting.

20.

Issues arising from previous meetings

This is an opportunity for Members to question the progress on issues arising from previous meetings.  However, this does not allow for the re-opening of a debate on any item not forming part of this agenda.

Minutes:

There were no issues raised from previous meetings.

21.

Chairman's Announcements

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed Councillor John Field to the Scrutiny Committee.

22.

Verbal update on reports considered by District Executive on 1 June 2017 pdf icon PDF 19 KB

Minutes:

The Chairman noted that the Scrutiny comments had been considered and were included in the District Executive minutes which had been circulated. She confirmed that a report on the Boundary Commission Review would be made to Council in July and quarterly update reports on Transformation had been added to the District Executive Forward Plan.

23.

Reports to be considered by District Executive on 6 July 2017 pdf icon PDF 79 KB

Minutes:

Members considered the reports within the District Executive agenda for 6 July 2017 and made the following comments:

 

Westlands Leisure Complex (Agenda item 6)

 

·      Members requested clarification as to who would be the point of contact in the future for updates on the Westlands Leisure Complex.

·      Scrutiny noted that the overspend is not quantified and queried if there was an adequate project contingency to cover the amount. An indication of the overspend figure as a percentage would be useful to context.

·      Members were concerned that the overspend may have an impact on other projects across the district or even prevent them.

·      Some members were concerned by the list of items causing the overspend (para 15) as it was felt most should have been predicted/anticipated or included within the contingency.

·      Scrutiny felt the ‘requirement creeps’ should have been better managed. Several members noted that in the early stages members had been assured that costings had been based on worst case scenarios and professional advice had been sought. Members wished to make it clear they were not critical of the project outcome but had concerns about the management of the project and felt lessons should be learnt.

 

SSDC Corporate Peer Challenge and Review (Agenda item 7)

 

·      Scrutiny agreed that the activity had been worthwhile and comments of the Peer team were encouraging.

·      It was queried if the costs associated with the resourcing and recruitment referred to in the Action Plan were already reflected in future financial planning?

·      Members sought reassurance that timeframes for completion of actions in the Action Plan were on target, and if there was any option to bring forward the review of capacity in Economic Development (bottom of page 36).

·      Scrutiny asked if there was a need for a Task and Finish Group to look at car parking charges.

·      Members were content that the recommendations go forward.

 

SSDC Transformation Programme – Progress Report (Agenda item 8)

 

·      Members commented that it was good to see a brief, rather than a lengthy report. Clarification was sought about the purpose of the appendix.  Members requested that future reports include detailed monitoring of timescales and savings against the table and programme milestones. Another line at the bottom of the table was requested to clearly show the current position in comparison to targets.

·      Scrutiny requested reassurance that any slippage could be picked up.

·      Members noted the comments made by the Performance Manager including that:

o  The programme is based on a baseline as at June 2016.

o  A detailed assessment of the skills and knowledge required to deliver Council services and identifying areas where these could be lost was conducted as part of the transformation process to prevent and minimise risk to service delivery.

 

Affordable Housing Development Programme (Agenda item 9)

 

·      Members noted the updates to the report provided by the Corporate Strategic Housing Manager at the Scrutiny meeting, including progress with regard to rural proofing as recommended in the Scrutiny Disposal of properties Task and Finish Review.

·      With reference to recommendation (e) Scrutiny  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

24.

Performance Management and Reporting pdf icon PDF 36 KB

Minutes:

The Performance Manager provided a short presentation about performance and key points included:

·         A reminder of the five themes in the Council Plan 2016 – 2021

·         A list of the current key performance indicators (KPIs)

·         Priority projects in the Council Plan

·         The structure of the Senior Leadership Team

·         The annual cycle for performance monitoring and reporting

·         Performance indicators for the Transformation programme to monitor financial and non-financial benefits.

 

Members were asked to consider the data they would like to see collected and in what form. During discussion several comments were made including:

·         Need to monitor customers who choose not to access services online and ascertain why.

·         Clarification that the existing 39 indicators would be carried forward.

·         Need indicators to monitor meeting of delivery objectives, efficiency objectives and customer satisfaction.

·         Needs to be some consistency with previous data to show comparison as the authority progresses through Transformation.

 

In response to comments made by members and the Scrutiny Manager, the Performance Manger clarified that:

·         Channel shift would be monitored

·         There were challenges in collecting some of the data for the existing indicators

·         There needed to be a periodic review of the indicators and they would evolve over time

·         Would be unusual to monitor internal customer satisfaction

·         There was no timeframe for setting up new indicators but as soon as possible would enable more data to be collected.

·         No customer consultation to establish what aspects of Council business customers felt were important had been undertaken.

 

On hearing comments made, the Scrutiny Manager suggested a separate informal meeting for members to discuss possible performance indicators might be useful and several members agreed.

 

The Chairman thanked the Performance Manager for his presentation.

 

ACTION:

Informal meeting to be arranged for Scrutiny members with the Scrutiny Manager to discuss possible future performance indicators. A copy of the presentation to be circulated to members as a prompt.

 

 

 

25.

Appointment of Members to Somerset Waste Board Informal Joint Scrutiny Panel pdf icon PDF 80 KB

Minutes:

The Scrutiny Manager reminded members that the report had initially been discussed at the previous meeting where Councillor Martin Wale had tentatively volunteered to be a member on the Somerset Waste Board Informal Joint Scrutiny Panel. It was noted that the date of the next meeting was unknown and the Panel had only met once over the past year.

 

It was agreed that Councillors Carol Goodall, Martin Wale and Jason Baker be appointed to the Somerset Waste Board Informal Joint Scrutiny Panel.  Members did not identify who would be the substitute member, but in the event of a meeting it would be agreed between the three members which two would attend that particular meeting of the Panel.

 

ACTION:

The Scrutiny Manager to inform SCC of the members appointed from SSDC Scrutiny Committee to the Somerset Waste Board Informal Joint Scrutiny Panel.

 

26.

Verbal update on Task and Finish reviews pdf icon PDF 32 KB

Minutes:

Members noted the updates provided by the Scrutiny Manager on each of the Task and Finish groups currently in progress:

 

Council Tax Support – The Revenues and Benefits Manager had agreed with the Portfolio Holder to identify savings in administration costs rather than changing the scheme for 2018-19.  The Task and Finish group would meet to review the monitoring information by the autumn. There would be less work for the group to do than in previous years.

 

Local Discretionary (Business Rates) Relief Scheme - The first meeting took place on 22nd June 2017, and another meeting was scheduled for 6 July.

 

Homefinder Somerset – There had been no further progress and a response was still awaited from the Housing Team about recommendations made previously.

27.

Update on matters of interest pdf icon PDF 19 KB

Minutes:

The Scrutiny Manager informed members that the Task and Finish report regarding Street Trading Policy had been agreed by Licensing Committee. The report would now be considered at Council in July.

28.

Scrutiny Work Programme pdf icon PDF 106 KB

Minutes:

There was a brief discussion about the work programme and the Chairman suggested a report regarding progress towards a new Economic Development Strategy would be of interest, but also acknowledged arranging a report might be difficult due to current staff availability within the team.

 

The Scrutiny Manager reminded members that a member of the public had addressed the last meeting of Council and invited SSDC to become a Fairtrade Authority, and had offered to provide a presentation to an appropriate committee. In response the Portfolio Holder for procurement, said the Council already had a local purchasing policy and he suggested that a Scrutiny Task and Finish Group could look at the wider implications of becoming a Fairtrade Authority.

 

The Scrutiny Manager asked members if they wished to look at the Fairtrade idea in more detail. Members agreed that currently there was little availability for members to conduct another Task and Finish review. Members were of the opinion that the Fairtrade idea should not be given priority over existing work of the Scrutiny Committee and Task and Finish groups.

 

A recent meeting with the Leader, Chief Executive, Scrutiny Manager, Scrutiny Chairman and Vice-Chairmen had recently taken place to discuss the role of Scrutiny with the integration of Transformation and Commercialisation. The Scrutiny Manager provided a summary of the meeting and how it was envisaged Scrutiny would be involved in the Transformation process. She agreed to circulate information when available.

 

ACTION:

Scrutiny Manager to make enquires about possibility of a future report regarding the progress of the Economic Development Strategy.

 

 

29.

Date of next meeting pdf icon PDF 17 KB

Minutes:

Members noted the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee would be held at 10.00am on 1 August 2017, in the Main Committee Room, Brympton Way.