Agenda item

The Scrutiny Committee considered the reports contained in the District Executive Agenda for the 1 December 2016 and made the following comments:

Recycle More – Domestic Waste Collection Services (Agenda item 6)

The Committee welcomed David Mansell – Development and Monitoring Manager – Somerset Waste Partnership to the meeting. Mr Mansell gave a very detailed presentation to members outlining the proposals for the Recycle More Project, during which he advised that the proposal was aimed to divert more waste from going to landfill sites.  In the trial, there had been a 27% reduction in residual waste when refuse was collected every 3 weeks and garden waste every 2 weeks with recyclables collected weekly. Although the cost was projected to be £2.2m, there would be an annual saving of £1.7m so the costs would be recovered within 18 months. There were reputational risks and so an extensive communications plan was in place including the development of an app to inform residents when their recycling was due. They were also looking at consolidating their vehicle depots to one in the east of the district and one in the west. Providing all the partner Councils agreed to participate in the scheme, and, the decision was confirmed by the Somerset Waste Board at their meeting on 16^th December, then new waste collection vehicles would be ordered and the scheme would commence in phases from October 2017 to October 2018.

Following the presentation:

·      Members thanked the Assistant Director 9Operations and Customer Focus) for all her hard work on this project along with the officers from the Somerset Waste Partnership.

·      Members noted the potential reputational risk that SSDC could face during the roll out phase. Scrutiny Committee request reassurance that adequate measures will be put in place to minimise the impact on the Customer Services Team and to avoid an overlap of rolling out Recycle more and the Transformation of Customer Services as such an overlap could cause a significant problem to this project, if this could be shown in the communication and project plan and circulated to members this would be most helpful.

·      Members were pleased to note additional resource had been factored in to address any issues that arise during the roll out.

·      David Mansell confirmed that the procurement of the vehicles will take into account the accessibility issues for some of the properties in South Somerset.

·      A member reported that some residents already find the restrictions on Household recycling centres are prohibiting recycling and this could be exacerbated by Recycle More.

·      One Committee member stated that some constituents were concerned about how to deal with animal waste if this was to only be collected on a 3 weekly basis.  David Mansell confirmed there are no health concerns with nappies adult hygiene products or animal waste being left for three weeks although they do advise that it is double bagged.

·      Members asked for clarification on the review process that would be followed to monitor the effective implementation of this project.

·      Members of the Scrutiny Committee supported the recommendations in the report.

Quarterly Corporate Performance and Complaints Monitoring Report – 2^nd Quarter 2016/17 (Agenda item 7)

·      PI031 – Percentage of calls to contact centre solved at contact centre. Members were pleased to see some figures had been published with regard to the % of calls answered and to note that the Performance Team had started to work to understand abandoned calls.

·      PI032 – Staff Sickness Absence – Members stated that during periods of significant organisational change such as the Transformation Programme, it is important to monitor the level of staff sickness absence due to work related stress. Whilst it was acknowledged that it would not be appropriate to report this information in an open forum, Scrutiny members sought reassurance that this is being captured corporately and monitored.

·      PI 035 - % of Council Tax Collected – members asked if a narrative could be provided stating how much of the Council Tax collected in a specific quarter has been used to clear arrears accrued in previous years – this would help form a more accurate picture of collection rates.

·      Complaints – in line with Scrutiny Best practice, members agreed that Scrutiny should look at developing a more proactive role in monitoring corporate complaints.

·      Within the Council Plan, members sought clarification under C1.03 as to which Doctors Surgery is being purchased and converted?

·      Scrutiny Committee requested refresher training of the TEN System in the New Year.

Local Strategic Partnership South Somerset Together (SST) Six Month Review Report (Agenda item 8)

Members noted that this is now a much slimmed down version than in the past and reflected that SSDC no longer financially contributes to the partnership. It was noted that the partnership is now much more about facilitating a collaborative approach between South Somerset agencies, members asked if the slimmed down version had gone too far and if there was any risk that opportunities are being missed.

The Deputy Leader commented that a lot of good work had been delivered under this umbrella between the hospital and the college but was not mentioned in the report.

Members requested an update on the Troubled Families Project to come forward in the New Year – whilst it is acknowledged that this is now mainstreamed by Somerset County Council, this was initially a high profile local initiative which came under the umbrella of the LSP.

District Executive Forward Plan (Agenda item 9)

Members commented that it is hard to know what some reports are about based on the report titles included in the Forward Plan – Purchase of Land in SSDCbeing a good example. The Forward Plan is a crucial document for the Scrutiny Committee and we would like to ask that as much detail as possible is included.

Chard Town Centre Redevelopment – Update Report (Agenda item 12)

There was no discussion. Scrutiny members supported the report recommendation.