Agenda and minutes

This meeting is to be webcast and the Chairman will read the following announcement:

“I would like to remind everyone present that this meeting will be broadcast live to the internet and will be capable of subsequent repeated viewing, with copies of the recording being made available for those that request it.

By being present at this meeting, it is likely that the recording cameras will capture your image and this will result in your image becoming part of the broadcast.

You should be aware that this may infringe your human and data protection rights, and if you have any concerns then please speak to the Webcasting Officer.

Please could I also remind Members and Officers to activate their microphones before speaking.”

The Chairman reminded everyone present that the meeting would be broadcast live to the Internet, and that the Council had adopted a protocol for the webcasting of its meetings.

To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

The Committee noted that Councillor R Morgan had been appointed as substitute for Councillor Bassett

To declare interests in any item on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a pecuniary or a non-pecuniary interest under the Council’s Code of Conduct, Members are requested to pay particular attention to paragraph (11) of the Code in addition to the more familiar requirements.

This requires the declaration of a non-pecuniary interest in any matter before Overview & Scrutiny which relates to a decision of or action by another Committee or Sub-Committee of the Council, a Joint Committee or Joint Sub-Committee in which the Council is involved and of which the Councillor is also a Member.

Paragraph (11) of the Code of Conduct does not refer to Cabinet decisions or attendance at an Overview & Scrutiny meeting purely for the purpose of answering questions or providing information on such a matter.

There were no declarations of interest made pursuant to the Council’s Members’ Code of Conduct.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 4 June 2024.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 4 June 2024 be taken as read and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

To consider any matters arising and outstanding actions from the minutes of the previous meeting(s) that are not covered elsewhere in this agenda.

Resolved:

The Committee noted there were no matters arising or outstanding actions.

(Democratic & Electoral Services Team Manager) To receive questions submitted by members of the public and any requests to address the Committee, in accordance with Article 6 (Overview and Scrutiny) of the Council’s Constitution.

(a)       Public Questions

Members of the public may ask questions of the Chairman of Overview and Scrutiny Committee at ordinary meetings of the Committee, in accordance with the procedure set out in the Constitution.

(b)       Requests to address the Overview and Scrutiny Committee

Any member of the public or a representative of another organisation may address the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on any agenda item (except those dealt with in private session as exempt or confidential business), due to be considered at the meeting.

The Committee noted that no public questions or requests to address the meeting had been received.

(Democratic & Electoral Services Team Manager) To consider any matter referred to the Committee for decision in relation to a call-in, in accordance with Article 6 (Overview and Scrutiny) of the Council’s Constitution.

The Committee noted that no executive decisions had been called-in for consideration since the previous meeting.

To consider, comment and provide recommendations to Cabinet on the proposed key performance indicator (KPI) suite.

Paula Maginnis, Service Director, introduced the organisation performance report, highlighted that scrutiny should have oversight of the organisation’s performance, and sought the Committee’s opinion on the efficacy of the proposed KPI Suite and priority projects.  The report recommended that the KPI suite should be reported by exception to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and detailed that housing and customer service KPIs should be reported to Communities Scrutiny and that Planning KPIs would be reported to Place Scrutiny.

The following corrections to KPI targets were provided,

·         KPI 5: First point resolution of calls taken by Customer Contact Centre, target should read 70%

·         KPI 10:  Average relet time in calendar days, target should read  42 days or less

·         KPI 28: HRA Rent Arrears  target should read 1.67% or less

The Committee welcomed the report, agreed this would provide oversight of organisational performance and raised several queries.

The Committee were advised that

·         The corrections given to targets were not a fundamental change, but amendments required due to an administration error

·         Work on complaints was being caried out and  this encompassed member enquires. Emerging themes and learning outcomes were considered by the management team and this would reflect any significant areas members experienced through their case work.

·         Communities Scrutiny had previously approved the customer satisfaction indicators  

·         Some of the KPIs shown, did not have targets as these were outside the control of the Council, however, the data sets provided would allow trends to be identified and were for members information.

The Committee

·         Supported the proposal to report detailed KPIs on Housing, Customers and Planning to the Communities and Place Scrutiny Committees. The Chairman of Place Scrutiny, Cllr Lucas, detailed that tenant’s satisfaction and grounds maintenance performance had recently been scrutinised by the Communities Committee.

·         Discussed and challenged that KPIs should be reported by exception and suggested that there was value in the complete suite of KPI being presented to Scrutiny.

·         Proposed, seconded and voted to recommend to Cabinet that the Broadway Refurbishment project should be added as a fourth priority project, to be reported to Scrutiny.

Resolved:

That the Committee commended the report to Cabinet Suggest that Cabinet should agree the following recommendations:

1.    (i) The KPIs set out in the report, with corrected targets, were adequate and robust
(ii) That 4 projects: fit for the future, waste collection services, new Epping leisure centre and The Broadway refurbishment should be classified as priority projects for Scrutiny

2.    That all KPI contained in the report should be scrutinised on a regular basis, and

3.    The ongoing work ro develop the KPI suite was adequate and robust

Action (1) Officers would identify if there was a measure of broadband take up in the district and, if available, circulate to members.

To  consider and comment on the quarter 1 organisational performance  for 20204/25.

Paula Maginnis< Service Director presented the quarter 1 organisation performance report for 2024/25. As a consequence of the amendments to targets for KPI number 5, 10 and 28 detailed in the previous item on the agenda,  a correction to the report was required the following paragraphs I in the report should be read as:

1.         The KPI Suite has a total of 26 indicators with corresponding targets of these 26 there are 5 annual targets. The outturn for Q1 shows 14 indicators have met the Q1 target and 6 that have not.

2.         The following indicators have not met the target for Q1;

§    2 are in Customer,

§    1 in Housing, 

§    1 in Contracts, Partnerships & Procurement

§    1 in Corporate Services

§    1 in Finance

It was noted that actual figure for KPI 10: Average relet time in calendar days, should be  read 41.7 days and not 41.7%

The Committee raised a series of queries and were provided with an overview of monitoring and management of the indicators was provided. The Committee were advised that in future corrective actions would be provided for indicators that were below target.

The Council did not operate performance related pay, however but KPI owners would, be required to provide corrective actions and attend Committee to answer Members concerns as required.

The sickness indicator was discussed, and the Committee were advised that the duty of care was addressed through an employee assistance programme, occupational health, and mental health first aiders Sickness data was utilised to support the management of absence. Covid had impacted on figures, however, mental health and muscular skeletal  injury were key reasons for absence.

Cllr Bedford, Housing and HGGT Portfolio Holder, suggested that the priority projects shown in Appendix B, should detail the relevant portfolio holder.

Resolved:

The Committee considered and provided comment on the organisation performance report

Report to follow.

The Director of Finance and Section 151 Officer, A Small, introduced the report and highlighted the forecast end of year outturn position on the General Fund as an underspend of £0.225 million, the most significant pressure was an anticipated shortfall in income from Planning Applications.  A small underspend, £0.022 million was also forecast on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA). The Capital programme for both General Fund and HRA projected potential underspends. The Committee were advised that these projections were made on quarter 1 figures and the final position financial position could change.

The Committee raised a series of queries and were advised that;

·         Shared Services should provide efficiencies, but the budget had been guarded to ensure optimum service design that provided resilient and stronger services.

·         There would be some slippage on the IT revenue spend to the next financial year.

·         Exceptional void works involved a range of works including significant clearance of houses and gardens, the elongation of the planned works for kitchens and bathrooms, meant these needed to be replaced before relet, in specific cases.  The service level agreement should be in place by September and pre void works should assist with the budget pressure.

The Committee suggested that HRA Capital underspend, could be utilised on small scale improvements across the housing estates in the district, and specifically at Oakwood Hill Estate. The Portfolio Holder, Cllr H Whitbread detailed that there were specific challenges in relation to ‘pride of place’ and that there could be potential to roll out the safer street initiative, to Shelly, Ninefields and Oakwood Hill Estates, and the budget would be given careful consideration, as there were a range of pressures as the Council were responsible for a large Housing Stock.

The Committee and Finance Portfolio Holder acknowledged and thanked staff for completed the work in the preparation of the report in a timely fashion.

Resolved:

The Committee noted

1.            The General Fund revenue position at the end of Quarter 1 (30th June 2024) for 2024/25, including actions being undertaken or proposed to ameliorate the position, where significant variances have been identified.

2.            The General Fund capital position at the end of Quarter 1 (30th June 2024) for 2024/25.

3.            The Housing Revenue Account revenue position at the end of Quarter 1 (30th June 2024) for 2024/25, including actions proposed to ameliorate the position, where significant variances have been identified.

4.            The Housing Revenue Account capital position at the end of Quarter 1 (30th June 2024) for 2024/25, including Appendix C; and

5.            The wider position on Financial Performance and Risk at the end of Quarter 1 (30th June 2024), including the amended Prudential Indicator (“Proportion of Financing Costs to Net Revenue Stream”) explained in Paragraph 7.3.14

(Chairmen of the Scrutiny Committees) To report to the meeting on progress against achievement of the current work programme, and for any recommendations for consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The Chairmen of Communities Scrutiny and Place Scrutiny reported on the progress on the work programme at the initial meeting of their respective Committees.

Cllr Lucas, Chairman of Communities Scrutiny detailed that the Community Lottery had been proposed as an additional item on the work programme.

The Chairman of Place Scrutiny detailed there had been engagement on the changed waste policies and a request to add recycling collections, which would cover the roll out of blue bins, to the work programme.

.

The Committee highlighted there were ongoing concerns about the quality of grounds maintenance.

Resolved

The Committee

Noted the progress of the Communities and Place Scrutiny Committees was noted.

Agreed the addition of items on Community Lottery and recycling collections would be added to the relevant scrutiny work programme.

To review the progress towards the achievement of the work programme for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and any required amendments to the scrutiny work programmes.

The Committee were advised that the date for TfL would be circulated to members, when agreed, and Members would be requested to submit their questions in advance of the meeting.

Resolved:

The Committee noted the work programme.

That the Committee review the Executive’s current programme of Key Decisions to enable the identification of appropriate matters for the overview and scrutiny work programme, and give an overview of specific decisions proposed in the forward plan.

Wherever possible, Portfolio Holders will attend the Committee to present forthcoming key decisions, to answer questions on the forward plan and to indicate where appropriate work could be carried out by overview and scrutiny on behalf of the Cabinet.

Cabinet Business

Housing and HGGT Portfolio

The Broadway Refurbishment Project: The Committee acknowledged that some information in the report would need to be restricted, but requested  that as much information as possible be kept in the public domain.

Regulatory, Technical & Community Safety Services

Council Wide Anti-Social Behaviour Policy: The Committee agreed that a task and finish panel should be set to consider the development of the policy. Cllr McCann was voted as the Chairman, Cllrs Rackham and Murray expressed interest sitting on the panel.  Membership would open to all members and an item would be put in the members bulletin.

Resolved:

The Committee reviewed the Executive’s Forward Plan and agreed to set up a Task & Finish Panel to consider the Council wide ASB policy

Exclusion

Democratic & Electoral Services Team Manager) To consider whether, under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press should be excluded from the meeting for the items of business set out below on grounds that they will involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the following paragraph(s) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act (as amended) or are confidential under Section 100(A)(2):

The Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, which came into effect on 1 March 2006, requires the Council to consider whether maintaining the exemption listed above outweighs the potential public interest in disclosing the information. Any member who considers that this test should be applied to any currently exempted matter on this agenda should contact the proper officer at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.

Background Papers 

(Democratic & Electoral Services Team Manager) Article 17 - Access to Information, Procedure Rules of the Constitution define background papers as being documents relating to the subject matter of the report which in the Proper Officer's opinion:

(a)        disclose any facts or matters on which the report or an important part of the report is based;  and

(b)        have been relied on to a material extent in preparing the report and does not include published works or those which disclose exempt or confidential information and in respect of executive reports, the advice of any political advisor.

The Council will make available for public inspection for four years after the date of the meeting one copy of each of the documents on the list of background papers.

The Committee noted that there were no items of business which necessitated the exclusion of the public and press from the meeting.