Agenda and minutes

(Assistant to the Chief Executive)  To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

The Panel noted that Councillor Ken Angold-Stephens was substituting for Councillor Rose Brookes.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive). To declare interests in any items on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a personal or a prejudicial interest under the Code of Conduct, Overview & Scrutiny members are asked pay particular attention to paragraph 11 of the Code in addition to the more familiar requirements.

This requires the declaration of a personal and prejudicial interest in any matter before an OS Committee 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 does not refer to Cabinet decisions or attendance at an OS meeting purely for the purpose of answering questions or providing information on such a matter.

No declarations of interest were made.

To consider and agree the notes of the meeting held on 9 December 2010.

The minutes from the previous meeting held on 09 December 2010 were agreed.

(Chairman/Lead Officer) The Overview and Scrutiny Committee has agreed the Terms of Reference of this Panel and associated Work Programme. This is attached. The Panel are asked at each meeting to review both documents.

The Panel noted their Terms of Reference and Work Programme.

(Director of Corporate Support Services) To consider the attached report.

The Assistant Director (Human Resources), Paula Maginnis, introduced the regular quarterly sickness absence reports. The Council’s target for sickness absence under LPI28 is an average of 8 days per employee (2 days per quarter). The quarter outturn figures for 2010/2011 are Q1 = 1.88 days, Q2 = 1.81 days and Q3 = 2.15 days. The Council was currently below the accumulated figure of 6 days.

During Q3, 4.9% of staff met the trigger levels or above, 29.9% had sickness absence but did not meet the triggers and 65.2% had no absence.

The outturn figure for 2009/2010 was 8.35. The outturn figures for Q1 and Q2 were both below the 2 day target per quarter, Q3 is slightly over.  However, the Council is currently below the accumulated figure of 6 days.

It was noted that back problems had not increased significantly in Q3, and absence due to depression had also reduced significantly.

            RESOLVED:

            That the Panel noted the report on sickness absence.

(Director of Finance and ICT) to consider the attached report.

The Assistant Director of Finance, Peter Maddock, introduced the report providing a comparison between the probable outturn for the period ended 31 December 2010 and the actual expenditure or income applicable.

Despite the income losses reported against the Original Estimate the probable outturn was expected to use £235,000 less of General Fund balances than was predicted in the Original Estimate. This is primarily due to the income losses being offset by savings on employee expenditure, the budget assumed a 1.5% pay increase which in the event did not occur.

The Panel noted that:

• The salaries schedule shows an underspend of £294,000 or 2.0%;
• Building Control was managed within a ringfenced account that over a three year period should break even. Income levels have been down significantly and in order to keep the account in balance posts have been held vacant;
• Building Control Income shows an under achievement of £4,000 at 31 December, when compared to the three year average used for budget monitoring purposes. Income was £20,000 above that achieved at this point last year; however January was a poor month.  Unless something unusual happens in 2010/11 the account will be in deficit by the year end;
• Development Control income at Month 9 was £20,000 above the current probable outturn figure, however like Building Control January was not a good month. If the final two months outturn in line with the Probable Outturn figures the amended position will be met; and
• The Housing Repairs Fund shows an underspend of £354,000. However much of the winter related expenditure will not show until the final quarter. The final position is expected to be in line with the Probable Outturn figure.

Whilst a number of income sources will fall short of the Original Budget set in February 2010, the budget process undertaken during 2010/11 included an update on the expected outturn for the year. The amount needed from the General Fund balance to meet the net expenditure should be about £235,000 less than the £544,000 originally anticipated

RESOLVED:

That the Panel noted the revenue and capital financial monitoring report for the third quarter of 2010/11.

(Office of the Chief Executive) To consider the attached report.

The Performance Improvement Manager, Mr S Tautz introduced the report considering the Council’s performance for the first nine months of 2010/11 in relation to the Key Performance Indicators adopted for the year. The Panel noted that forty-eight Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) had been adopted for 2010/11.

Since the changes to existing performance arrangements were announced by the Secretary of State, a review of the existing KPI set has been undertaken to identify any National Indicators that could be deleted as KPIs for 2011/12, where data collection is resource intensive or over burdensome, or where issues of limited value and validity have arisen in respect of data previously collected. This exercise resulted in proposals for some National Indicators to be carried forward into 2011/12 as Local Performance Indicators.

NI 189 – Flood and Coastal erosion Risk Management – this mainly applied to the County Council and it has not proved possible to adjust the indicator to make it more meaningful to this Council; it was therefore recommended that this indicator be withdrawn. On consideration the Panel agreed with this recommendation and withdrew this indicator.

AGREED: that NI 189 be withdrawn.

LPI 45 – Number of appeals allowed against refusal of planning applications – this indicator was derived from a statutory indicator in 2008/09. It was proposed that this indicator be revised taking two separate targets, one for the delegated decisions to the Director of Planning and Economic Development and one for the number of reversals of officer recommendations on planning applications, to allow for a greater understanding of decision making.

The Panel noted that there was an issue due to committee reversals, which was the prime reason why the Council was not meeting it target. The Panel were unsure of changing this measure, as a lot of the balanced or contentious decisions would go to the sub-committees and because of this, they did not believe that the target for both should be the same.

AGREED: The Panel agreed that LPI 45 should be split into two parts as indicated and that officers bring back options as to how the indicator was to be measured.

NI 196 – Improved Street and Environmental Cleanliness (Fly-Tipping) – noted that this indicator had been completely reassessed and as a result it would take a further 12 months to reassess the new data.

LPI 16 – Average time for processing new benefit claims – it was noted that the recruitment freeze may hit the section’s ability to meet its target for this year, as they would be short staffed. However, the outcome was still uncertain as the section had been hitting their targets (and better) so far this year.

LPI 07- Emergency repairs; LPI 08 - Urgent repairs; and LPI 09 – Routine Repairs undertaken within target time – the Panel were concerned that these were not hitting their targets. Officers accepted that it should be better, but they did go through a difficult period with only two part time staff managing that section.  They  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

To consider which reports are ready to be submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its next meeting.

To report back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the target setting exercise, the split planning appeals and the marked improvement to the Benefits Service.