To receive any apologies of absence.

There were no apologies for absence received.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest received, although Cllr Carroll reported that if there were any issues relating to Public Health in the IPMR then he would not take part in the discussion.  

To approve the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 15^th June 2016.

Resolved unanimously: that the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 15^th June 2016 were approved as a true and correct record.

To comment on the Cabinet report.

The Head of Governance, Partnerships, Performance & Policy (Monitoring Officer) introduced the Cabinet report that recommended that Cabinet note the progress of Q1 2016 key performance indicators. 

The Panel were informed that there would be further refinement to the report and thus it should look different by Q2 reporting.  Paragraphs 2.1 and 2.2 highlighted how Portfolio Members and officers were looking to improving the Council’s performance management framework.

Of the 24 key performance indicators 42% were on target 29% were just short and 29% were off target.  With regards to the secondary targets 70% were on target or just short.  Full details were contained with appendix A and B of the report with remedial action being shown where required.

Cllr McWilliams reported that he would be taking the report to Cabinet and that he had been working with the new Strategy and Performance Manager on making the IPMR more accessible to Members and the public to see how the Council is performing.

Cllr Jones asked for it to be noted that she did not believe that Members who had a Cabinet role should be on Scrutiny Panels. Before the Panel voted on the item the clerk informed that although Cabinet Members could not be on scrutiny panels the Deputy Members and Principle Members could but it was advisable that they did not vote on items under their remit.  

Cllr Burbage raised concern about the spend on agency staff, sickness levels and the level of staff turnover.  The Panel requested that they be given more detail on staff turnover with the figure of leavers, additional explanations on these adverse trends and additional analysis split by directorate in Q1 showing how long the leavers had been employed by RBWM and that the Head of HR present at the next Panel meeting. 

Cllr Dr Evans was concerned that the table one Summary of Performance was not truly comparative over the quarters as the number and type of KPIs had changed and thus we were not comparing like for like and we did not know if the performance indicators that had been dropped had been good or poor performers.  The table for the secondary indicator was also comparing different reporting quarters and thus not a true comparison.  Cllr Dr Evans also felt that there should be less but more focused KPIs. It was requested that a revised table to prepared that analysed the same 24 PIs for both quarters. This was considered to be much more meaningful.

Cllr Quick made reference to  indicator CS78 – Number of families supported through Troubled Families.  There was concerned that the indicator was off target and that it did not show the outcomes of the support given and it was recommended that the number of families completing the programme should be added.  Cllr Burbage mentioned that there had been national concern in this area and how it should be measured. 

Cllr Quick also mentioned that the permanent exclusion from school was reporting ‘amber’ when given 19 pupils had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

To consider the Cabinet report.

The Head of Finance / Deputy Director Corporate & Community Services introduced the report that provided an update to Cabinet on the Council’s financial performance in 2016-17.

Services were currently projecting a £145k under spend. An additional £75k under spend was reported on non-service budget lines. There was therefore an

overall under spend of £220k on the General Fund.

The Panel were informed that the Council remained in a strong financial position with healthy reserves. The Council’s Development Fund currently had a balance of £1.104m. Overall our combined General Fund Reserves sit at £6.278m in excess of the £5.27m recommended minimum level set at Council in February 2016.

The Chairman noted that under Corporate and Community Services the report mentioned the loss of commercial rent income was anticipated with two units of Waldeck House being let to charities and four units in use by the Council for storage.  The Chairman asked for an update to be sent to the Panel on what charities let the properties.

The Chairman also asked for information to be circulated on what the funds being allocated on Forest Bridge School were for, as this was a free school.

The Chairman also raised concern that the budget for Early Help & Safeguarding continued to be under pressure and questioned if sufficient budget gets allocated each year and if there should be some built-in contingency fund for the challenging area so requests for additional budget did not have to be repeatedly made to Cabinet.

Cllr Carroll asked for clarification on the two classifications for the reserves and was informed that there was usable reserves and unusable reserves; the useable reserves  could be used to support council services such as the General Fund  whilst unusable funds (such as Schools Balances) were restricted to specific areas.

Cllr Jones mentioned that at the last Panel meeting it was requested that a Part II section be added to the report detailing known liabilities and risks; such a section had not been added.

Cllr Burbage questioned where the £455k balancing the Development Fund had come from and was informed that this was due to the receipt of the Transition Grant given by Government for the significant level of reduction in funding received for the 2016/17 financial settlement

Cllr Dr Evans suggested that the report would benefit from an additional column being added to show what the actual spend was to date.

Cllr Burbage mentioned that he had previously questioned how effective the authorities budget setting process was as there seemed to be a lot of amendments throughout the year.  The Panel noted that where there were in year changes they would be reported in this update report.  

Resolved unanimously: that the Corporate Services O&S Panel considered the report and fully endorsed the recommendations to Cabinet.  It was recommended that as a new Head of Finance/Deputy Director Corporate & Community Services had been appointed that this was a good opportunity to review the report to make it clearer.  The Chairman suggested that it would have  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

To review the Part I recommendations made by Panel.

The Chairman had requested that this item be considered to see if the Panel’s recommendations to Cabinet had been implemented.  The Chairman informed that he would like to see it clearly marked in reports when Panel recommendations had been acted upon and not just a note that they had been accepted. 

The Clerk informed that it would not always be possible to add the Panel’s comments to Cabinet reports as the Cabinet agenda was often published prior to the Panel meeting.  It was noted that the Democratic Services Manager collated Panel comments and these were circulated to Cabinet and all Members. 

Cllr Jones agreed it would be useful for Panels to get feedback from Cabinet on the recommendations that they make.

The Chairman said that Cabinet should make it clear when they have agreed with Panel recommendations, when they have not an explanation as to why not should be given.  It was requested that the Democratic Services Manager raise this with Cabinet.

The Panel held a Part II discussion providing an update on the CCTV and community warden element of the June 2016 Cabinet report on Delivering Services Differently in Operations and Customer Services.  It was recommended that an appropriate minute be added to Part I to note the discussion had taken place and that further details on these issues would be brought back to Cabinet and to the Panel as the Delivering Differently agenda was progressed during the year.

To consider passing the following resolution:-

“That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion takes place on item 9 on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1-7 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act"

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local

Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion takes place on items 8-9 on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1-7 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.

To approve the Part II minutes of the meeting held on 15th June 2016.

To receive an update following the June 2016 Cabinet report on Delivering Services Differently in Operations and Customer Services.