To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Brimacombe, Cllr Dr Evans and Cllr Jones.

Cllr Adam Smith was in the Chair.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest received.

To consider the report.

Simon Fletcher, Strategic Director of Operations and Customer Services, introduced the report that provided a refreshed 2015/16 - 2018/19 Operations and Customer

Services Directorate Business Plan, setting out the purpose, structure and cost

of services within the directorate and the key improvement outputs agreed with

Lead Members for each service area over the next three years.  The report also provided outturn performance for 2015/16.

The Panel were informed that there have been a number of changes to the Directorate during 2015/16 and these were reflected in the refreshed Business Plan.

As part of the Senior Leadership Restructure which took place in January 2016, the name of the Directorate changed from Operations to Operations & Customer Services. This restructure also saw the Libraries, Arts and Heritage Service move to our Directorate.  Contracts and Commissioning and Business Transformation had been removed as distinct services and this resulted in a reduction of heads of service from 8 to 5.

Section 2.4 of the report showed how the Directorate continuously

reviewed their performance against targets and used this information to set challenging targets to drive performance.  The report provided examples of these stretched targets.

Cllr Smith reported that it was a well written document that was easy to read.  It was good to see the customer focus and challenging targets being set.

Cllr Wilson said he would like to see all Directorates producing similar reports and asked if officers were aware of their responsibilities in meeting the objectives in the plan.  The Panel were informed that the Plan was communicated to officers and there were named officers with responsibilities for meeting the targets / outcomes.  Manifesto commitments had also been incorporated. 

Cllr Smith reported that Members had the responsibility to promote and challenge the Plan as the services came into direct contact with our residents. 

Cllr Rankin mentioned that with regards to KO2 Deliver a cost neutral mechanism for issuing Penalty Charge he would not like to see over zealous charges to meet a target.  The Panel were informed that you could not set a target for penalty charges but we could look at the cost per transaction.  One year ago the cost of issuing PCN was £50, the challenge was to increase public awareness to decrease the need to issue notices as well as decreasing the cost of issuing notices.

Cllr E Wilson reported that Members received complaints about dog fouling and there needed to be Member challenge when producing such reports to help identify issues that were important to our residents.

Cllr Carrol questioned if the digital transaction targets were realistic given the low base and was informed that if we got the processes for the right services then it was expected to see an increased uptake. It was agreed that it would be challenging.

Cllr Smith said that on page 11 paragraph 3.2 the word ‘out’ should be removed from ‘continue to drive out efficiencies’ and that the structure chart on page 13 should ready the Leader and other elected Members.  Cllr  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.