To confirm the record of the meeting of the Resources Scrutiny Panel held on 16 June 2016 (previously circulated).

The Record of the Meeting of the Resources Scrutiny Panel held on 16 June 2016, copies of which had been previously circulated were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Matters Arising from the Previous Minutes:

i)                 The Chairman reminded Members that at the previous Panel meeting Councillor Lammie had been appointed to the Review of Administration Project Board.  The Chairman distributed the Admin Review Assurance Panel – Terms of Reference.

ii)               Members requested that Matters Arising and Updates be agenda items.

In accordance with the Regulations, Members are invited to declare any disclosable interests under the Code of Conduct and the nature if those interests in respect of items on this Agenda and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

No declarations of interest were made.

To receive any petitions, deputations and questions received from Members of the Public in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 217.

The total time allowed for this item shall be 30 minutes. Petitions, declarations and questions shall be dealt with in the order in which they are received. Questions may also be submitted at short notice by giving a written copy to the Committee Administrator 15 minutes before the start of the meeting.

The total time allowed for questions at short notice is 15 minutes out of the total time of 30 minutes. Any petitions, deputations and questions that have been submitted with prior formal notice will take precedence over questions submitted at short notice. Any questions that are not considered within the time limit shall receive a written response after the meeting and be the subject of a report to the next meeting.

No petitions, deputations or questions had been received.

To consider any questions with notice from Members received in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rules No 219 and 219A.

No questions with notice had been received from Members.

To consider any Notices of Motion from Members submitted in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule No 220.

No notices of motion had been received from Members.

To consider any matter referred to the Panel for a decision in relation to call in of a decision in accordance with Procedure Rule 206.

No matter had been referred to the Panel for a decision in relation to call-in of a decision in accordance with Procedure Rule 206.

To receive Report No. 132/2016 from the Chief Executive.

Report No. 132/2016 from the Chief Executive was received.

Members had also received Report No. 155/2016 from the Chief Executive; this being the report to be presented at Cabinet on 16 August 2016.  The report included a number of amendments that had been made to the draft plan following consultation.

The Chief Executive, Mrs Briggs, introduced the report the purpose of which was to provide the Scrutiny Panel with the opportunity to be consulted on the Corporate Plan and to feed back to Cabinet any comments.

During the discussion the following points were noted:

i)                 That para. 4.3 (Report No. 155/2016) listed the organisations that had responded to the consultation.  It was noted that the Rutland LSP Culture and Leisure Theme Group had been omitted from the list, however the Group’s submission had been taken into account in the revised draft.  Mrs Briggs informed the Panel that Cabinet would be made aware of the omission and that it would be reflected in the minutes. 

ii)               This was the Corporate Plan for Rutland County Council as a Unitary Authority.

iii)              The Plan was a high level strategic document not intended to be extremely detailed.

iv)             The need for a Glossary of Terms, including Indices of Deprivation and financial terminology to be appended to the Plan was highlighted.  Mrs Briggs agreed to prepare and append.  Mrs MacDuff was requested to email any similar concerns to Mrs Briggs.

v)               That bullet points two and four in the summary on page 19 (Report No. 132/2016) (page 22, Report No. 155/2016) would be clarified as ‘per annum’.

vi)             That the submission of technical questions to officers prior to the meeting would allow for answers to be researched, where necessary, and for the relevant officers to be present at meetings.

vii)            MTFP at Quarter 1 2016/17 was distributed to show the Balances with 0% Council Tax and Balances with 2% Council against Balance with 4% Council Tax increase over the period of the plan.

viii)           That the 0.5% unemployment rate (112 – JSA claimants for January 2016) required further scrutiny, exploring worklessness and people who require assistance through the “Poverty in Rutland” scrutiny working group.  It was noted that performance figures had shown a large drop in percentage employed but not the same increase in JSA.  It was acknowledged that the number of residents in the county that were either retired or chose not to work was rising.

ix)             Key achievements 2011/2015 should read: Working with our communities to keep a number of public services including libraries and the museum.

x)               For consistency, Average House Prices and Median Gross Weekly Pay to show both national and East Midlands figures.

xi)             Key achievements 2011/2015 – consideration to be given to the wording regarding improved financial health.

AGREED:

1.     That the Panel NOTED the Draft Corporate Plan (Appendix A to Report No. 132/2016).

2.     Mrs Briggs informed the Panel that Cabinet was to be made aware that the Rutland LSP Culture and Leisure Theme Group had been omitted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 185.

To receive Report No. 133/2016 from the Director for Resources.

(Report to follow under separate cover)

Report No. 133/2016 from the Director for Resources was received.

The Portfolio Holder, Mr King, introduced the report, the purpose of which was to inform Cabinet and all Members of the full year forecast position as at Quarter 1 for 2016/17 and to alert them to issues that may impact on the Medium Term Financial Plan to enable them to maintain sound financial management of the Council’s operations.

During the discussion the following points were noted:

i)                 That the funding for the Assistive Technology Service budget sat within the Better Care Fund.  Primarily money was received from the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and the intention was that this would continue.

ii)               That there had been a drop in income and costs associated with the Active Rutland Hub.  Consideration was being given to a proposal for the gym club to take over two-thirds of the gym.  There was also a proposal from Stevenage Leisure Limited (SLL) to run the gym.

iii)              Outstanding Capital Receipts 2016/17: Bus Sale (Contractually Committed) and Westfield Avenue (Garage Sale) related to the disposal of the Rutland Shore and Work buses and Cabinet had previously approved the sale of the site on Westfield Avenue, possibly to a Registered Social Landlord.

iv)             Business Rates: Members were advised that the Government intention was for local authorities to keep 100% of the business rates raised locally however, it was possible that local government would be expected to take on extra responsibilities in the future.

v)               That the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) showed the Revenue Support Grant funding; subject to approval by Council in September.

The Assistant Director – Finance, Mr Della Rocca, advised that he would circulate to all Members his written response to questions received from Councillor Waller.

AGREED:

1.     That Panel NOTED the contents of Report No. 133/2016.

To receive Report No. 150/2016 from the Director for Resources.

(Report to follow under separate cover)

Report No. 150/2016 from the Chief Executive was received, the purpose of which was to report to Cabinet on the Council’s performance for the first quarter of 2016/17.

During the discussion the following points were noted:

i)                 Members were advised that complaints received referred to formally made complaints that went to the stage process.

ii)               Councillor MacDuff stated that she had been made aware of complaints that had not been completed within timescales.  Councillor MacDuff agreed to forward details to Councillor King and Mr Della Rocca to allow for further investigation.

iii)              That where performance targets for responding to complaints within timescales were not met (LI034 and LI035) the actual number of complaints was three; two of which had exceeded the timescale by one day and one by 10 days.

AGREED

1.     The Panel NOTED the contents of Report No. 150/2016.

2.     Councillor MacDuff to forward details of complaints not completed within timescales to Councillor King and Mr Della Rocca, to allow for further investigation.

To receive Report No. 153/2016 from the Director for Resources.

Report No. 153/2016 which had been prepared at the request of the Resources Scrutiny Panel and described the current performance within the customer service centre, the current customer service standards and also sought a discussion on the Panel’s view of customer service provision in relation to channel shift had been circulated to Members with the agenda.

The Panel received a presentation from the Head of IT and Customer Service, Mr Nix, on the Customer Services Update.

The following points were raised during discussion:

i)                 Concern was raised at the low percentage of emails resolved (32%).  Members were advised that this was a generic email address with many emails being signposted and forwarded on.  It was acknowledged that further work was required to improve electronic response times.

ii)                    The Council was actively working on a new website to be launched in 2017.

iii)                   That changed categories for resolved or transferred telephone calls allowed for more accurate recording of performance.

iv)                  That some officers, Rutland County Council (RCC) and shared services, did not include the corporate standard address block in their emails.  The Head of IT and Customer Service, Mr Nix, undertook to bring this issue to the attention of the RCC Communications Group.

v)                     Members stated that it was important that RCC continued with the personal answering of telephone calls rather than introducing fully automatic system.

vi)                  That response targets should be realistic as well as aiming to improve the level of customer service provided.  It was noted that for June 2016 where resources were known to be adequate, 75% of telephone calls were answered within one minute.

vii)                 Members were in favour of preserving the face-to-face facility.

viii)                That the Panel should receive an update following the launch of the new website and look to revise targets at that time; and also consider options for face-to-face and telephone customers. 

ix)                  That Customer Services will record the performance of how many calls were answered in one minute and 5 minute

AGREED

1.               That the Head of IT Customer Service, Mr Nix, would bring to the

attention of the RCC Communications Group that some officers, RCC and shared services, did not include the corporate standard address block in their emails.

2.               That the Panel would receive an update following the launch of the

new website and look to revise targets at that time; and also consider options for face-to-face and telephone customers.

To receive a verbal update from the Head of IT and Customer Services.

The Panel received a presentation from the Head of IT and Customer Service, Mr Nix, on the Review of Member Feedback on IT.

The following points were raised during discussion:

i)                 The issues around allowing calendar items to sync between different devices, programs and email addresses.

ii)               That Members were able request large documents to be printed by the RCC reprographics team.

To consider Scrutiny issues to review

Copies of the Forward Plan will be available at the meeting

The Chairman put forward the following items to be considered at the November meeting of this Panel:

1.     Poverty in Rutland project (as the substantive part of the meeting)

2.     Quarter 2 Outturn

3.     Treasury Report

To receive any items of urgent business which have been previously notified to the person presiding.

No items of urgent business had previously been notified to the Chairman.

10^th November 2016

Thursday 10 November 2016 at 7.00 pm, Council Chamber