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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Exe Room, Phoenix House, Tiverton

Contact: Julia Stuckey  Member Services Officer

Link: audio recording

Items
No. Item

119.

APOLOGIES AND SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS

To receive any apologies for absence and notices of appointment of substitute Members (if any).

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Cllrs Mrs C P Daw and T G Hughes.

120.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST UNDER THE CODE OF CONDUCT

Councillors are reminded of the requirement to declare any interest, including the type of interest, and reason for that interest, either at this stage of the meeting or as soon as they become aware of that interest.

Minutes:

There were no interests declared.

121.

PUBLIC QUESTION TIME

To receive any questions relating to items on the Agenda from members of the public and replies thereto.

 

Note:   A maximum of 30 minutes is allowed for this item.

Minutes:

There were no members of the public present.

122.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING pdf icon PDF 87 KB

Members to consider whether to approve the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee as a correct record (attached).

 

The Committee is reminded that only those members of the Committee present at the previous meeting should vote and, in doing so, should be influenced only by seeking to ensure that the minutes are an accurate record.

 

Minutes:

The minutes of the last meeting were approved as a correct record and SIGNED by the Chairman.

123.

MEMBER FORUM

An opportunity for non-Cabinet Members to raise issues.

Minutes:

There were no issues raised under this item.

124.

DECISIONS OF THE CABINET

To consider any decisions made by the Cabinet at its last meeting that have been called-in.

Minutes:

The Committee NOTED that none of the decisions made by the Cabinet at its last meeting had been called in.

125.

CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS

To receive any announcements that the Chairman of Scrutiny Committee may wish to make.

Minutes:

The Chairman highlighted the successful Housing Infrastructure Fund bid of £18.2m following the work of Scrutiny and Mel Stride MP.

126.

ESTABLISHMENT pdf icon PDF 75 KB

To inform Members of the overall structure of the Council showing the management and deployment of officers. 

Minutes:

The Committee had before it a report * from the Group Manager for Human Resources informing Members of the overall structure of the Council and showing the management and deployment of officers.

 

The Director of Corporate Affairs and Business Transformation explained that the report highlighted the establishment figures and explained that the full time equivalent (FTE) figure of 408.02 was much the same as the previous year, 408.81.  Sickness absence for long term sickness had increased which was mainly due to ailments such as heart attacks and cancer, for which, other than some prevention work such as ‘Well Being Week’ there was little that could be done to reduce.  There was currently a staff turn-over rate of 11% which was high and the officer explained that ‘exit interviews’ were used to identify the reasons why people were leaving, but that she considered the reasons to be mainly due to pay levels and pressure of work. Four people had been offered employment but had failed to take up the posts, which could be due to receiving a better offer elsewhere.

 

Discussion took place regarding:

 

·         Fixed term contracts and the fact that they were used to cover a specific purpose for a period of time;

 

·         Concerns that staff were under stress, but that stress was not always work related. To help with this staff could be supported by a short term reduction in hours or removing part of a workload;

 

·         Working from home and the numbers of staff that did so and how the level of work undertaken was monitored;

 

·         Agency workers were not included in the figures for the establishment.

 

It was AGREED that the establishment be reviewed by Scrutiny in 6 months’ time to consider the level of resignations and the reasons for them.

 

Note: - Report * previously circulated and attached to Minutes.

127.

PERFORMANCE AND RISK 00:58:08 pdf icon PDF 76 KB

To provide Members with an update on performance against the corporate plan and local service targets for 2016-17 as well as providing an update on the key business risks.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee had before it and NOTED a report * from the Group Manager for Performance, Governance and Data Security providing Members with an update on performance against the Corporate Plan and local service targets for 2017-18 as well as providing an update on the key business risks.

 

The officer outlined the contents of the report explaining that areas within Waste and Street Scene were on target and that Home Gas safety Certificates had expired for 3 properties but that this was being dealt with following laid down procedures.  She highlighted long term and short term sickness figures. These at an average over 8 years of 8.3 days per employee were in line with LGA benchmarking figures for 2016/17 of 8.2 days. Responses to Freedom of Information requests had improved and none had exceeded target time.

 

Discussion took place regarding:

 

·         There were 26 Council houses at Palmerston Park due for completion in October/November and 4 at Birchen lane due for completion in September/October;

 

·         The number of Fixed Penalty Notices issued and how to benchmark these;

 

·         Recycling and how to reduce the number of black sacks put out for collection;

 

·         The possibility of becoming a ‘plastic free’ District;

 

·         The possibility that community groups and volunteers could undertake recycling education work on behalf of the authority and potential grant funding for this;

 

·         Business continuity and the risk of cyber-attack;

 

·         The risk of data breaches and training that was in place to prevent this;

 

·         The Devon-wide Emergency Plan;

 

·         Praise for the Private Sector Housing team in bringing a high number of empty homes back into use;

 

·         Workplace welfare and a risk identified regarding levels of work in the Legal Services Team. 

 

It was AGREED that the Director of Corporate Affairs and Business Transformation would discuss community engagement, and how volunteers could be encouraged to help the authority in areas such as recycling, at Leadership Team, and report back.

 

Note: - Report * previously circulated and attached to Minutes.

128.

WHISTLEBLOWING UPDATE 01:01:50

The Group Manager for Performance, Governance and Data Security informs the Committee that there have been no cases reported since the last update.

 

Minutes:

The Group Manager for Performance, Governance and Data Security informed the Committee that there had been no cases reported since the last update.

129.

SCRUTINY OFFICER UPDATE 01:03:28 pdf icon PDF 47 KB

The Scrutiny Officer will provide an update.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee had before it and NOTED information * from the Scrutiny Officer regarding various areas that he had been asked to look into on their behalf.

 

Delayed Transfer of Care

 

The officer highlighted a link to NHS statistics and informed Members that Devon County Council Scrutiny would be receiving a report from the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) regarding hospitals over the winter period.  The officer would provide Members with this report and it was AGREED that Dr Squire be asked to attend the next meeting to give his view on the situation.

 

Members were reminded that the MP Neil Parish had offered to look into specific incidents of bed blocking if details were provided.

 

Ageing Workforce

 

The officer had provided information regarding ‘fitness for work’ in light of the removal of a compulsory retirement age and the fact that employees may stay in work longer.

 

Discussion took place regarding:

 

·         How mechanised working methods could help but could also have a cost implication;

 

·         The fact that it was not just physical health that could deteriorate with age but also cognitive and that this could also result in a drop in performance.

 

It was AGREED that the Group Manager for Street Scene and Open Spaces be asked to provide a report regarding planning for the future with an ageing workforce.

 

Cornwall Housing Allocations Policy

 

The officer highlighted a report from Cornwall Council regarding their housing allocations policy.

 

The Cabinet Member for Housing outlined a new scheme in place,  ‘Rent Plus’ which allowed those on Band E of the housing list to rent for an agreed number of years with the potential that when they moved on from that property to receive a deposit of 10% to purchase their own property.

 

The Cabinet Member explained that Devon Home Choice used a process for eligibility which included local need and income.  The banding that applicants were allocated to reflected their circumstances.  Devon Home Choice was a Devon Wide scheme and individual Districts could not change the criteria.  However, it was possible that Devon Home Choice might not continue in the future as a couple of Districts were considering leaving.

 

It was AGREED that the Cabinet Member would cover housing allocation at his next Cabinet Member report to the Committee.

 

Road maintenance and repairs in Mid Devon

 

The officer highlighted links to the Devon County Council website for reporting potholes and stressed the need for the public to report each pot hole individually.

 

Discussion took place regarding:

 

·         The condition of rural roads;

 

·         A new contractor was in place and whether or not the service had deteriorated;

 

·         If there was a cluster of pot holes they needed to be reported individually;

 

·         The depth of pot holes that would be repaired.

 

It was AGREED that the Scrutiny officer be asked to make further investigations regarding the criteria for pot hole repair, make enquires with regard to an officer from Highways attending a meeting and prepare a written update for the next meeting of the Committee regarding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 129.

130.

FORWARD PLAN pdf icon PDF 88 KB

Members are asked to consider any items within the Forward Plan that they may wish to bring forward for discussion at the next meeting.

Minutes:

The Committee had before it and NOTED the Forward Plan *.

 

Discussion took place regarding:

 

·         The Cullompton Town Centre Masterplan and whether it would include provision for public transport with a bus station.  It was AGREED that the Head of Planning, Economy and Regeneration be asked to attend a meeting of the Committee regarding this.

 

·         The ‘Tiverton Town Centre Masterplan’ and ‘Proposals for Improvements to Tiverton Town Centre’; whether they were the same thing and whether it was appropriate for consultation to be undertaken for one while the other was being put out to tender.

 

Note: - * Forward Plan previously circulated and attached to Minutes.

131.

IDENTIFICATION OF ITEMS FOR THE NEXT MEETING

Members are asked to note that the following items are already identified in the work programme for the next meeting:

 

Cabinet Member for Planning

RIPA

Member Development Update

 

Note: - this item is limited to 10 minutes. There should be no discussion on items raised.

Minutes:

Cabinet Member for Planning

RIPA

Member Development Update

Dr James Squire

Scrutiny officer update

Three Rivers SPV