The Cabinet Member will update the Committee regarding areas covered by this remit.
Minutes:
The Committee had before it, and NOTED, a report * from the Cabinet Member for the Working Environment and Support Services updating Members regarding the areas covered with her remit.
Unfortunately Councillor Mrs M E Squires had not been able to attend the meeting as she had been unwell, however the Chairman invited the Committee to consider the report in her absence and discussion followed with regard to the following areas:
Email policy
The policy currently stated that it was not possible for video footage recorded on a person’s phone to be used as emailed evidence. It was explained that the policy was currently under review and would be updated to reflect current legislation. A report would be presented to the Cabinet shortly.
Staff survey
Group Managers were currently working on an action plan in relation to the results of the staff survey and this would be shared with Members in due course.
Constitution
It was stated that the Constitution needed to be updated and some errors needed correction. The Monitoring Officer replied by explaining that she had been working through it when time allowed but to focus on this would mean other important work in Legal Services falling behind. Her preference would be to have a leaner version of the Constitution but this ran the risk of not covering all circumstances. Work on the Constitution was time consuming but would be undertaken over the next few months and it was anticipated that a report would be brought before Members in the autumn.
Decent High Quality Housing
The Cabinet Member’s report stated that the Council was doing good work in this area but it was felt that not enough was being done to broadcast this fact through the press although there had been some coverage on Facebook.
Action: The Chairman stated that this would be fed back to the Cabinet Member as a comment from the Committee.
Air Quality
More information was requested in relation to the Air Quality Action Plan which was the responsibility of Public Health and Regulatory Services and which was provided every four years to DEFRA. Members were reminded that the Action Plan was presented to the Community Policy Development Group in November 2017 and that all the information was in the paper presented to the Group. If Members had further questions in relation to this matter then they should contact the Cabinet Member.
Complaints
The Committee was informed that the updated position with regard to complaints would be presented to the Cabinet in the summer and that this would include a breakdown by department. The question was asked as to whether complaints that were subsequently withdrawn, or not upheld by the Housing Ombudsman for example, would factor in the complaints data presented to Members. The Chief Executive couldn’t confirm whether complaints that were received and subsequently withdrawn by a complainant did appear in the annual statistics, but stated that if the Council received information where a complaint had been (only) partially dealt with before being registered as a complaint, then these would still be recorded as a complaint.
Action: Further clarity in relation to this should be sought from the Cabinet Member.
Note: * Report previously circulated; copy attached to the signed minutes.
Supporting documents: