Agenda item

(For Members to note/discuss the Committee’s current work programme)

The Transformation and Governance Manager presented the newly formatted Quarter 1 monitoring report and confirmed that the report aligned with the directorate across the alliance. The new report did not split the data by scrutiny committee remit and each committee would receive the same report.  It would enable each committee to refer items to the other committee should they wish.  The performance monitoring was colour coded red, amber and green and an overview of each ‘outside of agreed tolerance’ area followed to highlight the red markers in each directorate.

Assets:

Car parking was down but the performance level was not unexpected due to the impact of Covid19.

Housing and Wellbeing:

Unfortunately, due to the introduction of a new IT system, it had not been possible to include all elements of the service in quarter one as systems for housing and homelessness were not in place.  However, work was ongoing and reporting should be available for the next quarter. 

Of the two measures reported, the number of properties improved through Council intervention had improved and although the rough sleeper indicator was red, the target figure of 0 was an aspirational figure and the Council did not expect to meeting each quarter.

Organisation and Corporate Support:

The alliance carried out a number of staff surveys and a key indicator was the response to the question asking how valued the staff felt.  The response to that question had not meet the target, however it was the first time the question had been asked and therefore there had been no past data to reference in respect of the target setting.  However, ongoing work to address the issue would assess the responses further. The Council scheduled ongoing work on both values and behaviours.  The One Team Voice group enabled staff to look closely at feedback.

Operations. 

Household waste was in tolerance.  Due to a change in operation by LCC in respect of contaminated waste, no figures were available as the process was now by site and not by authority.   Fly Tipping was excellent.  However, the impact of Covid19 on the markets and changes to the markets had been severe and there was no information for the markets at this time.

Planning

The measures were very different from previously with the redaction of the extended figure having been withdrawn.  Previously data without extension would have been included in the attached comment.  If the national figures had been used, all categories’ would be green.  Officers were still considering the amended procedure for calculating these measures.

Regulation

There had been an impact of the Council’s food safety inspections during lockdown with food safety work prioritised around covid recovery.  Some areas of the previous work carried out remained outstanding but Officers were not concerned and the reasons given put the situation into context.

PSPS:

This was a new stream of reporting to Boston.

Benefit Claims had been unprecedented and alongside that, the staff managed the track and trace system.  The comments set out clearly the action now taking place that included daily recording measures to allow staff to monitor the workload.

Committee deliberation followed which included the following: 

Concern noted a change in the service provided by Centrepoint Outreach in respect of rough sleepers, with a Member stating it appeared their focus had changed to work programmes and activities.  A project worker now attended each morning to ensure follow up on rough sleepers.   Members agreed that an invitation be issued to Mr Phil Startin the Councils’ Rough Sleeper Coordinator to attend a meeting of the Corporate and Community meeting to provide committee with an update on any changes in the operation of Centrepoint Outreach in Boston.

Referencing feedback to the survey a Member voiced concern at the response to the question relating to staff feeling valued, stating how important he felt it was that staff should feel valued and the response percentage was not acceptable.  The Member stressed that staff needed to feel valued both as a person and for the work they do, and the outcome could be a criticism of not only the executive and senior managers, but of Councillors too.

Another member noted that at the Joint Scrutiny Alliance meeting the Chief Executive had felt the 62% response had been favourable bearing in mind the upheaval of the previous months with staff relocating, commuting and settling with the new alliance.

The Transformation and Governance Manager agreed the two elements to the question and confirmed that a workforce plan was in place to get underneath the questions.  There had been a wide range of reasons given for feeling undervalued and not all had been work related, but Officers did need to address it and then monitor and respond on what transpires,

Further comment questioned how commercial rents had achieved a target in excess of 104%.  Why was it not possible to know the situation of market stall attendance when the stallholders paid their rents direct to the markets manage on the day, and were fines still raised on the Council for contamination under the new LCC procedure?

The Transformation and Governance Manager advised she did not know if charges for contamination still applied but questioned how they would do so as the new procedure was by site and not by Authority.

Concluding the Chairman sought committee’s agreement to issue an invitation to Anglian Water to attend a future meeting.  The invite would be to report on their current procedure in respect of their disposal of raw sewage into rivers and the sea, 

It would further invite them to advise how they intend to reduce their existing carbon footprint in respect of the transportation of raw sewage across the borough, and to update on any plans they have to improve their infrastructure and increase their number of treatment plants.

Members all agreed the suggestion to invite Anglian Water and the Chairman thanked everyone in attendance for their time and input and formerly closed the meeting.

To Do:

KR.  Issue an invitation to Anglian Water. 

KR.  Advise the Corporate and Community Committee of the committee recommendation to invite the Councils’ Housing Officer to provide an update on any changes in the operation of Centrepoint Outreach in Boston.