Agenda item

(A presentation by James Gilbert, Assistant Director – Corporate)

The Assistant Director – Corporate presented the report which provided an update on the Local Government Association (LGA) Peer Challenge which took place in May 2024. The Chairman indicated that the Committee had agreed to receive a report twice yearly in order to monitor progress.

The Peer Challenge Action Plan had been received in August/September 2024 and had then gone before Cabinet for approval. Since then, the Council had been working to deliver the actions within it. The follow up peer review was scheduled to take place on 15^th and 16^th May 2025.

The Assistant Director – Corporate indicated that one of the key pieces of evidence the peers would look at when they returned was the Action Plan and what the Council had done to deliver against it.

The Assistant Director – Corporate confirmed that the Action Plan contained a number of strands of governance. He advised the process was that the report had been considered by the Senior Leadership Team in terms of its delivery. The report was also presented quarterly to the Leader of the Council and the Assistant Director – Corporate who meets with the Leader to consider the Action Plan page by page. He indicated that the other key line of governance was for the Corporate and Community Committee to receive an update every six months which provided members with the opportunity to scrutinise and challenge it.

The Assistant Director – Corporate indicated that the action plan contained 29 actions of which 10 had been completed. 14 actions were on track and 5 actions, where the original target dates had slipped slightly, had delivery dates. Members noted that there were no “red” items, which was positive. The Assistant Director – Corporate confirmed that an additional action had been added to the plan where it was felt necessary that further consideration should be given, which was the development of a Borough-wide plan that would be presented to the Committee during the meeting.

The Chairman congratulated the Assistant Director – Corporate on the clarity of the report.

Members discussed the reports and commented as follows:

Clarification was sought in relation to the meaning of the word “ongoing” within the report and whether there might be better terminology which would more accurately capture the nature of the work required or would indicate that a review or progress date might be required. The Assistant Director - Corporate advised that for a number of the actions it was appropriate to have the word “ongoing” because, for example, on issues like updating the intelligence hub this would be an ongoing piece of work. He confirmed that any specific dates which were required for progress updates could be included in the future. He added that the evidence column was always “live” and subject to regular review to ensure it was reflective of the action to date. He agreed to review the word “ongoing” and see how it might be tightened. He also provided confirmation that every action in the plan was in any event reviewed at least quarterly.

In relation to page 16 of the report, further information was requested regarding legal advice which had been taken and whether it was confidential. The Assistant Director – Corporate indicated that some advice had been circulated to members previously. He agreed that he would review the action taken but confirmed that some advice had been received in relation to company governance which was being acted upon at present. The Assistant Director – Corporate agreed to provide the information to Councillor Barrie Pierpoint in response to his request for clarification.

Discussion occurred in relation to the PSPS transformation programme and confirmation was provided by the Assistant Director – Corporate that it had been through scrutiny, including a Joint Scrutiny Committee. It had not yet been received by Boston’s Cabinet but because it was a joint plan, it had been through the East Lindsey’s and South Holland’s Cabinets. He confirmed that when the business cases came forward from PSPS for the projects that were in the plan, they would present opportunities to the Council to consider, including potential efficiency savings within the company and project ideas coming forward for consideration that could benefit customers.

Members noted that PSPS had their own transformation programme, which was about delivering reductions in the contract price the Council paid to the company. The Assistant Director – Corporate advised that they were instrumental to the transformation of services through their services such as Human Resources, IT and Finance.

In response to a question, the Assistant Director – Corporate confirmed that the recent departure of two Senior Directors would not have an effect on the Action Plan.

Consideration was given to the length of time which was allowed for delivery of an item in the Action Plan, for example, training for councillors/officers had a timescale of 30^th September 2024, and the Committee considered the time allowed to achieve an outcome. The Assistant Director – Corporate confirmed that in this respect, the Assistant Director – Governance & Monitoring Officer had indicated that a schedule of training had been agreed, with dates for training being confirmed in March.

Resolved:

That the Action Plan be noted.