Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Will Adams and Colin Coulton.

Members are requested to indicate at this stage in the proceedings any items on the agenda in which they intend to declare an interest. Members are reminded that if the interest is a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (as defined in the Members’ Code of Conduct) they must leave the room for the whole of that item. If the interest is not a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest, but is such that a member of the public could reasonably regard it as being so significant that it is likely that it would prejudice their judgment of the public interest (as explained in the Code of Conduct) then they may make representations, but then must leave the meeting for the remainder of the item.

None.

To be approved as a correct record for signing by the Chair.

Resolved: (Unanimously)

That the minutes of the previous meeting of the Scrutiny Budget and Performance Panel, held on Monday, 15 November 2021, be approved as a correct record for signing by the Chair.

Report attached.

Resolved: (Unanimously)

That

1.    the Matters Arising from previous meetings of the Scrutiny Budget and Performance Panel be noted and

2.    any completed actions be removed from the report.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive attached.

The Leader of the Council (Councillor Paul Foster) and the Chief Executive presented a report which outlined the Council’s performance against the delivery of the Corporate Strategy projects and objectives during Quarter 3 (October-December 2021).

Overall, performance of the projects was good with 11 of 14 being on-track, 2 complete and 1 forecasted as delayed. Of 8 key performance indicators (KPI’s) reported, 3 were above target; 1 performing worse but within the 5% threshold; and 2 were outside of the threshold.

The report referred to a digitisation review within the Planning department and members queried whether this had already been done with the Planning Portal system. It was clarified, in response, that the digitisation review would incorporate a different software to the Planning Portal to enable tracking and management of applications.

Members also raised issues around being unable to access the Planning Portal to view and make representations on planning applications and asked that an update be provided on the technical issues outside of the meeting.

The delivery of the joint digital strategy was identified as amber/delayed in the report and the panel queried if this should be marked instead as red or off-track.

In response, it was explained that the rating of project performance is the judgement of officers and that fundamental changes in resourcing and progress would be reported in the next quarter.

The panel also requested that further ICT training be made available to Members, following some technical issues experienced by individuals.

Clarification was sought as to the impact of self-service channels on the number of telephone calls and in-person visits to Gateway.

It was acknowledged that the current software used was not fit-for-purpose although the call abandonment rate had recently improved to 4%. More detailed customer service performance data would be included in the next quarterly report which members welcomed.

The panel noted that many of the projects within the ‘Thriving Communities’ corporate priority related to young people and queried what support and programmes were available for the wider population.

Members were assured in response that the My Neighbourhood Community Hubs provide a range of support to their wider communities and that this would be identified in a Cabinet update report on the Hubs.

The panel also expressed a desire for future quarterly performance reports to provide examples of successes from across the Borough.

Assurances were also provided that the mental health support programme could be extended if there was sufficient need.

Some of the discussion focused around the Community Wealth Building programme, which had made good progress in the quarter.

Members queried the tangible benefits of the programme and were advised that a social value portal for procurement had been established, training delivered to officers and suppliers and that a credit union had opened in Leyland.

Members felt that clarification was needed that the Council had established a credit union branch in Leyland and asked that the report be updated to reflect this.

A request was also made that further consideration be given to communicating  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

Report of the Director of Finance attached.

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Assets (Councillor Matthew Tomlinson) and the Chief Executive presented a report of the Section 151 Officer which provided an update on the Council’s revenues and reserves forecast as at 31 January 2022.

Members noted the update and queried if the Council had the capacity and resources to deliver the activities allocated for in the reserve accounts. In response, some issues with capacity were acknowledged but the Corporate Strategy was felt to be realistic.

Assurances were provided that recruiting agency staff and redeployment of employees were underway to minimise impact on services where there were significant underspends, such as IT, Customer Services, Revenues and Benefits and Neighbourhoods, which members welcomed.

Resolved: (Unanimously)

That the Scrutiny Budget and Performance Panel:

1.    thanks the Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Assets and the Chief Executive for attending, their report and answering questions and

2.    welcomes the update on the additional resources being invested to deliver corporate projects.

Report of the Director of Finance attached.

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Assets (Councillor Matthew Tomlinson) and the Chief Executive presented a report of the Section 151 Officer which outlined the overall financial position of the Council in respect of the capital programme as at 31 January 2022.

Members noted the ongoing high-value spend for various projects and queried the Cabinet Member’s confidence in the delivery of the capital programme.

In response, the Cabinet Member advised that they remained very confident in the council’s current ability to deliver projects.

A query was also raised as to why the parks and playgrounds budget had been reprofiled and the delivery delayed to next year. It was explained that this was due to a variety of reasons, including consultation feedback.

Resolved: (Unanimously)

That the Scrutiny Budget and Performance Panel:

1.    thanks the Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Assets and the Chief Executive for attending, their report and answering questions and

2.    acknowledges the significant spend on Worden Hall, the McKenzie Arms Site and other projects that will be reflected in the fourth quarter’s report.