Agenda and draft minutes

In the absence of the Chair, Councillor Angela Turner and with the Scrutiny Budget & Performance Panel not having a Vice-Chair, the Head of Democratic Services requested a nomination of a Chair for the meeting. The Panel unanimously agreed that Councillor Michael Green would chair the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received for:

·       Councillor Colin Coulton – substituted by Councillor Michael Green

·       Councillor Angela Turner – substituted by Councillor Harry Hancock

None declared.

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

Resolved:

That the minutes of the previous meeting of the Scrutiny Budget and Performance Panel, held on Monday, 14 November 2022, be approved as a correct record for signing by the Chair.

Report attached.

Resolved: (Unanimously)

That

·       The Matters Arising from previous meetings of the Scrutiny Budget and Performance Panel be noted;

·       Minute 6.3 – Reserves for planning appeals and minute 7.2 – Delivery of capital programme remain on the Matters Arising document for further monitoring and;

·       Any completed actions be removed from the report.

Report of the Director of Change and Delivery attached.

The Chair welcomed the Leader of the Council, Councillor Paul Foster and Director of Change and Delivery, Victoria Willett to present the report which monitored the Council’s performance against the Corporate Strategy between 1 October- 31 December 2022.

Of the fifteen projects in the strategy the report highlighted that fourteen were either on target or completed. Of the performance indicators, 62.5% of the Corporate Strategy measures and 64% of key service delivery measures were performing on or above target. It was noted that the McKenzie Arms affordable homes project and the Jubilee Gardens extra care facility, both significant projects for the Council, had progressed well since the quarter 3 reporting period.

The Panel were advised that a 5% permitted tolerance when assessing projects against performance targets provided an additional indicator to understand and quantify how close the project was to being on target as opposed to just marking as on or off target. This provided a better measure to assess where areas need to be focused on.

Questions were raised over how the activities delivered through the Community Hubs were making a difference to residents and communities. In response, the Panel were reassured that whilst it was challenging to quantify definitively, there had been positive feedback from members, key stakeholders and residents. In addition, uptake and attendance at events and schemes such as the HAF program demonstrated the benefits to the communities.

On improving the visitor offer in South Ribble, the Panel heard of the Council’s commitment to include all areas of the borough. Following on, the Panel heard that the Chief Executive had been working with colleagues across Lancashire to ensure that South Ribble was rightly highlighted through the Marketing Lancashire initiative.

Members heard that whilst there was a desire for the Youth Council to have autonomy, there were plans to develop and strengthen the links with the Youth Council and the Council has a whole. This could be through participation of Youth Council members at meetings of the Council or by ways of being involved in policy development and the wider decision making processes. The Panel were told that now the Youth Council was established and numbers were increasing it was hoped that it would be embedded in schools across the borough and support greater engagement with local democracy.

A lack of progress with regards to increasing savers with Unify Credit Union was highlighted by the Panel. In response, it was acknowledged that progress had been slow through the pandemic and more work was required to improve access and promote the Credit Union more widely. The Panel was reassured that the current number of savers, whilst below target, was a viable figure. In terms of outreach, it was suggested that the Community Hubs could play an important role in supporting residents to access the Credit Union – a commitment to arranging discussions between the Hubs and the Credit Union management team was provided.

Self-service channels were highlighted as an area where improvements could be made. The Panel  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.