Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual meeting with restricted public access

Contact: Ann Little on 033 022 22654  Email:  ann.little@westsussex.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

13.

Declarations of Interest

Members and officers must declare any pecuniary or personalinterest in any business on the agenda. They should also make declarations at any stage such an interest becomes apparent during the meeting. Consideration should be given to leaving the meeting if the nature of the interest warrants it.  If in doubt please contact Democratic Services before the meeting.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

13.1     No declarations of interest were made.

14.

Urgent Matters

Items not on the agenda which the Chairman of the meeting is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency by reason of special circumstances, including cases where the Committee needs to be informed of budgetary or performance issues affecting matters within its terms of reference, which have emerged since the publication of the agenda.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

14.1     No urgent matters were raised.

15.

Performance and Resources Report - Quarter 4 pdf icon PDF 59 KB

Report by the Director of Law and Assurance, setting out the finance and performance position as at the end of March 2022.

 

The Committee are asked to examine the Council’s corporate performance, finance, savings delivery and business performance for the services within the remit of this Committee and to make any recommendations for action to the relevant Cabinet Member.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

15.1     The Cabinet Member for Community Support, Fire and Rescue, Cllr Crow, introduced the item, giving some background on fourth quarter portfolio performance for the Committee.  He reported that the three Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the Communities element of the portfolio were reporting green and reporting an underspend. Certain areas were running under-staffed, which had contributed to the underspend, but this was not sustainable in the longer-term

 

15.2     The Assistant Director (Communities), Mrs King, highlighted the impact for the Community Hub of switching between delivery of the COVID-19 Local Tracing Partnership, to delivering the Homes for Ukraine response alongside continued support for the vulnerable and those experiencing financial hardship. Attention was drawn to the efforts underway to recruit staff to the Registration Service, now that the Service has returned to face-to-face delivery, following the pandemic.

 

15.3     Members of the Committee then asked questions and a summary of those questions and answers follows:

 

·       The model for the Community Hub allowed for flexibility in how staff are deployed and can be scaled up/down depending on requirements. The time taken to respond to telephone calls was not currently monitored but all staff are allocated to the single number. Once the Customer Service Centre has been brought back in-house, monitoring along these lines should be possible. Much of the Hub’s work involves direct intervention/practical assistance but there is also a degree of signposting residents to a variety of other services. KPI 34 related in the main to unique interactions, not unique individuals.

 

·       Trading Standards intervention is an interaction – a phone call, written communication or, more usually, a visit. A formal record of any interaction is always made.

 

·       The movement of Registration Service staff from office to office, based on demand, could be determined locally. However, forecasting demand was challenging. The ability to register deaths over the phone was a legal Coronavirus easement, which has since lapsed.

 

·       Increased use of the e-library offer was partially driven by the pandemic which ‘supercharged’ the number of new customers utilising this service. Use of the physical library assets and services had not yet fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels but

 

·       Performance data reporting included both aspects of service access in terms of people using digital services remotely as well as accessing whilst within the library either from their own devices or using the Public Access Computers.

 

15.4     The Assistant Director (Environment and Public Protection), Mr Read, highlighted that no new risks or major issues had arisen during the quarter. Agreement had been reached with Biffa for the processing of food waste, despite the continuing absence of detail from the government, which was also perpetuating uncertainty for the Districts and Boroughs. Waste volumes and electricity generation had remained stable. The booking system operating at some Recycling Centres continued to operate successfully and the implementation of same day bookings had been widely welcomed. Work on decarbonisation of the estate was progressing and aligned with the Smarter Working programme.

 

15.5     Members of the Committee then asked questions and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

16.

Business Planning Group

The Committee are asked to note that the membership of the Business Planning Group is now confirmed as Cllrs Britton, Oakley, Kenyon, Oxlade and Milne.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

16.1     The Committee noted the membership of the Business Planning Group as Councillors Britton, Oakley, Kenyon, Oxlade and Milne. The Chairman thanked Councillor Albury for his service.

17.

Requests for Call-in

There have been no requests for call-in to the Scrutiny Committee and within its constitutional remit since the date of the last meeting.  The Director of Law and Assurance will report any requests since the publication of the agenda papers.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

17.1     There had been no request for call-in to the Scrutiny Committee within its constitutional remit since the date of the last meeting.

18.

Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Committee will be held on 21 September 2022 at 10.30 am at County Hall, Chichester.  Probable agenda items include:

 

·       Performance and Resources Report – Quarter 1 – April–June 2022.

·       Transport for the South East Strategic Investment Plan Consultation

·       Climate Change Strategy progress

 

Any member wishing to place an item on the agenda for the meeting must notify the Director of Law and Assurance by 9 September 2022.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

18.1     The next meeting would be held on 21 September 2022 at 10.30am.