Agenda, decisions and minutes

No declarations of interest were made.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 13^th September 2012.

(a)       That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman; and

(b)       That the Member Engagement Manager seek a written response for Councillor P. Curtis regarding the Holywell Leisure Centre.

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 13 September 2012 had been circulated to Members with the agenda.

Matters Arising

                        Councillor P.J. Curtis referred to page 7 of the minutes, and asked why the slide in the pool at Holywell Leisure Centre had been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair and asked if all leisure centres were closed on Bank Holidays.  The Member Engagement Manager agreed to seek a written response for Councillor Curtis.  The Leader of the Council said that whilst  Flintshire Leisure Centres were currently closed on Bank Holidays, this was currently under review.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman; and

(b)       That the Member Engagement Manager seek a written response for Councillor P. Curtis regarding the Holywell Leisure Centre.

            (a)       That the report be noted;

(b)       That a request be prepared for the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the income received from recycling; and

(c)        That the Member Engagement Manager provide members with the additional information indentified in the body of the minutes.

The Corporate Finance Manager introduced a report on the Revenue Budget Monitoring 2012/13 position for Council Fund and Housing Revenue Account (at Month 4) which was to be presented to Cabinet on 16 October 2012.  He reported a projected overspend on the Council Fund of £1.028m and a projected underspend of £0.052m on the Housing Revenue Account.  He highlighted the individual position of the directorates on page 14. 

The Corporate Finance Manager highlighted that it was Management’s intention to contain the Council Fund projected overspend within the overall approved budget.  He also highlighted the risks and assumptions associated with the projection at point 3.05. 

An allocation of £0.707m for Non standard inflation has been set aside in the budget to cover Energy, Fuel and Food and current projections indicated that these amounts would be required in full.

Based on the current projection the level of contingency reserve at the end of the financial year would be £0.397m, however as stated previously it was Management’s intention to bring expenditure back in line with budget by the end of 2012/13.  The HRA position was reported as a projected  under spend of £0.052m which would result in a closing balance for 2012/13 of £1.6 m, which at 6% of total expenditure satisfied the target of ensuring a minimum level of 3%.  The Corporate Finance Manager reported an additional allocation of £0.250m from balances to fund additional CERA contribution towards funding of the HRA Capital Programme.

            Councillor G.H. Bateman asked for more detail about the efficiencies that would be explored in the Medium Term Financial Plan on point 3.04 on page14. The Leader of the Council in response, said that the Head of ICT and Customer Services would address this in his Flintshire Futures report.  The Leader of the Council advised that the Council faced a number of challenges, such as the Leisure Services overspend, Welfare Reform and the cost of out of county places.  The Leader urged members to attend the Welfare Reform workshop arranged for 12 November 2012 as it would impact heavily on the Council budget.

Councillor G.H. Bateman asked for more detail about the possible impact of Single Status on the Housing Revenue Account.  The Corporate Finance Manager in response said that any change in the cost base would need to be built into the Housing Revenue Account.

Councillor C.A. Thomas asked if the increase in admission charges to leisure centres had contributed to a drop in admissions.  The Leader of the Council in response said that the Lifelong learning action plan would address the impact on the budget.  Councillor Thomas asked why the school music service had overspent by £102,000 despite the introduction of charges. The Leader of the Council said that an officer working group would look at the in-year overspend. The Corporate Finance Manager said that he would send details of the membership of the working group and details of the budget to Councillor Thomas.  Councillor C. Thomas asked if measures had been taken to reduce postage  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

(a)       That the report be noted; and

(b)       That the five work streams (Assets, Customers, Finance, Procurement and Workforce) become the subject of separate reports to future meetings of the Committee.

The Head of ICT and Customer Services introduced a mid year progress report on Flintshire Futures, the corporate programme for modernisation and change.  He said that there was a Flintshire Futures Programme Board with Member representation which included the Leader, Deputy Leader, Cabinet Member for Corporate Management and the Chair of Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  The primary focus of the Programme was to deliver efficiencies through Corporate Change, Service Change, Regional Collaboration and Local County Collaboration. 

The Head of ICT and Customer Services said that the recent work had focussed mainly on Corporate Change projects in 5 workstreams, customer, procurement, assets, work force and finance and that there was a lead officer for each area.  He went on to explain that lead officers would attend subsequent meetings to report on the individual work programmes. The “customer” projects involved the Flintshire Connects service, the first of which was due to open at the end of October in Holywell.  He added that a report would be considered by Cabinet shortly on plans for future centres across Flintshire.  The Head of ICT and Customer Services said that the Streetscene contact centre service had been very popular and that he hoped it would be developed to cover other service areas.  The other priority was promotion of customer self service on the web. He cited the success of the “doggy do app” which had around 1000 downloads and that there were plans to extend the facility to cover other council services.  The Head of ICT and Customer Services then spoke about the £1 billion assets owned by the council, with office accommodation costing £1.75 million per annum to run.  He said that rationalisation was needed and that office space could be potentially reduced by 50% if we radically changed the way we worked.         

                        With regard to procurement about £150 million was spent on goods and services each year and that currently there were 44,000 suppliers.  There was a need to negotiate more effectively, on a regional and national level.  The electronic procurement system P2P would be in use by all departments by the end of March 2013.

                        The Head of ICT and Customer Service then spoke about maximisation of income and management of debt and modernisation of internal processes.  He said that some work would be linked to fees and charges and some linked to the budget process.  Progress on the workforce work stream had already delivered an excess of £4 million in savings from senior management restructure and service reviews. The programme would now look at reduction of management costs and organisational layers to reinvest into front line services as well as preparing staff for change.  The I-Trent system had allowed staff to manage their own personal details and expenses electronically.  The use of interim staff and consultants is currently under review.

                        The Leader of the Council thanked the Head of ICT and Customer Services and all the other officers involved in Flintshire Futures.  He said that the Programme was a first  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

            (a)       That the report be noted; and

(b)       That a report be submitted to the committee after the physiotherapy pilot has been running for six months to ascertain its effectiveness.

The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development introduced a work force report for the first quarter of 2012/13.

                        The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development highlighted trends and commented on exceptions.  She reported that there had been a significant reduction in the use of agency workers due to the recruitment of staff in street scene and that there had been a reduction of agency workers in Community Services.  There had been a reduction in the use of agency staff for 12 weeks or more during the last quarter.  In all, there had been a 34% reduction in the use of agency staff when compared with the same quarter last year.

The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development reported that there had been 21 early retirements from January to June all due to redundancy which had cost £844,000.  She reported that the first quarter’s absence levels had increased in comparison with the same period the previous year and that the target of 2.30 days per FTE for quarter one had

not been achieved, with the actual figure at 2.64 days.  Delays in paper work being received from managers to notify HR of employees returning to work was a contributory factor to the target not being met. This would be reflected by a decrease in sickness absence for this quarter when the workforce information reports were generated for quarter 3 as this occurs every quarter. With regards to 100% attendance, during the first quarter of 2012, 75% or 6300 employees had achieved this.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that attendance was a priority for the council and performance was not at the expected level.  She said that specific service areas had higher levels absence and that trends and themes would need to be investigated.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development reported that absence rates for Adult Social Services had risen, and it was likely that there were many absences which were as a result of musculoskeletal issues. A pilot physiotherapy scheme for Streetscene staff had been set up in conjunction with Occupational Health and extending the pilot to employees in Adult Social Services was being considered. She stressed that potential recipients had to undertake a thorough medical assessment by Occupational Health in order to access the service.  A report would be submitted to committee after the first six months of operation in order to evaluate its effectiveness.  Performance had improved in Lifelong Learning and noted that 25% of absences were in Catering, Cleaning and Facilities Services.  She reported that overall performance in schools was good.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development concluded her report by saying that Flintshire sickness absence levels over recent years have been at or below the average for all Welsh local authorities and that she wanted to see performance improve in this area.

                        Councillor P.J. Curtis said that improving performance was difficult given the wide range of jobs within the council.  Councillor Curtis said that even the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

 (a)      That the Forward Work Programme be amended to include items relating to the Five Flintshire Futures themes and an item on the cost benefits of agile working; and

(b)       That members of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee be invited to participate in the meeting when the Assets work stream is considered.

The Member Engagement Manager introduced the report to advise on the Forward Work Programme for the Committee.

            The Member Engagement Manager advised the Committee that there was an addition to the Work Programme, a work shop on 12 November 2012 on Welfare Reform in the Clwyd Room and that a date had not yet been set for the Capital Programme briefing, although it was envisaged it would be held in late November.

            During earlier discussions it had been agreed that that the Work Programme be amended to include reports on the following be submitted to future Committee meetings:-

1.         The Five Flintshire Futures themes

2.         The cost benefits of agile working.

                        It was agreed by the Committee that members of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee be invited to participate in the meeting when the Assets work stream was considered.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the Forward Work Programme be amended to include items relating to the Five Flintshire Futures themes and an item on the cost benefits of agile working; and

(b)       That members of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee be invited to participate in the meeting when the Assets work stream is considered.

                        The meeting commenced at 10.00 a.m. and ended at 12.35 p.m.

                        There were two members of the public or press in attendance.