Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any Declarations and advise Members accordingly.

There were no declarations of interest.

            There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meetings on 17September and 2 November 2018.

That subject to the above amendment the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

(i)         The minutes of the meeting held on 17 September 2018 were submitted.

(ii)        The minutes of the meeting held on 2 November 2018 were submitted.

Accuracy

            Councillor Dennis Hutchinson said he had submitted his apologies to the meeting and asked that the minutes be amended to record this.

RESOLVED:

That subject to the above amendment the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

That the Committee notes the design principles underpinning the creation of a

single Contact Centre and endorses the progress made towards delivering the

Digital Customer theme of the Digital Strategy.

The Chief Officer (Governance) introduced the report to provide an update on progress and to give assurance to the Committee on the design principles underpinning the creation of a single contact centre as part of delivering the digital customer theme of the digital strategy.

The Chief Officer advised that in March 2018, Cabinet had agreed to the creation of a single Contact Centre starting initially with the joining of the Contact Centres serving Streetscene and Housing.  He outlined the key objectives of the project which were to build resilience within the combined team to deal effectively with peak call/incident times, staff absence and vacancies, improve Welsh language provision, and provide customers with access to multiple services via their Customer Account.

The Chief Officer explained that as part of improving digital services the Council would upgrade the online capability of the housing software to enable tenants to link directly to their housing account details from the Flintshire Customer Account page on the Council’s website, and view rent account details, repairs, applications, account information, and make payments.

The first phase of the project for a combined contact centre was being implemented with action concentrating on the amalgamation of roles in Housing and Streetscene into a common job description for contact centre agents and the appointment of a manager overseeing the single service; review and improvement of information and content on the Flintshire website for customers to find information and self-serve; and the implementation of the online Housing capability.  It was planned that Phase 1 would be operational from mid March 2019, however, a review of the technical and staff position would be undertaken in advance to ensure services would be delivered with no degradation of quality as a result.

The Chief Officer reported that discussions were also taking place with other services to identify and agree the scope of services which could be transitioned into the combined contact centre at a later date.  The intention was to aim for a fully combined contact centre operating from Ty Dewi Sant, Ewloe, from April 2020.  The Chief Officer said a further report on the Digital Strategy would be submitted to the Committee to provide an update on progress early next year.   He also referred to the Digital Strategy workshop which would be held for all Members on 16 January 2019.

Councillor Geoff Collett asked if the digital strategy would be delivered on time.  He also referred to the invest to save budget allocation of £550k and asked if this was a one-off or annual allocation.  In response the Chief Officer explained that the programme was currently on target for mid-March next year, however, an assessment of the ‘readiness’ of services to go live would be undertaken in advance to ensure no disruption to services would occur.  Referring to the budget allocation of £550k the Chief Officer advised that this was not an annual cost and the funding would be used to fund three key new posts for the delivery of the Digital Customer project,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

That the Committee considered the mid-year Council Plan 2018/19 Monitoring Report to monitor under performance and raised a number of issues with Officers.

The Chief Officer (Housing and Assets) introduced the report to present the monitoring of progress at the mid-year point of 2018/19 for the Council Plan priority ‘Connected Council’ relevant to the Committee.  He advised that the mid-year report showed that 88% of activities were making good progress with 81% likely to achieve their planned outcomes.  79% of performance indicators had met or exceeded their targets.  Risks were being managed with a minority of 18% being assessed as major.

Councillor Patrick Heesom queried the performance indicator concerning limitations on public funding to subsidise alternative models (ADMs).  The Chief Officer (Social Services) referred to the positive feedback from review meetings on the first year trading figures for ADMs, however, he said the challenges to public funding remained and this was the reason for the current risk rating.   The Chief Officer (Housing and Assets) advised that the business plans for ADMs were reviewed regularly.

Councillor Patrick Heesom asked that a meeting be arranged to discuss the funding available for the transfer of assets within the Growth Bid.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee considered the mid-year Council Plan 2018/19 Monitoring Report to monitor under performance and raised a number of issues with Officers.

(a)       That the Forward Work Programme as submitted be approved; and

(b)       That the Facilitator in consultation with the Chair of the Committee be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings should this be necessary.

The Overview & Scrutiny Facilitator presented the current Forward Work Programme for consideration.  She drew attention to the items scheduled for the next meeting of the Committee to be held on 28 January 2019, and referred to the item on Connah’s Quay Swimming Pool – Cambrian Aquatics Mid-Year Progress Report 2018/19.  The Facilitator explained that the Board members of Cambrian Aquatics had difficulty attending the meeting of the Committee at County Hall, Mold, on 28 January, and it was suggested that the time and the venue of the meeting be reconsidered to enable them to attend.   The Chair proposed that Members considered holding a meeting in the evening at Cambrian Aquatics, Connah’s Quay, to facilitate the attendance of the Board members.   When put to the vote this was not carried.  It was agreed that the Chief Officer would report back to Cambrian Aquatics on the matter of attendance at the meeting scheduled for 28 January.

Members were advised that a further item to provide an update on the Digital Strategy would be included on the Forward Work Programme.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the Forward Work Programme as submitted be approved; and

(b)       That the Facilitator in consultation with the Chair of the Committee be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings should this be necessary.

There were no members of the press or the public in attendance.