Agenda item

That having considered the report, the Committee supports the progress made on the ‘Modern and Efficient Council’ priority.

The Chief Officer (Organisational Change) presented the regular update report to consider progress towards the delivery of the impacts set out in the 2016/17 Improvement Plan, focussing on the areas of under-performance on the priority ‘Modern and Efficient Council’ during Quarter 1.  Overall, there had been good progress on the majority of activities and performance indicators.  A summary was also given of the status of risks in the Improvement Plan.

On encouraging volunteers and active citizens, Councillor Peter Curtis highlighted the importance of ensuring ongoing provision to meet demand.  In response to queries, the Chief Officer confirmed that volunteers working for new organisations on Community Asset Transfers (CATs) were subject to Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) checks.  He highlighted the importance of developing links between the register of volunteers maintained by the Flintshire Local Voluntary Council (FLVC) with organisations on key projects.  He added that organisations were able to acquire the skills of relevant professionals, in addition to the support given by the Council.

Councillor Kevin Jones spoke about the link between the Council and the Board Members of the new organisations who were held accountable.

Councillor Curtis commented on the need to utilise former buildings such as Holywell Library to avoid them getting into a state of disrepair.  Officers said that an organisation was currently in talks with the FLVC on the development of a new facility at that site.  Plans were progressing on the transfer of the library and an update would be given at the next meeting.  Assurances were also given on noise levels in the building.

Councillor Chris Dolphin requested that the transfer of Holywell Leisure Centre be deferred until the end of the financial year to meet the needs of the new organisation taking over that asset.  He spoke about positive examples of CATs which could benefit communities and suggested that the Council consider periodic health checks to give some reassurance on the smooth running of transfers.  The Chief Officer said that a requirement for regular reporting had been built into the process in recognition of the importance of continued relationships with the new groups.  In addition to annual progress meetings, co-operative agreements were developed for larger facilities to enable key partners to meet more regularly and work through any issues.

Councillor Robin Guest stated the importance of the new organisations developing procedures to record and monitor DBS checks on their volunteer workers, whatever their role.  He queried why ‘no data’ was recorded against progress of some of the Key Performance Indicators in the report and suggested that ‘none’ or ‘nothing’ might clarify the reason in some cases.  The Chief Officers explained that this could be due to the need to report once a year and would ensure that reasons were included within the comments in future reports.

Following a question from Councillor Clive Carver, it was explained that a standard 27-year lease applied to the majority of CATs with the potential to rollover after that period into a new lease agreement.

In response to comments from Councillor Curtis on the condition of Holywell baths, Councillor Jones reported that significant work had been done to resolve historic issues.  The Chief Officer confirmed that assets were being transferred in a reasonable condition and were fit for purpose.  Organisations to whom assets had been transferred were able to draw upon allocated capital grant funding held by the Council to address items identified in the condition survey of the building.  This was a way of investing in those buildings and improving them over time.

Whilst acknowledging the challenges in collating data for the report, Councillor Dave Mackie asked for more clarity on terminology, for example the risk on ‘capacity and appetite of the community and social sectors’.  This was agreed by the Chief Officer.

RESOLVED:

That having considered the report, the Committee supports the progress made on the ‘Modern and Efficient Council’ priority.