Agenda item

            That the Committee notes the 2013/14 Mid Year Improvement Plan Monitoring Report and will continue to highlight and monitor poor performance and feedback details of any challenge to the Policy, Performance & Partnerships Team for reporting to Cabinet where appropriate.   

The Chairman introduced the report for Members to note and consider elements of the 2013/14 Mid Year Improvement Plan Monitoring report relevant to the Committee for the period October to December 2013.  He introduced the officers in attendance for each section to the Committee.   

                        Councillor Richard Jones felt that presentations by the officers should be provided as had been at the earlier meeting of Housing Overview & Scrutiny Committee. 

                        Councillor Paul Shotton referred to appendix one on Welfare Reform and asked whether assistance had been put in place to help tenants who wanted to downsize and he welcomed that employees in the Flintshire Connects offices would be able to provide assistance to Universal Credit claimants.  He also sought clarification on whether the Connah’s Quay Flintshire Connects office would be opening in June 2004 as scheduled and whether it would enable a more agile working arrangement.  In response, the Revenues and Benefits Manager said that the lack of smaller properties for tenants to move into was a problem and work was ongoing to try and identify an outcome.  On the issue of Universal Credit, he commented on the partnership agreement that was in place to provide support for claimants, which was funded by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).  He added that the first tranche in the pilot scheme were single people under the age of 25 so an increase in demand for assistance was not expected due to the small numbers eligible under the pilot scheme.  The Head of ICT and Customer Services confirmed that the Connah’s Quay Flintshire Connects office was expected to open on 9 June 2014 as scheduled.  The majority of staff from the Connah’s Quay Council Office were being relocated to the Flint office along with some employees from Phase 4 in County Hall.  Due to the number of staff now based in the Flint office, agile working was being adopted and encouraged. 

                        Councillor Arnold Woolley queried the date on appendix one and was assured by the Head of ICT and Customer Services that the data related to Quarter 3 – October to December 2013. 

                        In referring to the issue of hotdesking and agile working, Councillor Marion Bateman asked whether it was possible for Members to have Flintshire County Council owned mobile phone numbers for officers working from home as they were not displayed on the infonet.  The Head of ICT and Customer Services confirmed that officer’s work extension numbers could be transferred to an alternative number such as their mobile or home number.  However, this was not applied consistently in all areas of the Council and he agreed that Flintshire County Council owned mobile numbers should be published on the infonet.  Councillor Clive Carver also raised concern about not being able to contact those officers who were working from home.  He referred to the Council’s new website which he had experienced difficulty in navigating around as he felt that some of the information was not where he expected it to be.  Councillor Richard Jones also commented on the difficulties of contacting officers on Council owned mobile numbers and that the issue was particularly a problem in Social Services.                                                        

                        Councillor Marion Bateman commented on electronic document management and stressed the importance of ensuring that documents were scanned in chronological order

                        In response to a question from Councillor Richard Lloyd about Community Asset Transfer and a suggestion that land that the Saltney Scout Group were based on had been offered to the District Scout Committee, the Head of Assets and Transportation said that he was not aware of such a suggestion but that he would check and would respond to Councillor Lloyd directly.       

                        Councillor Haydn Bateman asked whether the establishment of the Welfare Rights Team was permanent and sought clarification on increases in Fees and Charges.  The Revenues and Benefits Manager confirmed that the Welfare Rights Team was an established team but the Welfare Reform Response Team was a temporary team which had been set up specifically to assist residents to deal with the changes resulting from welfare reform.  On the issue of Fees and Charges, the Head of Finance said that it had been an aspiration of Flintshire County Council’s to have a corporate authority wide approach to fees and charges and the significant piece of work to enable  consideration of this was now being undertaken.  Discussions with Members on how to develop it as part of the overall financial strategy would be undertaken later in the year.  She explained that the work would be challenging as it may result in increased charges or charges being introduced  for services that were not currently charged for and could involve looking at more discretionary services. 

                        The issue of personal development plans arising from appraisals highlighted on page 26 was referred to by Councillor Arnold Woolley who sought clarification as to whether this had been undertaken and he also commented on the future actions.  In response, the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development referred to the organisational change model and the new senior management structure and confirmed that performance appraisals were already in place.  She said that in recognition of the changing size and shape of the organisation, the focus on performance and skills development through performance appraisals and development plans would become increasingly more critical.  She commented that there would be renewed focus now around development plans which would be an important part of the transitional arrangements for the new operating model. 

                        In referring to the issue of fees and charges, Councillor Peter Curtis commented on discussions at the recent meeting of the Housing Overview & Scrutiny Committee about charges for grass cutting.  He asked that consideration be given to the impact of fees and charges on people when considering any future changes. 

                        Councillor Richard Jones referred to appraisals and indicated that the problem of non-compliance could be resolved if it was included in all line manager’s appraisals that all staff that they supervised had to have had an appraisal.  On the issue of fees and charges, he had raised concern at budget time in February about a charge for financial management assistance for vulnerable people and reiterated the importance of being mindful of the impact of changing or implementing fees and charges.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development agreed with the comments on performance appraisals and advised that details of the numbers of completed appraisals were already included in the six monthly Heads of Service performance reports. The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development added that it was essential for senior managers to be held directly responsible for ensuring that there were effective performance management arrangements in place for their teams and appraisals completed. Councillor Jones welcomed this  which would allow monitoring of appraisals to be undertaken by the appropriate Overview & Scrutiny Committee and any resultant concerns to be reported to the Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  He also asked that his thanks be passed on to Mel Evans for the work he had undertaken on the Buckley Flintshire Connects Office.  In response to a question from Councillor Jones on the asset transfer of Buckley Baths, the Head of Assets and Transportation advised that the transfer was currently in progress.. 

                        On the issue of fees and charges, the Head of Finance indicated that the issue would be a challenge but that any policy consideration would require an equalities impact assessment to assess the impact of implementation of, or changes to, fees and charges. 

                        The Leader of the Council said that it was worth reiterating that not all fees and charges would automatically be increased as it had only been stated that a review would be undertaken.  He explained that he had responded to the question raised by Councillor Jones at the Council’s budget meeting but that he would ensure that the answer was circulated again.  He felt that a review of fees and charges was an opportunity to look at the policy to ensure that a consistent approach was being undertaken which could result in additional income being generated if it was appropriate to do so.  Councillor Marion Bateman suggested that Members should have sight of any future letters sent to Flintshire residents about changes to fees and charges as she felt that the letter about grass cutting had been misleading.  The Leader of the Council said that it was important to separate the policy review from the implementation aspect of any changes. 

                        Councillor Haydn Bateman asked about the North Wales Procurement Partnership (NWPP) referred to on page 48.  In response the Head of ICT and Customer Services advised that the partnership ceased approximately 18 months ago. Subsequently a Welsh National Procurement Service covering the whole public sector had been launched in November 2013.  The Council had also become a member of the Welsh Purchasing Consortium (WPC) which was made up of 19 local authorities instead of six which formed the NWPP.  Councillor Richard Jones stressed the need to ensure that local companies were used for supplying local goods and queried whether this would be more difficult as the Consortium covered a larger area.  The Head of ICT and Customer Services said that it was important to get the balance right and said that Flintshire County Council was a member on the WPC Board and that sourcing of goods or services could also be regional or sub-regional.  He explained that the WPC would set criteria for considering suppliers and it could not just be based on the fact that they were local; he also commented on lotting strategies.  The Head of Assets and Transportation added that some contracts had community benefits clauses included in them, which he detailed, to ensure that some money was put back into the local economy.                                                        

            RESOLVED:

            That the Committee notes the 2013/14 Mid Year Improvement Plan Monitoring Report and will continue to highlight and monitor poor performance and feedback details of any challenge to the Policy, Performance & Partnerships Team for reporting to Cabinet where appropriate.