Agenda and minutes

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any pecuniary interest in respect of matters contained in this agenda.

If you have a pecuniary interest you must withdraw from the meeting. Normally you should leave the room before the business starts to be discussed. You do, however, have the same right to speak as a member of the public and may remain in the room to enable you to exercise that right and then leave immediately. In either case you must not seek to improperly influence a decision on the matter.

There were no declarations of interest received.

AGREED – That the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Panel held on 9 March 2017 be confirmed as a correct record.

In response to a request made by members of the Performance Panel, it was AGREED – that the Performance Panel be informed at least two weeks prior to each meeting what the performance focus would be to allow members of the Performance Panel the opportunity to formulate their own questions.

The Executive Member (Early Intervention) and the Director (Early Intervention and Support) will be attending the meeting.

The Chair of the Performance Panel welcomed Councillor Beverley Murray, Executive Member (Early Intervention) and Jamie Carson, Director (Early Intervention) to the meeting.

A selection of corporate and local performance measures for the Early Intervention and Support directorate had been provided at appendix 1 of the report. Performance at quarter 3 2016/17 was generally positive, with the majority of indicators rated green and exceeding target. Performance in relation to leisure centre visits was particularly strong for both young and older people, with a 5.4% and 10.7% increase respectively in visits compared to last year. Indicators rated off track were mainly related to volunteering and also proactive housing inspections with fewer inspections completed compared to the same time last year.

The proactive housing inspection service introduced in 2015 with very positive take up had helped build a strong picture of the quality of private rented sector properties.  The Council has continued to offer proactive inspections to housing benefit claimants in private rented properties.  However, take up was at the discretion of the claimant and once a property had been inspected, the Council would not re-contact until after that period, which may explain why there had been fewer inspections this year.

The Executive Member (Early Interventions) gave further background to the report which included –

Volunteering

The report indicated that the number of new volunteers recruited was off track against target and lower than the same time last year, and the number of groups signed up to Chorley Time Credits was also off track against the target, but had increased compared to the same time last year.  The Executive Member (Early Intervention) reassured the Performance Panel that there was no need for concern.  The majority of existing groups and volunteers had already signed up to Chorley Time Credits which would take account of the targets not being met. 

The number of hours earned through volunteering increased by 47%.  It was felt that this was reflective of the success of the Time Credits earn and spend model with new incentives for people to keep contributing their time.  The next step was to encourage groups to extend the services they provide, with support from the Council, to encourage new volunteers.

In response to questions raised by the Performance Panel, the Executive Member (Early Intervention) clarified –

·      The purpose of Time Credits was to reward those who volunteered their time.

·      Volunteers would also qualify for Time Credits for ‘one-off’ events such as community clean up days.

·      Spending Time Credits offers opportunities for health and wellbeing activities for volunteers to enjoy.

·      Time Credits earned in Chorley can be spent in other areas of the country.

·      Time Credits were actively promoted by the VCFS.  It was also understood that community centres promoted the use of Time Credits. However, community centres and anywhere that brought groups together would be checked to ensure that Time Credits was being promoted.  

·      The data recorded in the report did not include those people who volunteered but did not claim Time Credits.

The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.OSP.37

To receive the enclosed report from the Director of Policy and Governance.

The Performance Panel considered a report of the Director of Policy and Governance which reviewed the delivery of the Single Organisational Plan Projects for 2016/17 and presented the Service Business Plans for 2017/18 delivery.

It was reported that the approach to business planning for 2017/18 had changed resulting in the development of service level business plans for each service/team rather than a single organisational plan.  This approach had been introduced to establish a consistent process for business planning across the organisation with a focus on strategic priorities and organisations transformation including future business models.  This new process looked to strengthen staff engagement with the business planning process and increase awareness of service level risk and equality considerations.

Appendix 1 of the report detailed the 2016/17 Organisational Plan position statement as at the end of 2016/17 for each project.  Appendix 2 listed service identified projects for the four directorates.

During debate, Members of the Performance Panel raised a number of issues relating to the information contained in the report which included the following projects –

·         Deliver improved CCTV provision; a progress report was requested for the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 6 July 2017.

·         Chorley Council employment support fund with Runshaw College; in response to the concerns raised by the Performance Panel, the Director (Early Intervention and Support) explained that this project needed to be a partnership with Runshaw College due to funding arrangements.  However, it was acknowledged that there was scope for working with other local colleges in surrounding boroughs.

·         School place projections; it was understand by the Performance Panel that the Director (Business, Development and Growth) was collating the school place projections analysis and asked that it be circulated to members.

AGREED –

1.    An update report on the latest position of CCTV be considered at the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 6 July 2017.

2.    A report detailing school place projections be circulated to elected members.