Agenda and minutes

AGREED – That the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Panel held on 22 June 2017 were confirmed as a correct record.

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 on interest received.

A report of the Director (Policy and Governance) enclosed.

Members of the Performance Panel considered a report by the Director of Policy and Governance which provided contextual information in regards to an update on Waste and Streetscene performance and the delivery of the Digital Strategy 2017/20. 

The Chair welcomed Councillor Adrian Lowe, Executive Member for Customer, Advice and Streetscene and Asim Khan, Director of Customer and Digital.

Waste

Performance against the indicator ‘number of missed collections per 100,000 collections of household waste’ had worsened for the first three months of 2017/18 when compared to the figures in 2016/17.  However, it was reported that performance was improving month to month and initial figures for July 2017 showed an improvement on performance in June.

The Executive Member for Customer, Advice and Streetscene reminded the Performance Panel that in April 2017, one of the biggest frontline service provisions in recent years took place affecting approximately 50,000 households in the borough.  The changes included charging for garden waste and four weekly collections of card and paper. The effect of these changes was still being felt with household waste being put into the wrong receptacle.  This is then often reported as a missed bin collection, which was also contributing factor to the figures.   Although it was acknowledged that there was still a lot to do to reduce the number of missed bin collections it was worth bearing in mind that the figure for quarter one of 2017/18 equated to only 0.2% of all collections during this period.

Changes to the waste collection had been a huge logistical undertaking.  Some of the transitional arrangements had led to confusion amongst residents.  To help, the calendar of bin collection was being refreshed and simplified with the collection details and the content allowed for each receptacle being detailed.   

The Director of Customer and Digital also informed that Performance Panel that the council was in discussion with Veolia Environmental Services over some contractual issues.  [kc1] 

Members of the Performance Panel discussed various matters raised in both the written and verbal representation which included –

·         Missed bins, and the timescales for emptying them once reported;

·         The number of ‘closed’ cases which had to be reopened;

·         Educating householders who’s bins remain unemptied due to the wrong type of waste being placed in the various receptacles and dealing with those householders who continue to choose to ignore advice;

·         Locations of receptacles to be emptied;

·         Returning the waste receptacles back to the correct address once emptied, and who was liable in a case where the receptacle was the cause of an accident.

The Performance Panel were reassured that the council was fully aware of all the issues and that it was in negotiation with Veolia Environmental Services to improve standards.

Both the Executive Member for Customer, Advice and Streetscene and the Director of Customer and Digital would welcome an opportunity to return to the Performance Panel in 12 months to discuss the performance figures once again.

Streetscene

The report provided information on progress made so far on the Streetscene Modernisation Strategy which was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.OSP.41

To receive the enclosed report from the Director of Policy and Governance, that was presented to the Executive Cabinet on 3 August 2017.

The Performance Panel considered a monitoring report from the Director of Policy and Governance which was presented at the Executive Cabinet on 3 August.  The report set out the performance against the delivery of the Corporate Strategy and key performance indicators during the first quarter of 2017/18, 1 April to 30 June 2017.

Overall, performance of key projects were rated as follows -

·         7 (50%) rated green,

·         4 (29%) of the projects rated amber, action plans for which were included in the report,

·         2 (14%) were complete, the outcomes of which have been recorded,

1 (7%) was closed (Westway integrated sports facility);

Performance of the Corporate Strategy indicators and key service delivering measures was good with 50% of Corporate Strategy measures performing on or above target.  80% of key service delivery measures were performing on or above target or within the 5% threshold.  Those indicators performing below target had action plans outlined including measures which would be put into place to improve performance.

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

·         Westway integrated sports facility;

·         Deliver a project to get people ready for work (Chorley Futures);

·         The number of young people taking part in ‘Get Up and Go’ activities;

·         Employment figures continued to be steadily worsening;

·         The number of working days lost per employee through sickness absence for which further information was requested.

AGREED – That the report be noted, and the information on the number of working days lost per employee through short term sickness absence be circulated to the Performance Panel.