Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Graham Dunn and Kim Snape.

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.

To discuss the role of the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Panel.

The Chair welcomed Members to the first meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Panel. A discussion paper was circulated regarding the role of the Performance Panel in scrutinising performance monitoring information.

Following consideration of the report, the following areas were agreed as general principles:

1.    That the Panel would meet four times a year as agreed at Overview and Scrutiny Committee. – the remaining dates for the year being 17 September 2012; 10 December 2012; and 11 March 2013.

2.    On alternate meetings the Panel would consider both Corporate Startegy performance information for the Council and Chorley Partnership’s  performance information. On the remaining alternate meetings the Panel would look at Directorate Business Plan monitoring information. These reports would provide an opportunity to consider areas of good performance as well as highlighting areas of under performance.

3.    At each meeting, the Panel would also focus on one area of underperformance, to be agreed in advance of the meeting. This would allow sufficient notice to ensure that the relevant senior officers and/or Executive Members could attend Performance Panel meetings and allow relevant questions to be drawn up for appropriate challenge.

4.    How the Panel was operating would be reviewed during the year.

The attached report, considered by Executive Cabinet in June, monitors the Council’s performance for the fourth quarter of 2011/12.

The Panel considered the fourth quarter performance monitoring information for the delivery of the Corporate Strategy and key projects.

Members raised questions regarding the performance indicator for the number of families in temporary accommodation, where performance had dropped due to the recession and the increase in the number of people presenting as homeless.

Queries related to:

·         the selection criteria used by Selectmove, the choice based lettings scheme;

·         vulnerable families and elderly people’s lack of access to the internet to enable best use of the Selectmove scheme; and

·         how single people/couples in larger social rented properties could be encouraged to relocate to smaller rented properties.

It was agreed that there was an issue regarding access to Selectmove and the fact that Chorley residents didn’t appear to be bidding for properties – potentially because they were unaware of the scheme. There was a review of the Selectmove scheme currently underway. The issue of moving to smaller properties was for registered social landlords to tackle, but would be impacted by forthcoming welfare reforms changes.

RESOLVED – that the report be noted and information on the impact of welfare reform changes be forwarded to Members as soon as it becomes available.

Members of both Overview and Scrutiny and the Governance Committees have asked for further information about the ICT programme plan and the attached report provides an overview of ICT transformation projects.

The Panel considered a report of the Chief Executive providing an overview of the ICT transformation projects currently being delivered with an update on their progress to date; scheduled dates for completion; and project dependencies.

Asim Khan, Head of ICT, Customer and Transactional Services gave an overview  of the Council’s investment in ICT systems; the need for change; the information revolution; becoming more efficient and increasing productivity; and meeting customer expectations. He explained the direction the Council was moving in, in terms of ICT and service delivery: and the inter connection between projects and the impact on timescales for delivery.

Members raised questions regarding the delivery of the Council’s ambitious ICT programme and in particular:

·         the significant delay in delivering a new website;

·         whether past management restructuring or insufficient funding had impacted on the delivery of ICT projects; and

·         whether there was the required skills within the ICT team to deliver all the projects.

Councillor Berry asked that there be more transparency in project reporting in the future to give Members greater confidence in project delivery.

Asim Khan responded that there were two aspects to implementing the new website – the technical side and the look and feel. Other systems had to be implemented before achieving the technical side and that was now completed. The look and feel of the new website was now being considered and the completed project should be delivered later in 2012.

Gary Hall reported that the senior management restructure in 2009/10 included a different approach to ICT implementation. There had been a move away from a directorate approach to a more corporate solution which included the creation of a transactional team. A lot of work had gone into ICT support for customer contact. Financial resources had not created any delay but acquiring the necessary skills within the ICT team had. Outsourcing all aspects of ICT development could have speeded up the processes but not provided the necessary in house skills for the future.

RESOLVED – that the information received be noted.

Chorley Partnership Annual Report 2011/12 is attached and was considered by the Executive Cabinet in June.

Members of the Panel considered the Chorley Partnership Annual Report for 2011/12.

RESOLVED – that the report be noted and information on Local Enterprise Partnerships be provided for Councillor Steve Holgate.