Agenda and minutes

(Director of Governance)  To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

It was noted that there were no substitute members for this meeting.

(Director of Governance) To agree the notes of the meeting of the Select Committee held on 5 December 2017.

            RESOLVED:

That the notes of the last meeting of the Select Committee held on 5 December 2017 be agreed as a correct record.

(Director of Governance). To declare interests in any items on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a pecuniary or a non-pecuniary interest under the Code of Conduct, Overview & Scrutiny members are asked pay particular attention to paragraph 9 of the Code in addition to the more familiar requirements.

This requires the declaration of a non-pecuniary interest in any matter before an OS Committee which relates to a decision of or action by another Committee or Sub Committee of the Council, a Joint Committee or Joint Sub Committee in which the Council is involved and of which the Councillor is also a member.

Paragraph 9 does not refer to Cabinet decisions or attendance at an OS meeting purely for the purpose of answering questions or providing information on such a matter.

There were no declarations of interest made pursuant to the Member’s Code of Conduct.

(Chairman / Lead Officer) The Overview and Scrutiny Committee has agreed the Terms of Reference of this Committee. This is attached along with an ongoing work

programme. Members are asked at each meeting to review both documents.

The Select Committee received a report from the Assistant Director of Governance (Development Management) regarding the Governance Select Committee’s Terms of Reference and Work Programme 2017/18.

Work Programme – Outstanding Items

Item (5) Equality Objectives 2016-2020 / (2018-2023), 6 monthly – A report would be coming to the next meeting of the Governance Select Committee on 27 March 2018.

Item (14) Governance Directorate Business Plans 2018/19 – Members noted that the relevant Portfolio Holders would give a presentation at the next meeting of the Governance Select Committee on the 27 March 2018.

Item (16) Transformation Projects relevant to this Committee – A report to come to a future meeting of the Governance Select Committee, as and when appropriate.

Item (17) Transformation Projects closure and benefit report – A report to come to a future meeting of the Governance Select Committee, as and when appropriate.

Item (18) Planning Appeals Performance - A report would be coming to the next meeting of the Governance Select Committee on 27 March 2018.

The Assistant Director (Development Management) advised the Select Committee that the work programme for the next municipal year was very light and asked Members if they had anything they would like to see on the programme for 2018/19 and to let him know accordingly.

            RESOLVED:

That the Terms of Reference and the Work Programme of the Select Committee for 2017/18 be noted.

(Director of Governance) To consider the attached report.

The Select Committee received a report from the Assistant Director, Governance regarding the Council’s Petition Scheme which was originally adopted on 14 December 2010, in accordance with the requirements of Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009.

The duty on local authorities to operate a petitions scheme was abolished by the introduction of the Localism Act 2011. Members had previously requested that a periodic review of the operation of the Petitions Scheme be undertaken to assess its effectiveness and the Scheme was last reviewed by the former Constitution and Members Services Scrutiny Panel in September 2012.

Members were advised via the Members Bulletin dated 8 December 2017 that a  periodic review of the operation of the Council’s Petition Scheme would be undertaken in the new year and were asked if they had any comments or observations that they would like to contribute to the review of the Scheme, to inform the Democratic Services Manager by 2 January 2018, unfortunately there were no comments from Members.

Petitions Scheme

A copy of the current Petitions Scheme can be found within the Council’s Constitution (Part 4 – Council Rules). The following types of petition did not fall within the scope of the Scheme:

(a)         petitions submitted by email, as email systems were not secure. Petitioners must use either paper-based petitions or the Council’s ePetitions system;

(b)         petitions that were considered to be vexatious, abusive, anonymous or otherwise inappropriate;

(c)         petitions relating to a planning decision, including applications, development plan documents or the community infrastructure levy;

(d)         petitions relating to a licensing decision;

(e)         petitions relating to an individual or entity in respect of which they have a right of recourse to a review or right of appeal;

(f)           any matter for which the Standards Committee had powers for determining complaints received under the local assessment process;

(g)         any complaint made against an employee of the Council;

(h)         any matter which was substantially the same as a petition submitted in the previous twelve months;

(i)           issues where the subject matter was subject to ongoing legal proceedings; and

(j)           petitions in response to formal consultation processes instigated by the Council.

Written Petitions

During the period from September 2012 to December 2017, the Council received 21written (paper-based) petitions. All submitted petitions were reviewed by the Director of Governance to ensure that they met the criteria set out in the Petitions Scheme.

It was suggested that the following issues be considered in the review of the operation of the Petition Scheme, with regard to written petitions.

Signature Threshold

The Petitions Scheme made provision for written petitions, which contained more than 2400 signatures, to be debated by the Council at its next ordinary meeting. Petitions containing more than 1200 signatures were subject to a report by the relevant Portfolio Holder for debate by the Cabinet at its next available meeting.

Petitions with fewer than 20 signatures were normally dealt with by the appropriate service directorate as ordinary or ‘business as usual’ type correspondence,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

(Director of Governance) To consider the attached report.

The Select Committee received a report from the Assistant Director (Development Management), regarding the Key Performance Indicators 2017/18 – Quarter 3 Performance.

The Local Government Act 1999 required the Council to make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in the way in which its functions and services were exercised, having regard to a combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

As part of the duty to secure continuous improvement, a range of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) relevant to the Council’s services and key objectives, were adopted each year by the Finance and Performance Management Cabinet Committee. Performance against the KPIs was monitored on a quarterly basis by Management Board and Overview and Scrutiny to drive improvement in performance and ensure corrective action was taken where necessary.

A range of thirty-two (32) Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for 2017/18 were adopted by the Finance and Performance Management Cabinet Committee in March 2017. The KPIs were important to the improvement of the Council’s services and the achievement of its key objectives and comprised of a combination of some former statutory indicators and locally determined performance measures. The aim of the KPIs was to direct improvement effort towards services and the national priorities and local challenges arising from the social, economic and environmental context of the district, that were the focus of thekey objectives.

The overall position for all 32 KPIs at the end of Quarter 3 were as follows:

(a)             25 (78%) indicators achieved third quarter target;

(b)             7 (22%) indicators did not achieve third quarter target, although 4 (13%) of KPIs performed within the agreed tolerance for the indicator; and

(c)             25 (78%) indicators were currently anticipated to achieve the cumulative year-end target, 3 (9%) indicators were anticipated not to achieve year-end target and a further 4 (13%) were uncertain whether they would achieve the cumulative year-end target.

There were 5 KPIs which fell within the Governance Select Committee’s areas of responsibility. The overall position with regard to the achievement of target performance at Quarter 3 for these 5 indicators were as follows:

(a)             4 (80%) indicators achieved target;

(b)             1 (20%) indicators did not achieve target;

(c)             0 (0%) performed within the agreed tolerance for the indicator; and

(d)             4 (80%) indicators were currently anticipated to achieve year-end target and a further 1 (20%) indicator was uncertain whether it would achieve year-end target.

The ‘amber’ performance status used in the KPI report identified indicators that had missed the agreed target for the quarter, but where performance was within an agreed tolerance or range. The KPI tolerances were agreed by Management Board when targets for the KPIs were set in March 2017.

The Select Committee was requested to review Q3 performance for the KPIs within its areas of responsibility. The full set of KPIs was also considered by Management Board on 24 January 2018 and will be considered by the Finance and Performance Management Cabinet Committee on 9 March 2018.

            RESOLVED:

That the Key Performance Indicators 2017/18 for Quarter 3  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

(Director of Governance) To consider the attached report.

The Select Committee received a report from the Assistant Director (Development Management), regarding the Corporate Plan Key Action Plan 2017/18 – Quarter 3 Progress.

The Corporate Plan was the Council’s key strategic planning document, setting out its priorities over the five year period from 2015/16 to 2019/20. The priorities or Corporate Aims were supported by Key Objectives which provided a clear statement of the Council’s overall intentions for these five years.

The Key Objectives were delivered by an annual action plan with each year building upon the progress against the achievement of the Key Objectives for previous years. The annual action plans contained a range of actions designed to achieve specific outcomes and were working documents and therefore subject to change and development to ensure the actions remained relevant and appropriate and to identify opportunities to secure further progress or improvement.

The Corporate Plan Key Action Plan for 2017/18 was adopted by Council at its meeting on 27 September 2016. Progress in relation to all actions and deliverables was reviewed by the Cabinet, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the appropriate Select Committee, on a quarterly basis.

There were 50 actions in total for which progress updates for Quarter 3 were as follows:

(a)             40 (80%) of these actions had been Achieved or were On-Target;

(b)             5 (10%) of these actions were Under Control;

(c)             4 (8%) were Behind Schedule; and

(d)             1 (2%) were Pending.

There were 8 actions that fell within the areas of responsibility of the Governance Select Committee. At the end of Quarter 3 these were:

(a)             8 (100%) of these actions had been Achieved or were On Target;

(b)             0 (0%) of these actions were Under Control;

(c)             0 (0%) of these actions were Behind Schedule; and

(d)             0 (0%) of these actions were Pending.

RESOLVED:

That the Corporate Plan Key Action Plan 2017/18 Quarter 3 Progress Report be noted.

To consider which reports are ready to be submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its next meeting.

The Select Committee agreed that there were no reports for recommendation to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

To note the next date of the Governance Select Committee:

27 March 2018.

The next meeting of the Governance Select Committee would be on 27 March 2018 and would be the last for this municipal year.