Agenda and minutes

Councillors Richard Allan Jones and Paul Wray declared a non pecuniary interest in Agenda Item No.7 by virtue of being Members of the Board for St Leger Homes of Doncaster.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee held on the 29th June and 20th July, 2017 be agreed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

Mr Doug Wright was in attendance at the meeting, and made a statement with regard to the current plans for the South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Accountable Care System (ACS) and the associated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

Mr Wright queried when this was going to be considered by Council or Cabinet, and asked that prior to this it be considered by OSMC.  At the present time, there was no forum identified where it would be addressed, and with over 300,000 people contesting the new system, Mr Wright felt that it needed to be considered by this Committee. The Memorandum of Understanding outlined what would be undertaken in the coming years, but it had not yet been signed and accepted by DMBC and regardless of the decision that the Council made, the issue needed to be addressed.

The Chair put the issue to the Committee for consideration, and it was largely felt that this warranted consideration by Scrutiny. A brief discussion was held amongst Committee Members as to whether it should go to the Health and Adult Social Care Panel or come to the Management Committee, but in conclusion it was felt that based on the far reaching implications of the ACS, it would be better placed with the OSMC. The Chair, Councillor Rodgers, assured Mr Wright that this would be scheduled into the Committee’s work plan in the coming months, and he would write to the Mayor’s Office to inform them of the decision they had made in relation to this.

Allan Wiltshire, Head of Service, Policy and Performance, was in attendance at the meeting to provide Members with an update on the proposed corporate approach in terms of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).

Members noted that the EDI should from part of everything carried out by the Authority and be at the heart of all planning and work undertaken within the Council. The EDI framework would look to address any inequalities and support vulnerable and minority groups to access a better quality of life. Additionally, it was anticipated that its equality objectives mirrored the themes within the Doncaster Growing Together Plan of Learning, Working, Living and Caring, and the EDI statement would be embedded into all of the authority’s strategic intentions.

The Framework of the EDI would be made up of the following four parts:-

·         Statement – this was a high level statement of intent outlining the Councils commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

·         Objectives Summary – this would underpin the Doncaster Growing Together Priorities and link to its four themes,

·         Governance Profile – this would provide an account of how EDI within the Council will be monitored, managed and evaluated

·         Case Studies – this would provide examples and information that was relevant to the delivery of EDI.

The Committee were informed that the LGA Peer Review that had taken place in 2016 had helped set the direction and shape the approach for the EDI. The review Team that had been on site at the Council in December 2016, had provided a set of both short and long term recommendations that helped to inform the Council approach in developing the EDI Framework and would continue to shape over the next four years.

Under Public Sector Equality Duty, the Council was under obligation to publish its EDI objectives every four years, and therefore to keep in line with this, Doncaster Council needed to publish its objectives by the end of 2017/18. It was noted that everyone within Doncaster Council had a commitment to ensure that the policies, procedures and services delivered reflected its commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and in doing so, was meeting the needs of the people and communities of Doncaster.

Following the update given to the Committee, the Chair afforded Members the opportunity to speak and put any questions forward to Officers, with clarity provided on any concerns where necessary.

RESOLVED that the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee note and confirm support for the proposed Corporate Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Framework.

Members received the Finance and Performance Improvement Report: 2017/18 for Quarter 1, which provided information of performance against the Corporate Plan themes. It was identified that as the Council was midway through its transition to the 2017/18 Corporate Plan Themes, for Quarter 1, the report would continue to report on the Priorities identified for 2016/17.

Members noted that overall, the performance across the Council was good, with 91% exceeding or close to their targets and Doncaster had performed well in many ways. However, a number of areas continued to prove problematic, including schools persistent absenteeism, drug treatment success rates, repeat referrals to children’s services and staff sickness rates.

Directors or their representatives, from each Directorate were in attendance at the meeting in order to respond to any questions from Members or provide greater information when needed.

During the meeting, it was questioned whether a piece of work could be commissioned to allow annual monitoring of the delivery of the Armed Forces Covenant given the cross-cutting nature of the work. It was felt that this issue had progressed well and Members would like to ensure that this standard was maintained.  It was suggested that a one-page assessment could be included within the quarterly performance report provided on an annual basis. It was felt that this would enable the Committee to have an oversight of performance and find out more about what had been delivered over the previous year.

Finance and Corporate Services

It was reported that sickness continued to be a problem but Officers were optimistic that this was improving with the direction of travel upwards, and the target set at 8.75 days per employee, with an overall figure currently sitting at 9.3 days per employee.

In terms of financial projections, it was reported that at the end of Quarter 1, the projected overspend for 2017/18 was £2.8m which included £1.3 of the Children’s Trust overspend. It was reported that this could therefore mean that the final overspend for 2017/18 was much higher than initially anticipated, and would mean using Reserves to fund this. This was largely down to the Children’s Trust, over which the Council had no direct control.

Adults, Communities and Public Health

Patrick Birch, Programme Manager, Commissioning and Contracts, reported that the service was performing well, with statistics moving in the right direction. There had been a number of changes in terms of senior management, with new people moving into roles, and could always prove challenging in the interim, but the service was doing well, and it was important to work to improve further and not become complacent.

A query was raised by Members in terms of a number of indicators that whilst showing as green at the current time, were showing a downwards direction of travel. It was recognised that this was an issue of concern as further slippage could occur, and this was a possibility in a number of areas. It was requested that more information was provided on these issues in order to understand where  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

Members considered the Performance and Delivery Update report for 2017/18, Quarter 1 which was considered on a quarterly basis as part of the Management Agreement and Governance arrangements between St Leger Homes of Doncaster, (SLHD) and DMBC. It provided the opportunity for OSMC to receive feedback from SLHD on any performance success and areas of concern against the key performance indicators for 2017/18.

The key points to note were outlined to Members, with the following brought to Members attention:-

·         Six of the eleven key performance indicators were on target (green)

·         One was within acceptable tolerance levels (amber)

·         Four of the key performance indicators were below target (red)

Some of the most notable areas of performance were detailed to Members as follows:-

Rent Arrears against Annual Debit (Green)

This indicator was performing well, with performance at the end of Q1 at 2.41% against an end of year target of 2.5%.

Days Lost to Sickness (Green)

Sickness levels had improved each month during Q1 and had continued the trend from the previous year. For the year to date, performance stood at 1.51 days lost per full time equivalent, which was a reduction in almost 0.5 day from the target of 1.92 days.

Scheduled Repairs (Amber)

This had fallen slightly from 99.51% in the previous year of 97.83% of repairs carried out in scheduled time at Q1. It was added that the last month of the quarter had seen a rise in figures, with just 4 jobs not meeting target.

Number of Households in Temporary Accommodation (Red)

Whilst the direction of travel on this performance indicator was upwards, there were reported to be 12 additional households this year compared to last year currently in temporary accommodation.

Void Rent Loss (Red)

Quarter 1 performance had worsened from 1% in March to 1.16% in June, which in monetary terms equated to £214, 403.

Analysis of Complaints (Red)

Whilst this was red, the direction of travel was upwards, and having looked at complaints year on year, it was reported that improvements were being made and complaints were reducing in number.

Local Expenditure (Red)

It was reported that this was both a new KPI and a Mayoral Priority, and meant that out of every £3 spent by the Council, £2 of it would go to local companies. This was currently red, and performance for Q1 stood at 49&, as opposed to 60% at the end of 2016/17.

Following consideration of the report, Members were afforded the opportunity to speak and were invited to put any questions to officers on areas of concern.

RESOLVED that Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee note the progress of SLHD’s performance outcomes and the contribution made by SLHD to support DMBC’s strategic priorities.

The Committee were provided with an update on the Overview and Scrutiny Workplan for 2017/18, which provided information on any progress made in relation to items already included within it, and also provided the opportunity to consider any additional items that Members may wish to add to it in the future.

Members were informed that the Scrutiny Evaluation would soon be undertaken, and Members were encouraged to take part in the review. Members were informed that  interest had been expressed by two new Members, but further participants were still required.  It was proposed that two future meeting dates already scheduled for OSMC could be used for this as these were no longer required as formal meeting dates.

Officers informed Members that a fully updated work plan would be re-circulated after the meeting which would look to incorporate proposed dates for Regeneration and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Panel and would outline the work to be undertaken by the Crime and Disorder Overview and Scrutiny Panel.

            RESOLVED that

1)    The Committee review the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee note the work plan attached to the report at Appendix A;

2)    Councillors Kevin Rodgers, Neil Gethin, John Healy, Paul Wray, Andrea Robinson and Richard Allan Jones all sit on a Working Group to undertake a review of Scrutiny, with 18th September, 2017 and 9th November, 2017 identified as meeting dates for consideration of this; and

3)    The Council’s Forward Plan, as attached to the report at Appendix B, be noted.