Agenda and minutes
PDF 139 KBVenue: Park House, Randalls Road, Leatherhead, KT22 0AH
Contact: Bryan Searle
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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS
Minutes: Apologies were received from Mark Brett-Warburton, Bob Gardner and Bill Chapman.
Denis Fuller substituted for Mark Brett-Warburton and Colin Kemp substituted for Bob Gardner. |
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MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING:
To agree the minutes as a true record of the meeting. Minutes: These were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting. |
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DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests from Members in respect of any item to be considered at the meeting.
Notes: · In line with the Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012, declarations may relate to the interest of the member, or the member’s spouse or civil partner, or a person with whom the member is living as husband or wife, or a person with whom the member is living as if they were civil partners and the member is aware they have the interest. · Members need only disclose interests not currently listed on the Register of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests. · Members must notify the Monitoring Officer of any interests disclosed at the meeting so they may be added to the Register. · Members are reminded that they must not participate in any item where they have a disclosable pecuniary interest. Minutes: There were no declarations of interests. |
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QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS
To receive any questions or petitions.
Notes: 1. The deadline for Member’s questions is 12.00pm four working days before the meeting (state actual deadline date). 2. The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting (state actual deadline date). 3. The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting, and no petitions have been received. Minutes: There were no questions or petitions. |
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RESPONSES FROM THE CABINET TO ISSUES REFERRED BY THE SELECT COMMITTEE
The Committee made a recommendation to Cabinet concerning Appraisals at its meeting on 30 April 2014. The Cabinet provided a response at its meeting on 27 May 2014. A copy of this response is attached. Minutes: Declarations of interest: None
Witnesses: None.
Key points raised during the discussion:
The Committee noted the response from the Cabinet Member for Business Services.
Recommendations: None
Actions/further information to be provided: None.
Committee next steps: None. |
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RECOMMENDATION TRACKER AND FORWARD WORK PROGRAMME
The Committee is asked to monitor progress on the implementation of recommendations from previous meetings, and to review its Forward Work Programme. The Committee is also asked to review the scoping document for the Primary Care Task Group (Health Scrutiny Committee) Additional documents: Minutes: Declarations of interest: None
Witnesses: None.
Key points raised during the discussion:
1 The Chairman
reported that a response had been received from John Stebbings, Chief Property Officer, in relation to
recommendation COSC 37, indicating
that Property Services was continuing to support the Schools
Service ‘as and when appropriate to deliver the chosen
service outcome desired for this project.’
2 The Committee
did not feel that this response was sufficiently detailed, and
requested that further clarification be sought about the timeline
for delivery of the programme to ensure all infant schools were in
a position to provide free school meals by 1 September
2014. 3 It was also requested that an update be provided on whether the Leader had received a response from the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in relation to his letter about simplifying the Universal Credit application process and exploring options for common assessment arrangements (COSC 30).
4 The Committee considered and endorsed the proposed Health Scrutiny Committee Task Group on Access to General Practice in Surrey. It was requested that the Task Group look into whether the recently-developed toolkit for comparing GP practices could be made available to the public.
Recommendation:
That further clarification be sought about the timeline for delivery of the programme to ensure all infant schools were in a position to provide free school meals by 1 September 2014. Action by: Bryan Searle Resolved:
That the scoping document for the Task Group on Access to General Practice in Surrey be approved.
Actions/further information to be provided:
Details of any response to the Leader from the Secretary of State in relation to recommendation COSC 30 to be circulated.
Committee next steps: None. |
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YEAR END FINANCIAL BUDGET OUTTURN 2013/14
This report presents the revenue and capital budget outturn for 2013/14 and proposed carry forward requests to 2014/15 Additional documents: Minutes: Declarations of interest: None
Witnesses: Kevin Kilburn, Deputy Chief Finance Officer
Key points raised during the discussion:
1 A report from the Committee’s Performance & Finance Sub-Group was tabled at the meeting. A copy of this report is included as an attachment to these Minutes.
2 It was reported that the out-turn was largely as expected when the provisional figures were reported to the previous meeting, although there had been an increased under-spend of £800,000 as a result of the timing of costs related to the winter flooding. The £6M shortfall in the achievement of efficiencies for the year was in line with the projection which had been reported since September 2013.
3 It was noted that the Council had made a provision of £700,000 to cover the risk of potential costs of claims relating to closed landfill sites, in line with the advice of auditors.
4 Details were requested about the size of the bid made to the Department of Transport pothole fund, referred to in the last paragraph of page 48 of the report.
5 The Committee was concerned about the £3.6M staffing budget under-spend due to recruitment delays in Adult Social Care, and it was noted that this was largely due to competition for staff with the London Boroughs. This issue was being looked at by the Adult Social Care Select Committee, and the Committee requested details about specific initiatives undertaken by the Service to address the problem.
6 The Committee noted that further details about the virement for the Children’s Services Contact Centre re-alignment referred to in paragraph 4 of Annex 2 would be circulated to the Committee.
7 Details of the six Council priorities for which performance was rated red, as highlighted in the report of the Sub-Group, were noted. The Committee agreed the following recommendations:
(a) That the Adult Social Care and Environment & Transport Select Committees scrutinise performance against the three priorities in each of their Directorates for which performance was rated as red at year-end 2013/14.
(b) That the following process be adopted for scrutiny of year-end performance results:
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Each Select Committee to scrutinise
year-end performance information for the priorities within their
remit annually at their May/June meeting, with services providing
written explanation of the reasons for any priority rated as
red. · That the outcomes of the scrutiny be reported to the Council Overview & Scrutiny Committee annually at its meeting in July. Action by: Scrutiny Officers
8 The Chairman reported that he had called-in the recent Cabinet decision relating to Grant Criteria and Funding Opportunities Guide, and Members would be canvassed about possible dates for the call-in meeting.
Actions/further information to be provided:
Further details about the virement for the Children’s Services Contact Centre re-alignment referred to in paragraph 4 of Annex 2 to be circulated to the Committee. Action by: Kevin Kilburn
Details to be provided about the bid made to the Department of Transport pothole fund. Action by: Kevin Kilburn
Details to be provided about specific initiatives undertaken by the ... view the full minutes text for item 46/13 |
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REWARD STRATEGY REVIEW 2014 - 2018
Minutes: Declarations of interest: None
Witnesses:
Denise Le Gal, Cabinet Member for Business Services Carmel Millar, Head of HR & Organisational Development Matthew Baker, Deputy Head of HR & Organisational Development
Key points raised during the discussion:
1 The Head of HR & Organisational Development introduced the report and explained that the review of the current reward structure was taking place because the Council’s existing system did not provide the flexibility required to meet the changes the organisation was facing as a result of new methods of service delivery. The views of Members and other interested parties were being sought during June and July 2014 (including an informal workshop with the Council Overview & Scrutiny Committee at its next meeting), and these would help inform proposals for a new reward strategy which would be shared later in the year.
2 Although
automatic pay increments for staff not at the top of their grade
had been suspended for the previous four years, those staff had
received a small one-off payment each year instead. Organisations which had retained automatic
progression for contractual reasons had been required to make more
redundancies to reduce staffing costs, and Surrey’s approach
had been seen to be beneficial to employee relations. Morale had also been maintained through the
Council’s investment in training and staff
benefits.
3 Staff numbers
had returned to the 2010/2011 levels as a result of the Council
taking on responsibility for Public Health; responsibility for
delivery of services on behalf of East Sussex County Council;
development of the apprenticeship scheme; and a move to employing
permanent rather than agency staff, at reduced cost to the
Council.
4
It was noted that the data pack circulated to Members did not
provide historic data about trends in staff costs or benchmarking
data for staff above level S8, and it was agreed that this
information would be circulated to Members of the
Committee. 5 The reasons for the Council paying below the national average for some posts and higher for others were related to various issues, including local pay rates in the private sector and decisions about staff structures. For example, although pay for care workers was below the national average for councils, it was higher than pay for similar roles in the private sector locally. Median salaries for finance staff were higher than for other comparable councils but, due to the smaller size of the team, the overall costs were lower.
Actions/further information to be provided:
Historic data about trends in staff costs and benchmarking data for staff above level S8 to be circulated to Members of the Committee. Action by: Carmel Millar
Committee next steps:
An informal workshop for the Committee to input to the development of the pay and reward strategy will be held on Wednesday 2 July 2014.
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DIGITAL STRATEGY UPDATE
The Chief Digital Officer will provide a short presentation on the plan for delivery of the Digital Strategy Minutes: Declarations of interest: None
Witnesses:
Denise Le Gal, Cabinet Member for Business Services LucieGlenday, Chief Digital Officer
Key points raised during the discussion:
1
The Chief Digital Officer provided an oral update on
the progress of the Digital Strategy.
An Advisory Board consisting of 12 volunteers with relevant
experience had been constituted, and a list of names and
biographies would be circulated to the Committee.
2 The principles
which would inform the strategy were still being developed, as
ideas had evolved as discussions with other experts had
progressed.
3 A training
course was being developed by the University of Surrey, with the
first one due to be delivered in September 2014. The course would be evaluated after the first
tranche to ensure its effectiveness.
Opportunities to share the knowledge of the experts on the Advisory
Board through lunchtime learning sessions were also being
developed. Both types of training would
be available to interested Members.
4 Options for
‘agile delivery’ of IT solutions were proposed, where
the focus was on identifying the needs of the user and seeing
whether a quick prototype IT system would solve the
problem. 5 The Committee requested that in future a short written update in bullet-point form be provided. Arrangements would also be made for Members of the Committee to visit the ‘Think Tank’ so that the Chief Digital Officer could explain the latest thinking in the development of the project.
Actions/further information to be provided:
A list of names and biographies for the Advisory Board to be circulated to the Committee. Action by: Lucie Glenday
Committee next steps:
Arrangements to be made for Members of the Committee to visit the ‘Think Tank’ for an explanation of the latest thinking in the development of the Digital Strategy. |
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DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting of the Committee will be held at County Hall, Kingston Upon Thames, on 2 July 2014. Minutes: The Committee noted the next meeting of the Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be on 2 July 2014 at 10.30am. |