Agenda and minutes
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Contact: Ross Pike
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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS
Purpose of the report: To report any apologies for absence and substitutions. Minutes: Apologies were received from Graham Ellwood, Ayesha Azad and Bob Gardner. |
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MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING
Purpose of the report: To agree the minutes from the Select Committee held on 18 October 2019. Minutes: The Chairman informed members of some changes to the previous minutes. The minutes with these changes were agreed as a true record of the meeting. |
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DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST All Members present are required to declare, at this point in the meeting or as soon as possible thereafter:
i. any disclosable pecuniary interests and / or;
ii. other interests arising under the Code of Conduct in respect of any item(s) of business being considered at this meeting.
NOTES:
· Members are reminded that they must not participate in any item where they have a disclosable pecuniary interest;
· as well as an interest of the Member, this includes any interest, of which the Member is aware, that relates to the Member’s spouse or civil partner (or any person with whom the Member is living as a spouse or civil partner); and
· Members with a significant personal interest may participate in the discussion and vote on that matter unless that interest could be reasonably regarded as prejudicial. Minutes: Rachael I. Lake reported that she had an interest, as a family member was employed by Surrey County Council and another worked for Zalaris Consulting UK, who had current contracts with Surrey County Council. |
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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 (10 December 2019).
2. The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting (9 December 2019).
3. The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting, and no petitions have been received. Minutes: None received.
Mark Brett-Warburton arrived at 10:09. |
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RESPONSES FROM THE CABINET TO ISSUES REFERRED BY THE SELECT COMMITTEE
Minutes: The response to the Moving Closer to Residents Task Group report was tabled. The response is annexed to these minutes. |
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CABINET MEMBER PRIORITIES UPDATE
Purpose of the report:For the Select Committee to receive an update from the Cabinet Member for Corporate Support and Cabinet Member for Finance on progress against their priorities and objectives. Additional documents: Minutes: Witnesses:
Dr Zully Grant-Duff, Cabinet Member for Corporate Support Mel Few, Cabinet Member for Finance Leigh Whitehouse, Executive Director of Resources and Section 151 Officer
Key points raised during the discussion: 1. A Member enquired what the key dates were for the Coroner’s Service Local Government Accountability and Performance (LGAP) review and when findings for this would be received. The Cabinet Member for Corporate Support responded that the report would be available at the end of December 2019. 2. A Member assumed that the new ‘single front door’ system in customer services, whereby customers would be assisted as early as possible by the customer services team, rather than by a more specialised team, had been the default system for some time already. They queried the impact there would be on the contact centre with the new system. The Cabinet Member for Corporate Support confirmed that there had indeed always been a ‘single front door’ in the form of a contact centre, but that now enquiries that would previously have been referred to a specific service at an earlier stage were being triaged and resolved at the contact centre. Enquiries were only referred to a specific service when they needed specialised attention. 3. A Member asked how the new single front door system would translate to more effective services for residents. The Cabinet Member for Corporate Support indicated that the new system was more effective because it was more efficient, as the volume of enquiries that required specialised attention was reduced. 4. The Cabinet Member for Finance reported that the results of periods six and seven showed improvement on the budget shortfall to just over £1 million. The initial indications of period eight showed an estimated shortfall of around £500,000, meaning that the gap in the budget was closing. 5. A Member questioned whether the £8.5 million overspend in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) had been reduced or whether measures had been taken elsewhere in the budget to compensate. The Cabinet Member for Finance confirmed that compensatory measures had been taken. A SEND board was being set up to focus directly on the causes and effects of rising demand and cost of the SEND service. 6. The Committee questioned how much of the improvement in the budget position was due to the capitalisation of costs in highways. The Cabinet Member for Finance stated that about £4.5 million was capitalised and it was based on a reassessment of what was being charged into the roads and repairs costs. The Executive Director added that not capitalising highway costs previously was an omission, it was explained that some works had been charged to capital and some to revenue, and capitalising now had brought the council in line with current accounting practice. 7. A Member queried a reference in the report to the majority of capital projects being completed in the financial year, and asked for this to be quantified. The Executive Director replied that in this meant a vast majority, and that the ... view the full minutes text for item 23/19 |
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QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE REPORT (Q2 2019/20)
Purpose of the report: To invite the Select Committee’s comments and suggestions in respect of the Q2 Performance Report 2019/20, regarding the format and nature of the presentation of the information, as well as any of the indicators and/or measures reported.
Additional documents: Minutes: Witnesses:
Dr Zully Grant-Duff, Cabinet Member for Corporate Support Michael Coughlin, Executive Director of Transformation, Partnerships and Prosperity
Key points raised during the discussion: 1. The Cabinet Member for Corporate Support highlighted the particular indicators RS 01 and RS 02 (‘satisfaction with the way the council runs things’ and ‘satisfaction that the council offers good value for money’ respectively), which had been given a target following the previous meeting. These targets were developed in comparison with other local authorities. 2. The Committee thanked the Cabinet Member for adding the targets, and queried how the surveys collecting the data operated. It was concerning that while most targets were aspirational, RS 01 and RS 02 had low or static targets. The Executive Director of Transformation, Partnerships and Prosperity explained that data was gathered using both online and telephone surveys, the latter being collected by a market research company. 3. A Member asked where approximately the council stood on customer satisfaction and value for money in comparison to other local authorities. The Cabinet Member detailed some previous figures for satisfaction from other authorities, which ranged from about 58-60% (compared with Surrey County Council’s latest result of 53%). With regards to value for money, the Cabinet Member quoted figures of around 40-44% (compared with Surrey County Council’s latest result of 35%). However, these figures were for borough councils, not county councils, so they were not directly comparable. Issues with RS 01 and RS 02 and how the data was collected could be investigated by the Customer Services Task Group. 5. A Member expressed concern about CFL 08 (‘LAC pathway plans at 16.3 years’), whose latest result was 45%, compared to a target of 95%. The current result had not changed from the previous result. 6. A Member highlighted the indicator CTE 06 (‘delivery of SFRS Safe and Well visit programme’), where the latest result was approximately double the previous result, and yet there was a cross indicating that the latest result was worse than the previous result, even though an increase in numbers for this indicator should represent positive progress. 7. A Member noted that HROD 04 (‘sickness’) might always be in flux due to the effect of seasonal changes on sickness rates. A 12-month rolling picture was suggested as an alternative measure for HROD 04. 9. A Member queried how staff would be retained during and following the relocation to Woking. The Executive Director replied that a number of staff listening and engagement events were being held, and that each service would be examined separately to find out how many staff might be leaving. 10. A Member questioned how the council’s sickness target compared to the private sector. The Executive Director responded that while he did not have comparable figures, private sector sickness rates tended to be lower than in the public sector. This information would be provided to the Select Committee. 11. The Committee highlighted that the quarterly performance reports provided to the Select Committee always seemed to be running about a ... view the full minutes text for item 24/19 |
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SCRUTINY OF TRANSFORMATION PROPOSAL
Purpose of report: for the Committee to review the scoping of a task group centering on customer experience and to appoint Members to this group.
Minutes: Key points raised during the discussion:
1. The Committee reviewed the scoping document and the Chairman sought volunteers to participate in the task group work. Will Forster, Nick Harrison, Rachael I. Lake and Chris Townsend all volunteered to participate in the Customer Experience Transformation Task Group. |
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ANNUAL PROCUREMENT FORWARD PLAN 2020/21
Purpose of the report: That the Select Committee reviews the attached Cabinet report and the following Part 2 annex to this report and make recommendations to the Cabinet as appropriate. Additional documents: Minutes: Witnesses:
Dr Zully Grant-Duff, Cabinet Member for Corporate Support Mel Few, Cabinet Member for Finance Leigh Whitehouse, Executive Director of Resources and Section 151 Officer Elizabeth Stavreski, Director of Procurement
Key points raised during the discussion: 1. A Member expressed concern that the plan could change following the UK’s impending exit from the European Union. The Director of Procurement informed the Committee that the only change foreseen was that that the council’s tenders would cease to be advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) and would instead be advertised in a UK equivalent. 2. A Member asked whether the budgets mentioned in the report for each procurement contract were for the next financial year or for the whole contract. The Director of Procurement responded that these budgets were for the whole duration of the contract. 3. A Member enquired whether there were savings targets for individual contracts. The Director of Procurement explained that targets and savings opportunities for individual service areas were investigated before the procurement process was completed. Sometimes, however, no savings were possible since this was a tailored approach. Cabinet Members were consulted throughout the procurement process. |
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EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC
That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information under the relevant paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.
Minutes: The Select Committee did not discuss confidential information; there was no exclusion of the public. |
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ANNUAL PROCUREMENT FORWARD PLAN 2020/21
Purpose of the report: That the Select Committee reviews the attached Part 2 Cabinet report annex and make recommendations to the Cabinet as appropriate.
Minutes: See the minutes of Item 26 for the discussion of this item. |
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SELECT COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS TRACKER AND FORWARD WORK PROGRAMME
Purpose of the item: For the Select Committee to review the attached recommendations tracker and forward work programme making suggestions for additions or amendments as appropriate. Additional documents: Minutes: Key points raised during the discussion: 1. The Select Committee was reminded that budget scrutiny and a session on building partnerships would be held in January. 2. Members submitted suggestions for the subsequent Forward Work Programme. These included scrutinising property progress more extensively, scrutinising the capital budget, understanding the revenue consequences of the capital budget and understanding more about changes to the coroner’s service.
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DATE OF NEXT MEETING: 24 JANUARY 2020
The next meeting of the Resources and Performance Select Committee will be held on 24 January 2020 from 10:00am. Minutes: The next meeting of the Resources and Performance Select Committee would be held on 24 January 2020 in the Ashcombe Suite, County Hall at 10:00. |