Councillors and committees

Agenda and minutes

Contact: Kunwar Khan, Scrutiny Officer 

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No. Item

26/22

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS

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    Purpose of the item:

     

    To receive any apologies for absence and substitutions.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Apologies were received from Lance Spencer.

     

27/22

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETINGS: 14 APRIL 2022 pdf icon PDF 238 KB

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    Purpose of the item:

     

    To agree the minutes of the Resources and Performance Select Committee held on 14 April 2022 as a true and accurate record of proceedings.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    The minutes of the Resources and Performance Select Committee held on 14 April 2022 were formally agreed as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

     

28/22

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

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    Purpose of the item:

     

    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).

     

    ·         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.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    None received.

     

29/22

QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS

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    Purpose of the item:

     

    To receive any questions or petitions.

     

    NOTES:

     

    1.    The deadline for Members’ questions is 12:00pm four working days before the meeting (7 July 2022).

     

    2.    The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting (6 July 2022).

     

    3.    The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting, and no petitions have been received.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    None received.

30/22

CUSTOMER SERVICES UPDATE pdf icon PDF 183 KB

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    Purpose of the item:

     

    To provide an update on the Council’s Customer Services operation following recommendations made by the Customer Experience Task Group.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Witnesses:

    Mark Nuti, Cabinet Member for Communities

    Marie Snelling, Executive Director of Customer and Communities

    Sarah Bogunovic, Head of Customer Strategy and Registrations

    Susan Grizzelle, Head of Customer Services

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

     

    1.    The Cabinet Member for Communities introduced the report, commending the work undertaken by the customer services team throughout the pandemic which included the implementation of the test and trace and vaccination programmes. The Cabinet Member for Communities added that Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) around call times would be considered carefully going forward as calls became more in depth and lasting longer as a result.

     

    2.    The Chairman queried what were the three main challenges faced by Customer Services. The Executive Director of Customer and Communities said the first challenge was workforce, explaining that customer services could be a time limited job. Surrey County Council (SCC) had a good track record of people remaining within the organisation which in turn could cause issues with retention and the delivery of the customer services operation as staff move into other roles. This coupled with the challenges faced more broadly around recruitment across the County Council required creative and innovative methods of attracting applicants and retaining staff to be considered. Secondly, the nature of calls had become more complex, resulting in the need to provide staff more training and adjust the operation to support residents successfully. The third main challenge was to continue running a good operational service whilst fulfilling a wider corporate role, providing training, guidance, advice and support across the organisation to support customer culture.

    3.    The Chairman asked what innovative and creative methods were being considered to address the recruitment and retention challenges mentioned previously. The Head of Customer Services explained the current buoyant employment market meant that some staff were returning to pre pandemic jobs. Recruitment campaigns were emphasising the interesting and diverse services offered to attract applicants in addition to offering permanent roles rather than fixed term contracts, providing more job security.

     

    4.    The Chairman queried if the contact centre currently had a full complement of staff. The Head of Customer Services confirmed that there were vacancies within social care areas but overall, the current staffing profile was as expected.

     

    5.    The Chairman questioned if the longer, more complex calls mentioned previously would affect the ability to deliver efficiencies. The Executive Director of Customer and Communities said that the service had delivered significant efficiencies during the last five years noted that there were no efficiency profiles for this year. She added that although the financial outlook going forward was expected to be challenging, the ability to deal with efficiencies would not be affected. 

     

    6.    The Chairman queried the average staff turnover and length of service within customer services. The Head of Customer Services noted that most staff stay for a year as roles within the department were entry level and part of someone’s development to remain with the service. The Chairman noted this reiterating the benefits of encouraging staff to stay and move  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30/22

31/22

UPDATE ON THE ROLL OUT OF DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE IN SURREY pdf icon PDF 381 KB

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    Purpose of the item:

     

    To provide an update on the delivery of improvements to digital infrastructure across Surrey, including changes introduced by Central Government to the way in which public subsidy is administered to support digital connectivity. This update report focuses on those interventions which will drive the greatest improvement in connectivity, in what is a complex system for the delivery and operation of broadband, 4G Long Term Evolution (Lte)/5G and other wireless technologies.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Witnesses:

    Michael Coughlin, Executive Director, Partnerships, Prosperity and Growth

    Rhiannon Mort, Head of Economic Infrastructure

    Katie Brennan, Digital Infrastructure, Senior Project Manager

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

     

    1.    The Executive Director, Partnerships Prosperity and Growth introduced the report confirming that the ‘digital infrastructure’ noted in the paper referred to e.g. the cabling, fibre, networks, transmitters, masts/poles and hardware that is required to enable software, applications and digital technologies to operate at their optimum level in the interests of ensuring Surrey’s residents, communities, economy and public agencies can fully benefit from them.

     

    2.    The Chairman asked how permitted development rights affected Surrey County Council, particularly in relation to highways. The Digital Infrastructure, Senior Project Manager confirmed that in Surrey, borough and district councils were the local planning authorities, carrying out specific planning functions and managing permitted developments for their area. Most communication apparatus came under permitted development rights enshrined in national planning legislation determined by government, not local authorities.

     

    3.    There are two types of permitted development; the majority of telephone and broadband access apparatus such as cabinets and telegraph poles fall under ‘permitted development’, where the supplier contacts the local planning authority 28 days prior to starting works with no planning or prior approval from the local planning authority being required.  The second category is ‘permitted development requiring prior approval’. In this instance, the only factors the local district or borough planning authority can consider were details around the site, height, topography and appearance of the proposed apparatus.

     

    4.    New legislation brought in in April 2022 meant that 4G and 5G masts up to 30 metres were now dealt with by district and borough councils under permitted development requiring prior approval. Masts were being increased to 25 metres on conservation areas and highways except for areas of special scientific interest and rules had been relaxed around the width and the height of existing ground-based masts being replaced in addition to the amendment to rules around masts on buildings and radio equipment housing.

     

    Where masts/poles were being located on highways land, Surrey County Council, as the local highway authority, would be invited by the local district or borough planning authority to comment on the highway safety aspects only, but would not have powers to comment on the suitability of a location in respect of aesthetics.

     

    Separately from the planning legislation, if a communications supplier intended to break the surface of the public highway to install new ducts, chambers, cabinets or poles, the company would be required to seek a permit application to Surrey County Council as the local planning authority and all permit applications were considered with the principles and rules of the permit scheme and road network availability for the proposed works to take place. For any applications indicating the installation of any new above ground assets, confirmation should be sought from the communication supplier that the necessary notifications have been submitted to the local planning authority to the required time scales prior to any installation.

     

    5.    The Chairman  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31/22

32/22

FORWARD WORK PROGRAMME AND RECOMMENDATION TRACKER pdf icon PDF 94 KB

33/22

DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING

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    The next meeting of the Resources and Performance Select Committee will be held on 7 October at 10:00am.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    The Committee noted its next meeting would be held on 7 October 2022.