Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

To be apprised of any changes to the membership of the Committee in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 4.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 4, Members noted the termination of membership of Councillor G Hodson and the appointment of Councillor Dowling for this meeting only, thereby giving effects to the wishes of the political group.

Note:  No other business is permitted unless, by reason of special circumstances, which shall be specified at the meeting, the Chairman is of the opinion that the item(s) should be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no items of urgent business.

If a member requires advice on Declarations of Interest, he/she is advised to contact the Borough Solicitor in advance of the meeting.  (For the assistance of members a checklist for use in considering their position on any particular item is included at the end of this agenda sheet.)

1.     Councillors Barron and Hennessy declared a non-pecuniary interest in item 9 (BT Lancashire Services Annual Review), as Members of Lancashire County Council (LCC).

2.    Councillor McKay declared an interest in item 10 (Quality Performance Indicators (Q4 2015-16), references to household waste PIs (Street Scene) as an employee of LCC.

In accordance with Overview and Scrutiny Committee Procedure Rule 16, Members must declare the existence of any Party Whip, and the nature of it, when considering any matter in the following categories:

-       The review of any decision of the Cabinet or

-       The performance of any Member of the Cabinet

N.B. The Secretary of State believes whipping is incompatible with Overview and Scrutiny.

There were no declarations of a Party Whip.

To receive as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 18 February 2016.

RESOLVED:     That the Minutes of the Corporate and Environmental Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 18 February 2016 be received as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Residents of West Lancashire, on giving notice, may address the meeting to make representations on any item on the agenda except where the public and press are to be excluded during consideration of the item.  The deadline for submissions is 5.00pm 7 July 2016.  A copy of the public speaking protocol and form to be completed is attached.

There were no items under this heading.

To consider the report of the Borough Solicitor.

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Solicitor, as contained on pages15 to 30 of the Book of Reports which gave details of the outcome of work undertaken by the Public Involvement in Meetings Working Group (the Working Group) in regard to a review that had been undertaken of the Council’s elected membership, ward boundaries, members per ward and the electoral cycle.

In discussion Members raised questions and comments in respect of the following:

·         Cost of whole Council Elections: outcome of study; methodology used; anticipated savings; capture of data.

The Borough Solicitor attended the meeting with the Electoral and Administration Services Manager and provided clarification on issues raised.

The Chairman of the Working Group, Councillor Pendleton, also attended the meeting, with the permission of the Chairman spoke on the item and provided additional clarification in relation to the study and the outcomes.

RESOLVED:   A.  That the report and appendices be noted.

                        B.  That the Committee accept the view of the Working Group that the

 status quo be maintained for the reasons stated within section 4 to 9 of the report and recommend to Council that no further action be taken at this time.

To consider the report of the Borough Transformation Manager & Deputy Director of Housing and Inclusion.

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Transformation Manager and Deputy Director of Housing & Inclusion as contained on pages 31 to 60 of the Book of Reports that detailed the Annual Review 2015/16 of the ICT and Revenues and Benefits Council services delivered by BT Lancashire Services as part of the partnership agreement with Lancashire County Council.

The Chairman welcomed the representatives from BT Lancashire Services (BTLS).

A presentation, supported by a series of slides as contained on pages 141 to 144 of the Book of Reports, was undertaken by Mr Mark Orford (Director of ICT Services) and Ms Claire Hall (Director of Revenues and Benefits Service) on the work that had been undertaken over the previous 12 months under the shared services agreement.

The Director of Revenues and Benefits provided an overview of key activity in her service during 2015/16 highlighting details as set down in the report and presentation.  Reference was made to the Services Improvements during the period and the targets that had been met or been exceeded; the Service Plans & Improvements and the Key Challenges.

The Director of ICT then provided an overview of the work undertaken during the review period referencing details as set down in the report, highlighting the Key Achievements in the service during 2015/16 that had included Public Service Accreditation (PSN) and other projects that had been completed.  He went on to briefly outline some of the service plans and improvements and some of the priority projects they were helping to delivery, including Modern.Gov. and telephony replacement.

Comments and questions were raised in respect of:

·         Savings achieved in the period

·         Impact of Universal Credit (UC) – transfer to Department of Works & Pensions (DWPI) (impact on workforce)

·         Major Business Disruption – impact on service; measurement and monitoring.

·         IT technical support at Lancashire Place – staff complement.

·         Training – delivery; impact of services; measuring success.

·         Annual Review Presentation – future format.

RESOLVED:   That the BT Lancashire Services Annual Review 2015/16, attached at Appendix A, and accompanying presentation be noted.

To consider the report of the Borough Transformation Manager & Deputy Director of Housing & Inclusion.

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Transformation Manager and Director of Housing & Inclusion, as contained on pages 61 to 80 of the Book of Reports which detailed performance monitoring data for the quarter ended 31 March 2016.  The report had previously been considered by Cabinet at its meeting on 14 June 2016.

In discussion Members raised questions and comments in respect of the following performance indicators:

·         HS1 (% Housing repairs completed in timescale) – financial impact of missed target; effect of downturn in performance on tenants/ contractors performance (penalties); PI target triggers (tolerance %).

·         HS13 (% LA properties with CP12 outstanding) – process to gain entry; financial implications; variation of visiting times;

·         TS24a  (Average time taken to re-let local authority housings (days) (General Needs) – financial impact of missed target; process associated with calculation of PI.

·         WL18 (Use of leisure and cultural facilities (swims and visits) – access to data

·         NI191 (Residual household waste per household (Kg) – changes in recycling of inert waste (charges) – impact on fly tipping.

·         NI157a & NI157b (Processing of planning applications (Major & Minor applications) – targets set – impact on minor applications.

·         NI195b (Improved street and environmental cleanliness (levels of litter, detritus, graffiti and flying posting) Detritus) – Survey, details of locations visited; involvement of ward councillors.

The Borough Transformation Manager and Deputy Director of Housing & Inclusion attended the meeting with the Performance Officer and provided clarification on the issues raised and made an undertaking to provide additional information, as noted, in relation to them.

RESOLVED:   That the Council’s performance against the indicator set for the quarter ended 31 March 2016 be noted.

To consider the report of the Director of Leisure and Wellbeing (Lead Officer).

Consideration was given to the draft final report of the Committee, attached as Appendix A, on the findings of the review ‘A Market Town Strategy for Ormskirk’.

Members discussed the report, its findings and the recommendations within it.

In relation to actions on the recommendations it was noted that these would come back for consideration at the meeting of the Committee in December.

RESOLVED:That the draft final report and recommendations therein be approved and be submitted to Cabinet on 13 September 2016 and Council, as appropriate.

To consider the joint report of the Borough Solicitor and the Director of Leisure and Wellbeing (Lead Officer)

Consideration was given to the joint report of the Borough Solicitor and Director of Leisure and Wellbeing (Lead Officer) as contained on pages 81 to 91 of the Book of Reports that provided details in relation to establishing the Work Programme for 2016/17 of the Committee.

In discussion Members raised comments and questions in relation to topics for future consideration and the concerns of residents in relation to the flooding that had occurred in parts of the Borough earlier in the year.   In relation to the latter Members discussed how best this could be scrutinised at an early date.

It was agreed that the recommendations as set down at 2.1 to 2.5 be agreed but that additionally that the Work Programme include an item, to be considered as soon as practicable, on the highways drainage systems with an input from the appropriate agencies, an invitation to which would be proffered to attend the next meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED:   A.   That the timetable attached at Appendix ‘A’ for establishing the Work Programme for the Corporate and Environmental Overview and Scrutiny Committee 2016/17 be agreed.

B.     That arrangements be put in place to request items for the Work Programme for 2016/17 from Members, the Corporate Management Team (CMT), by inviting members of the public to submit topics via a press release and by the inclusion of an article on the Council’s web-site.

C.     That all potential topics received by the deadline be published on the Council’s web site for Members of the public to comment or make suggestions.

D.     That following the deadline for receipt of potential topics the Lead Officer, in consultation with the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Conservative Spokesperson be requested to score each of the topics using the agreed selection criteria set out at Appendix B.

E.      That a report on the Work Programme for 2016/17 together with the results of the scoring exercise, be considered at the next meeting of the Corporate and Environmental Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Committee select one topic for Review.

F.      That the Director of Leisure and Wellbeing make arrangements for an invitation to be proffered to representatives from external agencies, as appropriate, to attend the next meeting of the Committee scheduled to be held on 13 October 2016 in relation to an item on the Borough’s highways drainage systems, with particular reference to the gullies and that questions relating to same be forward to the Chairman of the Committee and Director of Leisure and Wellbeing ahead of that meeting.

To note the minutes of the Member Development Commission meeting held on 17 March 2016.

Consideration was given to the Minutes of the Member Development Commission meeting held on 17 March 2016.

In relation to “in-house” overview and scrutiny training, which had been raised at the Commission, this was currently scheduled to take place on 4 October 2016.

The Chairman made an undertaking to speak to the Leader in relation to the provision of scrutiny training event to be facilitated by an external trainer.

RESOLVED:That  the minutes of the Member Development Commission meeting held on 17 March 2016 be noted.

There are no items under this heading.

There were no items under this heading.

There are note items under this heading.

There were no items under this heading.