Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Ahmad, Byrne and Islam.

There were no public questions for this meeting of the Committee to consider.

The Minutes of the meeting of Performance Overview and Scrutiny Committee, held on 24^th November 2022, are attached for approval.

Resolved:

That the Minutes of the meeting of the Perfromance Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 24^th November 2022, be approved as a correct record.

The Committee scrutinised a report which presented a review of the Council performance for the second quarter of 2022/23 (July – September 2022). The Committee was invited to examine areas of under-performance and where appropriate recommend appropriate remedial action. The Committee was also asked to note areas of good performance.

The Council’s Corporate Performance Report (CPR) monitored the delivery of business plan actions, risks and measures against the current Corporate Priorities. The CPR provided a breakdown by each corporate priority area and included further details on any exceptions. The Council continued to monitor and to plan for, the impact of both internal influences (such as staffing capacity due to Covid-19 related absences) and external factors (such as increased demand due to increased costs of living) on all its services. 

During the study period, the report revealed that 95% of actions were on track, or had been, successfully completed and 5% were behind schedule. 72% (that was 104 actions out of a reported 145) of reported risks were deemed to be either ‘low’ or ‘very low’. 69% (that was 35 out of 51 reported actions) of targeted measures were on course to achieve their end of year target. 92% (that was 47 out of 51 actions) of targeted measures were on track to achieve their end of year target. These figures were as expected for the first quarter of a ‘reporting year’.

The report highlighted 13 measures that were not on target to be completed within the specified timescales. Of these 13 red measures, nine were largely due to an increased demand for services of which six were in Children’s Social Care services, one was in Customer Services, one was in the Economy Directorate and one was in the Public Health service.

A Member referred to action M918(C) (Percentage of calls answered) and expressed concern at the relatively large numbers of unanswered calls that were being reported. Members noted that this action had been reported to previous meetings and requested details on how many call-backs were happening daily. The Assistant Chief Executive undertook to provide members of the Committee with this information.

Further to actions M408a (C), M409a (C) and M410a (C), relating to the building of new homes in the authority the Committee sought clarification on the numbers of houses that were built in the Borough, how many of these were affordable, how targets for the numbers of new build properties in the Borough were set and whether detailed discussions were being held with builders/developers. The Committee requested that a report on this matter be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee.

Further to action M727(C), Members expressed their concerns at the average caseloads of social workers in the Children’s Social Care Service, seeking clarification on the percentage of repeat referrals and the impact of additional funding, that has been made available for the recruitment of new staff.

A Member referred to action M498 (C) ‘Street Lighting – Percentage of issues resolved within target time’, noting that the street  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Committee scrutinised a report of the Director of Finance which provided Members with an update on the Council’s 2022/23 forecast revenue budget position, detailed at Annex 1 to the report and the financial position of the capital programme as at 30^th September 2022 (Quarter 2 – July – September), together with the revised capital programme 2022/23 to 2026/27, as outlined in section two of the report at Annex 2.

The current forecast outturn position for 2022/23 was a projected deficit variance of £4.452m, which allowed for approved and pending transfers to and from reserves. An operational deficit of £6.172m, was reduced by £1.720m with the anticipated effect of management actions and strengthened restrictions in relation to expenditure and recruitment.

The Council’s reported financial position included additional costs and pressures that were identified by the Authority in this financial year as a direct result of the lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. There were though two areas which continued to endure significant pressures attributed to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; Community Health and Adult Social Care was reporting an adverse variance of £7.028m and Children’s Social Care was recording an adverse variance of £3.961m.

These pressures were being offset against a corporate provision of £12.000m COVID-19 Legacy funding which had been set aside during the 2022/23 budget setting process.

An update on the major issues driving the projections was detailed at Annex 1 to the report. The Director of Finance’s report outlined the most up to date capital spending position for 2022/23 to 2026/27 for approved schemes. The revised capital programme budget for 2022/23 was £68.318m at the close of Quarter 2, a net decrease of £31.930m from the original budget of £100.248m. Actual expenditure to 30 September 2022 was £18.842m (27.58% of the forecast outturn). Without doubt the forecast position would continue to change throughout the year with additional re-profiling into future years.

In considering the report Members were mindful that the report had previously been presented to the Cabinet, at its meeting on 12^th December 2022, where the recommendations contained therein were approved.

RESOLVED – That:

1.    The Forecast revenue outturn for 2022/23 at Quarter 2 being a £4.452m adverse variance having regard to the action being taken to manage expenditure be noted.

2.    The Forecast positions for both the Housing Revenue Account, Dedicated Schools Grant and Collection Fund be noted.

3.    The Revised capital programme for 2022/2027 as at Quarter 2 be noted.

The Committee received a report detailing the Committee’s Work Programme for 2022/23.

Resolved:

That the Performance Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Work Programme 2022/23 be noted.

Key Decisions scheduled to be taken by the Council/Cabinet.

The Committee considered the latest Key Decision Document, which set out the Authority’s Key Decisions scheduled to be made from 9^th December 2022.

Resolved:

That the Key Decision Document be noted.

That, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it contains exempt information under paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and it would not, on balance, be in the public interest to disclose the report or its appendices.

RESOLVED that, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it contains exempt information under paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and it would not, on balance, be in the public interest to disclose the report.

The Committee scrutinised a joint report of the Assistant Director (Youth, Leisure and Communities) and of the Chief Executive of Oldham Community Leisure (OCL), which detailed the progress of Oldham Community Leisure coming out of Covid-19 operating restrictions. The report also provided a financial year end position, together with commentary of the current financial year to date ending October 2022.

In December 2012 the Council’s Cabinet had approved a recommendation to appoint OCL following a competitive process as the preferred bidder for a new 10 plus 5-year contract to operate and manage the Council’s leisure facilities. The contract became operational in April 2013. The current contract, without the 5-year optional extension, was due to end on 31^st March 2023.  Ongoing work was being carried out to extend the contract. 

Under normal circumstances, prior to the onset of Covid-19, the Leisure contract was performing well. The outcome and outputs stipulated in the contract were being met. In addition, memberships were high, the external inspections of the centres were all very good or excellent, and customer feedback was also good.  The overall financial performance was also positive. The Covid-19 situation had presented various significant issues to all Leisure providers across the country, not just OCL, and sport generally due to the two forced closures and a restriction on activity in our Leisure Centres when they have been open.  In addition, strict guidance on all team sport activity and cancellations of all National Governing Body of sport has further impacted, resulting in cancellation of block bookings, a reduction in the use of facilitates and an impact on income.

To support the monitoring of the performance of OCL, in addition to the contracted quarterly performance meetings, monthly monitoring meetings are also in place specifically to look at the OCL overall financial performance.  The Council supported OCL’s ambition to get as many people back into physical activity as quickly as restrictions would allow, following their well-received flexing of service provision, such as outdoor classes, over the enforced site closures.

The Leisure contract extension, which is a 10 plus five years, is due for consideration at the end of the current financial year. An initial agreement had already taken place prior to Covid-19 to look at extending this but with some changes to the contract and additional social value activity and measures added.  Work is advanced on development of these revised arrangements and it was anticipated that the contract extension would be signed before the end of this financial year; the contract extension would take the partnership through to the end of March 2028.

OCL had continued to work with members to build their confidence to return and to maximise the number of sessions that they have on offer.  A comparison to similar time periods, because of COVID, though does show a fall in memberships and this could be directly linked to Covid-19. 

Resolved:

1.    The Committee notes the updated performance of Oldham Community Leisure for the period specified in the submitted report.

2.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.