Venue: Crompton Suite, Civic Centre, Oldham, West Street, Oldham, OL1 1NL. View directions
No. | Item | |
---|---|---|
Apologies For Absence Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Harkness, Lancaster, Moores and Williamson. |
||
Urgent Business Urgent business, if any, introduced by the Chair Minutes: There were no items of urgent business received. |
||
Declarations of Interest To Receive Declarations of Interest in any Contract or matter to be discussed at the meeting. Minutes: There were no declarations of interest received. |
||
Public Question Time To receive Questions from the Public, in accordance with the Council’s Constitution. Minutes: There were no public questions. |
||
Minutes of Previous Governance, Strategy and Resources Scrutiny Board Meeting The Minutes of the Governance, Strategy and Resources Scrutiny Board held on 9th October are attached for approval. Minutes: In respect of Minute 9 Work Programme 2024/25 Councillor Kenyon pointed out that the agreed inclusion in the Work programme of a workshop of a workshop on contract monitoring had not been included in the minutes.
The Governance Officer apologised for any omission in the minutes and that after checking the work programme would be updated accordingly.
RESOLVED that Councillor Kenyon’s comments be noted and the minutes of the meeting held on 9th October 2024 be otherwise approved as a correct record.
|
||
Housing Complaints Annual Report 2023/24 This report details the number of complaints handled via the Oldham Council Tenants Housing Complaints Policy from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. Minutes:
|
||
Corporate performance Report Quarter 2 The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of corporate performance against agreed service business plan measures for the 2024/25 Q2 period (July – September 2024).
Minutes: The Assistant Director Strategy & Performance submitted the Corporate Performance Report (CPR) which provided an overview of corporate performance against agreed service business plan measures for the 2024/25 Q2 period (July to September 2024). The CPR report for this Scrutiny Board contained information for the following service areas: Communications & Research; Customer Services; Finance; Procurement; Human Resources & Organisational Development; and IT (Operations). Each services performance was assessed using a number of Key Performance indicators (KPIs) .Where KPIs had performance targets these were assessed as either ‘Green’ performing above target; ‘Amber’ performing less than 5% below target; or ‘Red’ performing at 5%or more below target.
In respect of Communications and Research there were 9 KPIs without set targets. The report highlighted progress which was being made in respect of four of these KPIs: Increasing pride in the borough; Increase resident satisfaction with Council Communications; Improving two-way engagement with our workforce; and Managing key reputational issues.
In respect of Customer Services it was reported that there were 12 Key performance indicators (KPIs) 4 KPIs had set targets of which 2 were ‘Green’, 1 ‘Red’ and 1 ‘Amber’, a further 8 KPIs were without set targets.
In respect of Human Resources and Organisational Development it was reported that there were 10 KPIs without set targets. The report highlighted three areas for further development: Number of vacancies advertised; New Starters; and, Employee Relations Cases. A Member commented that it would be useful for the Scrutiny Board to have a list of all of the KPI’s for the service. A member also requested that a breakdown of the reasons given for leaving also be provided.
In respect of IT Services it was reported that there were 10 KPIs, 9 of which were ‘Green’ performing above target. 1 KPI ‘Breached Tickets’ was ‘Red’ performing below target but with an improving trend.
In Respect of Finance there were 8 key Metrics. Of the 6 metrics with set targets 4 were ‘Green’ with 2 ‘Housing Benefits -Average time to process change in circumstances’, and ‘Council Tax Reduction -Average time to process change in circumstances’ performing significantly above target. However, ‘Council Tax Reduction -Average time to process new claims’ was ‘Red’ averaging an additional 10 days on the target of 20 days. The metric ‘Valid invoices paid within 30 days’ was ‘Amber’ 3.5% below target.
RESOLVED: 1. To note the progress in implementing the business plan objectives. 2.The areas of consistent good performance and improvements be welcomed. 3. Comments on progress be noted. 4. Areas for further development and action to improve below target metrics be noted.
|
||
Revenue Monitor and Capital Investment Programme 2024/25 Quarter 2 To provide an update as of the Council’s 2024/25 forecast revenue budget position and the financial position of the capital programme together with the revised capital programme 2024/25 to 2028/29 for the latest quarter.
Minutes: The Director of Finance submitted a report providing the Scrutiny Committee with an update as at 30 September 2024 (Month 6) of the Council’s 2024/25 forecast revenue budget position and the financial position of the capital programme together with the revised capital programme 2024/25 to 2028/29.
In respect of the revenue budget the forecast overspend position based on the Month 6 profiled budget was £9.956m which if not addressed would result in a year-end overspend of £19.912m (£21.065m at Month 4). This financial monitoring report follows on from the position reported at Month 4 and provided a warning of the potential year- end position if no further action was taken to reduce net expenditure. The management actions already implemented for 2024/25 had been factored into the Month 6 forecasts and that had resulted in a reduction in the position previously reported. Work was continuing across the organisation to address the position and it was anticipated that by the year end, the current outturn deficit position should have reduced even further. An update on the Month 6 2024/25 position was detailed within Annex 1 of the submitted report.
In respect f the Capital budget the report outlined the most up to date capital spending position for 2024/25 to 2028/29 for approved schemes. The revised capital programme budget for 2024/25 is £99.505m at the close of Quarter 2 (£103.935m at Month 4), a net reduction of £4.430m. Actual expenditure to 30 September 2024 was £31.222m (31.38% of the forecast outturn).
RESOLVED:
1. The contents of the report be noted. 2. To note the forecast profiled budget, being an adverse position of £9.956m at Quarter 2 and the forecast potential adverse position by year end of £19.912m, with mitigations in place to reduce expenditure. 3. To note the revised reserves policy for 2024/25 as detailed at Appendix 2 of Annex 1. 4. Approves the revised capital programme for 2024/25 including the proposed virements and the forecast for the financial years to 2028/29 as at Quarter 2 as outlined in Annex 2 of the submitted report. |
||
Work Programme 2024/25 To consider the Scrutiny Board’s work programme for the remainder of the municipal year. Minutes: The Scrutiny Board considered its Work Programme for 2023/24.
RESOLVED: That the Work Programme be noted.
|
||
Key Decision Document Key Decision Document published 28 days prior to the Cabinet meeting to be held on 16th December 2024. Minutes: The Scrutiny Board considered the Key Decision Document which records key decisions that the authority is due to take.
RESOLVED: That the Key Decision Document be noted.
|
||
Rule 13 and 14 To consider any rule 13 or 14 decisions taken since the previous meeting.
Minutes: There were no Rule 13 and 14 decisions to report. |
||
Exclusion of the press and Public To consider that the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business, pursuant to Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that discussions may involve the likely disclosure of exempt information, under paragraph 3 as defined in the provisions of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, to the Local Government Act 1972 and public interest would not be served in publishing the information. Minutes: 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 two items of business, on the grounds that they contain exempt information under paragraph 3 Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and it would not, on balance, be in the public interest to disclose the reports.
|
||
Partnership Risk Dashboard The report has identifies the partnerships in which the Council has an interest and provides a Risk Assessment. Minutes: The Director of Finance submitted a report which identified the partnerships in which the Council has an interest. The Council has a wide variety of partnership each of which had its own risk profile. The report set out the assessment of risk for each partnership with an opinion as to whether there was anything which the Scrutiny Board needed to highlight to either Cabinet or full Council. The report did not identify any risk assessments which required a report to Cabinet or full Council.
RESOLVED: That the report and current level of assessed risk on current partnerships to the Council be noted.
|
||
New Residential Children's Homes Update To update the Scrutiny Board on the progress to date on the delivery of the three new residential children’s homes as approved in the Cabinet report on the 18 March 2024. Minutes: A report of the Strategic Director of Children’s Service was submitted which gave an update on the progress on the delivery of three new residential children’s homes which were approved by Cabinet on 18 March 2024.
It was reported that the creation of new children’s homes can take a minimum of 12 months due to a significant number of factors and inter-dependencies. Two of the three planned homes were progressing well. A third property for purchase was being sought. The finished project would meet the criteria set out in the original decision by delivering three residential children’s homes, providing a total of 8 placements for children and young people. This was one additional place above the 7 placements agreed, which would yield an additional savings return.
Members commented on the need to learn lessons from the delivery of the project particularly from delays, causes and what actions could be taken to avoid those delays.
RESOLVED: That the report and progress to date be noted.
(NOTE: Councillor Al-Hamdani attended for this item and addressed the Scrutiny Board). |