| 289 | RECORD OF THE MEETING |
| | | The record of the meeting held on 17 July 2008 was signed by the Chairman as correct. |
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| 290 | TO RECEIVE APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE |
| | | Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Brake and Harriott. |
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| 291 | URGENT MATTERS BY REASON OF SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES |
| | | The Chairman, Councillor Kenneth Bamber, reported that he had agreed that the Committee receive an urgent report on the Housing Maintenance Contract and proposed to take it as item 5 (F) on the agenda, the reason for urgency was so that the committee could agree arrangements for keeping housing maintenance under regular review at meetings in the future. |
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| | > 5G Operation of the Housing Maintenance Contract (pdf file 78.6kb) |
| | > 5G Appendix 1 Operation of the Housing Maintenance Contract (pdf file 261.5kb) |
| 292 | DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST |
| | | Councillor Griffiths declared a personal interest in any item concerning Danecourt School as his wife is an employee there and in any reference to the Primary Care Trust (PCT) on the grounds that he is a non-executive director of Medway PCT.
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| Councillor Maple declared a personal interest in any item relating to staffing as he is a Trade Union representative (GMB). |
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| 293 | MEMBER'S ITEM: LOCAL GOVERNMENT OMBUDSMAN'S ANNUAL LETTER 2008 |
| | Discussion: |
| | | At the request of Councillor Griffiths the Committee received a report setting out the Local Government Ombudsman's (LGO's) Annual Letter for Medway 2007/8 and Councillor Griffiths asked that this committee should receive a six monthly review report relating to complaints with each alternate report including the LGO's Annual Letter.
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| The Head of Customer First informed Members that to assist with service improvements the LGO produces an annual public letter providing a summary of the complaints received by the LGO for that authority. Members were informed that although average response times to complaints to the LGO were above the expectation of 28 days that this measure was distorted by a small number of extremely complicated complaints, although some administrative delay had also been identified in the handling of some of these cases. It was noted that a new complaints monitoring system had been put in place to monitor the progress of complaints and that Medway Officers has a good working relationship with the LGO.
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| Members asked the Head of Customer First to elaborate on two specific complaints contained within the report and provide a written response to three specific issues contained within the LGO letter raised by a Member.
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|
| | > Appendix LGO Annual Letter 200708 (pdf file 198.1kb) |
| | > Draft Ombudsman Report (pdf file 147.1kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | | (a) | The report was noted;
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| | (b) | That there was a need for a remedy and redress guide in the light of the LGO's comments;
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| | (c) | That the Committee receives a six monthly complaints review report with the alternate report including the LGO's Annual Letter.
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| 294 | RESOURCE STRATEGY 2009/2012 |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Chief Finance Officer introduced a report that reviewed the major financial issues facing the Council in the next three years. The Committee made a number of detailed comments covering the following issues:
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| | • | The increase in energy costs (up to 40% increase this year) and the need to look at ways to reduce the Council's energy bill.
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| | • | Re-financing the Local Government Re-organisation debt.
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| | • | The Council's general and contingency reserves.
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| | • | The possibility of withdrawing from the Kent County Council Pension scheme.
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| | • | Asking Central Government to pay for the full cost of the Medway Tunnel.
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| | • | The need to focus on the future, especially relating to an ageing population.
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| | • | The cost implications of the new Waste Contract.
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| | • | The need for the Council to make its services more efficient.
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| The Committee discussed arrangements referred to in the report whereby portfolio holders meet with senior officers in "star chamber" meetings to discuss budget issues. Advice was given that these were not formally constituted meetings to which other councillors, the press and public have access. |
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| | > Resource Strategy (pdf file 279.8kb) |
| | Decision: |
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| 295 | COUNCIL PLAN AND ANNUAL REPORT |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Assistant Director, Communications, Performance and Partnerships introduced a report on the Council Plan 2009/2012 and Annual Report 2007/2008 and responded to Members' questions and comments.
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| Members asked a question in relation to the actual cost of delivering food to the elderly as set out within the full Annual Report and the Assistant Director, Communications, Performance and Partnerships agreed to provide this information at a later date. |
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| | > Council Plan and Annual Report (pdf file 134.5kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | | (a) | The Committee noted the report;
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| | (b) | The Assistant Director, Communications Performance and Partnerships was asked to provide information in relation to the actual cost of delivering food to the elderly as mentioned above.
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| 296 | CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS - APRIL-JUNE 2008 (QUARTER 1) |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Assistant Director, Communications, Performance and Partnerships introduced a report on Critical Success Factors (CSFs) from April to June 2008 (Quarter 1) and stated that the purpose of the report was to inform the committee about the progress against the Council's main priorities during the first quarter of 2008/09 using a set of defined CSFs.
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| Members asked a series of questions in particular relating to the improvement areas within all four Overview and Scrutiny areas and in particular Members asked that reports on the following issues within the improvement areas be provided to the next meeting:
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| | • | Average time to re-let council dwellings.
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| | • | Response time to Stage 1 complaints.
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| A Member asked that the Committee is presented with a briefing note relating to the worsening staff sickness trends and the progress on plans to employ an occupational health nurse in an attempt to combat this.
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| The Assistant Director, Communications, Performance and Partnerships informed the committee that there had been a request from the Regeneration, Community and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee to take the lead on the performance indicator NI155 - Number of affordable homes delivered (gross) with Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee having a watching brief. |
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| | > CSF 1st quarter 2008 (pdf file 976.8kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | | (a) | Members agreed to note the Council's performance against key objectives and asked for further information relating to the average time to re-let council dwellings, the response times to Stage 1 complaints and for a briefing note to be sent to Members of the Committee relating to the worsening trends in staff sickness and an update relating to the recruitment of an occupational staff nurse;
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| | (b) | Members also agreed that Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Committee take a lead on performance indicator NI155 - Number of affordable homes delivered (gross) with Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee having a watching brief. |
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| 297 | HOUSING IMPROVEMENT PLAN |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Assistant Director, Housing and Corporate Services presented a report that provided Members with an update on the Housing Improvement Plan and suggestions for items that Members may have wished to monitor. An updated Housing Improvement Plan, which included recommended performance indicators was circulated.
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| Members asked for an exact definition between licensable and non-licensable Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and what the criteria needed to be met to fall into each category . This related to concerns that there were increasing problems with family homes being rented out to multiple occupants that did not fall into the definition of HMOs and therefore did not need to be licensed. It was stated that such properties were causing disturbance to neighbours. Members asked what action the council could take and asked the degree of prioritisation the Council took in dealing with cases.
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| The Assistant Director, Housing and Corporate Services replied that her team's biggest priority was to licence licensable HMOs as they are the properties that have the most risks, ie have multiple storeys and that she would be looking at non-licensable HMO's as a second stage. It was suggested that properties could have up to six dwellers without needing to be licensed as an HMO.
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| It was noted that the Council would be holding surgeries for landlords relating to the licensing of HMOs in September 2008 and would start to prosecute un-licensed HMOs from October 2008.
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|
| | > Housing improvement plan update (pdf file 86.7kb) |
| | > Housing improvement plan schedule update (pdf file 119.0kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | Members requested regular reports to Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Action numbers 48, 65 and 68 in the Housing Improvement Plan. |
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| 298 | HOUSING MAINTENANCE CONTRACT |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Assistant Director, Housing and Corporate Services presented an urgent report relating to the operation of the Housing Maintenance Contract that related to the Council's contract with Erinaceous Property Management and circulated an action plan that set out the way forward.
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| Members welcomed the action plan and the Committee made a number of detailed comments covering the following issues:
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| | • | Ensuring that Sub-Contractors are properly registered and checked.
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| | • | Ensuring that a check on all consumer units was carried out correctly.
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| | • | Payments to officers that have subsequently left the authority.
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| | • | The audit of kitchen invoices.
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| The Assistant Director, Housing and Corporate Services undertook to investigate a number of issues and report back to Members. These included the cost of completing the investigation, the results of the 100% audit of kitchen invoices and the number of officers receiving enhancements on departure. |
|
| | > 5G Operation of the Housing Maintenance Contract (pdf file 78.6kb) |
| | > 5G Appendix 1 Operation of the Housing Maintenance Contract (pdf file 261.5kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | | (a) | Members agreed the recommendations as highlighted in bold in the report;
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| | (b) | The Committee asked the Assistant Director, Housing and Corporate Services to report back to the next meeting on the costs of the investigation, the 100% audit of Kitchen invoices and outside of the meeting to provide Members with details of any members of staff leaving the authority receiving enhancements.
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| 299 | WORK PROGRAMME |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Committee considered the work programme but felt there were no amendments needed. |
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| | > Work programme report (pdf file 109.0kb) |
| | > Work programme schedule - appendix 1 (pdf file 91.6kb) |
| | > Work programme Scrutiny Activity - appendix 2 (pdf file 90.3kb) |
| | > Work programme forward plan - appendix 3 (pdf file 72.9kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | Members noted the work undertaken by all overview and scrutiny committees in the last cycle and to be considered at the next cycle of meetings and made no amendments to the Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee's work programme. |
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