| Councillor Mason gave a full and detailed account of the work carried out under his portfolio which covered service improvement, Community plan, Performance plan, CPA, Human resources, Learning and development, ICT, Buildings, Management information, E-government, Medway Local Strategic Partnership, Elections and Licensing.
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| He referred to the many inspections that had been carried out covering these areas, and the 600 statutory performance indicators reported on. He also mentioned the Council's three star rating given by the CPA and said that the public's level of satisfaction had reached 65% which was the highest level Medway had achieved.
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| Some areas he was particularly proud of were
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| | • | that the Council had signed the Nottingham declaration on climate change, demonstrating its public commitment to not only reducing its own impact on the environment but also encouraging the community to take action. £150,000 had been attracted from the Carbon Trust for invest to save initiatives
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| | • | the Council had launched its first disability equality scheme following extensive public consultation to identify what would really make a difference. The Medway Access Group of local disabled people had praised the Council for taking this inclusive approach.
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| In relation to HR Services he referred to the assistance given to Community Services during the re-development of Shaws Wood and stated that this issue had required significant support. He then referred to the numbers of licences dealt with by the Licensing Section and stated that the issue of taxi colour had now been resolved. There was, however, one possible outstanding appeal to the Crown Court.
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| The design and surveying team were managing 70 building projects, 24 of which were over £500,000 in value. He stated that the team made a significant surplus and provided services at a cost well below the market rate. A new consultant's framework had been put in place to make the process of tendering for services more efficient.
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| At the conclusion of his introduction some Members commented that it would be helpful, in future, if portfolio holders intended giving a long introduction, if the information could be available in writing prior to the meeting to enable Members to consider the content.
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| Members then put forward a number of questions and he responded as follows:
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| Shaws Wood
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| At the time of making a press statement, suggesting that there would be no redundancies as a result of the development at Shaws Wood, he stated that he did not feel he was unwise making such a statement as that had been the position at that time. He stated that out of the 48 staff, 45 would be redeployed, one had taken early retirement and two had opted for a redundancy package. In response to a further question he stated that the two who had opted for redundancy were domestic workers rather than care staff.
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| He also clarified that, as far as he was aware, there were no plans to sell the site for capital receipts. As far as he was concerned the site would be developed as a Centre of Excellence. Once this had taken place he was confident that the original staff would be in a good position to be considered for employment at the new improved establishment.
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| Citizen's Advice Bureau
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| Further to a question concerning the work the Council is doing to support the Citizen's Advice Bureau, at a time when more people are in need particularly of advice on debt, Councillor Mason stated that the Council supported the Bureau as much as it could bearing in mind the current financial position of the Council.
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| 24 hour drinking and Licensing matters
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| With the assistance of the Licensing Manager, Councillor Mason, responded to a question in relation to 24 hour drinking licences by stating that four premises licenses had been granted, two from supermarkets and two from garages, none of them had chosen to sell alcohol for 24 hours a day.
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| Responding to a subsequent question he stated that only two premises had been refused a licence, one was refused by officers under delegated powers as insufficient details were forthcoming on the application, the second was refused by Members as they were unhappy with the details submitted and the applicant had been out of the country.
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| Performance indicators
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| It was accepted that credit needed to be given to the staff that had gone beyond the call of duty to deal with the completion of the numerous performance indicators and requirements for the Corporate Performance Assessment.
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| E-government
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| Councillor Mason explained that although the e-government programme had been subject to pump-priming money this was an area that had to now be supported financially by the Council. He gave details of the awards, which the Council had been given for the web content management system and help desk information. He also stated that the Council had met the e-government target of 100% of services available electronically six months ahead of schedule with 27,500 customers using the service.
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| Resident's Opinion Poll
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| With regard to those members of the public not satisfied with the Council (shown on the Resident's Opinion Poll) Members were assured that lessons were learnt from the responses.
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| Councillor Mason was thanked for his attendance. |