Agenda item

This report sets out activities and progress on work areas within the Business Management Portfolio, which fall within the remit of this Committee. This information is provided in relation to the Portfolio Holder for Business Management being held to account.

Discussion:        

Members received an overview of activities and progress made on work areas within the terms of reference of this Committee covered by Councillor Rupert Turpin, Portfolio Holder for Business Management, which were:

• Customer Contact;
• Democracy and Governance;
• Audit and Counter Fraud;
• Revenue and Benefits;
• Income Generation (including new Joint Ventures);
• Risk Management;
• Business Management;
• Commissioning, and;
• Medway Norse. 

Councillor Turpin responded to Members’ questions and comments as follows:

·     Digital infrastructure/digital poverty – In response to questions on ensuring all residents had access to broadband and digital equipment to enable them to access services online, including children’s access to online learning, the Portfolio Holder said that although there was still a place for non-computer based learning, it offered the potential for a broader range of live-streamed lessons. He said that he favoured schools offering funding for digital technology that parents could not afford. Within the Council, the migration from the old IPFX system to a new telephone system was well underway and offered many opportunities for digital solutions for customer contact.

• Electoral Services – In thanking the team for the successful operation of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent election on 6 May, it was questioned whether the small team had the capacity to undertake the numerous reviews highlighted in the report. The Portfolio Holder gave assurance that the precautions taken at polling stations to ensure the election was conducted safely would be repeated. He also encouraged the use of postal votes. The Portfolio Holder recognised the team’s hard work and said that he encouraged all managers to raise any capacity issues with him. He shared Members’ disappointment that, due to external factors, it had not been possible to do an analysis of the electoral registration canvass. Asked about the 2021 Census, the Portfolio Holder said that the response rate was estimated to be around 94%. The data would need to be processed to identify trends and inform future service provision.

• Ongoing industrial relations issues within Norse – Asked how the situation could be improved, the Portfolio Holder said that a combination of factors had led to difficulties, including the inability to hold round table discussions during the pandemic. He considered that consultation through email had not enabled a proper dialogue to develop.

• Volunteer support for Norse – The Portfolio Holder acknowledged the good work by Norse on the urban tree challenge and the role of volunteers who were undertaking the after care of the newly planted trees. In response to a question on rubbish collections organised by volunteers, often in areas which were not covered by Norse, the Portfolio Holder assured Members that the rubbish collection contract was closely monitored. He highlighted a current shortage of drivers, caused in part by staff needing to self-isolate. He also pointed out that there were some areas from which Norse could not collect, for example alleyways behind locked gates. Such areas were suitable for community litter picks in liaison with community wardens.

• Customer and Business Support satisfaction rates – In response to a question on the customer satisfaction rate, which was around 75%, the Portfolio Holder said that customers were invited to give feedback when they contacted the service, but it was not compulsory. As staff were often successful in securing higher graded posts within the Council, the service was considering ways of improving staff retention, such as career progression within the service.

• Covid-19 financial hardship fund - On hearing the circumstances of an application that was turned down, the Portfolio Holder asked the Member to let him have the details so that it could be investigated.

• Mechanism for giving feedback on the website - The Portfolio Holder suggested that this issue should be discussed at the Member User Group.

• Audit of Schools – Given the number of critical audit judgements on smaller schools, it was suggested that schools without sufficient designated finance staff should be given extra support to ensure that their financial management was as good as it should be. The Portfolio Holder agreed to raise this with officers.

• Member training and scrutiny of performance management – In agreeing to pass on thanks to Democratic Services and Children’s Services for the increase in Member training and the support to the early help Task Group, the Portfolio Holder said that, after the Ofsted inspection, it was important that the Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee received the level of information that would allow it to scrutinise issues in depth and challenge the data.

• National risk register and its relationship with local risk registers, particularly in relation to the pandemic – The Portfolio Holder emphasised the importance of managers undertaking risk management within their service, which fed into the various interconnecting cells for the recovery phase of Covid. 

• Paperless working for Members - The Portfolio Holder agreed that the current level of take up by Members for electronic committee papers was disappointing. He noted that the IT team provided extensive support to Members in this regard and said that he would continue to encourage Members to take up the offer of paperless working. 

• Income pressures in Regeneration, Culture and Environment and Business Support – The Portfolio Holder said that there were encouraging signs of economic recovery, as evidenced, for example, by an increase in the use of Medway’s public car parks. He reported that Council Tax collection was better than 2019 levels.       

Decision:

The Committee thanked the Portfolio Holder for Business Management for his attendance and for his detailed responses.