Agenda item

Medway’s Council Plan 2021/22 sets out the Council’s three priorities. This report and appendices summarise how we performed in Q2 2021/22 on the delivery of the programmes and measures which fall under the remit of this Committee which are:

·       Priority: Growth (Appendix 1)

·       Values: 1: financial resilience, 2: digital enablement, 3: working together to empower communities, 4: creativity and innovation, 5: tackle climate change, and 6: child friendly (Appendix 2).

Given the overarching responsibilities of this Committee to provide guidance and leadership on the development and coordination of the scrutiny function for all overview and scrutiny committees, this report also contains a performance summary of all services (Appendix 3).

Due to the timing of the other O&S meetings, which take place after the Business Support O&S meeting has taken place, the summary of the performance matters discussed at other overview & scrutiny meetings will not be provided this quarter.

This report also presents the Q2 2021/22 review of strategic risks (Appendix 4).

Discussion:

The Council Plan 2021/22 set out the Council’s three priorities. Members considered a report summarising performance in Quarter 2 2021/22 on the delivery of the programmes and measures which fell under the remit of this Committee:

• Priority: Growth

• Values: 1: financial resilience, 2: digital enablement, 3: working together to empower communities, 4: creativity and innovation, 5: tackle climate change, and 6: child friendly

The following issues were raised:

·       New strategic risk (Pandemic) - the point was made that it seemed late in the day to add this as a new risk and the mitigation measures seemed vague. The point was made that the current pandemic should not be seen as a one in a century occurrence and how the risk related to national emergency plans and the Council’s emergency plan was queried. Members were advised that the Council’s pandemic plan was separate from the emergency plan and pre-dated the addition of the risk on the register. The risk of a pandemic was also covered in the individual service business continuity plans. The risk had been added to the Strategic Register at Members’ request, and an assurance was given that it was an issue the Council had always considered.

·       Data and information risk – whether the Council was confident it was as compliant as possible with the GDPR rules given the pandemic pressures and turnover of staff was queried. Members were advised there was always room for improvement, but officers were confident the Council had plans in place to comply with GDPR. Discussions had taken place with Council owned companies to ensure any contracts included information governance procedures.

·       Cyber security risk – a request was made for a briefing paper on the lessons learned from a cyber security incident affecting a London Borough council.

·       Complaints – the reasons why fewer complaints were meeting their target response times, particularly with Stage 1 complaints, and why there had been a significant increase in Stage 1 complaints in Quarter 2 compared to last year were queried. A written answer would be provided.

·       Press releases – the point was made that more could be done to publicise  prosecutions and sanctions secured by the Council.

·       Meeting the needs of older people risk – a reassurance was sought regarding the trigger of reduced provider capacity given how quickly providers could go out of business and the crisis in the adult social care system. Members were advised the trigger related to what the service was measuring to see if the risk might happen and the query would be passed on to the Assistant Director – Adult Social Care.

·       Universal Credit and rent arrears -  the importance of the Committee keeping a watching brief on this issue was emphasised.

·       Medway Champions Programme – the relationship between any of the various ambassador programmes and this Programme was queried and further information was requested. A briefing paper would be provided on current schemes and any that had stopped.

·       Local plan – whether the Local Plan should be classed as a strategic risk was queried. Officers were advised this was a Directorate level risk, but the Strategic Risk Officer group could look at whether it should be included in the Strategic Risk register.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to:

a)      note the Q2 2021/22 performance against the measures used to monitor progress against the Council’s priorities and to note the amended Strategic Risk Register.

b)      request briefing papers on a cyber security incident at a London council and also on current ambassador schemes and that had stopped.

c)      request that officers examine whether the Local Plan should be included in the Strategic Risk Register.