Apologies were received from Councillor A Brennan.

There were no declarations of interest

The minutes of the meeting on Tuesday 20 June 2019 were approved as a true record and were signed by the Chairman.

A verbal update will be provided by the Service Manager – Finance and Corporate Services.

The Service Manager – Finance and Corporate Services provided the Group with an update regarding the change of the scrutiny process at the Council. The Service Manager was pleased to note that over 50% of Councillors attended the scrutiny training session delivered by East Midlands Councils and that a similar training session would be delivered to members of Cabinet. The Service Manager also informed the Group that the East Midlands Scrutiny Conference would take place at Rushcliffe Arena on the 4 October 2019.

The report of the Executive Manager – Finance and Corporate Services is attached.

The Chairman of the Governance Scrutiny Group informed the Group that the Risk Management item scheduled on the December 2019 agenda would be moved to September 2019. The Chairman also noted that the Group would be scrutinising the delivery of investments and the Council’s assets as part of the 6 monthly asset and investment review in December 2019. 

The Chairman of the Growth and Development Scrutiny Group stated that the Group would be visiting the Abbey Road site in advance of their first meeting scheduled on the 15 October. The Chairman was also keen to invite the relevant portfolio holder(s) to the Group’s meetings in order to answer their questions.

The Chairman of the Communities Scrutiny Group informed the Group that a partnership presentation by the Trent Bridge Community Trust would be delivered to Councillors on the 27 September in order for newly elected Councillors to find out more information before the partnership was scrutinised on the 3 October. The Chairman was also keen to scrutinise the Council’s Carbon Management Plan as a review of the 2010 Carbon Management Plan was due to be considered by Cabinet no later than March 2020. It was also agreed that the Public Spaces Protection Order would be scrutinised by the Communities Scrutiny Group before being considered by Council in December 2019. 

Following the updates from the Scrutiny Group Chairmen, the Group discussed potential additional topics to be discussed at scrutiny groups. Topics discussed by the Group included the negotiation and delivery of Section 106 agreements, the development of Fairham and the Bingham Growth Programmes; and Planning particularly enforcement to be revisited. It was advised that the Group should see if the topics met the criteria of the scrutiny matrix in order for them to be scrutinised or whether forthcoming training sessions would provide sufficient assurance. The Group were also informed that a report regarding Edwalton Golf Club would be considered by Cabinet by the end of the year.

It was RESOLVED that

a)    The scrutiny work programme matrices be updated to reflect the aforementioned stated topics and any other comments on their inclusion be forwarded on by the Executive Manager Finance and Corporate Services and agreed with the Corporate Overview Group Chairman; and

b)    Relevant Scrutiny Group Chairmen invite portfolio holders, if it is deemed necessary, to attend their respective meetings.

A verbal update will be provided.

Requests for scrutiny were considered under the previous item.

The report of the Executive Manager – Finance and Corporate Services is attached.

The Financial Services Manager presented the report of the Executive Manager – Finance and Corporate Services, which detailed the Council’s position in terms of financial and performance monitoring as of 30 June 2019. The Financial Services Manager noted that there was an overall variation of £285,000, which was mainly due to additional planning income. It was also stated that the original capital programme of £16.506 million had been supplemented by net brought forward and in-year adjustments of £13.118 million, which gave a revised total of £29.624 million. The Group were informed that the net efficiency position of £15.326 million was primarily due to significant sums of the Fairham development and the redevelopment of the depot.

The Service Manager – Finance and Corporate Services explained that in order for the Corporate Overview Group to accurately monitor performance two scorecards had been developed. The first, the Corporate Scorecard, monitored the delivery of the Corporate Strategy through the progress made on the tasks set in the Corporate Action Plan, and their associated performance measures. The second scorecard monitored the operational performance of the Council in key areas of service delivery which had been identified by looking at the priorities of Rushcliffe residents. The Service Manager noted that 21 indicators had been performing in line with previous performance and were meeting current targets and that seven indicators had been highlighted as exceptions.

Following questions from the Corporate Overview Group, the Service Manager explained that many of these performance indicators had been in place for over 20 years at the Council and were reviewed on an annual basis. Based on the performance indicators, it was suggested by the Group that the planning application process should be scrutinised (as previously stated) and that funds spent on improving community facilities should be pushed back as much as possible until they were scrutinised by the Communities Scrutiny Group and the marketing outcome of Lutterell Hall was finalised. The Executive Manager – Finance and Corporate Services advised this was the case and it was normally health and safety related and other such urgent items where expenditure is incurred.

The Chairman requested that in future updates, the explanations with regard to performance indicators highlighted as exceptions be included in the scorecard displayed at the Appendix as well as in the report.

It was RESOLVED that

a)    the projected revenue position for the year with a minor -2.48% variation (£285k) in the revenue position and the capital underspend of £15.326m be noted and there are no further comments for Cabinet.

The report of the Executive Manager – Finance and Corporate Services is attached.

The Service Manager – Finance and Corporate Services presented the report of the Executive Manager – Finance and Corporate Services, which summarised the customer feedback received by the Council during 2018/19 and provided a comparison to previous performance as well as to other authorities. Key points included:

·         51 complaints were received by the Council during 2018/19 at Stage 1 of its complaints process

·         The percentage of complaints escalated to Stage 2 had decreased from

32.5% in 2017/18 to 17.6% (9 from 51)

·         Consistency in handling complaints has stayed at a high level, as has the number of complaints that are responded to within target time – 49 out of 51

·         Analysis of the 51 complaints received in 2018/19 showed that 62.7% were unjustified

·         The Council received 105 compliments about its services in 2018/19 – 36 more than the previous year

·         The number of complaints received by the Local Government Ombudsman in relation to Rushcliffe Borough Council were the lowest in Nottinghamshire.

The Group praised the officers for dealing with complaints efficiently. It was explained that complaints raised on social media were often short-term issues such as a missed bin and were dealt through a direct conversation with the resident. The Group suggested that the Council should reply to a resident directly on Twitter to let them know that their complaint would be dealt with over private message so that other followers of the Council on social media would be able to see that the Council responds to its complaints timely.

It was RESOLVED that the key points highlighted in this report were noted.

The report of the Executive Manager – Finance and Corporate Services is attached.

The Service Manager – Finance and Corporate Services asked the Group to consider the revised draft of the Corporate Strategy which they had previously considered in June 2019. The Service Manager noted that amendments had been made as requested including the implementation of a new priority and changes to the ‘our journey so far’ timeline.

The Group raised concerns that some of the statements made in the introduction of the strategy could become outdated. It was suggested that either these statements be removed or that versions of the corporate strategy be date stamped as it was envisioned that the corporate strategy would be a ‘living document’ which would be amended overtime. The Group agreed the wording regarding the number of homes delivered is revised to “As of April 2019, we have facilitated the delivery of 3,400 new homes.” The Group praised both councillors and officers for implementing ‘the environment’ as an additional priority for the Council.

It was RESOLVED that the Corporate Strategy 2019 – 2023 is recommended to Cabinet for approval subject to the one change regarding the number of homes delivered including the wording “As of April 2019…”.

Action Sheet