Agenda and minutes

When the continuous alarm sounds you must evacuate the building by the nearest available fire exit. Members and visitors should proceed to the visitors’ car park at the front of the building and await further instructions (during office hours staff should proceed to their usual assembly point; outside of office hours proceed to the visitors’ car park). Please do not re-enter the building unless instructed to do so.

In the event of a fire any person with a disability should be assisted in leaving the building.

27.1          The evacuation procedure, as noted on the Agenda, was taken as read. 

27.2          The Chair welcomed the Lead Member for Clean and Green Environment to the meeting and indicated that he would be giving a presentation at Agenda Item 9 – Ubico Contract Matters.

28.1          Apologies for absence were received from Councillor T A Spencer.  There were no substitutions for the meeting. 

29.1          The Committee’s attention was drawn to the Tewkesbury Borough Council Code of Conduct which was adopted by the Council on 26 June 2012 and took effect from 1 July 2012.

29.2          There were no declarations made on this occasion.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 17 July 2018.

30.1          The Minutes of the meeting held on 17 July 2018, copies of which had been circulated, were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair. 

To determine whether there are any questions for the relevant Lead Members and what support the Overview and Scrutiny Committee can give to work contained within the Plan.

31.1          Attention was drawn to the Executive Committee Forward Plan, circulated at Pages No. 17-21.  Members were asked to determine whether there were any questions for the relevant Lead Members and what support the Overview and Scrutiny Committee could give to the work contained within the plan.

31.2          A Member raised concern that the Forward Plan was very sparsely populated and this was a recurring issue.  The Chief Executive recognised that this had been raised previously by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and similar comments had been made at Executive Committee.  Due to the nature of the work of the Committee, it was not always possible to plan which items would come forward, nevertheless, it was important that those items which were known about were included in the Forward Plan and he undertook to review this with Management Team.  The Head of Corporate Services indicated that a number of corporate policies and strategies were due for review over the coming year and he would expect to see them programmed into the Forward Plan.

31.3          It was

RESOLVED          That the Executive Committee Forward Plan be NOTED.

To consider the forthcoming work of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

32.1          Attention was drawn to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2018/19, circulated at Pages No. 22-30, which Members were asked to consider.

32.2          A Member raised concern that there were a number of items which had been in the ‘pending items’ section of the Work Programme for some time and he hoped that these would come forward in the near future.  The Head of Corporate Services indicated that the Review of Workforce Development Strategy was being undertaken by the Interim HR Manager who had been tasked to complete this by the end of the year; he was keen for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to have an input so this would be incorporated into the Work Programme for the coming months.  The Review of the Corporate Enforcement Policy was being led by the Counter Fraud Manager and a draft policy had been produced which was currently with Management Team for discussion so this could also be expected in the near future.  Another Member expressed concern that two of the items in the pending section had been identified in June 2017 - well over a year ago.  The Head of Corporate Services clarified that items did not always have timescales attached when they came forward and he agreed that the pending items needed to be discussed and programmed in by management team; he provided assurance that this would be done by the next meeting of the Committee.

32.3           It was

RESOLVED          1. That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2018/19 be NOTED.

2. That the pending items be scheduled into the Work  Programme prior to the next meeting of the Committee.

To review and scrutinise the performance management information and, where appropriate, to require response or action from the Executive Committee. 

33.1          The report of the Head of Corporate Services, circulated at Pages No. 31-71, attached performance management information for the first quarter of 2018/19.  The Overview and Scrutiny Committee was asked to review and scrutinise the performance information and, where appropriate, identify any issues to refer to the Executive Committee for clarification or further action to be taken.

33.2          Members were advised that this was the first quarterly monitoring report for 2018/19 and progress against delivering the objectives and actions for each of the Council Plan priorities was reported through the Performance Tracker, attached at Appendix 1 to the report.  Key actions for the quarter were highlighted at Paragraph 2.3 of the report and included: Executive Committee approval of disposal of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries (MAFF) site; two additional property investments; success of the garden waste project; completion of the Public Services Centre refurbishment; letting of the remaining office space on the top floor of the building; appointment of the Business Transformation Manager and Technical Planning Manager within Development Services; Council approval of the Community Services restructure; appointment of a development advisor for the Spring Gardens project; progress in respect of the implementation of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system; and delivery of 79 affordable homes.  As always, due to the complex nature of the actions being delivered, it was inevitable that some would not progress as smoothly or quickly as envisaged and details of these were set out at Paragraph 2.4 of the report.  The Head of Corporate Services pointed out that some of these actions had now been reported several times and there was a need for a discussion by the Management Team to ensure they had realistic target dates and adequate resources for delivery.  In terms of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Members were informed that the status of each indicator was set out at Paragraph 3.2 of the report.  Of the 16 indicators with targets, two had not been achieved as at the end of the first quarter.  It was noted that three new KPIs had been included for 2018/19: the number of visitors entering the Growth Hub; percentage of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests answered on time; and percentage of formal complaints answered on time.  It was pleasing to report that that 100% of ‘major’ planning applications had been determined within 13 weeks, or an alternative period agreed with the applicant, which exceeded both the target and last year’s outturn, and there had also been a reduction in the number of reported enviro-crimes compared to the previous year.  A Member drew attention to Page No. 35, Paragraph 3.3, bullet point five of the report, in relation to KPI 21 – average number of days to process new benefit claims – which stated that the performance of 21 days was below the target of 15 days but should say ‘above’ the target.  In respect of the reduction in the number of reported enviro-crimes, a Member indicated that this was largely due to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

To consider the progress made against the Grass Cutting Improvement Plan.

34.1          The report of the Head of Community Services, circulated at Pages No. 72-82, attached the grass cutting improvement plan that had been agreed to address the concerns raised at the Executive Committee meeting in June.  Members were asked to consider the progress made against the improvement plan.

34.2          The Head of Community Services indicated that the history to the report was well-documented and he was pleased to advise that significant progress had been made against the actions contained within the grass cutting improvement plan.  Following the approval of a contingency fund, a number of short-term improvements were immediately put in place and these were detailed at Page No. 74, Paragraph 2.1 of the report.  A project group had been established, consisting of senior officers from the Council and Ubico, to ensure that these improvements were embedded and the group was also working on a number of longer-term improvements, as set out at Paragraph 3.1.  Particular reference was made to the need to consider the number of cuts and the standard that could be expected from a range of scenarios e.g. 8-10 cuts compared to 12-14 cuts etc. In addition to this, he was keen for Members to explore the possibility of prioritising certain areas for a higher standard of cut.  He recognised that this was a significant piece of work but he considered that good progress was being made.

34.3          A Member felt that one of the biggest issues this year was in relation to the areas of grass owned by Gloucestershire County Council and how they had been dealt with - he understood that Tewkesbury Borough Council had mowed the land on behalf of the County Council.  The Head of Community Services explained that he was awaiting the outcome of the County Council’s review of its grass-cutting needs and he provided assurance that Officers would work with the County to address the issue going forward.  The Member asked that this be reflected in the improvement plan and the Head of Community Services undertook to make this amendment.

34.4          The Chair sought views as to when the improvement plan should be brought back to the Committee for consideration and Members agreed that it should be added to the Agenda for the meeting in February 2019 to ensure that all issues had been addressed before the new grass-cutting season.  The Head of Community Services indicated that he would like to do some work with Members prior to that, for example, reviewing the number of cuts and the prioritisation of areas, and he would consider how best to take that forward.  It was

RESOLVED          1. That the progress against the grass cutting improvement plan be NOTED.

2. That a further report brought back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 12 February 2019.

To receive a presentation on relevant Ubico contract matters. 

35.1          The Chair indicated that the Lead Member for Clean and Green Environment had been invited to give a presentation on Ubico contract matters. 

35.2           The following key points were raised during the presentation:

·      Ubico – A Teckal Company – A local authority-owned company that must have 80% of its activity with the company owner i.e. Tewkesbury Borough Council and the other Councils; the other 20% could be work for other bodies and could generate income for the owning company; allowed for flexible trading arrangements; Tewkesbury Borough Council had the same control as if it was a Council department.

·      Advantages of a Teckal – Tewkesbury Borough Council remained in control; shared risks and benefits; potential for economies of scale; savings from efficiencies benefited the owners; 20% headroom for commercial trading.

·      A Local Authority-Owned Company – Seven shareholding authorities: Cheltenham Borough Council; Cotswold District Council; Tewkesbury Borough Council; Forest of Dean District Council; West Oxfordshire District Council; Stroud District Council; and Gloucestershire County Council.

·      Ubico is Growing – Since the start of Ubico in 2012, with a turnover of £7m, it had grown rapidly: 650 employees; 450 vehicles and plant; 2017/18 turnover £29.9m.

·      Benefits to Shareholders – Retain control over service provision and the company; economies of scale – purchasing strength, greater resilience, costs do not increase as much as a private contractor; flexibility to change services with minimal costs or legal fees; shared best practice.

·      Medium Term Commercial Opportunities – Fleet: setting up of a vehicle rental company to reduce the cost of hiring vehicles; Staffing: setting up of a staffing agency to reduce costs of agency staff; Ubico Consultancy: use the Ubico model to support other Councils that want to set-up teckal companies.

·      Longer Term Commercial Opportunities – Disposal and material recovery: setting up a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF); Acquisition: look to acquire businesses that complement Ubico’s operation; Diversification: look to deliver a wider range of services to shareholders e.g. facilities management, transport and highways.

·      Tewkesbury Borough Specifics – 350,600 collections per month – 4.2m collections per year; 175 hectares of grass maintained; monthly contract meeting to discuss performance; quarterly performance meetings; weekly customer services meetings; regular project meetings e.g. continuous improvement, garden waste club, street cleansing review, grounds maintenance, Javelin Park.

·      Fleet – In 2017, £3.1m was spent on a new fleet for Tewkesbury Borough Council; an audit of how the fleet is being managed was being reported to the Audit Committee later in the year; in the process of commissioning a valuation of the fleet.

·      Javelin Park – The new Energy from Waste facility would start to take waste from Gloucestershire authorities in March 2019 and be fully operational by August 2019; negotiations currently underway as to whether Tewkesbury Borough Council would deliver waste directly or via a waste transfer station; Members would be updated in due course.

·      Tewkesbury Borough Member Involvement – Planned: Overview and Scrutiny Committee visit to the Swindon Road depot; visit West Oxfordshire to look at grounds maintenance; Ubico presenting commercial strategy to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

To approve the Scrutiny Review of Water Supply Outage Report and recommend it to Council for adoption and to agree how the Committee will monitor delivery of the action plan.

36.1          Attention was drawn to the report of the Head of Community Services, circulated at Pages No. 83-127, which attached the final draft of the Scrutiny Review of Water Supply Outage Report.  Members were asked to approve the draft report and to recommend to Council that the report be adopted, and to agree how the Overview and Scrutiny Committee would monitor delivery of the action plan going forward.

36.2          The Head of Community Services indicated that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had been fully involved in the review.  The final draft report was attached at Appendix A to the Committee report and included an action plan containing 20 recommendations which had been identified during the course of the review.  It was noted that the action plan had been updated to reflect the current position.  Unfortunately, some of the partner organisations had not been able to provide target dates for their actions prior to the meeting; this was largely due to reduced resources over the summer period.  Notwithstanding this, he provided assurance that everyone was fully engaged and committed to delivering the action plan and Severn Trent Water had requested a meeting in October to discuss this further with partners. 

36.3          The Chair indicated that this was the biggest piece of work that had been undertaken by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee during this Council term and he wished to thank everyone who had been involved in the review and the production of the report.  He welcomed views on how the action plan should be monitored going forward.  A Member also wished to extend his congratulations to all involved but he pointed out that a report was only as good as its outcomes and it was crucial to ensure that the action plan was delivered.  The Head of Community Services suggested that the report be brought back in the final quarter of 2018/19, which would be a year after the water outage, and Members agreed that the February meeting would be most appropriate and that they would like all partner organisations involved in the review to attend in order to give updates on the actions relevant to them.  The Head of Community Services undertook to invite partners to the meeting when he met with them in October and indicated that he would report back if there was a problem with this date.  It was

RESOLVED          1.That the draft Scrutiny Review of Water Supply Outage Report be APPROVED and that it be RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL that the report be ADOPTED.

2. That the action plan be brought back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 12 February 2019 and that all partners involved in the review be invited to attend.

To consider the corporate policies and strategies and identify which will be reviewed by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee during 2018/19. 

37.1           The report of the Head of Corporate Services, circulated at Pages No. 128-138, set out an updated list of corporate policies and strategies.  Members were asked to consider the list and identify which policies and strategies would be reviewed by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee during 2018/19.

37.2          The Head of Corporate Services advised that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had previously requested that a list of policies and strategies be produced to help inform its work programme as well as to provide support to the Executive Committee. The list was updated on an annual basis and the latest version was attached to the report at Appendix 1 with the policies and strategies due for review in 2018/19 highlighted in bold.  It was to be borne in mind that the list included policies and strategies that came under the remit of other Committees and it was important not to duplicate this work.  With that in mind, two policies had been identified as suitable for review by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee: Complaints Policy, which had been in place for two years and therefore it was prudent to undertake a review; and the Safeguarding Policy and Procedure which several Members had raised in various forums.  Although not included within the list, it would also be necessary to formulate a strategy to implement the recent Council resolution in respect of the elimination of single use plastic within buildings and facilities managed by the Council by 2019, and efforts to encourage elimination within the Council’s supply chain by 2025, and it was suggested that this could be undertaken by an Overview and Scrutiny Committee Working Group or workshop, depending on the scale of the task.

37.3          During the brief debate which ensued, a Member questioned whether it would be possible for a Working Group to consider other aspects of reducing waste alongside the resolution to eliminate single use plastic, for example, the benefits of moving towards paperless working.  In response, the Chief Executive warned that, if required, this would be a task and finish group and would need to have a very specific focus; introducing other elements would open up the remit and could delay the production of a strategy for the very specific Council resolution on single use plastic that needed to be introduced in the near future if the 2019 target were to be achieved.

37.4              Accordingly, it was

RESOLVED          That the following policies and strategies be included for review in the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme for 2018/19:

·         Complaints Policy

·         Safeguarding Policy and Procedure

·         Strategy to deliver the Council resolution in respect of the elimination of single use plastic

To consider the annual update to provide assurance that complaints are managed effectively.

38.1          Attention was drawn to the report of the Head of Corporate Services, circulated at Pages No. 139-148, which provided a summary of complaints received during 2017/18 and included the annual letter received from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.  Members were asked to consider the information provided and any further action required.

38.2          Members were advised that 157 formal complaints had been received within the reporting period April 2017 to March 2018 of which 145 related to Council services.  Of those complaints, 143 had been responded to within time which equated to 91%; 14 had been out of time and seven of those had related to planning which were often more complex.  A breakdown of the complaints by service area, nature of complaint and remedy was attached to the report at Appendix 1 and it was noted that the majority of complaints were in respect of the Council’s frontline services, particularly waste and recycling, which could be attributed to the change in waste rounds, effective from 1 April 2017, and adverse weather conditions.  Members were reminded that waste collection was a high-profile service and the number of complaints in relation to the number of collections was very small.  19 complaints had been subject to a second stage review, of which eight had been justified or partially justified.  The second stage was where the complainant was unhappy with the original response and the complaint was assigned to an independent Head of Service for investigation. Members were advised that the figures were benchmarked through LG Inform, a database provided by the Local Government Association, and Tewkesbury Borough Council was consistently one of the best performers.  During 2017/18, 12 complaints relating to Tewkesbury Borough Council had been determined by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and only two of those had been upheld.

38.3          A Member sought clarification as to what happened when a complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman was upheld and he was advised that this depended on the nature of the complaint – it could be an apology or by remedy.  He confirmed that if a complaint was upheld it was not ongoing.  In response to a query regarding what those complaints related to and whether there was a common denominator, Members were informed that both had related to planning enforcement.  The Chief Executive indicated that he did not have the details to hand but would be happy to provide them outside of the meeting. 

38.4           A Member drew attention to Appendix 1 which showed there had been a delay in responding to an enquiry or request on six occasions and she expressed the view that this should not happen.  The Head of Corporate Services explained that capacity and competing priorities meant that, on occasion, it had not been possible to meet these targets.  The Chief Executive reminded Members that this report should be considered in the context of the amount of individual customer contact and service requests received by the Council.  His experience  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.