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.

76.1           The evacuation procedure, as noted on the Agenda, was advised to those present.

76.2           The Chair welcomed the Managing Director of Ubico to the meeting and indicated that he was in attendance for Agenda Item 9 – Ubico Update.  It was noted that the Lead Member for Organisational Development - which included scrutiny - was also present as an observer.

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

78.1           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.

78.2           There were no declarations made on this occasion.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 6 February 2018.

79.1           The Minutes of the meeting held on 6 February 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.

80.1           Attention was drawn to the Executive Committee Forward Plan, circulated at Pages No. 8-9.  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.

80.2           It was

RESOLVED          That the Executive Committee Forward Plan be NOTED. 

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

81.1           Attention was drawn to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2017/18, circulated at Pages No. 10-13, which Members were asked to consider.

81.2           It was

RESOLVED          That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2017/18 be NOTED. 

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting.

82.1           The Chair advised that, unfortunately, the Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel had been unable to attend the last meeting of the Panel on 16 March 2018.  He had advised that the main report had been based around restorative justice and this would be circulated to Members following the meeting.

82.2           It was

RESOLVED          That the report on restorative justice, considered by the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel at its meeting on 16 March 2018, be circulated to the Committee following the meeting.

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting.

83.1           Members received an update from the Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee, on matters discussed at its last meeting held on 6 March 2018.

83.2           Members were informed that the Chief Executive of the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust had submitted a detailed briefing to the Committee including the reasons for the proposal to establish a subsidiary company; the number of staff affected; and the staff consultation process.  Most of the concerns that were raised by the Committee had reflected those raised by staff throughout the consultation process and the briefing paper clarified the Trust’s response.  It was also confirmed that the subsidiary company would be fully accountable to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.  Whilst acknowledging that there had been formal consultation with affected staff, some Members felt that the Committee should also have been consulted; however, as this matter related to how the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust organised its workforce, not to a service change, it fell outside the remit of the Committee.

83.3           It was noted that the Committee had received and discussed the Gloucestershire Winter Resilience Plan at its November 2017 meeting and it was important to understand whether the objectives identified in the plan had been achieved.  It was clear that, despite the challenges, a lot had been accomplished and this was attributed to significantly closer partnership working and every member of staff working together to achieve the best for patients.  Headlines from the period included: significantly improved winter emergency department performance – the national four hour standard had been met in November 2017 for the first time in over four years, December had seen a 16.84% increase in performance and there had been a 15.01% improvement in January compared with the same period in the previous year; 78% reduction in ambulance handover delays with zero over one hour; 59% increase in weekend discharges; reduced delayed transfers of care with Gloucestershire being the third best in the country for January 2018; and, the Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust rapid response service had supported 80% (1,295) more patients to remain in their own home over the winter compared to the previous year.  The data on the trauma and orthopaedics pilot at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust had indicated this was having a positive effect on the patient experience and was improving job satisfaction for staff and training for junior doctors.  The Committee had agreed to extend the pilot in order to gather more data and continue validation of this process with a formal consultation on a service change in due course.

83.4           In addition to the Winter Plan performance, the Committee had noted that the Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (GCCG) was working to reduce cancer wait times and would continue to closely monitor performance.  It was also clarified that the GCCG was working with the 2gether NHS Foundation Trust to improve waiting times around Early Intervention in Psychosis and would be looking to increase the age range next year.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 83.

To consider the update on the waste collections and grounds maintenance services provided by Ubico. 

84.1           Attention was drawn to the report of the Head of Community Services, circulated at Pages No. 14-20, which provided Members with an update on the waste collection and grounds maintenance services provided by Ubico and the work underway to review street cleansing services.  Members were asked to consider the update.

84.2           The Head of Community Services explained that the Committee had received a number of reports from the Council and the Joint Waste Team throughout the year and, at its meeting in May 2017, Members had specifically requested this interim update given that the next annual report was not due until July 2018.  He reminded Members that the Council had completed its fleet procurement in April 2017 and significant round changes had also been introduced at that time impacting on 60% of the borough.  Any changes to waste collections were expected to cause a degree of disruption in the following month or two but, in this case, it had continued well past that period - there had been an increase in missed bins including a number of assisted collections to the elderly and vulnerable, public complaints had risen and there had been issues with stock control with Ubico running out of bins on several occasions.  The table at Page No. 16, Paragraph 3.4, showed the number of missed bins for the year to date broken down by month; it was noted that over 1,000 bins had been missed in April 2017 and that was simply unacceptable.  As the amount of missed bins remained at a high level, a number of meetings had been held with the new Managing Director of Ubico when he took up the post in May 2017 and this was something he had prioritised very quickly.  As a result, an improvement plan was agreed with Ubico with the aim of reducing the number of missed collections to below 100 per week by the end of August 2017 with a 50% reduction on the quarter 1 figures by the end of October 2017; this equated to a 0.09% missed collection rate, well below the 1% target.  The plan also intended to improve communications between the Council and Ubico, which he was pleased to report had happened, as well as developing better reporting systems and ensuring that the stock of bins was monitored and maintained.  It was noted that the number of missed bins had increased in December 2017 and January 2018 due to the inclement weather; this was to be expected and Ubico had kept the Council fully informed of what was being done to address any issues so that this could be clearly communicated to residents and there had been a significant improvement in that area.  In addition to the close monitoring of missed bins, a “red list” had been introduced by Ubico for properties where bins were missed on more than one occasion and therefore required additional attention; there were currently less than 10 properties on the red list.  Regular reports were provided to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 84.

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

85.1           The report of the Head of Corporate Services, circulated at Pages No. 21-66, attached performance management information for quarter 3 of 2017/18.  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.

85.2           Members were advised that this was the third quarterly monitoring report for 2017/18 and progress against delivering the objectives and actions for each of the Council Plan priorities were 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 the preparation and approval of the annual budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy; Council approval of a further £12M for commercial property investment; a new tenant occupying one third of the top floor with the refurbishment of the rest of the building well underway; adoption of the Joint Core Strategy; conclusion of the garden waste project with the annual renewal of over 15,000 customers; and over 500 responses to the consultation on Public Space Protection Orders with the Executive Committee making a recommendation to Council to introduce an Order.  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 were set out at Paragraph 2.4 of the report.  A number of these had been flagged to Members previously and a combination of factors meant that more progress had not been made between quarters; some of the proposals may be delivered over the course of the Council Plan rather than over the year.  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 15 indicators with targets, 13 indicators were on target and two were unlikely to achieve their target.  Areas of interest included KPIs 13, 14 and 15 in relation to determination of planning applications which were showing improvement compared to the previous year; KPI 19 which showed a significant reduction in the number of reported enviro-crimes; KPI 28 in relation to the increased number of sick days per full time employee – it was noted that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had been invited to a presentation on absence management in February; and KPI 29 in respect of percentage of waste recycled or composted which continued to perform strongly at 56%.  A Member questioned whether the recommendations which had come out of the absence management presentation in February would be taken forward.  In response, the Head of Corporate Services confirmed that they would and advised that a further breakdown would be given to explain the content of the KPIs in relation to sickness absence. The Member went on to raise concern that Councillors were not made aware of staff changes at an early enough stage.  The Head of Corporate  ...  view the full minutes text for item 85.

To consider the annual report on progress against the Flood Risk Management Action Plan. 

86.1           Attention was drawn to the report of the Head of Development Services, circulated at Pages No. 67-86, which provided an annual update on progress against the Flood Risk Management Action Plan.  Members were asked to consider the update.

86.2           The Head of Community Services explained that the action plan at Appendix 1 reflected the report that had been presented to the Flood Risk Management Group at its meeting on 26 February 2018.  The action plan was split into four main sections: live capital projects; Tewkesbury Borough Council’s programme of watercourse maintenance; future maintenance issues; and grant applications.  In terms of live capital projects, the action plan included one project in respect of Grange Field and the proposal was attached at Appendix 2 to the report.  With regard to watercourse maintenance, Members were advised that 98 projects had been undertaken across the borough during 2017/18 including desilting, unblocking, flail cutting and hedge cutting as well as reactionary work such as clearing fallen trees; this had amounted to £45,444.  The action plan also contained the programmed future maintenance works proposed in 2018/19 and included 37 projects amounting to a total of £22,868.  In terms of grant applications, the action plan detailed four existing schemes which were led by Gloucestershire County Council as the Lead Local Flood Authority and these were summarised in Paragraph 6.1 of the report.  In relation to funding bids in progress, there was a notional allocation of £3M for Gloucestershire under Priority Axis 6: Preserving and Protecting the Environment and Promoting Resource Efficiency under the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funding. The project would involve the betterment of areas of public open space of low ecological value into a network of mini-meadows which would provide multiple benefits in terms of flood risk, biodiversity, water quality, amenity and anti-social behaviour.  It was noted that the grant funding agreement was expected to be confirmed in the spring.

86.3           Another key project that had been overseen by the Flood Risk Management Group was the review of the Flood and Water Management Supplementary Planning Document (SPD).  This document had been adopted by the Council and was now a material consideration in the determination of planning applications.  The Head of Development Services advised that the Council worked with Gloucestershire Rural Community Council (GRCC), and other partners, to help communities in Tewkesbury Borough increase their resilience to floods, this included flood warden training which had last taken place in January 2018; regular updates on this work were received by the Flood Risk Management Group.

86.4           A Member drew attention to Page No. 73 of the report which indicated that there was a provisional agreement to engage the services of expert staff responsible for creating the wildflower planting at Pitville Park and she pointed out that this would be very costly. The Head of Development Services explained that consideration had been given to various ways of developing the Grange Field project and she provided assurance that there had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 86.