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.   

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

13.1          Apologies for absence were received from Councillors H J Bowman, T J Budge, C E Mills and G M Porter.  There were no substitutes for the meeting. 

Pursuant to the adoption by the Council on 24 January 2023 of the Tewkesbury Borough Council Code of Conduct, effective from 1 February 2023, as set out in Minute No. CL.72, Members are invited to declare any interest they may have in the business set out on the Agenda to which the approved Code applies.

14.1          The Committee’s attention was drawn to the Tewkesbury Borough Code of Conduct which was adopted by the Council on 24 January 2023 and took effect on 1 February 2023. 

14.2          There were no declarations made on this occasion.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 13 June 2023.

15.1          The Minutes of the meeting held on 13 June 2023, copies of which had been circulated, were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

15.2          It was AGREED that the following additional actions be included within the Action List, circulated at Pages No. 14-18:

-      Minute No. OS.8.3 – Parking Strategy Review – Executive Director: Resources and S151 to discuss with the Lead Member at the earliest opportunity whether the revised strategy should be taken forward for approval, or whether it needed to be reconsidered given the time which had now passed since the Working Group had reached its conclusions and in light of the new Council.

-      Minute No. OS.9.2 – Pending items – Director: Corporate Resources to discuss with Officers how these items could be brought forward.

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.

16.1          Attention was drawn to the Executive Committee Forward Plan, circulated at Pages No.19-30.  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. 

16.2          The Director: Corporate Resources reiterated that the Executive Committee had previously requested some changes to the Forward Plan and an additional column showing the Lead Member had been included as a result.  Moving forward it was intended to enhance the description of each Agenda item and to include links to background documents and information about where the item sat within the Council hierarchy.

16.3          A Member drew attention to the ICT Strategy, due to be considered at the Executive Committee meeting on 10 January 2024, which stated this had been removed from January 2023 and she asked why it had been deferred for such a long period.  In response, the Director: Corporate Resources advised that it had been incorrectly scheduled for January 2023 as the strategy did not expire until 2024.  Another Member commented that the Forward Plan was not well populated in September and October and the Director: Corporate Resources provided assurance that other things tended to come forward so he was confident the Agenda for those meetings would include additional items to those currently stated.

16.4          It was

RESOLVED           That the Executive Committee Forward Plan be NOTED.

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

17.1          Attention was drawn to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme, circulated at Pages No. 31-42.  Members were asked to consider the Work Programme and Action List.

17.2          A Member drew attention to the Agenda for the meeting on 12 September 2023 which included the Council Plan Performance Tracker – Quarter One 2023/24 and asked what was meant by ‘performance management’ in terms of the overview of the Agenda item which stated ‘to review and scrutinise the performance management…’.  The Director: Corporate Resources advised that this related to delivery of the actions within the Council Plan and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).  Another Member noted that the Community Safety/Aston Project Presentation had been added to the pending items section in June 2022 and she asked when that would come forward.  The Chair indicated that, as had been stated at the last meeting and subsequently agreed at today’s meeting as an additional action for inclusion in the action list, the pending items were being reviewed by the Director: Corporate Resources who would propose an appropriate way forward in due course. 

17.3          It was

RESOLVED          That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2023/24 be NOTED.

To consider the 2022/23 outturn performance update on the services provided by Ubico.

18.1          Attention was drawn to the report of the Head of Service: Waste and Recycling, circulated at Pages No. 43-65, which provided the annual update on the Ubico contract.  Members were asked to consider the 2022/23 outturn performance update on the services provided by Ubico.

18.2          The Head of Service: Waste and Recycling advised that collection accuracy had improved with a reduction in total missed collections across all services, a greater number of near misses had been reported and the fleet compliance audit score had stayed consistently high.  There were two major projects underway: fleet procurement – large scale replacement of collections and street cleansing vehicles had progressed throughout 2022/23 and the Executive Committee had approved the approach in March 2023; and the Alloy in-cab system – implementation had begun in 2022/23 with Tewkesbury Borough’s roll-out taking place in two stages during 2023/24.  The Managing Director of Ubico explained that Appendix 1 to the report provided the detailed service-related performance information for 2022/23 including the number of missed collections and assisted missed collections which was important in terms of impact on residents.  The report covered sickness and absence as well as fleet services and management.  Overall it was a very positive report with fewer missed collections across the board and retention of the 100% fleet compliance audit score, something which the local team was deservedly proud of. 

18.3          The Chair raised concern that the Executive Summary, set out at Pages No. 48-49 of the report, did not mention grounds maintenance or grass cutting which was a perennial issue for Councillors who needed to be kept abreast of performance.  He felt it would also be beneficial to include year on year data in order to identify trends, along with data for authorities of a similar nature to Tewkesbury Borough Council to assess how well Ubico was doing compared to other Councils.  Another Member indicated that she could not tell from the report whether performance was achieving KPI targets or other objectives.  In response, the Managing Director of Ubico confirmed this could all be incorporated into the next report.  In terms of data from comparable authorities, this would need to be anonymised.

18.4          A Member drew attention to Page No. 45 of the report which stated that “overweight vehicles reduced from 39 to 25 which shows efforts to be more aware of this issue are having a positive impact” and she asked what this meant and what had happened to the 14 vehicles.  The Ubico Head of Operations explained it related to the actual load being carried by vehicles, for instance, if an 11 tonne vehicle was carrying a load of 11.5 tonnes it would be classed as overweight – the number of overweight vehicles had been fewer in 2022/23 compared to previous years.  The Director: Communities explained that this figure should further reduce going forward with the new rounds and vehicles being introduced.  Overweight vehicles was a serious issue so it was something Ubico was working hard to address.  The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

To consider progress made against delivery of the Workforce Development Strategy. 

19.1          The report of the Senior HR and OD Adviser, circulated at Pages No. 66-90, set out the progress made during 2022/23 against the Workforce Development Strategy Action Plan and the actions for 2023/24.  Members were asked to consider the report.

19.2          The Senior HR and OD Adviser explained that a five year strategy had been approved by the Council in 2019 and the report looked back at delivery of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to date and what was planned for the forthcoming year.  Members were advised that it was not always possible to provide data from previous years as for some actions this was the first established data set that could be collected; however, she provided assurance that comparable data would be provided moving forward.  In terms of recruitment, the internal target was based on national levels and the market – the time from advert to contract had been reduced compared to previous years.  Right to work checks were now required to be conducted face-to-face and a number of staff did not live locally so there was a reliance on them to come into the Council Offices to do this.  With regard to candidate attraction, 624 applications had been received across 78 vacancies and Officers were looking at what could be done to ensure that adverts were fair and equitable in what was a very competitive market.  There had been an increase in the number of vacancies being filled from first and second advertisements, 73% and 92% respectively, which included hard to fill vacancies in Planning and One Legal where there was tough competition from the private sector.  Officers were also looking at what could be done to improve the overall package to make it more attractive to prospective employees and in 2022/23 this had included the introduction of a salary sacrifice scheme for electric/low emissions cars which had a small uptake to date.  A scheme for the purchase of additional annual leave was planned for 2023/24.  Positive feedback had been received regarding Eploy, an application tracking system used from the point of application to onboarding.  In response to a query regarding the percentage of zero hours contracts, as opposed to fixed or permanent, the Senior HR and OD Adviser advised there was a small handful of casual vacancies to fill project gaps with 10-15% on fixed term contracts; casual staff were currently employed in the Tourist Information Centres or on project work. 

19.3          In terms of absence, the internal target of eight days per full-time employee had not been achieved but, at 9.83 days, this was a big improvement on the previous year which had been 11.52 days.  The Supporting Performance Policy had been updated which clarified the Council’s requirements as an organisation and the trigger points etc.  A new HR platform had recently been developed which provided a self-service portal for staff to record annual leave, sickness and timesheets – it was intended to add to this going forward.  There had been a shift in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

To consider the financial outturn report for 2022/23. 

20.1          The report of the Associate Director: Finance, circulated at Pages No. 91-101, highlighted the Council’s financial performance for the previous year.  Members were asked to consider the report.

20.2          Members were advised that the final revenue outturn position for the financial year 2022/23 showed a £1m surplus. In terms of service expenditure, employee costs were £389,343 underspent, largely as a result of high staff turnover and vacancies in a number of departments.  Payments to third parties included £138,000 on various planning appeals as well as additional provisions being made for planning appeals that were currently being challenged which amounted to £330,000; in addition, £140,000 of planning appeals had been funded from reserves, therefore, the total cost of planning appeals for 2022/23 was £608,000.  Additional income had been generated, particularly within Planning and Licensing, and external grant funding was also received through the year as well as a £300,000 planning software grant to be used in the coming financial year.  In terms of the Council’s commercial premises, a gross rental income of £3.19m had been produced, a yield of 5%.  This was approximately £178,000 less than budget due to a vacant unit; however, all units were now fully tenanted.  Business rates showed a £448,000 surplus against budget and Tewkesbury Borough Council benefited from being in the Gloucestershire Business Rates Pool which had generated a further £380,000.   A full explanation of all variances exceeding £25,000 at group subjective level was attached at Appendix A to the report which also contained an explanation of the variance on the corporate codes.  A breakdown of the Council’s reserves as at 31 March 2023 was attached at Appendix B to the report which included a breakdown of the previous year’s reserves and the capital outturn was set out at Appendix C to the report.

20.3          A Member drew attention to Appendix A to the report and questioned why the budget for garden communities was zero.  The Associate Director: Finance advised that the Garden Town was completely funded by an external grant which was included in the reserves - there was no cost to the Council.  Another Member asked what the £33,000 biodiversity net gain grant from the government was for and was advised it was for investment in staff and resources and had to be spent on training and upskilling Officers with regard to biodiversity net gain.  In response to a further query as to how it was being spent, the Director: Corporate Resources advised that the grant had to be audited to give central government assurance it was being spent in accordance with the conditions of the grant; when it had been audited nothing had been spent to date.

20.4          A Member noted that the Ubico contract was £137,000 over budget but the Ubico report considered earlier on the Agenda had suggested a contract saving of £15,282.  The Associate Director: Finance indicated this was likely to be due to the pay award but she undertook to provide an answer following the meeting.  In response  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting (7 July 2023). 

21.1          Attention was drawn to the report from the Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel, circulated separately, which gave an update on matters discussed at the last meeting held on 7 July 2023.

21.2          In the absence of the Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel, the Chair asked for any questions to be emailed to the representative following the meeting.  It was subsequently

RESOLVED           That the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel update be NOTED.

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting (11 July 2023). 

22.1          It was NOTED that the Gloucestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting had taken place that morning and the Council’s representative on that Committee would circulate her report to Members via email.