(a)

it was anticipated that voter ID would be required for next year’s elections however this would be clarified later in the agenda when the Elections Bill Implications item was to be discussed;

(b)

future policy brief reports would include any impacts or benefits to Plymouth as well as how the Council would take action to respond if required;

(c)

the Policy Brief referred to the call for evidence on the Home Office Afghan Resettlement Scheme – this was scheduled on the committee’s work programme for 14 December 2022 meeting.

1.

that future policy brief reports would include any impacts or benefits to Plymouth as well as how the Council would take action to respond if required;

2.

to note the Policy Brief.

(a)

risk 12 in the report regarding the Council not meeting its obligation to keep data secure by failing to adhere to data protection act regulations was an identified risk and not something that had happened; a description of the risk was contained within the report as well as the mitigation response and actions undertaken to ensure that to the Council’s best ability it didn’t happen; cyber security was also to be discussed at the panel’s scrutiny meeting in February 2023;

(b)

risk 14 in the report regarding the Council not meeting its legal obligations regarding the health and safety of the workforce was an identified risk of the situation and the mitigation was included in the report; the Big Listen was to be discussed later in the meeting and this formed part of the mitigation of this risk;

(c)

the red risk in relation to staff sickness levels was acknowledged however measures were in place to address what had been identified as an issue affecting the workforce; the Council had a well-developed policy for absence and sickness and it was highlighted that the welfare of staff was important;

(d)

a written response would be provided to Members upon the financial implications of the Council’s decision to end the garden waste service early therefore affecting the overall recycling rate in quarter two due to a lower volume of composted waste than in previous years, specifically when it was considered that recycling was sold on for other use.

1.

that a written response would be provided to Members upon the financial implications of the Council’s decision to end the garden waste service early therefore affecting the overall recycling rate in quarter two due to a lower volume of composted waste than in previous years, specifically when it was considered that recycling was sold on for other use;

2.

to note the Corporate Plan Quarter Two Performance and Risk Update.

(a)

the report shared the main findings of the Big Listen staff survey and the information provided was taken across all council employees; there was currently no benchmarking data undertaken by other councils to measure the information however it presented a clean cut representation of a post covid council;

(b)

the Council conducted the Big Listen survey in June/ July 2022 and the report shared the headline findings and provided information as to how the Council would respond to the findings from the survey;

(c)

the survey linked to the Council’s People Strategy and had a 71% engagement level, two thirds of staff were proud to work for the Council, seven in ten people considered the Council was a good employer, the largest improvement was made in the satisfaction levels to staff working environment, 87% of staff were aware of their responsibilities and duties, 65% responded that they got development or training needed to do their job safely and 82% of staff felt that they were treated fairly, respectfully and without discrimination;

(d)

the report also highlighted how change was managed across the Council, career progression within the Council and the confidence in how the survey results would be responded to; plans were detailed in the covering report on focus groups being arranged to take forward actions.

(e)

it was difficult to encourage staff to speak and engage with surveys however those that did were thanked; it was highlighted that the response rate of 51% was a top quartile rate and was considered very high as the average rate was 25%;

(f)

in terms of the 51% response rate, Sharon Battishill (Unite Lead Representative) considered that front line workers were not heard and generally did not participate in surveys as they did not work on computers so didn’t receive an electronic version of the survey however also didn’t receive paper copies; they also had to complete surveys in their own personal time other than during working hours. There was a high density of front line workers in Street Scene and Waste with reading and writing therefore the feedback would be low from those areas;

(g)

in terms of the 51% response rate Kevin Treweeks (Unison Lead Representative) advised that he considered some people may not have participated because they believe that if they didn’t have anything nice to say they shouldn’t say anything at all;

(h)

an external company was used to conduct the survey in order to ensure anonymity if people considered they could be identified by their  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

(a)

in the Finance and Capital Monitoring Report month 6, it set out the gross budget, the forecast and the net variance for month 6 to the end of the year which was £2.217m; the slide in the pack detailed what the pressures in month 6 were, the areas of concern and the drivers including SEND, transport, placements. There were already plans in place for mitigation, therefore it was now to consider how those plans were progressing;

(b)

the sum of £500k identified in the report as ‘partner income’ was put down as a mitigation and conversations had started with partners. Officers were talking to the ICB regarding their overall agreement with the Council and had discussed that rather than the current process which included a child hitting a trigger point and the ICB agreeing to support a specific percentage of the cost, it was hoped that changes were made to the overall agreement in that an average was taken over a set period of time and the sum of money provided to the Council allowing officers to work within a set budget target and agreed envelope of funding. Officers had written to the ICB and they had released £829k;

(c)

negotiations with the ICB had started and help was welcomed from any forum in order to expedite conversations and change the way in the process was currently working;

(d)

the Council had 12 social workers due to start in February 2023 – it was considered that agency cost and bespoke placements made up a significant amount of the cost in the department and caused the most budgetary pressures. The introduction of the 12 social workers would encourage a greater saving;

(e)

the numbers for looked after children were starting to fall overall – there had been a recent slight increase however the numbers were starting to decrease. Bespoke placements had also started to reduce and were currently at one down from three. These placements held the greatest costs for the Council;

(f)

the SEND budget was set at £3.1m with a deficit of £0.284; it was considered that the pressure on this part of the budget was due to short breaks. It was highlighted that the Council aimed to continue to offer these services and wanted to prioritise looked after children;

(g)

the number of children with SEND had not increased; Councillor Carlyle had been provided with updated figures and agreed to provide a written response to Members outlining the updated information on the figures and budget;

(h)

the Council had recently created a new interim post to specifically focus upon:

the cohort of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

·        

that the digital transformation and inclusion item should be included with the Customer Services Strategy update;

·        

that the recommendations from the Armed Forces Covenant would be presented to a future scrutiny panel for sign off;

·        

that Equality and Diversity would be scheduled for the February meeting and would focus upon hate crime;

·        

the aim was to efficiently timetable remaining items on the work programme where possible in order to prevent too many items being scheduled for the new municipal year.