(a)

the Safer Plymouth update would focus upon hate crime reporting and what happened when hate crimes were made. Both Community Connections and the Chief Executive’s Office were working to ensure this information was available from the Police. If by the next scheduled meeting the information was not available then this item would be moved to a future date;

(b)

the Review of the Plymouth Community Covenant had been moved to 7 November 2022 – three Conservative Members and one Green Party Member were still required to make up the select committee membership – two Labour Members had already been confirmed;

(c)

the Select Committee Review for “The support the Council is providing to those seeking resettlement from Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine” was to be moved back as Councillor Penberthy was not available due to undertaking Deputy Lord Mayor duties.

(d)

a meeting is to be scheduled with Councillor Penberthy, Councillor Lowry and Councillor Shayer (Cabinet Member for Finance and Economy) to discuss the Finance Monitoring Report, specifically the current timeline of the Council with regards to further opportunities for savings and the budget. Depending upon the outcome of the meeting, a further meeting of the Performance, Finance and Customer Focus Overview and Scrutiny Panel could be arranged to discuss this matter formally, or for a sub group of the committee to be called;

(e)

the Election Bill implications report was moved to 30 November scrutiny meeting at the request of officers as guidance from the Government, specifically regarding photo identification for elections, was not yet available. Concerns regarding the impact the delayed timescale would have upon successful implementation, specifically before the May 2023 elections, was noted however it was considered that a report detailing the implications for Plymouth as well as cost implications would be available for discussion at the November scrutiny meeting;

(1)

a meeting is to be scheduled with Councillor Penberthy, Councillor Lowry and Councillor Shayer (Cabinet Member for Finance and Economy) to discuss the Finance Monitoring Report, specifically the current timeline of the Council with regards to further opportunities for savings and the budget;

(2)

that Councillor Penberthy write to the relevant chair of the Local Government Association Board regarding the panel’s concerns in the Government’s delay in publishing guidance relating to the Elections Bill;

(3)

to note the work programme.

(a)

the actions greyed out in the table were complete and that actions still unshaded had yet to be finalised;

(b)

a response for the following action from a previous meeting was required otherwise the Chair would involve the Chief Executive of the Council:

(b.1)

1 December 2021 – Minute 25 ‘Finance and Capital Monitoring Report September 2021: Members were advised that a written response would be provided detailing the risk and affordability of the Council’s business cases, specifically regarding construction’.

(c)

some of the actions from the 29 June 2022 meeting that related to minute 9, specifically regarding Plymouth’s low recycling rates which were below the national average, why the council disposed of waste other than recycled it, and if the garden waste collection service would be reintroduced in 2023;

(d)

what position would the council be in if it did not achieve targets set by the Government in terms of its recycling?

(e)

29 June 2022 minute 9 (5) ‘a workshop is held so Members can understand and help to positively influence the process of target setting regarding key performance indicators and discuss what performance information is most appropriate for the scrutiny function’. The Chair wanted to ensure that scrutiny were involved in setting KPIs;

(f)

if the information requested under the following minute was made available as it had not been sent to Councillor Laing’s panel: minute 10 (4) ‘information, as a result of the deep dive into Children’s Services by the Strategic Director for Finance, the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Children’s Services. And the Shadow Portfolio Holder for Finance, would be provided to Members of the panel as well as the Children and Young People scrutiny panel’;

(g)

minute 6 (2) ‘an update on the Government’s £300m commitment to local authorities to prevent youth offending would be provided to Members when available’; it was confirmed that the response was chased and that the Council had received a small part of the national amount. A response had been drafted and would be provided to the panel shortly;

(h)

minute 12 (1) ‘a report would be provided at the next meeting to consider financial profit and loss for each leisure facility, including membership details, investment information and opportunities and risk’ – it was highlighted by the Chair that a written report had not been submitted despite the requested made at the previous meeting and the impact this would have upon Members ability to scrutinise.

(1)

the tracking decisions document was noted;

(2)

more information on the action plan relating to question 1 was sought, specifically with regards to how recycling rates could be increased: (Minute 9 – ‘a written response would be provided to Members providing more detail as to why there was a 39% target set for recycling as this was considered rather low’;

(3)

more information on action (4) ‘a written response would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

(a)

flu vaccinations for council staff were to be undertaken at the Guildhall other than Ballard House as the Guildhall was considered to be a more central location and was easier for more officers to access;

(b)

in order to protect staff and continue to deliver council services during a possible outbreak of both flu and covid, the Council was actively encouraging the workforce to be vaccinated and was continuing to review the safe systems of work alongside public health colleagues to ensure they were fit for purpose. A traffic light system was in place to monitor the numbers of people contracting flu and covid and would help to mitigate potential risks;

(c)

in terms of timescales for the accommodation strategy, Windsor House was to be decanted in March 2023, and Midland House was to be decanted in the summer of 2023; some delays in work had been down to a range of complex factors including the Council’s partners signing the lease for Crownhill Court later than expected and issues with the supply of goods. The redevelopment to the ground floor of Ballard House for childrens services was going out to tender currently;

(d)

the Council had free Lateral Flow Test kits which were for the use of front line staff as it was considered that office based staff could work from home if required. The procedure and data collected for the LFTs was kept under constant review as part of the safe system of work review and this could be provided to the committee once available;

(e)

the Director for Public Health would be consulted as to if Councillors should be provided with free Lateral Flow Tests due to the work they do within the community – a response would be provided to Members;

(f)

the high level results from the Big Listen survey including the number of respondents and their responses were due to be discussed at senior leadership team meetings as well as possible actions. An external provider was used for the survey in order to give the workforce confidence that their responses would be considered confidentially and would also allow benchmarking with other public sector organisations. It was anticipated that this information would be available in November and would be able to be shared;

(g)

during the covid pandemic a decision was made by the Council that if someone had experienced covid then their absence from work as a result of this would not trigger absence accumulation responses; this was reviewed by the Council in the Autumn as it was important the Council supported individuals to come back to work and not spread the virus within the organisation. The trade unions were of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

(a)

the report to be considered provided information up to August 2022 and showed the position to the end of the financial year (March) with an overspend of £6.656m – this was an improvement of the previous report;

(b)

unforeseen cost was identified in the report in terms of the impact of utilities, and the pay settlement – this has driven up the cost by approximately £6m – it could be considered that if it wasn’t for those unforeseeable costs then the Council would be in a very good position at month 5 with a relatively small overspend.

(c)

the Council paid the Theatre Royal £350k per annum – Members would be advised if this figure was inclusive of the £100k reduction;

(d)

it was considered that bus shelter advertising would be an income generation opportunity for the Council – this linked to the £75k reduction in costs; more information on this contract would be provided to Members via a written response;

(e)

grants issued to the Theatre Royal came out of the Council’s general fund – this was set up by discretion. The Council’s Economic Development team worked closely with the Theatre Royal to ensure the decision to reduce funding was acceptable to both parties;

(f)

at this time of the year it was not unusual for the Council to show an overspend on the idiom budget – it was recognised that an awful lot of work had gone into getting the Council to this financial position having gone from a £14m overspend to a £6.6m overspend. Officers were happy to revisit the childrens services budget and have a deep dive into the budget. During discussion of this item Members discussed their dissatisfaction that responses to a previous action from 29 June 2022 scrutiny meeting relating to the childrens services budget had not been provided as it was considered that this would provide the committee with greater clarity on this matter;

(g)

the Council’s working balance was at £8.4m against a net budget of £198m – this was 4.2%; the industry standard was to try and get as close to 5% - this was not a statutory requirement;

(h)

the collection of garden green waste would not be reinstated in this financial year however was expected to be reinstated next year;

(i)

the Council was considering a reduction in the voltage of street lighting; the council was advised that it wouldn’t affect the lux value that the lights gave out so Plymouth wouldn’t be deprived of lighting;

(j)

it was not known at this stage  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

(a)

the second part of the report focused upon risk; this was a recommendation from the Audit and Governance Committee that risk was appropriately considered at scrutiny meetings. Both the performance information, and risk information in the report was due to be updated in November when submitted back to scrutiny for consideration;

(b)

good performance in the last quarter included the increase in the employment rate which was now rated green, the reduction in repeat referrals to childrens  social care and some improved adult social care outcomes;

(c)

performance challenges included the increase in children that were subject to multiple child protection plans, the full time equivalent days lost to sickness as well as the spend against the budget;

(d)

in terms of risk, there were three red risk items on the strategic risk register which included the spend against the budget, cyber security (mitigations were included in the report), and supply chain issues and lead-in time for technology IT equipment.

(e)

information regarding multiple protection plans and the childrens services budget would be better discussed at the Education and Childrens Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee scheduled for Thursday 13 October 2022; it was considered helpful that the outstanding tracking decisions responses relating to childrens services be available for this meeting;

(f)

in order to provide assurance, the risks and mitigations surrounding the workforce and the impact from sickness rates, covid and flu on their ability to deliver services would be further considered by the Cabinet Member and officers;

(g)

key performance indicator (KPI) 15 (public satisfaction with traffic flow) was not rag rated because it was currently being reviewed;

(h)

the Cabinet Member for Finance and Economy committed to providing a  written response to the committee on the implications upon the budget of the potential loss of grants/ fines/ the impact on household waste and Plymouth waste collection sites/ if garden waste was disposed of or recycled, due to stopping the garden waste collection service;

(i)

a written response would be provided from Community Connections as to what the Council was doing to try and close the gap in anti-social behaviour interventions and the increase in anti-social behaviour; this related to KPI (7) -  anti-social behaviour incidents reported to the council, KPI (8) - number of early interventions to antisocial behaviour and KPI (9) – residents who felt safe in the city during the day’;

(j)

it was considered that an accounting solution had been arrived at in terms of the council’s pension fund deficit – this was being considered by the Audit and Governance Committee at every meeting and a further update would be provided in November – an update would be provided to this committee when available.

(1)

to note the report;

(2)

the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

(a)

the increased demand in childrens services was having a knock on effect on business support and back office support services; this was a continuing challenge for business support. Anna Constantine was now in post and this was a major part of her business plan in making business support a sustainable part of the organisation and driving out value where possible. A commitment to provide more detail of the approaches taken, the engagement taking place and how service level agreements were put in place to make sure they weren’t having a negative effect on the areas business support were focusing upon, was offered;

(b)

two corporate reviews were currently being undertaken, one around process automation to focus on business support which would contribute to further savings and a review of corporate systems.

(1)

to note the benefits and changes to Plymouth City Council’s business support services;

(2)

that a response would be provided to members on the approaches taken, the engagement taking place and how service level agreements were put in place to make sure they weren’t having a negative effect on the areas business support were focusing upon, specifically childrens services;

(3)

that Councillor Laing and the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People are invited to attend the 30 November 2022 Performance, Finance and Customer Focus OSP meeting in order to provide assurance to the committee that budgetary concerns in childrens services were being adequately mitigated;  

(4)

that the panel’s concerns regarding the childrens services budget and future mitigation would be raised at the next scheduled Management Board meeting, and for the Management Board to consider if a joint working approach between the Performance, Finance and Customer Focus OSP, and the Education and Children’s Social Care OSP was required.