Councillors will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest made by Members in accordance with the code of conduct.

To confirm the minutes of the meetings held on 10 October 2018 and 31 October 2018.

The Committee agreed that the minutes of the meetings held on 10 October 2018 and 31 October 2018 are confirmed as a correct record.

To receive reports on business which in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

There were no items of Chair’s urgent business.

Councillor Haydon (Cabinet Member for Customer Focus and Community Safety), Giles Perritt (Assistant Chief Executive) and Andy Ralphs (Strategic Director of Customer and Corporate Services) presented the Customer Experience Peer Challenge Report.

The following key areas of the report were highlighted –

(a)   the Council commissioned the Local Government Association to carry out a Customer Experience Peer Challenge in Plymouth in July 2018;

(b)  the Council’s purpose in commissioning the peer challenge was to gain independent external insights into the ways in which it could further improve its leadership and management practice, service design, organisational learning and the outcomes it delivered for customers.

(c)   the need for consistency across services, more proactive communications, better use of customer data and IT systems

The key areas of questioning from Members related to –

(d)  the definition of a customer and service user;

(e)  the role of the Customer Experience Programme Board;

(f)    the psychological contract with the customer;

(g)   the importance of focussing on quick wins and getting the basics right;

(h)  whether the peer group spoke to residents and what were the data sources used;

(i)    developing artificial intelligence to help the organisation in the future;

(j)    the key areas relating to the pace of change.

The Committee noted the report.

The Committee agreed to receive progress updates on the Customer Experience Programme 20 March 2019 meeting.

The Committee further agreed that the following items are added to the work programme –

1.    Customer Experience Programme

2.    the Way We Work (ICT)

Councillor Coker (Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure) and Mike Artherton (Group Manager Parking, Marine and Garage Services) provide an update on Parking which included Controlled Parking Zones (CPZ) and disabled driver parking spaces (DDPS).

The report highlighted the following key areas –

(a)   A CPZ was a parking scheme where, during the operational hours of the scheme, only permitted vehicles could park within the boundary of the scheme;

(b)  There are currently 57 CPZ schemes in operational in Plymouth;

(c)   A DDPS was a marked disabled space which was placed on the highway close to the disabled driver’s residence;

(d)  There was a charge of £40 to apply for a DDPS.

The key areas of questioning from Members related to –

(e)  whether the DDPS Policy had changed in the last two/three years;

(f)    the discretionary clause included in the policies to allow officers to look into individual cases;

(g)   costings of Controlled Parking Zones (CPZ);

(h)  progressing CPZ’s could take up to 11 months in some cases.

The Committee noted the report and requested an update should changes to the associated fees occur.

Councillor Mark Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) and Andrew Hardingham (Service Director for Finance) presented the Capital and Revenue Monitoring Report 2018/19 – Quarter 2 to the Committee.

The following key areas of the report were highlighted –

(a)   outlined the finance monitoring position of the Council as at the end of September 2018;

(b)  detailed how the Council is delivering against its financial measures using its capital and revenue resources, to approve relevant budget variations and virements;

(c)   the estimated revenue overspend was £5.192m;

(d)  the overall forecast net spend equated to £190.747m against a budget of £185.555m.

The key areas of questioning from Members related to –

(e)  the current vacancies and the position on recruitment;

(f)    the timescale for the conclusion of the review in the Executive Office and whether the savings target would be achieved;

(g)   whether the current vacancies on the establishment would be filled whether the Council should continue to recruit;

(h)  clarification on the expenditure for The Box;

(i)    clarification on the Government grants that the Council has received and the headline figures on the amount that has been budgeted for.

The Chair took the opportunity to remind Members that if there were specific items that they wished to scrutinise, as part of this report, to advise him prior to the meeting, so arrangements could be made to ensure that the right officers were in attendance.

The Committee noted the report.

Councillor Mark Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) and Andrew Loton (Senior Performance Advisor) presented the Corporate Plan 2018-22 - Quarter Two 2018/19 Update

The report provided analysis of quarter two (July to September 2018) performance against Plymouth City Council’s key performance indicators (KPIs) and provided a detailed performance update against the Corporate Plan priorities.

Following feedback on the quarter one report, 12 new indicators had been added:

-       Businesses supported

-       Inward investment

-       Inclusive growth earnings gap

-       Jobs created by the Council

-       Number of events

-       Level of cultural engagement

-       Level of carbon emissions

-       Early year’s setting judged as good or outstanding by Ofsted

-       Number of children in care

-       Hate crime incidents reported to the Council

-       Customer complaints resolved

-       Customer experience

The key areas of questioning from Members related to –

(a)   the rationale as to why the target for bin collection was lower than the national target;

(b)  the reason for the perencentage decline in the Welcoming  City Community Cohesion performance indicator;

(c)   how the information for the performance indicator on community cohesion was gathered.

The Committee noted the report.

The Committee noted its work programme for 2018/19 and agreed to schedule the following items –

1.    Customer Experience Programme

2.    Registrar Office

3.    Staff Survey

4.    The Way We Work (ICT)

The Committee noted the progress of its decisions.