Agenda and minutes

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Apologies for absence were received from Councillors A Dickinson, C Morley, D Sayers and Mrs V Spikings.

To approve the minutes from the Corporate Performance Panel held on 16 October 2023.

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The minute of the meeting of the Corporate Performance Panel held on 16 October 2023 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Please indicate if there are any interests which should be declared.  A declaration of an interest should indicate the nature of the interest (if not already declared on the Register of Interests) and the agenda item to which it relates.  If a disclosable pecuniary interest is declared, the Member should withdraw from the room whilst the matter is discussed.

These declarations apply to all Members present, whether the Member is part of the meeting, attending to speak as a local Member on any item or simply observing the meeting from the public seating area.

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Councillors B Long and S Dark declared a non-pecuniary interest as a Norfolk County Councillor appointee to the Police and Crime Panel which was scrutinising the budget and the crime plan.

Councillor Rose declared an interest as a member of the Police and Crime Sub Panel.

To consider any business which, by reason of special circumstances, the Chairman proposed to accept as urgent under Section 100(b)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There was no urgent business.

Members wishing to speak pursuant to Standing Order 34 should inform the Chair of their intention to do so and on what items they wish to be heard before a decision on that item is taken.

Councillors A Dickinson (Zoom), C Joyce (Zoom) and J Moriarty (in person) were present under Standing Order 34.

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The Chair advised that he had received correspondence from the Portfolio Holder for Finance regarding Item 9:  Cabinet Report – Council Tax Support Scheme:  Final Scheme and would refer to the content under the Agenda item.

The correspondence had been copied to all Members of the Corporate Performance Panel.

There were no call-ins.

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The Assistant Director, Commercial Services and Operations introduced the item and provided background information as to why the presentation had been requested by the Panel.

The Panel received a presentation from Adam Worley, Coastal Catchment Manager, Anglian Water Authority and Andrew Raine, Environment Manager, Environment Agency (copy attached to Agenda).

The Chair, Councillor Dark thanked officers for a detailed presentation and invited the Portfolio Holder, Environment and Coastal, Councillor Squire and Portfolio Holder, Biodiversity and Climate Change to address the Panel.

The Portfolio Holder, Environment and Coastal advised that she was the Local Government Association Member Champion for Coastal Water Quality and had regular meetings with Councils around the country who were also experiencing similar issues regarding water quality and added that it was a complicated picture of what affected the water quality.  The Portfolio Holder explained that at a recent conference it had been noted that 7% of water pollution came from storm overflows and added that if anyone would like further information to contact her. The Portfolio Holder added that arrangements were  in place where to write to Ministers regarding coastal issues.

The Portfolio Holder for Biodiversity and Climate Change advised that he had nothing further to add.

Adam Worley, Andrew Raine and the Assistant Director, Commercial Services responded to questions and comments in relation to:

•           Birds being the biggest cause of pollution.

•           Practical measures to control the gull population.

•           Human pollution and steps that could be taken to reduce levels.

•           Measures that could be taken to discourage people leaving food in bins for gulls to feed from.

•           Impact on pollution from the bird population (had always been present).

•           Number of samples taken at each site.

•           West Lynn – sewage discharging into the Wash and impact on coastal areas.

•           Steps taken to reduce pollution at West Lynn and outlined the reasons why this work had been stalled.

•           How West Norfolk compared with the rest of Norfolk and coastal areas including Lincolnshire and the UK.

•           Why there was a higher level of bird pollution in West Norfolk that anywhere else in the UK.

•           Blue Flag 2015/2016 and why the Borough Council did not apply for the status due to the rules changing.  An annual assessment was made which could affect the score.

•           Data for concentric ring points.

•              Storm overflow – frequency and duration of sampling

•           Volume of discharge needed to be identified.

•           Spill data to be published at the end of the bathing water season and end of each year.

•           Results of sampling used to determine what had gone wrong and gave examples of 28 failed samples in 2022/2023 and advised that of the 28, 2 had occurred during a 72 hour storm period.

•           Heacham overload did not affect the network and was dealt with on site by using a balancing tank and then transported to King’s Lynn works to  ...  view the full minutes text for item CP78

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In presenting the report, the Revenues and Benefits Manager explained that the Council operated a scheme to help working age people on low incomes with the cost of their council tax by reducing their council tax bill.  This was known as the Council Tax Support (CTS) Scheme.  There were national regulations for a CTS Scheme for customers who had reached pension age, but the Council were free to decide the rules for its own CTS schemes for working age people in our area, taking into account certain government requirements.  It was highlighted that the report only referred to the Council’s own CTS Scheme for working age group.

The Revenues and Benefits Manager advised that the report followed on from the Corporate Performance Panel (CPP) report of 24 July 2023 outlining the options for a draft CTS Scheme to go to public consultation and recommending Option 1.  It was noted that at its meeting on 1 August 2023 Cabinet agreed that Option 1 was their preferred scheme to consult on and a public consultation ran from 21 August 2023 to 1 October 2023.  Members were advised that the results were summarised at section 3 and Appendix C.

The Revenues and Benefits Manager explained that the final CTS scheme for 2024/2025 must now be agreed by January 2024 ready for implementation on 1 April 2024.

The Revenues and Benefits Manager drew attention to the four options set out in the report.

The Panel’s attention was drawn to section 3 – Consultation and the Revenues and Benefits Manager explained that in response to feedback from the 2023/2024 scheme consultation, the survey questions had been refreshed and reworded to make them clearer and to attempt to promote more engagement and responses.  The updated questions are shown in Appendix C.  The consultation was widely publicised with press and radio coverage and promotions on social media.  Members were also advised that the consultation also included an online calculator so people could check if they would be eligible to claim CTS, or if their CTS would increase under the Council’s proposals.  The Panel was reminded that the consultation went live on 11 September 2023 and six people had used the service.  The public consultation ran for six weeks from 21 August 2023 to 1 October 2023 and the consultation webpage received 2,345 hits and 41 surveys were completed, a 64% increase compared to the 25 responses received in 2023/2024.

The Revenues and Benefits Manager explained that the consultation response from Norfolk County Council was included in the CPP and Cabinet repots for the draft CTS scheme.  Norfolk Police’s and Crime Commissioner had not responded.

It was noted that the CTS caseload had reduced over the past year and was having less of a financial impact than was estimated in the Financial Plan.  This means there is sufficient scope to cover the additional cost of a more generous scheme without having to specifically raise council tax  ...  view the full minutes text for item CP79

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The Chair, Councillor Dark stated that he assume the Panel had read the report and that discussions would be held with Group Leaders to determine the membership.

RESOLVED:  The Corporate Performance Panel recommended to establish an informal working group to be known as the Constitution Informal Working Group with the terms of reference as attached to this paper at Appendix A.

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The Chair, Councillor Dark advised that the report was for information only and that the Assistant Director, Central Services was present if there were any questions.

The Assistant Director, Central Services responded to questions in relation to:

·         Retention and recruitment.

·         Employees with disabilities.

·         Applications for promotion.

·         Vacancies on an internal basis only.

·         Advertisement for internal and external vacancies.

·         Employees leaving the Council’s employment and recording reasons for leaving.

The Assistant Director, Central Services explained that in future years the number of internal and external vacancies could be collated separately.

Members are invited to submit any questions in advance of the meeting.

There were no Portfolio Holder Questions.

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The Cabinet Forward Decisions List was noted.

The following item was identified:

·         Council Tax Second Homes – 14 January 2024.

·         Procurement Strategy – item to be scheduled.

The Chair, Councillor Dark invited the Panel to email him with any items for consideration.

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The Chair, Councillor Dark invited the Panel to email him with any items for consideration.

The Panel commented that the responses from West Norfolk Housing and West Norfolk Property regarding Section 21 notices and the impact on businesses.  It was suggested that a discussion be held with the Chair of the Environment and Community Panel to ascertain which Panel should consider the item.

To note the Committee’s Work Programme for 2023/2024.

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The Panel noted the work programme.

Councillor Rose advised that the Police and Crime Commissioner would be available to give a presentation to the Panel in 2024.  The Chair invited Councillor Rose to ask the Police and Crime Commissioner to contact Democratic Services with details.

The Chair, Councillor Dark invited the Panel to email him with any items for consideration.

To note that the date of the next meeting of the Corporate Performance Panel will take place on 4 January 2024 at 4.30 pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, King’s Lynn.

The next meeting of the Corporate Performance Panel will take place on 4 January 2024 at 4.30 pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, King’s