Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Suite, King's Court, Chapel Street, King's Lynn. View directions

Items
No. Item

CP1:

Apologies

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Lord Howard and H Humphrey.

CP2:

Minutes pdf icon PDF 80 KB

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting.

Minutes:

The minutes from the Corporate Performance Panel held on 8 June 2016 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman, subject to the following amendment:

 

CP12:  Nomination to Outside Bodies and Partnerships –  Hunstanton Sailing Club Development Sub-Committee

 

Councillors Collop and Gourlay voted against the resolution.

CP3:

Declarations of Interest

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 disclosed.

 

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

Minutes:

None.

CP4:

Urgent Business Under Standing Order 7

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

Minutes:

None.

CP5:

Members Present Pursuant to Standing Order 34

Members wishing to speak pursuant to Standing Order 34 should inform the Chairman of their intention to do so and on what items they wish to be heard before the meeting commences.  Any Member attending the meeting under Standing Order 34 will only be permitted to speak on those items which have been previously notified to the Chairman.

Minutes:

None.

CP6:

Chairman's Correspondence (if any)

Minutes:

None.

CP7:

Council Tax Support and Council Tax Discounts pdf icon PDF 142 KB

Minutes:

In presenting the report, the Revenues and Benefits Manager explained that the Council must agree a Council Tax Support (CTS) Scheme for its residents every year.  The report outlined options for the CTS Scheme for 2017/2018 for the Panel to discuss.  The agreed draft CTs Scheme would then be presented to Cabinet on 7 September 2016.

 

The Revenues and Benefits Manager outlined the three options for a draft CTS Scheme as detailed in the report to take to a six week consultation.  It was highlighted that the Council must agree a CTS Scheme for 2017/2018 by 31 January 2017.  Members were advised that the Council was free to agree any CTS Scheme it wished, subject to the parameters set by Central Government.  The Council, however, must also have due regard for its equality and diversity duties.

 

The Panel was provided with background information as detailed in the Executive Summary.

 

The Revenue and Benefits Manager invited the panel to discuss and recommend a draft CTS Scheme for 2017/2018 for Cabinet to agree in advance of the consultation period in September and October.

 

In response to questions regarding information available from other Norfolk Authorities, the Revenues and Benefits Manager explained that information from other Norfolk Councils was available for the current year and undertook to forward it to the Panel.

 

Following comments on how the criteria/analysis was undertaken, the Revenue and Benefits Manager explained that the Council had 11,000 claimants and agreed to email examples to the Panel.

 

In response to questions regarding how the CTS was a discounted and reduced the Council’s taxbase, the Revenues and Benefits Manager explained that the Borough Council’s Revenue Support Grant contained an element of funding for CTS, although the amount was not specified.  The Assistant Director added that in 2019/2020 when the Revenue Support Grant ceased the Borough Council would be required to fund the CTS completely.

 

The Revenues and Benefits Manager responded to questions relating to options 2 and 3 and explained that claimants would see different levels of support which did not include Child Benefit or Child Maintenance.

 

Councillors Collop and Gourlay voted against the resolution set out below.

 

RESOLVED:  The Panel supported the preferred option (3).

CP8:

2016/2017 Corporate Performance Target Setting Report pdf icon PDF 68 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

In presenting the report, the Personnel Services Manager explained that the Council’s Performance Management Framework included quarterly monitoring and reporting of performance.  Each quarterly performance report was presented to the Panel.

 

The report outlined the indicators being proposed for the 2016/2017 year, and provided the associated targets which had been agreed by Executive Directors and Portfolio Holders.

 

The Portfolio Holder for Performance responded to questions raised relating Indicator CE9 % of capital receipts receive (excluding house sales) and explained that capital receipts could skew the next year’s figures and reminded Members that targets were discussed and agreed with Executive Directors and Portfolio Holders.

 

Following comments on Indicator CE4 – Affordable housing units built as a % of the total number of new build dwellings completed in the Borough, the Portfolio Holder for Performance informed the Panel that affordable housing was the subject of discussion at Panel meetings and that the Council had an affordable housing policy which had been agreed by Council.  The Portfolio Holder added that if targets had not been met that questions could be asked at the Corporate Performance Panel .

 

In response to comments on the target setting process, the Personnel Services Manager advised that there were some national targets within the Planning and Environment service area, but the majority of targets were locally set.

 

In response to questions relating to CE7- Number of residential houses built - NORA and CE8 – No of residential house sales completed - NORA, the Personnel Services Manager explained that some units had taken longer to progress and complete.

 

Following comments from Councillor Collop on Recommendation 3, the Portfolio Holder for Performance explained that the financial information and available resources had been presented to Full Council.

 

Councillors Collop and Gourlay voted against the resolution set out below.

 

RESOLVED:  The Panel reviewed the indicators proposed and agreed that they provided a representative view of the Council’s operations.

 

CP9:

Staff Sickness Absence Report 2015/2016 pdf icon PDF 70 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Personnel Services Manager advised the Panel of the following amendments:

 

·         Section 2.1:  Second paragraph should read:  The number of FTE days lost due to long term absence decreased to 2161.75 from 28181.13, a decrease of 1%.

·         Section 6.1:  should read:  The total cost of referrals to the counselling support service during the reporting period was £6,655 (£2,675).

·         Appendix B:  Sickness Absence Comparison other Norfolk Authorities:  Breckland 11.7, South Norfolk 8.65.

 

The Personnel Services Manager presented the Annual Sickness Report and explained that the headline figure this year was a decrease in the overall average sickness per employee from 9.69 days for 2014/15 to 9.10 days for 2015/16.

 

In response to questions relating to obtaining comparative figures from private organisations, the Personnel Services Manager explained that the Safety and Welfare Advisor used a public body group to ensure consistency for comparison and the Council was confident that other districts compiled the sickness absence figures in the same way.  The local group was also used in a wider context to network and share best practice.  The Portfolio Holder for Human Resources, Facilities and Shared Services added that it would be difficult to obtain sickness figures from private organisations because of data protection issues.

 

The Portfolio Holder for Human Resources, Facilities and Shared Services asked the Panel if it would be acceptable in future to publish the Staff Sickness Absence Annual Report on Insite for Members to view.  If there appeared to be a significant variance in figures in future years, the Panel could ask for a report to explain the reasons for the change.

 

In response to questions in service areas and how sickness absence was assessed, the Personnel Services Manager explained that the Borough Council recorded all sickness absences during the past year.  There was a robust process in place to determine the type of sickness absence.  It was noted that it was nationally recognised that 15% of sickness absence was determined as work related.

 

RESOLVED:  1) The Panel noted the report.

 

2) The Staff Sickness Absence Annual report be published on Insite for Members to view in future years.

CP10:

Work Programme 2016/2017 pdf icon PDF 81 KB

Minutes:

The Panel noted the Work Programme for 2016/2017.        

 

The following item had been identified to be considered at a future Panel meeting, dependant on officers’ available to attend to present a report:

 

·         Car Parking Machines not having the facility to give change.

CP11:

Date of Next Meeting

To note that the next meeting of the Corporate Performance Panel will take place on Wednesday 24 August 2016 at 6 pm in the Committee Suite, King’s Court, Chapel Street, King’s Lynn

Minutes:

The next scheduled meeting of the Panel would be held on Wednesday 24 August 2016.

CP12:

Reports published on the intranet (for noting purposes only)

The following reports have been published on the intranet:

 

·        Employment Monitoring Report

 

To view the report, please use the following link:

 

http://insite.west-norfolk.gov.uk/corporate_documents/Personnel/Employment%20Monitoring%202016%20-%20Insite%20Version.pdf

 

Minutes:

The following report had been published on the intranet (for noting purposes only):

 

·         Employment Monitoring Report.