Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 2015 be agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

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In relation to agenda item 7, Business Planning 2016/17 report:

·                Councillor John Marshall declared a non-pecuniary interest by virtue of being a board member of Barnet Homes.

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A public comment was received from Mr John Dix.

Details of the public questions asked, together with the published answers were provided with the agenda papers and circulated at the meeting. Verbal responses were given to supplementary questions at the meeting.

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The Committee received a report in the name of the name of the Chief Operating Officer, John Hooton, who together with the Strategic Lead, Programmes and Performance, Tom Pike, explained the approach for refreshing the Council’s key business plans for the year ahead.

Further to discussion around section 1.14 of the report, the Strategic Lead, Programmes and Performance, undertook to provide an overview of the new Cambridge Education Contract, including its objectives and key performance indicators, to a future Committee meeting.

The Committee considered the Council’s aims and key changes to be taken forward, together with the significant matters of interest to residents. With regard to the strategic indicators, benchmarking data and proposed targets, the Committee requested that the following areas be explored:

-       Mental health service – consider potential for satisfaction indicators

-       Adults social care – consider effectiveness of information provision, such as the percentage of service users who find it easy to access information  (Adults and Safeguarding Committee)

-       Regeneration – new homes and affordability targets (Assets, Regeneration and Growth Committee / Housing Committee)

-       Website - aspirational target aimed at increasing use of the website (Policy and Resources Committee recommended to consider alongside Customer Access Strategy)

-       Business rates targets, including differentiation for small businesses (Assets, Regeneration and Growth Committee)

-       Resident satisfaction indicators – road safety and fly tipping (Environment Committee)

-       Improved target for compliance with regulatory timescales (Environment Committee)

-       Customer services indicator for percentage of residents who find it easy or hard to access Council services  (Policy and Resources Committee)

-       Community Leadership Committee to consider their priorities and targets, including whether measures are needed on emergency planning (Community Leadership Committee).

The Committee observed that the use of different (comparator) data periods to set targets could distort the resulting information. In meeting the challenge to maintain or improve performance, the Committee suggested that it would be helpful for Members to easily view information on to how each target had been set.

RESOLVED that the Performance and Management Committee:

1. Note the light-touch refresh of the Council’s key business plans – the Corporate Plan and Commissioning Plans for 2016/17.

2. Having reviewed the basket of strategic indicators set out in the Corporate Plan 2015 – 2020, recommend that the Strategic Lead, Programmes and Performance take forward the suggestions highlighted in the pre-amble to this item.

3. Request a further update at its next meeting (15 February 2016) setting out changes to the Corporate Plan prior to approval at Policy and Resources Committee and Full Council.

The Committee received a report in the name of the Chief Operating Officer, John Hooton. The Head of Information Management, Jenny Obee, provided the Committee with the context to three IT incidents which had occurred in April 2015 and had impacted on the collection of income by Barnet Homes. Discussion ensued concerning the change to contractual commitment T3-118 within the Customer and Support Group (CSG) IT contract, the authority for that change and reporting of the same.

In response to a request from the Committee, the Chief Operating Officer undertook to provide a report to the next meeting on contractual changes and variations, including a summary of the variations and changes made/anticipated to be made within external Delivery Units (contracts) in accordance with the formal governance mechanisms of the contract, together with a log of the contractual variations and changes for the CSG and Re contracts.

The Committee requested that the conclusion of the proposed Internal Audit to assess CSG’s alignment to obligations in relation to IS020000, together with any action plan arising, be provided to the Performance and Contract Management Committee.

RESOLVED that the Performance and Contract Management Committee note that the Council intends to instruct an Internal Audit to assess Capita Customer Support Group’s alignment to obligations in relation to ISO20000 (being an international certified standard that sets out service management requirements for IT organisations) in the final quarter of 2015/16.

The Committee received a report in the name of the Chief Operating Officer, John Hooton, who together with the Strategic Lead, Programmes and Performance, Tom Pike provided the Committee with an overview of the performance of the CSG. The Committee reviewed the successes, challenges and areas where actions were in place to further improve performance.

In response to questions from the Committee, the Chief Operating Officer clarified that section 5.8 of Appendix 1 (Information Systems) was drafted from the perspective of the report authors together with the Head of Estates Management.

The Committee discussed the background and complexities of the contract.

The Head of Customer Services (Capita) Katherine Lyon addressed the Committee and answered questions about the Web Improvement Plan (Appendix 4 to the report). Upon reviewing the comparative performance and satisfaction data attributable to use of the website and services delivered through it, it was agreed that the current improvements (listed on page 83) together with the Customer Access Strategy were an urgent priority.

The Committee discussed the measures in place to increase use of the Council’s website across users of different age ranges and, in particular, the My Account service targets. In response to points raised in discussion, the Head of Customer Services agreed there was a need to produce a digital inclusion strategy and this would be addressed as part of the work on the Customer Access Strategy.

The Head of Information Management, Jenny Obee, addressed the Committee and answered question about Members’ IT with particular reference to section 5.8 of Appendix 1 of the report. Following discussion around the feedback received in response to the Members’ survey, the Committee emphasised the need for continued improved communication between the IS service and Members.

RESOLVED that the Performance and Contract Management Committee:

1.    Note the report provided in respect of performance of the Customer Services Group.

2.    Request a further report on the progress of the website improvement plan to a future meeting of the Committee.

3.    Request a further progress report on the steps taken to improve IS support to Members at a future meeting of the Committee.

The Committee received a report in the name of the Chief Operating Officer, John Hooton, which was introduced by the CSG Partnership Relationship Manager, Philip Hamberger. The report brought forward recommendations on conducting the fundamental review which was due in year three of the CSG contract, including consultation, stakeholders and key areas of focus. 

Councillor Cooke moved a motion to create and appoint to a working group of the Committee which would carry out its work in public session for the purpose of conducting the review and report its findings to the main Committee on conclusion. The motion was duly seconded by Councillor Levine and put to the vote. Votes were recorded as follows:

For:                   5

Against:            6

Abstain:            0

Absent:             0

TOTAL:           11

The motion was declared lost.

Councillor Finn moved a motion to agree the recommendations as printed in the report which was duly seconded by Councillor Khatri and put to the vote. Votes were recorded as follows:

For:                   6

Against:            0

Abstain:            5

Absent:             0

TOTAL:           11

RESOLVED that the Performance and Contract Management Committee agree to:

1. Undertake the fundamental review of the Customer and Support Group contract;

2. Create and appoint to a working group of the Committee for the purpose of conducting the review (as set out in section 1.5.3 of the report) and reporting its findings to the main Committee on conclusion; and

3. Endorse the proposed timetable of the review as set out in section 1.5.5 of this report.

The Chairman introduced the item and invited comments.

The Committee considered the 2015-16 work programme and suggested additional business items to be brought to a future meeting.

RESOLVED:

1. That the following additional items be considered at a future meeting and included in the 2015-16 work programme:

i.              Cambridge Education Contract – to receive an overview of the new contract, objectives and key performance indicators.

ii.            Members’ IT Update – to receive a further progress report on the steps taken to improve IS support to Members.

iii.                Website Improvement Plan – to receive a further report on the progress of the website improvement plan.

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