Agenda and minutes

Councillor Anthony Finn, Chairman of the Performance and Contract Management Committee welcomed all attendants to the meeting.

RESOLVED that subject to the addition of the full name of Councillor Rohit Grover on the front page, the minutes of the previous meeting held on 31 May 2016 be agreed as a correct record.

Apologies were received from Councillor Kathy Levine, who was substituted by Councillor Barry Rawlings.

The following interests were declared at the meeting:

None.

None were received.

The Committee considered one Member’s Item submitted by Councillor Mittra.

The Committee noted the wording of the item as set out in the report:

Given the limited assurance rating from audit for IT Disaster Recovery, and the more recent revelations that the silver and bronze disaster recovery requirements included in the Capita CSG contract are not being delivered, I request that PCM is given an update on progress to improve things. In particular I would like to know what the plans are to ensure that data lost after one hour is recovered within 48 hours with a maximum one hour's data loss, as specified in the contract at no additional cost to the Council. If it is not going to be delivered what remedy is being sought under the terms of the contract? If there is a breach of contract what will the Conservative administration be doing to ensure this is corrected at no cost to the Council?

The Chairman welcomed the item and noted that the November agenda included items on IT Change Management and IT Disaster Recovery.

The Committee agreed to receive an update on the motion as part of the IT update report at its next meeting with the addition of an update on plans for disaster recovery for all Council IT systems. (Action)

It was therefore:

RESOLVED that the Performance and Contract Management Committee’s instructions in relation to this Member’s item are requested as set out above.

The Chairman introduced the report which provides an overview of the council’s performance, risks and finance and summary of progress in delivering the Council’s Corporate Plan. The Chairman noted the achievements made in relation to residents’ perception which indicates that residents’ satisfaction with Barnet as a place to live remains high at 89% above the national average.

In relation to a query about agency staff, the Committee noted that the increase in agency expenditure was mainly due to the use of agency staff to cover permanent posts in Family Services and the Commissioning Group.

Jamie Masraff, Interim Strategic Lead Programmes & Performance informed the Committee about the initiatives to ensure that agency staff were being retained as permanent staff. There should therefore be a decline in agency expenditure as a result of the initiative.

The Committee requested information about whether any agency staff were employed under zero hour contracts. Officers noted that an update would be circulated to the Committee as confirmation that there are no Council employees on zero hour contracts. (Action)

The Interim Chief Operating Officer, Stephen Evans informed the Committee about the Strategic Risk Register which includes the strategic risks that come under the direct management of senior officers. It was further noted that the service level Risk Registers are being updated and will be reported as part of the Q2 Performance Reports for 2016/17 at the next Committee meeting.

Following a request from the Committee, Mr Masraff noted that explanatory notes will be added to the next Q2 Report about the methodology for risks and process for identification of controls. (Action)

The Chairman welcomed the Adults and Communities Director, Mathew Kendall who briefed the Committee about overspend within Adults and Communities. He noted the factors that have contributed to the reported overspend which included continued service pressure and complexity of care arrangements as well as a loss of grant funding since 2014/15.

Mr Kendall further explained that priority arrangements have been implemented to ensure that the right care is in place and that available community sources are utilised.

Following a query from the Committee about the incentives offered to private landlords, the Chief Executive for Barnet Group, Troy Henshall explained that in comparison to costs incurred associated with temporary accommodation, offering incentives provides an overall net saving to the Council.

Councillor Mittra requested that benchmarking data from other Local Authorities is included in relation to the Service Performance Indicator R/3 on p.99 of the Agenda (Percentage of deaths registered within 5 working days of request). (Action)  

It was RESOLVED that:

1.    The Committee scrutinised the performance and risk of services, especially in relation to delivering the Corporate Plan, and (if necessary) made no further recommendations to other committees on the policy and commissioning implications.

2.    The Committee noted the agency costs for Quarter 1 2016/17, as detailed in paragraph 1.6.

3.    The Committee noted the Quarter 1 2016/17 revenue budget and forecast position, as detailed in paragraph 1.9.

4.    The Committee  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Chairman introduced the Barnet Group Annual Report and Mr Henshall, Chief Executive of the Barnet Group presented the report which sets out the financial position of the Group’s fourth full year of operation 2015/16.

He also summarised the performance achieved over the last financial year in reducing of tenants in arrears and the number of households in emergency accommodation as well as increasing homelessness prevention.

The Committee noted the Group’s result for the financial year 2015/16 as a surplus of £663,000 before adjustments for pensions and taxation.

RESOLVED that:

The Performance and Contract Management Committee noted The Barnet Group Annual Report 2015/16.

The Chairman welcomed the report and noted the update on the progress of the Review of the CSG Contract following the update report considered by the Committee during the last Committee meeting. He informed the Committee that the full findings and recommendations will be reported to the Committee at its meeting in November. The Committee noted the meetings of the Working Group which have taken place.

Councillor Brayne requested that further explanatory information is included in the draft desired outcomes, in the report to the next Committee meeting. (Action)

The Commercial and Customer Service Director, Caroline Woolf presented the update report and noted the overall aim of the review which is to ensure that the CSG contract remains fit for purpose, since it was signed in 2013. In order to future proof the contract as much as possible, Ms Woolf stated that current meetings and reviews are taking place by senior responsible officers from Commissioning Group in consultation with CSG.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the Committee noted the content of the report.

2.    That the Committee noted and commented as above on the draft desired outcomes from the review, at Appendix A to the report, that have been agreed by the Member Working Group.

The Chairman noted the standing report on the agenda which includes the items on the Forward Work Programme for 2016/17. The Committee agreed to amend the November Work Programme and move the Cambridge Education - 100 day review to the January meeting for consideration as one item.  

RESOLVED that:

That the Committee considered and commented as above on the items included in the 2016- 17 work programme in Appendix A.

There were none.