Agenda and minutes

Consideration was given to the minutes of the previous meeting held on 16^th December, 2013.

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the meeting held on 16^th December, 2013 be approved as a correct record.

Consideration was given to a report presented by Sue Wilson Performance and Quality Manager, which provided information on the current position statement on the performance of services that fit within the remit of the portfolio (previously part of the Resources Directorate). 

Performance reported was for the period ending 30^th November, 2013 and provided both achievements and any risks and issues.

A summary of the key points, including highlights and achievements and issues/risks was provided in relation to each of the areas with attention drawn to:-

·                Delivery of Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply framework by Procurement.

·                Healthwatch Rotherham progress.

·                Publication of the Adult Social Care Outcome Framework. And Rotherham classed in top 3 of 15 regional councils

·                Media interest in the Lifestyle Survey.

·                Launch of the OFSTED new inspection framework in Children and Young People’s Service

·                Strengthening of the Online Services Team and the introduction of the Ganlake online system nearing completion.

·                Partnership working to address the issue of people in crisis for food.

·                Joint Strategic Needs Assessment new website.

·                Estimated loss of income to the local economy.

·                Council Tax collection rates.

·                Popularity of the Salary Sacrifice Schemes.

·                Installation of the VPN software.

·                Contract migration from Digital Region Ltd.

·                Rotherham’s lead on the judicial review on the Government’s allocation of European funding.

Discussion ensued on the content of the report with questions and queries raised on:-

-           Delivery against commissioning priorities.

-           Expectations on Healthwatch and management of Health and Wellbeing work programme.

-           Key performance measures rental collection and the impact of Housing Benefit changes. Key statistics for this to be included in future reports.

-           Monitoring of the online channel shift to help deliver a customer-focused approach to the website.

-           Senior Marking Officer vacant position.

-           Synopsis of the loss of income to the local economy report published by Sheffield University.

-           Close monitoring of the migration timetable for the IT circuits to the new providers.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the report be received and the performance noted.

(2)  That the inclusion of various elements be included in future reports and the information requested disseminated.

Phil Howe, Director of Human Resources, reported on:-

·                Potential strike action at Abbey School, which may have an impact on the delivery of education this week.

·                Voluntary severance update – 91 staff have been approved to leave, with a further 60 awaiting decision.  A further 90 were turned down on the grounds of service delivery.

·                Discussions with Trades Unions were positive and remained ongoing.

·                The Council was in the running for two awards – one for Public Health and a Heart Town nomination and the other for the Public to Public Relationship for the H.R. Shared Service with Doncaster.

·                Other Shared service opportunities would continue to be explored.

Richard Copley, Corporate ICT Manager, reported on work which was underway to review the ICT needs of Elected Members with a  view to ensuring that Members were provided with ICT tools which best assisted them in fulfilling their roles. An update would be submitted to the next meeting of the Deputy Leader.

Stuart Booth, Director of Finance, reported on the three reports that were being submitted for consideration to Cabinet on the 15^th January, 2014 – namely Council Tax, National Domestic Rates and budget monitoring.  A Cabinet/SLT meeting was also scheduled for Tuesday, 14^th January, 2014 regarding the current budget process.

Resolved:-  That the information be noted.

The following item is likely to be considered in the absence of the press and public as being exempt under Paragraph 3  of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended March 2006) (information relating to the financial or business affairs).

Resolved:-  That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act (as amended March, 2006 (information relates to finance and business affairs).

Consideration was given to a report presented by Stuart Booth, Director of Finance, which confirmed that to enable the Council to ensure ongoing use and reliability of the Civica Electronic Document Management and Workflow System functionality from 1^st April, 2014 to 31^st March, 2015, there was a need to have a Support and Maintenance agreement with the software supplier.

Maintaining the reliability of Civica was essential in maintaining an excellent customer service in the administration of benefits, ensuring efficient billing of Council Tax and Non Domestic Rates and ensuring that income collection was maximised.

Exemption from Standing Orders for procuring this software support and maintenance was, therefore, sought as the provision of the document management and workflow software support could only be supplied by Civica.

Resolved:-  That the contract for the purchase of annual support and maintenance for the Civica System be exempt from the provisions of Standing Order 47.6.3 (requirement to invite at least three written quotations for contracts with a value of £20k but less than £50k) and that the purchase be made from Civica.

Resolved:-  That the next meeting take place on Monday, 17^th February, 2014 at 9.30 a.m.