Agenda and minutes

Sarah McCall, Performance Officer, presented the submitted report which summarised RBT’s performance against contractual measures and key service delivery issues for year end 2008/09 and April, 2009, across the areas of Customer Access, Human Resources and Payroll, ICT and Procurement.

Key points for this period included:-

Strategic Measures

§               Customer Access – of the 5 targets only 4 had targets set for the year 2008/09.  All 4 targets had been achieved.  The remaining strategic measure related to customer perception with a baselining exercise to be carried out during 2008/09.  The work had been undertaken and a satisfaction target agreed for 2009/10 of 75%

§               Human Resources and Payroll – of the 5 targets only 4 had targets set for the year 2008/09.  All 4 targets had been achieved.  The remaining strategic measure related to customer perception with a baselining exercise to be carried out during 2008/09.  The work had not been carried out during 2008/09 but work was now ongoing to undertake the exercise early in the current financial year

§               ICT – of the 5 targets only 4 had targets set for the year 2008/09.  All 4 targets had been achieved.  The remaining strategic measure related to customer perception with a baselining exercise to be carried out during 2008/09.  The work had been undertaken and a satisfaction target agreed for 2009/10 had been proposed to RBT

§               Procurement – of the 5 targets only 4 had targets set for the year 2008/09.  All 4 targets had been achieved.  The remaining strategic measure related to savings with an upper quartile target, however, as comparative data was not yet available for other authorities the outturn position for the measure would not be known until July

§               Revenues and Benefits - of the 5 targets only 4 had targets of achieving upper quartile performance.  However, as comparative data was not yet available for other authorities, the outturn position would not be known until July.  A baselining exercise had been carried out for the remaining strategic measure relating to customer perception and a 75% satisfaction target agreed for 2009/10

§               The revised Performance Management Framework set out 5 annual cross-cutting strategic measures for RBT.  Of the 5, only 3 applied to the first year of implementation of the new PMF, all of which achieved target.  The remaining 2 were effective from 2009/10

April, 2009

§               All contractual targets had been achieved in Customer Access, Human Resources and Payroll, ICT and Procurement

§               In April, 2009, the average waiting time for face-to-face customers slipped to 89.12% of customers seen within 15 minutes against a target of 90%.  Performance was tracked monthly

§               The footfall within the Customer Service Centres had increased by 21% from April, 2008, with significant increases seen in Revenues and Benefits and 2010 Rotherham Ltd. queries

§               Call volumes were 19% lower than the same period in 2008

§               The Contact Centre had achieved formal accreditation on Customer Service Excellence

§               South Yorkshire Pensions Authority interface was now complete

§               Recruitment  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.

Joe Johnson, Principal Accountant, presented briefly the submitted report relating to the above.

The net outturn for the Chief Executive’s Directorate showed an underspend of £28,734 against a net cash limited revenue budget of £8,966,905. This represented a variation of –0.32%.

The summary outturn position was detailed in the report and the main variations related to :-

·              underspend in the Chief Executive’s Office due to savings on salaries, underspend on pensions budget and DCLG income, overspend in various expenditure budgets

·              underspend in Rotherham Partnership, Policy and External Affairs, overspends in Rotherham News, Communication Team and the Community Engagement Team

·              underspends in Scrutiny and Town Hall Catering, overspends in light transport and Secretariat

·              underspend on Member training and development due to contributions from the South Yorkshire Forum

·              overspend on Infrastructure and Corporate Initiative Budget

·              overspend on Human Resources including Recruitment Management System

·              underspend in Legal and Democratic Services including saving on salaries in Committee Services, Election Services and Legal Services

It was reported that a request for carry forward would be made to the Cabinet relating to 20% of the Directorate underspend in accordance with the revised outturn procedure in respect of year end variances.

Resolved:- (1) That the 2008/09 revenue outturn position for the Chief Executive’s Directorate be noted.

(2) That the impending request to Cabinet for carry forward, as now reported, be noted.

Joe Johnson, Principal Accountant, presented briefly the submitted report relating to the above and indicating that the net outturn position showed a break even position against a net budget of £7,652,388.

The summary outturn position was detailed in the report.

Resolved:- That the 2008/09 Capital Outturn position for the Financial Services Directorate be noted.

Joe Johnson, Principal Accountant, presented briefly  the submitted report relating to the above.

The net outturn for Financial Services Directorate showed an underspend of £73,556 against a net cash limited revenue budget of £10,443,340. This represented a variance of – 0.70%.

The summary outturn position was detailed in the report and the main variations related to:-

·              underspend in Central Finance and Management Team due to unbudgeted management income from 2010 Rotherham Ltd.

·              underspend in Audit and Governance due to vacancy management

·              underspend in Service Finance due to Schools Traded Account

·              underspend in Transformation and Strategic Partnership due to additional staff costs, CSC Security costs and surveys, strategies and records management costs

·              underspend on the RBT Client Function due to over recovery of rent rebate  

The request to Cabinet for carry forward related to 20% of the Directorate underspend in accordance with the revised outturn procedure in respect of year end variances.

Resolved:- (1) That the 2009/09 revenue outturn position for the Financial Services Directorate be noted.

(2) That the impending request to Cabinet for carry forward, as now reported, be noted.

- minutes of meeting held on 11^th May, 2009

Consideration was given to the minutes of the Customer Access Group held on 11th May, 2009.

Resolved:-  That the contents of the minutes be noted.

- minutes of meeting held on 11^th May, 2009

Consideration was given to the minutes of the Complaints Forum held on 11th May, 2009.

Resolved:-  That the contents of the minutes be noted.

- minutes of meeting held on 26^th May, 2009

Consideration was given to the minutes of the Website Strategy Group held on 26th May, 2009.

Resolved:-  That the contents of the minutes be noted.

(1) E Government Board

Cabinet Member and Advisor for Resources

(2)  Rotherham Information Governance Group

Councillor Wyatt

(3) Data Protection and Information Group

Councillor Hodgkiss

(4) Fair Trade Group

Councillor Wyatt (Chair); Councillor Jack

(5) Procurement Panel

Councillor Wyatt (Chair)

Councillor Smith, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Development Services

Councillor Whelbourn, Chair, Performance and Scrutiny Overview Committee

Consideration was given to representation in respect of the above and the need to nominate representatives.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the Cabinet Member and Adviser for Resources attend meetings of the Council’s E Government Board.

(2)  That Councillor Wyatt attend meetings of the Corporate Information Governance Group.

(3)  That Councillor Wyatt remain as Chair of the Fair Trade Group, and attend meetings, together with Councillor Hodgkiss.

(3)  That Councillor Wyatt (Chair), Councillor Smith, Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Planning and Transportation, and Councillor Whelbourn, Chair, Performance and Scrutiny Overview Committee attend the meetings of the Procurement Panel.

(5) That Councillors Wyatt and Hodgkiss attend meetings of the LGA Rural Commission.

(6) That Councillor Wyatt attend meetings of the Rotherham Environment Forum.

The following items are likely to be considered in the absence of the press and public as being exempt under those paragraphs indicated below of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

Resolved:-  That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in those paragraphs indicated below of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

(Exempt under Paragraph 3 of the Act - information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the Council)).

Sarah McCall, Performance Officer, presented a report which summarised RBT’s performance in respect of Procurement savings achieved and in respect of the Revenues and Benefits Service for the year end 2008/09 and April, 2009.

Resolved:-  That RBT’s performance against contractual measures and key service delivery issues for the year end 2008/09 and April, 2009, be noted.

(Exempt under Paragraph 3 of the Act - information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the Council)).

(Exempt under Paragraph 2 of the Act – information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual)

It was noted that a meeting of a Complaints Panel held been held on 18^th May,  2009, comprising Councillors Dodson (in the Chair), Atkin and Boyes.  The Panel heard a complaint received from Mrs. R. regarding to the alleged lack of information concerning the opening of Maltby Joint Service Centre.

The Panel had upheld the complaint insofar as the Panel felt that more should have been done to ensure that the residents of Maltby were aware of the impending opening of the Service Centre and the site traffic arrangements.

The Panel had recommended:-

-              That where there was a forthcoming event of significant local importance, all relevant officers needed to give consideration to the timely and effective dissemination of information by means of media publicity and means within the Council’s sole control and in particular to its direction to the local communities who would be affected by the event

-              That a senior officer take responsibility for all forms of dissemination of pre-event information particularly where the event has significant local importance

Resolved:-  That the Panel’s findings be noted.

(Exempt under Paragraph 2 of the Act – information which is likely to reveal the identity of individual)

Resolved:-  That the above conference be referred to the Credit Crunch Working Group for consideration.