Agenda and minutes

Consideration was given to the minutes of the previous meeting held on 14^th February, 2011.

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the meeting held on 14^th February, 2011, be approved as a correct record.

Mark Gannon, Strategic Commissioning Manager, presented the submitted report which summarised RBT’s performance against contractual measures and key service delivery issues for January, 2011, across the areas of Customer Access, Human Resources and Payroll, ICT, Procurement and Revenues and Benefits.

Key points for this period included:-

Customer Access

-              All performance targets achieved with the exception of the telephony element of CA05 (Contact not Abandoned) which achieved only 87.39% against a target of 90%.  As anticipated, the Repairs Service continued to receive high call volumes during January due to the expected surge in customers calling in relation to non-emergency repairs.  Also high volumes of calls regarding changes in bin collections received following changes over the Christmas period

-              Issues remained around the Contact Centre being able to contact Wilmott Dixon.  Wilmott Dixon continued to be unable to supply a presence within the contact centre.  An e-mail solution was being piloted in an attempt to resolve the issues

-              Charging for replacement wheelie bins had commenced on 17^th January, 2011.  The Contact Centre had taken 30 payments for replacement bins with 10 customers refusing to purchase a replacement

-              A meeting held to look at the current scope of advice offered by the Welfare Rights and Money Advice Service

-              1 complaint received in January which was closed not upheld

Human Resources and Payroll

-              All performance targets achieved

-              Server Refresh now complete

-              Yourself version 12 had been delayed until 21^st March

-              Work on consultancy support to Dudley MBC was progressing

-              Aston Comprehensive School was to become an Academy from 1^st May, 2011

ICT

-              All performance targets achieved

-              RMBC and Sheffield City Council had established a joint Emergency Planning Shared Service with Sheffield’s Emergency Planning staff to be based in Bailey House

-              Notification received that the Authority had passed its annual Government Connect assessment.  However, the assessor had made it conditional on the encryption of the laptops of all Government Connect users and the prevention of those people from using unencrypted memory sticks/CDs.  RBT had started work on this and committed to have the improvements in place by the end of May, 2011.

-              HR Server upgrade completed

Procurement

-              All performance targets achieved

-              Former BVP18 achieved 90.36%.  This had been impacted by the severe weather.  The current year to date position was 94.69%, an improvement on the same point during 2009/10 when performance achieved a year to date figure of 94.31%

Revenues and Benefits

-              Council Tax Collection Rate 92.14% at the end of January, 2011, 0.9% lower than the same point in 2009/10

-              The target for 2010/11 continued to be a Council Tax Collection Rate which placed Rotherham in the upper performance quartile for Metropolitan District Councils with a minimum collection level of 97.0% regardless of quartile position

-              There had been 3,579 Council Tax Liability Orders referred to the bailiff up to the end of December, none of which were classed as a vulnerable case  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

- minutes of meeting held on 21^st February, 2011

Consideration was given to the minutes of the Complaints Forum held on 21st February, 2011.

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

- minutes of meeting held on 21^st February, 2011

Consideration was given to the minutes of the Customer Access Strategy Group held on 21st January, 2011.

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

Matt Gladstone, Director of Commissioning, Performance and Policy, gave a verbal report on the new staffing structure and the work of the Unit.

The Unit’s focus across the Council was to be on the high spending areas and the need to re-commission differently with the main priorities being:-

-        Achieving £400,000 budget savings excluding CYPS

-        Ongoing Commissioning Review led by the Strategic Director of Neighbourhoods and Adult Services

-        Children and Young Peoples’ Services

-        Adult Social Care

-        Health and Joint Strategic Needs Assessment

-        RBT Contract

-        Commissioning culture, support and training

Resolved:-  That the report be noted.

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 I of Schedule 12A (as amended March 2006) to the Local Government Act 1972 (information relating to the financial or business affairs of any person (including the Council)).

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 I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (information relating to the financial or business affairs of any person (including the Council)).

Stuart Booth, Director of Central Finance, submitted a report requesting approval for exemption from Standing Order 48.1 (requirement to invite 3 to 6 tenders for a contract with an estimated value of £50,000 or more) in order to contract directly with Advance Business Solutions as the proprietary provider of Cedar e5.3, in respect of new products and associated professional services.

The purpose of the upgrade was the transformation and optimisation of the Council’s financial systems as part of a scheme to enable the Financial Services Directorate to deliver and underpin the objectives of the Financial Services’ review and to support the Council’s wider objective of delivering more for less without compromising the level or quality of services.

The revenue consequences of the upgrade were built into the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy.

The Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services) concurred with the proposal.

Resolved:-  (1)  That an exemption from Standing Order No. 48.1 (requirement to invite 3 to 6 tenders for a contract with an estimated value of £50,000 or more) be approved and Advance Business Solutions be appointed to provide additional goods and professional services for the upgrading of Cedar e5.0 to Cedar e5.3.

(2)  That regular updates on the implementation of the system be submitted to this meeting.