Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

There were no members of the public or press present at the meeting.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted the area

IPSC are planning a session in relation to housing related topics on 17^th January. Members were asked to send their questions to Christine Bradley.

The Chair reported that she had met with Damien Wilson, the Strategic Director for Regeneration and the Environment to discuss the Forward Plan along with a meeting with Councillor Lelliott the Cabinet Member for Jobs and the Local Economy.

A meeting is planned in October for the Chair to meet with the Cabinet Member for Waste, Roads and Community Safety, Councillor Hoddinott.

In September the Chair will go to the London Borough of Camden to see how the various London Boroughs carry out their scrutiny roles.

On 22^nd October the Chair will go on a training course to Coventry to look at how to collect data and how that data can be used for scrutiny purposes.

Members involvement in the Neighbourhood Working Group (NWG)

IPSC has identified this topic as a piece of work to scrutinise. It is a conflict of interest for Members to be on the NWG and then to scrutinise the work it has been involved in when their work is presented to Places. Members are asked to declare an interest at the start of the meeting in November.

Representatives on Outside Bodies

Following on from a report submitted to the Cabinet and Commissioners Decision Making meeting on 26^th June 2017 where representatives from this Commission were sought to sit on the board of these organisations:-

Women’s Refuge

Groundwork Cresswell

Rush House

Environmental UK

Following further investigation into this matter, it was concluded that at this time no Council representative is required.

District Heating

Councillor Sheppard reported that a meeting is scheduled for October to include Councillor Beck, the Cabinet Member for Housing and Tom Bell – Assistant Director of Housing to set out a new plan for district heating. Councillor Sheppard will report back at the November meeting of this Commission.

That the minutes of the previous meeting of the Improving Places Select Commission held on 19^th July, 2017, be approved as a correct record for signature by the Chair.

Councillor Wyatt, Chair of Task and Finish Group, to report

The Chair formally thanked Councillor Wyatt and members of the Cross Party Task & Finish Group (The Group) for their work in completing the scrutiny review on Emergency Planning.

Councillor Wyatt started his presentation of the report by outlining that  some of the ideas brought out in the review have been implemented already, as the Emergency Plan was a living document and it needed to adapt and be fluid enough to meet all eventualities. IPSC will want to monitor the recommendations which were made from a sound basis of information.

One of the reasons why the review was undertaken, were the Commission’s concerns over the strength, structure and the effectiveness of the plan in an emergency situation. The Select Commission Group was aware that lives could potentially be at risk in circumstances where the EP would be made operational and it would not be sufficiently robust.

The reasons for The Group undertaking the review were:-

·           The existing EP was out of date, the current version was dated September 2013 Amendment 35;

·           High turnover of staff in the Authority at a senior level over a short timescale;

·           High number of new Elected Members in the Council; and

·           The number of staffing changes in other organisations linked with the EP

The work on the review had taken over 12 months to complete. The Group were reassured to learn about the significant knowledge and skills the Forward Liaison Officers’ possess.

Councillor Wyatt expressed his thanks to Members and Officers in Stockton-On-Tees who hosted a visit by The Group to discover how their Joint Service Agreement operates in relation to Emergency Planning.

Rotherham’s Emergency Plan s part of a Joint Service Agreement with Sheffield City Council, but this was not the focus of the scrutiny review.

The aim of the review was to

Test the resilience of the Emergency Plan operation including examining the:-

·           Internal governance including meetings structure, attendance and terms of reference for all the groups involved.

·           Resilience arrangements networked within Directorates.

       (The existing group of Directorate representatives was no longer reflective of the current Council structure.)

·           Resilience of arrangements with external agencies involved in the EP process

The findings from the review identified

·         Circulation of a controlled document

·         Lack of joint meetings between Rotherham and Sheffield under the Joint Service Agreement

·         Overall management of the EP process due to changes in officers and Members

·         Primary operations room was not exclusively used for EP purposes but also as a training facility

·         The secondary operations room at Clifton Park provided limited resources

·         Requirement to recruit and train more volunteers

·         Lack of a corporate exercise for the service

·         Lack of information sharing between partner organisations

·         The need to provide training to Parish Councillors on the EP

·         No dedicated 4x4 wheeled drive vehicle

·         Procurement staff, over time has been excluded from the EP process

·         When the EP was operational, the Council effectively became an emergency service, a fact to be made known to the Council’s suppliers of goods and services

·         Corporate Risk Manager was employed by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 81.

Damien Wilson, Strategic Director Regeneration and Environment, and Louise Murray, Strategic Asset Manager, to present

Councillor Lelliott, Cabinet Member for Jobs and the Local Economy,  introduced this item stating that Asset Management had previously been under the guidance of the Commissioners but was now back in the control of the Council. The information to be presented was all included in the Asset Management Improvement Plan which were the combined results of the independent review undertaken by CIPFA and the recommendations put forward by the Commissioners

Paul Woodcock, Assistant Director Regeneration, Planning and Transport along with Louise Murray, Strategic Asset Manager, gave a presentation on Asset Management to the Commission.

The story so far…

•        Corporate Property Unit provided professional advice and managed some assets.

•        Holding Directorates managed some assets and their budgets.

•        Decisions made could be Directorate/Team focused and not to wider benefit of Council.

•        CIPFA Property Health Check recommended adoption of Corporate Landlord and creation of Strategic Asset Management function.

The position now.

•        All Council land and property were viewed as strategic assets – service and community need considered alongside property issues.

•        An Asset Management Plan was almost complete – Policy, Strategy and Action Plan.

•        One Public Estate and partnership working was underway.

•        Service Asset Management Plans and Service Level Agreements were in place.

The Improvement Plan.

•        17 over-arching improvement recommendations derived from Health Check.

•        Ranging from governance to a restructure to the creation of a comprehensive Asset Management Plan.

•        Monitored at Asset Management Board and reported to Cabinet.

•        Recent recommendation for return of powers – awaiting final confirmation.

OUTLINE STRUCTURE

The Asset Management Team

Comprises a Policy, a Strategy and an Action Plan and five main policy objectives:

1.     Enabling delivery of Council’s services and priorities.

2.     Supporting economic growth, housing growth and town centre regeneration.

3.     Maximising opportunities through adoption of One Public Estate.

4.     Developing growth income through commercial/non-operational activities.

5.     Maximising commissioning opportunities for property projects and services.

TEAM Structure

The Reviews

•        Operational Property Review – includes 248 varied operational properties; based on SAMPs, strategy, condition survey outcomes and action plan. Completion date - 31^st March 2018.

•        Commercial/non-operational Property Review – includes 232 varied assets; based on condition survey outcomes, let ability and investment return. Completion date was 30^th September 2017 through this would be extended as condition surveys had only recently commenced following identification of funding.

The Outcomes

•        Reviews would enable rationalisation of portfolios leading to release of assets and also savings.

•        Contributes to housing and economic growth.

•        £2.32m capital receipt in 2016/17; £1.17m so far this year against a £2.0m target.

•        Revenue savings of £780,000 (2014/15), £284,000(2015/16) and £664,000(2016/17)

•        £612,560 so far this year against a £1.178m target.

•        Next year, the target was £594,000.

•        Rigorous asset challenge and Directorate co-operation would be key to achieving stretching target.

Other Improvement Points

•        Property Maintenance Review and Compliance.

•        Review of Soft Facilities Management.

•        Facilities Management provision to Academies.

•        Review of Internal Fee Recharging.

•  ...  view the full minutes text for item 82.

Wednesday, 15^th November, 2017, at 1.30 p.m.

Resolved:-  That a further meeting take place on Wednesday, 15^th November at 1.30 p.m. with a pre-meeting at 11.00 a.m.