Agenda item

Executive Summary

 

On 1st August 2008, the Council entered into a 35 year contractual agreement with Dignity Funerals Ltd for the provision of bereavement services for Rotherham. This partnership led to the transfer of significant risks from the Council to Dignity, and saw Dignity take on the responsibility for the capital works and maintenance of the East Herringthorpe Cemetery and Crematorium along with the maintenance of the eight other Municipal Cemeteries located throughout the Borough.  The Council retained the risk in relation to cemetery chapels, associated buildings and boundary walls on some cemetery sites.  The partnership has resulted in a number of significant improvements in relation to the provision of bereavement services throughout Rotherham.

 

Dignity has sub-contracted the grounds maintenance elements of the service to Glendale Countryside Management Ltd (but Dignity retains the overall responsibility for the delivery of the service).

 

This report has been requested to provide more detailed information in relation to various aspects of the contract, service and performance management and builds on the report that was presented to IPSC on 30th November 2016. 

 

Proposals

 

The report is for information only, and therefore none of the following options/ proposals is presented as recommendations, more as areas for discussion.

 

Financial Aspects, Exceptional Surplus: Dignity will provide the Council with sufficient financial detail in the Annual Report to assess the level of Equity IRR payments to be made at each financial year end.

 

Financial Aspects, Financial Related Deductions: The Council will levy charges against Dignity in relation to failure events against the Performance Management Framework reported on a monthly basis to the Council.

 

Performance Management Framework: Reporting against the Performance Management Framework will begin in the final quarter of 2017/18.

 

Annual Report: Dignity will provide an improved Annual Report covering the requested information detailed in Section 5 of this report. The Annual Report will be provided by February 2018.

 

Maltby Cemetery: Options identifying suitable land for burials will be produced during Spring 2018 and presented to members to consider future action.

 

Same day/short notice burials: The Council continues to work to examine this issue and will provide a verbal update prior to examining potential options.

 

Memorial Benches: It is proposed that options to provide communal memorial benches is considered to reduce costs, however, a verbal update will be provided.

 

Grounds Maintenance: It is proposed that the provision of grounds maintenance will be measured against the criteria described in the Performance Management Framework.

 

Crematorium chapel and adjoining buildings: Following the completion of the external works, a report will be written to put forward proposals in relation to alternative provision of services during the period that internal improvement works are underway.

 

Provision of lined graves: A review of lined grave options will be completed by February 2018 and scheduled liaison meetings with representatives of the Muslim community will begin early in 2018.

 

Funeral Directors: It is proposed to ensure that periodic liaison meetings take place with funeral directors, starting in January 2018, to inform progress of the contract with Dignity.

 

Legal Review: It is proposed that the Project Liaison Group is established to discuss feasibilities of formal changes that might improve contract delivery whilst not affecting costs to service users.

 

It is proposed that the Councils financial services are engaged in the process of financial monitoring of the contract.

 

.P60, 4.3. Dignity is required to undertake monthly monitoring reports. It was requested that IPSC have sight of these reports on a quarterly basis so that these can be monitored against the Annual Performance Summary.

Damien Wilson agreed that the information can be provided to IPSC as soon as they are available under the newly established working arrangements.

 

P66, 9.6. In Rotherham, the exclusive right of burial is for 100 years, which differs from area to area. At the end of the 100 year lease, the family will be asked for an additional fee.

 

Part of the new monitoring arrangements will look at profit margins achieved by Dignity.

 

P67, 11.4.  This section relates to the list of the proposed internal works to be completed by Dignity, in particular the installation of a mezzanine balcony at the rear of the crematorium. When is work expected to start? Damien Wilson will find out the timescale for the works for it to be circulated to IPSC.

 

It was noted that significant investment had been made towards environmental issues at the crematorium but concerns were raised regarding lack of investment into other cemeteries in the borough. Dignity needed to achieve a balance between the amounts invested into the service against the charges made for the services in comparison with neighbouring areas. A possible result is that people from Rotherham will go to neighbouring areas.

 

In response to this comment, DW reported that in carrying out the detail for this report and benchmarking against other authorities, Rotherham is seen as an example of good practice not poor practice.

 

Details were requested regarding the alternative chapel

Alan Pogorzelec will send details of the options available.

 

P63, 6.3. Relates to finding suitable available land to expand the cemetery at Maltby. Assurances were required that the Members of Maltby Town Council will be kept informed of any discussions on this subject. Damien Wilson will accept an invitation from Maltby Town Council to update them on the developments.

 

Members were interested in the amount of budget available to repair footpaths in the cemeteries. The Council has an annual budget of £4,000 for such works. Dignity has a budget and is working on a plan, including a risk assessment on the required works. An update on this information was requested by IPSC.

 

A request was made for:-

 

·                The Performance Indicators identified in the Performance Monitoring Framework to be recorded for each cemetery. It was anticipated that this would be possible and included as part of the regular monitoring reports.

·                A list of all complaints received by Dignity over the last 12 months and the resolutions. A check will be done to ascertain if this request can be met, as some of the information may be confidential.

 

The officers were asked if there was any update relating to the times when Asian burials could take place. The Council are currently in consultation with the Asian community over the issues of burial times along with the specifications for lined graves.

 

Child burials are at no cost in Rotherham. Alan Pogorzelec gave an explanation of the charges made by Dignity, which includes young people over the age of 16 as the charge relates to the size of the grave required, however, no charge is made for children under 2 years of age and non-viabel foetus. In relation to lined graves an Equality Impact Assessment needs to be undertaken and this will include points such as burial times, fees for lined graves and general fees across the service. The aim of the Equality Impact Assessment is to bring about reasonable adjustments.

 

Concerns were raised by Councillor Alam, Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services, over the Equality Impact Assessments not being undertaken and that these must be completed in partnership with Dignity. There are areas of the contract that need to be confirmed such as, the charging structure for different service provision by Dignity and timings relating to Asian burials. It was suggested that other faith communities are included in any discussions/work. Concerns were noted that at a time of bereavement additional tensions are being caused by uncertainties. It was also welcomed that IPSC continue to monitor the contract.

 

Dignity is looking at ways to liaise with different faith groups. An officer has been appointed by Dignity to do this work.

 

A Community Champion Scheme is also being looked at by Dignity to work closer with the communities. All comments noted by Councillor Alam will be considered as part of the Equality Impact Assessment.

 

Discussions took place relating to the background to the contract with Dignity being established. After scrutiny by Internal Audit, at the request of Damien Wilson, it was concluded as outlined in this report that the contract was not being managed by either party and the need for a Performance Monitoring Framework, an example of which has been included as part of this report and the requirement for Dignity to provide an Annual Report.

 

It was asked for the following points to be considered in discussions with Dignity.

 

P64 timings for Asian burials and currently there is only a half hour variation between the end time for burials during winter and summer.

 

These timings are from when the service was under the Council’s control.

 

P70 item 14 – The views of local Funeral Directors need to be considered along with the views of their customers.  IPSC would like to be kept up to date on this. The funeral Directors are best placed to carryout customer satisfaction surveys – but at the correct time. Suggestions have been made about an information leaflet being produced.

 

P64 Memorial Benches – a suggestion was made for Dignity to look at providing the option of a Memorial Wall. An example provided was similar to that of the National Arboretum.

 

P131 a suggestion was made in reference to pandemics and if this was referenced in the Emergency Plan. Confirmation was given that this was already being looked at. Dignity has their own business continuity plans and emergency plans. What is not certain at this stage is how they link with the Council’s plans.

 

P84 4.1 Areas requiring improvements for staff to be members of the Institute of Burial and Administration. Is it a requirement for all staff to take part in the training? The reference to this is part of the 2014 Improvement Plan. Action Point. Further clarification to be sought from Dignity on this matter and circulated through the Commission.

 

A request was made that in future reports on Dignity are presented in a simpler format and to include the parts of the service and cemeteries which remain in the Council’s Control.

 

Support was given to the work of Dignity at the Crematorium after a recent fact finding visit along with other Councillors.

 

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

 

(2)  That the proposals described in Section 16 of this report be noted.