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Agenda and minutes
Venue: Muriel Matters House, Breeds Place, Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 3UY
Contact: Coral Harding on 01424 451764 email: charding@hastings.gov.uk
Items No. Item Declarations of Interest
Minutes:
Councillor
Minute
Interest
Evans
36 – Performance and Financial Monitoring for 2018/19 – Quarter 1
Personal - She has a Freedom Leisure membership pass
Rankin
36 – Performance and Financial Monitoring for 2018/19 – Quarter 1
Personal – He owns property in Hastings.
Webb
36 – Performance and Financial Monitoring for 2018/19 – Quarter 1
Personal – He is an East Sussex County Councillor.
Minutes of the Annual Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 12 July 2018 PDF 235 KB
Minutes:
RESOLVEDthat the minutes of the Annual Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 12 July 2018 be approved as a correct record of the meeting.
Performance and Financial Monitoring for 2018/19 - Quarter 1 PDF 267 KB
Minutes:
Coral Harding, Senior Continuous Improvement and Democratic Services Officer presented a report on the performance and financial monitoring for 2018/19 in quarter 1. She stated that the performance indicators for some topics had been changed so that they displayed more information.
Councillors raised a question about the figures in paragraph three of the report, and whether they were incorrect. The response was that there would be an amendment to the figures, in that Corporate Services Outturn should be £3.7 million, with the variant being £3679.
The committee asked about the reasons behind the variations in the report and requested some elaboration as to what they mean. Simon Hubbard, Director of Operational Services stated that the Quarter 1 figures are the projected view over the entire year. However, he stated that certain things are to be taken in to mind, such as high levels of homelessness affecting statistics such as the overspend of £97,000 for example on homelessness.
Social Lettings overspend £25,000
The Local Land charge register was shown to have an adverse variance of £31,000, which was down to the fact that private sector housing seems to be cheaper, whilst the Council prioritises reliability of housing, however it is unknown whether this trend will remain permanent.
It was stated furthermore that there was a £98,000 deficit on energy generation, as there has been delays on getting on-shore wind generation set up due to government policy, however the council was now looking in to getting photovoltaic cells.
He further stated that Democratic Services had an underspend of £17,000 whilst Internal Audit had an underspend of £16,000.
The group discussed performance indicators. It was stated that the street cleaning service had not accomplished the targets, but on the other hand, the bin collection target had been exceeded, with over 100 bin collections. Furthermore, the recycled household waste target had been achieved.
A discussion was had around the state of emergency placement, and it was suggested to perhaps invite colleagues from housing to talk on the matter. This had increased, as well as the amount of complex needs individuals in the town.
It was discussed that the planning department was achieving for the year, despite being understaffed.
Jane Hartnell, Director of Corporate Services & Governance went on to speak about the targets for benefits claims being increased, and then that there had been a change of circumstance in regards to the work that the council was doing as an organisation.
She stated that a lot more generic working was taking place, which was different to how the organisation had operated before, but was worthwhile to provide resilience for vacancies and sickness absence.
The group also discussed the museum, with questions being raised in regards to whether the targets that were set for the amount of visitors to the museum were realistic and achievable. The answer to these questions was that recently, there had been a managerial change, with the new manager being very enthusiastic and dedicated. Furthermore, there would be a stated increase with ... view the full minutes text for item 36.
Update on Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme 2018/19 PDF 163 KB
Minutes:
Coral Harding, Senior Continuous Improvement and Democratic Services Officer presented the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme for 2018/19. She stated that the Meet the Leader meeting had been completed, and a meeting for the education review was upcoming on Tuesday, 11 September 2018.
The Vice-Chair of the Committee was drafting a response to the Bohemia Action Plan, which was still currently in progress, with the lines of inquiry set out.
Councillor Barnett was said to be leading on the regeneration funding review, looking at historic and current funding from regeneration.
Councillor Rankin was leading on the continuation of the education review, and gave a rundown. He stated that last year’s work of the sub-group was good. However, he stated that the schools were still performing the same. There was a possibility that an Opportunities Area Board inquiry could be productive towards the review.
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