Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Andrew Hodson and Steve Williams.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any disclosable pecuniary or non-pecuniary interest which they have in any item of business on the agenda no later than when the item is reached.

Members are reminded that they should also declare whether they are subject to a party whip in connection with any item(s) to be considered at this meeting and, if so, to declare it and state the nature of the whipping arrangement.

Councillor Ron Abbey declared a personal interest in Item No. 5 on the agenda, Combined Authority – Cabinet Minute No.45 by virtue of him being a member of the Merseyside Integrated Transport Authority.

Councillor Steve Foulkes declared a personal interest in Item No. 5 on the agenda, Combined Authority – Cabinet Minute No.45 by virtue of him being a member of the Merseyside Integrated Transport Authority.

Councillor Stuart Whittingham declared a personal interest in Item No. 5 on the agenda Combined Authority – Cabinet Minute No.45, by virtue of his employment with Arriva.

To approve the accuracy of the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 3 July 2013. (Attached)

RESOLVED: That

(1)  subject to the resolution of Minute No. 8, Minutes being amended to

‘That Members’ comments be noted.’

the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 3 July 2013 be approved as a correct record; and.

(2)  further to Minute No. 8, the Head of Legal and Member Services be reminded to circulate an easily understandable form of words in plain English on this matter to all Members of the Committee as he has promised.

At the Cabinet meeting held on 8 August 2013 it was resolved that

’(6)  the appropriate Policy and Performance Committee be requested to   meet to examine the proposal and offer suggestions on how to take it   forward as soon as possible;’

To note the content of the Cabinet Report considered on 8 August 2013.  (Attached)

The Cabinet, at its Special meeting held on 8 August 2013, had considered a report of the Chief Executive on the Combined Authority – Liverpool City Region Governance Review which had explained why the Liverpool City Region needed to review its strategic governance for economic development, regeneration and transport and outlined the process to be undertaken to conduct a governance review commissioned by the Liverpool City Region Cabinet. 

The Chief Executive’s report had set out the recommendation of the review, after evaluating the current available evidence, to create a Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to formalise existing informal arrangements, to signal to businesses and the Government that the City Region was serious about working together and potentially to draw down extra powers and funding from Government.

The Chief Executive had identified in his report how a potential Liverpool City Region Combined Authority could operate and the functions it could discharge, along with considering a draft scheme for its establishment.

Included within the report was an outline of the proposed approach to consultation and the Chief Executive had sought agreement to host specific Wirral events to further consult on the Review of Strategic Governance and the operation of a potential Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.

Attached to the Chief Executive’s report were the following appendices:

·  Appendix 1 – The Draft Liverpool City Region Strategic Governance Review;

·  Appendix 2 – The Draft Outline of the Potential Role for a Liverpool City Region Combined Authority; and

·  Appendix 3 – The Draft Scheme for the Establishment of a Combined Authority for Liverpool City Region.

Consequently, the Cabinet had resolved:

‘That

(1)  the draft findings of the Liverpool City Region strategic   governance review (Appendix 1 to the report) be endorsed;

(2)  the draft outline of the potential role for a Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (Appendix 2 to the report) be endorsed;

(3)  the draft scheme for the establishment of a Combined Authority for the Liverpool City Region (Appendix 3 to the report) be endorsed;

(4)  the holding of Wirral events as part of the consultation on the proposals described in the documents referred to in resolutions (1) to (3) above be agreed;

(5)  the final versions of the documents referred to in resolutions (1) to (3) above together with the results of the consultation exercise be submitted for consideration at future meetings of the Cabinet and the Council;

(6)  the appropriate Policy and Performance Committee be requested to meet to examine the proposal and offer suggestions on how to take it forward as soon as possible; and

(7)  the above decisions were urgent and call-in be waived given the actions and timetable that all the Councils involved are required to undertake and meet in order to establish the proposed Combined Authority.’

(Minute No. 45 refers.)

In the light of resolution No. 6 the Committee considered the detail of the Cabinet report assisted by the Strategic Director, Transformation and Resources who introduced it and answered Members’ questions.  Comments made by Members included the following:

·  The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

Report by the Chair.

A report by the Chair reminded the Committee that it had discussed the formulation of its Work Programme for the current Municipal Year at its inaugural meeting on 3 July 2013 and agreed to delegate responsibility for developing the Work Programme to the Chair and Party Spokespersons.  The report updated Members on the progress made with this work and the activity proposed for the Committee.

In order for the Committee to fulfil its wider co-ordination role, in terms of the overall Scrutiny Work Programme, the draft Work Programmes of the other three Policy and Performance Committees were also included in the report.

At its last meeting the Committee had suggested that:

  ‘the Committee should scrutinise Freedom of Information (FOI) requests received, the processes involved with them and the Information Manager be invited to make a presentation to a future meeting of the Committee.’  (Minute No. 12 refers.)

The Chair proposed that as FOI requests were within the remit of the Transformation and Resources Directorate, the review process for handling them be allocated to the Policy and Performance Transformation and Resources Committee.  However, a Member was unhappy with this proposal because she considered that FOI requests cut right across the Council and every Committee.  She felt that they should fall under the remit of the Co-ordinating Committee. 

A Member told the Committee that it was not its job to dictate to the other Policy and Performance Committees what they should include in their Work Programmes.  It was imperative that the Committee had faith in the other three Committees. 

The Director of Public Health/Head of Policy and Performance informed that FOI requests had also been the subject of discussion at the last meeting of the Policy and Performance Transformation and Resources Committee and it had expressed an interest in scrutinising them and some Members considered that this approach constituted best practice.

A vote was held on which Policy and Performance Committee should undertake a review of FOI process and it was agreed that it would fall within the remit of the Transformation and Resources Committee.

A Member made reference to the Policy and Performance Regeneration and Environment Committee’s draft Work Programme and in particular to a potential review of Coastal Issues.  He proposed that this be firmed up to include Wind Farms, Coastal Erosion and Tourist Attractions.

The Member also made reference to the Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee that, in the last Municipal Year, had given consideration to the problems associated with pavement parking, the current legislative framework and proposals on how the Council could increase public awareness of the issue and in conjunction with the police, undertake appropriate enforcement action.  This was very important as it was a Wirral wide problem.  Members had expressed support for a warning leaflet which could be issued to warn drivers of inappropriate parking which caused an obstruction. Members had suggested that wording on the leaflet could be harder hitting and that registration numbers could be noted to enable a database of persistent offenders  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

Report by the Director of Public Health / Head of Policy and Performance.

A report by the Director of Public Health/Head of the Policy Unit and the attached Appendix 1outlined the current performance of the Council (as at 31 July 2013) against the delivery of the Corporate Plan for 2013/14.

The report translated the priorities set out in the Corporate Plan into a coherent and measurable set of performance outcome measures and targets. These were used to evaluate the achievement of strategic priorities over the next year of the Plan.

The Committee was informed that the development of the Corporate Plan would be an iterative process during 2013/14 based on the feedback and requirements of Members and Portfolio Holders. The latest version of the report contained:

·  Key finance information

·  Risk management information (aligned to red RAG rated indicators)

·  Year-end forecast position

·  North West benchmarking information (the level of information will increase in line with the availability of data nationally)

Members noted that the iterative development of the report would run in parallel to the wider development of the underpinning business planning and performance management infrastructure within the Council (e.g. Performance Management Framework Policy, electronic provision of performance information to Members, transition from targets to outcomes).

The Committee noted that the Heads of Service responsible for the delivery of targets must complete an exception report and delivery plan for all indicators which were under performing (e.g. red RAG rated indicators). Appendix 2 to the report illustrates the exception reports/delivery plans for:

·  Local environmental quality (LEQ) of litter, detritus and dog fouling in main gateways and shopping areas target; and

·  Establishment reduction compared to savings assumption. 

The Director of Public Health/Head of the Policy Unit introduced her report and made reference to lines 7 – ‘To maintain local environmental quality (LEQ) of litter, detritus and dog fouling in main gateways and shopping areas’ and 17 – ‘Establishment reduction compared to savings assumption’ of Appendix 1, the Corporate Plan Performance, Finance and Risk Report, as at 31 July 2013.  She reported that each had an exception report which set out what the issue was and how it was intended to address it.

Members asked a number of questions about the layout of Appendix 1 in an attempt to gain a greater understanding of the information it contained.  It was agreed that a key should be included at the bottom of future reports to assist Members understanding of the content.

The Head of Service, Streetscene and Waste was in attendance at the meeting to explain the underperformance in respect of line 7 of Appendix 1.  He informed that he had hoped for better results and was disappointed that the standard at the end of the first quarter was not where he had wanted it to be and consequently his Service was adrift on its performance.  He had carried out some research and informed that the Service’s litter performance had missed its 93% target with a score of 92%.  The detritus score had been very poor and this had dragged the overall score down.  He was however  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

The Committee had regard to two reports and attached Appendices and Annexes of the Interim Director of Resources that had been prepared for and considered by the Cabinet at its meeting held on 11 July 2013.

The reports detailed the Council’s capital and revenue positions for 2013-14 at Month 2 (May 2013) and the actions taken to minimise risk.

The Interim Director of Finance introduced both reports and referred to the projected revenue forecast for the year at Month 2 which showed a projected under spend General Fund position of £41,000.  He told the Committee that this was both pleasing and not surprising as budgetary issues had been addressed ensuring a robust budget at the beginning of the financial year.

The Interim Director drew the Committee’s attention to the Savings Tracker detailed at Annex 5 of his Revenue Monitoring report informing that performance had been good at month 2 and had been improved upon in month 3 and to Budgetary Issues identified at month 2 detailed in Annex 12 informing that the Strategic Directors had to find savings and report back in month 3 action now being taken to ensure that the potential overspends had been addressed.

A Member drew attention to the numerous references to slippage in Annex 5 due to the late departure of employees leaving their employment with the Council.  The Interim Director responded informing that the restructuring process had taken longer than anticipated.  He had included a £2m allowance for slippage which he considered to be adequate at the moment.  The extent of the slippage was £1.6m approximately.

The Member also made reference to Income and Debt at Annex 9 and raised the issue of Business Rates noting that 19.5% of National Non-Domestic Rates had been collected in the period 1 April to 31 May 2013 compared with 21.02% during the same period in 2012.  He asked if this was causing any concerns.  The Interim Director informed that this was not a concern at the moment but he would continue to monitor the situation and report back to Members at a future Committee meeting.

The Member then made reference to the Capital Monitoring Report and to the fact that Mary Bagley, Service Manager, Cultural Services – Parks and Countryside Support whose name was mentioned on a number of occasions within it was leaving her employment with the Council.  He asked who would now be responsible for monitoring her budgets.  The Head of Streetscene and Waste replied informing that this would now be his responsibility as he had been the Service Manager’s line manager.

A Member referred back to Annex 5 of the Revenue Monitoring Report and raised concerns regarding the £4k of slippage per month in respect of the Household Waste Collection because the increase in the range of charges for replacement wheelie bins had not yet been implemented due to resource problems within the CRM.  However, the Head of Streetscene and Waste reported that this issue had now been addressed.

A Member referred to Budgetary  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

Briefing Note (attached).

The Director of Public Health/Head of Policy and Performance introduced a Policy Information Briefing Note prepared by officers of the Council’s Policy Unit to help the Committee to ‘horizon scan’.  Included in the Note were brief details of new legislation, government announcements, guidance, consultations and research, the Cabinet Portfolio each one fell within, links to obtain further information and the implications of each to the Council.

The Committee was informed that it was the Director’s intention to break this information contained in this briefing document down and present the issues which fell within the remits of each of the other three Policy and Performance Committees to their meetings for information.

The Committee informed the Director of Public Health/Head of Policy and Performance that they had found the contents of the Briefing Note very helpful and she agreed to pass this back to her team.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the Policy Information Briefing be noted.

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive / Head of Universal & Infrastructure Services referred from the Regeneration and Environment Policy and Performance Committee at its meeting on 10 July 2013.

The Committee considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive/Head of Universal and Infrastructure Services, in accordance with the Approved Scheme of Delegation, upon instances where delegated authority had been used with respect to the appointment of contractors pursuant to Contract Procedure Rule 14.4. Whereas the function of Corporate Asset Management was now within his remit, the Assistant Chief Executive/Head of Universal and Infrastructure Services indicated that, in this instance, the delegated authority had been used on behalf of the former Director of Law, HR and Asset Management.  It was noted that this report had been considered by the Policy and Performance Regeneration and Environment Committee at its meeting on 10 July 2013 where it had been noted and referred to this Committee as the information contained in it fell within its remit.  (Minute No. 9 refers)

It was noted that since the last report to the Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Minute No.76 refers) the following tenders had been accepted, all being the lowest/most economically advantageous received:

Project Title  Comprehensive Lift Maintenance Contract 2013-2015

Contract Sum  £21,536.28 per annum

Contractor  Knowsley Lift Services Ltd

Funded from  Law, HR & AM Repairs & Maintenance Revenue

Project Title  Birkenhead Town Hall Power/Lighting

Contract Sum  £77,430.53

Contractor  Cottrell Electrical Services Ltd

Funded from  Capital Reserves

Project Title  Asbestos Surveying & Sampling

  Schedule of Rates Contract 2013-2016

Contract Sum  0% Increase/Reduction to Base Rates

Contractor  Apec Environmental Ltd

Funded from  Law, HR & AM Repairs & Maintenance Revenue

Project Title  Water Hygiene Risk Assessment & Monitoring 2013-2014

Contract Sum  41.5% Reduction to Base Rates

Contractor  Hertel (UK) Ltd

Funded from  Law, HR & Asset Management PPM

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.