Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

Venue: Conference Room 1, The Abbey House, Abingdon

Contact: Steve Culliford, Democratic Services Officer, Tel. 01235 540307  E-mail:  steve.culliford@whitehorsedc.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

25.

Apologies for Absence

To receive apologies for absence. 

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Darren Keen form Capita.  

26.

Minutes

To adopt and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Ridgeway Shared Services Partnership Strategic Board meeting held on 2 February 2009. 

Minutes:

The minutes of the formal meeting of the Ridgeway Shared Services Partnership Strategic Board held on 2 February 2009 were adopted and signed as a correct record. 

27.

Declarations of Interest

To receive any declarations of interest. 

Minutes:

None

28.

Urgent Business

To receive notification of any matters which the Chair(man) determines should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances which have made the matters urgent.  

Minutes:

None

29.

Minutes of the Operations Board

To receive and note the minutes of the Ridgeway Shared Services Partnership Operations Board meetings held on 16 February and 23 March 2009. 

Decision:

RESOLVED

 

(a)               that where action is being contemplated to recover unpaid accounts for use of the brown bins service, consideration be given to reclaiming the bins;

 

(b)               that before brown bins are reclaimed, every attempt be made to achieve settlement of the account, and if this fails local Members be informed of the properties where bins are likely to be reclaimed so that Members can approach the occupiers direct;

 

(c)               that where a brown bin is reclaimed, a note shall be left for the occupiers explaining the action taken;

 

(d)               that the Strategic Board Members and the relevant Executive Portfolio Holder/Cabinet Member be informed of the scale of the unpaid accounts;

 

(e)       that the poor benefits administration performance by Capita be escalated to the chief officer at Capita.  

Minutes:

The Strategic Board received and noted the minutes of the Operations Board meetings held on 16 February and 23 March 2009.  The draft minutes of 20 April 2009 were also circulated to bring Members up to date. 

 

The Strategic Board called for copies of the Strategic Board’s minutes from its informal meeting on 6 April 2009 and the Operations Board’s draft minutes of 20 April.  Members reviewed progress against the matters discussed at these meetings. 

 

Brown Bins

 

At South Oxfordshire there was a backlog in reconciling the brown bin records with the unpaid accounts.  A deadline of 30 June was set to complete this work.  As part of this work new procedures would be put in place.  Capita had accepted this deadline.  However, it was noted that the new waste contractor, Verdant, might wish to use a different database to manage brown bins, which would need to be properly implemented. 

 

Action was being taken to recover unpaid accounts.  Where there was a refusal to pay, consideration would be given to reclaiming the bins.  The Strategic Board Members asked that local Members were informed of the properties where this was likely so they could talk to the occupiers direct.  Members also asked that if the bins were reclaimed, a note should be left for the occupiers explaining the action taken.  The officers agreed to advise the Strategic Board Members and the relevant Executive Portfolio Holder/Cabinet Member of the scale of the unpaid accounts. 

 

RESOLVED

 

(a)               that where action is being contemplated to recover unpaid accounts for use of the brown bins service, consideration be given to reclaiming the bins;

 

(b)               that before brown bins are reclaimed, every attempt be made to achieve settlement of the account, and if this fails local Members be informed of the properties where this is likely so they can approach the occupiers direct;

 

(c)               that where a brown bin is reclaimed, a note shall be left for the occupiers explaining the action taken; and

 

(d)               that the Strategic Board Members and the relevant Executive Portfolio Holder/Cabinet Member be informed of the scale of the unpaid accounts.  

 

Payroll

 

It was reported that an action plan was being completed for further improvements to the payroll service.  The improvements would include documentation of processes, systems mapping, and definition of roles and responsibilities. 

 

Accommodation Costs with Capita

 

It was noted that Capita was looking to site its operations staff for the Vale and South Oxfordshire contract at one location, either Abingdon or Crowmarsh.  Capita was due to propose its preferred solution.  The Strategic Director agreed to follow this up. 

 

Pay and Performance Mechanism

 

The new pay and performance mechanism for Capita had been agreed and was with Capita for signing off. 

 

Outstanding Invoices

 

It was reported that all outstanding unpaid invoices had been investigated, several had been cancelled as being unenforceable and the remainder were with Capita for payment. 

 

Council Tax and Business Rates Collection

 

The Strategic Board noted the figures for Council Tax and Business Rates  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

30.

Performance Monitoring

To consider the attached report. 

Minutes:

At this point in the meeting Capita’s representative, Sue King, was invited into the meeting to report on Capita’s performance under the contract with the two Councils and to answer Members’ questions.  She reported that:

-        the remaining queries concerning outstanding invoices would be raised later that day

-        improvements were planned in benefits performance to reduce the number of days to process new claims.  Sue King confirmed that the projected ‘number of days to process benefits applications’ performance of 24 by January 2010 was for the cumulative performance for the year at that point and not the performance for the month alone

-        the reasons behind the apparent step change in planned performance from July to August 2009 would be investigated

-        Council Tax collection rates had improved and there had been an increase of the take up of Direct Debit payments

-        Business Rates collection rates had reduced slightly due to economic pressures

-        a list of the top fifty business rates amounts would be supplied to the Strategic Board Members

-        payment of invoices within 30 days had improved

-        Capita was working with the Councils to help deliver the payroll service improvement plan

-        in relation to the contact centre, a definition of abandoned calls would be sought

-        by the end of May the exercise would be resolved to sort benefits local authority errors from client errors to meet the Government’s new reporting standards and a monthly check would be introduced and would be reported to the Strategic Board

-        by mid-May a programme and deadline would be set to resolve the performance discrepancy

-        in relation to the percentage of benefits overpayments outstanding recovered in the year there had been a drop in performance from February to March but the incentive to collect overpayments would benefit the Councils as well as Capita

 

The Strategic Board was not content with the discrepancy between the benefits’ administration performance of Capita for South Oxfordshire and the Vale.  The Vale’s benefits claims were administered at Capita’s Havant office in Hampshire; South Oxfordshire’s claims were administered at Shepton Mallet in Somerset.  The Havant office was proving to perform better.  Sue King reported that a test would be carried out to identify discrepancies in benefits’ administration performance between Capita’s two offices and solutions would be found to improve the performance for South Oxfordshire’s benefits’ administration.  The Strategic Board agreed to continue to monitor benefits’ administration closely. 

 

The Strategic Board thanked Sue King for her report. 

31.

Dates of Forthcoming Meetings

To note that forthcoming meetings of the Strategic Board will be held on:

  • Monday 3 August 2009
  • Monday 2 November 2009
  • Monday 1 February 2010
  • Tuesday 4 May 2010 (avoiding May Day Bank Holiday Monday)

 

All of these meetings will be at held the Vale of White Horse District Council's offices at The Abbey House, Abingdon, each meeting starting at 8.30am. 

Minutes:

It was noted that forthcoming meetings of the Strategic Board would be held on:

  • Monday 3 August 2009
  • Monday 2 November 2009
  • Monday 1 February 2010
  • Tuesday 4 May 2010 (avoiding May Day Bank Holiday Monday)

 

All of these meetings would be held at the Vale of White Horse District Council's offices at The Abbey House, Abingdon, each meeting starting at 8.30am. 

 

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