Agenda item

To receive the report of the head of corporate strategy.

Minutes of the previous Scrutiny review meetings

Vale 20.3.2013

Reg Waite, Cabinet member for waste, Ian Matten, and Simon Chown from Biffa were available to answer questions from the committee on the contractor’s performance, and the council’s management of it during 2013:

The committee considered that “fair” was a harsh outcome for 30 missed collections per 100,000 and would like the bench marking for this KPT to be reviewed.

Last year’s minutes reviewing this contract stated:

·               There had been an increase in the amount of non-recyclable waste.  The committee suggested that there should be a further publicity campaign, reminding householders of what could be recycled. The committee asked the Cabinet member and the contractor to monitor the effect of this campaign and report back to the committee in due course. 

Following this, Biffa undertook to:

·               Report back to the committee on the impact of the publicity.

·               Include more literature when sacks are delivered to residents who use the sacks.

·               Provide information on the recycling of detritus: the scheme started in September/October last year.

·               Liaise with town and parish councils on issues such as Christmas tree recycling.

Further discussions points were as follows:

·               Food waste as recycling has decreased, but there is no evidence of it going into recycling or landfill and there may be a reduction in the amount of food wasted.

·               There is an overall (and across Oxfordshire) increase in landfill, but there are no discernable reasons: the percentage of recycling has not changed

·               If data is available, it will be broken down on an area basis next year.

·               The situation of contamination at Dalton Barracks has been successfully addressed.

·               There have been no ongoing complaints about the removal of the bring sites and contamination of former sites has improved.

·               360 degree cameras with audio will be fitted into vehicles to record data and pick up information. This will comply with the Data Protection Act and management of information. Biffa, not Vale is controlling the data and legality remains with Biffa.

·               Biffa have had 26 compliments and ten complaints.

·               Committee noted that communication between Vale staff and Biffa is improved on street cleansing.

The committee requested the following:

·               Improved information for new tenants/residents on absent bins when they took over a property.

·               A further improvement at Dalton Barracks next year.

·               That details of broken down vehicles is notified to ward councillor/ public.

·               Information on the recycling of detritus, landfill tax and recycling credits to be provided next year.

·               For arrangements to be made for councillors wanting to see a demonstration of the new technology.

RESOLVED: 

(a)          to recommend the Cabinet member for waste to award a “good” performance rating to the waste management contractor Biffa (and wished to add its comment “tending towards excellent”),  for its performance in 2013; and

(b)          to ask the officers to follow up the actions listed in the bullet points above. 

South 22.4.2014

Mr Ian Matten, Waste and Parks Service Manager, and Mr David Dodds, Cabinet member, introduced the report and answered questions from the committee. Mr Simon Chown, contract manager for Biffa, answered questions and showed photographs of the ‘deep clean’ of streets across the district.

In answer to questions, they explained:

·         the process for registering and rectifying a missed collection;

·         free garden waste collections were offered to all properties on military bases as this was more cost-effective for both the occupants and the council given the high turnover in occupants;

·         staff turnover was relatively high as people moved on in their careers and Biffa was taking steps to improve retention rates;

·         Installation of 360° cameras on vehicles would give evidence in cases of allegations of damage from reversing vehicles. There should be no incidents if procedures were followed;

·         information about recycling and waste collection was sent to every newly built home.

Councillors discussed the reasons for the fall in the recycling rate. Street sweepings had to be landfilled in accordance an Environment Agency directive, which reduced the recycling rate by approximately three per cent. Alternative treatments were being evaluated.  The campaigns to reduce packaging had the effect of reducing this by 20-30 per cent; and the campaign to reduce food waste was also having an effect. Additional houses increased the total amount of waste produced. However, there was no clear reason why the national trend should be for increased waste tonnages and decreased recycling rates. Councillors noted that waste would now be sent to Ardley for incineration. The termination of the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership reduced the ability of councils to publicise and co-ordinate waste reduction campaigns.

They asked for confirmation of the accuracy of 2013 figures in table one on page 6.

Councillors expressed the view that the evaluation of the missed bins target as fair was harsh as the number of missed bins was very low. The calculation should be revised. They appreciated the work done during the deep clean, and residents were pleased with the results. They suggested a campaign to encourage people not to drop litter and ruin the good work of the street cleaning teams.

RESOLVED:

To recommend that the Cabinet member for finance, parks and waste assess the performance of Biffa Municipal Limited in delivering the household waste collection, street cleansing, and ancillary services in South Oxfordshire from 1 January to 31 December 2013 as:

Good

The following people came to the table to answer questions from the committee:

From Biffa: Brian Ashby, Regional Manager

Scott Newman – Business Manager

Ian Gillott – Operations Manager

Council officers: Ian Matten, waste and parks service manager and Clare Kingston, head of corporate strategy.

Vale Cabinet member for waste and parks, Elaine Ware, introduced the report. Apologies were received from the South Cabinet member for waste and parks, Tony Harbour.

This item was previously heard at the district scrutiny committees and the minutes were included from these meetings to assist the members of the committee in their scrutiny.

The committee discussed this item and asked questions of the contractor.

The key issues were recognised to be:

Key Performance Indicators (KPTs)

Satisfaction surveys

Areas perceived to be in need of improvement.

Dimension 1: Key Performance Targets

All Key Performance Targets were discussed, those with action points are recorded.

KPT 2: Rectification of missed collections.

No data was available on this KPT, due to a systems failure.

Action: The part year information available for the current review period, would be added to next year’s review to give a more complete picture (Biffa/ waste services manager).

KPT 3: Percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling and composting

Action: Proactively target areas with lower recycling rates (Biffa)

Note: small electrical items and textiles will be included in the next few weeks.

Agreed

The committee agreed that the overall assessment for Dimension 1 should be Good.

Dimension 2: Customer satisfaction

The committee considered the report on Dimension 2.

Agreed:

The committee agreed that the overall assessment for Dimension 2 should be Good.

Dimension 3: Council Satisfaction.

Some responses to the council level of satisfaction with the contractor were “neither satisfied nor dissatisfied”. The committee was concerned to understand whether these were items for improvement, or whether the category should be changed to “not applicable”.

Action: To change the heading to “not applicable” for future reports so that any response other than “satisfied” or “very satisfied” could be identified as an area for improvement.

Areas for improvement: The six items outlined in the report were from the calendar year 2014. Since then, a new team had taken over the work and Biffa, and the officers, were confident that these matters would be improved.

RESOLVED: to endorse the head of corporate strategy’s recommendation that the category of “Good” should be awarded to Biffa for their performance during 2014.