Issue - meetings

To receive and consider report 158/06 of the Directors, considered by the Executive on 2 March 2007.  Members are asked to bring their copy of this report with them to the meeting, a copy of which was attached to the Executive Agenda sent to all Members of the Committee previously.

Copies of commentaries received from Executive Members are attached.

The Committee received and considered report 158/06 of the Directors' Group reporting on Corporate Governance for the third quarter of 2006/07.  The report looked at progress with corporate priorities, performance of Best Value and Local Performance Indicators, financial information and key staffing data for the period.  Accompanying the report were reports from Portfolio Holders on Best Value Performance Indicator (BVPI) results from the third quarter. 

Members noted progress on the corporate priorities:

• The new website had been implemented, designed to facilitate more interactive services and be compliant with the highest standards of accessibility
• The Abingdon Air Quality Management Area Declaration had been made
• There had been progress with the review of enforcement policies which in turn would lead to an improved score for Best Value Performance Indicator (BVPI) 166 (Environmental Health Enforcement Checklist)
• New appraisal schemes had been introduced, linking more explicitly to corporate priorities with a focus on improvement
• The management development programme had been commenced
• The Ridgeway Shared Service Partnership had been commenced
• Action planning had been commenced to address issues raised in the Staff Attitude Survey in June 2006
• Responding to a request from the Scrutiny Committee, those issues where the Directors were concerned about progress had been highlighted in red in the appendix to the report
• Service review meetings would be cascaded down to third tier level

The Executive also noted the latest position with the Best Value Performance Indicators in the bottom quartile, and noted updates from Portfolio Holders, which were tabled at the meeting:

·         BVPI 2a and b: Equalities - limited progress had been made regarding equalities.  BVPI 2a had been re-evaluated and the percentage score had been reduced from 47% to 31.6%.  Development work, including an update of the Council’s Race Equality Scheme, would take place by the end of March. The target for the end of March was 63.2%.  The post of Equalities Officer had been filled and the successful candidate would start in mid-March.  Filling this post was key to driving forward improvements for these performance indicators

·         BVPI 9 and 10: Collection Rates for Council Tax and Business Rates; BVPI 79a: Benefits, % of cases where calculation was correct – the BVPI data was audited nationally within guidelines set by the Audit Commission.  Within the guidelines there were variations in the calculation methodology.  In outsourcing the collection operations to a contractor (BVPI 9 and 10), and bringing together the client teams (BVPI 79a), the calculation methods had been modified which had an adverse effect on our performance indicators compared with those previously reported

·         BVPI 64: Number of vacant private sector dwellings returned to occupation – a revision of the method used to calculate this indicator, in line with other Councils, had improved performance

·         BVPI 82a(ii): Total tonnage of waste recycled – this indicator was contrary to waste minimisation

·         BVPI 82b(i): Percentage of household waste composted – this indicator was contrary to Council policy to encourage homeowners to compost their own waste.  This Council had achieved much success in persuading  ...  view the full minutes text for item 134