(Time: 3.26pm to 3.39pm)
Copies of Service Area Annual Reports had been circulated
to Members of the Executive and all Members of Scrutiny Committee. Members of the Executive were asked to report
back with a commentary to this meeting on any significant issues
for the service areas for which they were responsible. Reports for the following Service Areas were
made. At the meeting, Portfolio
Holders' reports were tabled and areas of note and/or concern were
highlighted as follows:
- Contracts and Procurement - Councillor Jenny Hannaby raised no areas of concern from her
report, which was received and noted.
- Commercial Services – Councillor Bob Johnston’s commentary on Commercial Services was
received and noted in his absence.
- Environmental Health – Councillor Angela Lawrence believed the annual report from Environmental
Health was satisfactory but considered that it would be
irresponsible to comment further as she had not been a Member of
the Council during 2006/07 and was concerned that an area of
concern might be missed. She asked that
the previous Portfolio Holder commented on this Annual
Report.
- Finance – Councillor Tony de Vere highlighted
several positives: the largest change management programme
affecting any Vale had been completed during the year, outsourcing
the majority of the Service Area in very short
timescale. The Revenues and Benefits
database system had been replaced with a new state-of-the-art
system and document management system seamlessly. A series of innovative inter-council TUPE
transfers (Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment)
Regulations) to successfully create the first major shared service
organisation in Oxfordshire. This saved
the Council in excess of £140,000 in the first year, well
ahead of projected £87,000 target. However, this was contrasted with the failure to
seamlessly migrate to the new Agresso 5.5 financial management
system, causing ongoing organisational disruption, which all three
parties were committed to rectifying in the coming
months.
- Planning and Community
Strategy – Councillor Richard Farrell reported that it had been a good year for Planning
Policy in the commencement of work on the Local Development
Framework, and also for Development Control in meeting Government
targets, which should bring in Planning Delivery Grant. However, he expressed a note of
concern. It was very difficult to
attract qualified planners if existing staff left the
Council’s employment. This was a
problem across the whole country, not just for the
Vale.
- Organisational Development and
Support – Councillor Jerry Patterson highlighted the 100% satisfaction levels achieved
at both Local Services Points.
Telephone call volumes had increased and levels of staff sickness
and absence were down. The service
compared well with its thirteen benchmarking District
Councils. There had only been one
complaint in the whole year – that relating to a planning
issue.
- Housing and Community
Safety – Councillor Mary de Vere reported that the Housing service was proud of
its Two Star rating. Ninety-nine
households were prevented from becoming homeless and the Council
had the best performing Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership in
Oxfordshire.
- Democratic Services
– In the absence
of Councillor Bob Johnston, his commentary on the Democratic Services Annual Report was received and
noted.
Overall, the Executive was content with the Annual
Reports.
RESOLVED
that the Executive is
content with the Service Area Annual Reports for
2006/07.