Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room One, County Offices, Newland, Lincoln LN1 1YL

Contact: Emily Wilcox  Democratic Services Officer

Items
No. Item

61.

Apologies for absence/replacement members

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Mrs Patricia Barnett and Reverend Philip Johnson.

 

It was also noted that Councillor R D Butroid (Executive Support Councillor for Community Safety and People Management) was attending the meeting on behalf of Councillor B Young (Executive Councillor for Community Safety and People Management).

 

62.

Declarations of Interests

Minutes:

Councillor Mrs K Cook wished it be noted that in relation to Agenda Item 9 – 2018/19 Council Business Plan Quarter 2 she was a North Kesteven District Councillor and a Governor for Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

 

63.

Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 25th October 2018 pdf icon PDF 143 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED

 

          That the minutes of the meeting held on 25 October 2018 be approved         as a     correct record and signed by the Chairman.

 

64.

Announcements by Chairman, Executive Councillor for Resources and Communications and Chief Officers

Minutes:

The Chairman advised that he had attended the meeting of the Executive on 6 November 2018, along with the Councillor R Foulkes (Chairman of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee), who had addressed the Executive regarding the Committee's comments on the report Building Communities of Specialist Provision for Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. 

 

The Executive had also considered a report on the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy, and on behalf of the Chairman of the Environment and Economy Scrutiny Committee, the Chairman of the Board had advised the Executive that the Committee had endorsed the draft Strategy.

 

The Chairman of the Board advised that the Executive valued the input from the chairmen of the scrutiny committees at its meetings, and wherever possible it would be beneficial if the relevant chairman could attend the Executive when it considers an item previously discussed by a scrutiny committee to amplify the committee's views and comments, even if it had not been a pre-decision scrutiny item.  The Chairman advised that if any chairmen were unable to attend the Executive, he was happy to provide the update on their behalf.

 

It was highlighted that as part of the joint working between the Audit Committee and the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board, all members of the Committee and the Board had been invited to attend an informal workshop on 19 December 2018 at 10.00 am, which would focus on the lessons learnt from the issues faced by Northamptonshire County Council.    The Chairman encouraged attendance.

 

It was advised that a pre-decision scrutiny item on Continuation of Windows 10 Notebook and PC rollout had been added to the December agenda, prior to a decision by the Executive Councillor for Highways, Transport and IT between 27 December 2018 and 8 January 2019.

 

It was suggested that the meeting of the Board scheduled for 20 December 2018 be rearranged to 19 December 2018 at 11.45 am, to follow on from the above mentioned workshop.

 

The Executive Support Councillor for Resources and Communication reminded the Board of the informal councillor budget briefings scheduled for 3 December 2018 at 1.00 pm and 5 December 2018 at 10.00 am.  Attendance at the briefings was encouraged.

 

65.

Consideration of Councillor calls for action

Minutes:

None were received.

66.

Consideration of Call-Ins

Minutes:

None were received.

67.

Performance of the Corporate Support Services Contract pdf icon PDF 843 KB

To receive a report from the Chief Commercial Officer which reviews the recent re-provision of the corporate support services work and how it might impact on how the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board carry out future overview and scrutiny of corporate services.

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report by Sophie Reeve (Chief Commercial Officer), which reviewed the recent re-provision of the corporate support services work and how it might impact on the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board’s future overview and scrutiny of corporate support services (CSS).

 

The report also provided an update on Serco's performance against:

 

·       Contractual Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) specified in the Corporate Support Services Contract between July and September 2018; and

·       Serco's progress against key IMT-related transformation and transactional projects, as set out in Appendix A to the report.

 

The Chief Commercial Officer presented the report to the Board, which provided detailed information under the following sub-headings: Background; Council Housekeeping; Payroll and HR Administration Further Improvements; Possible Approach to Future Overview and Scrutiny; and Performance against KPIs.

 

Questions and comments from members and officers included the following: -

 

·       During the review period July – September 2018 inclusive, all of the measured KPIs had been achieved (green).  Performance against KPIs had been consistently strong between April and September 2018, Table 1 on page 19 of the agenda pack detailed the overall KPI Summary Performance.   As a result of the consistent strong performance over the last 12 months, the Council had streamlined its contract governance with the introduction of a single monthly Partnership Board and lighter touch service review meetings.

·       The Council had recently established an Agresso Programme Board, with the intention of raising its profile.  The programme would include a rebuild of the Agresso configuration in line with the standard configuration and where necessary a consequent re-design of the associated business processes.

·       An IMT Board had also been established which would be chaired by a chief officer and would ensure that IMT improvements were given the highest priority and that impetus was maintained.  One of the first things it would consider was the adoption of an IMT Strategy, which would be available in draft form by the end of 2018.

·       The IMT Strategy was likely to consist of three sub strategies: Information Management Strategy; Service Delivery Strategy; and Technical Strategy.

·       Serco had recently appointed a dedicated Operations Director for Lincolnshire on a full-time basis, which had added senior capacity and had accelerated decision-making, and had made Serco more responsive to operational issues.

·       There were a number of Council housekeeping measures that were proposed in the report, which had included a reduction in the number of Council end user devices in use; and a reduction in email accounts (particularly in relation to leavers).  The Board expressed concern that the total number of live email accounts exceeded the number of employees.  The Board was assured that the Council’s processes for leavers, which managers were required to follow, included the deactivation of email accounts.  It was also advised that in certain instances the manager might wish to keep the email account open to access the e-mails; however, it was confirmed that the former employee would no longer have access to the account themselves. 

·       The Board supported the introduction of the council housekeeping initiatives,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 67.

68.

Microsoft Enterprise Agreement pdf icon PDF 19 KB

To receive a report from the Chief Digital Officer which invites the Board to consider a report on the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement which will be presented to the Executive Councillor for Highways, Transport and IT between the 3-14th December 2018.

 

The views of the Board will be reported to the Executive Councillor as part of his consideration of this item.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report by John Wickens (Chief Digital Officer), which invited the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board to consider a report on the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement, which would be presented to the Executive Councillor for Highways, Transport and IT between 3 and 14 December 2018.  The views of the Board would be reported to the Executive Councillor as part of his consideration of the report.

 

The Chief Digital Officer presented the executive councillor report, as detailed at Appendix 1, and advised that the report sought to re-procure the Council's Microsoft Enterprise Agreement.  The agreement would be for a three-year term contract to deliver the licensing for a number of Microsoft Products used across the Council. 

 

The anticipated cost of the core purchase of licences and associated products was approximately between £3.25m - £3.5m over the three-year contract, depending whether a price reduction could be secured for early commitment to the purchase.  The reduction combined with other rationalisation would represent a saving of £500k if the products utilised were static over the life of the agreement, though in practice the product mix would change over the life of the agreement.

 

Members were provided with an opportunity to ask questions, where the following points were noted: -

 

·         Although it was proposed that the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement would be procured through a supplier, Microsoft would still provide the support as part of the package and therefore there was no risk to the Council if the supplier ceased to exist.

·         In relation to cloud storage, the Council was not tied to Microsoft, and could look at alternative providers such as Amazon or Google to ensure best value for money.

·         Confirmation was provided that the predicted £500,000 savings, as detailed in the executive councillor report, were achievable and could be realised.

·         It was advised that 85% of local authorities had continued to use Microsoft products rather than moving to an alternative provider, whereas the education market had moved towards Google products.

·         The development of the IMT Strategy would help the Council to identify potential applications and providers earlier in the process as the market develops.

·         The Board requested that the Council kept up-to-date with developments in the IT market.

 

RESOLVED

 

(1)  That the recommendations as detailed in the Executive Councillor report, as detailed at Appendix 1 to the report, be supported.

 

(2)  That the above comments of the Board be reported to the Executive Councillor for Highways, Transport and IT as part of his consideration of             the decision report.

 

69.

2018/19 Council Business Plan Quarter 2 pdf icon PDF 36 KB

To receive a report from the Performance and Equalities Manager, which provides the Board to consider a report on the 2018/19 Council Business Plan Quarter 2 which will be presented to the Executive on 18th December 2018.

 

This views of the Board will be presented to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report by Jasmine Sodhi (Performance and Equalities Manager), which invited the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board to consider a report on the 2018/19 Council Business Plan Quarter 2, which would be presented to the Executive on 18 December 2018.  The views of the Board would be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of the report.

 

The report also presented the Council Business Plan performance indicators which fell within the remit of the Board.

 

The Performance and Equalities Manager presented the executive report on Quarter 2 Performance, which was detailed at Appendix 1, and highlighted that of the 14 commissioning strategies reported in Quarter 2: seven had performed really well (all measures reported in Quarter 2 had achieved the target); four had mixed performance (some measures did not achieve the target in Quarter 2).

 

It was highlighted that Measure 59 (Carers Supported in the last 12 months per 100,000 population) was expected to increase and had revised the target to 1,730 per 100,000 population.  Although the revised target had not been achieved in Quarter 1, the target had been achieved in Quarter 2 with an increase of 232 carers supported compared with Quarter 1.

 

Also, as reported in Quarter 1 in the Protecting the Public Commissioning Strategy, the Trading Standards Service had planned a number of operations for Quarter 2 for Measure 1 (Illicit alcohol and tobacco seized).  This had resulted in a significant increase in seizure figures of 10,522 in Quarter 2 exceeding the annual target of 6,000. 

 

It was also highlighted that since Quarter 1, in the Protecting and Sustaining the Environment Commissioning Strategy, data for Measure 74 (carbon dioxide emissions from County Council Activity) was now available.  A 23.4% reduction from the 2011/12 baseline had been achieved, which had exceeded the target of a 22% reduction by March 2018.  A reduction of 4,933 tonnes of carbon dioxide from 2016/17 figure had been achieved.  There had been a significant reduction of 3,419 tonnes almost exclusively from street lighting, which was owing to the upgrading of street lights to LED and part night lighting.

 

Appendix A to the Executive report provided a summary of measures that did not achieve the target in Quarter 2.  The following four measures had been reported as not achieving the target for the first time in 2018/19:

 

-      Adults reoffending;

-      Juvenile reoffending;

-      Primary fires; and

-      Wellbeing commissioning strategy.

 

The Board was provided with an opportunity to ask questions, where the following points were noted: -

·       Measure 19 (Primary Fires) – Concern was raised about the increase in the number of primary fires. It was highlighted that this was potentially owing to the drier conditions as a result of the hot weather over the summer months. The Chairman of the Public Protection and Communities Scrutiny Committee confirmed that it will be looking in more detail at this and the other indicators highlighted in the report under its remit on 11 December 2018

·       Measure 76  ...  view the full minutes text for item 69.

70.

Treasury Management - Quarter 2 Update Report 2018/19 to 30 September 2018 pdf icon PDF 130 KB

To receive an update from the Investment and Treasury Manager which provides an update on the Treasury Management activities undertaken for the first half of the 2018/19 financial year.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report by Karen Tonge (Treasury Manager), which detailed the Council's treasury management activities for the first half of 2018/19 to 30 September 2018, comparing activity to the Treasury Management Strategy for 2018/19 that had been approved by the Leader of the Council and Executive Councillor for Resources and Communications on 20 March 2018.

 

The quarterly update report was presented in the form of a quarterly bulletin that would cover the main issues arising to 30 September 2018 in the following areas:

 

·       interest rate review, economic overview and revised interest rate forecast;

·       annual investment strategy / authorised lending list changes during the quarter;

·       Investment position and comparison with strategy.

·       Borrowing and debt rescheduling position and comparison with strategy; and

·       Other treasury management issues arising during period.

 

The quarterly bulletin report was detailed at Appendix A to the report and was presented to the Board by the Treasury Manager.  During the discussion of Appendix A the following points were noted: -

 

·       The base rate had increased by 0.25% to 0.75% on 2 August 2018 and both short term and long term rates had risen accordingly;

·       The latest interest forecast from Link Asset Services in November 2018, as detailed on page 78 of the agenda pack, had been developed on the assumption that there would be an agreement between the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) on the UK's withdrawal from the EU.  The potential impact on the economy of a no agreement was discussed by the Board;

·       The Council had continued to outperform the investment benchmark by lengthening the weighted average maturity of the fund.  As of 29 November 2018, the Council's investment position performance annualised was at 0.9%.  It was also highlighted that the weighted average maturity figure for English counties, as detailed on page 79 of the agenda pack, should read 99 and not 15;

·       No external borrowing had been undertaken to date;

·       The cost of the Council's borrowing at 30 September 2018 was 4.12%, the Council's internal borrowing level stood at £82.152m at 31 March 2018 with £21.946m of internal borrowing being carried forward in 2018/19, along with capital expenditure and borrowing requirement underspends;

·       Temporary borrowing of £5m was outstanding at 30 September 2018, taken to cover predicted liquidity shortfalls at a cost neutral level;

·       A capital strategy was being formulated to meet the requirements of the new Prudential Code 2017 and would align with the 2019/20 Budget Report;

·       It was also highlighted that treasury management training for members had been arranged for 31 January 2019, which would include guidance on the Capital Strategy;

·       A member of the Board highlighted an article in the Financial Times relating to the Danske Bank's alleged involvement in a money laundering operation; and

·       The Board requested that the figures contained within Appendix A also included an explanatory footnote to aid the Committee's understanding of the information.

 

RESOLVED

 

(1)  That the report be noted.

 

(2)  That the Executive Support Councillor for Resources and Communication            be requested to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 70.

71.

Scrutiny Committee Work Programmes pdf icon PDF 624 KB

(To receive a report which sets out the work programmes of the Adults and Community Wellbeing Committee; and the Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire, in accordance with the Board's agreed programme)

 

Minutes:

The Overview and Scrutiny Management Board was invited to consider whether it was satisfied with the content of the work programmes of the Adults and Community Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee and the Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire; and, if appropriate, to make suggestions on the content of the work programmes of these two committees.

 

Adults and Community Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee

 

Councillor Hugo Marfleet, Chairman of the Adults and Community Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee, highlighted two items that had been considered by the Committee on 28 November 2018.  Firstly, reference was made to the Wellbeing Service, where the Committee had received an update on the new contractual arrangements whereby there was one provider for all Lincolnshire.

 

Secondly, as part of the Committee's item on the Digital Road Map for Adult Care and Community Wellbeing, three IT developments had been highlighted: Online Self-Serve Financial Assessments; Data Security Protection Toolkit; and Connect to Support.

 

In addition to the items included on pages 103-104 of the report pack, an item on Sexual Health Services would be included on the agenda for 16 January 2019.  Community Based Support for People with Dementia and Their Families; and Budget Monitoring 2018-19 had been added to the agenda for 27 February 2019.  Two items had also been added to the agenda for 10 April 2019: Integrated Community Care Portfolio; and Opportunities and Challenges of Rurality. 

 

In relation to Integrated Lifestyle Support Services, which had been considered by the Committee on 10 October 2018, there was a comment that a higher than average body mass index (BMI) did not indicate obesity in every instance.  Links between obesity and mental health were also discussed by the Committee.

 

In response to a question on the fragility of private health and care providers, the Chairman of the Committee referred to the arrangements made to maintain the Lincolnshire Assessment and Re-ablement Service, where the existing provider was expected to cease operations on 14 December 2018.  The contract had been transferred to a new provider, Libertas, who had guaranteed services to clients and jobs for existing employees. 

 

A request was made for the Board to receive information on the Committee's proposed item for 10 April on Opportunities and Challenges of Rurality as part of the next update from the Committee on 26 April 2019.

 

Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire

 

In addition to the items highlighted on pages 107 – 109 of the agenda pack, Councillor Carl Macey, Chairman of the Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire, reported that in relation to the Committee's referral to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care of the 'temporary' overnight closure of Grantham Accident and Emergency Department, the latest position was that the Minister of State for Health had asked South West Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group and United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust to send to him their plans for consultation by 31 December 2018.  The Chairman looked to have this item included on the agenda for the Committee's January meeting. 

 

In relation to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71.

72.

Overview and Scrutiny Management Board Work Programme pdf icon PDF 320 KB

(To receive a report which enables the Board to consider and comment on the content of its work programme for the coming year to ensure that scrutiny activity is focussed where it can be of greatest benefit)

 

Minutes:

The Overview and Scrutiny Management Board was provided with an opportunity to review its own work programme.

 

The Board was reminded that a joint informal workshop had been arranged for 19 December 2018 at 10.30 am between the Board and the Audit Committee to consider lessons learnt from Northamptonshire County Council.  The Chairman encouraged attendance at the workshop.

 

It was advised that a pre-decision scrutiny item on Continuation of Windows 10 Notebook and PC rollout had been added to the December agenda, prior to a decision by the Executive Councillor for Highways, Transport and IT between 27 December 2018 and 8 January 2019.

 

It was suggested and agreed that the meeting of the Board scheduled for 20 December 2018 be rearranged to 19 December 2018 at 11.45 am, to follow on from the above mentioned workshop.

 

RESOLVED

 

(1)  That the content of the work programme be approved.

 

(2)  That the meeting of the Board scheduled for 20 December 2018 be rearranged to 19 December 2018 at 11.45 am, to follow on from the joint      informal workshop.

 

 

 
 
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