Agenda and minutes
Venue: Committee Room 4, Brent Town Hall, Forty Lane, Wembley, HA9 9HD. View directions
Contact: Toby Howes, Senior Democratic Services Officer 020 8937 1307, Email: toby.howes@brent.gov.uk
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Declarations of personal and prejudicial interests Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting any relevant financial or other interest in the items on the agenda. Minutes: None declared. |
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Minutes of the last meeting held on 16 October 2012 PDF 104 KB The minutes are attached. Minutes: RESOLVED:-
that the minutes of the last meeting held on 16 October 2012 be approved as an accurate record of the meeting. |
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Matters arising Minutes: Complaints annual report
In reply to a query, Priya Mistry (Policy and Performance Officer, Strategy, Partnerships and Improvement) advised that further information had been circulated to Members providing an explanation as to why compensation for adult and social care related complaints had increased despite the number of escalated complaints falling.
Working with families initiative
Phil Newby (Director of Strategy, Partnerships and Improvement) agreed to provide further information in respect of a possible family nurse partnership scheme that had ultimately been rejected by the Primary Care Trust on grounds of cost. |
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Waste and street cleansing services - waste collection implementation PDF 60 KB The report provides a progress update with respect to the One Council waste and street cleansing project, in particular the performance of the waste collection and street cleansing services that were changed as part of that project.
The report will be presented by Chris Whyte, Head of Recycling and Waste. Minutes: Chris Whyte (Head of Recycling and Waste, Environment and Neighbourhoods) introduced the report and advised that the present recycling rate had increased from around a 30% average for 2011/12 as of October 2011, to 45% for 2012/13 as of October 2012. Measures would continue to be introduced to boost the chances of ultimately attaining the recycling rate objective of 60%. Chris Whyte referred to a number of recent initiatives outlined in the report to increase recycling rates, such as provision of caddy liners to all properties currently receiving a separate food waste collection and removal of grey refuse bins from households that were deemed to have over capacity. There had also been a successful bid leading to the receipt of grant funding from the Department of Communities and Local Government for the provision of a weekly collection of food waste from over 300 blocks of flats in the borough. A review and provision of the location of on-street recycling containers that would be relocated to more prominent places where appropriate would also be undertaken.
Turning to street cleansing, Chris Whyte advised that the street cleansing contract had been reduced by £2m in October 2011 as part of the review. In order to maintain street cleanliness standards, monitoring would be more focused on streets and areas in known problem areas and officers would dedicate more of their time in these specific locations and may include measures such as a second litter pick. Discussions were taking place with Community Engagement to deliver a concerted communications campaign to raise awareness of littering in Brent.
Chris Whyte informed the team that there had been an increase in reported fly-tipping this year. This could be attributed to the new household waste collection arrangements that restrict the volume of waste collected, the reduced frequency of street cleansing and increased commercial waste disposal charges. To address this, a restructuring of Recycling and Waste to create a new team, Environmental Crime Prevention, combining graffiti work and waste enforcement, would be undertaken to tackle such issues. Members heard that it was a priority to focus on waste enforcement, particularly in respect of business waste and fly tips. Chris Whyte advised that despite the reduction in resources in October 2011, cleansing scores had help up. In the longer term, the procurement of a public realm contract represented a significant piece of work that would have wider implications.
During discussion by Members, further explanation was sought as to what determined the removal of grey bins and could this lead to overspill or contamination of recycled waste. It was queried whether landlords were provided guidance with regard to waste to ensure that their tenants recycled waste properly and was there a database containing their details. The present recycling rate was noted and it was enquired what measures were being put in place to reach the ultimate target of 60% and when would this target be realised. Comparisons of recycling rates with other London boroughs were also sought. It was commented that some ... view the full minutes text for item 4. |
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Future Customer Services: Delivering changes to the way Brent residents access services PDF 144 KB The report provides an update on progress in establishing new arrangements for Customer Services resulting from the Future of Customer Services project and the creation of the Brent Customer Services Unit in January 2012.
Margaret Read, Assistant Director of Brent Customer Services, will present the report. Minutes: Margaret Read (Assistant Director – Brent Customer Services, Finance and Corporate Services) introduced the report that provided an update on progress in establishing new arrangements for Customer Services following the Future of Customer Services project and the creation of the Brent Customer Services Unit in January 2012. Margaret Read advised that the Future Customer Services Board was responsible for overseeing customer service arrangements and performance across all areas of the council and she referred to the changes implemented through the project and achievements to date as set out in the report, which included a new integrated e benefits form for Housing and Council Tax benefit. She then referred to the longer term aims and explained that a new content management system for web site would go live in early 2013 and would support a move to on line contact and the achievement of a wider channel migration strategy.. This would enable the council to be accessible to residents on a 24/7 basis. A digital post room was also to be created and this would complement the Civic Centre’s design in supporting a paper light organisation. The review of post had identified that approximately 60% of post was scanned, whilst 40% was stored as a paper document. The digital post room would be created to ensure most post was scanned and routed electronically.
Margaret Read informed Members that most customer contact was still by telephone and all Brent Customer Services calls were managed by Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) and this was used by the schools admissions service, Children and Families information service and concessionary service, as well as Housing Needs, Registration and Nationalities and Brent Housing Partnership, whilst Benefits and Council Tax had used ACD for a number of years. The committee heard that ACD technology enables calls to be directed to the appropriate staff and provide clear visibility of the volume of the calls waiting and resources available to handle them. Ways of extending use of ACD technology to other service areas was being considered to develop a better overall picture of call volumes and performance for all services with a view to implementing this during 2013. Margaret Read advised that telephone answering rates in Brent Customer Services ranged from 78% to 84% since January 2012 and greater consistency in the performance of individual teams had been achieved through increasing knowledge and skills sets for staff. She explained that the move to the Civic Centre and the impact of welfare reform would present significant challenges in the future and Brent Customer Services would play a key role in preparing and planning for these changes and mitigating the associated risks. This included designing and implementing a new localised Council Tax Support scheme and a local, discretionary welfare assistance scheme where the grant of £855k to be transferred to the council would be unable to meet the existing level of demand for payments. To help mitigate the forecast peaks in customer demand, the council was working with Capita to put a ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
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The One Council Programme - second update - 2012/13 PDF 530 KB The report provides a progress update on all projects since June 2012 and an explanation of project status and progress.
The report will be presented by Peter Stackniewski, Head of the One Council Programme. Additional documents: Minutes: Phil Newby advised Members that due to Fiona Ledden’s (Director of Legal and Procurement) absence, the procurement project update would be deferred to the next meeting and members noted the briefing note on this had been circulated.
Peter Stachniewski then introduced the main report which provided an update on the One Council programme. He explained that a report on the One Council programme finances had been considered by the Budget and Finance Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 4 December 2012. It was confirmed that the programme had delivered £11.7m benefits in 2010/11 and £29.5m in 2011/12, a total of £41.2m per annum since the programme had commenced. Financial benefits of £13.4m were forecast for 2012/13, taking cumulative benefits to £54.6m and by the programme’s end in 2014/15, a total benefit of £77.9m per annum had been budgeted for. Peter Stachniewski advised that seven new projects were now being delivered, whilst Special Educational Needs had moved from red to amber status, although Project Athena remained red, however the resolving of human resources issues and strengthening of partnership governance arrangements meant it was likely to move to amber soon, whilst procurement was also red. Peter Stachniewski confirmed that the web enhancement project had just moved to amber following a Project Board meeting on 4 December 2012. Another important area of work was the governance arrangements of projects such as working with families. The committee heard that internal change communications had strengthened considerably, facilitating managers and their staff’s ability to prepare and adapt to change. The most significant risk to the programme remained the delivery of financial benefits, although overall the risks were well monitored and managed. The most significant non-financial risk was the management of stakeholders and ensuring buy in. Members noted the financial and non-financial benefits as set out in the report.
During discussion, it was noted that phase two of working with families was due to be completed in July 2013 and it was queried how its’ success was measured and what financial savings had the project achieved. Members asked whether any further waves of staff and structure changes were planned and how was the council addressing the challenge of staff that had left the council or moved to another service area. Concern was expressed that often talented staff had left the council and the impact this may have on the service and it was queried whether the setting up of a pool for highly merited staff to ensure they remained with the council could be undertaken. It was suggested that there should be a section in the report stating financial disbenefits, such as in the increase in fly tipping, and that in identifying these to look into whether a review of these measures should be undertaken. It was also stressed that showing straightforward efficiencies rather than financial reductions should be highlighted in the report and it was asked what the manager to staff ratio target was.
In reply, Peter Stachniewski advised that the benefits of a project were ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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One Council Overview and Scrutiny work programme PDF 52 KB The work programme is attached. Minutes: Members had before them the work programme for their consideration. The Chair sought clarification in respect of Councillor Colwill’s request to place items on Special Educational Needs (SEN) statements and school places. In reply, Phil Newby advised that both these areas were under the remit of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee and in view of this, members agreed that it was appropriate for these items to be referred to that committee and accordingly taken off the work programme of the One Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee. |
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Date of next meeting The next meeting of the One Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, 6 February 2013 at 7.30 pm. Minutes: It was noted that the next meeting of the One Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee was scheduled for Wednesday, 6 February 2013 at 7.30 pm. |
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Any other urgent business Notice of items raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Democratic Services Manager or his representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 64. Minutes: None. |