Agenda, decisions and minutes

None. 

The Portfolio Holder is asked to sign the minutes of the meeting held on 8 February 2010 as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 8 February 2010 were agreed as a correct record. 

The Policy and Performance Portfolio Holder APPROVED, the Information & Communications Technology (ICT) Strategy 2009-11.

The Portfolio Holder was informed by the Democratic Services Officer, that under the Scheme of Delegation of Executive Functions, the ICT Strategy did not require Cabinet and Council approval and it could therefore be determined by himself.

The Head of ICT informed the Portfolio Holder that the document was a revision of the current strategy and that no substantial changes to the strategic direction had been made.

Questions, together with responses arising from the ensuing discussion on the contents of the Strategy included:

• Confirmation that the funding reflected the recently approved estimates
• Confirmation that approximately 25% of PC hardware was replaced per annum
• It was noted that some Members might be reluctant to acknowledge problems with their computers and perhaps routine maintenance should be offered? In response the Head of ICT informed the Portfolio Holder that Members were provided with laptops to reduce the maintenance overhead and provided the opportunity for the unit to easily be returned to SCDC if required. The conditions regarding computer provision to Members would be updated in the near future and in the meantime, Members would be reminded that they could contact the ICT helpdesk when problems arose
• It was noted that the current agreement signed by all Members stated that it was the users responsibility for making regular back-up copies of files
• Users from the individual service areas managing their own business projects were required to own the functions themselves
• There were individual ICT Champions from each service area

In conclusion, the Portfolio Holder requested that

• on page 14 of the agenda papers relating to Funding that the columns be headed with £k and delete references to ,000,

• on page 14 of the agenda papers all the figures relating to funding had been rounded up to the nearest thousand, and
• on page 15 of the agenda papers, under chapter 7, that 2009 be replaced with 2009/10

The Policy and Performance Portfolio Holder APPROVED, the Information & Communications Technology (ICT) Strategy 2009-11.

The Policy & Performance Portfolio Holder, APPROVED, subject to minor amendments agreed at the meeting, the Community & Customers Services Service Plan 2010/11.

The Corporate Manager, Community and Customer Services tabled an extract from the recently approved estimates showing the expenditure requirements for the service. He clarified that a figure of £41,000 against the heading Reduction to Meet Savings Target could be deleted as this related to a post that was no longer required. The table should therefore read: Salaries, £808,209 with the final estimate for 2010/11, amended to read: £1,499,220.

The Corporate Manager confirmed that the service now had a full complement of staff and referred in particular to the challenging Improvement Plan that had been drafted to ensure that it could deliver the Council’s aims and develop performance management.

As a result of the ensuing discussion, the following amendments were made to the plan:

• An alternative to the colour in the headings, currently black on blue
• Remove reference to cuts to grant schemes in `Threats’, p.35
• Remove semi-colons from bullet list on p.37
• P.38, para 5 – amend to read `To promote equality and diversity, ensuring a fair allocation of resources to those in greatest need
• P.43, para 4 – delete the words `which is towards the geographical centre of the District’
• P.44, para 2 – substitute the word `haled’ for `hailed’
• P.54, SX048 – the target to be reduced from 10 to 5 minutes
• P.77 – text is missing from the middle column

In response to a query regarding the term `community intelligence’ used within the documentation, it was explained that this related to the demographic information received, eg, from elected Members on where a large percentage of the elderly lived and was there access to a Post Office, a bus route etc. or which areas had pockets of deprivation. Facilities would be then be targeted for those areas identified. An information sheet had recently been produced by the Policy & Performance Team indicating the South Cambridgeshire Area Profile.

It was noted that figures relating to the number of migrant workers in the district had not been included as up to date information was not available; this would be rectified once the results of the 2011 Census was published.

The Portfolio Holder made reference to p.49, para (j) in the agenda relating to response to emergencies and the importance of contingency plans. It was noted that there was a county-wide response team that SCDC was part of and that the Council itself had a business continuity plan.

The Policy & Performance Portfolio Holder, APPROVED the Community & Customer Services Service Plan 2010/11, subject to the amendments agreed above.

Attached is the final ICT service plan, comprising the Corporate Services service plan executive summary and overview, with all sections relating to ICT having been highlighted, plus the ICT improvement plan.

The Policy & Performance Portfolio Holder, APPROVED, subject to minor amendments agreed at the meeting, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Service Plan 2010/11. 

The Portfolio Holder was requested to consider the ICT element of the Corporate Services Service Plan as highlighted in the agenda papers. Following consideration of the document, it was requested that the following amendments be made:

• P. 90, delete reference to `Possible political instability; changes in Cabinet make-up’
• P. 92, delete reference to `Misunderstanding of the role of the public PFH meeting, ie not for informal early-stage policy discussions

The Head of ICT gave an explanation for the following abbreviations:

• DR – Disaster Recover (page 112 refers)
• CCN – Cambridgeshire Community Network (Page 113 refers)

The Policy & Performance Portfolio Holder, APPROVED the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Service Plan 2010/11, subject to the amendments agreed above.

Following consideration of the documentation contained in the agenda and confirmation that the stage one of the project was due to be completed by the end of March 2010, the Portfolio Holder, NOTED

(a)               the content of the Customer Service Excellence Project Document, in particular the project structure, work plan and timeline, and

(b)               the content of the Highlight Report

The Portfolio Holder reviewed the third quarter performance against the Council’s Customer Service Standards and as a result, the following comments were made:

• Progress had been made in respect of Cambourne telephone response performance
• The Contact Centre performance continued to meet targets
• The number of complaints received by Planning and Housing were reflected countrywide
• The overall number of complaints across the services had reduced
• There had been a poor response to satisfaction surveys, however, it was noted that this was also reflected countrywide. Consideration would be given by the Steering Group that satisfaction surveys should only be requested when a complaint had been upheld
• It was expected that the target for response time to complaints set by the Local Government Ombudsman would be met by the end of the year
• Completion of the `learning from complaints forms’ would be actively encouraged by the Service First Steering Group

The Portfolio Holder NOTED the contents of the report and congratulated the Service First Steering Group on the performance against the Council’s Customer Service Standards to date.

The Corporate Manager, Community & Customer Services informed the Portfolio Holder that Cabinet had requested that it only receives the end-of-year Integrated Business Monitoring report and that the Portfolio Holders for Finance & Staffing and Policy and Performance monitor the interim quarterly reports.

Particular reference was made to the annual measures NI123 and NI188 that could not be updated until the end of the year. In order to monitor throughout the year, proxy measures would be introduced. It was noted that the introduction of a Best Kept Village Competition had been undertaken by the Environmental Services Portfolio Holder and was therefore projected to meet the end of year target.

The Portfolio Holder NOTED,

(a)               the performance position and that CorVu would be used more closely to monitor performance issues across the authority, especially those that were currently forecast to fail to achieve their targets, and

(b)               that managers were being reminded to input performance data into CorVu in a more timely manner.

The Corporate Manager, Community and Customer Services drew the Portfolio Holder’s attention to the 5 measures that had been projected to be red at year-end and detailed in para 6 of the report.

• PP16 - the target that Place Surveys would take place annually, had in fact remained biennially with no survey taking place during 2009/10
• PP17 – a budget consultation had now taken place and the indicator would change to green in the last quarter of 2009/10
• NI014c – the Portfolio Holder requested that the relative percentage measure `it represents 20% of the 35% of avoidable contacts’ be replaced with an absolute measure of each category of avoidable contact
• PP25 – Review of Customer Service Strategy would remain at red
• SX053 – due to a positive response to public participation at Scrutiny & Overview Committee, the end of year target would be met

The Portfolio Holder NOTED the contents of the report.

The Portfolio Holder will maintain, for agreement at each meeting, a Forward Plan identifying all matters relevant to the Portfolio which it is believed are likely to be the subject of consideration and / or decision by the Portfolio Holder, or recommendation to, or referral by, the Portfolio Holder to Cabinet, Council, or any other constituent part of the Council.   The plan will be updated as necessary.  The Portfolio Holder will be responsible for the content and accuracy of the forward plan.

The contents of the Forward Plan were NOTED. 

To note that the next scheduled meeting is 13 May 2010.

It was NOTED that the next meeting would be held at 11am on 13 May 2010.