Decisions

Further to the Cabinet decision in October, 2016, the Director of Children’s Services will be asked to give authority to award a contract for a new classroom block and internal alterations to existing school at Rainham Village Primary School.

Cabinet:

1. Reviewed the performance set out in Appendix 1 of the report and the corrective action that is being taken.

2. Noted the content of the Demand Pressures Dashboard attached as Appendix 2 of the report.

Cabinet will be asked to approve the decision for the Council to join an Integrated Community Equipment Service (ICES) with BHR health and social care partners which will be commissioned and hosted by the London Borough of Redbridge.

Cabinet:

1.     Approved the Council joining an Integrated Community Equipment Service (ICES) with BHR health and social care partners, hosted by London Borough of Redbridge.

2.     Authorised the Director of Adult Services to sign the Section 101(LGA 1972) / Section 75 (NHS Act 2006) agreement and all further documentation necessary to facilitate the participation of the Council in the Integrated Community Equipment Service.

Further to the decision in February, 2019, Cabinet will asked to approve the Council’s new Employment and Skills Plan

Cabinet:

1.     Approved the draft Employment and Skills Plan (attached at Appendix 1 of the report) and the associated Implementation Plan (attached at Appendix 3 of the report).

Cabinet will be asked to approve a proposal from the Romford Town Management Partnership (RTMP) to proceed to ballot regarding the creation of a Business Improvement District for Romford

Cabinet:

1. Reviewed and approved the Romford Town Management Limited  BID Proposal to go to ballot in June 2018;

2. Agreed to support the formation of a BID in Romford Town Centre, subject to a successful ballot taking place in accordance with the Business Improvement Districts (England) Regulations, 2004;

3. Noted that the Council will be subject to payment of the levy on its properties within the BID area; and,

4. Agreed that the Head of Property Services (one Source) be authorised to cast the Council’s  vote to support the establishment of the BID in relation to all the council properties within in the BID area; and,

5. Delegated authority to the S151 Officer in consultation with the Director of Neighbourhoods to negotiate and settle agreements in relation to any advance funding for the BID of no more than £230,000, subject to a successful ballot, the creation of the BID and the production of a costed workplan and cashflow acceptable to the S151 officer detailing  the funding requirements.

The report provided an update on a number of key activities across oneSource.

With respect to the transition to trading, it had been decided to delay the activation of the dormant company, oneSource Partnership Ltd, which had been planned for early spring.

Having reviewed the extent of the tasks required to set up the company, it was not possible to make the January round of Cabinet meetings. Work was ongoing to develop the oneSource Partnership Ltd Business Plan, with further discussions planned with partner authorities regarding the future direction of oneSource.

In terms of the oneSource Integrated Programme Plan, work was underway to implement two new ICT systems that will allow oneSource to manage its finances in a more commercial way. There are four initial service review pilots and these are making good progress with completion scheduled for the end of January.

It was noted that the Transition to Trading programme plan would eventually be combined with the oneSource Transformation Plan into a oneSource Integrated Programme Plan for the period to April 2019.

oneSource continues to have success in being shortlisted for numerous awards, including a nomination for the Best Service Delivery Model award at the Local Government Chronical Awards in March 2018.

Work has begun to renegotiate contracts awarded work by the Newham small businesses as they move to company status, with a view to extending the length of the contracts from one year to three years. It was noted that was of particular relevance to the overall oneSource offer and the need to diversify into services that are more suited to small businesses.

Finally, it was anticipated that the new oneSource Interim Chief Executive would be appointed in the coming weeks.

The Joint Committee noted the report.

The oneSource shared forecast financial position shows a projected overspend of £0.142m as at December 2017, Period 9. This was an improvement on the Period 6 projected overspend of £0.796m. The £0.654m improvement between Period 6 and Period 9 was largely due to an improvement in the ICT and Exchequer Services forecasts.

£11.069m have been applied to shared budgets since oneSource’s inception in 2014/15. Savings of £10.927m are forecast to have been achieved by the end of 2017/2018. The projected overspend split between the three boroughs is (£0.140m) to Havering, £0.155m to Bexley and £0.127m to Newham..

Early Period 9 indications regarding non-shared areas managed by oneSource but not part of the cost share are as follows; (£0.348m) underspend for Havering, £4.715m overspend for Newham and nil variance for Bexley.

The Joint Committee noted the current oneSource projected forecasted outturn position based on the financial monitoring as at the end of December 2017.

The report before Members provided details of performance with oKPI 1 Customer Satisfaction with oneSource services. The indicator was collected by an electronic survey campaign, which was undertaken biannually.

Members noted that the oneSource Business Services team monitors the relationship between oneSource and its customers and overall performance, ensuring oneSource meets the expectations of the programme and needs of its customers.

oneSource was set a challenging 80% target for customer satisfaction for the services to exceed. In October, satisfaction exceeded this target for the first time with 82% overall customer satisfaction. This rose from 75% in March 2017 and has seen continued upward trend since October 2016 where satisfaction was 72%. in October 2016. 

Individually, customer satisfaction with the service received is 89% from Havering Council, 81% from Newham Council, 55% from Bexley Council and 78% from oneSource. Customer satisfaction has increased for Havering and Newham, with satisfaction in both councils exceeding the target. Satisfaction within oneSource dropped slightly to 78%. There was a significant decrease in satisfaction within Bexley, with overall satisfaction at 55%. 

Satisfaction within Havering, Newham and oneSource were within a similar range, bordering near the target; however, within Bexley, satisfaction reduced due to lower than expected results. Therefore further investigation and actions are required to address this.

The Joint Committee noted oneSource’s Customer Satisfaction key performance indicator (KPI).