Agenda and minutes

Venue: Havering Town Hall, Main Road, Romford

Contact: Richard Cursons 01708 432430  Email: richard.cursons@oneSource.co.uk

Items
No. Item

18.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 203 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 1 February 2017 and to authorise the Chairman to sign them.

 

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 1 February 2017 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

19.

UPDATE ON SICKNESS ABSENCE pdf icon PDF 298 KB

Report attached.

Minutes:

The briefing note before Members updated on workplace wellbeing.

 

The briefing note outlined progress made to manage absence in Havering and the achievements made following the individual meetings between the Deputy Leader of the Council and Directors and the Chief Executive.

 

Members noted that since direct additional HR support to managers had begun in 2016 sickness absence figures had fallen.

 

The Day One Absence Pilot that had been implemented in October 2016 in Streetcare and Catering had also been a success.

 

Although significant work had been undertaken, focus needed to be maintained by managers to ensure absence levels continued to decrease and a number of initiatives were planned to assist with this.

 

In conclusion Havering still had some way to go to reach the target of 8.5 days absence per employee however national data was showing other organisation’s absence levels as increasing. Havering had achieved a reduction in absence levels through both improved management and HR intervention.

 

The Board NOTED the briefing note.

20.

PROPOSED CORPORATE PERFORMANCE INDICATORS AND TARGETS FOR 2017/18 pdf icon PDF 117 KB

Report attached.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report before Members set out the proposed Corporate Performance Indicators for 2017/18.

 

The Council’s new Vision for the borough, four strategic priorities and the supporting outcomes and delivery statements were approved as part of the Council’s Budget 2017/18 at the Cabinet meeting on 8 February.

 

In line with this new Vision, a new set of Corporate Performance Indicators (PIs) had been developed which set out how the Council would measure progress in delivering the strategic outcomes and delivery statements. These indicators were approved in principle by Cabinet on 12 April, subject to consideration of feedback from the Overview and Scrutiny Board. The final set of corporate PIs for 2017/18 was due to be agreed by the Cabinet at its June meeting.

 

The report set out (at Appendix 1) the draft new set of Corporate Performance Indicators and the proposed targets for 2017/18 for review by the Overview and Scrutiny Board prior to the finalisation of the individual Service Plans, which would go live in July 2017. 

 

Underpinning each of the four new priorities was a set of strategic outcomes and delivery statements that explained how each outcome would be achieved. The proposed new set of Corporate Performance Indicators had been designed to measure the Council’s success in implementing these delivery statements and the wider strategic outcomes.

 

The draft Corporate Performance Indicators for 2017/18 offered a more outcomes-focused set of indicators that measured the Council’s progress in delivering its key transformation plans and strategies. The indicators included a mixture of both qualitative and quantitative measures as well as key milestones for major transformation programmes.

Members noted the proposed inclusion of a number of engagement / perception measures, which would provide Members with direct feedback from residents and service users regarding their overall wellbeing; how they felt about living in their local area; how satisfied they were with Council services, and the outcomes that these services have helped them to achieve.  As a result, there were more indicators that could only be measured annually than has been the case in previous years.  However, where this was the case and where possible, quarterly corporate performance reports would include commentary and narrative on the actions being taken in pursuit of these objectives and targets.

 

Given that the proposed new Corporate Performance Indicators were closely aligned to transformation plans and strategies, they were less service specific and more cross-cutting across a number of service areas than the current set. As such, many of the new corporate PIs would not fit neatly into the remit of one of the Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Committees. In light of this, it had been agreed in principle that, from 2017/18, Corporate Performance Reports were only reported to the Overview and Scrutiny Board on a quarterly basis, followed by Cabinet, with the reports being made available simultaneously to all Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Committees.

 

The Chairmen of the Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Committees would still be able to request reports on performance against particular indicators as required and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

21.

MARKET TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMME UPDATE pdf icon PDF 258 KB

Report attached.

Minutes:

The report before Members provided an update on the Market Transformation Plan.

 

The report detailed the physical transformation and improved use of the market space, branding, identity and vision, business growth and development of market offer and the operational management.

 

Included in the report was a timetable showing an indicative programme for the procurement and construction phases.

 

Members were advised that planning permission had been granted for the Market House and agents had been appointed to secure a pre-let for the unit. Four contractors have been invited to submit a full tender to build the Market House. Officers advised that there were two strong contenders, one of which had already opened negotiations. Once the tenders had been evaluated a decision would be taken whether to proceed or not.

 

Marlborough who were the principle contractor for the utility works would be invited to undertake the Public Realm works if the works progressed.

 

The provisional programme for the works had been submitted and it was anticipated that everything would be completed by June 2018 if the decision to proceed with the transformation was taken.

 

Cabinet at its meeting in November 2016 had given an in principle approval to the proposals.  This decision had been called-in and referred back to Cabinet for reconsideration. At its meeting on 16 December 2015 Cabinet had re-affirmed its decision.

 

Officers had prepared a tender specification for the development of a new market brand and identity and final preparations were being made to launch a tender exercise for the appointment of a marketing specialist.

 

The events which had been organised in the run up to Christmas had seen an increase in footfall and officers were preparing a programme of events for 2017 commencing with activity over Easter.

 

Having established a baseline which showed the average weekly footfall was approximately 142k, a growth strategy would now be developed in line with the vision.

 

A new Market Manager had been appointed in January who was focusing on a number of key transformational areas.  These included a trader incentive scheme to support recruitment and retention during the construction phase and developing an operational plan to accommodate and relocate existing permanent traders who would be displaced during the Market House build.

Members commented that they had concerns at the overall programme for improvement encompassing the East End, Market House and West End, car parking and public realm. Members sought and received clarification to indicate where the decision to proceed had been taken, together with full details of all the proposed works.

 

Members felt it would be useful to carry out an in depth review of the proposals with officers providing full details of all approvals showing clearly what proposals had been approved and by whom, a detailed business plan supporting the proposals and a detailed budget indicating clearly where funding had already been approved, this review would be undertaken before any tender was let for the building of the Market House.

 

During the debate Members commented that they had concerns that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

22.

OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY SUB COMMITTEE/TOPIC GROUP UPDATES pdf icon PDF 76 KB

Report attached.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report before Members detailed the current work of the six Overview & Scrutiny Sub-Committees.

 

Members noted two updates to the work of the Sub-Committees.

 

The Chairman of the Children & Learning Sub-Committee advised that three students, along with their parents, from Corbets Tey @ The Avelon had attended and participated in the last meeting of the Sub-Committee. The students had given Members an insight into what they enjoyed studying and the activities they took part in at the school.

 

The Chairman of the Crime & Disorder Sub-Committee updated Members that the landlord of the property in which the Probation Service was based in Victoria Road had asked the service to leave and the service was now looking into securing new premises.

 

It was AGREED that the current work of the six Overview & Scrutiny Sub-Committees be noted.

23.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDERS

Minutes:

During the discussion of the reports the Board RESOLVED to suspend Committee Procedure Rule 8 in order to complete the consideration of the remaining business of the agenda.