Agenda and minutes

www.swansea.gov.uk/disclosuresofinterests

None Disclosed

Notes of the Panel meeting held on 2 August 2017 were agreed as a correct record

None

Richard Rowlands (Corporate Performance Manager)

Richard Rowlands Corporate Performance Manager, attended to brief the Panel on last year’s performance.

He provided advice about how the Performance Monitoring Report is developed and its relevance.

He explained to the Panel how to read and analyse the information.

Key Points Raised:

• For each council priority, the performance showed as improving

• Even though some new PIs look like they have just been renamed, there could be differences in how the indicator is defined and so they are intrinsically different

• Very specific data on a key point (good or bad) doesn’t necessarily reflect a departments overall performance

• Comments in the report represent a broad picture of the issues – if finer detail is required, then the relevant Panel needs to delve more closely into the detail

Members’ questions focussed on:

• Figure breakdowns within Priority 1: Safeguarding Vulnerable People – the term ‘adult’ refers to everyone over 18. Different ages require different resources e.g. older peoples services are very different to services aimed at 18-24 year olds. Good or bad performance of these groups may be masked by an average figure

• Some of the finer detail around projects mentioned

• Some KPI’s have now been moved under other headings. Potential concern over missing these. For example, the outcome ‘People living at home or in the community instead of in residential care’ and the indicator ‘number of children becoming looked after in the period’ are now under Priority 5 ‘Building Sustainable Communities’ rather than Priority 1 ‘Safeguarding Vulnerable People’

It was agreed that the following queries be referred to relevant officers for response:

1. Priority 3 EC3 states that the amount of commercial floor space created within the City Centre to accommodate job creation has increased as a result of additional ‘pipeline funding’.

Asked to clarify what the ‘pipeline funding’ was

2. Priority 3 EC4 refers to the number of new housing units in Swansea City Centre as a result of the Vibrant &Viable Places Funding.

Asked to clarify whether the housing units are completely brand new or a replacement of the previous St. David’s dwellings

3. Priority 3 BBMA3 states there has been an increase in the number of training and employment weeks created by Beyond Bricks and Mortar for unemployed and economically inactive.

Asked to clarify where this training took place

4. The End of Year 2016/17 Performance Monitoring Report noted under Priority 5 PI SUSC10 that there were 41 services sustained in the community and were previously formally managed by the council , which missed the target of 50.

Asked to clarify what type of service that 50 consisted of

5. The End of Year 2016/17 Performance Monitoring Report noted under Corporate Support – Workforce PI CHR002 (pg37) the Panel noted that the number of working days/shifts per FTE local authority employee lost due to sickness absence is down.

Asked to break down this figure into long term sickness and             casual sickness

Richard Rowlands (Corporate Performance Manager)

Richard Rowlands Corporate Performance Manager provided an overview of the Corporate Plan. He informed the Panel that it reflects new policy commitments recently agreed by Council.

Key Points Raised:

• The Plan was influenced by legislation such as Wellbeing and Future Generations Act 2015

• The focus of the priorities of the Corporate Plan are broader in scope than the previous ones

• Corporate performance is measured and reported quarterly and annually within the End of Year report

Members’ questions focussed on:

• The lack of a specific priority dedicated to biodiversity and climate change in the Corporate Plan, although these issues are captured in the other priorities.

• The lack of reference to scrutiny activity in the Corporate Plan

Ben Smith (Head of Financial  Services and Service Centre)

Ben Smith, Head of Financial Services and Service Centre, provided a briefing of the Capital Outturn and Financing Report.

Key Points Raised:

• How capital is financed

• Unsupported borrowing and the fact that it will rise

• How interest on borrowing is generally calculated

Members’ questions focussed on:

• The Councils borrowing policy and how this is decided

It was agreed that the following queries be referred to relevant officers for response:

1. The Panel received a presentation on the Capital Outturn and Financing Report 2016/17. The Panel noted in Appendix B the Capital Projects Spend spreadsheet (with spend in excess of £0.5m) the following projects and costs; City Centre – Vibrant and Viable Places schemes (including Oceana, land assembly, High St Regeneration, grant schemes, Westways gyratory). This had a spend associated of £9,304 (million).

Asked to provide the Panel with a breakdown of this spend

2. The Panel noted in the Capital Projects Spend spreadsheet (pg 5) the following project and costs;

HRA new builds Milford Way and Parc-y-Helig Cost £1,297 (million)

Asked to provide the Panel with a breakdown of this figure

Ben Smith (Head of Financial Services and Service Centre)

Ben Smith, Head of Financial Services and Service Centre, provided a briefing of the Quarter 1 Revenue and Capital Budget Monitoring Report.

Key Points Raised:

• The main areas of overspend

• How the contingency fund is planned

Members’ questions focussed on:

• How shortfall was made in other quarters

• How unspent money is dealt with

• Public pay awards and potential impact of a rise

It was agreed that the following query be referred to relevant officers for response:

    1. Within the Budget Monitoring 1st Quarter 2017/18 Report (pg 3) – the             Panel noticed that £136k of the contingency fund has been allocated to pathologists.

            Requested clarity on the reason for the spend, and the spend          breakdown

    2.     The Panel noted in the Capital and Budget Monitoring 1st Quarter 2017/18 Report (pg 4) that within the contingency fund for 2017/18            £500k has been allocated to Corporate Building Services – Additional   Back-pay.

            Requested information on the reason for the figure and a breakdown

The Panel acknowledged there needs to be an additional meeting for the pre-decision scrutiny of the Public Protection Commissioning Review. The Annual Local Government Data Report will be included in the 4th October 2017 meeting. An item on Fees and borrowing will be scheduled for a future meeting.