Agenda and minutes

            The Minutes from the meeting held on 1 November 2011 were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

The Board was advised that no public questions had been received.

The Minutes of the Executive Board and the Executive Board Sub Committee relating to the work of the Corporate Policy and Performance Board since its last meeting were submitted for information.

Members raised queries relating to the outcome of the consultation and review process on the Parliamentary Boundary Review.

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes be noted.

The Minutes of the Halton Strategic Partnership meeting held on 21 September 2011 were submitted to the Board for information.

Members discussed the following issues:

·        Voluntary Sector Update and the Big Society;

·        Terms of Reference for the Shadow Health and Wellbeing Board;

·        The use of data provided by the Halton Resident’s Survey;

·        The Sub-Regional Update report on regional working and recent initiatives; and

·        The success of inward investment initiatives. All Members of the Board wished to place on record their thanks to staff involved in such initiatives in the Borough.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes be noted.

The Board received a report from the Operational Director Finance, informing Members of the proposals being made as part of the Government’s Local Government Resources Review in relation to the ‘Localism of Council Tax Support’.

It was reported that following the Comprehensive Spending review 2010, the Government announced that it would localise support for Council Tax from 2012-14, thus reducing expenditure by 10%.  On 17 February 2011 the Government published the Welfare Reform Bill, containing provisions for the abolition of Council Tax Benefit from April 2013, paving the way for new localised schemes.

It was noted that the draft response to the consultation document ‘Localising Support for Council Tax in England’ had already been circulated to Members.

The report went on to layout the proposed scheme that the Council would adopt following implementation of the localisation of council tax support and explained some of the implications that would result from such a scheme which related to Halton.

RESOLVED:  That a further report be brought to the Board to assess and make recommendations on the following:

1)         the financial impact to claimants and the Council of the proposals; and

2)                 an outline local scheme for Halton for subsequent recommendation to the Council.

The Board received a report from the Operational Director, Finance, which informed Members of the Government’s proposals for Business Rates Retention as part of the Local Government Resources Review, and the potential financial implications for the Council.

The Board was advised that the Government’s Local Government Resource Review would make fundamental changes to the funding of local government and would have a significant impact upon the future resources available to the Council.   Government had undertaken a consultation which ended on 24^th October 2011 in relation to the proposals for Business Rates Retention as part of the Resource Review. It was noted that the consultation also set out how Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and the New Homes Bounus might work within the proposed Business Rates Retention system.  Halton’s response to the consultation was approved by the Executive Board on 13^th October 2011 and Halton also contributed to a joint response by the Liverpool City Region.

It was reported that in 2011-12 Business Rates contributed 76% of the total national Formula Grant provided to councils, with the balance met by Revenue Support Grant.  Business rates were currently collected by councils and paid over into a national pool from which they were redistributed as part of formula grant on a per capita basis. 

Under the Government’s proposals, from 2013-14, formula grant would be fully funded from Business Rates with the removal of revenue support grant. The report outlined the financial risks for Halton associated with the proposed changes.

RESOLVED:  That

1)                 the report and potential financial implications for the Council, be noted; and

2)                 the Board be kept up to date with developments.

The Board received a report from the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources which provided an update on Business Planning for the period 2012-15 and also requested them to consider the Directorate priorities, objectives and targets for services for this period that fell within the remit of this Policy and Performance Board.

The Board was reminded that each Directorate of the Council was required to develop medium term business plans in parallel with the budget that were subject to annual review and refresh.  It was noted that key priorities for development or improvement in 2012-15 were agreed by Members on 1 November 2011 for the various functional areas reporting to this Policy and Performance Board.

Given the remit of the Corporate Policy and Performance Board since the reconfiguration of Directorates in 2011, Business Plans for Policy and Resources and Children and Enterprise Directorate, in respect of Property Services, and the Communities Directorate in respect of Catering, Stadium and Registration Services, were now available for consideration by the Policy and Performance Board so therefore, business plans for all three Directorates were presented to this Board for comments.

Members were advised that it was proposed that the draft Directorate Business Plans would be revised following Member comments during January and would go to Executive Board for approval on 9^th February 2012, at the same time as the draft budget, thus ensuring that decisions on Business Planning were linked to resource allocation.  Following this, all Directorate plans would be considered by full Council at the 7^th March 2012 meeting.

It was noted that plans could only be finalised once budget decisions had been confirmed in March and that some target information may need to be reviewed as a result of final outturn data becoming available post March 2012. 

RESOLVED:  That

1)                 any objectives and targets for the next three years that the Board wished to see included in the Business plans be identified; and

2)                 any detailed comments that Board Members may have be passed to the relevant Operational Director by 18^th January 2012.

The Board was presented with a report which provided an analysis on complaints processed under all three of the Council’s Complaints Procedures during 2010-11.

Members were advised that the Council presently had a statutory responsibility to administer complaints in relation to Children and Young People and Adult Social Care.  Additionally, the Council also administered a procedure to deal with corporate complaints whereby the public could seek redress if they believed Council departments had failed to deliver a satisfactory level of service.

The report went on to explain the stages of each Directorate’s complaint procedure, attached in Appendix 1.  Further, the report provided data relating to complaints trend analysis 2010-11, which included information on the nature and outcome of complaints.

RESOLVED:  That the contents of the report be noted.

The performance management reports were presented to the Board by the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources.  The Board was requested to consider and raise any questions or points of clarification in respect of performance management reports for the second quarter of 2011-12. 

The report detailed progress against service objectives/milestones and performance targets, and described factors affecting the service for:

• Policy and Performance;
• Financial Services;
• Legal and Democratic Services;
• ICT and Support Services;
• Learning and Development;
• Property Services; and
• Catering, Stadium and Registration Services.

RESOLVED:  That the second quarter performance management reports be noted.

The Sickness Absence 2^nd Quarter 2011-12 report was presented to the Board providing information to Members on the number of working days lost in the 2^nd quarter 2011-12, outlining trends and patterns of sickness and also provided comparative data from 2^nd quarter 2011-12.

It was noted that due to the restructure in April 2011, it was not possible to make comparisons across directorates for the 2^nd quarter 2011-12 and the same quarter 2010-11, as directorates had changed.  Comparisons could however still be made across the Authority as a whole.

RESOLVED:  That the content of the report be noted.