Issue - meetings

(Report of the Leader of the Council)

The Report of the Leader of the Council provided Cabinet with a performance update and financial Healthcheck. The report was considered by Corporate Scrutiny Committee at their meeting on 21^st June 2022.

RESOLVED that Cabinet endorsed the contents of the Report.

(Moved by Councillor J Oates and seconded by Councillor R Pritchard)

(Report of the Leader of the Council)

The Committee received the Leader of the Council’s Quarter four 2021/22 Performance Report which provided the Corporate Scrutiny Committee with a performance update and financial Healthcheck, prior to the report being presented to Cabinet.  The Chair welcomed the Leader of the Council to the meeting.

The Committee commented and sought clarifications in the following areas:

1.    The Committee requested that further consideration be given to the level of details shown in some of the graphs regarding council tax current year collection such that any trends could be more easily identified.

2.    The project highlight report for Net Zero Carbon shows a due date of 2050, details of further milestones and relevant dates were requested.  The Leader reported that a baseline report from appointed consultants was expected over the next two months which would assist in providing details of areas of focus, areas where the council can influence / control and enable comparisons with other local authorities, noting that the council had retained housing stock which contributed to the net zero carbon base.

3.    The Committee considered that an alternate colour coding for items which were completed and in the past to be used, to differentiate from item which were coded as currently green.

4.    Further clarification on the front facing reception for residents was requested to assist residents in accessing services.   The Committee reiterated the importance of a front desk for residents.  The Leader reaffirmed the commitment to provide a front desk and confirmed that he would provide a further written update to the Committee with further details on the planned front facing reception and when that was expected following an upcoming Recovery & Reset Board meeting.

5.    In terms of universal credit and the numbers of residents now on this system, the Committee sought clarification on whether this remained an area which potentially impacted the council’s revenues, in terms of council tax or council rent arrears, where the Leader confirmed that the collection rates had remained consistent year on year.

RESOLVED to endorse the report, noting the comments raised by the Committee.

(Moved by Councillor S Goodall and seconded by Councillor C Cooke)

The Committee further considered that it would be appropriate to review the Quarterly Performance Report’s content to ensure that it remained aligned to the Council’s recently approved new Corporate Plan 2022-2025.  The working group would report back to this Committee on its findings.