Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors S Doyle, M Bailey, G Coates

(To approve the Minutes of the Meeting held on the 20^th June 2023)

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 20^th June 2023 were approved and signed as a true record.

(Moved by Councillor B Price  and seconded by Councillor C Bain)

There were no Declarations of Interest.

None

None

None refered

(Discussion Item)

As report was delayed the committee had asked more time to read and come back with any questions

Update on questions -

·         Does the new scheme include the Armed forces Covenant - yes, we will be continuing

·         How many people will this new scheme help?  The scheme will help over 1,000 vulnerable residents in Tamworth under this scheme

·         How many recipients are currently in receipt of Local council Tax reduction between £6,000 and £16,000 – 5 at present of which we have a couple that will receive under the new scheme 1 or 2 people will be affected. 

·         There is a discretionary fund to help people under transition. 

The committee agreed they happy for the scheme to go out for public consultation. 

(Report of the Leader of the Council)

Report of the Leader of the Council to provide the Committee with an overview of Council performance for the first quarter of the 2023-24 financial year (April to June 2023).  It reports the position in relation to progress with strategic corporate projects and updates on the financial position, corporate risk, audit, information governance and complaints.  Cabinet will consider the report on 31^st August 2023.

The Officers confirmed that for future reports the page numbers would be removed to allow for easier reference for members

The Committee sought clarity on the following: 

1.    Unclear on bench marking how you compare with other local authorities and where do the targets come from?  In terms of benchmarking this will be something we are looking at, key indicators we can benchmark against other authorities.    

2.    Page 8 Quarterly targets, some of the graph’s quarterly performance varies for performance, are the targets wrong where do they come from. These are internal targets based on internal profile of spend.  Internal check against are we roughly spending to our anticipated profile. It’s another way of visualising of where our spend should be now.

3.    Pg 14 responded to 145 Freedom of Information requests in 1 quarter, what sort of drain is that on capacity.  – This is decrease of 9.9% from last year.  The Committee would like to thank the team for the hard work in responding to all these enquiries. 

4.    Neighbourhood Impact Team – what outcome are we looking for from this.    It’s set up to give a more targeted approach the vulnerable people.  Previously the service was great but very wide, this service allows to target those people who need us.  It may be something the committee would like to review in 6 – 12 months.  It will build on the vulnerability data that is collected. 

5.    Should Corporate Scrutiny have seen the draft Asset Management Strategy – It was discussed at Corporate Scrutiny last year and led to some changes.  It is planned to go to Infrastructure Safety and Growth Committee

6.    Exploration of new operating model for services. – A new corporate project hand in hand with the medium Term Financial Strategy, need to look if there is a more efficient effective way of doing things. 

7.    Page 12 Universal Credit/Housing benefit payments.  We have 26 successful claims from 89 applied for, which means we granted 29.9% of applications changed from previous year granted 43 of 98 43.9% why does it keep going down.  – It is the level of outside income people are applying because its general austerity so they are applying for a discretionary housing payment, but the criteria is strict, so we are having to refuse on comparison of income and expenditure as they don’t meet the criteria.  Officer asked to provide a briefing note.

8.    5134 caseload for Council Tax Reduction Scheme so a quarter of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

To receive any update from the Working Groups

Nothing to update. 

Discussion Item – Link to the Forward Plan Below

Forward plan - Forward Plan - 1 July 2023 - 31 October 2023 :: Tamworth Borough Council

Chair requested to look at the Financial Strategy to look at the Mid Term Financial Strategy.

To review and discuss the Work Plan and Action Log

Chair requested the Local Plan is added to the work plan but will liaise with the Chair of Infrastructure Safety & Growth as that Committee is also looking at the Local Plan

Add Financial Strategy to work plan

Repair Working Group to be added as a standing agenda item