Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Tom Munro and Sally Renshaw, and from Theresa Fletcher (Head of Service – Finance & Resources).

To note any urgent items of business which the Chairman has consented to being considered under the provisions of Section 100(B) 4(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no urgent items of business to be considered.

Members should declare the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and Non Statutory Interest as defined by the Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of:

a)  any business on the agenda

b)  any urgent additional items to be considered

c)  any matters arising out of those items

and if appropriate, withdraw from the meeting at the relevant time.

There were no declarations made at the meeting.

To consider the minutes of the last meeting held on 27^th February 2024.

Moved by Councillor David Bennett and seconded by Councillor Rowan Clarke

RESOLVED that the Minutes of a Finance and Corporate Overview Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 27^th February 2024 be approved as a correct record.

(Members should contact the officer whose name appears on the List

of Key Decisions for any further information. NB: If Members wish to

discuss an exempt report under this item, the meeting will need to

move into exempt business and exclude the public in accordance with

the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 and Local

Government Act 1972, Part 1, Schedule 12a for that part of the

meeting only).

The Committee considered the List of Key Decisions and Items in the document.

RESOLVED that the document be noted.

The Improvement Officer informed the Committee that this would be the last quarter update (Quarter 4 of 2023-24) of the Council’s Ambition targets for 2020-24.  The new plan would be presented to the Committee in due course.

Out of the 25 targets for Quarter 4 of 2024 for the current plan, 16 (64%) had been achieved, 1 (4%) had not been achieved, and 8 (32%) were within target.  Out of the 48 performance indicators, 35 (73%) had a positive outturn, 9 (18%) had a negative outturn, and 4 (8%) were within target.

Out of 17 targets, 1 Council target for Quarter 4 of 2024 had not been achieved; ENV.03 – to achieve a combined recycling and composting rate of 43% by March 2024.  This challenging target had been set to increase the Council’s combined recycling rate from 36% (2022\23) to 43% (2023\24), requiring combined burgundy and green bin material increase of 2,300 tonnes.   However, throughout the 2023/24 period, 1,550 tonnes of material had been diverted, resulting in a 40.5% (approx.) recycling rate.

After a query from a Member, the Improvement Officer confirmed ‘diverted’ meant recycling waste that had been contaminated; the Strategic Director of Services had explained to the Improvement Officer that the cause of this diversion was food waste being contaminated with garden waste.

The Environment Act 2021 now required all English Councils to implement separate weekly collection of food waste from 1^st April 2026 to achieve a combined recycling rate of 65% by 2035; this target had been set within in the Council’s new plan for 2024-2028.  The Portfolio Holder for Resources asked if this would require the use of another bin for collection, and a Member answered a grey bin for food waste would be deployed.

The Improvement Officer highlighted the breakdown of the performance indicators for supporting the Council’s aims presented on Page 17 of the document.

In Customer Services, CSP11 (percentage of telephone calls answered within

20 seconds (Corporate) (Quarterly)) and CSP25 (percentage of Informal (stage 1) complaints responded to within 3 working days) were below target.  The Improvement Officer noted it was at times unfair to only look at the numbers, as with regards to some complaints, these can be difficult to resolve.

240 requests for FOI/EIR had been made in Quarter 4 of 2024.  While below the 95% target (87.9%), the team had been carrying a long term absence which would be resolved in Quarter 1 of 2024/25.

For Revenues and Benefits, the collection of Council Tax Arrears and NNDR Arrears were below target, though the reasons for this were COVID-19 and the ongoing Cost of Living Crisis.  Progress was being made, but this was down to external matters beyond the Council’s control.

A Member noted RS06 (percentage of Council Tax Arrears collected (profiled target)) and RS07 (percentage of NNDR Arrears collected (profiled target)) were improving every quarter throughout 2023/24, and the Portfolio Holder for Resources added it was important the collection of these arrears did not come at the cost of  ...  view the full minutes text for item FCO6-23/24

The Monitoring Officer explained that the Work Programme 2023/24 was coming to an end, and while a new programme would be created, it would likely be very similar to what was already before the Committee.

The Chair thanked the Committee for the wonderful year.