Meeting documents

No apologies.

To disclose any personal or disclosable pecuniary interests.

There were none.

Of the meeting held on 27^th September to be confirmed as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 27^th September 2016 were confirmed as a correct record.

This is an opportunity for members of the public to put a question or raise an issue of concern, related to Environment, Transport and Locality Services.   Where possible, the relevant organisation to which the question/issue is directed will be present to give a verbal response.  Members of the public will be invited to speak for up to four minutes on their issue.  A maximum of 30 minutes is set aside for the Public Questions slot in total (including responses and any Committee discussion). This may be extended with the Chairman’s discretion. 

For full guidance on Public Questions, including how to register a request to speak during this slot, please follow this link:

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/about-your-council/scrutiny/getting-involved/

There were none.

For the Chairman of the Committee to provide an update to the Committee on recent scrutiny related activity.

The Chairman welcomed the new Committee and Governance Advisor, Kama Wager and thanked Kelly Sutherland Committee and Governance Officer for her excellent support to the Committee.

The Committee will receive an update on the progress of developing the Safer Bucks Plan for 2017/18. This is an opportunity for Members to provide a steer on the suggested areas of priority for the Community Safety Team for the coming year.

Contributors:

Margaret Aston, Deputy Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Public Health.

Cath Marriott, Community Safety Manager.

The Chairman welcomed Mrs Margaret Aston, Deputy Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Cath Marriott, Community Safety Manager.

The Committee received an overview of the evidence base from the Strategic Assessment which helps to inform decisions around priorities for the 2017 3-year Safer Bucks Plan. Members had the opportunity at the very early stages of the plan being developed to ask questions and provide input into the emerging plan. The plan is due to be completed for Cabinet in the March 2017.

Questions from members covered the following areas:

• The previous year budget, allocation of funding and outcomes.

Members heard that last year the Safer Bucks Partnership board received £495,000 from the Police and Crime Commissioner. Members heard about examples of the projects and initiatives that were delivered and the success of those. They also heard how the community safety work in Bucks is held as good practice for innovative ideas and solutions. One of the ongoing key areas for Bucks is Violence (including Domestic), along with emerging issues such as Modern slavery, child exploitation and cybercrime. These are leading to a need for longer term planning and longer term interventions due to the complex and national nature of these issues. Members were informed that contract management of commissioned services has tightened to ensure outcomes achieved (although preventative projects are inherently difficult to measure). AN area highlighted for further improvements was in getting better engagement with service users of the services commissioned.

• Issues around Domestic Violence and unaccompanied children:

These issues were raised by members as issues that need to be addressed. Members heard how issues like these will always sit within the work that the partnership address and will be priorities going forward. The information provided in the report was on emerging trends that are new to the plan for the forthcoming years, and which required a shift in approach to a longer term plan, rather than an annual plan. Members were reassured that issues such as these would also be the foundation work of the partnership.

• Social return on investment, and how to balance the annual budget/funding with the longer term planning approach.

Members heard that the budget for next year is unknown as of yet, this will be confirmed in the New Year. There will be a change in funding from the Police and Crime Commissioner, who will retain 10% of the funding to commission services centrally. Public consultation will be completed in January. The funding and longer term planning balance will be achieved through the greater use of commissioning of services and smarter contract management. The partnership in Bucks are working closely with national and regional partners to ensure that in Bucks we are able to influence national issues but link into national work taking place where it is appropriate and to ensure that there is not duplication of work, and effective sharing of information and activity.

• How we benchmark nationally with the emerging national issues:

The partnership work closely with national partners such as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

For Member's to receive a six monthly update on the performance of Transport for Buckinghamshire contract. This will include an update on the impact of the CONFIRM system and the Key Performance Indicators.

Contributors:

Mark Shaw, Cabinet Member for Transportation

Mark Kemp, Director of Transport

Simon Dando, Contract Manager for TfB

The Chairman welcomed Mr Mark Shaw, Cabinet Member for Transportation, Mark Kemp, Simon Dando and Mark Avril.

The Cabinet Member provided the Members with a brief update before members asked questions on more specific issues which the Cabinet Member and the lead officers dealt with in turn.

The key areas raised by questions were:

• Gulley Cleaning, the programme, checks carried out, and communication of programme of works to members and residents.

The chairman had received a request form the Chairman of the Finance, Resources and Performance Committee to ask a question on the progress of the gulley cleaning programme following issues being raised within that committee. Members heard that there had been issues with recording and about the challenges in mapping gulleys. We heard that that the Council only has 2 gulley suckers and this was due to cost and limited budget to purchase and operate more. Members asked if they could have sight of the programme for gulley cleaning and told they could have this. Members were informed that the programme of works is weather dependent and therefore always subject to some change. Members questioned works supposedly carried out but had clearly not been done and were told that gulley cleaners are tracked, however sometimes they get there and can’t clean the gulley’s for reasons outside of their control. But they will check the example raised by Cllr Lesley Clarke who questioned the works that were supposed to have been completed in Daws Hill.

• Street lighting: Members raised concerns about the issues around broken street lights across the county. . Members were told that there have been issues raised and this is the time of year when most issues highlighted due to the darker evenings the issues become evident. Many of the lights are coming up to 40 years old and the end of their design life so there are plans for changes that are going through.
• Customer Contact: Members raised issue with the 28 day response time to customer enquiries and feel this is unacceptable. The cabinet Member told members he agrees and the response time has been reduced over the last 3-4 months significantly. There has been an increase in the amount of non-complex issues that are dealt with in 1-2 days. Members were told that the new systems in place allows the contact response times to be monitored very closely through dashboards for volume of complaints, type and time taken to address. There is also a new customer compliance officer in post for each depot.

• How we prioritise expenditure of Buckingham to Winslow cycle path over other spending on making roads safer for cyclists in other areas? Members received clarity that the funding for the cycle path was government funding specifically for a cycle path and could not be spent on anything else. If it was not spent they would lose it. Making changes to roads comes from the main capital maintenance budget for new roads etc. so is different. Members were grateful for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Members will examine the progress of Digital projects within the Transport, Environment and Economy Business Unit. Members will consider the extent to which they will be able to produce financial savings and enhance the experience and service to customers. Members will have the opportunity to provide their views on achieving an effective balance between efficiencies gained through the digital projects and delivering good customer service

Contributors:

Mark Shaw, Cabinet Member for Transportation

Peter Parfitt, Head of Business Improvement and Delivery

Gill Harding, Director of Business Strategy, Improvement and Commercial Delivery (TEE). 

The Chairman welcomed Mr Mark Shaw, Cabinet Member for Transportation and Peter Parfitt, Head of Business Improvement and Delivery. Peter Parfitt delivered a presentation to members on the digital projects within the Business Unit, and future opportunities to develop these further. The full presentation can be viewed on the webcast.

Members welcomed the presentation and asked questions on the following areas:

• Customer Journey: Member asked about the testing of digital tools and whether the public are used for this and were told that they do. For example the Maintain My Street App used public and user research to identify issues.
• Member Dashboard: Members asked what had happened to the Member dashboard that had been promised. They were told that this will now be completed by Christmas and the Cabinet Member apologised to members for the delay.
• How demonstrate value for money and the outcomes of the funding received and ownership of software. Members were told that the money in question £300, 000 funding from Innovate UK is monitored by external monitoring officer and most the costs went on the salary of the person carrying out the project. Monitoring officer reports are available. All money and allocation is monitored quarterly.
• Monetarisation of Data: Key points made included who the data belongs to, when it will make money, how the business case process will work to identify whether it will generate income. There is a hope that BCC will get an income form the data eventually. At the moment the data is part of a trial so there is currently no income generated from it.
• Ensuring inclusivity in the digital projects. Members raised concern over ensuring there are safety nets for those residents who are unable to utilise digital options. They were reassured that there would be safety measures in place and a transition plan to address teething problems in new digital projects early on. .

Action Committee and Governance Adviser: For the work programme to be updated for an update on Digital projects and monetarisation of data to come back to the committee later next year. 

Members will consider the upcoming items at the committee’s January meeting. An informal work programme session will be arranged for Members to consider the 2017 work programme in the New Year.  

The Committee noted the future work programme items for its next meeting on the 17^th January 2016.

The Committee will meet on the 6^th December at 10:00 am in Mezzanine 2.

17^th January 2016 at 10am in Large Dining Room, Judges Lodgings, Aylesbury. There will be a pre-meeting for members of the Committee only at 9.30am.