Meeting documents

To sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 15 March 2016.

The Minutes of the meetings held on 15 March 2016 and 17 May 2016 were agreed as a correct record and were signed by the Chairman.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chairman requested a report on Waste recycling for a future meeting (18 October 2016). It was noted that the annual target of 57% for household waste sent for reuse, recycling and composting for 2015/16 was not achieved (Actual 2015/16 was 52.53%). Councillors agreed it would be useful to have more detail about the problems and progress being made.

The annual performance report 2015/16 was presented to the Committee.  Heads of Service had been asked to include achievements and performance which was presented in a new info-graphic format.  It was agreed that this format made information more accessible to the general public.  In Appendix B, the Performance Indicators were shown in a table with explanation notes.  It was noted that the Sickness Absence indicators would be changed from April 2016 to show short-term and long-term sickness separately, so that trends would be more visible.

A query was made regarding Bucks Home Choice having assisted 236 households with homelessness applications as to whether this was a Chiltern District figure or combined for CDC/SBDC.

Congratulations were sent to Officers for the 99.0% tax collection rate in Council Tax.

Overall, most targets had been reached and there were good reasons where this had not been achieved.

RESOLVED -

That the draft Cabinet report be noted and that the comments of the Services Overview Committee be forwarded to the Cabinet.

A joint Private Sector Housing Strategy and associated policies was presented to the Committee for approval before being presented to cabinet on 28 June.   The new policy for both Council’s had been produced following presentations to both Council’s and joint member housing workshops.  It was noted that it it covered many important and diverse areas including the strategy itself, the action plan, financial assistance policy, housing enforcement, houses in multi-occupation and including fire standards.

With pressure on housing and the increase in houses in multiple occupation, Councillors were concerned about vulnerable persons and whether they felt able to report rogue landlords.  It was noted that this did happen and that other agencies were also able to report any concerns that should be investigated and work was often done in partnership with other agencies.

Councillors enquired whether the House Condition Survey would be of benefit in setting the strategy but it was advised that there was enough data from other sources to formulate the policy.  The survey would have provided anonymised data, extrapolated across the district and wouldn’t have highlighted particular properties or households. The information provided would reinforce the existing knowledge that private rented properties and properties occupied by older persons were most likely to have poorer heating and insulation and items of disrepair. The financial assistance policy had been designed to address these concerns

The Committee were advised that there were new national proposals to create a register of rogue landlords banned from being landlords, which would apply to all areas.  Details of these proposals had not yet been received or how that would work.

RESOLVED -

That the recommendations contained in the draft Cabinet report be endorsed by the Services Overview Committee and that the comments of the Committee be forwarded to the Cabinet.

The Environmental Health team has been a shared service since December 2015.  The Committee were presented with the joint Food and Health and Safety Service Plan for the year 2016/17 for approval and recommendation to cabinet.  Currently there was a risk based approach for inspection and enforcement.  In the District 96% of food businesses were largely compliant and so the action plan was targeted to the remaining 4%.  The team were able to offer mentoring, help and advice in addition to enforcement.  Overall 99% of inspections had been achieved.

For 2016/17, the Action Plan is focused on service improvement, working more efficiently and effectively using IT solutions and mobile working.  It was advised that training, coaching and mentoring was offered to all businesses but that the focus would be to target the poorer food establishments.  The business plan supported the development of chargeable services and seeking to deliver services for other local authorities.

RESOLVED -

That the recommendations contained in the draft Cabinet report be endorsed by the Services Overview Committee and that the comments of the Committee be forwarded to the Cabinet.