Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)                 to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)               where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)             the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)              if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no Reserve Members in attendance.

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)               all Members of the Committee;

(b)               all other Members present.

Agenda Item 7  – Corporate Plan

Councillor Sue Anderson declared a non-pecuniary interest in that her son was in receipt of support from Supporting People.  She would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 17 December 2013 and of the Special Meetings held on 8 January and 23 January 2014 be taken as read and signed as correct records.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meetings held on 17 December 2013, 8 January 2014 and 23 January 2014, be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

To receive any public questions received in accordance with Committee Procedure Rule 17 (Part 4B of the Constitution).

Questions will be asked in the order notice of them was received and there be a time limit of 15 minutes.

[The deadline for receipt of public questions is 3.00 pm, <DATE>.  Questions should be sent to publicquestions@harrow.gov.uk  

No person may submit more than one question].

RESOLVED:  To note that no public questions were received.

To receive petitions (if any) submitted by members of the public/Councillors under the provisions of Committee Procedure Rule 15 (Part 4B of the Constitution).

RESOLVED:  To note that no petitions were received.

(if any).

RESOLVED:  To note that no references had been received.

Report of the Corporate Director of Resources

The Committee received a report which contained the proposed Corporate Plan for 2014-15 which set out the Council’s strategic direction, vision and priorities for the year ahead.

The Chair advised the Committee that the report had already been considered by the Cabinet and that the Corporate Plan would be finalised at the Council meeting on 27 February 2014.  The Committee were being asked to provide comments that would be forwarded to the Council meeting.

The Portfolio Holder for Communications, Performance and Resources introduced the report and made the following points:

·                     the Corporate Plan set out the priorities for the Council for 2014/15 as Cleaner, Safer and Fairer;

·                     the evidence bases that had been utilised as part of preparing the Corporate Plan included the results from the last Place Survey, the Let’s Talk consultation conducted with residents by the Labour administration in 2010, the Reputation Tracker conducted by the Council and call volumes in Access Harrow;

·                     in the Place Survey results, residents had identified tackling crime and having clean streets as their most popular priorities.  These two areas were also identified by residents as requiring improvement;

·                     the Let’s Talk consultation conducted by the Labour administration in 2010 had demonstrated that the majority of respondents had supported the priority of ‘keeping neighbourhoods clean, green and safe’.  Half of respondents had also stated that this was the single top priority;

·                     the Reputation Tracker had provided evidence that if the Council acted on the concerns of residents, this would result in improved satisfaction with the Council.

A Member queried whether the views provided by residents were actually a perception of residents related to a service that they had received in a specific area.  This therefore might not be an accurate representation and may highlight the importance of universal services against those less well used services such as adult social care.  The Portfolio Holder responded that the Reputation Tracker was designed to try and address this issue by the use of open ended questions, identifying what they were most concerned about and their subsequent views.  In preparing the priorities within the Corporate Plan, it was intended that these priorities were focused on the needs of residents.

A Member commented that his recent experience of a family member using services provided by the Council in relation to Adult Social Care had been fast, clean and efficient.  The Portfolio Holder responded that Adult Social Care had been greatly improved within the Council since the previous Commission for Social Care Inspectorates’ inspection regime and this was due to the success of the current and previous administration.  However it was important to remember that the costs of the service continued to increase and this was a real challenge for the future.

A Member asked whether the size of a particular service could result in any opinions about it being biased.  The Portfolio Holder responded that care was required on this and whilst data and figures were important when assessing service delivery for small teams, this should not be used  ...  view the full minutes text for item 483.

Report of the Divisional Director of Strategic Commissioning

The Committee received a report providing a summary of the issues considered by the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Sub-Committee at its meeting on 21 January 2014.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

Report of the Divisional Director of Strategic Commissioning

The Committee considered the report of the Divisional Director of Strategic Commissioning which accompanied the reports from Scrutiny Lead Members.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted and the actions proposed within the Scrutiny Lead Members report be agreed.