Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 25 July 2023 as an accurate record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 July 2023 were agreed as an accurate record.

Members are invited to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and other registrable and non-registrable interests they may have in relation to any item(s) of business on today’s agenda.

There were no disclosures of interest made at the meeting.

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no items of urgent business for the consideration of the Scrutiny & Overview Committee at this meeting.

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is presented with a report setting out the performance measures that will be used to report progress made with delivering the five outcomes within the Mayor’s Business Plan.  The Committee is asked to review these proposed performance measures and their alignment with the five outcomes. 

The Committee considered a report set out on pages 17 to 46 of the agenda which outlined the proposed performance indicators that would be used to measure the delivery of the Mayor’s Business Plan. The report had been included on the agenda to provide the Committee with the opportunity to comment on these indicators prior to the first performance report being prepared for the Cabinet meeting on 25 October 2023.

The Executive Mayor of Croydon, Jason Perry, Chief Executive, Katherine Kerswell, Assistant Chief Executive, Elaine Jackson, Corporate Directors Nick Hibberd, Debbie Jones, Annette McPartland, Susmita Sen, Jane West, Director of Policy, Programmes & Performance, David Courcoux and Business Insight Manager, Craig Ferguson, attended the meeting for this item.

During the introduction to the report, the following points were noted: -

• The Mayor’s Business Plan had been agreed by Council on 14 December 2022 and the report presented to the Scrutiny & Overview Committee outlined the key performance indicators (KPI) that would be used to monitor the delivery of this plan.
• The performance framework had been created through a process of reviewing the previous framework to align it to the Mayor’s Business Plan and benchmarking against KPIs used by other boroughs.
• This process had resulted in the identification of the 78 recommendations set out in the report. There were also another 10 potential KPIs that had been suggested by the Mayor which were being developed for inclusion in future reports.
• The KPIs had been deliberately kept at a strategic level and were split into two categories. The first category were indicators where the Council had direct responsibility for delivery and the second category were indicators the Council delivered in partnership and did not directly control.
• It was proposed that the performance reports would be split into three sections. Firstly, a broad high level report, secondly an appendix setting out the indicators with a Red, Amber, Green (RAG) rating and benchmarking data, and thirdly an appendix providing more detail on each of the indicators including context from the relevant directorate.
• The methodology for grading the RAG rating would be as follows; if performance was on target, it would be rated as green, if performance was within 10% of the target it would be rated as amber, if performance was over 10% below the target it would be rated as red.
• Where available and relatively current, national bench marking data would be included in the performance report.

Following the introduction to the report, the Chair advised that the consensus of the Committee from their pre-meet had been that the performance report was a good piece of work and clearly presented.

The first question raised by the Committee on the report asked whether there had been any community engagement in the development of the KPIs. It was advised that the process to create the KPIs had started with the previously used KPIs, supported by benchmarking these against six other local authorities. The indicators had then been cross checked against the Business Plan to select the most  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53/23

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is presented with the latest Financial Performance Monitoring report (Month 3 – June 2023) for its information. The Committee is asked to: -

1.    Review the information provided in the report on the Month 3 Financial Performance Report, and

2.    Consider its conclusions on the latest budget position for 2023-24

3.    Consider whether there are any recommendations to bring to the attention of the Mayor.

The Committee considered a report on pages 47 to 82 of the agenda that provided an overview of the latest budget position for 2023-24 up until the end of Month 3 (June 2023). This report was included on the agenda as part of the Committee’s ongoing scrutiny of the delivery of 2023-24 budget.

The Chief Executive, Katherine Kerswell, Corporate Director for Resources & Section 151 Officer, Jane West, Director of Finance, Allister Bannin, Assistant Chief Executive, Elaine Jackson and Corporate Directors Nick Hibberd, Debbie Jones and Annette McPartland were in attendance for this item at the meeting.

During the introduction to the report, the following points were noted: -

• The budget for 2023-24 was only balanced due to the £63m capitalisation request being granted by Government.
• It was predicted that the budget shortfall next year would reduce to £38m, which would then be needed to be found each year on an ongoing basis.
• To stay within budget for this year, the Council must deliver £33m of savings, which was the highest level of savings needed within the London boroughs.
• Two directorates, Childrens and Adults Service, have flagged that their activity rates have continued to increase which means it possible that there would be an overspend in this area.
• However, a balanced budget was still predicted as other directorates were forecasting an underspend which would help to reduce the identified overspend alongside used of the corporate contingency fund.
• The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) was forecasting a £3.8m overspend due to the additional work required to address the missed repair back log, the work to improve void turnaround times and higher legal fees than budgeted for linked to disrepair cases.

It was highlighted that a report was due to be considered by the Executive Mayor at the Cabinet meeting on 27 September 2023 that requested the allocation of additional funding for a project aimed at maximising the functionality of the Oracle system used by the Council for finance and HR processes. Reassurance was sought by the Committee about the potential impact of the issues highlighted in the Cabinet report and whether there was a risk to the accuracy of the financial reporting of the Council. It was advised that the issues with the Oracle system were mainly inefficiencies related to staff time and not related to data accuracy. There was a specific issue related to integration with the new NEC Housing system, which was having an impact on accuracy within that specific area, but it was an identified risk and being managed accordingly.

Given media reports about the cost of fixing the Oracle system at Birmingham City Council, reassurance was sought about the cost of the improvement work in Croydon. It was advised that it had been estimated the project would cost between £2m to £5m, with it more likely to be delivered at the lower end of the estimate. The system was already in place and the Council would not be buying any new modules, instead the project was aimed at maximising  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54/23

The Committee is provided with a copy of a Cabinet report which gives and update on the delivery of the People & Cultural Transformation Strategy, including the accompanying action plan. The Committee is asked to: -

1.  Review the information provided in the report on the People & Cultural Transformation Strategy, and

2.  Decide whether there are any comments or recommendations on the scheme to bring to the attention of the Mayor during his consideration of the report.

The Committee considered a report set out on pages 83 to 120 of the agenda setting out the action plan which underpinned the People & Cultural Transformation Strategy agreed by the Executive Mayor at Cabinet on 25 January 2023. The Strategy had been reviewed by the Scrutiny & Overview Committee on 30 January 2023, at which time the Committee agreed that it wanted to review the accompanying action plan once it had been completed.

The Chief Executive, Katherine Kerswell, Assistant Chief Executive, Elaine Jackson, Corporate Director of Resources, Jane West and Chief People Officer, Dean Shoesmith attended the meeting for this item.

During the introduction to the report by the Chief People Officer the following points were noted: -

·         The People & Cultural Transformation Strategy had been developed through co-creation and this approach had continued for the development of the action plan.

·         This co-creation approach included a range of sessions being held with staff on the seven pillars within the Strategy.

·         This approach would continue throughout the life of the Strategy with regular engagement with staff and unions to test the Strategy to ensure it was having its intended impact.

Before asking questions on the report, the Chair highlighted that the Committee had met with staff and union representatives prior to the meeting to hear their feedback on the action plan, with the general consensus being that it reflected the feedback given during the co-creation sessions. Having reviewed the action plan, the Committee was unsure how many of the actions would be measured to determine delivery and welcomed confirmation from the Chief People Officer that the action plan would be refined to ensure the actions were as SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) as possible.

It was questioned whether the issues with the Oracle system would have an impact on the delivery of the strategy.  It was acknowledged that there was a lot of work needed to improve the system and processes for Oracle. However, the strategy was focussed on culture and behaviour rather than systems, which was why a co-creation approach had been used. A key improvement that would be looked for as part of the Oracle project was to improve the recording of management information such as staff establishment. There would also be work needed to build dashboards of data within Oracle as currently a significant amount of time was spent compiling this information outside the system.

Regarding apprenticeships, it was confirmed that there was an aim for the Council to have seven apprenticeships per directorate each year. ‘Growing your own’ was a key workstream in the strategy and included apprenticeships, the national graduate programme and supporting new social workers. The Committee welcomed the commitment to increasing the number of apprenticeships at the Council.

As a follow-up it was questioned how the Council would ensure that it had an inclusive approach to growing its own talent. It was advised that during the co-creation process, there was a strong message from staff that there needed to be a much more systematic  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55/23

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is presented with a draft of the Annual Scrutiny Report for its review and is asked to: -

1.  Approve the draft version of the Annual Scrutiny Report for submission to Council on 11 October 2023.

2.  To note that any amendments made as a result of the comments of the Committee will be agreed by the Scrutiny Chairs, to meet the timeline for delivery to the Council meeting.

The Committee considered a report set out on pages 121 to 196 of the agenda which presented a draft version of the Scrutiny Annual Report 2022-23 for comment, prior to a final version being submitted to the next Full Council meeting on 11 October 2023 for noting.

It was noted that the report would be updated to include an appendix providing a summary of the recommendations submitted for the consideration of the Executive Mayor during 2022-23.

Resolved: The Scrutiny & Overview Committee agreed to: -

1.  Approve the draft version of the Annual Scrutiny Report for submission to Council on 11 October 2023.

2.  To note that any amendments made as a result of the comments of the Committee will be agreed by the Scrutiny Chairs, to meet the timeline for delivery to the Council meeting.

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is asked to

1.    Approve the recommendations made by its Sub-Committee’s for submission to the Executive Mayor for his consideration.

2.    Review the response provided by Mayor to recommendations made by the Scrutiny & Overview Committee.

The Committee considered a report set out on pages 197 to 206 of the agenda which presented recommendations proposed by the scrutiny sub-committees for sign-off ahead of submission to the Executive Mayor. It also presented the response of the Mayor to previous recommendations submitted by the Scrutiny & Overview Committee for consideration.

Resolved: The Scrutiny & Overview Committee agreed to: -

1.  Approve the recommendations made by its Sub-Committee’s for submission to the Executive Mayor for his consideration.

2.  Note the response provided by Mayor to recommendations made by the Scrutiny & Overview Committee.

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is asked to: -

1.     Note the most recent version of the Scrutiny Work Programme presented in the report.

2.     Consider whether there are any other items that should be provisionally added to the work programme as a result of the discussions held during the meeting.

The Committee considered a report set out on pages 207 to 226 of the agenda which presented the most recent version of the work programme for the Scrutiny & Overview Committee and its Sub-Committees.

Resolved: The Scrutiny & Overview Committee agreed to note the most recent version of the Scrutiny Work Programme 2023-24.

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

This motion was not required.