Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 4 February 2013 were submitted and approved and the Chairman was authorised to sign them as a correct record. 

None were received.

Report of Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer – Report 07.

Members considered the report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer updating the Members of the Council’s performance against Corporate Plan Priority actions, indicators and milestones for 2012/13.

Members were advised that Appendix 1was a detailed report on the Quarter 4 activities and outturns of the performance indicators listed within the Corporate Plan. The report showed the latest available outturns for the Local Performance Indicators featured in the 2010/15 Corporate Plan broken down into themed areas. 

Members were advised that each project had been allocated a number of in-year actions and milestones to be completed in order to progress the project efficiently. Some projects may be completed within the year whereas larger scale priorities would be delivered over a longer period. The first section of Appendix 1 listed those Corporate Plan priorities actions whose in year milestones had been completed in full this year.

The second section of Appendix 1 listed those not completed this year along with commentary to explain the context behind them. The majority of milestones that were outstanding would be carried forward into the refreshed Corporate Plan for 2013/14. Chapter summary text had also been supplied from the relevant Heads of Service to provide added context for the performance reported in each section.

The Strategic Performance Manager advised Members’ that of the 46 Key Performance Indicators reported in the Corporate Plan this year, only 6 were showing as red (performing off target), 28 were showing as green (performing on target), 7 were showing as amber (near misses) and 7 were “data only” or contextual Performance Indicators. Further details were contained in the report.

The Committee was also informed that the Covalent Performance Management system now had the capability to identify those performance indicators that were performing best, demonstrated the best relative improvement in performance and also those that were deteriorating in performance.

The Strategic Performance Manager advised Members that they were currently trialling a Scrutiny log in that would allow Members to access a graphic view of the performance indicators and highlight those likely to change.

The Council’s Devolved Budget spend was also appended to the report which listed the projects supported and their cost, sorted by ward.

The report also provided Scrutiny Committee with the provisional outturn results for the general fund, the housing revenue account (HRA) and capital programme for 2012/13. Members’ noted that a provision outturn variance of £57,000 which showed a reduction of £175,000 when compared the position to the end of December that showed a monitoring variance of £118,000.

Service expenditure had a variance of £44,000 mainly as a result of redundancy costs funded by future savings, increased expenditure by Theatres, Tourism and Events and a short fall in their income. These were however offset by favourable variances such as the final outturn from the Housing Subsidy and Benefits overpayment recovery, receipt of additional in year grant support, unused balance on the contingency fund and additional income from sport and leisure and bereavements. Further details were contained within  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Report of Senior Civic Support Officer – Report 08.

Members are requested to approve the draft Annual Scrutiny Programme.  The final programme is due to be approved by Council on 17 July 2013.

The Committee considered the Annual Scrutiny programme for 2013/14. 

Councillor Warner gave an overview of the additional items that would be added to the programme at a later date. This included a presentation of the future of services at Eastbourne District General Hospital (DGH), where it was proposed to invite senior officials of the DGH, members of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Primary Care Trust, Liz Walke (EBC’s Hospital Champion), Stephen Lloyd (MP) and the Chairman of the Ambulance Services.

The Committee discussed the DGH presentation, in particular the format. The Committee agreed that suitable planning was required to arrange the appropriate format that all parties would agree to and ensure the correct questions were asked to avoid repetition.

Councillor Warner then advised the Committee over the remaining additional items to the Scrutiny Programme which included a review of Highways. Councillor Warner expressed his thanks to Councillor Belsey, the previous Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee for undertaking a review of the roads and potholes around Eastbourne. He advised the Committee that an update on last year’s presentation including what had been achieved would be presented at a future meeting.

A seminar would also be organised for the forthcoming European Elections, that would invite the prospective candidates standing in the elections. It was hoped that the seminar would raise more awareness for the general public regarding Britain’s European Union membership.

Members approved the attached draft Annual Scrutiny Programme. The final programme was due to be approved by Council on 17 July 2013.

RESOLVED: That the draft Annual Programme of routine work be agreed.