Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 June 2013 were submitted and approved and the Chairman was authorised to sign them as a correct record. 

None reported.

Report of Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer.

Members considered the report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer updating the committee on the Council’s performance against Corporate Plan Priority actions, indicators and financial targets for 2013/14.

The 2010/15 Corporate Plan was refreshed for 2013 and sets out a number of key actions and indicators to deliver and measure progress against key priorities.

Members noted that further detail behind the report and evidence providing a full and robust audit trail for the performance information presented was available to view within the online system.  A new “dashboard” view of the Corporate Plan actions, milestones and related information had been developed to improve the ease of access to data for Members and Officers. Member training sessions dedicated to accessing and using Covalent had been carried out and Members were invited to contact the Strategic Performance Team at any time to arrange individual training support on using the system if required.

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

All of the planned milestones for Quarter 1 of 2013/14 have been completed within the reporting period.

There were 35 Performance indicators featured in the Quarter 1 report. Their current performance breaks down as follows:

• 8 Red/Off target
• 2 Amber/slightly off target
• 16 Green/On Target
• 1 Unknown/awaiting data from a third party

There were also a number of “data only” indicators that were monitored to provide context to key services or were being measured in order to provide baseline performance to benchmark new services.

Devolved Budget spend was reported at the end of the appended performance report. The table lists the projects supported and showed the total spend per ward so far this year.

The Chair and Deputy Chair had requested some further information regarding the recent implementation of the new waste contract.  A briefing paper detailing the patterns and reasons behind the issues experienced, volumes of calls and the common issues raised during those calls had been provided to Members prior to the meeting.  The Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Place Service and the Senior Head of Infrastructure were in attendance to answer Members questions.

The committee were advised that missed collections were not yet at an acceptable level, however the Council were working closely with Kier to resolve the issues.  Members were reminded that missed collections were per container and not per household.

The implementation of new collection rounds for the whole of Eastbourne had led to an unprecedented level of calls, which staff had dealt with in a professional manner and no complaints had been received regarding Council staff.  Staff had remained positive throughout with a maximum of eight phones being manned at any one time. The issue was currently being monitored and an extra Specialist Advisor had been made available to assist with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Report of Senior Head of Community.

Members considered the report of the Senior Head of Community regarding the current performance of the Eastbourne Community Partnership (CSP) under the updated Eastbourne Community Safety Plan outlining issues that may potentially impact future crime and anti-social behaviour (ASB) performance.

Cabinet had previously endorsed the successful Crime Reduction performance of the Partnership.  In 2005/2006 Eastbourne was subject to around 11,000 crimes.  For the performance year 2010/2011 this had dropped to approximately 7,500 crimes.  For the current rolling year up to the end of June 2013, this had reduced to around 6000 crimes, a further reduction of 9% compared with the same period last year.

The current Plan had been developed in consultation with key partners including the Police and other members of the CSP.  Version 1.3 was available as Appendix A.  It had been modelled on a countywide endorsed layout, with a focus on what could realistically be achieved within current resource constraints and reflects some priorities of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC).

Members noted that although the Plan was for a three year period, performance targets were reviewed at the end of each performance year.  Key performance targets had been incorporated into the relevant sections of Eastbourne Borough Council’s Corporate Plan.

Members noted the performance of year 2012/2013 compared with the baseline performance year 2011/2012. 

The committee were advised that Eastbourne over the last few years had seen a substantial reduction in crime and despite the recession crime was down further in 2012/2013 with further reduction this year so far.  Paragraph 3.1 of the report showed clearly all five targets met and this reduction pattern was again evident so far this year.  Shoplifting had fallen again to 2011 figures but it was essential to continue to remain focused.  Reductions in criminal damage and public place violent crime were of note especially in view of the major percentage reductions the year before, 25.3% and 25.2% respectively.

Overall police recorded anti-social behaviour was down from 5682 to 4732; a reduction of 950 incidents, or 16.7%.

The CSP’s Strategy Group, having agreed the updated Plan and its priorities had matched the priorities with the reduced area based grant funding, smoothed out over a two year period to £43k per annum.  This excluded the continued Basic Command Unit funding of approximately £60k for this year, utilised mainly by the District Police in direct support of the Plan’s objectives.

Overall crime had substantially reduced since 2005/2006 performance year.  Notable crime reductions had again been achieved in the performance year 2012/2013 and crime performance was again positive within measured criteria of the refreshed plan in the current performance year to date.

Central Government cut-backs coupled with the introduction of Police and Crime Commissioners may have an adverse impact on local CSP funding from next performance year 2014/2015.

Further potential countywide changes as a result of a newly ‘elected PCC’ above had been mitigated by a continued local focus in addition to adding value in developing initiatives, including Neighbourhood Management.

Members discussed the reduction in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Councillors discussed the Scrutiny presentation regarding the future of services at Eastbourne District General hospital.

Members were advised that Officers were currently in the process of discussing the format of the presentation with the East Sussex Hospital Trust and requested that the Committee be kept informed of the discussions with a view to holding the presentation in October 2013.

NOTED.