An apology of absence was received from Councillor Kathryn Grandon.

Councillor John Hinton substituted for Councillor Grandon.

None declared.

It was resolved that the Minutes of the meeting from 1 July 2019 were confirmed and signed subject to the corrections as detailed below:

·       That the attendance be corrected that Mike Sargeantson was a Non-Executive Director of CIFCO Ltd.

·       That in 6.1 the table be corrected to detail that Mike Sargeantson was a Non-Executive Director of CIFCO Ltd.

·       That the Chair of the Meeting was Cllr Alastair McCraw

·       Minor typographical corrections.

None received.

To consider questions from and provide answers to members of the public on any matter in relation to which the Committee has powers or duties and of which due notice has been given in accordance with the Committee and Sub-Committee Procedures Rules.

None received.

To consider questions from and provide answers to Councillors on any matter in relation to which the Committee has powers or duties and of which due notice has been given in accordance with the Committee and Sub-Committee Procedure Rules.

None received.

Babergh and Mid Suffolk Cabinet Members for Customers, Digital Transformation and Improvements

Members are asked to agree the recommendations.

13.1 The Corporate Manager for Customer Operations presented report JOS/19/3 to the Committee, noting that Members had received the existing complaints policy as a tabled paper, the proposed amendments to the existing policy, and the details of the new complaints software system being introcuced.

13.2 The Corporate Manager outlined the key points detailed within the report which included:

·       That Officers dealing with complaints had undergone training with the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) with 82% attendance from staff.

·       That there had been real improvements in the quality of Stage 1 complaints responses and that there had been an improvement of 34% reduction in Stage 2 Complaints being upheld and partially upheld.

·       That Babergh and Mid Suffolk received no fewer and no more LGO complaints than other Councils.

·       That the new complaints system was being introduced and would be rolled out on the 22 July 2019.

·       That over the past year the Babergh and Mid Suffolk had received a 9% increase in compliments in the past year.

13.3 The Corporate Manager responded to Members’ questions on issues including:

·       The dates on the policies and that they needed updating.

·       The reporting of complaints only as percentages and that the real numbers would be reviewed on a monthly basis.

·       The inclusion of planning complaints within the statistics and that there were other avenues of procedure regarding planning complaints including the Planning Inspectorate and Judicial Review.

·       The 18% of staff who did not attend the LGO training and that the materials from the training had been procured and would be used to train current and future Officers.

13.4 Members debated the application on the issues including: that relevant data regarding the complaints was sent to the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) every month.

13.5 The Chief Executive advised Members that the complaints policy could not be agreed by the committee as detailed in recommendation 3b but that it could be endorsed.

13.6 Councillor Alastair McCraw proposed that the committee accept the recommendations, including the revised wording from the Chief Executive, and that recommendation 3c is removed. Councillor Lavinia Hadingham seconded the motion.

13.7 RESOLVED

a.     That the Joint Compliments, Comments and Complaints Policy be endorsed by the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee to commence in August.

b.    To note that complaints reports are submitted every month to the Senior Leadership Team.

Babergh Cabinet Member for Housing

Mid Suffolk Cabinet Member for Communities and Housing

Members are asked to note the report

14.1 The Corporate Manager for Property Services and the Cabinet Member for Housing (Councillor Jan Osborne) presented report JOS/19/4 to the Committee outlining the key points:

·       That the proposed improvements were outlined in the report under the heading of next steps as the current underspend of the budget could not continue.

·       That a major review was being undertaken with Suffolk County Council and its partners, however Babergh and Mid Suffolk would not solely be relying on that review with regards to the future of the service.

·       That the service had introduced Minor Adaptations Grants of which 15 had been approved so far.

·       That there had been an extensive amount of promotion to try and inform residents of the Adaptation Grants.

14.2 The Corporate Manager and the Assistant Director for Housing responded to Members’ questions on issues including:

·       The forms that had to be completed for adaptations and that they had been streamlined to help simplify the process and encourage further applications.

·       That meetings were taking place regarding the future strategy and regarding future commissioning once the current contract with Orbit Homes ended.

·       That the role of scrutiny in the process was important and that this was taking place across the districts in Suffolk to improve the service.

·       That materials promoting the Adaptation Grants were available to Members.

·       That the team were looking at the limit of £5000 for Minor Adaptation Grants and that evidence was being accrued to inform future fund limitations which could lead to a change in said limits.

14.3 Members debated the application on the issues including:

·       Whether the limit of £5000 could be unilaterally changed in the future to allow further improvements in the future.

·       That some residents failed to meet the means tests but that advice would still be given to anyone who contacted the service.

·       That Minor Adaptations Grants were not previously available and the possibility of work being carried out by Babergh and Mid Suffolk Building Services (BMBS)

14.4 Councillor Alastair McCraw proposed that the report be noted as detailed in the officer recommendation with the additional recommendations as follows:

3.2 That Members commend the work of the Manager for Housing Delivery (Heather Worton) , her team and other parties involved, for the work that was currently taking place and ongoing regarding Adaptation Grants and;

3.3 That hard copies of resources be provided to Members to promote the grants and advice that were available to residents.

14.5 Councillor Dave Muller seconded the motion.

14.6 RESOLVED

3.1 The contents of the report and the appendices be noted and that Overview and Scrutiny Committee review progress on any remodelling of the DFG process within the next six months.

3.2 That Members commend the work of the Manager for Housing Delivery (Heather Worton) , her team and other parties involved, for the work that was currently taking place and ongoing regarding Adaptation Grants and;

3.3 That hard copies of resources be provided to Members to promote the grants and advice that were available to residents.

Members are asked to set up a Task and Finish Group for Gipsy and Travellers site in Babergh and Mid Suffolk Districts.

15.1 The Chair addressed the Committee and advised that Members were concerned regarding the current arrangements regarding Gypsies and Travellers and asked the Committee for their views on whether a Task and Finish Group would aid the work of the Joint Gipsy and Traveller Steering Group.

15.2 Members established the current membership of the Joint Gipsy and Traveller steering Group and when the last meeting was held.

15.3 The Chief Executive advised Members that there were sites within Suffolk but there were no short stay transit sites and that an Officer in East Suffolk was currently looking at 3 possible sites. 

15.4 Members of the Steering Group reported that a meeting had yet to happen since the previous election.

15.5 Members discussed the effectiveness of a group being formed before the first meeting of the Steering Group and that further information could be reported back to Members once the initial meeting had taken place.

15.6 RESOLVED

That Members would revisit the need for a Task and finish group after the first meeting of the Joint Gypsy and Traveller Steering Group.

The Information Bulletin is a document that is made available to the public with the published agenda papers.  It can include update information requested by the Committee as well as information that a service considers should be made known to the Committee.

This Information Bulletin contains updates on the following subjects:

·       Staff Turnover and Welfare

16.1The Assistant Director for Corporate Resources presented information Bulleting JOS/19/5 to the Committee outlining the main points of:

·       That this was the third bulletin reported to Members providing an update in comparison to the year 2017-2018.

·       That levels of staff turnover had dropped to 16.1% compared to the previous year of 22.5%

·       Sickness related absence and that the overall number of days had dropped but that sickness relating to Stress/ Anxiety and/ Depression had increased and that this was associated (in part) with 4 members of staff being on long term sickness absence.

·       That there was a downward trend on long term sickness.

·       That new initiatives had been introduced with managers being more proactive and making full use of the Employee assistance programme.

16.2 The Assistant Director for Corporate Resources responded to Members’ questions on issues including:

·       Staff Turnover and the difficulty of getting quantifiable data when a re-organisation was taking place and that it was calculated on a yearly basis.

·       Whether temporary workers should be counted separately within the turnover statistics

·       That the employee assistance programme was via self-referral.

·       That the mental health and counselling service was being heavily promoted and would be an ongoing programme.

16.3 The Chief Executive advised Members that overall sickness had not increased but that due to a societal change regarding the understanding of mental health, that staff were comfortable with citing mental health problems as sickness. However, he acknowledged that not all of the specified illness would be work related issues and would be within the realm of peoples private lives.

16.4 Members discussed the press coverage that had been associated with the item.

16.5 Members discussed other measures that were being undertaken including: the use of exit interviews and that these were offered to all staff that left the organisation, and that the staff survey was being repeated later in the year.

16.6 Members concluded that they did not need a further six monthly update but requested that the results for the year 2019-2020 be reported to the committee in due course.

16.7 RESOLVED

That Staff Turnover and welfare be reported back to the committee in the following year when the data for 2019-2020 was available to allow for a direct comparison. 

To review the Council’s Forthcoming Decisions List and identify any items to be brought before the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Please note the most up to date version can be found via the Website:

https://www.babergh.gov.uk/the-council/forthcoming-decisions-list/

Paper copies will be available at the meeting.

17.1 RESOLVED

Members examined and noted the Forthcoming decisions list.

To agree the Work Plan

18.1 RESOLVED

Members noted the Babergh Overview and Scrutiny work plan 2019/20.

To agree the Work Plan

19.1 RESOLVED

Members noted the Mid Suffolk Overview and Scrutiny Work Plan 2019/20 with the amendments:

·       That the Crime and Disorder Panel on the 19^th September be removed as it was a duplicate entry

·       And that the Information bulletin regarding Needham Lake Development may not be required as this would be included within the next set of Cabinet Member reports to Council.

To consider, whether, pursuant to Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the business specified below on the grounds that if the public were present during this item, it is likely that there would be the disclosure to them of exempt information as indicated against theitem.

The authors of the report propose to be considered in Part 2 of the Agenda are satisfied that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

PART 2

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED WITH THE PRESS AND PUBLIC EXCLUDED

By a unanimous vote

It was Resolved: -

That under section 100(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act in the paragraph registered against the item:

It was resolved that the confidential Minute of the meeting held on the 1 July 2019 was confirmed and signed as a true record subject to the amendments below:

·       Correction of numbering

·       Minor typographical amendments

·       At point 8.11 after the words “skilled resources” the following wording is added “(led by Emily Atack)”.