Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Council Offices, Coalville

Contact: Democratic Services  01530 454512

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor R Johnson.

 

2.

Declaration of Interests

Under the Code of Conduct members are reminded that in declaring disclosable interests you should make clear the nature of that interest and whether it is pecuniary or non-pecuniary.

Minutes:

Councillor S Sheahan declared a non-pecuniary interest in item 5 – 2018/19 Quarter 4 Performance Report due to the reference to HS2 within the report.  In addition, during the item, a further discussion ensued and therefore Councillor S Sheahan declared a pecuniary interest and left the meeting for the remainder of the debate.

 

 

3.

Public Question and Answer Session

To receive questions from members of the public under rule no.10 of the Council Procedure Rules. The procedure rule provides that members of the public may ask any question on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties which affect the District, provided that three clear days’ notice in writing has been given to the Head of Legal and Support Services.

Minutes:

None.

 

4.

Workforce and Agency Costs - Annual Update pdf icon PDF 64 KB

Report of the Chief Executive

Minutes:

The Head of Human Resources and Organisation Development presented the report to Members.

 

In response to a question from Councillor S Sheahan, the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development confirmed that the total expenditure on agency staff did not include consultants.  In response to a further question, it was reported that the increase in use of agency staff in recent years was mainly due to recruitment difficulties within the Housing repairs and waste teams.  The Strategic Director of Housing and Customer Services stated that he was confident that costs for agency staff would continue to reduce going forward as permanent staff continued to be recruited in the repairs team on the new terms and conditions for operatives which were agreed last year.

 

Councillor M B Wyatt asked for the number of long-term agency staff that had been employed, the reasons why and what the longest contract was.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development agreed to provide the information outside of the meeting. 

 

Councillor V Richichi asked if it was financially beneficial to have a bigger workforce rather than agency workers.  He also referred to the fact that the agency staff working in housing repairs were not always doing an adequate standard of work, which meant that the job had to be rectified afterwards.  He felt this was a waste of money and suggested that it may be because there was not a sense of pride with agency staff because they were not permanent members of staff.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisation Development explained that he could not provide a definitive answer on the financial benefit as it varied depending on the scenario.  The Strategic Director of Housing and Customer Services stated that it was the Council’s aspiration to have as many permanent members of staff as possible and they were committed to reducing the amount of agency staff used. He advised that agency workers in repairs may have slightly higher salary costs but permanent staff attracted higher pension contributions from the Council, so the net financial position was generally cost neutral.

 

In response to a question from Councillor D Bigby, the Strategic Director of Housing and Customer Services confirmed that as the number of full time equivalent permanent employees increased last year, the resulting increase in staff costs had offset the reduced expenditure on agency staff.

 

Councillor M B Wyatt suggested that a future item for the work plan could be the inspection of works for housing repairs as he felt the standard had been poor.  He believed that the standard of work was often low from agency workers and there was a high turnover.  Therefore, he felt stability with permanent staff was key.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisation Development reported that an advantage of using agency staff was that their standard of work and performance could be assessed on the job which assisted on whether to recruit some agency staff on a permanent basis.

 

RESOLVED THAT:

 

The report be noted.

 

 

5.

2018/19 Quarter 4 Performance Report pdf icon PDF 255 KB

Report of the Chief Executive

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Strategic Director of Housing and Customer Services presented the report to Members.

 

Councillor M B Wyatt asked if the Council was doing anything to ensure all development sites for new council housing were carbon neutral, as he believed we should be setting a precedent.  The Strategic Director of Housing and Customer Services stated that it was not currently a corporate aim but it was something to take on board for the future.

 

In response to a further question from Councillor M B Wyatt, the Strategic Director of Housing and Customer Services stated that housing repairs were measured for ‘right first time’ and he would include the information in future reports.

 

Regarding the performance of the call centre, Councillor S Sheahan was pleased that improvements in call waiting times had improved. However, it stated within the report that the volume of calls had reduced due to the redirection of Universal Credit Calls and asked if this was the reason for the better performance.  The Strategic Director of Housing and Customer Services confirmed that Housing Benefit queries had reduced and Universal Credit calls were now taken by the Department of Work and Pensions and this was contributing to the reduced volume of calls.  However, there was also the fact that more services were now available online.

 

Councillor S Sheahan was pleased to see that the two Syrian families had settled in well and asked if any more families would be arriving in the district.  It was confirmed that there would be a further two families by November 2019.

 

In relation to the relaunch of ‘my account’ self-service system, Councillor D Bigby shared his experience of using it, as it was not simple.  He wanted to change his bank details for his direct debit payments and it was unclear how it could be done.

 

At this point Councillor S Sheahan left the meeting during the discussion which focussed on HS2, as he had a pecuniary interest. 

 

Councillor D Bigby referred to a new consultation document that had been published which included details of a large railhead site close to Ashby that would last approximately seven years.  He asked how the Council was planning to respond and if they would be calling for the work undertaken to establish the railhead to be done with a view to facilitate the opportunity to open passenger services in the future.  The Strategic Director of Housing and Customer Services would ask the Head of Economic Regeneration to provide a response.

 

Councillor D Bigby felt that the target figure for affordable homes in the District should be revisited, as it was not directly related to the Section 106 requirement for affordable homes, the HEDNA or the Local Plan.  The Strategic Director of Housing and Customer Services responded that he would look at setting the target with a more scientific method.  He explained that the current target was based on the knowledge of the number of houses being built by the Council and housing associations, and what the Section  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Items for Inclusion in the Future Work Programme pdf icon PDF 37 KB

To consider any items to be included in the work programme. The plan of forthcoming Cabinet decisions and the current work programme are attached for information.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED THAT:

 

The work programme be noted.

 

 

Councillor M B Wyatt left the meeting at 7.54pm