Issue - meetings

To consider a report of the Corporate Director of Place

The report provides a detailed overview of performance which relates to this Scrutiny Committee.

The information is provided in the form of the Quarter 2 2011/12 Portfolio Performance and Resources Reports for each of the Environment, Leisure, Regeneration and Transportation Portfolios, and specific detail and information in relation to the council’s ‘A Safe and Strong Stockport’, ‘A Thriving Stockport’ and ‘A Green Stockport’ Priorities.

The Scrutiny Committee is recommended to:-

(1) Review the current levels of performance;

(2) Highlight key areas of, and responsibility for, taking forward corrective action to address any existing or forecast performance issues;

(3) Identify how areas of strong performance and good practice can be shared in other services.

Officer contact: Doug Holland, Tel: 0161 474 2976, email: doug.holland@stockport.gov.uk

The Corporate Director of Place submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing the Scrutiny Committee with a detailed overview of performance which related to this Scrutiny Committee. The information provided was in the form of the Quarter 2 2011/12 Portfolio Performance and Resources Reports for each of the Environment, Leisure, Regeneration and Transportation Portfolios, and specific detail and information in relation to the Council’s ‘A Safe and Strong Stockport’, ‘A Thriving Stockport’ and ‘A Green Stockport’ Priorities.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

     Environment Executive Portfolio

•           A Member welcomed the Housing Standards team recovering monies from a landlord for carrying out works following non-compliance with a notice.

•           The details of the pressure on the Licensing, Environment and Safety Committee following the statutory survey undertaken by the taxi service with regard to the limits imposed on hackney carriage licence numbers.

•           The closure of public toilets and the savings being achieved by the community toilets scheme.

•           The situations when charges were levied for wheelie bins

•           The excellent figures for the percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting.

   Leisure Executive Portfolio

•           With regard to shared library services, the timescale for the procurement of a shared library management system and Greater Manchester information service. The savings would be achieved in 2013/14.

•           The figures in the Leisure Strategy referred to the period after the £400k allocation to be spent on Target Fitness Plus, Cheadle.

•           An increasing number of schools were opting out of the School Library Service.

Regeneration Executive Portfolio

•           Whether the increase in the number of Job Seekers Allowance claimants compared to job vacancies was an indication of a skills shortage.

•           The total number of apprenticeships created and how this compared with other local authorities.

•           The rise in youth unemployment was higher than the national average.

•           The reduction in the percentage of occupied managed workspace and incubator floorspace actively managed to start up micro businesses, and the measures being taken to increase occupancy.

•           The interest from firms in the remaining units at S: Park

•           How vacancy rates were measured in the town centre.

•           With regard to financial support for new businesses, what the criteria was for the loans and the default rate for late and non-payments.

•           The alternative funding source for the Mealhouse Brow Development, should this be necessary.

•           What the priorities were which had led to a comparatively small percentage of the funding available in 2011/12 being spent in the form of completed grant claims.

Transportation Executive Portfolio

•           A Member requested a copy of the Service Level Agreement once the transfer of grounds maintenance to Solutions SK had been completed.

•           The excellent work carried out under the retaining walls programme.

•           The current situation with regard to winter gritting contingency arrangements.

•           The current situation with regard to the Connect 2 scheme.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for People.

The report sets out details of the Children and Young People’s portfolio performance and resources mid year review 2011-12.

The Scrutiny Committee is requested to consider and comment on the report.

Officer Contact: Michael Henry on tel: 474 3830 or email: michael.henry @stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Corporate Director for Place submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) outlining performance over the previous 12 months and progress made against transformation projects within the portfolio which remain on target.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

·         Funding of the Schools’ Sport’s Partnership.

·         Concern was expressed that at the end of 2010/11, 38.6% of mothers within priority areas were smoking at delivery compared with 15.2% borough-wide.

·         The further reduction in the number of young people not in Employment, Education or Training.

·         The longevity of the two apprenticeship schemes.

·         The number of persistent absentees in secondary schools.

·         Funding of SEN Transport and levels of complaints from parents.

·         Timescale for the review of SEN Transport.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

The Executive Councillors (Customer Focus) and (Finance) submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) inviting the Executive Meeting to consider the mid-year position in delivering the Council’s priorities, budget and capital programme for 2011-12. The report was presented in a new format combining the previous separate quarterly reports on performance and financial monitoring.

Executive Councillors highlighted key performance and budget issues within their portfolio responsibilities.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted and approval be given to:-

(i)        the virements and budget adjustments to the Revenue Budget as set out in Appendix 3 of the report;

(ii)      the approach to managing revenue surpluses and deficits, and proposed contributions to/from the General Fund and HRA earmarked reserves as set out in the report;

(iii)     the changes to the Capital Programme as detailed in Appendix 4 of the report, and

(iv)     the resourcing of the Capital Programme as detailed in Appendix 5 of the report.