Agenda item

Agenda item

Community Services Update (Q1 2018/19)

Joint Report of the Housing Services Manager and Community Property Manager

Minutes:

The Committee received the report as set out on pages 34-41 of the agenda, which asked it to note the updates provided on the delivery of community services during the first quarter of 2018/19.

 

The Head of Planning, Development and Regeneration provided the Committee with a summary of the report. With regard to Paragraph 6.2, it was confirmed that a temporary extension of two months had now been agreed in respect of the Gas Servicing Contract due to delays in the procurement process. It was also confirmed that the car parking facilities at Churchill Close in Oadby would become open to the public on 17 September 2018.

 

The Committee noted that there had been a number of complaints relating to the quality and frequency of cleaning provided against the requirements set out in the specification of the Council’s cleaning contract. In respect of the additional monitoring which the Authority had put in place following an internal review, it was confirmed that this was being managed through reallocation of existing staff responsibilities rather than requiring additional resource. The Committee suggested that whilst additional monitoring was welcome, it should not continue indefinitely and further review should be carried out by the Council’s management if improvements were not quickly realised. It was agreed that all Members of the Service Delivery Committee should be invited to the next meeting of the Policy, Finance and Development Committee, to receive the report from the Internal Auditors on their review of the cleaning contract due to be provided at that Committee.

 

With regard to the Lightbulb project, the Committee raised a number of concerns in respect of the delivery of the service and the lack of information and communication provided to Members. It was confirmed that arrangements had been made for a Lightbulb representative to attend and deliver a presentation to Members at the next Full Council meeting on 02 October 2018, however some Members felt that this was not satisfactory and that it would be more appropriate for a representative to attend Service Delivery Committee, given that it fell within the Committee’s remit to ensure thorough scrutiny of such projects.

 

A Member of the Committee expressed concern at the figures contained in Paragraph 1 of the report, which reported a gradual increase in tenant arrears between March to July 2018. The Director of Finance & Transformation confirmed to the Committee that a reporting error had led to the inclusion of figures outside of Quarter 1, which only covers the period April to June 2018. Whilst acknowledging that the figures had risen across the period, an assurance was provided that the figures from Quarter 1 were consistent with the figures from the same period in 2017, after which there was a period of stabilisation. It was therefore anticipated that a similar stabilisation would take place during subsequent Quarters to bring the arrears back closer to the target figure of 2%.

 

It was moved by the Chair, seconded by the Vice-Chair and

 

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED THAT:

 

The contents of the report and Appendix be noted.

Supporting documents: