Minutes for Cabinet Member - Performance and Governance meeting, Sep 30 2009, 9.00AM official page

No apologies for absence were received.

Members and Officers are requested to give notice of any personal or prejudicial interest and the nature of that interest, relating to any item on the agenda in accordance with the relevant Code of Conduct.

No declarations of interest were received.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 2 September 2009 be confirmed  as a correct record.

Report of the Strategic Director of Children’s Services

Further to Minute 42 (2) of 2 September 2009, the Cabinet Member considered the report of the Strategic Director of Children’s Services in relation to the outcome of the recent “Core Case Inspection” report for the Sefton Youth Offending Service. 

The purpose of the report was to give an opportunity to the Cabinet Member to consider the action plan put in place in response to the inspection.

 RESOLVED:          That

(1)      the report on the Sefton Youth Offending Services - Core Case Inspection be noted; and

(2)      the Strategic Director of Children’s Services be requested to submit progress reports, when necessary, to the Cabinet Member – Children’s Services, the Cabinet Member – Performance and Governance and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Children’s Services).

Report of the Legal Director

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Legal Director on the proposals contained in the Government’s  consultation Paper “Strengthening Local Democracy”, which set out a range of measures designed to promote democratic renewal and strengthen the power and responsibilities of Local Government.  The Paper set out the Government’s vision of a new role for Local Authorities, enabling them to act effectively on behalf of residents /stakeholders, increasing powers and the ability to scrutinise, influence  and shape other services, whilst placing it at the centre of all decision making for  the local community.

The report indicated that Government considers that, taken together with new reforms, the proposed measures would amount to the biggest transfer of power to elected Councillors, with the emphasis on local residents having a direct say over their community, through the ability to elect a strong Council which was able to lead and shape the local area.

The Legal Director outlined the main provisions within the report, the background to these provisions and the recommendations needing to be considered and, if approved by Members, the draft responses (as set out in annex C).

Members expressed the view that the proposals generally lacked ambition and any new measures designed to promote democratic renewal and to return powers and responsibilities to Local Authorities in any meaningful way needed also to address fundamental issues around funding and tax raising powers.

Members had particular concerns around the proposals for the City Region especially around delegation of powers or the possibility a Directly Elected Mayor or similar Governance Structure.  The proposals to strengthen and clarify relationships between Central and Local Government also lacked focus and were too broad to be of real assistance.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)            the proposals contained in the Consultation Paper be noted; 

(2)            subject to the comments referred to above, the draft responses set out in annex C be approved; and

(3)            it be noted that the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Performance and Governance) had given his consent under rule 17 of the Scrutiny Procedure Rules for this decision to be treated as urgent and not subject to “call in” on the basis that it cannot be reasonably deferred as responses are required by 2 October 2009. 

(Councillor Barber requested that his personal dissent be recorded in respect of the proposal to extend local government Scrutiny Committee powers to cover Fire and Rescue authorities)

Report of Assistant Chief Executive (Management)

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Management) on the Local Area Agreement (LAA) Exception Report for Quarter one 2009/2010, where indicators were risk rated as red.

The purpose of the report was to provide the Cabinet Member with regular updates as part of the Performance Management Framework.

The report indicated that Performance Management had to enable greater understanding of Sefton and the diversity of need in the borough.  It should allow for decisions to be made that supported improvement in performance and enabled the long-term vision for Sefton, in part articulated by the LAA, to be achieved.

The Local Area Agreement Co-Ordinator presented the report, and commented that there were a total of thirteen targets rated as red and that there continued to be areas of concern in relation to a number of other indicators rated as amber. However, the pressing need was to address the areas of red risk and further information would be brought to the next meeting.

RESOLVED: That

(1)      the information contained in the Exception report templates be noted;

(2)      it be noted that when the second quarter information is reported and if the continued performance decline is indicated, the Cabinet Member may require a more detailed response, more frequent reporting or evidence of performance improvement plans; and

(3)          information on the red and amber indicators be brought to the attention of the relevant Cabinet Members to give them an opportunity to review such indicatiors.

Report of Assistant Chief Executive (Management)

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Management) in relation to the Escalation report on the National Indicators (NI’s) as at Quarter One, where indicators were risk rated as red.

The purpose of the report was to provide the Cabinet Member with regular updates on departments' performance against the NI’s as at the first quarter of 2009/10, comparing Sefton's performance with the Places Analysis Tool (PAT) as part of the Performance Management Framework.

The Senior Corporate Support Officer presented the report and indicated that the figures had changed for the better and that Sefton’s most recent performance showed favourable comparison with national performance indicators.  Quarter two templates had been forwarded to responsible officers for the highlighted performance; and figures would come back for the completion of quarter two monitoring but the trends appeared to demonstrate continuing good progress.

The Cabinet Member was pleased with the comprehensive information provided and, in answer to his query, was informed that the information  was also considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Performance and Corporate Services).

RESOLVED: That

(1)      the information contained in the annexes 1,2 and 3 of the report be noted; and

(2)      it be noted that when the second quarter information is reported, if continued performance decline is indicated, the Cabinet Member may require a more detailed response, more frequent reporting or evidence of performance improvement plans.

Report of  Assistant Chief Executive (Management)

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Management) on the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA), specifically the published review process for dispute resolution.  The purpose of the report was to provide the Cabinet Member with regular updates as part of the Performance Management Framework.  The process was published in August 2009 and a summary of its operation was attached as Appendix 1.

 The review process for the Organisational Assessment and Red Flags in the CAA outlined the process by which unresolved disputes between the Audit Commission and both the Local Authority, in the case of the organisational assessment and the Borough Partnership, as the lead agent for the area, could be appealed and resolved.

Questions were answered by Officers on the review process, and the basis for scoring which was under review by the Audit Commission and how to trigger a review.  The Assistant Chief Executive (Management) gave a verbal update in relation to discussions with the Audit Commission in relation to the CAA and organisational assessment.

RESOLVED:          That

(1)      the report and the information contained in Appendix 1 relating to the Comprehensive Area Assessment – Review Process be noted; and

(2)          Cabinet Members be kept appraised of the current situation regarding negotiations around the Area Assessment narrative and red and green flags.

Report of the Chief Executive

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Chief Executive on the progress made on developing a partnership response to the recession, which had been identified by the Audit Commission as a red tag as part of the Comprehensive Area Assessment process.

A number of partners, including the Council had been responding to the recession.  It was agreed that there was a need to demonstrate that a partnership Local Resilience Action Plan had been established based on drawing together what was happening already, identifying gaps and suggesting priorities of work.  

RESOLVED: That

(1)       the content of the report and the actions being taken to develop a Local Resilience Action Plan by Sefton Borough Partnership be noted;

(2)        quarterly updates be submitted on the draft balanced scorecard as contained in Appendix A; and

(3)      the detailed action plan as referred to in the report be approved.