Minutes for Cabinet Member - Performance and Governance meeting, Feb 18 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.

Minutes of the Portfolio Performance Review meetings held on 20 January 2009 and 21 January 2009

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the Meetings held on 20 January 2009 and 21 January 2009 be confirmed as a correct record.

Report of the Assistant chief Executive (Management)

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Management) indicating that the purpose of the Quarter 2 six-monthly Performance Reports was to enable the Cabinet Member – Performance to consider the performance of the Authority across all departments.

The report concluded that the Cabinet Member was asked to make recommendations arising from the consideration of the performance reports and refer matters for further consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

Report of the Director of Planning and Economic Regeneration

Further to Minute No. 36 of 20 January 2009 and Minute Nos 85 and 134 of the meetings of the Cabinet Member Regeneration and the Planning Committee, both held on 17 December 2008, the Cabinet Member considered further the report of the Planning and Economic Regeneration Director on the performance of his Department for the period April to September 2008; and the progress made towards his Department meeting its Service and Corporate Plan objectives.

The Planning and Economic Regeneration Director had been unable to attend the previous meeting held on 20 January 2009 and wished to present his report to the Cabinet Member – Performance and Governanceand answer questions arising from the report.

The Planning and Economic Regeneration Director referred to his department’s service achievements relating to business support and employment services, the neighbourhood regeneration programme, major development projects, the local development framework and regulatory services; and that the main risks to service delivery were set out in the Service Plan, and with regard to performance indicators, performance against all key targets was strong.

He referred to the challenges faced by the Department during the present economic climate, with a dramatic reduction in income from planning applications and parking fees.

He concluded by referring to corporate or cross-cutting issues, indicating that as part of level 3 of the Equalities Standard, all service areas now had equalities targets on their respective service plans.

The Planning and Economic Regeneration Director responded to questions from the Cabinet Member and Spokespersons on the report.

RESOLVED:  

That the report on the performance of the Planning and Economic Regeneration Department and the progress achieved for the period April - September 2008 be noted.

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Management)

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Management) informing of the publication by the Government of a consultation paper about reducing the threshold for a petition to trigger a governance referendum on a council’s governance model to below five per cent of local electors, and permitting e-petitioning for mayors.  Further, the consultation paper sought views on when a governance referendum was lost, whether a further governance referendum should be held after 4 years rather than the  current10 years.

RESOLVED: That

(1)

the contents of the Communities in Control Consultation : Changing Council Governance Arrangements be noted;

(2)

the Assistant Chief Executive (Management) be requested to recommend in her response to the consultation paper, that:

(i)                 the five per cent threshold of local electors for a petition to trigger a governance referendum on a council’s governance model be retained; and

(ii)               when a governance referendum is lost, a further governance referendum allowed to be held after 8 years (not 4 or 10 years).

Joint Report of the Chief Executive and the Finance Director

Further to Minute No. 11 of 3 September 2008, the Cabinet Member considered the joint report of the Chief Executive and the Finance and Information Services Director giving details of the quarterly forecast position, based on information as at 31 December 2008, in relation to the Performance Portfolio’s 2008/09 Revenue Budget and Capital Programme; and indicating that a decision on this matter was required to comply with the Council’s corporate performance management framework.

The report concluded by seeking whether any comments should be made to the Cabinet about the overall performance of the revenue budget.

RESOLVED: 

That the progress on the Performance Portfolio’s revenue budgets that are subject to risk based monitoring be noted.

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Management)

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Chief Executive on the Council’s performance monitoring results as at Quarter 3, 2008/09 in relation to Departmental Service Plans and National Indicators, and indicating that the Cabinet Member was required to monitor performance as part of Sefton’s Escalation Policy.

Ms. S. Varga, the Senior Corporate Support Officer, Policy and Performance Team presented the report and answered questions thereon.

RESOLVED: That

(1)

the progress of the Council’s Departmental Service Plans and National Indicators be noted; and

(2)

the Senior Corporate Support Officer be commended for her work on the Performance Management Escalation report.

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Management)

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Management) on revisions to the Partnerships and Performance Team’s Annual Service Plan 2008/2009 as the result of operational changes over the last year.

RESOLVED:

That the revisions and additions to the action plan outlined in the report be approved.

Presentation / Demonstration by the Senior Corporate Performance Officer

The Cabinet Member received a presentation of the enhanced version of the SPRINT System (Sefton’s Performance Reporting and Information Network).

 Ms. S. Varga, the Senior Corporate Resource Officer, Policy and Performance Unit, gave the presentation and answered questions thereon; andconcluded by indicating that she would be ‘rolling out’ this presentation to Chief Officers.

RESOLVED:

That the Senior Corporate Resource Officer be thanked for her useful and informative presentation on the SPRINT system.