Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Cllrs Steve Evans, Val Gibson and Roger Lawrence.

No declarations of interests were made.

[For approval]

Resolved:

That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 13 June 2016 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

[To consider any matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting]

There were no matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting.

[To receive and comment on the quarter one performance]

Mila Simpson, Service Lead, Housing Strategypresented the report on quarter one performance of Wolverhampton Homes (WH) and the Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs) management and maintenance of council owned properties. Overall there had been good levels of performance by WH and the TMO’s and there were no real areas of concern. 

Cllr John Reynolds sought clarification on the issue within the report relating to updating/posting information via Agresso. The Service Lead, Housing Strategy reported that it related to the timing and reconciliation of data.  The issue was being followed up.  Cllr Peter Bilson asked that the matter be checked to determine whether it was a systematic or routine processing matter. 

Cllr Paul Sweet also commented that WH had a good presence on social media.  He asked that more be done to encourage the TMO’s to have a presence on social media.

Resolved:

That the performance of the housing management agents for quarter one of 2016/17 be received and noted.

[To receive and comment on the quarter one performance]

Martyn Sargeant, Head of Democratic Services presented the report on the performance of Information Governance for quarter one (April to June 2016). The report showed continued excellent performance by the Council in its response to Freedom of Information/ Environmental Information (FOI) and Subject Access Requests (SARs) received. The Head of Democratic Services also reported on the on going emphasis for every council employee to undertake data protection training.

Cllr Peter Bilson welcomed the performance report. He referred to recent discussions and an agreement which had been reached between the Leader of the Council and Keith Ireland, Managing Director regarding mandatory and discretionary training courses for Councillors. Protection of Information would be one of the mandatory training courses. 

Cllr Sandra Samuels reported that the Councillor Development and IT Advisory Group had also discussed the issue of mandatory training for elected members as agreed by the Leader of the Council and the Managing Director.   The Head of Democratic Services added that the Advisory Group would have a monitoring role on elected member training.

Resolved:

That the performance for Information Governance for quarter one 2016/17 be noted.

[To receive an update on the progress that has been made against the development of a City Scorecard, the visualisation of the Corporate Plan, the identification of Corporate Plan indicators and the development of service plans]

Helen Kucharczyk, Business Intelligence Manager presented an update report on the progress made against the development of a City Scorecard, the visualisation of the Corporate Plan, the identification of Corporate Plan indicators and the development of service plans.

During the discussion members of the Committee commented on the QlikView software application that would be used to allow councillors, managers and employees to have an easily accessible overview of the city and the council’s performance against key indicators and the council’s delivery of the corporate plan. They requested a training session to demonstrate how they could make the best use of their access to the QlikView management tool.

Cllr John Reynolds commented on the need to align the Council’s Corporate Plan to the measures in the Wolverhampton ‘scorecard’. He questioned the logic of the ‘Transport and Neighbourhoods’ scorecard topics being together. The Business Intelligence Manager undertook to confirm the rationale.

Cllr Andrew Johnson reported that he had received a demonstration of QlikView and that it was an excellent management tool.  He queried why there were only qualitative targets for the ‘FutureMoney’ priority and asked that this point be looked into.  He also referred to a recommendation from the Local Government Association Finance Peer Review on a ‘financial plan for the city’.  He asked that this also be considered for inclusion in the Corporate Plan under FutureMoney.

Resolved:

That it be noted that the timelines for finalisation of the Corporate Plan measures originally laid out in the July update to Scrutiny Board have been extended due to the combination of several strands of work around the Corporate Plan and City Scorecard.