Agenda and minutes

No apologies for absence were submitted.

No declarations of interests were made.

[For approval]

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 16 June 2014 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 a presentation on the position so far and the outlook ahead]

The Panel received a powerpoint presentation from Adrian Barlow, Policy Officer, and Emma Bennett, Assistant Director Children Young People and Families on Looked After Children.  The presentation covered:

·           the current position

·           trends in the recent past

·           the Families r First programme, ,  the three key elements and the 35 projects underneath

·           future projections of LAC and the intelligence programme to understand the key drivers.

Cllr Val Gibson thanked the Adrian and Emma for the presentation.  She inform the Panel that the number of looked after children had stabilised over the last few months and that early indications were that the Families r First programme was having a positive effect.

In response to Cllr Elias Mattu regarding monitoring and accountability for looked after children, it was reported that LAC was part of the corporate programme reporting arrangements to the Strategic Executive Board. Also the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Members for Children and Families and Resources considered the detail and progress on the LAC position bi-monthly.

During the discussion it was also suggested that the actual numbers for LAC be tracked against the projections within the presentation

Resolved:

            That the presentation be reived and noted.

[To consider a regular evaluation of the performance of Wolverhampton Homes and the Tenant Management Organisations in managing and maintaining council owned dwellings during the 2013/14 financial year]

Kenny Aitchison, Service Manager Housing Strategy and Development presented a report which detailed housing performance monitoring of Wolverhampton Homes (WH) and the Tenant Management Organisations (TMO’s) in managing and maintaining Council owned properties during the 2013/14 financial year.  He reported that overall the performance of WH and the TMOs had been good with no real concerns. He also reported that at the start of last year, the Panel had concerns for rent collection levels following the introduction of welfare reforms and the ‘bedroom tax’.  Since the introduction of that particular reform Wolverhampton Homes and the TMOs had done well to maintain the levels of rent collection.  The performance on Decent Homes programme had been well received to the extent that additional funds had been made available to the Council for Decent Homes work.

Lesley Roberts, from Wolverhampton Homes added that the data before the Panel was old but that at the recent Delivery Plan Monitoring Group Cllr Peter Bilson had seen the latest data that showed performance for quarter one of 2014/15 was better than the fourth quarter of the 2013/14 financial year and that there were only slight differences where targets had not been achieved.

Cllr Peter Bilson acknowledged the good performance of WH and the TMOs and confirmed that the Homes and Communities Agency had awarded an extra £900,000 for Decent Homes work, which was credit to the team involved in the programme.

Cllr Paul Sweet congratulated the Decent Homes programme team for securing the additional resources for he programme.

Resolved:

1. That the performance of the housing management agents for quarter four 2013/14 be received and noted.

2. That a revised reporting format for managing agents performance over the first 2 quarters of 2014/15 be presented to  the Panel at its meeting on 17 November 2014.

[To consider a quarterly report on the corporate performance reporting measures]

Polly Sharma, Policy and Equalities Manager presented a monitoring report on performance against all of the corporate performance indicators for quarter one of 2014/15.

Cllr John Reynolds asked whether the target for the performance on appraisals would be met. Polly Sharma and Keith Ireland reported on work was progressing

Referring to the presentation of Looked After Children, it was suggested that the key programmes and projects associated with the Families r First programme be reported in future quarterly monitoring reports on the corporate performance indicators.

Resolved:

            That the report be noted.

[To approve revised terms of reference and the associated definitions, roles and responsibilities of the Board]

Adam Hadley, Scrutiny and Transparency Manager presented revised terms of reference for the Information Governance Board and the associated definitions, roles and responsibilities. He advised the Panel that Nick Edwards, Assistant Director, Regeneration should be added to the Board as the RIPA representative.

Resolved:

That the revised terms of reference for the Information Governance Board and the associated definitions, roles and responsibilities be approved  with the addition of Nick Edwards, Assistant Director Regeneration as the RIPA representative on the Board.

[To consider the quarterly performance report]

Adam Hadley, Scrutiny and Transparency Manager presented a report on the performance of information governance for quarter one (April to June 2014).

Resolved:

            That the report be received and noted.