Agenda item

5:05pm to 5:30pm

The Leader, Deputy Leader and Assistant Director – Policy and Communications attended to provide an update on the progress made towards achieving the council plan activities and address the activities which were still RAG rated as red.

At the half year stage, 74% of the key deliverables identified for priority delivery during 2017/18 were either completed or on target for completion by the end of the year. However there were some significant variances between different priority areas. Within the vibrant economy priority, 100% of the targets had been achieved however this reduced to 67% for the quality of life targets and 56% for value for money targets. The Assistant Director was hopeful that the targets in the value for money priority would be turned around by the end of the year however she noted that there were ongoing challenges in the quality of life targets which were more difficult to solve including the vacancy in the post of Assistant Director – Health and Wellbeing; recruitment for this position was underway but it was unlikely to be filled by the end of the year.

Members noted that the activities rated as red were predominantly impacting the poorest and most vulnerable members of the community and had concerns that, together with the cuts to funding from central government, the equality gap would continue to increase. The Assistant Director advised that, though the Council was providing extra support to residents affected by the introduction of Universal Credit (UC), more investment was needed to improve other areas. The Leader added that this was a major concern and the actions of central government and Derbyshire County Council (DCC) would have a severe impact on Chesterfield Borough Council (CBC) and the ability to deliver services to local people. She added that there had been a re-organisation of revenues and benefits staff to better support people affected by UC and a computer terminal had been installed in the Customer Services Centre (CSC) to allow residents to apply online.

The Leader advised that a review of voluntary sector funding had been delayed by DCC and this was needed to understand which voluntary organisations CBC should give funding to. Members noted that though social mobility statistics had improved for early years children, statistics for children aged 8 and above and adults between 21 and 25 were worsening and voluntary organisations were needed to help deliver programmes otherwise the support would not be there. The Assistant Director advised that the service level agreements with voluntary organisations were tied down to the percentage of Chesterfield residents they worked with however this percentage needed to be right to make sure CBC’s money is going to its residents.

Members noted that some organisations had closed offices in the surrounding areas meaning that increasing amounts of people outside the borough were coming to the Chesterfield office for support, however Chesterfield was still putting in a higher contribution than the surrounding areas. The Leader advised that the Derbyshire Law Centre used to provide a report to Cabinet and were questioned on the level of people in Chesterfield that were being supported but advice agencies are no longer invited to meetings. Members felt it would be useful to start inviting voluntary organisations to scrutiny meetings to inform about this issue.

The Chair thanked the Leader, Deputy Leader and Assistant Director for providing the update and answering their questions.

RESOLVED –

1.   That an update be brought to the Overview and Performance Scrutiny Forum on 8 May, 2018.

2.   That consideration be given to inviting representatives of voluntary organisations to future scrutiny meetings and that the Scrutiny Chairs and Democratic and Scrutiny Officers agree the schedule for visits.