Venue: Council Chamber, Knowle, Sidmouth
Contact: Howard Bassett, Democratic Services Officer (Committees) Telephone 01392 265107 or email howard.bassett@exeter.gov.uk
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Apologies To receive apologies for absence from Committee members.
Minutes: These were received from Councillors Chapman and Raybould, and the Strata Human Resources Lead.
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Minutes To sign the minutes of the meeting held on 23 July 2015.
Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 23 July 2015 were taken as read and signed by the Chair as correct.
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Declarations of Interest Councillors are reminded of the need to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests that relate to business on the agenda and which have not already been included in the register of interests, before any discussion takes place on the item. Unless the interest is sensitive, you must also disclose the nature of the interest. In accordance with the Council's Code of Conduct, you must then leave the room and must not participate in any further discussion of the item. Councillors requiring clarification should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer prior to the day of the meeting.
Minutes: No declarations of interest were made.
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Questions from the Public Under Procedural Rules A period of up to 15 minutes will be set aside to deal with questions to the Committee from members of the public.
Each individual will be restricted to speaking for a total of 3 minutes.
Where a question does not relate to an agenda item details of questions should be notified to the Proper Officer of the Relevant Council at least two working days prior to the meeting.
Minutes: None.
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Question from Members of the Councils under Procedure Rules To receive questions from Members of the Councils.
Where a question does not relate to an agenda item details of questions should be notified to the Proper Officer of the Relevant Council at least two working days prior to the meeting.
Minutes: None.
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Progress Report on Strata Implementation Plan PDF 138 KB To consider the report of Chris Powell, Chief Operating Officer Strata Service Solutions Ltd.
Minutes: The Chief Operating Officer presented the report providing an update on the progress with the Implementation Plan.
He responded as follows to Members’ queries:-
Strata Joint Scrutiny Committee noted the progress of the implementation plan.
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Strata Performance Indicators - Month ending 30 September 2015 PDF 901 KB To consider the report of Chris Powell, Chief Operating Officer Strata Service Solutions Ltd.
Minutes: The Chief Operating Officer presented the updated suite of performance indicators that Strata was using to manage its business and to show stakeholders how Strata is performing. The report covered the month of September.
Although definitions were set out at the end of the report, the Committee felt that it would be more helpful to have explanations throughout the report.
Incidents were explained as an event where a problem had occurred and needed to be fixed; a request was explained as an event where an improvement or change was needed but the software/hardware was still fully operational.
There was a link between the higher level of incidents recorded for Exeter and the desktops used at Exeter – the machines themselves were of a number of variations in build, whereas machines at Teignbridge and EDDC were much more uniform with a small number of models of computers used.
Service end-to-end times were highlighted and investigated to reveal that capacity had diminished as staff were diverted to undertake STRATA projects. System outages for Teignbridge were highlighted, where staff resource was then diverted away from projects to deal with fixing the issues there, the Teignbridge system being described as having a level of fragility. The Board were looking at better management of the infrastructure to help manage the outages level at Teignbridge, looking for a balance to fix issues whilst keeping projects on track.
Strata Joint Scrutiny Committee approved the report.
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Budget Monitoring Report to 30 September 2015 PDF 75 KB To consider the report of the Director responsible for Finance.
Additional documents: Minutes: The Director responsible for Finance presented the Final audited Statement of Accounts for 2014/15 as well as the Strata Budget Monitoring to 30 September 2015 advising Members of the financial progress of Strata during the first six months of 2015/16.
Referring to both the profit and loss and balance sheet statements, he highlighted that: · The company made a loss in the year of £3.476m, as a result of taking on the pension liabilities for staff that have transferred to the company from the Councils.
· The three owner Councils have provided a guarantee to the pension fund that they will cover all liabilities on the fund in the event that Strata was unable to fulfil its commitments
The Committee discussed the tax implications for STRATA in relation to the capital invested from the three authorities.
Strata Joint Scrutiny Committee noted the report including the Final Statement of Accounts for 2014/15.
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Smartphone Issues in East Devon To consider the verbal report of Chris Powell, Chief Operating Officer Strata Service Solutions Ltd.
Minutes: The Chief Operating Officer updated the Committee on the roll out of smartphones across the Streetscene service at East Devon. This amounted to approximately 80 phones, supplied with applications for reporting on work required. Teams were already working with existing android phones, which will be replaced with iPhones over time. Although there had been some issues with smartphones, the STRATA staff were working closely with the team to help resolve issues.
Councillor Jung illustrated an example of the use of the smartphone app, where a resident of East Devon had reported an incident of fly tipping. The smartphone allowed the Streetscene operative to see the rubbish tipped, locate it and start to clear it away before the individual reporting the problem had left the site.
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Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 - Exclusion of Press and Public RESOLVED that, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of item11 on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Part I, Schedule 12A of the Act.
Minutes: RESOLVED that, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Part I, Schedule 12A of the Act.
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Human Resources Update Report To consider the report of the Strata HR Lead for Human Resources.
Additional documents:
Minutes: The Chief Operating Officer presented the report on behalf of the Strata Human Resources Lead. The report outlined the Human Resources advice provided to the Strata Board in respect of offering staff new Strata terms and conditions and adopting a phased strategy based on affordability and business need. The report also provided an update on recent meetings with the Strata Staff Joint Forum and Employee Representatives as well as agreements made with the Board in relation to annual appraisals, learning and development and staff engagement.
Councillor Bialyk sought assurances that the STRATA employee contracts were not in any way inferior to council staff contracts. The Chief Operating Officer confirmed that he would ask the Strata Human Resources Lead to contact the councillor directly to make clear that no Strata staff were now at a disadvantage in moving from council employment to a new contract.
Scrutiny Committee - Community noted the report and recommended Executive to approve:-
(1) noted the report and supported the approach proposed in relation to terms and conditions; and
(2) noted the agreements made at the Staff Joint Forum (point 4) with UNISON.
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