Agenda and minutes

The Members had before them:

A.         The Agenda Papers (previously circulated); and

B.         The Minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 16 June 2016 (previously circulated).

A copy of document A will be attached to the signed Minutes.

An apology was received from Mrs S L Blagg.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Head of Legal and Democratic Services in writing or by e-mail indicating both the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case 20 July 2016).  Further details are available on the Council's website.  Enquiries can also be made through the telephone number/e-mail address listed below.

None.

The Minutes of the meeting of 16 June 2016 have been previously circulated

RESOLVED:  that the Minutes of the meeting held on 16 June 2016 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Cabinet considered the latest update of the Corporate Balanced Scorecard for Quarter Four 2015/16 and the latest refresh of the Corporate Risk Register.  The details were set out in the report and its Appendix.

In the ensuing discussion, the following main points were made:

(a)  The Cabinet Member for Transformation and Commissioning introduced the report and made the following points:

·         The Debtor Days performance indicator had moved from a green to an amber risk. This figure was somewhat skewed by five blocked debts totalling £1.7m. However it was a matter that needed to be monitored

·         The performance indicator for sickness rates had improved from a red to an amber risk which was better than expected. All Directorates had improved but the sickness levels in DAS remained a cause for concern. Although the improvement was welcomed, there was no room for complacency

·         The performance indicator for the percentage of pupils who achieve 5 A*-C at GCSE had improved from no status to a green risk and was significantly above the national average. Nearly nine out of ten schools in Worcestershire were adjudged by Ofsted to be good or outstanding

·         Although the performance indicator for the percentage of Looked After Children adopted had been identified as a red risk due to the number of adoptions falling, there was an increase in the number of children placed with a family in preparation for adoption. The initiative set up in 2014/15 to target children with complex needs had been effective but meant that the performance bar for this indicator had been set at a high level

·         The performance indicator for the "Demographic changes lead to changed demand for services" remained a red risk.  The Council had mitigated this risk by helping people and families at an early stage so they did not enter the system and through improved forecasting as well as utilising the additional Council Tax funds set aside for this purpose  

(b)  A competition had been held recently for schools to raise awareness of the need to reduce household waste per head. Stanley Road Primary School had won the competition and their winning poster had been displayed on freighters in Worcester. It had successfully raised awareness amongst children of the significant amount of food waste that went into residual bins. Work continued to reduce the amount of household waste per head of population

(c)   A member from outside the Cabinet requested an explanation of what represented a blocked debt, how they had become blocked, the proportion of debts that were blocked and what the Council was doing to unblock these debts. The Chief Financial Officer explained that debtor days related to income due to the County Council. Blocked debts were where the system indicated that the debt had aged and the Council should be taking recovery action but for particular reasons the Council was not actively pursuing and was therefore looking at other ways to recover. He would provide a written explanation for members of the 5 blocked debts referred to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1738.

The Cabinet considered governance arrangements for West Mercia Energy (WME).  The details were set out in the report.

In the ensuing discussion, the following main points were made:

(a)  The Cabinet Member for Environment introduced the report and commented that the report set out the proposed governance arrangements for WME. These included the rules relating to members wishing to leave, clarification of access to information, code of conduct matters and confirmation of the lead authority. The Council was committed to participating in WME for the benefit of the public purse. Any future work at WME would be undertaken on a commercial basis but profits would only be shared amongst the founder members. WME had performed well in recent times but needed to be more flexible to respond to changes in the market place especially with the creation of Academies and provide more of a national remit

(b)  WME had been particularly successful and provided the Council with a substantial amount of money

(c)  A member from outside the Cabinet suggested that an approach be made to Bromsgrove District Council to invite them to join WME. The Cabinet Member for the Environment responded that he would be willing to speak to Bromsgrove District Council and any other district council interested in buying services from WME.

RESOLVED:  that

(a)        the discussions taking place between the member authorities of West Mercia Energy be noted;

(b)       the current governance arrangements for West Mercia Energy may be amended in line with the report; and

(c)        the Head of Legal and Democratic Services be authorised to finalise and execute amendments to the governance arrangements in consultation with the Chief Financial Officer.