Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Contact: Jodie Kloss/Alan Garside  Email: legalanddemocratic@watford.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

39.

Apologies for Absence/ Committee membership

Minutes:

There were two changes of membership for this meeting: Councillor Collett replaced Councillor Greenslade and Councillor S Williams replaced Councillor Joynes.

40.

Disclosures of interest

Minutes:

There were no disclosures of interest.

41.

Minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 January 2015 to be submitted and signed.

 

Copies of the minutes of this meeting are usually available seven working days following the meeting.

 

(All minutes are available on the Council’s website.)

 

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 January 2015 were submitted and signed.

42.

Council Tax Collection and Recovery pdf icon PDF 171 KB

The Head of Revenues and Benefits to give a presentation on council tax collection and recovery to the Panel.

Minutes:

The Panel received a presentation from the Head of Revenue and Benefits on Revenue and Benefits performance.  At the conclusion, the Chair asked if there were any questions.

 

Councillor Collett asked what impact ICT had on Council Tax and, if ICT was working properly, how quickly benefits and council tax changes could be processed.  The Head of Revenues and Benefits explained that ideally this should be between two to three weeks but this was currently work in progress and was difficult to sustain owing to the ICT situation. If work could be processed within these timeframes, it would allow for proactive work to be undertaken but it was not possible to telephone clients at present.  If ICT was effective, changes could be done between 9 – 10 days with a 14 day  maximum.  Some local authorities suggested they could process changes  in five days but this related to the processing time and did not take into account the time  of the receipt of all information.

 

Councillor Dhindsa commented that, during the previous year, Revenues and Benefits had been in dire straits and he congratulated the Head of Revenues and Benefits on the pull back.  He asked, in respect of overpayments, how much money had been recovered - and of the 154 outstanding new Housing Benefit cases, how long it would take to get to single figures.   The Head of Revenues and Benefits explained that there were 37 cases where staff were waiting for customers to respond to enquiries.  By Friday of this week there would be around 100 outstanding cases which would represent about a week’s work.  A high percentage of cases related to people from abroad which were complex as these customers had to provide evidence of their work history in the UK; the emphasis was to get them to come in to the office  to try and expedite these cases. With regard to the overpayments; the value of these was currently £700k less than the same time the previous year and would have been even better, but for new data matching with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs which had been rolled out nationally. This exercise was to identify significant numbers of undeclared pensions and earnings.  They were in the process of getting comparative data from the other local authorities in Hertfordshire.  With regard to the processing of Housing Benefit new claims, in quarter 1 and 2, it appeared that Watford was the best performing authority in Hertfordshire.

 

Councillor Watkin commented that if, for example,  the average time to deal with new housing benefit cases was nine days a significant proportion were dealt with in just two days.  This was evidence of achieving critical change and of the organisation pulling together.  He added that the software was now being used effectively and that Revenues and Benefits was an operation to be proud of with a good service provided to the people of Watford.

 

Councillor Williams asked how many weeks were lost in the year due to the ICT.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

43.

Performance Report - Quarter 3 2014/15 pdf icon PDF 170 KB

Report of the Partnerships and Performance Section Head

 

This report provides the Panel with the relevant performance indicators for Quarter 3 2014/15.

Minutes:

The Partnership and Performance Section Head introduced the Performance report to the Panel and invited questions.

 

The Chair asked whether there were any figures for January in relation to the Capita performance indicators at items IT1 to 5 in the report.  The ICT Client Section Head explained that these had not been provided by Capita yet. There had been issues with the performance management information in the past, but this was definitely an area that had improved in recent months.  With regard to the problems with Thin Client; she explained that Capita had inherited these issues from the internal ICT service.  This was an aged operating system.  Capita had been working through the problems.

 

The Chair asked why item IT6 in the report was not measured.  The ICT Client Section Head explained this was due to issues with the staff survey from which data was obtained.  There was a need for a minimum 20 percent response rate to the survey but users were not completing the survey.  This was not something the ICT Client Section Head was going to push through with the current lack of confidence in the ICT systems and service.  Reminders had been sent out for people to complete the surveys but confidence was the key issue.

 

With reference to item ES2 in the report, Councillor Martins raised an issue about the contamination of bins taken back.  The Partnership and Performance Section Head explained that work was being undertaken in this regard and undertook to report back to the Panel.

 

ACTION – Partnership and Performance Section Head

 

Councillor Collett raised an issue about there being apparently no recycle bins at the Boundary Way Flats.  The Partnership and Performance Section Head undertook to have the matter investigated and to report back to the Panel.

 

ACTION – Partnership and Performance Section Head

 

Councillor Dhindsa asked who reported on the cleanliness of the work of the village teams.  The Partnership and Performance Section Head explained that Veolia conducted a survey to measure street cleanliness on litter, detritus (soil, mud, grit), graffiti and fly posting and that the Client Team also conducted surveys (sometimes with the Veolia team) to provide quality assurance  There would be further training in quarter four and the quality checks were ongoing.

 

With reference to item ES12 in the report, the Chair asked whether the suspect had been apprehended.  The Partnership and Performance Section Head explained that the individual was in the process of being identified.

 

Councillor Counter commented that data around SLM complaints was extremely useful.

 

The Chair said that he had spoken to an individual recently and it appeared that SLM did not carry out work experience for those young people of secondary school age.

 

ACTION – Partnership and Performance Section Head to investigate this and report back to the Panel.

 

With reference to item LC13 in the report, Councillor Dhindsa asked whether there was any data on how the community hires were advertised and whether ethnic minority groups were targeted.  He also asked whether  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

44.

Update on ICT contract pdf icon PDF 43 KB

  • View the background to item 44.

Report of the ICT Client Section Head

Minutes:

The Panel received a report from ICT Client Section Head providing an update on the ICT contract.  At the conclusion, the Chair asked if there were any questions.

 

Councillor Collett said that, on speaking to officers, their frustration was apparent and that this was not a way of working.  She was concerned that there had been little progress by Christmas of the previous year and that the current situation adversely affected residents; such as in relation to housing and benefits.  She considered that matters had gone too far and a strong message should be sent that this was not acceptable.  Capita should make stronger commitments and stick to them.

 

The Capita Managing Director thanked Councillor Collett for her comments and said they were disappointed things had not improved by the end of the year; although some progress had been made.  He confirmed that Capita were committed to improve matters; they were aware of what was going on.  They had conducted much work with Revenues and Benefits and new staff were now in place.  He appreciated that there was much work to do.  He commented that it was an aging ICT estate and that the Modernising ICT programme would revolutionise the architecture.  He concluded by saying that Capita was investing heavily and well above income.

 

The Capita Programme Director explained that staff were working very hard and that she was confident that they would meet the contract.  She had started work on the project in December and was working closely with the Capita Recovery Project Manager.  She reassured Members that Capita wanted to make it work and said that feedback was very important.  They were now using people resources in a more effective manner.

 

Councillor Counter made reference to the assurances and said that she understood that Capita may have more grip.  She asked what the differences would be.  The Capita Programme Director explained that there were many things to be done.  They now had a better understanding of the impact on the end user.  They had made assurances to the ICT Client Section Head and would deliver in the next two weeks.  She commented that Capita staff wanted to provide an effective service.

 

The Chair asked whether anything tangible had improved.  The Capita Recovery Project Manager said that looking at the client call record; there was a backlog of calls of 42 outstanding over 90 days and 60 at 10 days.  This was now down to nine in three days.

 

Councillor Martins commented that he had little confidence at present.  Capita had over promised and under delivered.  He said that after 18 months with no progress he would not keep Capita on the contract and would at least expect penalties. He added that the current situation had had an impact on the whole of Watford and asked what the timescale for improvements was.  The Capita Programme Director explained that there were commitments to the end of February and that there was a schedule of work to recover the account to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.

45.

Conclusions and recommendations

The Panel to discuss conclusions and recommendations arising from the ICT contract item.

Minutes:

A discussion was held about the conclusions and recommendations from the ICT Contact update item and these were as follows:

·        The ICT Client Section Head to obtain the resource profile for one week contracts from Capita and report to the Panel.

  • The ICT Client Section Head to provide more detail of the core recovery programme to the Panel.

·        The ICT Client Section Head to provide a table of events in relation to contract improvement progression and report to the Panel.

·        The ICT Client Section Head to establish whether Capita employees on the contract were paid above the living wage and report to the Panel.

·        The ICT Client Section Head to provide a written report to the Panel on the progress of the contract at the end of March outlining whether compliance has been achieved.

·        The ICT Client Section Head to flag any matters that go badly wrong as they arise to the Panel.

 

46.

Update on actions pdf icon PDF 33 KB

  • View the background to item 46.

The update on actions is attached.  Members are asked to sign off for those which are complete.

Minutes:

The Panel received a report of the Committee and Scrutiny Support Officer updating Members on outstanding actions from previous meetings.   It was agreed that a number of the actions could be signed off.

 

With reference to item VE22 in the report, Councillor Collett explained that there was uncertainty regarding whether Sheriff Way and Nottingham Close were owned by WCHT and asked the Partnership and Performance Section Head to clarify the situation.

 

ACTION – Partnership and Performance Section Head

 

 

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