Apologies for absence had been received from Councillors Ahmed and Turmaine.

There were no disclosures of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 22 June 2022 to be submitted and signed.

The minutes of the meeting held on 22 June 2022 were submitted and signed.  

The following scrutiny committees and task groups have met since the last meeting of Overview and Scrutiny Committee

·        Finance Scrutiny Committee (27 June 2022)

It was noted that Finance Scrutiny Committee had met on 27 June 2022.  Minutes of the meeting were available on the council’s website.

Report of the Business Intelligence Manager

The scrutiny committee received the report of the Business Intelligence Manager setting out the council’s End of Year 2021/22 key performance indicators (KPIs).

 The Business Intelligence Manager introduced the report. She highlighted some key areas and provided responses to some of the questions that the committee had sent in advance. Further answers to queries would be circulated after the meeting. 

Key highlights included:

·                    There had been good improvement in the Revenues and Benefits indicators following a challenging time for the service. The end to their additional responsibilities as part of the Covid response had provided more capacity.

·                    The percentage of calls answered by the Customer Service Centre (CSC) within timescales was just below target. When the service anticipated surges in demand staff were not able to take annual leave. Additional staffing pressures had also been experienced this year due to a resignation and sickness absence.

·                    The number of households in temporary accommodation remained steady. Details of how the target was determined would be circulated.

·                    It had been agreed to set the waste and recycling targets at more challenging levels. From Q1 22/23 the level of recycling would be set at 48% rising to 50% and 52% in 2023 and 2024 respectively. The targets for levels of residual waste would also be reduced to be more challenging.

·                    The IT helpdesk had seen a dramatic improvement with the Littlefish contract; the target for first time fix was 45% and the result was 96%; the service would be reviewing these figures.

Following the recent approval of the Council Plan, the process to review the KPIs and targets had begun as part of the council’s service planning process. This would include looking at whether the right measures were included and how the data was presented. The committee was invited to send feedback on this.

Members felt that the format of the document was easy to follow and were pleased that performance was good overall. A number of the KPIs had had the same target levels for a number of years and a request was made that these be reviewed and brought back to the committee. Officers confirmed that the Q1 data would include the latest set of targets and where these were continually achieved they would look to increase them. A wider piece of work would be undertaken in relation to performance management including benchmarking with other, similar, councils.

Starting with KPI 7, long wait calls received, it was noted that calls to Revenues and Benefits were not included in the data. The committee asked why this was the case and how their inclusion would change the figures. Officers undertook to circulate that information. It was noted that a balance had to be struck with staffing levels to ensure resilience without the service being overstaffed. The move to online interactions meant that those who did call the CSC often needed more support with complex queries. The committee further suggested that there should be targets for the percentage of queries that were dealt with online  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

Report of the Head of Leisure and Environmental Services

The scrutiny committee received a report of the Head of Leisure and Environmental Services setting out the background to the contract as well as data on usage and subsidies.

The Head of Leisure and Environmental Services introduced the report which provided an overview of the DRT with details of bus stops, the number of buses in service, ridership and subsidies to date. The council met the team from the provider, Arriva, monthly to understand and monitor performance.  The service had been due to start in April 2020 but was delayed to July 2020 due to the onset of the pandemic which had had a significant impact on ridership.

The Portfolio Holder for Sustainability and Transport, Councillor Ian Stotesbury, added that the DRT was a reflection of the council’s commitment to modal shift and active travel schemes in particular. While the service had been impacted by Covid, numbers were picking up. There was a focus on marketing particularly in the B2B (business to business) sphere. Surveys had shown that a lot of car journeys in Watford were short distances and this service was part of the solution to reduce car use.

The committee discussed how concessionary travel operated on the DRT. Blue badge holders and concessionary bus users could travel for free between 10am and 3pm and this was a key demographic. A call centre was in operation which received bookings by telephone for those without smart phone access. Members noted that the telephone number for this service was not publicised and considered it should be made widely available.

Turning to accessibility, the Portfolio Holder underlined that this was a real goal of the service. Officers confirmed that the app did not capture demographic information but there was some data on use by disabled customers who needed assistance. 

The committee considered the usage of the service which in April 2022 had been approximately 10% of what was projected. The committee asked for the numbers of unique riders to be circulated. Officers advised that the pricing levels were reviewed annually. An efficiency notice had been issued in November 2021 with associated actions. Arriva had been asked to bring back revised numbers and there was an increased marketing budget to support this.  While there had been an improvement since the notice being issued, the Portfolio Holder advised that if the numbers of users still did not improve, the future of the service could be in doubt.

Following questions around the marketing of the service, it was confirmed that Arriva had responsibility for this. The Mayor, Portfolio Holder and officers offered local knowledge and assisted with making connections. The Portfolio Holder said he would welcome suggestions to marketing materials. Once people used the service they were enthusiastic about it and ambassadors for the service had a role to play.  The marketing needed to be multifaceted focused at different groups and a video of users was already in production.

Dan Thomason advised that he visited Watford often and the relationship with the council was critical.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

The Scrutiny Committee is asked to review the latest edition of the Executive Decision Progress Report and consider whether any further information is required.

The scrutiny committee was invited to review the current Executive Decision Progress Report for 2022/23 and consider whether any further information was required.

RESOLVED –

that the current 2022/23 Executive Decision Progress report be noted.

Councillor Feldman, the Council’s appointed representative to the County Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee to provide an update.

The Chair, as the council’s appointed representative on Hertfordshire County Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee, advised that the Vice Chair had attended the last meeting in his place.

She reported that there had been agenda items on Long Covid, access to primary care and on Health Watch. Key recommendations in improving the access to primary care were around telephoning and greater use of community pharmacies for minor ailments. Regarding Health Watch, there was a need to diversify the voices that reported. There would also be a forthcoming item to look at the experiences of ethnic minorities in maternity care. 

The scrutiny committee is asked to review the current version of the work programme and consider any additional areas councillors wish to scrutinise.

The committee reviewed the latest version of the work programme, noting that since the publication of the agenda an item around ICT had been added to the November meeting.

It was noted that there would be a small working group to look at the Report-it function; it was agreed that the outcome of this group would be reported to Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

·             Wednesday 27 July – for call-in only. (This meeting will be cancelled if no call-in is received).

·             Wednesday 21 September

The next meeting would be 21 September 2022.