Agenda and minutes

To be notified of the appointment of any substitute members.

Apologies were received for Councillor Cath Davis and Ms Fiona Burton.

To be notified of the appointment of any Substitute Members.

Councillor John Johnsson was in attendance as a substitute for Councillor Lewis Bartoli.

Councillor John O’Shea was in attendance as a substitute for Councillor Jane Shaw.

You are invited to declare any registerable and/or non registerable interests in matters appearing on the agenda, and the nature of that interest.

You are also invited to disclose any dispensation in relation to any registerable and/or non-registerable interests that have been granted to you in respect of any matters appearing on the agenda.

Please complete the Declarations of Interests card available at the meeting and return it to the Democratic Services Officer before leaving the meeting.

Councillor Liam Bones declared a Non-Registerable Personal in Item 6, they have a family member who is employed by North Tyneside Council.

Councillor Debbie Cox declared a Non-Registerable Personal in Item 6, they have a family member who receives adult social care.

Councillor Tommy Mulvenna declared a Non-Registerable Personal in Item 6, they have a number of family members who are employed by North Tyneside Council.

Councillor Martin Murphy declared a Non-Registerable Personal in Item 6, they have a family member who is employed by North Tyneside Council.

Councillor Pat Oliver declared a Non-Registerable Personal in Item 6, they have a family member who receives adult social care.

Councillor Matthew Thirlaway declared a Non-Registerable Personal in Item 6, they have a family member who is employed by North Tyneside Council, and a Registerable personal interest as they are employed by a company which has contracts with North Tyneside Council to provide adult social care.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 11 December 2023, 15 January 2024 and 31 January 2024.

Resolved that the minutes of the meeting held on 11 December 2023, 15 January 2024 and 31 January 2024 be agreed.

As part of its work programme, Overview and Scrutiny Coordination and Finance Committee (‘the Committee’) receives performance updates from the Authority’s long-term strategic partner Capita Property & Infrastructure Limited (‘Capita’).  The partnership with Capita delivers a range of technical services for the Authority (Highways & Engineering, Planning and Strategic Property).

The purpose of this report is to present the 2023/24 quarter 1 and quarter 2 performance for these services and follows approval by the established partnership governance arrangements.  A presentation summarising the key areas of focus for the Committee will be given by officers at the meeting.

The Director and Assistant Partnership Director gave a presentation on the bi-annual Performance update from Capita. This report included some operation highlights, information on the Partnership value added through Community work and the performance update.

A discussion took place about the percentage of works raised for potholes within three days, and members agreed they were keen to see some real time examples of the works process. There was a feeling that the successful RAG rating of some KPIs was not being felt in terms of successful works by residents, who in turn would contact their ward representatives.

Capita assured the committee that all materials used were up to the British legal regulation standard.

On the topic of handheld devices used by operators, officers admitted that there could have been more testing done in the field to work through the connectivity issues that happened and this had been figured in to future similar situations.

With regards to complaints that took longer to resolve the KPI timescales, officers apologised that these the low volumes of complaints received had been missed in error and training had now taken place to ensure no repeats of the issues. 

The committee asked for confirmation of the number of Joint Inspections, and officers confirmed this was 20% of all works (with that being split between 20% roads / 80% pavements) and these were randomly selected.

A question was asked about gulley clearing and officers confirmed that there are two gulley wagons, and all wagons are cleared every two years.

The Head of Highways and Transportation presented the answers to the committee’s questions that were taken from the December meeting of the committee.

Members asked that they formalise their concerns by asking officers to bring back real time timelines and evidence of works to the next meeting of the committee. It was confirmed that this same request had been raised at the Strategic Partnership Board by a cabinet member.

To receive and scrutinise the Authority’s performance and financial management report. The report provides a full overview of both the budget and service delivery performance position across the Authority as at 30 November 2023.

The Committee received a report that had been considered by Cabinet at its 22 January 2024 meeting.

This report provided a full overview of both the service delivery performance and budget position across the Authority as at 30 November 2023.

In terms of performance, service delivery remained strong whilst there continued to be high levels of demand and financial implications in children in need residential placements, Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) Needs Assessments, children in care / in need, home care costs and nursing care placements.

As at 30 November 2023, the Authority is showing a total forecast net pressure for the current year of £8.622m. This is an improvement of £1.026m since September’s position.

It was Agreed that the 2023/24 Performance and Financial Management Report to 30 November 2023 be noted.