Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any interest and the nature of that interest which they may have in any of the items under consideration at this meeting. 

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chairman to advise whether they have agreed to any item of urgent business being admitted to the agenda.

There was no urgent business.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meetings of the Resources and Performance Scrutiny Board held on 16 February 2010 and 19 May 2010.

The Minutes of the meetings held on 16 February 2010 and 19 May 2010 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Strategic Director, Planning Housing and Economy and officers from Housing Services will be present at the meeting.

This is an opportunity for the Board to find out more about Disabled Facilities Grants and to question officers on the Council’s Disabled Facilities Grants service.

The Board will wish to reflect on the presentation and evidence and if there are any issues that they wish to explore further, these should be added to the 2010/11 Work Programme.

The Chairman welcomed the Head of Housing Services and the Housing Grants Team Leader to the meeting.

The Chairman explained that this was an opportunity for the Board to learn more about Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs) which had been considered by one of the budget scrutiny working groups as part of the 2010/11 budget scrutiny process. The topic has also been raised by Board Members as a potential topic for scrutiny in 2010/11. Following the discussion the Board would reflect on the evidence presented and if there were any issues that they wished to explore further, these should be added to the 2010/11 Work Programme. 

The Head of Housing Services began by explaining that Disabled Facilities Grants are mandatory and as the as the housing authority Cherwell District Council has to meet its statutory duty to respond. The delivery of DFGs is also enshrined in the Councils priorities, including the Sustainable Communities Strategy, the Cherwell Housing Strategy 2005-11 and the Private Sector Housing Strategy which was adopted in March 2010. The Head of Housing Services highlighted that to address one of the Strategy’s four priorities ‘Support vulnerable people so that they can remain living in their own homes, and improve their health outcomes’ a number of actions linked to DFGs had been developed. These included the need for a DFG policy to address prioritisation and allocation of resources and the development of practices and procedures to improve the efficiency and value for money for the DFG service.

The Housing Grants Team Leader advised the Board that applications were processed as they were received from the Oxfordshire County Council Occupational Therapists.  The government’s test of “fairness” applied to the assessment of need which is the responsibility of the Occupational Therapists and not a matter for the Housing team. Cherwell District Council cannot select or reject applications.  All applications are capped at £30K and all are means tested except for disabled children under 19 years.

In terms of funding, the Board was advised that the DFG budget for 2010-11 was set at £950k. This was made up of a fixed £375k Governement grant and £575k capital programme funding. It was not yet clear what, if any, impact the new Governments proposed cuts to public spending would have on DFGs.

The Housing Grants Team Leader explained that the Housing team were working with the Housing Association to explore ways for Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) to fund adaptations. At present only Charter had an obligation (under the terms of the stock transfer) to fund DFG related work and the current spend was about £350K each year.  Historically this has not been the case with Banbury Homes, however, now that Charter and Banbury Homes have merged there will need to be a more equitable approach to meet the needs of the ex Charter and ex Banbury Homes residents.

The Board was advised that a significant volume of very small scale adaption work was undertaken by the Small Repairs Handyman. This was a very successful scheme  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Report of Head of Legal and Democratic Services

Summary

The report presents the draft Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report 2009/10.

Recommendation

The Resources and Performance Scrutiny Board is recommended to:

(1)               Note the draft Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report 2009/10.

The Board considered the Draft Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report 2009/10. The draft Annual Report contained information relating to the work of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the Resources and Performance Scrutiny Board and various Task and Finish Group reviews.

The Board noted that the production of an annual report was a constitutional requirement and that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee would consider the report at its meeting on 22 June 2010 and refer it to Council in July 2010.

Resolved

That the contents of the draft Overview and Scrutiny Board Annual Report 2009/10 be noted.

Report of Head of Legal and Democratic Services

Summary

To consider the appointment of Members to the Finance Scrutiny Working Group and Performance Scrutiny Working Group.

Recommendations

The Resources & Performance Scrutiny Board is recommended to:

(1)               Confirm the membership of the Finance Scrutiny Working Group.

(2)               Confirm the membership of the Performance Scrutiny Working Group.

The Chairman welcomed Councillors Atkinson, Emptage, Hughes and Prestidge as new members of the Board.

The Board considered a report which set out proposals for the membership of the Finance Scrutiny Working Group and the Performance Scrutiny Working Group for 2010/11.

The Chairman advised the Board that following changes to the membership of the Resources and Performance Scrutiny Board there were currently two vacancies on both the Finance Scrutiny Working Group and the Performance Scrutiny Working Group. Members of the Board confirmed that they were happy to remain on the same working group for the coming year and agreed that the three new Board Members would fill the vacancies on the Working Groups.

Resolved

1)                       That the following Councillors be appointed to the Finance Scrutiny Working Group for 2010/11: Councillor Mawer (Chairman), Councillor Hughes (Vice-Chairman), Councillor Atkinson, Councillor Emptage,  Councillor Tompson, Councillor Webb, Councillor Weir.

2)                       That the following Councillors be appointed to the Performance Scrutiny Working Group for 2010/2011: Councillor Hughes (Chairman), Councillor Mawer (Vice-Chairman), Councillor Ahmed, Councillor Billington, Councillor Cullip, Councillor Prestidge, Councillor Steward.

Head of Legal and Democratic Services

Summary

To provide the Board with the draft overview and scrutiny work programme for 2010/11, to update Members on work programme items from the 2009/10 overview and scrutiny work programme and to consider items for inclusion on the 2010/11 work programme.

 Recommendations

The Resources and Performance Scrutiny Board is recommended to:

(1)               Note the Resources and Performance Scrutiny Board element of the draft Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme 2010/11.

(2)               To note the update on items carried forward from the 2009/10 overview and scrutiny work programme.

(3)               To nominate Members to participate in the fees and charges policy review group.

(4)               To consider the items suggested for inclusion on the 2010/11 Work Programme.

The Board considered the report on the draft overview and scrutiny work programme 2010/11 and made a number of observations.  The Board acknowledged the need to take account of potential resource constraints and the boundaries of the District Council’s responsibilities when determining the work programme.  They noted that it was important to ensure that any scrutiny review would deliver tangible results for the benefit of the residents of the district.

Update to Work Programme Items 2009/10

The Board noted the update to the work programme items 2009/10 including the status of previous scrutiny reviews and proposed timescales for further updates and progress reports.The Board noted that Councillors Steward and Weir had previously been nominated to participate in the fees and charges review group. Members requested further information from Officers about the group to enable them to appoint a further participant at the July meeting.

Work Programme Items for 2010/11

Members of the Board had suggested a number of topics for inclusion on the 2010/11 work programme.

Disabled Facilities Grants

This had been considered at agenda item 5.

The Cost and Length of Planning Appeals

The Board noted that the Performance Scrutiny Working Group had previously raised this item when considering the quarterly Performance Management Framework data. Members requested the Scrutiny Officer to liaise with planning officers and the performance team to provide an update to the Performance Scrutiny Working Group at their next meeting.

The cost of Cherwell District Council employing external consultants

The Board agreed that this was an interesting issue and would they would consider it in more detail later in the year.

Resolved

(1)               That the Resources and Performance Scrutiny Board element of the draft Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme 2010/11 be noted.

(2)               That the update on items carried forward from the 2009/10 overview and scrutiny work programme be noted.

(3)               That Councillors Steward, Weir, Ahmed and Emptage be nominated to participate in the fees and charges policy review group.

(4)               That the items suggested for inclusion on the 2010/11 Work Programme be noted.