Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Chief Constable Pat Geenty, Wiltshire Constabulary, and Deborah Fielding, Clinical Commissioning Group.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 17 June 2014 (copy attached).

The Committee considered the minutes of the meeting held on 17 June 2014.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 17 June 2014 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Leader.

The Chair stated, that with the consent of the meeting, that the presentation regarding Disposals would be brought up the agenda.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public. This meeting is open to the public, who may ask a question or make a statement. Questions can also be asked by members of the Council. Written notice of questions or statements should be given to Will Oulton of Democratic Services by 12.00 noon on Thursday 11 September 2014. Anyone wishing to ask a question or make a statement should contact the officer named above.

It was noted that no requests for public participation had been received. The Leader did however explain that, as usual at meetings of Cabinet and its committees, she would be more than happy to hear from any member of the public present on any of the items on the agenda for this meeting.

To receive a presentation from Sarah Ward, Head of Asset Management on disposals.

Sarah Ward, Head of Asset Management, gave a presentation regarding property disposals. The Council had made good progress in meeting its targets for asset disposal. Some assets, marked for disposal, may be reviewed as they may be used to further other priorities. A number of assets, valued together at £5.8m, had been retained for investment or alternative uses. Following a request from Councillors, officers agreed that more information could be provided on the split between those properties held for investment and those held for alternative use.

Further opportunities remained in areas such as: farm assets, community centres and commercial properties. These matters were scheduled to be considered by a future meeting of the Cabinet Capital Assets Committee. Officers were encouraged to continue to work with partners, particularly Health and Fire authorities, to maximise the opportunities to share resources.

The meeting was informed that the Council had exchanged contracts on the Shurnhold, Melksham site, and that the Middlefield, Chippenham site was on the market.

The meeting was informed that the Capital Assets Committee had previously agreed to develop the former depot site at Coombe Bissett for the building of 3 affordable housing units. However, based on a reassessment of housing need in the area, a planning application for 4 affordable housing units, comprising of 2 houses and 2 flats had been submitted. The development would encompass the same footprint as the original proposals.

The Committee thanked Sarah Ward for her presentation, and noted the update regarding the Coombe Bissett site.

Resolved:

To:

a)    Thank Sarah Ward for her presentation;

b)    Note the update regarding the Coombe Bissett site; and

c)     Request a further breakdown of the £5.8m be circulated to Members regarding the split between those assets classified as ‘Investment’ and ‘Alternative Use’.

To receive a presentation by Kate Beckinsale-Smith, Systems Thinking lead on customer access, on a strand of work looking at the customer journey linking Revenues and Benefits, Housing options and customer services.

Kate Beckinsale-Smith, Systems Thinking lead on customer access, gave a presentation on a strand of work looking at the customer journey linking Revenues and Benefits, Housing options and customer services. Officers had collected data to find out who the customers were, how they were accessing services and information from the Council and the purpose of their interactions.

Using this information, it would be possible to design services to reduce duplication of effort, improve customer experience and reduce costs. The presentation illustrated this with a case study: it showed how a customer on the Housing Needs Register had to contact the Council repeatedly resubmitting the same information.

It was noted that some face to face contact took place with internal customers, for instance officers seeking directions to meeting rooms from reception staff, and that some thought should go into how this could be reduced.

The Systems Thinking team were also contributing to other service reviews to help improve customer access and were linking to improvements in digital services and transactional services. With regard to digital services, it was noted that officers were working to reduce the amount of information online to make it easier for the public to find what they need, and to improve the ease with which payments could be made online. In response to a question from Councillors, officers stated that data was already being collected from the new Corsham Hub which should enable them to improve customer access.

Resolved:

To:

a)    Thank Kate Beckinsale-Smith for her presentation.

b)    Request officers to address the relatively high number of internal business requests on Customer Services staff.

To receive a presentation from Julie Anderson-Hill, Head of Transformational Change and Health Co-ordinator, on Police Integrations and next steps including updates on Bourne Hill and the Adult Disability Service based in Ashton Street.

The Committee received a presentation from Julie Anderson-Hill, Head of Transformational Change and Health Co-ordinator, on Police Integrations and next steps including an update on Bourne Hill and the Adult Disability Service based in Ashton Street.

The presentation focused on the design of the new facilities, available at County Hall, and how they had been developed in consultation with Adult Disability Service users. Officers were pleased that, by working closely with users, they had addressed people’s concerns. It was hoped that the facilities would be flexible enough to be available to the wider public, including out of normal office hours. The facilities were also closer to a range of amenities, such as the library, park and shop, which would enable users to access them more easily. It was important to place this in the heart of the community. Officers would continue to engage with the community, so that they were aware of the changes: tours and displays were being arranged to further this aim. Councillors were pleased to see that the new facilities would be open before the old facilities were closed.

Resolved:

To:

a)    Thank Julie for her presentation;

b)    Request that information regarding the Ashton Street, Trowbridge project be shared in the Corsham Area to address concerns regarding a similar project.

To receive a highlight report on projects and programmes by Ian Baker, Head of Programme Office.

Peter McSweeney, Portfolio Manager from the Programme Office, presented a highlight report on projects and programmes for the period to the 31^st August 2014. The meeting confirmed that it was happy with the format of the report and that the team was well placed to link with other projects.

Resolved: to note the report.

To receive a highlight report on the systems thinking programme by John Rogers, Head of Systems Thinking and Customer Access.

John Rogers, Head of Systems Thinking and Customer Access presented a

report which detailed the position of the systems thinking programme as at 31

August 2014. The Clinical Commissioning Group were thanked for the space provided to staff working on the Better Care project, and work was ongoing with GPs and community health staff to better integrate services.

Resolved: to note the report.

Any other items of business that the Leader agrees to consider as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items.