Issue - meetings

To consider the latest trends, priorities and pressures in terms of the second quarter (July to September) of 2008/09 as reported in the PMRs for:

a)      The Chief Executive’s Office and

b)      The Corporate Services Department

OVERVIEW AND POLICY DEVELOPMENT

The Commission considered the latest trends, priorities and pressures in terms of the second quarter (July to September) of 2008/09 as reported in the Performance Monitoring Reports for:

The Chief Executive’s Office

It was highlighted that:

• ten Community TV screens had now been installed around the Borough, at a first year cost of £80,000, shared between the Council and its partners.
• confirmation of the Bracknell Town Centre Compulsory Purchase Order had been received,
• in terms of progress against the Service Plan, 65 out of 71 actions were progressing well,
• five actions that were causing concern were detailed on page 4 of the monitoring report, one action had been transferred to another department.
• The planned dates for building the new Civic Hub were to reviewed in the course of producing the Service Plan for 2009/10.

It was reported that the Community TV work would be evaluated after a year and that the location of screens could also be considered again as part of this evaluation. The outcome of that evaluation would be reported to the Overview and Scrutiny Commission.

It was noted that the PMR had incomplete information on some performance indicators due to definitions and data for some of the new National Indicators not being available yet.

Mrs Birch asked to be provided with a copy of the Welcome Pack for all new residents to the Borough, detailed on page 13 of the monitoring report.

Corporate Services

It was highlighted in discussions that:

·         Town Centre developers had needed to consider the delivery and phasing of development due to the down turn in the economy,

·         The work on Service Efficiency, Neighbourhood Action Groups and Flexible working had been progressed

·         the tender for customer payments to the Council and Bracknell Forest Homes had been awarded to the Post Office and the Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank. Bracknell Forest Homes Management were being pressed to provide the necessary publicity information on counter payments.

·         audit of the Council’s financial statements had been completed and an unqualified opinion on the accounts had been given by the district auditor,

·         the implementation of staff car parking charges and the consultation over proposed changes to car allowances continued to provide challenges,

·         The Berkshire Shared Services Unit was now located at Time Square,

·         ICT Services were preparing for the implementation of Microsoft Outlook,

·         The sale of land at Brakenhale was due to be concluded in December,

·         There was now less pressure to consider the relocation of the indoor market,

·         Planning appeals had generated a considerable workload for legal services, notably those for the Staff College and the former TRL site.

In response to members’ queries it was reported that the three pilot online forums would be publicised in Town & Country, the Bracknell Standard, the Bracknell News and the Council’s website.

Members discussed the timing of the production of Performance Monitoring Reports, and noted that these should be available in good time before future meetings.