Agenda item

REPORT OF THE SERVICE DIRECTOR- RESOURCES

An update on the projects, risks and performance indicators linked to delivery of the Council Plan for 22-23

RESOLVED: That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee determined projects that they wanted to receive more details on as part of the next monitoring report, including the resourcing issues the Council was facing.

RECOMMENDED TO CABINET:

(1)   That Cabinet notes the progress against Council projects as set out in the Council Delivery Plan (Appendix A) including new milestones, deleted milestones, and changes to milestone dates and risks.

(2)   That Cabinet notes the deletion of projects outlined in 8.6, to be replaced by new projects in 2023-24.

(3)   That Cabinet notes the completion in Q4 of the Museum and HTH recovery, Customer Portal, Full review of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, and Green Space Management Strategy Projects.

(4)   That Cabinet notes the reduction in the Town Centre Recovery risk score from a 3 to a risk score of 2.

REASONS FOR REFERRAL: The Council Delivery Plan (CDP) monitoring reports provide Overview and Scrutiny, and Cabinet, with an opportunity to monitor progress against the key Council projects, and understand any new issues, risks, or opportunities.

Audio recording 1 hour 2 minutes 50 seconds

The Controls Risk and Performance Manager presented the report entitled ’Q4 update on the Council Action Plan 2022-23’ and highlighted that:

·       The report detailed project risks and performance indicators, as well as a high-level overview of progress made on projects in the Council Delivery Plan.

·       Members can request more details of specific projects to be reported to the Committee and are able to log into view projects on Pentana. 

·       Projects moving to the 2023-24 Action Plan are highlighted in grey in Appendix A, with new milestones and dates.

·       Paragraph 8.5 of the report highlighted the four projects have been completed in this period.

·       Paragraph 8.6 of the report detailed the projects that will no longer be included in the report.

·       The Boundary Review report has now been received the project will be marked as complete and removed from future monitoring reports.

·       The further details requested on the Town Centre Recovery and the Tourism Strategy requested at the last meeting can be found in Appendix B at 8.9 of the report.

·       The proposed milestones changes are required to be signed off by Cabinet and are highlighted in yellow.

·       The Town Centre Recovery plan had moved from a risk factor of 3 to 2 following a review of the risks.

·       The risk performers indicators for Q4 show 6 Green, 1 Amber and 2 Red as highlighted in blue in the report.

The following Members asked questions:

·       Councillor Matt Barnes

·       Councillor Ralph Muncer

In response to questions the Controls Risk and Performance Manager stated that:

·       The projects identified for inclusions on the Council Plan are set out by the Leadership team and Cabinet and monitored by O&S.

·       Where the milestones have slipped, sometime this is due to resourcing, and an overarching resourcing risk has now been added to projects which is shown in Appendix A.

·       An update on the EV Charging project and delivery dates can be provided outside of this meeting.

·       There were no quality bids for the Royston Solar Thermal procurement, a feasibility report has been requested so it can be reviewed, and a decision made as to whether to continue with the existing project or roll into a new project on the 2023-24 Council Delivery Plan.

·       HR and the Leadership team are looking into the resourcing issues and a more detailed report on resourcing risk could be highlighted at the next O&S meeting.

In response to questions the Service Director – Enterprise stated that a budget had been set regarding the Churchgate project and a consultant had been appointed, with a review scheduled by the July Project Board.

The Chair stated that he would look to prioritise projects for consideration on the agenda from the Council Delivery Plan for future meetings.

Councillor Adam Compton, as Chair, proposed and Councillor Val Bryant seconded, and following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED: That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee determined projects that they wanted to receive more details on as part of the next monitoring report, including the resourcing issues the Council was facing.

RECOMMENDED TO CABINET:

(1)   That Cabinet notes the progress against Council projects as set out in the Council Delivery Plan (Appendix A) including new milestones, deleted milestones, and changes to milestone dates and risks.

(2)   That Cabinet notes the deletion of projects outlined in 8.6, to be replaced by new projects in 2023-24.

(3)   That Cabinet notes the completion in Q4 of the Museum and HTH recovery, Customer Portal, Full review of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, and Green Space Management Strategy Projects.

(4)   That Cabinet notes the reduction in the Town Centre Recovery risk score from a 3 to a risk score of 2.

REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS: The Council Delivery Plan (CDP) monitoring reports provide Overview and Scrutiny, and Cabinet, with an opportunity to monitor progress against the key Council projects, and understand any new issues, risks, or opportunities