Agenda item

RESOLVED: That the Committee identified any project(s) for which they would like to receive a more detailed update.

RECOMMENDED TO CABINET: That the Committee noted the progress against Council projects as set out in the Council Delivery Plan (Appendix A) including changes to milestones, performance indicators and risks, and made recommendations and comments to Cabinet.

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

Audio Recording 7 minutes 17 seconds

The Controls, Risk and Performance Manager presented the report entitled ‘Q2 Update on Progress against the Council Delivery Plan 2023-24’ and advised that:

·       This was the second quarter update on Council projects, as approved by Cabinet, and was intended to be an evolving document with updates on project risks.

·       The original due date of projects was now included on Appendix A, as highlighted at paragraph 8.3 along with the revised due date. Milestone dates are changed following Cabinet approval.

·       There were 13 projects with requested milestone changes, these were highlighted including reasons in paragraph 8.4 of the report.

·       Appendix B detailed the prioritisation tool that had been developed for scoring criteria and weighting of each project, from 2024/25 this would be used to evaluate and prioritise the projects to be included on the Council Delivery Plan. A shorter more focused list of key projects would then be presented to the Committee from 2024/25.

·       Following discussions at Cabinet in September only relevant milestones will be included going forward in the report, this will reduce the report length. Members can use Ideagen to access further details.

·       Appendix A detailed the 27 projects and their current status using the red, amber and green rating. Projects with an upward facing arrow showing an improvement in status and a high risk project had a red risk score. The progress bar on each project showed the percentage completion of each project for the current year milestones only and not for the entire project.

·       The Place Narrative project had been completed and would be removed from the plan.

·       There were 12 projects that now had amber scores.

·       The milestone changes were due to slippage or a requested change in date.

·       There had been a requested change to the Charnwood House project to extend the bid period.

·       The Memorandum of Understanding had been signed for phase one of the Local Authority Housing Fund and the houses are now occupied.

·       There would be a wider discussion of the Museum Storage project as the item was deferred by Cabinet in September.

·       The Solar PV Leisure Centre and the Royston Solar Thermal projects were on hold pending the results of a grant application to the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.

·       Quarterly assessments were ongoing for red risks not linked to specific projects regarding resourcing and cyber risks highlighted on page 58 of the report.

·       There was a link on SharePoint to Ideagen (formerly Pentana), a video guide for users was expected in March.

·       Further in depth details of specific projects can be provided from Officers and Executives either offline or at the next meeting.

N.B Councillor Ralph Muncer entered the Council Chamber at 19:46.

The following Members asked questions:

·       Councillor Dominic Griffiths

·       Councillor Ralph Muncer

·       Councillor David Levett

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

·       Work was ongoing on the EV charging project the completion due date was now October 2024. Further details of any additional support required to complete this project could be provided.

·       The outcome of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme was expected in January 2024.

·       Details would be provided on the level of engagement with the Churchgate digital hub.

·       Details would be provided on when we can expect to see a proposal for the Churchgate project.

·       There had been resourcing issues on the Enterprise Strategy project, details of any outsourcing costs could be provided at a later date, if this was in the interest of the Council to go down that route.

·       The proposed number of EV charging points to be installed, in the District was set out in the project specification and would be investigated and provided to the Committee.

·       The Enterprise strategy scope was due for sign off after the production date of this report. An update to include the outcome of the briefing held on the 14 December 2023 would be provided.

The following Members took part in debate:

·       Councillor David Levett

·       Councillor Ralph Muncer

Points raised during the debate included:

·       It was important that the Waste Depots project was completed on time to ensure service to residents was not affected.

·       There were concerns regarding the volume of projects that had turned amber especially those that had resourcing issues.

Councillor David Levett proposed and Councillor Dominic Griffiths seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED: That the Committee identified any project(s) for which they would like to receive a more detailed update.

RECOMMENDED TO CABINET: That the Committee noted the progress against Council projects as set out in the Council Delivery Plan (Appendix A) including changes to milestones, performance indicators and risks, and made recommendations and comments to Cabinet.

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