To agree minutes of the meeting of the Advisory Committee held on 3 October 2024, as a correct record.

Resolved: That the Minutes from the Improvement and Innovation Advisory Committee held on the 3 October 2024 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Any declarations not already registered.

There were none.

There were none.

The Chairman welcomed the Portfolio Holder for Improvement and Innovation who gave an update on his portfolio and took questions from the Committee. Members were advised that the Customer Insights team had been able to make improvements to the temporary accommodation payment process for housing and rent management, which enabled the council to collect £46,000 towards temporary accommodation costs. He highlighted the cost of temporary accommodation to the council was in excess of £600,000.

Direct services had implemented the use of electronic devices to enable crews to manage their rounds, mark rounds as complete and log any issues they encountered. They were also looking into in-cab technology to make collections more efficient.

The Portfolio Holder explained that customer satisfaction remained high with 86% of queries resolved at the point of contact and 94% of customers were satisfied with the friendliness of the staff. The information had been gathered from the automated survey asked at the end of all calls.

The Council were working with the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government to complete the newly implemented cyber assessment framework to obtain funding. The maximum amount of funding available was £15,000. In the meantime, a new offline backup system had been implemented to increase the Council’s cyber security.

It was explained that the West Kent Business Expo which took place last year had received very good feedback including from the Federation of Small Businesses. Another event had been planned for the 12 March 2025 and already 5 sponsors, 25 exhibitors and 72 organisations had registered their interest. The West Kent Partnership website had also been reviewed to assess different business areas which may require support or investment. The Economic Development Team were working on an action plan with partner organisations to assist local businesses.

The Council faced challenges with staff retention. It was highlighted that the Council generally had a high retention rate however some roles experienced difficulties with recruitment. This was not uncommon and was understood to be a difficulty faced by other councils also. The Council was also working towards the ‘Investors in People Platinum Award’.

 Difficulties had also been experienced in capital schemes. These were caused by a range of factors including international issues and labor and skill shortages in construction. Current interest rates had created uncertainty and public sector borrowing had raised the guild yield which resulted in high costs of borrowing. In turn this had had an impact on the viability of projects which would need to meet financial challenges.

The Chairman thanked the portfolio holder for his presentation.

There were none.

The Chairman of the Task and Finish Group presented the report which confirmed the group had considered a number of areas relating to process and efficiency. They had identified a number of recommendations however it was acknowledged that the internal processes and associated quality checks were outside the remit of Councillors on a day-to-day basis. It was suggested a program of process review and constant evaluation of usefulness and rationale would be beneficial. It was highlighted that procurement and related procedures were outside the scope of the group.

Questions were asked of the Member. Members were surprised the group deemed procurement outside the scope of the group. It was explained by the Chairman that procurement was strategic and operational. The Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Officer for Customer and Resources further explained that there were a number of actions suggested to address the issues which were within their timescales to progress or had completed. A strategy was also going to the Finance and Investment Advisory Committee.

Members also asked questions regarding the use of ‘Plain English’ and formatting in published documents. The Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Officer for Customer and Resources explained council officers were not specifically trained in Plain English however all Officers attempt to adhere to universal standards to ensure information was clearly presented to the target audience. He further clarified that the Council’s official font was ‘Lato’ and any documentation not in this font was likely to be human error.

Action: to investigate the use of Plain English and potential for formal training for officers.

Members further discussed the report raising a number of suggestions which they believed would help further standardise reports and give clarity on document versions as set out within the recommendations of the report. 

Resolved: That the recommendation below be actioned

a.        the process for authorising expenditure at various levels and input into contracts prior to signing be explained to members.

b.        the method and application of document and version control used by the Council, be reviewed.

c.         the format of documents, be reviewed to ensure expected conventions are consistently adhered to e.g. page numbers, appropriate use of acronyms and that document authors are clearly identified as appropriate.

d.        the inclusion and use of standard paragraphs within committee reports be reviewed to ensure they are delivering the appropriate value to the report. E.g. legal, financial, equalities, climate implications.

The Head of Finance presented the report which set out updates to the 2025/26 budget process within the existing framework of the 10-year budget and savings plan.  The position in the report set out an annual budget gap of £297,000 but recognised that this was likely to change as more information became available and options for further savings may be required.

As part of the feedback received last year, all Members had been invited to make suggestions which related to the relevant Advisory Committee and would be set out in Appendix K. The appendix would form the basis to report to Cabinet all suggestions that were received even if not taken forward by the Advisory Committee. The Head of Finance also highlighted that budget training had been offered to all Members and two training sessions had been provided.

The report presented growth items that had been identified which needed to be considered, and requested further suggestions from the Advisory Committee and from members attending the meeting, before finalising the budget for 2025/26.

The Committee considered the growth proposal set out in appendix H which was to increase the budget for Swanley Meeting Point for one year only to allow the scheme to be reviewed.

Members considered the suggestion. It was raised that income levels had not been as expected however there were a range of factors that could have influenced this. It was previously agreed that a reduced profit in years 1 & 2 would be anticipated as there was a need to build the business and reputation of the facility. It was highlighted that he Meeting Point had been successful with micro businesses and it had a role of supporting economic development within the District. It was discussed that it was important to review the usage of the Meeting point in order to diversify. Members suggested creating pods as these had been successful in other similar venues throughout the district.

Further suggestions included advertising the facilities in places potentially frequented by business owners to attract a wider audience. A member also suggested a video tour of the facilities. It was further discussed that the meeting rooms had a higher uptake than expected and a visiting Member suggested expanding meeting space within the facilities.

Members gave further consideration to additional suggestions for savings which had been suggested to the Advisory Committee. Those which were relevant to the Advisory Committee were as follows:

·         To reduce the number of volumes of InShape magazine or to stop hard copy production

Members considered the suggestion. It was raised that if no hard copy of the magazine was available some residents may be excluded from information, especially if they did not have the digital ability or facilities to do so. There were potential savings of £11,600 when reducing the issues to three from four. By contrast, if the Council posted information to residents separately, this would cost £25,000. Members were in favour of reducing the number of issues.

Some Members suggested requesting residents preference to either  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

The work plan was noted with the following additions:

·         Print Studio to present to members on the work they carry out

·         Use of AI