To authorise the Chair to sign the Minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 20 November 2023 as a correct record of proceedings.

The Chair was authorised to sign the Minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 20 November 2023 as a correct record of the proceedings.

The Chair to ask if any Member present is substituting for another Member and, if so, to declare his/her name as substitute Member and the name of the absent Member.

An apology for absence was received from Councillor B.J. Coupar.

It was noted that Councillor Pearce was present as substitute for the vacant seat on the Committee and Councillor Stanger was present as substitute for Councillor Coupar.

To receive any disclosures by Members of disclosable pecuniary interests / other registerable interests / non-registerable interests in matters on the agenda and the nature of any interest and details of any dispensations obtained.  Members are reminded of the need to repeat their declaration immediately prior to the commencement of the item in question.

Declarations of interest were made by Councillors in the Minutes as indicated below:

Maynard          Agenda Item 7 – Other Registerable Interest as an Executive Member of East Sussex County Council and Lead Member for Adult Social Care and Health.

There were no dispensations noted.

Members considered the report of the Interim Deputy Chief Executive and S151 Officer on the draft Revenue Budget, which outlined the predicted financial position and key issues that Members needed to consider as part of the budget setting process.  The Committee had been requested to consider the draft budget and make recommendations to Cabinet, to be considered at its meeting on 5 February 2024.

The following assumptions had been made in calculating the draft Revenue Budget:

•     non-pay budgets had been set on a cash limited basis, with a 0% inflation increase applied, except for contracts where specific indices were relevant;

•     with effect from September 2024, an increase of 2% had been applied to salaries and an allowance of 4.5% assumed for staff turnover;

•     the use of transfers between existing budgets had been applied enabling funding to be re-directed into priority areas;

•     where applicable, income budgets had been increased in line with the fees and charges proposed by Cabinet on 6 November 2023;

•     where relevant, the prevailing Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) interest rates would be used for capital appraisals (currently c5%);

•     returns on investment had been calculated using the following rates: Bank current and deposit accounts up to 5.35%; Investments with other institutions/local authorities – up to 4.50%; and Property Fund investments – 4.00%; and

•     an assumed Council Tax collection rate of 98.3% (unchanged from last year).

The following key issues were highlighted: 

•     the draft Local Government Finance Settlement (LGFS) announced by Government on 18 December 2023 applied to 2024/25, did not guarantee any future funding streams beyond the following year and was again a further single year settlement. The Government had reaffirmed its commitment to undertake a Fair Funding review and a reset of the business rates system in the next Parliament;

•     the Council’s Core Spending Power (CSP) had been set at £12.9m, an increase of £0.6m from 2023/24, equating to 5.1%;

•     the Settlement Funding Assessment (SFA) consisted of the Council’s share of business rates income and Revenue Support Grant (RSG). The baseline funding figure had increased from the 2023/24 figure by £0.1m and there was also an increase of £0.1m due to the freezing of the business rates multiplier, taking this support to £0.5m.  However, because the expected share of business rates income comfortably exceeded £3.0m, the Council yet again would not receive an RSG. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC) had confirmed, in common with previous years, that councils would not be required to pay over negative RSG;

•     the small Business Rates Multiplier for 2024/25 would remain frozen again at 49.9p, but councils would be compensated for any reduction in income because of this decision. The Government had committed to reimburse councils for any negative impact on its business rates income arising from the implementation of the 2023 revaluations;

•     the East Sussex Business Rates Pool for 2024/25 would be retained;

•     the Council Tax referendum principle for Rother would allow an increase in  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC23/43.

Members received the report of the Corporate Programme, Risk and Improvement Manager, which gave details of the current Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), broken down into eight service areas: Environmental Health, Housing, Customer Services, Neighbourhood Services, Estates, Corporate Core, Planning Development Management and Revenues and Benefits.

Appendix B to the report detailed the current KPIs within the eight service areas. Quarterly KPI Performance Reports were expressed in a table format which showed the target and quarterly achievement against that target, expressed by three symbols for ‘on target’, ‘not achieving target’ or ‘improving towards target’. Managers provided a commentary on each of their KPIs, explaining reasons why they were not being met or providing any other pertinent or contextual information. Members would also be provided with an annual State of the District Report, showing details of any wider changes to profiles, demographic, housing and economic landscape of the district to ensure monitoring was realistic and current.

A Senior Leadership Team led Performance Board had been established in July 2023 as part of the new Governance arrangements to sit alongside the (officer led) Risk and Programme Boards, which brought together Heads of Service and relevant Service Managers to discuss performance and service risks collectively and individually across the Council.

Appendix A to the report provided details of Members’ feedback and recommended amendments to the existing KPIs. Members had requested that the district’s performance be rated against the OFLOG Local Government Authority’s Comparison Data and would therefore be shown as a RAG rating (red/amber/green) from the start of the 2024/25 monitoring cycle. However, the OFLOG data only covered some areas of the Council’s work and was not aligned to the KPIs.

A new KPI for Progress of the Climate Strategy had been added to the set and Members noted that the words ‘Scope 1 and 2’ would be added to describe the organisation emissions, which were those directly under the control of the Council.  Scope 3 emissions would be included at a later stage when service contracts were renewed.

Minor changes had been recommended to the Planning Development and Revenues and Benefits KPIs and a reduction in the number of KPIs for Customer Services was proposed, to focus on key performance areas and to reflect the channel shift towards digital. Contextual information would also be provided in the main body of the performance report for Customer Services, to provide more information about types of enquiries received.

Since the paper had been published, officers recommended that the Housing KPI for Average weeks a household was in temporary accommodation before placement, be changed from Not Set to 15 weeks, which Members were happy to agree.

Members recommended and agreed that Planning Development KPIs P3 and P4 be combined, to read ‘Major and minor development planning appeals allowed by the Planning Inspector’, with the target of 10%, as the Government took this measurement as one rather than two.

Members were concerned that the Estates KPI, Income from all assets, had remained the same rather than being increased.  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC23/44.

Members received the report of the Head of Housing and Regeneration which presented the findings of the eight-week public consultation on the draft Housing Allocations Policy 2024 (HAP) and the proposed final version of the Policy.  Officers had considered the responses received and made some proposed amendments to the Policy accordingly.

The overall aim of the HAP was to provide a framework for the equitable, effective and accountable allocation of social housing. Social housing was in very limited supply and accounted for only 10% of the total housing stock in Rother; this percentage was below the national average of 17%. Therefore, only those in the highest housing need, with a local connection to the area were likely to obtain social housing.  The principal purpose of a HAP was to meet the Council’s statutory obligations under Section 166A(1) of the Housing Act 1996.

The consultation ran from 7 July to 4 September 2023 and a total of 111 responses were received. A more detailed report on how the consultation was conducted, as well as the number and type of responses that were received, could be found at Appendix A to the report. The majority of the proposed changes were agreed by most respondents; however, based on a number of comments, there were a few areas of the policy that were amended slightly.  These changes were outlined in the report in paragraphs 12 to 14.

In order to implement the new HAP, it would be necessary to reassess all existing households on the register before the new policy could be adopted for new applicants. In the meantime, the present policy would continue to operate as normal. It was proposed that the Council write to all applicants currently on the Housing Register and give them a two-month window to renew their application. A reminder would be sent at four weeks; however, if a household did not respond within the two-month period it would be assumed they no longer wish to be on the register and they would be removed. Within this period, all new applications would be assessed against both the present and proposed policy criteria, prioritised accordingly and allowed to bid as normal.

Members were given the opportunity to ask questions and the following points were noted during the discussions:

•     Members noted that the local connection criteria change meant that those applicants whose only local connection was through relatives would be permitted to join the Housing Register but would only be able to be considered for properties where there was a local letting plan in place for which they met the criteria.  Only those applicants with a genuine need would therefore be considered;

•     it should be set in stone that a local lettings policy be put in place;

•     it was important that older residents were able to stay in their own home; and

•     sites should be of mixed-use social housing, i.e. social rent and home ownership, in order to provide a balance. Grants were available to developers to  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC23/45.

Consideration was given to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Work Programme. Members were reminded that any Councillor could make a request for an item to be placed onto the Council’s Scrutiny Committee Work Programme.

The following points were noted:

•     there were currently two Task and Finish Groups (T&FG) in operation – the Digital and Customer Services Strategy Task and Finish Group (DCSS T&FG) and the Housing Development Strategy T&FG;

•     a Members’ Briefing on the Planning Enforcement service had taken place before Christmas, so consideration of a T&FG had been put on hold.  A new Local Enforcement Plan was due to be considered by Cabinet at its next meeting;

•     Members were requested to consider the list of stakeholders to be engaged with by the DCSS T&FG at its next meeting and advise if any further should be added; and

•     all Members were encouraged to spend time with Customer Services Officers in the contact centre and on reception. This would help inform recommendations when the DCSS T&FG reported back to the Committee in April.

RESOLVED: That the Work Programme at Appendix A be agreed.