Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

In relation to Minute 50 below, headed ‘Bus Provision in Coventry’, Councillor Andrew referred to his employment at West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA). He remained in the meeting for the consideration of this item.

The minutes of the meetings held on 18^th December 2019 and 8^th January 2020 were agreed and signed as true records.

Further to Minute 43 concerning the ‘Coventry Community Safety Plan’ the Chair, Councillor Brown, had sent a letter to Cllr AS Khan requesting that the Chair of Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee (or their nominee) be included in the membership of the Coventry Police and Crime Board. Councillor Khan had since responded informing that the membership of the Board was adequate.

Briefing Note of the Director of Transportation and Highways

Councillors J O’Boyle and D Welsh, Cabinet Member and Deputy Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration have been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item along with Councillor P Akhtar, who, along with Councillor Welsh, are the Council’s representatives on the West Midlands Combined Authority Transport Delivery Committee.

The Committee considered a briefing note of the Director of Transportation and Highways which provided a summary of existing bus service provision in Coventry with a specific focus on the city’s current bus network; how services were managed; commerciality; contract services and core statistics in relation to bus service reliability, patronage and quality. Councillor P Akhtar, one of the Council’s two representatives on the West Midlands Combined Authority Transport Delivery Committee attended the meeting for the consideration of this item. Chris Gibbens, Martin Hancock and Nikki Houghton, National Express, and Pete Bond and Andy Thrupp, Transport for West Midlands, were also in attendance.

The briefing note indicated that the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) was the statutory Local Transport Authority for the West Midlands, including Coventry. The WMCA discharged their responsibilities through Transport for the West Midlands (TfWM). TfWM was responsible for management of bus stops and shelters, passenger information, and other bus related infrastructure such as the Pool Meadow Bus Station, as well as the management of contracted (non-commercial) bus services.

Overall bus usage within Coventry was around 28 million passenger journeys a year, which has remained fairly constant over the last few years. In Coventry, bus punctuality (the percentage of services operating no more than 1 minute early and 5 minutes late) was 82% in 2017/18 and 80% in 2018/19, which was slightly above the West Midlands average. The nationally average was 83%.

There were currently 8 bus operators with regular services within Coventry.  However, over 90% of the mileage was operated by National Express Coventry who, excluding school routes, operated 19 distinct services within the area. Stagecoach operated seven services, De Courcey operated four, Diamond, Johnsons and Community Transport each operated two, whilst Arriva and A&M Travel each operated one service.

Across the city, there were a total of 1,400 bus stops, 62 of which provided real-time service information to passengers. The briefing note included a map of the National Express network and detailed the latest significant changes to be introduced on the network.

The briefing note highlighted how the City Council worked closely with TfWM and local bus companies to ensure that services reflected local needs as closely as possible and identified and pursued potential investment and funding opportunities for improvements to the bus network and associated facilities.  Recent examples of successful funding bids included the Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme, with a funding bid led by the City Council with support from TfWM and National Express. The Committee was informed that TfWM was preparing a series of Network Development Plans (NDPs) across the West Midlands setting out initial thoughts on how the bus network in each area needed to develop to support growth in the region.

Reference was made to subsidised bus routes.Where commercial operators did not provide a bus service link that was deemed to be socially necessary then it could be subsidised. The decision on which services were eligible for subsidy was taken by TfWM.

The briefing note indicated that figures taken  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

Briefing Note of the Deputy Chief Executive (People)

Councillor G Duggins, Cabinet Member for Policy and Leadership has been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item. 

The Committee considered a briefing note of the Deputy Chief Executive (People) which outlined the progress made against the recommendations from the Council’s Corporate Peer Challenge that took place between 9^th and 12^th October 2018. At the time of the Peer Challenge it was agreed that the delivery of actions in response to the recommendations would be monitored by Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee, as well as being monitored through the One Coventry Change Board and the Strategic Management Board. Appendices to the briefing note set out the Corporate Peer Challenge Feedback Report and the Council’s Self-Assessment Document

The briefing note indicated that the focus of the visit had been to look at how the Council understood its place and set priorities; the leadership and governance; financial planning; and the capacity to deliver on what it set out to achieve. The Peer Team were also asked to look at the approach to housing and homelessness; readiness for UK City of Culture 2021; how the Council made the most of social value in its capital projects; and the One Coventry approach. 

During the Peer Challenge week, the Peer Team found that there were some areas where further work was needed. These were set out in the Feedback Report. The Council developed an action plan in response with progress being monitored by the Peer Challenge Delivery Group, which involved a range of officers across the Council. An updated position statement was produced in January 2020 as a self-assessment of the progress made since October 2018. The document also provided an overview of the next steps including future challenges.

The briefing note provided a summary of progress against the following 10 recommendations:

a) Prioritising action to tackle homelessness by:

Replacing expensive bed and breakfast with cheaper temporary accommodation options

Increasing the supply of social rented and affordable private rented accommodation so it exceeds projected temporary accommodation demand

Making greater use of peer or external challenge to continue to develop our response

b) Ensuring the work to deliver against the projected balanced budget position for 2019/20 is successfully concluded

c) Learning from other public sector best practice on industrial relations, pay and reward models and HR policy and practice

d) Taking the opportunity to enhance the way the Council communicates with residents and delivers customer service

e) Driving the digital agenda harder and faster

f) Being mindful of those staff who have not yet benefitted from changes to ways of working and accommodation and responding to the thirst amongst staff for knowledge and input

g) Hard-wiring the legacy and inclusive growth potential of the City of Culture and the cultural strategy

h) Determining what ‘One Coventry’ is and the role it can play helping the city and the Council respond to the challenges being faced

i) Taking forward the recognised need for a shared vision for working in partnership across the Council and the city

j) Strengthening delivery of the change programme to support the transformation agenda.

The Committee noted that although good  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

Report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Committee considered their work programme for the current municipal year.

RESOLVED that:

1) The work programme be noted.

2) Consideration of City Centre South Progress (including an update on Ikea) and Climate Change Emergency at the meeting on 4th March be supported. 

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as a matter of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

There were no additional items of public business.