Agenda and minutes

There were no discloable pecuniary interests.

The inutes of the meeting held on 11 march, 2024 were agreed and signed as a true record.

There were no matters arising.

To consider whether to exclude the press and public for the item of private business for the reasons shown in the Briefing Note.

RESOLVED that the Committee agrees to exclude the press and public under Sections 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 relating to the private report in Minute XX below headed ‘Rebuilding Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery Services’ on the grounds that that items involves the likely disclosure of information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as it contains information relating to the financial affairs of a particular person (including the authority holding that information) and in all circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Briefing Note of the Director of City Services

The Committee considered a Briefing Note of the Director of City Services which outlined the Council’s Civil Parking Enforcement function and informed the Committee of current activities and arrangements relating to parking enforcement by providing an overview of key priorities and performance.

The Briefing Note covered the following areas:-

·  The background to Parking Enforcement, which has been the responsibility of the Council since 2005 when the function was decriminalised and transferred from West Midlands Police

·  The main aims of parking enforcement:-

o  To Improve road safety

o  To Improve access for public transport, public service vehicles and emergency services vehicle

o  To act as a deterrent to inconsiderate and dangerous parking

o  To improve traffic flows

o  To reduce traffic congestion which in turn will improve air quality

·  The following functions and activities undertaken by the Council’s Parking Service:-

o  Civil parking enforcement

o  Bus lane and enforcement

o  Moving traffic enforcement

o  Parking appeals service

o  Resident parking scheme management

o  Car park management

·  Civil parking enforcement and the work undertaken by Civil Enforcement Officers including:-

o  Operational arrangements

o  Deployment

o  Staff resources

o  Performance levels

o  Penalty charge notice levels

o  Enforcement challenges and plans to dela with them

·  City Centre Restricted Parking Zones (RPZ)

·  Issues regarding Burges and Trinity Street

·  Pavement parking

·  Parking hotspots

·  Moving Traffic Enforcement

The Committee asked questions, made comments and sought assurances on a number of issues including:-

•  Implementation of disabled parking bays and the fact that disabled bays are an advisory service and not enforceable

•  Bus lane enforcement and the impact that they may have on footfall in the city centre

•  Traffic management in the Burges and Trinity Street, and steps taken to address the issue of delivery drivers, such as allocated parking bays in White Street car park

•  School parking issues and measures in place to try and improve, including the use of volunteers.

•  The impact of physical and verbal abuse on the wellbeing of parking staff and the issues around recruitment

•  Issues at specific car parks in the city

•  Problem parking on pavements on main arterial routes into the city such as the Foleshill Rd, Longford Rd, Stoney Stanton Rd and Clay Lane.

•  Street furniture, signage and whether the changes proposed in the city centre would be clear to drivers.

•  The issues of enforcement of white zig zag lines, which only the police are able to do.

RESOLVED that the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee:-

1)  Notes the actions and initiatives in place to tackle the key parking enforcement priorities

2)  Recommends that the Cabinet Member for City Services:-

a)  Considers the introduction of red routes on the parking hotspots of Foleshill Rd, Stoney Stanton Rd, Clay Lane and Longford Rd

b)  Reviews the parking restrictions in the city centre, including the Restricted Parking Zone, to ensure they are clear and consistent.

3)  Recommends that the Cabinet Member for Policing and Equalities Request that the Police take enforcement action in relation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56.

Report of the Task and Finish Group

The Committee considered a Briefing Note which detailed recommendations from the Complaints Policy and Procedure Task and Finish Group, which was established to review the existing Policy and Procedure to ensure that the process is easy to access and understandable for everyone involved, particularly members of the public.

The Briefing Note detailed the membership of the Task and Finish Group, which was chaired by Councillor N Akhtar, and the scoping document for the Group was appended to the Briefing Note.

The Briefing Note indicated that the Task and Finish Group had discussed the following issues:-

  •  There are unlikely to be savings but better service provision.

•  Need to have the right processes before a system can be built.

•  Links with Members Casework Management tool to be explored.

•  Training for staff to deal with complaints and soft skills to manage engagement with residents.

•  Where complaints come in from Members – the need to be kept involved in the process and updated to be built into the process design.

•  The possibility of including surveys of complainants to be shared  with elected members at some point in the future. 

The Task and Finish Group had agreed that a renewed Policy and Procedure should include the following:

•  Differentiation between contacting the Council, service requests and complaints. 

•  Some case studies or flow charts as to how a complaint will be handled.

An Appendix to the report detailed annotated comments and amendments made by the Task and Finish Group to the current Policy and Procedure. The Task and Finish Group had also considered a presentation on progress and had discussed the following:-

•  The benefits and challenges of the informal resolution stage for complaints and how it has reduced the number of formal complaints by 68%.

•  The structure and capacity of the complaints service and the introduction of the new service manager who will start on the 1st of May.

•  The areas that still need to be worked on, such as checking the Ombudsman code, creating training and response standards, reporting, and learning from complaints, and reviewing the templates and systems.

•  The issues around a single point of contact and potentially violent persons processes and how they can be improved and aligned with data protection and customer service principles.

•  The opportunities and implications of exploring Customer Relationship Management systems and how they can support the complaints process and the resident experience.

•  The feedback and suggestions from the Task and Finish Group on the draft policy and process and how they will be incorporated into the final document.

RESOLVED:-

1)  That the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee approves the submission of the following recommendations of the Complaints Policy and Procedure Task and Finish Group to the Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance and Resources:-

a)  That the Complaints Policy  and  Procedure be amended as proposed by the Task and Finish Group and as detailed in the Appendix to the report.

b)  That timescales for implementation of the electronic  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57.

Briefing Note and Report of the Director of Public Wellbeing and Health

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Public Health and Wellbeing, which would be considered by Cabinet at their meeting on 16 April, and which indicated that the Council is responsible for commissioning drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services. The current contract for this service is due to expire in March 2025.

National policy in relation to drug and alcohol treatment has changed significantly with the launch of the new Drug Strategy “From Harm to Hope” which reinforces the Government’s ambition to rebuild treatment services following a decade of disinvestment. The report included a summary of the health needs in Coventry related to drug and alcohol misuse, a summary of the engagement and consultation work carried out and the planned process for re-procurement of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services. The report indicated that people misusing drugs and alcohol are among the most vulnerable and socially excluded populations and the contract will directly lead efforts to reduce health inequalities and prioritise engagement with communities affected by addiction.

The report proposed reprocurement of services via an open tendering process and summarised some of the funding stream relevant to the procurement. 

The Committee also received a presentation in the private relating to the commercially sensitive aspects of the current contract (Minute 61 below refers)

The Committee asked questions, raised concerns and received assurances in relation to a number of issues including:-

  •  Details of the procurement process and length of contract

•  Value of the new contract compared to the current contract

•  Whether the resources in the new contract were sufficient to meet current demand

•  Whether the new contract would bring an improvement in performance, what would be done differently to what has been done before

•  The consultation process and steps taken to engage service users, as well as the on-going dialogue with service users, which forms part of the contract requirements

•  Performance data, how Coventry was performing compared to national data, including drug related deaths

•  How performance was managed as part of the contract including regular formal and informal meetings, the monitoring of data, KPI’s and powers to manage poor performance.

•  The wider causes of addiction and prevention and a request for scrutiny to be updated on progress on the Drug and Alcohol Strategy

•  The links with mental health services and how different services were working in partnership, including joint training and joint service meetings

RESOLVED that Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee:-

1)  Support the recommendations to Cabinet as detailed in the report with the following additional recommendation:-

2)  That Cabinet’s attention is drawn to the following recommendations made to officers:-

  i.  That officers consider ways of assuring the consultation process and continue to consult throughout the term of the contract.

  ii.  That officers provide information detailing how the new contract will improve performance, specifically in terms of opiate users >6 years opiate treatment

  iii.  That the new contract ensures that there is capacity to undertake new and innovative approaches

  iv.  That  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

Report of the Director of Law and Government

The Committee considered their Work Programme and outstanding issues for 2023/24.

RESOLVED:-

1)  That consideration be given to ensuring maximum Member involvement and engagement in Scrutiny during 2024/25

2)  That the following items be added to the appropriate Board’s Work Programme for 2024/25

Local Development Plan

Review of external partners

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 other items of urgent public business.

Briefing Note of the Director of Public Health and Wellbeing

(Listing Officer: A Allen email Amander.allen@coventry.gov.uk)

Further to Minute 58 above, the Committee considered and noted commercially sensitive information regarding the current contract for Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Recovery Services. 

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

There were no other items of urgent private business.