Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 2 - Council House. View directions

Contact: Usha Patel  Tel: 024 7683 3198

Items
No. Item

1.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

2.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 56 KB

a)  To agree the minutes of the Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance and Resources meeting held on 9 March 2015.

 

b)  Matters arising

Minutes:

The minutes of the Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance and Resources meeting held on 9 March 2015 were signed as a true record. There were no matters arising.

3.

Agency Workers and Interim Managers - Performance Management Report Q4 (1 January to 31 March 2015) with a final summary of 2014-15 compared with 2013-14 pdf icon PDF 182 KB

Report of the Executive Director of Resources

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources which provided performance information on the use of agency workers procured through the Master Vendor Contract for the Q4 period 1 January to 31 March 2015; to compare Q3 2014/2015 with Q4 2014/2015 expenditure. The report also compared the final figures on agency workers for 2014/2015 with the previous year 2013/2014 and considered the Interim Manager spends for the same period.

 

The Master Vendor contract required all agency workers to be ordered through the Master Vendor, Pertemps and came into force on 2 December 2013. The Master Vendor would supply all suitable agency workers through their own agency or through a second tier arrangement with other agencies on behalf of the Council, using rates of pay based on an agreed pay policy and a negotiated mark-up rate, with the Master Vendor. The information supplied by the Master Vendor on the agency spends provided detailed information on agency worker usage and spends.

 

RESOLVED that, the Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance and Resources:

 

1.  Approves monitoring processes to continue for both Agency workers and Interim Managers.

 

2.  Endorses compliance with the corporate policy on the recruitment of Temporary Agency Workers through the Master Vendor, Pertemps.

 

3.   Instructs officers to continue to work towards reducing expenditure on the use of agency workers.

 

4.  Approves that future orders are not accepted if no reason is given for the need of the agency worker.

 

5.  Requests a further report be submitted to the Cabinet Member meeting on 12 October 2015 providing more information on the feasibility of the City Council establishing their own pool of social workers and ‘growing’ their own.

 

4.

12 month (April 2014-March 2015) Cumulative Sickness Absence 2014/2015 pdf icon PDF 370 KB

Report of the Executive Director of Resources

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources which provided information that would enable him to monitor levels of sickness absence for the 12 month period of 2014/2015 and the actions being taken to manage absence and promote health at work across the City Council.

 

Annual and quarterly information was based on full time equivalent (FTE) average days lost per person against the FTE average days per person available for work. This was the method that was previously required by the Audit Commission for annual Best Value Performance Indicator reporting. The City Council continues to use this method to ensure consistency with previously published data.

 

The report provided the cumulative sickness absence figures for the Council and individual directorates.

 

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance and Resources notes the report providing sickness absence data for the 12 month period of 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015 and endorses the actions taken to monitor and manage sickness.

5.

Foster Friendly Employers Scheme pdf icon PDF 102 KB

Report of the Executive Director of Resources

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources which provided information and proposals to support the recommendations made by the Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Board (2) for Coventry City Council to become a Foster Friendly Employer.

 

To support the on-going recruitment and retention of Foster Carers, who are employees of Coventry City Council, recommendations were made by the Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Board (2) Task and Finish Group on Fostering to the Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Board (2) on 26 March 2015. The recommendations were for Coventry City Council to become a Foster Friendly Employer ensuring that this would be in addition to other family friendly policies that the Council may have.

 

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance and Resources:

 

1.  Approves the introduction of leave entitlement for foster carers.

 

2.  Supports the promotion of the Foster Friendly Employer Scheme to other local employers.

 

 

6.

Annual Report, Final Hospitality Statement and Charity Appeal for the Mayoralty of Councillor Hazel Noonan 2014/2015 pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Report of the Executive Director of Resources

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources which outlined the end of year hospitality budget report for the Mayoral Year of Councillor Hazel Noonan 2014/2015. The report provided an update on how the budget was allocated during the Mayoral year. The total spend was £59,684.72 which was £5,911.28 less than the budget and this balance was returned to corporate reserves.

 

The Lord Mayor’s Annual Report was attached at Appendix 1 of the report and provided background information to the civic engagements which were undertaken to meet a range of priorities from community engagement to international events.

 

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance and Resources:

 

1.  (i) Approves the contents of Appendix 1 which sets out detailed expenditure of £59,684.69 against the hospitality budget.

 

(ii) Notes the final sum of £15,652 raised for the Lord Mayor’s Charity Appeal.

 

(iii) Refers the report to the City Council on 14 July 2015 for their consideration.

 

The City Council is requested to consider and note the Annual Report of the Lord Mayoralty of Councillor Hazel Noonan 2014/2015.

7.

Outstanding Issues Report

There are no outstanding issues.

Minutes:

There were no outstanding issues.

8.

Any other items of public business which the Cabinet Member decides to take as matters of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

Minutes:

(i)  Customer Journey Programme and Customer Services Performance

 

The Cabinet Member considered a briefing note of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator which reported on the outcome of the consideration of the Customer Journey Programme and Customer Services Performance report by the Finance and Corporate Services Scrutiny Board (1) at their meeting held on 1 July 2015.

 

The Board discussed a number of issues around customer services including encouraging residents to use new channels to access services and how to support those who do not have access to the internet.  The Board sought assurance that the risk register was being regularly reviewed and recommended that the Cabinet Member undertakes this role.

 

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance and Resources requests a formal report in six months’ time to allow the programme to be monitored.