Issue - meetings

That Cabinet approves the Performance and Finance Report for the Quarter ended 31 March 2022, and the priority report detail as set out in appendices 1-9.

The Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance, Transformational Change and Corporate Resources was grateful that the Corporate Scrutiny Committee had taken an interest in this report. Items highlighted included that the contact centre timings remained positive, the number of households in temporary accommodation had stabilised in Quarter 4.

The final accounts would not be declared by the due date, as a result of the auditors not being able to start on time.

QR codes were now operational at council building entrances to help those needing assistance.

The average gross weekly wage on the island had increased over the last few years but continued to lag behind the mainland, though the gap was closing. One of the priorities for the administration was to attract higher paid employment and recruit to those posts.

Some data was out of date due to COVID but would be improved for the next report.

The comments of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee were read out and noted.

Following this Cllr Spink asked a question in relation the nature of discussions with officers and portfolio holder referred to in the comments, concerning how to take key activity in respect of greenfield sites within the context of the Island Planning Strategy. The Cabinet member for Planning and Enforcement confirmed that discussions were ongoing, and a written response would be sent to Cllr Spink.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet approves the Performance and Finance Report for the Quarter ended 31 March 2022, and the priority report detail as set out in appendices 1-9.

To consider the item identified from the Forward Plan for pre-decision scrutiny, ahead of the decision by Cabinet on 16 May 2022.

The Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance, Transformational Change and Corporate Resources presented the report which sought to provide the Cabinet with a summary of progress against Corporate Plan activities and measures, and to inform Cabinet of areas of particular success, issues requiring attention and remedial activity in place to deal with these.

Questions were raised in relation to the council’s position on achieving an ‘Island deal’. The interim Chief Executive and the Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance, Transformational Change and Corporate Resources outlined steps taken to make the case for island to be considered in the fair funding review.

Discussion took place regarding the Contact Centre’s performance statistics, particularly in relation to the use of “median” rather than “mean” when assessing data. It was agreed that data regarding individual call-line response times for the handling of calls would be circulated to the Committee.

Comments were made in relation to the successful completion of alcohol treatments and smoking cessation services, methods of measuring improvements in mental health, school academisations, and foodbanks and community pantries.

The committee noted that the resulting report and action plan arising from the LGA peer review of the planning service would be shared with the Policy and Scrutiny Committee for Neighbourhoods and Regeneration once available. This would also be of relevance when looking at the draft Island Plan.

Questions were raised regarding the government's Brownfield Release Fund (BRF) to bring forward three council-owned sites for new housing. It was confirmed that these sites were at the former Island Learning Centre off Berry Hill in Lake; Thompson House off Sandy Lane in Gatcombe, and the former Weston Academy in Totland.

Clarification was sought regarding the fourth paragraph of Appendix 6 (Planning and Community Engagement), relating to greenfield sites’ inclusion in the draft Island Plan within the context of the preparation of the strategy, national planning policy, and legislation. It was advised that the Cabinet Member for Planning and Enforcement would provide written clarification on this to be circulated to the committee.

Additional discussion took place regarding the process for amending the constitution to allow representatives from town, parish, or community councils to be non-voting members of the Planning Committee.

Questions were raised in relation to Appendix 9 (Highways PFI, Infrastructure and Transport). It was noted that the report made no reference to the Floating Bridge and it was agreed that future performance reporting should include reliability report on this matter. Discussion took place regarding the data which indicated a decrease in public transport users.

RESOLVED:

THAT the report and recommendations to Cabinet be endorsed.