Agenda and minutes
Venue: Council Chamber, Civic Centre, Windmill Street, Gravesend DA12 1AU. View directions
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Apologies Minutes: An apology for absence was received from Cllr Conrad Broadley and Cllr Colin Caller; Cllr Derek Shelbrooke and Cllr Brian Sangha attended as their respective substitutes.
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Minutes: The Minutes of the meeting held on 7 September 2017 were signed by the Chair.
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Declarations of Interest Minutes: No declarations of interest were made.
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Corporate Performance Update – Quarter Two 2017-18 (July - September 2017) To present
Members of the Performance and Administration Committee with an
update against the Performance Management Framework, as set out
within the council’s Corporate Plan 2015-19, for Quarter Two
2017-18 (July to September 2017). Additional documents: Minutes: The Corporate Performance Manager presented Members of the Performance and Administration Committee with an update against the Performance Management Framework, as set out within the council’s Corporate Plan 2015-19, for Quarter Two 2017-18 (July to September 2017).
The Corporate Performance Manager explained that although two performance measures hadn’t been met; overall the performance is strong and in many of the areas the Council is ahead of the Kent average.
The Director (Corporate Services) the Service Manager (Revenues & Benefits) and the Corporate Performance Manager fielded questions from the Committee and highlighted the following:
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Corporate Register of Partnerships 2017-18 To inform Members of the Performance &
Administration Committee of the council’s involvement in
partnerships that are within the remit of the committee. Additional documents: Minutes: The Service Manager (Revenues & Benefits) informed Members of the Performance & Administration Committee of the council’s involvement in partnerships that are within the remit of the committee.
The current partnerships that most directly relate to the work of the Performance & Administration Committee are as follows:
The Committee considered each partnership and noted the information provided within the report.
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Draft Procurement Strategy Additional documents: Minutes: The Director (Corporate Services) provided Members of the Performance and Administration Committee with a copy of the updated draft Procurement Strategy before it is formally approved by Cabinet, and to provide any comments the Committee may have to the Portfolio Holder for Performance and Administration.
The Procurement Strategy is intended to set out the principles that the council will follow in the acquisition of goods, works and services from third-party and in-house providers. The current strategy was last fully reviewed and updated in 2011.
The draft Procurement Strategy is presented at appendix two to the report and has been prepared with the assistance of procurement colleagues from Medway Council. The strategy sets out, at a high level, how the council will ensure its procurement activity is legally compliant and supported by economic and efficient processes, whilst also seeking to support local businesses in bidding for opportunities with the council.
The Procurement Strategy will be presented to Cabinet on 8 January 2018 for approval. At that meeting, suggestions made by the Overview Scrutiny Committee at their meeting on 19 October will also be considered.
The Director (Corporate Services) explained that the Council no longer has an in house procurement arrangement; instead GBC have a shared arrangement with Medway, on an hourly-rate basis, and consider opportunities for joint procurement across Kent when appropriate opportunities are identified.
The Committee noted the Draft Procurement Strategy.
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Oral Update on Universal Credit Minutes: The Service Manager (Revenues & Benefits) provided the following update to the Committee on Universal Credit:
Since implementing the Universal Credit (UC) live service on 18 May 2015 we have received 362 notifications from JCP where a claim has been made for UC. This includes HB claimants and non-dependants.
We have actually cancelled 40 Housing Benefit claims where they rent from the Council and 33 Housing Benefit claims where they rent from a private landlord. Based on the current caseload count this equates to 1.176% of 3,401 rent rebate (council tenant) claims and 1.049% of 3,147 rent allowance (private tenant) claims.
We have calculated 220 Council Tax Reduction claims which equates to 2.976% of our current caseload of 7,391.
Housing Rents currently have 29 Managed Payments in place.
We have a few customers who receive a monthly Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) payment to help with their rent.
The take up of the Personal Budgeting Support (PBS) service at CAB has been very slow. We currently have one case outstanding, but in the few cases that we are aware of the claimant fails to attend the PBS interviews.
In May 2016 the full Universal Credit (UC) service for all working age claimant types began to rollout nationally (beyond London) and in July 2016 it was announced that this rollout will complete by September 2018.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Transitional Rollout Schedule was updated in October 2017 due to changes being made to the DWP Jobcentre estate network and to coincide with the pace of rollout being scaled up to around 50 Jobcentres per month.
Gravesham Borough Council (Gravesend JCP) is scheduled to transition to the full Universal Credit service on 21 February 2018.
After the rollout process has completed, DWP will then begin moving all remaining existing benefit claimants to the full Universal Credit service in 2019.
There are effectively 3 phases for the full transition:-
Ø Specified/Supported Accommodation Ø Households with 3 or more children
During managed migration customers will stop receiving UC on the ‘live’ service and will have to reapply within 7 days to receive UC on the ‘full’ service continuously and any partners will also have to complete their section of the claim.
The DWP refer to the roll-out as being an ‘Agile’ process with constant changes.
General feedback is that in Year 1, Working Age caseload has the potential to reduce by 15-35%. This then slows down as generally speaking ... view the full minutes text for item 14. |