Agenda item

To update the Committee on the work of the Service in Q4 and to report the end of year performance outturn.

To seek authority to carry forward the revenue under-spend from 2023/24.

The Committee considered the report (Agenda Item 10) which updated Members on the work of the Service in Quarter Four and which reported the end of year performance outturn.

Authority was sought from the Committee to carry forward the revenue underspend from 2023/24.

Finances and Resources

A deficit position continued in relation to income, creating a shortfall in the region of £100,000 in the 2023/24 financial year. It was necessary to hold vacancies in order to manage this shortfall.

However, at the end of the financial year there was an underspend of £61,000, made primarily of a £38,000 grant received at the very end of the previous financial year.

The report proposed that the underspend be carried forward into the 2024/25 financial year. This proposal had been discussed with Bracknell Forest and West Berkshire Councils.

Customer Satisfaction Rates and Information Governance Data

There had been a reduction in customer satisfaction. The sample size was however very low, and in one quarter there had been no returns. Officers were reviewing how best to collate data moving forward.

Sean Murphy (Service Lead – Public Protection) reported that the number of vacancies was a contributing factor in terms of customer satisfaction.

A high number of Freedom of Information requests had been received by the service (an increase from the previous year to 371 requests).

The significant increase in the number of Member enquiries and MP enquiries was viewed positively as it showed the Service was getting the message out about the important work it did.

Human Resources

The Licensing Teams would soon be fully staffed following successful recruitment. This included a trainee becoming a full member of the team.

Three of the Level Four apprentices had successfully completed their qualifications. The fourth (and remaining) apprentice was also expected to complete shortly. The aim was for the apprentices to become full members of the Service.

ICT Update

Progress had been made since the previous meeting and the Service had been assigned more project support with the supplier. There was a plan in place to get the portal online, which would be used for temporary event notices, and then rolled out subject to it being successful.

Community and Trading Standards

George Lawrence (Residential Team Manager) provided an update on the work of the community and trading standards team, highlighting the following points:

·       2000 service requests had been processed in the last quarter.

·       Scam intervention work had been successful. This work had helped 85 victims and potential victims of scams save money totalling approximately £43,000. Further savings had been achieved following work with banks.

·       Successful funding bids had funded awareness campaigns regarding the safe use of scooters and electric bikes.

·       Work on the delivery of food inspection and food sampling continued. All high risk food standards inspections had been completed.

·       Officers had tested many products including vape products. Work on underage sales had included the purchase of lottery tickets.

·       The most complained about sector was second hand car dealers. Officers were looking to engage with businesses of concern to try and achieve improvements for customers.

·       The disease surveillance programme had been rolled out and there had been no invasive mosquitos in the area. However, work would continue after the identification of some yellow fever mosquito eggs along the M4 Corridor.

Commercial (Food Safety and Health & Safety)

All high risk inspections for Category A, B and C food premises had been undertaken, 44% of D premises and 15% of the lowest risk premises. An increase to these percentages was limited by the level of resource and other competing priorities.

Licensing

The Bracknell Taxi and Private Hire Policy had been adopted. Consultations on gambling policies of West Berkshire and Bracknell were ongoing.

The report also listed the number of licensing hearings held in the past quarter. While the number had increased, it was currently at a manageable level.

Environmental Health Housing

A rise in the number of complaints from tenants of Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) had continued. Officers had been working with the RSL sector, holding regular case conferences.

Environmental Quality

The Air Quality Action Plan for Crowthorne had been agreed by Central Government. The Action Plans for Bracknell, Newbury and Thatcham had been revoked as resolved at the last meeting.

Investigations and Case Management

Section 16.5 of the report outlined a summary of the criminal cases since the last meeting and the legal actions that had been taken.

Questions

Officers were then asked a number of questions, and responses were provided as follows:

·       Mr Murphy explained that where there were vacancies, efforts were made to cover them by utilising the available resource across the different teams. This helped to widen the experience of officers including trainees.

·       The use of agency staff was restricted by cost, taking into consideration the premiums charged by agencies. Finances were constrained across the three local authorities. However, while this was the case, there had been no indication from the local authorities that the money could not be used to backfill posts, which was the intention.

·       Efforts had been made to raise the profile of the service to Members. This had increased the number of Member enquiries and this was invaluable in terms of collating intelligence.

·       Moira Fraser acknowledged that FOIs took a significant amount of resource. However, mitigation methods were being put in place, such as putting more information on the Council websites so FOI replies could be completed via the provision of a link to the website.

·       Damian James added that the service was attempting to utilise and mobilise Members in liaising with residents and assisting with their issues. This could include meeting with RSLs on behalf of residents.

·       ICT – data transfer had been completed for one of the authorities’ systems which included the retention of legacy data. Remaining data transfer was ongoing.

·       Regarding e-scooters, the service had been working with the Police and retailers in response to a recent legislative change in terms of improving safety. Damian James stated that Bracknell Forest had recently recruited town centre ambassadors, paid for through central government funding. A role of these ambassadors was to seek to reduce incidents of anti-social behaviour and this could include the impact felt from the use of e-scooters in the town centre.

·       George Lawrence stated that the work of petroleum inspections had gone well and was aware of no issues of non-compliance. However, he agreed to confirm this point and provide further details to Councillor Jordan Montgomery.

Councillor Iain Cottingham commended officers on all their hard work for residents, covering a wide range of activity. He felt the PPP’s work made them worthy of a nomination to the Chartered Institute annual awards for Trading Standards. Sean Murphy agreed to explore that point.

RESOLVED that:

·       The 2023/24 Q4 and year end data for the Public Protection Service be noted.

·       The update on service delivery be noted.

·       £61.69K of revenue funding be carried forward to the 2024/25 financial year.