Agenda item

The Panel will undertake the first gateway review of 2006/07 service plans relevant to its remit.

·        Environmental Health Service Plan

·        Street Scene Service Plan

·        Recycling Service Plan

·        Leisure and Cultural Service Plan

Background papers have been circulated for DSP members only.

                                                                                                                  (Enclosure)

The Service Manager, Environmental Protection explained that the former Environmental Health Services had been divided and only part of the service plan for 2006/07 was relevant to the new service. He gave a presentation which covered progress against relevant elements of the Environmental Health Services service plan:

• Where the service needed to be: Departmental changes needed consolidation; there would be a change from paper to electronic document storage, licensing applicants would be offered access to services via the website, the out of hours service needed to be revised, the licensing of gambling premises would have to be undertaken as would statutory functions under a range of environmental and licensing legislation, contingency arrangements for staff cover and recruitment problems had to be arranged and the equalities policy needed to be implemented.
• Service strengths: A committed and enthusiastic staff, established systems and procedures, a flexible working approach, continually meeting all key targets and provision of a good quality service.
• Service weaknesses: High dependency on some key members of staff, a national shortage of qualified staff and staff members nearing retirement.
• Service opportunities: Shared working and partnerships, exploration of increased opportunities for flexible working arrangements and the inclusion of additional regulatory functions within the structure that was in place.
• Threats to the service: potential reorganisation of local government and regionalisation, loss of staff, capacity and skills of existing staff to cope with change, increased workloads following the introduction of the call centre, new legislation and maintenance of the ‘out of hours’ service should there be insufficient staff to man the rota.
• Progress towards delivering service outcomes: new working arrangements needed proper development and fine-tuning to build on achievements; progress made towards the operation of a paperless office; downloadable application forms and the new 101 non-emergency service could impact on the operation of the service.
• Suitability for purpose: The service tied in with many of the council’s category A and category B priorities.
• Income and expenditure compared with budget: This was on target. Exceptions were the licensing of taxis, alcohol and local licensing initiatives. The budgeted income for taxi licensing was below target because of a change in the duration of licences. Additional finances had been used to repay taxi drivers’ deposits. Subsistence payments for licensing were scheduled for November; there had been more take up for this service than was anticipated. Expenditure had been incurred during consultation on consent streets. Additional income was received for air pollution work conducted for Rutland County Council. Equipment related to the public health function was nearing the end of its life. The section had recently acquired a housing function which needed to be sufficiently staffed.
• Performance indicators: the target for enforcement and best practice would be achieved with the introduction of the corporate user survey.
• Gershon: Non-cashable savings had been achieved through the operation of the out of hours service, the customer service centre and remote working. The same staffing quota was dealing with an increased number of service requests. Cashable savings were achieved by the maintained loss of office space, some of the function relating to fly tipping had been returned to the service with no additional staff being employed, the loss of the head of service, the scale down of dog warden contracts and full disinvestment in pest control and dog warden ancillary services.
• Potential requests for additional resources: Retention of the out of hours service, IT hardware, the promotion of out of office working which could result in longer term savings and staff training.
• Other achievements: the service obtained Government money for Air Quality leaflets as part of a joint-working venture between South Kesteven, Lincoln City Council and Boston Borough Council; joint working with Assets and Facilities to obtain contaminated land funding; maintenance of the contract with Rutland County Council and subsequent income; air quality information was made available on the website for all major population centres and the placement of licence details on the website.

Panel members asked the Service Manager, Environmental Protection questions on the 2006/07 service plan and the presentation he had given. Topics covered by questions included:

• Powers available to the District Council when pursuing complaints about companies. The council’s Environment Team were able to make representations during the planning process. It was possible for the council to deal with some complaints, others needed to be referred to the Environment Agency. If the problem was deemed to be sufficiently serious, the council could seek to prosecute under the Environmental Protection Act; any case made under this legislation needed to be proven beyond reasonable doubt.
• Training was required so that staff were able to fulfil new functions. Contingency planning was necessary for service continuation and that statutory obligations were fulfilled in the absence of key staff members.
• The service addressed the category A priority of anti-social behaviour in conjunction with other services including housing, waste and contract services and the anti-social behaviour team.
• The annual cost of annual taxi licences was higher than the average annual cost of a three year licence.
• Required equipment would be included in the budget for 2007/08.
• The dog warden service had been scaled down because their only statutory function was the collection of stray dogs. Dog fouling was enforced by Street Scene Services under the Cleaner Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005.
• It was too early to identify any impact of disinvestment in pest control services because the national population of rats had increased; winter conditions also had a potential impact. There had been an increased number of calls to the service about rats.

CONCLUSION:

The amount of officer time spent on calls about rats should be recorded and brought to the Gateway 2 meeting on 21^st November 2006.