There were none.

It was noted that Councillor Ms Williams was substituting for Councillor Marshall.

It was noted that Councillor Ash was a visiting Member interested in Item 7, Draft Best Value Performance Plan.

a)  Disclosures of interest.

b)  Disclosures of lobbying.

c)  Disclosures of whipping.

There were no disclosures.

Resolved:  That agenda item 8, part II minutes of the meeting held on 1 April 2008 be taken in private because of the possible disclosure of exempt information.

The Chairman asked that the information requested at the 1 April 2008 meeting from Cllr Batt and the Director of Change and Support Services regarding the two tier/unitary status working group be circulated to the Committee as originally requested.  Members expressed their disappointment that this had not already happened.  Furthermore the Committee requested that the additional information from Mr Morgan on grant categorisation be sought again as this was yet to be received, despite requests. 

Resolved:  That

  a)  the minutes of the meeting held on 1 April 2008 be approved as a correct record and duly signed by the Chairman; and

  b)  the Overview and Scrutiny Partnership Manager follow-up the additional information requested at the last meeting.

Interview with Leader of the Council, Councillor Chris Garland, and Director of Change and Support Services, David Edwards.

BEST VALUE PERFORMANCE PLAN TO FOLLOW

The Chairman welcomed the Leader, Councillor Chris Garland and the Director for Change and Support Services, David Edwards to the meeting.  The Committee was informed that the Best Value Performance Plan (BVPP) would be submitted to Cabinet on 11 June 2008 with the Committee’s comments and then to Council on 25 June 2008 for final approval.  Councillor Garland introduced the draft plan to the Committee, informing Members that this was the last year the Council would be required to report on Best Value Performance Indicators as Central Government had introduced 198 national indicators with a view to monitoring performance with reduced bureaucracy.  It was highlighted that the Council had exceeded or met 74.6% of Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPIs) in 2007-08 whilst 20.6% had not been achieved.  With regard to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which are set as local indicators by the Council 82.1% had been achieved or exceeded and 14.3% had not been achieved.  Overall the Council’s performance had improved since 2006-07.  With regard to the Use of Resources assessment where the Council currently scored a 3 out of 4, it was clarified that appropriate processes had been put in place to position the Council to meet the criteria for a ‘4’ next year but that this was then assessed by the Audit Commission.  The Commission commented that a major contributory factor in not achieving a ‘4’ this year was because the processes had not been embedded sufficiently. 

The Leader explained that there would also be 35 targets set through the Local Area Agreement (LAA); these would be derived from the 198 in the Government’s National Indicator (NI) set.  The Overview and Scrutiny Partnership Manager, Angela Woodhouse, offered to circulate the report from the Kent Partnership sent to the Government Office for the South East to the Committee. The Council’s performance would also be judged through a Comprehensive Area Assessment in the future, which would replace the present Comprehensive Performance Assessment.  It was highlighted that a number of performance indicators had been deleted in the BVPP and the reasons for deletions were given in the Plan. Mr Edwards informed the Committee that the definitions and measurements for National Indicators were still being agreed and defined.  In answer to questions, the Committee was informed that the indicators that remained in the plan to be monitored were there for a number of reasons. Some indictors were local priorities, some would still be requested nationally and some would be used to track trends over time.

Concern was expressed that the Council would be expected to be responsible for achieving targets beyond its remit. It was explained that while the Council may not be directly responsible for provision of services, it would have a role to play through partnerships such as the Kent Partnership and the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) in working with responsible partners to improve services.  The Leader added that some reward funding was attached to achieving the targets set in the LAA so the Council had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Resolved:  That the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business due to the likely disclosure of exempt information for the reason specified under schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972:-

Resolved:  That the part II minutes of the meeting held on 1 April 2008 be approved as a correct record and duly signed by the Chairman.