MEMORANDUM Date: 20 January 2006
To: All Members of the Corporate Strategy Cabinet Panel, Members of the Cabinet, PPG, SMB, Geoff Brown, Peter Stanley, Officers listed for action. / From: COUNTY SECRETARY'SDEPARTMENT
Ask for: Nicola Hayden
Ext: 25560
Minicom: 6611
CORPORATE STRATEGY CABINET PANEL
WEDNESDAY 18 JANUARY 2006
MINUTES
ATTENDANCE
MEMBERS OF THE PANEL
I H Laidlaw-Dickson, A Oaten, R Roberts, H M Saunders (Chairman), R Thomas
Other Members present:
D Beatty (Executive Member for Resources)
Upon consideration of the agenda for the Corporate Strategy Cabinet Panel meeting on 18 January 2006 as circulated, copy annexed, conclusions were reached and are recorded below:
Note: No conflicts of interest were declared by any member of the Panel in relation to the matters on which conclusions were made at this meeting.
PART 1 ('OPEN') BUSINESS
/ ACTION /1. / MEETING WITH THE DIRECTOR OF ENVIRONMENT
1.1 / As agreed previously by the Panel, Members met with the Director of Environment to explore the current challenges that fell within the remit of the Environment Department.
1.2 / Members were advised that out of the corporate challenge measures the following three related specifically to the Environment Department:
1. Tackle the causes and impact of congestion;
2. Deal with worn out roads and pavements;
3. Reduce the impact of new development on the environment;
and as lead officer for the Economic and Development Enterprise block within the Stretch Priorities, the Director of Environment was also asked to consider some of the indicators within the ‘Maximise opportunities for all children and young people’ challenge measure.
1.3 / Having agreed this, the Panel then identified the following issues that needed further discussion:
· the allocation of the Local Transport Plan (LTP) money;
· how to tackle the causes and impact of congestion;
· highways maintenance vs. waste management;
· the recent Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) score;
· economy measures to address unemployment in young people.
1.4 / The Panel then heard from the Director of Environment who explained the rationale behind the strategic compasses that had been produced and how these would ensure the service was working towards meeting the corporate challenge measures. He noted that six strategic compasses had been produced in order to bring together the various activities and services within the department and of these he felt that the service outcome relating to effective waste disposal and improved consumer responsibility for waste had the most robust set of indicators.
1.5 / The Panel then went on to discuss each of their concerns in more detail.
With regards to ‘Tackle the causes and impact of congestion’ Members were concerned that whilst challenge measures were in the Corporate Plan, none of the strategic compasses appeared to focus on tackling congestion.
The Director of Environment advised Members that the department had used a balanced scorecard approach – one part of which was to facilitate the free flow of traffic, and more specifically the strategic compass for ‘A safe and efficient transport system’ included strategies for tackling congestion. He further advised that Government had requested that specific targets for congestion be included in the Local Transport Plan for 2007 and to facilitate this had conducted a national survey measuring journey times from A to B. As of yet it is not known which journeys have been measured in Hertfordshire, but this information was due to be made available during January 2006. Once the information on journey times has been published it would then be possible to develop strategies aimed at improving journey times but further work would be needed to define the measures that would be used to measure this – i.e. +/- 10 minutes on the standard journey.
In discussing other ways of measuring congestion it was noted that there were a number of other options including delays on the road network, school travel plans, liaising with the Police with regards to the number of hours motorways in Hertfordshire were shut due to accidents, and the number of passengers using the buses. With regards to the final point, Members queried whether the number of passengers using trains could also be measured.
It was AGREED that there needed to be a closer link between the strategic compass and the Corporate Plan with regards to tackling the causes and impact of congestion and that the Director of Environment would attend a future meeting of the Panel (before April 2006) to discuss this further. / John Wood
Geoff Brown
Nicola Hayden to note
1.6 / With regards to waste management vs. highways maintenance the Panel queried why highways maintenance was considered to be a corporate challenge but waste management was not.
There was some discussion with regards to the financial implications associated with highways maintenance and the Director of Environment explained the challenge was to improve highways maintenance, and given the sums of money involved and the public perception this made it a corporate challenge whereas waste management was being dealt with satisfactorily at present.
The Executive Member further advised that highways maintenance was also a political challenge that needed to be addressed through cooperation with a number of other organisations which made it extremely high profile. / All to note
1.7 / With regards to the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) Score awarded to the Environment Department the Panel had been previously advised that there had been three best value performance indicators which had not been met which had lowered the overall score:
1. Trading Standards
2. Disabled access to pedestrian crossings
3. quality of footpaths at the side of the road
Of the above Trading Standards was outside the remit of the Environment Department and the standards for disabled access to pedestrian crossings had recently been changed by Government which had resulted in the lower score, and is the subject of a national debate.
The Director of Environment advised the Panel that in order to improve the score at the next CPA a couple of the indicators currently sitting in the lowest band would need to move to the middle band and a couple of the indicators sitting in the middle band would need to move to the higher band.
He further noted that a capital bid had been secured which would be used to improve disabled access at pedestrian crossings and work was currently being undertaken with the Transport Panel to develop a coherent investment strategy to improve the quality of the footpaths.
1.8 / With regards to the challenge ‘Reduce the impact of new development on the environment’ the Panel discussed whether any additional performance indicators should be added. These included one to measure the positive impact of new development, one to look at the number of trees that had been planted per new development and one to look at how the impact of new development on environment had been mitigated.
It was AGREED that these needed further consideration and should be reported back on.
It was further AGREED that Peter Stanley with work with the Director of Environment to ensure the right measures were in place. / John Wood
John Wood
Peter Stanley
1.9 / The Panel then discussed their final concern - ‘economy measures to address unemployment in young people’ and queried whether there should be a performance indicator that would measure the number of young people aged between 18-25 who were unemployed. They also discussed the need to ensure that the emerging stretch indicators corresponded with the Corporate Plan.
It was AGREED that Keith Shephard would be invited to the next Panel meeting on 20 February to discuss the stretch indicators and it was further AGREED that the Director of Environment would consider how to develop a performance indicator that would measure the employability of young people on leaving school. / Geoff Brown
Nicola Hayden to note
John Wood
2. / PANEL PRE-MEETINGS
2.1 / The Panel agreed that it would be useful to have a pre-meeting before each of the meetings with the service directors and noted the following dates and times:
Panel Pre Meetings
1 February 2006 9.00am – 10.00am Mimram Room for meeting with Director of ACS
22 February 2006 10.00am – 11.00am Committee Room C for meeting with Director of CSF
6 March 2006 9.00am – 10.00am Committee Room C for meeting with Chief Executive / All to note
All to note
2.2 / It was also AGREED that the Executive Member(s) for each service would be invited to the corresponding meeting with the service director. / Nicola Hayden
Andrew Laycock
County Secretary
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060118 Minutes