Agenda and draft minutes

Based on the existing annual rotational protocol for the position of Chair, the Chair is to be appointed from the Exeter City Council Members.

Previous Chairs were:

East Devon District Council 2022/2023.

Teignbridge District council 2021/22

Exeter City Council 2020/21,  

It was proposed by Councillor Clarance and seconded by Councillor Patrick

that Councillor Knott be elected chair of Strata Joint Scrutiny 2023-24.

A vote was taken and the results were unanimously in favour.

Resolved

That Councillor Knott be elected chair of Strata Joint Scrutiny 2023-24.

To approve the minutes of the last meeitng.

It was proposed by Councillor Knott and seconded by Councillor Clarance that the minutes of the previous meeting be agreed as a correct record and signed by the chair.

A vote was taken and the result was unanimously in favour.

Resolved

That the minutes of the previous meeting be agreed as a correct record and signed by the chair.

The report was introduced to the committee by the Financial Officer.  

The Committee discussed the pension fund and in response the financial officer told the committee that inflation influenced liability and that future projections would be affected by the pension fund. The Committee also discussed the budgeting breakdown provided in the report.

It was proposed by Councillor Knott and seconded by Councillor Patrick that the committee note the monitoring report.

A vote was taken.

Resolved

That the Committee note the monitoring report.

The Financial Officer introduced the item to the committee.

In response to a request to see the pay of individual strata officers, the financial officer noted that there are pay scales that apply to the organisation and that there were mechanisms for councillors to receive this information. It was suggested by one member that the salary shown to the committee be anonymous and that they see both junior and senior employee pay.

The Committee agreed that at a future meeting it should be decided that the work programme and purpose of the committee should be set out.

In response to a question about the necessity of the restructure, the Strata Director informed the committee that it was to ensure that the organisation are able to modernise, and that the program is in phase 1 which includes improvements provided by the cloud.

In response to a comment about members being able to provide feedback, the Strata Director stated that he couldn’t comment on his predecessors but that their roles allowed IT to remain stable and that going forward there would be more frequent communication.

In response to a suggestion of a members’ visit to Strata offices, the Strata Director agreed and stated he would take the idea away and provide further information at a later date.

Further comments from members included the role of strata scrutiny, the input of members for the staff survey, and publication of the agenda.

It was proposed by Councillor Knott and seconded by Councillor Patrick that the report be noted.

A vote was taken and the decision was unanimously in favour.

Resolved

That the committee note the report.

Presentation by Head of Business Systems

The new Dashboard was presented to the committee by the Strata Board Director.

In response to questions from members the Board Director clarified what was considered an incident, that there was approximately equal numbers of assistance calls coming in from each council, and that he would take away and discuss the suggestion for a satisfaction survey to be providing following said calls.

The Strata Director introduced himself and Strata, the organisation.

The discussion between members and officers clarified the following points

·       Strata had achieved 5.5 million in savings for the Partnership had been reached over a 7-year period as a compounded total.

·       Prioritisation of workload is managed in partnership with the councils.

·       Technology relating to Teignbridge homelessness strategy had been requested by Teignbridge Council and is under review

·       Technology provided to one council can and should be provided to others as first choice to leverage savings

·       The Business Plan is used to track savings provided by Strata

·       Profits are sometimes redistributed to Strata by the three Councils to assist with the transformation agenda

·       The in-development performance dashboard is used to monitor performance

·       The move to the use of cloud technology is reliant on application rationalisation and will likely require a hybrid approach in the short to medium future

·       The Technology used by Teignbridge Housing Department was purchased from a supplier.

·       There is a need for closer working between the three councils. By introducing governance that helps the authorities work closer together the councils will be able to achieve more.