Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Vanessa Hurhangee and from Councillor Raymond Graham, with Councillor Steve Tuckwell substituting for the latter.

There were no declarations of interest.

Councillor Eginton enquired whether there had been any further progress regarding the accessibility of the Hillingdon Trail as mentioned in the minutes. It was agreed that Democratic Services would follow this up with the Head of Green Spaces, Sport and Culture who had previously confirmed that the option of kissing gates to replace stiles would be explored further.

Councillor Eginton requested further clarification regarding Councillors’ individual registrations with the ICO as mentioned in the minutes. It was confirmed that an email from the Borough Solicitor had previously been circulated to Members setting out a response on this. Said response was read out to Members and it was agreed that the Borough Solicitor’s email would be re-circulated to Members. Any further questions on this were to be sent to the Borough Solicitor directly.

Councillors Eginton noted that the ICO website erroneously indicated that the Council’s Data Protection Officer was someone other than Raj Alagh. Democratic Services would investigate this further.

RESOLVED:

1.    That Democratic Services liaise with the Head of Green Spaces, Sport and Culture to establish whether there were any further updates regarding the option of replacing stiles with kissing gates on the Hillingdon Trail to improve accessibility;

2.    That Democratic Services re-circulate the email from the Borough Solicitor regarding Councillors’ individual registrations with the ICO;

3.    That Democratic Services investigate the matter of the named Data Protection Officer on the ICO’s website; and

4.    That the minutes of the meeting dated 7 September 2021 be approved.

It was confirmed that all items of business were in Part I and would be considered in public.

Officers present were invited to set out how data was used within their departments and identify any gaps or possible areas for improvement.

Alex Coman, Director – Safeguarding, Partnerships and QA, addressed the Committee advising Members that, in Children’s Services, there were a number of statutory duties in terms of performance, collection of the data and reporting at a national level. Data was used both to look at performance retrospectively and to predict future demand on services and resources. It was confirmed that Children’s Services were one of the biggest users of data within the Council and the department received more than 20,000 contacts annually. There were statutory requirements to report the data nationally, share data locally and Pan-London and benchmark Hillingdon against other boroughs. Additionally, data was used for specific projects – for example to respond to particular pressures on the service.

In response to their requests for clarification, Members heard that a large amount of data was received by the Children’s Services Department; however, this data was not in a user-friendly format and had to be manipulated manually. In terms of future projections, Children’s Services worked with Naveed’s team to look at trends. The Performance Team then manually produced predictive models on an ad hoc basis. Members heard that officers would like to be able to receive the data in a more user-friendly format – a number of options had been discussed with the Performance Team about various dashboard options etc. It was reported that it would be helpful if users could have control of the data themselves thereby negating the need to ask for manual ad hoc reports. It was confirmed that the Children’s Services Team regularly received automatic reports which were very helpful; however, weekly reports were run on a Sunday therefore, as the week progressed, the data became increasingly out-of-date – access to ‘live’ data would be preferable. The Committee heard that other boroughs used dashboards effectively to assist with their analysis. Naveed’s Team did the best they could with the software available to them, but better software was available elsewhere.

Members commented that the 20,000 contacts received by the Children’s Services Department annually seemed very high. It was confirmed that every single contact received via OneFrontDoor was recorded in the same system hence the high numbers. The Committee observed that the statistical department at Brunel University could potentially assist with analysis, but it was noted that this would be complicated due to GDPR considerations. 

Members enquired how the accuracy of data within Children’s Services was determined. The Committee was informed that weekly, monthly and statutory reports were regularly spot checked for accuracy by officers in Children’s Services. In terms of ad hoc reporting, officers relied on their colleagues in the Performance Team to ensure the accuracy of the data. Any anomalies would be discussed and ironed out between the two departments.  Members heard that the data was processed at every level and made available to individual team members depending on their need. In response  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

Gary Penticost - Head of Repairs, Engineering, Planned Works and Facilities Management and Liam Bentley - Operations Manager – Corporate and Housing Repairs and Voids, presented the report.

The Committee heard that the Repairs Service had a Direct Labour Organisation of 44 trades operatives which dealt with about 40,000 repairs requests per year. These repairs ranged from roofing defects to drainage issues, fencing, plumbing, electrical defects etc. The service had been reviewed about 4 years previously and had made very good progress since then. Minor disability adaptations work and minor fabric remedial works associated with fire safety risk assessments were being turned around quickly and it had proved to be more cost effective to use Council operatives to perform this work.

It was noted that the Head of Repairs, Engineering, Planned Works and Facilities Management would be happy to come back to the Committee at a future date to report on other statutory compliance areas within his remit, such as gas servicing, asbestos removal, legionella etc. Members heard that monthly and quarterly reports were produced for the Service Director on these areas and issues addressed accordingly. The service also worked closely with Rod Smith particularly on gas servicing contracts where access could be an issue.

In terms of KPIs, it was confirmed that Liam Bentley presented monthly updates to Gary Penticost and Perry Scott. An example was set out at Appendix A of the report. A minor correction to a figure on page 28 of the agenda pack was noted – the total repairs figure for August 2021 should read 2770 rather than 2662. It was noted that, since 2019, the number of repair requests was increasing by approximately 3,000 jobs on average year on year. This was being monitored as there may be a need to expand the Service or subcontract work to meet demand. The output of operatives was also measured – on average 5 jobs were being carried out per operative per day.

In terms of benchmarking, the Committee was informed that the Service submitted data to HouseMark which collected data from all social landlords and provided a benchmarking standard. It was noted that Hillingdon compared well against other local authorities and the average days to complete repairs, first time fix and resident satisfaction data were all above benchmark. These figures were submitted to Naveed’s team for incorporation in the monthly reporting to CMT.

With regards to complaints, compliments and resident satisfaction, Members were informed that the current service was generally perceived as very good. Compliments were being received (including for work completed by apprentices) and only 0.2% of jobs completed resulted in a complaint. The learning from these complaints and compliments was being built into working practices. 

The Committee was informed that Legal Disrepair matters were coming to the fore and more enquiries were being received. These were being addressed. In terms of operative productivity, over 5 jobs per operative per day were being completed which was a good figure. Monthly Toolbox Talks were held which  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

In respect of the Forward Plan and at the request of Members, it was agreed that Democratic Services would request the attendance of Kevin Byrne at the November 2021 Select Committee meeting to provide further information in relation to the item on the Forward Plan entitled Financial Assistance to Hillingdon’s Local Voluntary Organisations. The Committee was informed that additional information in respect of an item on the Forward Plan could be requested but the Committee did not automatically have the right to have sight of a report prior to the Cabinet Meeting; this would depend on officers’ capacity to prepare a draft report in time for the Select Committee and such a report would also need to be approved by the Cabinet Member. It was agreed that, on this occasion, Kevin Byrne would be requested to report on the basis of the previous year’s information.

RESOLVED That:

1)    Democratic Services request the attendance of Kevin Byrne at the November 2021 Select Committee meeting to provide further information in relation to the item on the Forward Plan entitled Financial Assistance to Hillingdon’s Local Voluntary Organisations; and

2)    The Forward Plan be noted.

RESOLVED That:

1)    The Work Programme be noted.