Agenda item

To receive the Amey Annual Performance report for the year 2016-17

19.1    The Chair welcomed Mr Malcom Cox, the Cabinet Member for Environment (Councillor Cook) and the Corporate Director to the meeting.

19.2    Mr Cox summarised the headlines in the report, stressing the challenges that the Council and Amey continued to face in light of the continued cost savings.

19.3    The Chair, referring Members’ attention to the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) commented that the in relation to the close calls KPI, the rag ratings seemed to be incorrect and were in fact the reverse of how they had been presented. Mr Cox confirmed that this was an error caused by a technical fault with the system used to compile the data.

19.4    In response to the Chair’s query on the high levels of sickness, Mr Cox acknowledged that the company was struggling to recruit individuals with the right skills and was looking to pay their employees at a more competitive rate in line with market standards. He explained that the company had introduced back to work interviews in an attempt to improve the current absence levels.

19.5    In response to Councillor Ryall’s query regarding staff turnover, Mr Cox explained that the staff turnover currently stood at 7-10% and agency staff had been drafted in when required.

19.6    Councillor Hilton commented that KPIs failed to demonstrate the quality of the work undertaken, noting that the grass cutting around the City was of a poor standard. He suggested that the Cabinet Member for Environment engage in discussions with Amey regarding inclusion of KPIs monitoring the standard of work undertaken. Councillor Cook assured Members that this was being considered in the discussions with Amey.

19.7    Mr Cox acknowledged that quality of work was quite a subjective matter. To address this issue, it had been decided to re-arrange staff into teams, who would take responsibility for all the work in the zone they were working on, rather than being allocated specific jobs across all zones to ensure that all the work had been completed in each area.

19.8    Councillor Pullen, referencing the challenging growing conditions referred to in the report, queried what lessons had been learnt from the 30 day grass cutting trial. Mr Cox stated that the team had not had access to the right machinery and tools to deal with the lengths of grass encountered and this had caused significant delays, noting that problems in the previous years had been due to staff recruitment. He reported that the company had a more detailed understanding on the tools and resources required to deal with a 30 day grass cutting regime following this year’s trial.

19.9    In response to a query from the Chair, Councillor Cook confirmed that the Council had been required to employ additional resource to undertake the work that Amey had been delayed in carrying out. He advised that Amey operatives would be revisit the areas to ensure that all required works had been completed and the costs of this additional resource would recovered from Amey, as it had been their organisation that had failed to carry out their commitments.

19.20  The Corporate Director acknowledged that the 30 day trial had not delivered the benefits that had been anticipated. He explained that the Council would work closely with Amey to develop a grounds maintenance schedule for 2018 that the Council could be confident in. He stressed that the Council did not accept that the only way to deliver savings was through accepting reduced services and he was pressing Amey to explore how working efficiencies and streamlining process could be identified and implemented He noted that Amey had been successful in delivering these efficiencies and savings in other local authorities without a detrimental impact on services.

19.21  Councillor Hawthorne commented that it would be helpful to be provided with a thematic breakdown of the nature of the complaints received, rather than statistical figures. Councillor Cook confirmed that he would consider this request.

19.22  Councillor Lewis expressed concern at the lack of supervision in the ground crews. Councillor Cook acknowledged that this was a focus area during the conversations with Amey. Mr Cox explained that Supervisors had now been equipped with hand held devices that allowed them to continue with the administrative work whilst out and about. He went on further to explain that the refuse trucks were fitted with 360 degree cameras that allowed supervision of the staff.

19.23  Councillor Patel expressed frustration at the discarded refuse left behind by the waste operatives stating that it led to rodent infestations and were a visual eyesore on the City’s streets. He requested a strong and robust approach to supervision of the grounds crew to ensure that the issues did not continue to reoccur.

19.24  Mr Cox reported that each inspector was required to carry out 20 inspections per month in addition to the ad-hoc inspections that were also required. He confirmed that all inspections were random and no fore-warning was provided and advised that the schedules had been amended so the street cleansing and vehicle operative crews were better aligned with each other.

19.25  Councillor Taylor concurred with the comments that there had been a number of issues with the street cleansing regime this year. He welcomed the swift and efficient resolution provide by both the Cabinet Member and Corporate Director when the issues were highlighted to them.

19.26  Councillor Hawthorne commented that it felt like the senior management within the Amey organisation did not understand the pressures the operational teams were facing and welcomed Mr Cox’s candidness in this regard.

19.27  Councillor Hilton, referring to the cost savings projects referenced in the report, questioned who would carry out the tree inspections that were being devolved from Amey. Councillor Cook advised that this would now be the responsibility of the Arborculturalist, who would prioritise his work accordingly.

19.28  In light of the concerns presented by Members, the Corporate Director suggested that the Committee could consider inviting Amey back to the Committee to address the concerns around supervision and allocation of the resources. He also suggested that a report on the agreed Grounds Maintenance Schedule be bought back to the Committee later in the year.

19.29  RESOLVED that:

1.    The Amey Annual Performance Monitoring be noted.

2.    A thematic breakdown and analysis of complaints received be included within the Annual KPI Statement,

3.    Amey be invited back to the Committee in 3 months to address concerns regarding supervision and allocation of operational resources.

4.    A report on the agreed Grounds Maintenance Schedule for 2018 be bought to the Committee before the start of the 2018 cutting season.