Issue - meetings

To provide an update to the Committee on the progress of the Council’s identified strategic risks (report of the Executive Manager for Growth enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Executive Manager for Growth, which provided an update to the Committee on the progress of the Council’s identified strategic risks.

The Senior Change, Innovation and Performance Business Partner provided the Committee with the following updates:

·         Since the Q4 iteration of the register, there had been an increase in risk levels around the delivery of the housing service and waste collections.

o   Housing Service – The Housing Team were facing significant resource challenges, and whilst these staff shortages were being seen, the risk level had been raised to reflect this.

o   Delays as a result of resource challenges – The Housing team had seen some delays with full housing assessments being booked.  However, additional appointments were being created utilising temporary staffing resources.  This was being balanced against demand created through emergency presentations.  The Housing Team Leader was moving resources to respond to demand and, where possible, delayed appointments would be brought forward.

o   Additional mitigations – Three temporary Housing Options Advisors had been appointed to ensure that the team had sufficient capacity to remain operational.  Other resources from within the Housing Department were being utilised to provide additional support in areas such as the management and booking of temporary accommodation, assistance with visiting, and collection of information from people in temporary accommodation.

o   Project delivery timeframes for MyOptions – The scheduled go-live date for MyOptions online was still 4 October 2021, work was underway to achieve the transition, and there were currently no anticipated delays.  It was clarified that this was the homeless self-triage tool element, and that the housing register element was already live and operational.  As an interim measure to allow customers to self-refer, the Jigsaw Portal had been opened and the webpages and Customer Contact updated.  Telephone messages and the Council’s webpages had all been updated to enable customers to self-help where possible.

o   Trends within the Housing service arising from exit interviews or additional intelligence – A presentation would be given to the HR People Board to ensure oversight from the Executive Management Team and PSPS colleagues.  A recent recruitment campaign by a neighbouring authority had had a material impact through the number of vacancies on offer.  Actions were being followed up to ensure that the Council was doing all it could to retain staff, and this information would be brought forward to the next meeting, or shared sooner if possible.

·         Waste Collections

o   A similar trend was being seen in this area, with a shortage in the number of HGV drivers available through agencies.  Presently, there were no major service delivery issues to highlight however, the HGV driver shortage that the service was facing reflected the national situation seen across several other authorities and private businesses.  Recruitment agencies were experiencing skills shortages, and it was a difficult market for specific candidate attraction.  Due to the competitive nature of the market, candidate retention was also extremely difficult.

o   With regard to work being undertaken by the Environmental Services  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9