Apologies were received from Councillors Val Smith, Dee Sinclair and Mark Lygo. Councillor Scott Seamons sent apologies for his anticipated late arrival.

Board Members are asked to declare disclosable pecuniary interests they may have in any of the following agenda items.  Guidance is contained at the end of these agenda pages.

No declarations of interest were received.

When the Chair agrees, questions from the public for up to 15 minutes – these must be about the items for decision at the meeting (excluding the minutes) and must have been given to the Head of Law and Governance by 9.30am on a day so that there are at least two clear working days before the meeting (email executiveboard@oxford.gov.uk or telephone the person named as staff contact).  No supplementary questions or questioning will be permitted.  Questions by the public will be taken as read and, when the Chair agrees, be responded to at the meeting.

Full written questions with answers were distributed at the start of the meeting. These are attached to the minutes as appendix one.

The following scrutiny committee reports have or will be submitted to this meeting:-

• Customer Feedback – agenda item 5 refers.

None submitted.

This report analyses and comments upon customer feedback trends over the past three years, and makes recommendations concerning feedback response.

The Head of Customer Services submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) concerning customer feedback received by the organisation. Peter Sloman presented the report to the Board and explained its background.

Councillor Jean Fooks addressed the Board.

Resolved to agree to the following enhancements to how the Council deals with its customer feedback:-

(i)   Ensure all service areas review their web content and literature by 30th September 2013, and where possible involve customers in sense checking how well we are explaining our services.

(ii)  Develop our policy to always explore the immediate actions required for the customer concerned and those actions needed to improve the process and stop a reoccurrence for other customers.

(iii)Clarify what constitutes a complaint within our policy in order to provide more capacity and focus for genuine complaints and service improvement potential.  This should be underpinned in our procedure, and staff supported to deliver this through training and on line guidance.  Particular areas to be covered include:

      a) Service requests should not constitute a complaint;

      b) Complaints about policies should be recorded and used to inform future policy direction;

     c) Letters from Members of Parliament requesting advice and information should not be logged as complaints.

(iv)Amend our policy and procedure to ensure all service areas always make contact with the customer before closing any complaint on the system, use email whenever possible to allow this to be done electronically, and advise where appropriate of the corrective and preventive action taken as a result of any investigations.

(v)  Include the ability to report customer feedback within the marketing strategy for the City Council’s web site.

(vi)Capture the best practice that exists within the organisation for handling feedback reports in an efficient manner, and ensure this is rolled out to all service areas.

(vii)Develop our processes and analysis tools to enable further insight into key themes; this could be within a service area or corporately. 

The report advises on the position in relation to the Council’s financial and non-financial performance, and the position in relation to the Council’s corporate risks.

The Head of Finance and the Head of Business Improvement and Technology submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) updating the Board on Finance, Risk and Performance at the end of Quarter 3, 31^st December 2012. Councillor Ed Turner presented the report to the Board and explained the background. He pointed out that this was a monitoring report and not the final outturn.

Councillor Jean Fooks addressed the Board.

Resolved to note the report.

The Council’s current Empty Homes Strategy covers the period 2009 to 2012, and a revised Strategy has to be prepared. The report presents outcomes of a review of progress to date in Oxford and potential future priorities, and seeks permission to consult on issues arising within a Draft Empty Homes Consultation Document.

The Head of Housing submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) that sought approval for the refreshed Empty Property Strategy 2013-2018 for Oxford City. Councillor Scott Seamons presented the report to the Board and explained the background.

Resolved to:-

(1)    Note the good area of work and confirm the Council’s commitment to ensuring empty property is brought back into use;

(2)     Endorse the refreshed Empty Property Strategy

The report details “unrecoverable” debts for write off.

The Head of Customer Services submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) concerning the write off of uncollectible debts. Councillor Ed Turner presented the report to the Board.

Nigel Kennedy agreed to send information regarding Rovacroft to Board Members.

Resolved that the amounts shown in the body of the report be written off subject to the proviso that if new information or payments are received, the debts written off will be resurrected and credits applied.

The report contains details of tenders received to project manage works to the Council’s tower block properties, and makes a recommendation for acceptance

The Head of Corporate Property submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended). Councillor Scott Seamons presented the report to the Board and explained the background.

Resolved to approve the award to E.C.Harris of a contract to project manage (including full consultation of all stakeholders and multi disciplinary design services) this key refurbishment project for the Council’s tower blocks.

This item is included on the agenda to give members the opportunity to raise issues on the Forward Plan or update the Board about future agenda items.

Nothing was raised under this item.

Minutes of the meeting held on 13^th February 2013

Resolved to confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 13^th February 2013.

If the Board wishes to exclude the press and the public from the meeting during consideration of any of the items on the exempt from publication part of the agenda, it will be necessary for the Board to pass a resolution in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 21(1)(b) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2000 on the grounds that their presence could involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as described in specific paragraphs of Schedule I2A of the Local Government Act 1972.

The Board may maintain the exemption if and so long as, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

None