Information supplied within a Freedom of Information request is the copyright of Thurrock Council. All information that has been supplied is for personal use only.
Except for permitted acts under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, the information supplied may not be copied, distributed, published, or exploited for commercial purposes or financial gain without the explicit written consent of Thurrock Council.
I would like the names of the members of the 'Improvement Board' referred to in a letter from the then Under Secretary of State, Shahid Malik MP dated 8th March 2010 to the then Leader of the Council, Councillor Garry Hague.
When was the decision made by the council to engage this 'Improvement Board'? Are there cost implications to the council? Is this 'Improvement Board' still current? Does or did this 'Improvement Board' abide by the processes of local democracy? By that I mean does this board have the power to override responsibilities of members and officers?
Thank you for your letter regarding the Thurrock Improvement Board. In answering your questions I need first to provide you with the context as to why the Improvement Board was established.
In December 2008 the Audit Commission published its annual Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) 'Direction of Travel' report of the Council. The report judged Thurrock to be a 2 star council that was 'not improving adequately'. At the time all councils were subject to an annual CPA assessment and this judgement of 'not improving adequately' placed the Council, in comparison with all other councils, as being a poor performer. The Audit Commission's summary of its report is attached as an appendix to this letter.
Both Members and Senior Management were disappointed at this judgement and were united in their desire to both address the immediate short term issues of the Audit Commission's report and build long term solutions so that the Council would not be in such a position again. Immediately after the report was published, the Council:
The first meeting of the Improvement Board was in January 2009 and initially it met on a monthly basis to enable the Improvement Programme to be developed. As this Programme got underway meetings became less regular and were held every quarter to ensure progress was being made and sustained.
Initially the Improvement Board was made up as follows:
From Thurrock Council
External Partners
As the Improvement Programme became established and embedded the Improvement Board was slimmed down and its membership revised to consist of:
There were cost implications to the Council associated with the development and delivery of the Improvement Programme. By inviting representatives from Improvement East - this is a local government body that provides advice and grant funding to improvement schemes - to sit on the Improvement Board the Council could access significant grant funding to make the Improvement Programme happen.
In total the Council secured £900,000 from Improvement East. Amongst other things this was used to pay for:
The Improvement Board was set up by the Council in recognition that it had problems that needed to be addressed and external partners were brought in to sit on the Board so that the Council could access the expertise they could bring.
It was a purely voluntary arrangement and, in the context of the Constitution, it had no powers of decision making. Any significant decisions that the Improvement Board wanted to make were referred up to the Council's appropriate decision making bodies. For example the Improvement Programme that the Improvement Board developed was considered and approved by both the Cabinet and Council.
The work of the Improvement Board and the Improvement Programme has been well received both within the Council and externally. For example the Audit Commission reported in 2009 that the weaknesses that it identified in its report of December 2008 had, been or were being addressed and they were positive about the Council's prospects for the future.
As a result of the ongoing focus on improvement, over the last year, from both members and management a decision was made in December 2010 to formally wind up the Improvement Board and a report will be made to Cabinet on 2 February 2011 that formally notes this.
The Audit Commission's summary of its Direction of Travel 2008 report is as follows:
"There is a fundamental breakdown of relationships between some officers and members, adversely affecting the capacity and running of the Council. A mutual lack of trust and high degree of suspicion is affecting governance arrangements, member decision making, interaction with officers and the ability of officers to operate corporately.
Overall rates of improvement are below average. Benefits payments are slow and some environment services declined, with street cleaning not improving.
Adult social care has good outcomes; recycling and composting are improving; and less waste is sent to landfill. There are good improvements in Children's Services although some performance is still below average. Diversity outcomes are improving, but the Council is below average for people feeling that people from different backgrounds get on well or the Council treats them fairly.
There are some effective partnerships such as with police, with less crime and improving perceptions of safety. Relationships with the Development Corporation are challenging with some major regeneration projects underway and discussions to improve relationships and align plans.
Procurement and contract management are not effective. The Council's accounts were late and needed significant amendments."
01375 652652
01375 652359
