Agenda item

To receive a written report from the Executive Member for Corporate Services, and to question the Executive Member thereon, provided any such questions are registered in accordance with the timescales and procedures set out in Standing Order 8(2)(a).

Notice has been given of the following questions to the Executive Member:*

(i)         From Cllr R Watson:

“In his report the Executive Member describes the Place Survey results as 'extremely encouraging', please could he explain why he believes this to be the case?”

(ii)        From Cllr Sunderland

“Could the Executive Member please inform Council of the percentage of invoices paid by the council within 30 days?”

(iii)       From CllrKeith Orrell

“Could the Executive Member explain the impact the recession has had on the collection rate for business rates?”

(iv)       From Cllr Christian Vassie

“Following the success of the rollout of 450 'thin client' PCs as detailed in his report, could the Executive Member detail the future plans for the use of 'thin clients' in the council?”

*Note: the above questions were added to this agenda on 8 July 2009.

A written report was received from Cllr Moore, the Executive Member for Corporate Services.

Notice had been received of four questions on the report, submitted by Members in accordance with Standing Orders.  The questions were put and answered as follows:

(i)         From Cllr R Watson:

“In his report the Executive Member describes the Place Survey as 'extremely encouraging', please could he explain why he believes this to be the case?”

            The Executive Member replied:

“The Place Survey takes place every two years, as part of the Comprehensive Area Assessment.  There are eighteen ‘resident perception based’ National Performance Indicators (NPI) which are designed to gather comprehensive feedback from local citizens on what it's like to live and work in York.   This is a survey of residents undertaken independently of the Council.

A preliminary comparative assessment has been carried out through the PriceWaterhouseCoopers benchmarking site and York has done extremely well with:

·        13 of the 18 are performing above average (including all 4 of the LAA Place Survey targets)

·        10 of the 18 Place Survey NPIs in the top quartile (including 2 LAA targets)

·        no target in the bottom quartile

As previously stated I believe these are extremely encouraging results.”

(ii)        From Cllr Sunderland:

“Could the Executive Member please inform Council of the percentage of invoices paid by the council within 30 days?”

The Executive Member replied:

“The percentage of invoices paid within 30 dayswas 97.4% for 2008/09. This area of performance is particularly important in the current economic climate, as local businesses rely on prompt payments from the council to maintain a healthy cash-flow. When comparing the council's performance with other authorities, this places York in the top quartile and represents good improvement from four years ago when it was processing 92% within 30 days.”

(iii)       From Cllr Orrell:

“Could the Executive Member explain the impact the recession has had on the collection rate for business rates?”

The Executive Member replied:

“In the three years from 2005/06 to 2007/08 the in-year collection rates rose from 97% to 98.3%.  However, in 2008/09 the collection rate dropped by 0.8% to 97.5%.  This drop is attributed to the effect of the economic downturn, as more businesses experienced difficulties. 

National figures provided by the Department for Communities and Local Government show that for all English authorities the collection rate dropped last year by 0.98%, with a 1.15% fall for unitary councils.  This shows that the city is, at present, performing well in response to the recession, relative to other areas.  However, there will be no complacency, and collection rates will continue to be monitored.”

(iv)       From Cllr Vassie:

“Following the success of the rollout of 450 'thin client' PCs as detailed in his report, could the Executive Member detail the future plans for the use of 'thin clients' in the Council?”

The Executive Member replied:

“There is already an approved project in progress to roll out at least a  further 200 thin client devices during 2009/10.  We are also proposing to accelerate the deployment of these energy saving devices where appropriate within the Council as part of the ICT work stream within the More 4 York Efficiency Programme.”