Agenda item

Report of the Bereavement Services Manager.

The Joint Committee considered a report of the Bereavement Services Manager which provided an update relating to performance and other operational matters (for copy see file of Minutes).

The Bereavement Services Manager reported that during the period 1 September 2018 to 31 December 2018, 427 cremations had been undertaken compared to 423 in the comparable period last year, an increase of 4. He further advised that during the same period, 59 memorials (£17,436) had been sold compared to 15 (£5,436) in the same period last year, an increase of 44 (£12,000).

Moving on details were reported with regard to operational matters. It was explained that the trainee crematorium attendant had now passed all exams and was fully qualified. He had therefore requested that his pay grade be reviewed, to bring in line with other crematorium attendants. Following advice from Human Resources, it was advised that in order to facilitate this request the joint committee would be required to approve the creation of a new crematorium attendant post, which would be advertised in the usual way. If supported, the new post would increase the salary budget by £576 per year, assuming the trainee was successful in securing the post and the trainee post was subsequently then deleted from the establishment.

The Bereavement Services Manager then went on to provide details relating to the Green Flag application and noted that progress would be reported to future meetings.

Following discussions at a previous meeting regarding a dedicated website for the crematorium, the Bereavement Services Manager advised that contact had been ongoing with the councils Digital and Customer Services team and despite some delays regarding movement of data across servers, the new site would be ready by the end of July 2019.

Further details were reported with regard to the recycling of metals scheme, noting that a cheque for £5,000 had been presented to the IF U CARE U SHARE charity in October 2018. The next charity nominated to receive funds was Winston’s Wish Charity and should this be accepted, a cheque for £7,000 would be available.

The Bereavement Services Manager in conclusion of his report, referred to paragraph 18 of the report onwards, which highlighted proposed action and options to be considered in relation to recommendations made by the Internal Auditor regarding document retention and the supplier for Book of Remembrance entries.

He went on to advise that the Internal Audit report had highlighted that all entries into the Book of Remembrance were completed by one supplier due to the specialism of the work required and therefore it had been recommended that a procurement exercise be undertaken in order to ensure value for money whilst maintaining quality. This had now been actioned and the contract was open to tender on the procurement portal.

Moving on to the issue of document retention the Bereavement Services Manager advised that Internal Audit had identified that documents were currently being retained in paper form for 15 years however this required significant storage space and that going forward documents should be scanned for retention. Therefore four options had been suggested and costed by Procurement and were detailed in the report. The Bereavement Services Manager advised that Option 4 was the recommended and Internal Audit had confirmed that this was an acceptable solution.

Discussion then ensued regarding the crematorium attendant post and an explanation was provided as to why the post would need to be advertised given that the trainee post was not career graded and this effectively was the creation of a new post.

Moving on the issue of document retention Councillor Charlton asked what the proposed contract length and overall cost the crematorium would be if option 4 was agreed. The Bereavement Services Manager advised that the proposals were part of a wider corporate contract, however it could be assumed that it would cost in the region of £15,000 for 15 years.

Resolved:

(i)        That the current performance of the crematorium be noted.

(ii)       That the proposed creation of a crematorium attendance post be agreed and advertised.

(iii)      That the continued success with regards to the Green Flag Award

(iv)      That the updated position with regards to the development of a dedicated website.

(v)       That the updated position with regards to the recycling of metals scheme be noted

(vi)      That the updated position with regards to the Book of Remembrance tender be noted

(vii)    That Option 4 for the secure storage for past records and scan records going forward be agreed.