| 471 | RECORD OF THE MEETING |
| | | The record of the meeting held on 15 October 2009 was signed by the Chairman as correct. |
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| 472 | APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE |
| | | Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Hunter. |
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| 473 | DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST |
| | Councillor Griffiths declared a personal interest in any reference to NHS Medway (formerly Medway PCT) on the grounds that he is a Non-Executive Director of the Trust and in any reference to Danecourt School as his wife is an employee there.
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| Councillor O'Brien declared a personal interest in any reference to the health service on the grounds that a member of his family works for the health service. |
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| 474 | WORK PROGRAMME |
| | Discussion: |
| | | Members were presented with a report that advised them of the current work programme that allowed them to adjust it in the light of latest priorities, issues and circumstances.
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| Members asked that the Medway Single Equality Scheme be added to the Committee's work programme for its meeting on 2 February 2010. |
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| | > Work programme report (pdf file 72.7kb) |
| | > Work programme appendix 1 (pdf file 68.2kb) |
| | > Work programme appendix 2 (pdf file 70.4kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | | (a) | That the Medway Single Equality Scheme is added to the Committee's work programme for its meeting on 2 February 2010.
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| | (b) | That the work undertaken by all overview and scrutiny committees in the last cycle and to be considered at the next cycle of meetings is noted. |
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| 475 | ATTENDANCE OF THE PORTFOLIO HOLDER FOR COMMUNITY SERVICES |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Portfolio Holder addressed the Committee outlining the main achievements within areas of his portfolio:
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| | • | There would be an additional £120,000 invested in library book stock this year making a total of just under £300,000.
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| | • | There had been 5% more visits to libraries this year, however, due to the economic downturn audio visual trading, ie the loan of DVDs etc had fallen by 25%.
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| | • | The library service continued to use and embed retail techniques making libraries more welcoming through better use of signage and colour and improving the website. Hits on the website were up by 8%.
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| | • | The events programme had seen a month on month increase in the number of people attending, with projections of people attending an event this year 9% higher than last year.
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| | • | A new library management system had been purchased through a consortium involving nine other library authorities, allowing customers to access on-line the catalogue of any consortium member, including the ordering of books and the in-library ability to self-book a public access computer.
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| | • | Work is underway to implement an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) allowing for electronic stock ordering and invoice processing and the introduction of a new evidence-based stock management system which would allow staff to order books with the highest demand/turnover.
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| | • | There are plans to pilot public access video conferencing as a component of the Community Hub model.
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| | • | The mobile library service has been extremely popular, with 6,000 visitors and 19,000 items issued, and prison libraries had been relocated to improved accommodation.
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| | • | The were plans to introduce lone working in two of the smaller libraries, Grain and Hempstead, when there were no events or activities planned and a number of security measures had been introduced, such as CCTV, to reduce risks to staff.
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| | • | In respect of the housing service, he recognised that there had been a great improvement in the service since February 2008.
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| | • | Houses in Multiple Occupation now have to be registered and there are over 100 registered.
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| | • | A Landlord Incentive Scheme had been introduced.
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| | • | The number of empty homes brought back into use totalled 47 with a hope for this to increase to 97 by March 2010.
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| | • | There was now a complete set of housing policies and these were available to the public in a user-friendly leaflet form.
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| | • | The waiting times for housing advice had been improved and the backlog of disabled facilities grants had been resolved and all housing owned by the Council will reach the Decent Homes Standard by 2010.
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| | • | All staff have been trained in customer care with a new focus on treating the public as customers and treating these customers as equals and with respect.
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| | • | The housing service now publish service standards and housing is now embedded in all of the Council's key strategies.
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| | • | Energy efficiency is being tackled with an increase of 42% of household receiving grants. The housing waiting list was down to 6,500 and the number of new affordable homes was up to 110 with hopes that this figure would increase to 200 by March 2010 and the number of families in temporary accommodation was down to 140 which is 50% of the governments target figure.
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| | • | There are plans to undertake a survey of Council homes in order to plan repairs and maintenance in the future.
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| Members asked about:
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| | • | The problems of the Mortgage Rescue Package Scheme.
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| | • | Empty shops in the Twydall area.
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| | • | Concerns over the proposals for lone working and the implications for staff safety.
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| | • | Proposals to rotate wardens and concerns over the potential effects on these proposals to residents. |
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| | > Portfolio Holder for Community Services in attendance (pdf file 78.5kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | The Committee thanked Councillor Doe for attending the meeting and the answers he had provided. |
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| 476 | SECOND QUARTER PERFORMANCE REPORT 2009-10 |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Assistant Director (Communications, Performance and Partnerships) introduced a report that presented the Council performance for the second quarter of 2009-10. In particular it included performance against indicators and actions agreed in the Council Plan 2009-12. 36 were rated as green, 10 were off target but capable of being achieving by the end of the financial year and 18 were off target and require improvement. Members were also given a summary of areas that had performed particularly well and were informed that comparative information with other authorities would be available for Quarter 3.
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| Members asked about:
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| | • | Enforcement on fly tipping
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| | • | Core assessments for children's social care
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| | • | Average time to re-let Council dwellings
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| | • | Homelessness decision cases decided within 33 working days
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| | • | Teenage conception
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| | • | Implications of improvement works in Chatham Centre
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| In respect of Priority 5: People travelling easily and safely in Medway, Members were concerned that although the performance targets within this area were all on track (rated green) there was a large amount of disruption and congestion caused by the improvements to Chatham Road Network. Members felt that there was a need for there to be a narrative linked to the relevant target stating that the work on the Chatham Road Network is proceeding to plan but that these works were causing some disruption. |
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| | > Quarter 2 Performance Report (pdf file 70.0kb) |
| | > Appendix 1 Performance Report (pdf file 244.7kb) |
| | > Appendix 2 Performance Report (pdf file 1.1Mb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | The Committee noted the performance for the second quarter 2009-2010. |
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| 477 | CONTRACT LETTING IN EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Assistant Director (Housing and Corporate Services) introduced a report that detailed contracts awarded in accordance with the provisions of Contract Rules 12.1 and 12.2 to deal with the letting of contracts in exceptional circumstances. The report advised the Committee with high-level justification as to why these exemptions were approved and advised the Committee of the measures being recommended to service areas to reduce such occurrences.
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| Members were concerned that seven out of the 11 requests were potentially avoidable and of these five were made because the divisions did not allocate sufficient resources and/or time to enable procurements to take place within the Contract Rules. The other two were as a result of not following the correct procurement process and/or requesting support.
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| Members were pleased that decisions will now go to the Procurement Board and that only Directors or the Chief Executive in the future will be able to sign off such exemption requests and that procurement processes were in the process of being revised and training will be offered to officers involve with the procurement process. |
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| | > Appendix A Contract Letting in Exceptional Circumstances (pdf file 104.3kb) |
| | > Draft O&S report on exemptions (pdf file 74.0kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | Members noted the report and the measures being introduced to reduce such occurrences in the future.
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| 478 | TENANTS INCENTIVE SCHEME |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Assistant Director (Housing and Corporate Services) introduced a report that advised Members of the Tenants Incentive Scheme that reflects the shortage of family accommodation and provides an incentive for tenants to transfer to a more suitable home. It was noted that the problem of overcrowding needed to be tackled and that there was a need to try to match people to the right properties and this scheme would help to enable this to happen.
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| Members received assurances that there would be no compulsion on people to move and that the scheme would include a full packing and moving service.
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| Members noted that the only element of the scheme that was missing could be the supply side and that there was a need to ensure that there was an adequate supply of one bedroom properties involved in this process.
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| Members suggested that Kingston upon Thames were procuring 30 large family sized units from the private sector on long leases and asked officers to investigate whether this could take place in Medway. |
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| | > Tenant Incentive Schemes Report (pdf file 79.6kb) |
| | > Appendix 1 Incentive Scheme (pdf file 179.3kb) |
| | > Appendix 2 Incentive Scheme (pdf file 181.8kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | The Committee noted the report and recommended the scheme to Cabinet and asked that progress reports be fed back to the Committee annually after the introduction of the scheme. |
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| 479 | CAPITAL BUDGET MONITORING 2009/2010 |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Chief Finance Officer introduced a report that presented the capital monitoring for the period to September 2009, with an outturn forecast for 2009/2010 and future years. |
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| | > Capital Monitoring Report (pdf file 122.4kb) |
| | > Capital Monitoring Appendix 1 (pdf file 42.9kb) |
| | > Capital Monitoring Appendix 2 (pdf file 66.6kb) |
| | > Capital Monitoring Appendix 3 (pdf file 77.3kb) |
| | > Capital Monitoring Appendix 4 (pdf file 64.9kb) |
| | > Capital Monitoring Appendix 5 (pdf file 62.8kb) |
| | > Capital Monitoring Appendix 6 (pdf file 67.1kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | Members noted:
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| | (a) | The spending and funding forecasts summarised at Tables 1 and 2 as set out in the report.
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| | (b) | Additions to the capital programme as detailed in section 5.1.1 and
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| | (c) | The virements as detailed in paragraph 5.1.2. |
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| 480 | REVENUE BUDGET MONITORING 2009/2010 |
| | Discussion: |
| | The Chief Finance Officer introduced a report that summarised the revenue monitoring position for the current year based on actual income and expenditure to September 2009.
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| It was noted that after management action, the outturn forecast for 2009/2010 currently stands at £0.005 million underspend which, after eliminating the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) overspend of £0.620 million, gives an overall underspend on general fund services of over £0.625 million. It was noted for information that the forecast overspend for this time last year was £1.2million.
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| Members stated that they felt that it was unrealistic for the Leisure and Culture division to support this income and stated that they hoped that a more realistic income figure would be used in future.
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| In respect of the shortfall income from empty properties at the Twydall precinct members felt that officers should be doing more to ensure that these empty shops are occupied.
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| Members voiced concerns relating to the increased overspend on SEN placements in independent and non-maintained schools and felt that it was important to try and ensure that local resources were available to cater for children with special needs as this would be a better use of resources.
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| Members asked the Chief Finance Officer whether the recovery of Council Tax was on target. He replied that although the Council was marginally down on Council Tax collection they were still on target and this would have no effect on the current budget position. |
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| | > Revenue Monitoring Report (pdf file 85.6kb) |
| | > Revenue Monitoring Appendix 1 (pdf file 53.2kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | The Committee noted the forecast outturn position for 2009/10. |
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| 481 | CAPITAL PROGRAMME 2010/2011 AND BEYOND |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Chief Finance Officer presented a report that set out a provisional programme of capital investment for 2010/2011 and beyond.
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Members asked the Chief Finance Officer to provide further details in relation to the HRA Garage Review scheme.
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| In respect of the deficit on capital receipts funding Members stated that they felt that there was a need to be prudent and meet the Council's debts first and then if there were capital receipts left over decide how to spend them. |
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| | > Capital Programme Report (pdf file 83.2kb) |
| | > Appendix 1 Capital Budget 2010-2011 Cabinet 24.11.2009 (pdf file 104.0kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | Members noted the provisional programme of capital investment for 2010/2011 and beyond, including the additional scheme referred to in paragraph 2.5 and asked that it be forwarded to individual Overview and Scrutiny Committees with comments being reported back to this committee on 2 February 2010. |
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| 482 | REVENUE BUDGET 2010/2011 |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Chief Finance Officer introduced a report that presented the Council's draft revenue budget 2010/2011. He noted that since the Committee had received the Medium Term Financial Plan the forecast budget gap had increased to just over £8.1 million although this was a better position than at the same point last year.
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| Members expressed concern over the hidden costs of school closures and that the reports to Cabinet on the issue should have included these costs in options appraisals.
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| Members were also concerned to note that the cost of annual staff increments was some 2% of the pay bill with average incremental rises being some 3% although not received by all staff. It was explained that the long pay scales were a legacy of an early adoption of equal pay by the Council in 2002. |
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| | > Revenue Budget Report (pdf file 67.3kb) |
| | > Appendix 1 2010-2011 Summary (pdf file 40.0kb) |
| | > Appendix 1 Revenue Budget 2010-2011 Cabinet 24.11.2009 (pdf file 127.1kb) |
| | > Appendix 1(a) 2010-2011 C&A (pdf file 55.1kb) |
| | > Appendix 1(b) 2010-2011 RCC (pdf file 53.7kb) |
| | > Appendix 1(c) 2010-2011 BSD (pdf file 55.7kb) |
| | > Appendix 2(a) C&A Pressures (pdf file 69.1kb) |
| | > Appendix 2(b) RCC Pressures (pdf file 54.5kb) |
| | > Appendix 2(c) BSD Pressures (pdf file 54.9kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | The Committee noted the draft revenue budget for 2010/2011 and asked that the programme be forwarded to individual overview and scrutiny committees for comment. |
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