| 389 | RECORD OF THE MEETING |
| | | The record of the meeting held on 4 September 2008 was signed by the Chairman as correct. |
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| 390 | APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE |
| | | Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Kenneth Bamber, Harriott, Mackinlay and Maple. |
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| 391 | URGENT MATTERS BY REASON OF SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES |
| | | The Vice-Chairman, Councillor O'Brien announced that as the Assistant Director, Communications, Performance and Partnerships was unwell the presentation on the new Comprehensive Area Assessment had been deferred to a future meeting. |
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| 392 | DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST |
| | | Councillor Griffiths declared a personal interest in any item concerning Danecourt School as his wife is an employee there and in any reference to the Primary Care Trust (PCT) on the grounds that he is a non-executive director of NHS Medway (previously Medway PCT). |
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| 393 | ATTENDANCE BY COUNCILLOR JANICE BAMBER |
| | | The Portfolio Holder for Customer First and Corporate Services gave a full presentation on the work carried out under her portfolio which covers the Community Plan, Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA), Customer First, Human Resources, ICT, Bereavement Services, Learning and Development, Medway Local Strategic Partnership, Performance Plan, Service Improvement and Registrars.
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| Some areas that she updated the Committee on included:
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| | • | Customer First being awarded the Charter mark.
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| | • | The new Contact Points in Chatham and Strood.
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| | • | A fall in staff sickness and the introduction of a more robust sickness policy, as well as plans to employ an occupational health nurse.
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| | • | The ICT team involvement in the move to Gun Wharf.
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| | • | The Council's work experience programmes.
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| | • | The Bereavement Service receiving a score of "Good" from the Registration Inspectorate.
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| | • | The successful move of the Register Office from Maidstone Road, Chatham to its new site on the Corn Exchange complex Rochester.
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| | • | The successful running of the recent By-Elections in the Rochester South and Horsted ward and Cuxton Parish and the training of 72 new elections canvassers.
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| Members welcomed the successes and asked the Portfolio Holder a number of questions which included; the importance of ensuring that if a service request or complaint is sent through Customer First that ownership remains with Customer First and that this service does not simply act as a post-box, ICT services and how well they were working and any impact the new crematorium on the Isle of Sheppey had on Medway's own crematorium service.
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| Councillor Mrs Bamber noted the service for school servers was independently contracted out by individual schools. During the discussions Members asked the Portfolio Holder to respond to Members queries as to how schools contract out the service for their servers and to respond to their queries as to any remaining ICT problems after the move of the Council's servers to Gun Wharf.
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| Councillor Janice Bamber was thanked for her attendance.
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| | > Portfolio Holder held to account (pdf file 98.8kb) |
| 394 | ANNUAL REVIEW OF STRATEGIC RISK STRATEGY AND SIX MONTHLY REVIEW OF THE COUNCIL'S CORPORATE BUSINESS RISK REGISTER |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Chief Finance Officer introduced a report that dealt with both the annual review of the Risk Management Strategy and the six monthly review of the Council's Corporate Business Risk Register prior to formal consideration at Cabinet.
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| Members emphasised the need to consider even wider for potential risks and to not get into a comfort zone in relation to the impact of such risks.
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| Members also were concerned that in relation to Risk Reference 5," Waste Procurement", whether there was enough "lead-in" time in respect of the negotiation of the new waste management contract. Members also felt that Risk Reference 14, "Delivering radical innovation", should be given a higher priority, as it was important that a radical approach to delivery was adopted especially with reference to the Council's budget constraints. |
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| | > Appendix A - RM Strategy - Sept 08 (pdf file 261.4kb) |
| | > Appendix B - Risk Matrix (pdf file 109.8kb) |
| | > Appendix C - Corporate Risk Register - Sept 08 (pdf file 715.2kb) |
| | > Appendix D - Monitoring and Escalation of Risk (pdf file 58.9kb) |
| | > Review of Strategy and Business Risks (pdf file 110.2kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | Members noted the report and asked that their concerns relating to looking at the wider potential risks and their concerns in relation to Risk References 5 and 14 were included in the forthcoming report to Cabinet. |
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| 395 | REVENUE BUDGET MONITORING |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Chief Finance Officer introduced a report that summarised the financial monitoring position for the current year to date and noted that this was the second monitoring report for the year and was based on actual income and expenditure to July 2008.
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| Members noted that energy costs were reducing and asked the Chief Finance Officer whether energy contracts had been let and if not whether the Council could take advantage of these reductions in energy costs. The Chief Finance Officer replied that the majority of energy contracts had been let for the forthcoming year, however he stated that he felt that the Council would not be adversely affected as it would take some time for energy companies to reflect these reductions in actual energy prices.
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| In response to Member's questions, the Chief Finance Officer answered questions as to how recent events in the financial markets had affected the Council's investment income and he noted that he felt that the Council would not be adversely affected by these events.
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| Members stated that they felt that there was a need to look at radical approaches for delivering the Council's services in relation to the Council's predicted overspend and asked for assurances that all areas, especially high cost areas, are looking at to explore innovative ways to reduce costs.
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| Members also sought assurances that the Council were robust when letting contracts in an effort to save money and that the savings predicted with the introduction of the Fair Access to Care (FACS) protocol were still on track as it had been noted that the assessment process had been delayed.
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| The Chief Finance Officer stated that despite the delays in assessments for the FACS protocol the Council was still expecting to save approximately £3 million and reassured members that the Council's procurement policy ensured that all contracts were let with the Council's best interests at heart.
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| | > Revenue Budget Monitoring Appendix 1a (pdf file 54.9kb) |
| | > Revenue Budget Monitoring Appendix 1b (pdf file 55.7kb) |
| | > Revenue Budget Monitoring (pdf file 140.9kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | Members noted the forecast outturn position for 2007/8 and the management action already taken and proposed. |
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| 396 | CAPITAL BUDGET MONITORING |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Chief Finance Officer introduced a report that presented the capital monitoring for the period to July 2008, with an outturn forecast for 2008/2009. |
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| | > Capital Budget Monitoring Appendix 1 - 1 (pdf file 43.8kb) |
| | > Capital Budget Monitoring Appendix 1 - 2 (pdf file 64.6kb) |
| | > Capital Budget Monitoring Appendix 1 - 3 (pdf file 72.1kb) |
| | > Capital Budget Monitoring Appendix 1 - 4 (pdf file 71.2kb) |
| | > Capital Budget Monitoring Appendix 1 - 5 (pdf file 63.6kb) |
| | > Capital Budget Monitoring Appendix 1 - 6 (pdf file 71.0kb) |
| | > Capital Budget Monitoring (pdf file 190.6kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | Members noted the contents of the report and the progress to date towards achieving the outputs set by the capital programme. |
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| 397 | WORK PROGRAMME |
| | Discussion: |
| | | The Committee considered the work programme but felt there were no amendments needed. |
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| | > Appendix 1 Work programme - schedule (pdf file 116.8kb) |
| | > Appendix 2 Work programme Scrutiny Activity (pdf file 103.8kb) |
| | > Appendix 3 to work programme forward plan (pdf file 63.7kb) |
| | > Work programme report (pdf file 109.4kb) |
| | Decision: |
| | | Members noted the work undertaken by all overview and scrutiny committees in the last cycle and to be considered at the next cycle of meetings and made no amendments to the Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee's work programme. |
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