Agenda and minutes

To approve the record of the meeting held on 8 August 2012.

The record of the meeting held on 8 August 2012 was agreed and signed as correct by the Chairman.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bright and Christine Godwin. 

The Chairman will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report.

There were none.

However, on behalf of the committee, the Chairman welcomed Councillor Harriott back to the committee following his illness.

A member need only disclose at any meeting the existence of a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) in a matter to be considered at that meeting if that DPI has not been entered on the disclosable pecuniary interests register maintained by the Monitoring Officer.

A member disclosing a DPI at a meeting must thereafter notify the Monitoring Officer in writing of that interest within 28 days from the date of disclosure at the meeting.

A member may not participate in a discussion of or vote on any matter in which he or she has a DPI (both those already registered and those disclosed at the meeting) and must withdraw from the room during such discussion/vote.

Members may choose to voluntarily disclose a DPI at a meeting even if it is registered on the council’s register of disclosable pecuniary interests but there is no legal requirement to do so.

In line with the training provided to members by the Monitoring Officer members will also need to consider bias and pre-determination in certain circumstances and whether they have a conflict of interest or should otherwise leave the room for Code reasons.

There were none. 

This report sets out both the annual review of the Risk Management Strategy and the 6 monthly review of the Council’s Corporate Business Risk Register for the committee’s consideration and onward referral to Cabinet on 30 October 2012.

Discussion:

The Quality Assurance and Client Manager introduced the report advising that it contained three elements: the Risk Management Strategy; the Corporate Risk Register; and the Risk Management Audit 2010/2011. The Corporate Risk Register had been reviewed and there were four amendments proposed, as set out in paragraph 3.2 of the report.

The committee supported the proposed increase to the risk rating for SR27 (Government changes to Local Authority’s responsibility for schools) as Members considered that it would be important for schools rated as ‘satisfactory’ under the current rules given that this was to be replaced with ‘requires improvement’ and that any two successive such opinions may result in Department of Education (DfE) intervention. Members requested confirmation that the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee would consider this matter and the capacity for preparing schools for the new Ofsted regime, as the consequences of a bad inspection was high and could have expensive financial consequences. Medway schools, especially those with a satisfactory rating, needed to be equipped now to ensure they were robust enough to manage an unannounced Ofsted inspection.

The Chairman of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee assured the committee that Ofsted was considered at the heart of all matters within the education services and, for example, there was a training session for school governors due to be held next week that was solely about Ofsted.

With regard to the planned change to the rating for SR21 (Procurement), the committee considered this proposal and agreed that it would be more appropriate to consider reducing the risk rating in six months time, as the new Category Management team had not yet had time to become established and embed the new procurement processes across the Council.

A Member advised that the time line for risk rating SR25 (Adult Social Care Demographics - on page 43 of the agenda) was unlikely to be found within 2012/2013 and even if it was, the pressure on the service was so great it was unlikely to be solved through the ‘Personal Budget’ target for 2012/2013 being 60%. The Chief Finance Officer advised that the existing risk rating of C2 defined it with a ‘significant’ likelihood and with ‘critical’ impact, which was a high risk rating, although previous adult services’ forecasts with regard to services for older people had been stable.

Decision:

The committee agreed:

(a)         the Risk Management Strategy, as set out in Appendix A to the report;

(b)         the Management’s Team’s recommendations on amendments to the Council’s Risk Register, with the exception of reducing risk rating SR21 (Procurement) from C2 to C3 which it recommended should be deferred for six months.

This report outlines the proposed options for the delivery of a local Council Tax Support scheme with effect from 1 April 2013. 

Discussion:

The Chief Finance Officer introduced the report, which outlined the proposed options for the delivery of a local Council Tax Support Scheme with effect from 1 April 2013 but that would have to be in place by 31 January 2013. The scheme would be administered by the council and replaced current Council Tax benefit by giving a discount on Council Tax instead. Currently, some residents had 100% of their council tax paid for them by the local authority, which was then reclaimed from central government and this would cease next April and the discount given instead.

The committee was advised that there would also be changes to elements of the council tax system, which would allow the council additional discretionary powers to set the level of certain discounts and exemptions but this did not include the current Single Person Discount. Officers had calculated that it was probable that through the new arrangements the council was likely to receive £4 million less revenue than through the current scheme and that this shortfall would either have to be found from efficiency savings within the council, by raising Council Tax or by adjusting the benefit paid to recipients or through a mixture of all three of these options. The council’s preferred scheme was to reduce the benefit to claimants (with government regulations stating that there must be no change for pensioners) but to protect those people in receipt of a war widows/disablement pension. This would mean that 60% of current benefit recipients who were of working age were liable to a reduction to their current benefit. The council’s proposal was set out in full at Appendix A to the report on page 63 of the agenda.

The council was also looking to amend current exemptions for paying Council Tax, in particular by reducing the six-month exemption on empty properties to three months and also to ensure that banks and building societies paid Council Tax on repossessed properties, which currently they did not have to do. The proposals for all changes to discounts and exemptions were set out in Appendix D to the report on page 69 of the agenda.

The Chief Finance Officer informed the committee that the Cabinet had considered this matter on 4 September 2012 and had agreed to undertake a public consultation on its preferred scheme as set out in Appendix A and the committee was considering this matter as part of that consultation.

The Revenue and Benefits Manager gave a presentation on the consultation responses received so far. He advised that 24,800 benefit claimants had been written to, including pensioners, who would not be affected by the proposals. Thirty stakeholder groups, such as the Citizens Advice Bureau, had also been written to and an advertisement placed on the front page of the Council’s website, posters and flyers circulated to libraries and elsewhere, a press release sent out and advertisements placed in local newspapers, together with other forms of contact around Medway. There was also an article in the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 396.

This report reviews the major financial issues facing the Council in this and the next three years. It also provides a framework for the more detailed preparation of the draft Revenue Budget for 2013/16. The committee is asked to consider and comment on the report and forward its recommendations to Cabinet for consideration on 2 October 2012. 

Discussion:

The Chief Finance Officer introduced the report that was annually submitted for consideration and reviewed the outlook for the major financial issues that faced the council over the next three years. It also provided a framework for the preparation of the draft revenue budget for 2013/14. He advised that the outlook was more uncertain than last year, as it was the second half of the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review 2010 period and, combined with changes to future funding announced by the Chancellor and the new distribution arrangements resulting from the Resource Review, the Council no longer had available the offer of the Council Tax Freeze Grant of £2.5 million from 2012/13 that supported a nil increase in council tax for this year.

The committee was advised that the Comprehensive Spending Review had predicted a reduction in resources of 28% over the four-year review period. For Medway this had meant a reduction of 11.9% in 2010/11 and 8.3% in 2012/13. Recent announcements by the Chancellor and the new distribution meant that it was now anticipated that a 4.3% reduction was required in 2013/14 and a further 9.8% the following year, with the likelihood of more reductions in 2015-2018 when the next Spending review was announced. Officers also advised that there would be changes to how schools would be funded in the future and work was about to begin on what this would mean for the council’s financial future but it was not thought to be much of an impact in the short-term.

The Chief Finance Officer advised the committee on each of the tables set out in the report, which concluded (at Table 6 on page 108 of the agenda) with a deficit in resources of £5.9 million in 2013/14 and a further £3.3 million in 2014/15 (meaning £5.9m + £3.3m, equating to £9.2 million on 2013/14) after significant savings and council tax increases had been allowed for. Members were advised that if the council could reduce some of the pressures set out in section 5 of the report, this would reduce the deficit.

Members commented that there was no reference to the ‘Stop the Estuary Airport’ campaign which was on-going and likely to be for the next few years and would inevitably require the appropriate finance to support the council’s cross-party position. It was also suggested that the cost of the project manager (a consultant) used for regeneration projects could be charged to capital, rather then the revenue account and asked that this was raised with the Portfolio Holder for Finance during the preparation of the draft budget for 2013/2014.

The committee also commented on the Better for Less savings (paragraph
6.2 of the report), which consistently reported the delivery of £5 - £10 million savings. Members asked for further information, as the £5 million variation could mean the difference between the council having a budget deficit, or not. Officers advised that the Better for Less programme had been running for some time but the Category Management aspect of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 397.

This item advises Members of the current work programme and allows them to adjust it in the light of latest priorities, issues and circumstances. It gives Members the opportunity to shape and direct the Committee’s activities over the year. 

Discussion:

The Democratic Services Officer introduced the report advising of the amendments to the work programme as set out in paragraph 3.2 of the report and also that there were no new items within the remit of this committee in the recently published Cabinet Forward Plan.

The Chairman of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee advised that with regard to that committee’s work programme, a report on the consultation currently underway on the ‘changes to overnight short breaks/closure of Preston Skreens’ would be considered at a special meeting to be arranged in February 2013, as the consultation period had been extended until January 2013.

The Chairman of the Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee advised that the committee would hold a special meeting on
16 October to consider the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust’s (KMPT) application for Foundation Trust status. 

The Chairman of the Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee advised that he would like a report added to the current work programme on the council’s pay and grade review for staff when sufficient information was available to do so.

A Member asked about the proposed timetable for the recently formed Supported Accommodation task group. Officers responded that the task group was due to meet for a second time next week to plan evidence sessions and possible visits and therefore this should give a better idea of the timetable for this task group.

Decision:

The committee agreed to:

(a)         note the current work programme, including the additions detailed in paragraph 3 of the report;

(b)         request a report is added to the current work programme on the council’s pay and grade review for staff;

(c)         note the change of meeting date from 20 March 2013 to 3 April 2013;

(d)         note the work undertaken by all overview and scrutiny committees (set out in appendices 2a, 2b and 2c of the report.