Agenda and minutes

To approve the record of the meeting held on 13 August 2015.

The record of the meeting held on 13 August 2015 was agreed and signed by the Chairman as correct. 

With reference to Minute No 233 (c) (Six Month Review of Welfare Reform Task Group Review) a Member commented that since the last meeting he had been informed that local welfare provision could only be provided by an external body and not a local authority directly. The Member asked that Cabinet be made aware of this issue when it came to take a decision on this matter.

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Carr. Councillor Griffin attended as a substitute in his place. 

There were none. 

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other interests

Councillor Griffiths disclosed a non pecuniary interest in agenda item nos 9 and 11 (Draft Medium Term Financial Plan 2015/2020 and Revenue Budget Monitoring 2015/16 – Quarter 1) as a non executive Director of Medway Community Health.

See also minute no 410 for a later disclosure.

Discussion:

With reference to Risk SR03b (Finances) a Member referred to a recent announcement from the Chancellor regarding local government finance allowing councils to retain all the money raised from business rates. He asked that the narrative relating to this risk be updated to reflect the uncertainties which now existed about how local government finance would be calculated.

A Member proposed that Cabinet should consider as a new risk the impact of the European Union (EU) referendum in terms of potential access by the Council to EU funding and the risk to existing programmes. Whilst he expected this to be a low level risk the Member indicated that if Cabinet did not agree to the inclusion of this risk he would like to understand the reasons why.

In response to questions about why the risks on public health transition and the Better Care Fund had changed, the Committee were advised that public health had now transitioned across to the Council and was therefore no longer a risk and the Better Care Fund was included in risk SR 25.05.

In response to a query, the respective roles of the Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Audit Committee regarding risk management would be clarified

During the discussion a number of other comments and questions were raised as follows:

Description of catastrophic risks -the Strategic Risk Group would consider a comment from one Member that the description of catastrophic risks as also being “showstoppers” was inappropriate and unhelpful.

Risk SR 25. 01 - an undertaking was given to provide a written response on the question of how the Council was ensuring that clients fully understood how to use their personal budgets.

Risk SR26.06  - an undertaking was given to provide a written response on what the projects were with start and end dates.

Contract management - this remained on the register at risk SR21.04 as agreed at Cabinet 14 April 2015.

A discussion took place about the plans to create 17,000 new homes (SR 17 Delivering Regeneration) in the next 20 plus years. A Member commented that the Government should provide sufficient money to adequately house residents and large numbers of migrants coming to the area. Other Members referred to what they considered to be a housing crisis and pointed out the Council would be building some homes itself but it required the involvement of central government and other bodies to ensure more homes were built. A Member commented that there were risks and consequences associated with not achieving the target of 17,000 new homes and proposed that this risk should be added to the risk register.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to:

a)        note the Risk Management Strategy, as set out in Appendix A to the report.

b)        note the Management Team’s recommendations on amendments to the

         Council’s Risk Register as detailed in section 3 of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 406.

This report summarises the performance of the Council’s Key Measures of Success for Quarter 1 2015/16 as set out in the Council Plan 2015/16.

Discussion:

Decision:

The Committee agreed to note the Quarter 1 2015/16 performance against the Key Measures of Success used to monitor progress against the Council Plan 2015/16.

Discussion:

Decision:

The Committee agreed to:

a)     endorse the amendments made and refer the amended policy to Cabinet and then Council in accordance with the policy framework rules.

b)     write, on a cross party basis, to the Minister of Sport calling for a significant reduction in the maximum stake size allowed in respect of B2 fixed odds betting terminals.

c)     place on record its appreciation of the work of the Assistant Director – Legal and Corporate Services and his team in addressing the negative effects of gambling on individuals and communities.

The purpose of this report is to update Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the progress made against the Council’s Procurement Strategy 2013-16. 

Discussion:

A Member asked for details of examples of where services had improved through better procurement, in particular services to the elderly as a result of the Homecare Gold Service Standard. The Assistant Director commented that the Council’s spending power gave it a position to influence and improvements had been specified in the homecare contract to ensure appointments with elderly clients lasted at least 30 minutes.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to note the progress made against the Procurement Strategy 2013-16.

This report reviews the major financial issues facing the Council during this and the next four years. It also provides a framework for the more detailed preparation of the draft Revenue Budget for 2016/17.

Discussion:

Councillor Griffiths disclosed a non pecuniary interest as a member of the Argent Trust in relation to Danecourt School.

The Chief Finance Officer referred to the recent announcement from the Chancellor that Councils would be allowed to fully retain all business rates income. In addition the current revenue support grant would disappear over the life of the current Parliament. A Member commented that the announcement regarding business rates was interesting but the detail was important and until there was clarity it was very difficult for councils to plan their finances in the medium term. The Chief Finance Officer stated that the current Business Rates Retention Scheme operated under a system of top-ups, tariffs and levies, which ultimately prevented local authorities from benefitting excessively from business rate growth and funded a ‘safety net’ to protect local authorities from significant negative shocks to their income and it was likely that the new system would contain something similar. Therefore caution should be exercised when making assumptions about the levels of business rates that would be retained.

A Member referred to the increasing trend of schools moving out of local authority control and suggested work was needed to look at the impact on the Council if the Education Services Grant disappeared given that it was linked to the number of pupils in local authority maintained schools and continued to reduce when schools converted to academies. The point was also made that the Council did not seem to have a clear position on the increasing trend to encourage schools to become academies. The Chief Finance Officer responded that whilst much of the grant was passported straight to schools, a significant proportion was retained to fund special education needs, early years provision and certain other statutory functions of a local education authority. As more schools converted to academies, the funding for these statutory functions was lost in the form of reduced Education Services Grant and Dedicated Schools Grant.  Work was underway to look at the impact of the grant reductions with a view to formulating a more robust policy on this issue.

Reference was made to the £1.8m procurement savings and the fact that the living wage would increases costs on companies and therefore reduce the scope for negotiating savings. Officers replied that the Council was on course to achieve these savings, which would be recurring.  However, the impact of the living wage did make it more difficult when it came to in year negotiations or at the renewal of a contract. The Chief Finance Officer acknowledged that this was potentially a risk in the medium term.

A Member noted that the risk of a complete withdrawal of Schools Funding Agency Community Learning Grant had not been factored into commitments but felt that this should be. The Chief  ...  view the full minutes text for item 410.

This report asks Members to note and comment on the forecast outturn position and proposed management actions following round 1 of the quarterly capital monitoring report for 2015/16.

Discussion:

Decision:

The Committee agreed to

a)        note the forecast outturn position and proposed management actions following round 1 of the quarterly capital monitoring report for 2015/16.

b)        request a briefing note on adaptations to school kitchens to facilitate the roll out of Universal Free School Meals as detailed above.

Discussion:

A Member referred to the predicted potential overspend of £9.4m for non-Dedicated Schools Grant services, which was expected to reduce to £4.7m through planned management action, and queried why many pressures were reported as such in the first place when actions to address them appeared to be readily available. The impact on services and residents of these management actions was also questioned. It was proposed that the Committee should receive regular updates on actions being taken to reduce the projected overspend including the extent of the overspend, what management actions were being taken and the service implications of these so that Members could monitor this situation.

With regard to the £255,000 overspend in Legal Services it was clarified that this was an agreed pressure on the budget and seven permanent staff would be recruited for the cost of four locums.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to

a)     note the forecast outturn position and proposed management actions following round 1 of the quarterly revenue monitoring for 2015/16.

b)     ask for regular reports on management actions being taken to reduce the projected overspend, including the extent of the overspend and the service implications of the management actions.

Discussion:

Discussion:

Members considered a report advising the Committee of the current work programme. The report gave details of the items listed on the Cabinet Forward Plan that fell within the remit of this Committee and Appendix 2 to

the report set out the work programmes of the other three Overview and Scrutiny Committees

Decision:

The Committee agreed to

(a)        note and identify items for inclusion in the work programme;

(b)        agree the changes to the work programme as detailed in paragraphs 3.3.2 and 3.3.3 of the report and

(c)        note the work programmes of all overview and scrutiny committees (set out in appendix 2 to the report).