Agenda item

The Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance will attend the meeting in order to be held to account for matters within the remit of this committee. 

Discussion:

Members received an overview of progress on the area within the terms of reference of this Committee and covered by the Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance as set out below:

·                    Better for Less

·                    Communications and media

·                    Council Plan

·                    Council tax and business rates

·                    Finance

·                    Housing benefit

·                    Performance and service improvement

·                    Property

·                    Risk management

·                    Category management (previously Strategic procurement)

The Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance, Councillor Alan Jarrett, responded to Member’s questions and comments as follows:

·                    Property rationalisation - the Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance advised that year on year the property rationalisation target of £4 million per annum was becoming more difficult to achieve and may need to be reviewed as the Council had now disposed of most of its high value non-operational properties. This year the Council expected to achieve £2 million with the possibility of exceeding the £4million target in 2014/15. The Council had entered a joint venture with Norse that had included 164 operational properties. Work was underway to further rationalise this property portfolio including plans to co-locate services such as Children’s Centres and to move to agile and mobile working.

·                    New Horizons - a comment was made that the name of the new school, New Horizons Primary School, was uninspiring especially given the wealth of local historical names that could have been used. The Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance advised that the Council had no influence over the names for new schools.

·                    Community Hubs – in response to a query about plans to provide community hubs in locations other than the main town centres in Medway the Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance responded that plans for a hub in Strood were being finalised and that there was a hub planned for Twydall as a pilot project. The provision of community hubs in other locations would be possible subject to funding availability.

·                    Local government financial settlement for 2014/15 – the Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance agreed with comments made by Committee Members that the possibility of a last minute Government decision to reduce the Council Tax cap (or Referendum Limit) from 2% to 1.5% would put many local authorities in a difficult position at this stage in the budget setting process.  He stated it was also possible that the Council would not be notified of its financial settlement until after the budget Cabinet meeting on 11 February. It was noted that if the Council Tax cap was reduced to 1.5% the currently projected funding gap of £94,000 in 2014/15, as reported in the Cabinet papers, would increase and the Council may have to use its reserves to bridge the gap and reach a balanced budget. The Portfolio Holder expressed the view that a reduction in ring-fenced grants had contributed to a loss of transparency around the funding of new burdens at a time when government grant for Medway had reduced by 9.6% and the Council was facing a range of service pressures in areas such as children’s social care. He explained that the only way to challenge the unfair settlement for Medway was by lobbying the Government and taking the issue up via the Local Government Association.

·                    Special Educational Needs (SEN) school transport costs – the Deputy Leader and Portfolio holder for Finance confirmed that clear plans to achieve the savings required were being put in place and that three Medway schools had participated in a pilot procurement exercise which had generated significant savings. It was expected this model could be rolled out more widely and that this together with the option of personal budgets should deliver the required level of savings in future years.

·                    Decent Homes Standard – with reference to the ambitions of the Council to achieve 100% in the number of properties reaching this standard, a Member reported that there were a couple of homes in her ward that did not meet the ‘Decent Homes’ standard. The Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance advised that this would come under the Portfolio for Housing and Community Services which was the responsibility of Councillor Doe who would be attending the next meeting of the Committee. He stated that Councillor Doe had lobbied extensively for government funding to assist in delivering the Decent Homes Standard and the provision of Disabled Facilities Grants in Medway.

·                    Better For Less - in response to a question about the level of savings achieved under the Better For Less initiative the Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance stated that Better For Less was unlikely to deliver savings of £5.9 million per year as originally projected, largely because of changes and emerging pressures that could not have been anticipated when the programme had been set up. He referred specifically to children’s social care and SEN transport as examples. It was confirmed that work was under way in the next phases of Better For Less to evaluate the costs associated with delivering further target savings and action would be taken accordingly. New models of working, such as the new performance and intelligence arrangements and the introduction of administrative hubs  had proven to deliver efficiencies and would be replicated in other areas, such as Public Health, as appropriate.

·                    Council Tax Discretionary Relief Fund – a Member expressed concern that 90% of applications for discretionary relief fund payments were being refused. In response, the Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance stated he was confident that the criteria was being applied fairly and rigorously.

·                    Business rates  - a Member expressed concern, which was shared by the Deputy Leader, that the Council had inherited hundreds of outstanding appeals when responsibility for business rates had been transferred to local authorities.

·                    Medway Norse - In response to a question about the performance of Medway Norse, the Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance advised that the first evidence of success had been the seamless transition on 1June 2013 and projected delivery of savings to the value of £283k in year 1. Beyond that, the Joint Venture Company was taking on wider grounds maintenance responsibilities and marketing facility management (FM) services to schools and other local authorities and public sector organisations. He had a clear expectation of an increased profit share in year 2.

·                    Auditing of 2013/14 Accounts - a Member stated that the process for the signing off of externally audited accounts had been unacceptable and had required last minute emergency meetings. In response the Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance agreed and expressed the view the external auditor would be taking steps to avoid any recurrence of the experience.

Decision:

The Deputy Leader and the Portfolio Holder for Finance was thanked for his attendance and the answers he had provided to the Committee.