Agenda and minutes

Attendees were welcomed to the meeting.

It was noted that Councillor Toby Simon was substituting for Councillor Katherine Chibah; Councillor Terry Neville was substituting for Councillor Joanne Laban and Councillor Michael Lavender was substituting for Councillor Edward Smith.

Apologies for absence were received from the Co-optees Simon Goulden and Tony Murphy.

The Chair outlined how the meeting was to proceed and guided Members to focus on the Call-in – Cabinet Decision (6 September 2016): Revenue Monitoring Report 2016/2017 and questions would be taken on this item in relation to the ‘Reasons for Call-in’.

Members of the Council are invited to identify any disclosable pecuniary, other pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests relevant to items on the agenda.

No declarations of interests were put forward.

To receive a report from the Director of Finance, Resources & Customer

Services outlining a Call-In received for consideration by Overview & Scrutiny

on the following reason: (Report No: 93).

Cabinet Decision (6 September 2016): Revenue Monitoring Report 2016/2017

Decision included on Publication of Decision List No: 25/16-17 Key Decision

4365 (List Ref: 2/25/16-17) issued on 8 September 2016.

It is proposed that consideration of the Call-In be structured as follows:

·       Brief outline of reasons for the Call-In by representative(s) of the Members who have called in the decision.

·       Response to the reasons provided for the Call-In by the Cabinet Member responsible for taking the decision.

·       Debate by Overview & Scrutiny Committee and agreement on action to be taken.

1.     The Chair invited Councillor Hurer to elaborate on the reasons for the Call-In.

2.     Councillor Hurer stated:

·       With regards to the first reason for the Call-In, which sought clarity on the £7.9m overspend this had now been explained in the Response to the Reasons for Call-In.

·       However, there were other aspects of the report that needed to be addressed. It was lacking in detail and further clarity and information was sought on many of the figures, comments and phrases contained within the report. There were also too many acronyms in the report

·       Reference was made to the various aspects of the report where further clarity and explanation was required. This included Appendix A3 where clarification was sought on the information provided regarding ICT, Unfunded MFD costs, Legal & Corporate Governance Services and Property Services.

·       Parts of Appendix A4 also required further detail. This included information on Strategy & Resources where a maximum figure for transport pressures was sought. Clarity was also sort on the Community Support aspect of the report and specifically whether the proposed savings around Housing Related Support had now been achieved.

·       There was confusion as to why there would be an overspend for SEN Transport this year when the service was anticipating the same level of expenditure as last year. Why therefore was the same figure as the previous year not budgeted forward?

·       With reference to Appendix B, it was felt that it would not be clear to someone looking at the report in isolation as to why more money was being borrowed from other Authorities etc. The report was lacking in detail and information to support these figures.

·       Reference was made to page 25 of the report; Financial Planning & Budget Setting Process. It was felt that it was dangerous to mention Meridian Waters as an income stream, when this particular project was so far in the future and would not therefore yield any fruit financially for a long while to come.

·       With regards to the penultimate paragraph on page 25 of the report, assurances were sought that the fees and charges detailed would not increase.

·       In conclusion it was suggested that there be a change to the template of the Revenue Monitoring Reports, to include much more detail and information thus ensuring that this issue did not reoccur and therefore avoiding the need to Call-In future reports.

3.     The Chair invited James Rolfe (Director of Finance, Resources & Customer Services) and Councillor Lemonides (Cabinet Member for Finance & Efficiency) to respond as follows:

James stated:

·       The comment regarding acronyms was accepted and this would be addressed in future reports.

·       A review of the whole ICT programme was currently being undertaken. Once IT packages had been stripped out and understood he said that they would be in a much better position to understand any ongoing risks and pressures.

·       Clarification was provided on Unfunded MFD costs (Multi- Functional Devices). It was explained that there were still a number of assets to review in line with the smaller workforce and further analysis  ...  view the full minutes text for item 170.

No other business was discussed.

To agree the Minutes of the meeting held on 8 September 2016.

The Minutes of the meetings held on 8 September 2016 were AGREED by the Chair.

Provisional Call-Ins

Wednesday 26 October 2016

Please note, the next business meetings of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee will be held on

Tuesday 11 October 2016

Thursday 10 November 2016

NOTED the dates of future meetings as follows:

Business meetings

Tuesday 11 October 2016

Thursday 10 November 2016

Provisional Call-In

26 October 2016