Venue: Sparkenhoe Committee Room, County Hall, Glenfield
Contact: Mr. M.I. Seedat (Tel: 0116 305 6037) Email: mseedat@leics.gov.uk
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By Invitation Mr. D.R. Parsons CC – Leader of the Council Mr. M.B. Page CC – Cabinet Lead Member for Resources. Mr. J.B. Rhodes CC – Cabinet Lead for Community Safety. |
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Minutes. Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on |
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Question Time. Minutes: The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been asked under Standing Order 35. |
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Questions asked by members under Standing Order 7(3) and 7(5). Minutes: The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 7(3) and 7(5). |
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Urgent Items. Minutes: There were no urgent items. |
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Declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda. Minutes: Mr Parsons and Mr Page declared personal and prejudicial interests in relation to the Medium Term Financial Strategy 2008/09 to 2010/11 (minute numbers 70, 71 and 72 below) having been present at the Cabinet meeting when this item was discussed. |
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Declarations of the Party Whip in accordance with Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 16. Minutes: There were no declarations made under Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 16. |
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Presentation of Petitions under Standing Order 36. Minutes: The Chief Executive reported that no petitions had been received under Standing Order 36. |
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Medium Term Financial Strategy 2008/09 to 2010/11 - Chief Executive's Department. Additional documents: Minutes: The Commission
considered a report of the Chief Executive and Director of Corporate Resources
concerning the Medium Term Financial Strategy and the implications for the
Chief Executive’s departmental budget. A copy of the report, marked ‘A’, is
filed with these minutes. In response to
questions, the Commission was advised as follows:- Revenue i)
the additional
£95,000 for legal services would reduce the use of external legal services and provide
it on a more economical basis in-house. The growth for legal services in the
Children and Young People’s Service was to contribute to the shortfall in the
cost of legal services. The increased cost arose from the increased complexity
of care proceedings; ii)
the
increased demand on legal services in relation to company formation was
attributable to the work involved in establishing the new Connexions Service as
a local authority controlled company,
work required on establishing several companies to deliver the extended schools
programme, and potential work from the emerging regional and sub-regional
agenda; iii)
part of the
additional £160,000 would be used to support leadership capacity for district
and third sector partners serving on the
LeicesterShire Together Board. This was identified as
an issue in the recent Peer Review and would be important to the delivery of the LAA. With regard to scrutiny of the LAA,
the Committee was advised that, following representations, the Government was
beginning to recognise the importance of member involvement in the LAA and it was hoped that the Commission could take the
initiative on scrutiny; iv)
the
growth for the Inter-Agency Community Safety Bureau would ensure that
information and intelligence previously gathered through the Number 101
Service, which would now come through a number of agencies, was assessed and
responses co-ordinated; v)
there
would be additional staffing as a consequence of the following growth
proposals:- ·
Local
Resilience Forum ·
Legal
Services ·
LAA
Implementation ·
Research
and Information Capacity ·
2012
Olympics regional youth response Capital Programme vi) the £100,000 for Protecting and Enhancing Rural
Leicestershire would be used to support local initiatives such as Community
Transport and Village Halls. RESOLVED a)
That the
report and information now provided on the implications of the Medium Term
Financial Strategy for the Chief Executive’s Department be noted; b)
That the
Scrutiny Reference Group be asked to give further consideration to arrangements
for scrutiny of the Local Area Agreement. |
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Medium Term Financial Strategy 2008/09 to 2010/11 - Resources Department. Additional documents: Minutes: The Commission
considered a report of the Director of Corporate Resources concerning the
Medium Term Financial Strategy and the implications for his department’s
budget. A copy of the report, marked ‘B’, is filed with these minutes. In response to questions,
the Commission was advised as follows:- Revenue i)
the
Department had looked at the scheme adopted by Worcestershire County Council of
engaging a specialist audit company to review invoice payments but concluded that
this was not a priority as existing audit arrangements were deemed to be
robust; ii)
the savings of
£95,000 in Property Services had been realised through bringing together the
services previously undertaken separately by Departments. It was anticipated that
further efficiency savings would be realised through re-engineering of the
Property Services functions; Capital iii)
At this
stage £180,000 had been included to continue the programme of works to make
County Council buildings DDA compliant. No provision
had been made in the subsequent year as a review of County Council
accommodation is currently underway; iv)
The Change Management v)
The
investment in the Change Programme would largely be recouped through efficiency
savings during the five year investment programme. There would also be an
on-going annual saving of £6 million. The all party Member Change Board
received regular reports on the Change Programme. RESOLVED That the report and
information now provided on the implications of the Medium Term Financial
Strategy for the Corporate Resources Department be noted. |
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Medium Term Financial Strategy 2008/09 to 2010/11 - Overall Position. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Commission
considered a report of the Chief Executive and Director of Corporate Resources
concerning the overall position on the Medium Term Financial Strategy for
2008/09 to 2010/11. A copy of the report marked ‘C’ is filed with these
minutes. Appended to the report were the following documents:- i)
the Medium Term Financial Strategy which had been
approved by the Cabinet on 10th January as a basis for consultation; ii)
a supplementary report of the Director of Corporate
Resources setting out additional information that had become available since
the MTFS was approved by the Cabinet on 10th
January; iii)
the comments of the following Overview and Scrutiny
Committees:- ·
Community Services; ·
Adult Social Care and Health; ·
Children and Young People’s Service; ·
Environment. The Director of
Resources drew the Commission’s attention to the changes that had taken place
since the Cabinet report had been written. This would result in a net
additional spend of £193,000. This additional expenditure would be met from the
£1million set aside in the budget for the LAA and
service improvements. He also advised that the Council’s contribution to the
flood defence levy had reduced by £60,000. The Leader advised
the Commission as follows:- i) Delivering cashable efficiency savings
was necessary to: ·
deliver the MTFS with
lower council tax increases and service improvements ·
meet the Government’s efficiency target; ·
retain the Council’s 4 star ‘value for money’
rating. ii) Achieving
the efficiency savings would not be easy. He drew a distinction between savings
which involved service reconfiguration (most likely in the case of adult social
care) and those which would be invisible to service users and members. In the
case of the latter he suggested that these should be left to officers to
implement and manage. He gave an assurance that if changes affecting service
users were being proposed a report be brought to the Scrutiny Commission and
the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committees in the summer setting out areas
which were being considered. The
Chairman of the Commission suggested that it would be helpful for each Overview
and Scrutiny Committee to discuss, in a workshop setting, issues and challenges
facing relevant services following the Annual Meeting of the Council. The Commission was
also advised of a proposal to be considered by the Cabinet to allocate an
additional £200,000 to expand an existing youth work team (the Impact Project)
which worked with young people to dissuade them from becoming involved in
anti-social behaviour and crime. The Commission asked that details of the
proposals should be circulated to members. In response to
questions, the Commission was advised as follows:- i)
Government efficiency targets were based on net
expenditure and, as such, it was considered important to ensure that clear
efficiency targets were set for each service area which could then be
scrutinised. These efficiency targets were particularly challenging and, in
recognition of the risk associated with their achievement in 2010 and
subsequent years, a contingency had been built into the budget. The Change
Programme was instrumental in assisting the Council to deliver cashable savings
but also to look critically at how services were provided to ensure service
improvements. Discussions would take place with other Authorities to share
experience and good practice, as appropriate; ii)
good progress had been made with neighbouring City
and County authorities including Leicester City Council, on the shared services
agenda. Work was in hand to engage further with District Councils on this
agenda but, so far, the District response had generally been disappointing. iii) The Cabinet on 11th February would consider the initiative to extend the Impact Project which worked with young ... view the full minutes text for item 72. |
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Revenue Budget 2007/08 - Monitoring Report. Additional documents: Minutes: The Commission
considered a report of the Director of Resources providing information on the
2007/08 budget based on the pattern of income and expenditure for the first
eight months of the financial year. A copy of the report, marked ‘D’, is filed
with these minutes. The Director of
Corporate advised the Commission that the underspends
now reported did not include the financial arrangement with the Primary Care
Trust. He also indicated that the underspending would increase if LAA grant was used to
fund eligible mainstream expenditure to avoid loss of resources due to limits
on the carry forward of grant. In response to
questions, the Director of Corporate Resources undertook to write to Mr Sheahan about the impact of underspending
in the Looked After Children and Children’s Centre
Teachers’ Budgets. RESOLVED:- That the outcome
of the latest budget monitoring exercise be noted. |
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Third Review of the 2007/08 Capital Programme. Minutes: The Commission
considered a report of the Director of Corporate Resources on progress in the
delivery of the annual capital programme. A copy of the report, marked ‘E’, is
filed with these minutes. In response to comments,
a commitment was given to provide an update on the construction of the Earl Shilton Bypass to the next meeting of the Environment
Scrutiny Committee. RESOLVED:- That the
progress on the delivery of the Annual Capital Programme be noted. |
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Corporate Asset Management Plan - Progress Report. Minutes: The Commission
considered a report of the Director of Corporate Resources on Corporate Asset
Management and, in particular work, associated in developing a more corporate
approach to the management of the Council’s property assets .
A copy of the report, marked ‘F’, is filed with these minutes. RESOLVED:- That the progress
made in implementing a Corporate Approach to Asset Management be noted. |
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Leicestershire Sustainable Community Strategy. Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee
considered a report of the Chief Executive concerning the key messages emerging
from the first round of public consultation on the Leicestershire Sustainable
Community Strategy. A copy of the
report, marked ‘G’, is filed with these minutes. In response to
comments, the Commission was advised that arrangements had been made for a
briefing on this issue for all members to be held on 11th February.
There would be a further opportunity for the Commission to consider and comment
on the Leicestershire Sustainable Community Strategy following the current
round of consultation RESOLVED:- That the comments
submitted during the public consultation on the Leicestershire Sustainable
Community Strategy be noted. |
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Date of next meeting. The next meeting of the Scrutiny Commission will take place
on Wednesday 27 February at Minutes: RESOLVED: That the next meeting of the Commission be held at |