Venue: Sparkenhoe Committee Room, County Hall, Glenfield
Contact: Mr. M.I. Seedat (Tel: 0116 265 6037) Email: mseedat@leics.gov.uk
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By Invitation Mr. H. Barber CC – Leader of the Council. Professor M.E. Preston CC – Deputy Leader of the Council. Mr. R. Miller CC – Cabinet Lead Member – Job Evaluation and Property. |
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Minutes. Minutes: The minutes of the meeting of the Commission held on 6 November 2002 were taken as read, confirmed and signed. |
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Question Time. Minutes: The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received 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 Orders 7(3) and 7(5). |
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Any other items the Chairman has decided to take as urgent elsewhere on the agenda. Minutes: There were no urgent items for consideration. |
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Declarations of interests in respect of items on this agenda. Minutes: There were no declarations of interests. |
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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 Rules 16. |
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Presentation of Petitions under Standing Order 36. Minutes: The Chief Executive reported that there were no petitions to be presented. |
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Revised Estimates 2002/03 and Revenue Budget 2003/04. PDF 71 KB Additional documents:
Minutes: The Commission
considered a report of the Director of Resources concerning the Revised
Estimates for 2002/03 and the proposed Revenue Budget for 2003/04. A copy of the report marked ‘A’ is filed
with these minutes. The Commission also
considered a supplementary report of the Chief Executive setting out the
decisions and comments of all the Scrutiny Committees which had met in the
previous week to consider the Revised Estimates for 2002/03 and the proposed
Revenue Budget for 2003/04. A copy of
the supplementary report, marked ‘AA’, is filed with these minutes. Revenue Budget – Recent Developments The Committee was
advised:- (a) of
the representations made to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister about the adverse
implications of the new funding formula on Leicestershire, particularly in
relation to education; (b) of
the recent decision of the Department for Education and Skills (DfES)
concerning the treatment of post-16 support grant, the effect of which was to
amend the baseline for calculating the ‘passporting’ figure and reducing the
amount the County Council was obliged to ‘passport’ by a sum of £1.8million; (c) that
the net surplus on the District Council collection funds which was now
estimated at £1.19 million (an increase of £0.19 million); (d) that
the final Revenue Support Grant figures would not be known until Monday 3rd
February. In the light of
these factors, the Leader indicated that Cabinet would need to reconsider the
proposed budget, which it intended to do on 11th February. In the discussion on the issue of ‘passporting’, a number of members expressed the view, that, whilst acknowledging the pressures elsewhere in the budget and the effects on future budgets, the considerable pressures faced by schools should also be recognised and the amount included in the current budget proposals for the Schools Block should not be significantly altered. An alternative view expressed was that consideration should be given to utilising some, if not all, of the £1.8 million freed up by a lower ‘passporting’ requirement to reduce the level of Council Tax increase, The Chairman
indicated that at the Leaders’ Meeting held earlier in the day it had been
suggested that the Commission should meet again on Thursday 13th
February 2003 to consider the Cabinet’s final budget proposals. Revenue Budget proposals The Leader reported that the Cabinet, in formulating its
budget proposals, had been mindful of the need to balance the requirement to
maintain high quality services for the people of Leicestershire whilst keeping
any increase in Council Tax to an acceptable level. He indicated that the
Cabinet would consider the views
expressed by members during the Scrutiny process. In the discussion
on other aspects of the Revenue Budget proposals the following
comments/concerns were expressed by members:- (a) the
absence of any provision for the Common Admission Policy, one of the stated
priorities in the Council’s Medium Term Corporate Strategy, was regretted; (b) whilst
noting the rationale for the proposed increases in the payments to independent
sector residential care providers, it was considered that all or part of the
increase should have been linked to achievement of some quality
thresholds/targets; (c) the
absence in the budget of any savings which had been identified in the Highway
Network Review, in particular savings that were to be achieved from the
rationalisation of salting routes and the introduction of thermal mapping; (d) the
proposed reductions in the Sports Grants and Hedge Laying budgets were
regretted and these should be reconsidered. (e) the absence of any growth for implementing the Cultural Strategy. In response, the Leader indicated that there were a range of cultural activities currently undertaken ... view the full minutes text for item 51. |
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Capital Programme 2003/04 and 2005/06. PDF 58 KB Additional documents:
Minutes: The Commission
considered a report of the Director of Resources concerning the Capital
Programme for 2003/04 and 2005/06. A
copy of the report marked ‘B’ is filed with these minutes. The Commission also
considered a supplementary report of the Chief Executive setting out the
decisions and comments of all the Scrutiny Committees, which had met in the
previous week to consider the Capital Programme for 2003/04 and subsequent
years. A copy of the report marked ‘BB’
is filed with these minutes. In response to
questions the Commission was advised as follows:- (a) the Cabinet had yet to consider the schemes to be progressed in the second phase of the Better Access to Better Services Initiative; (b) the actual spend on the 2002/03 capital programme was 93%, with the slippage primarily in the Education Capital programme; (c) the focus of design work was on delivering the priority schemes included in the expanded programme. An increase in the minor works programme was likely to be the option that would be pursued in the event of significant slippage; (d) consideration would be given providing more details about the highways capital programme at an earlier stage. RESOLVED: a) That
the comments made by the Scrutiny Committees in respect of the Capital
Programme for 2003/04 and subsequent
years be noted and drawn to the attention of the Cabinet. b) That
the views now expressed in relation to the Capital Programme for 2003/04 and
subsequent years be drawn to the attention of the Cabinet. |
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Date of Next Meeting. The date of the Commission’s next meeting will be Monday, 3rd February, 2003 at 2.30pm. Minutes: The Committee noted that the next meeting would be held at 2.30 p.m. on Monday 3 February 2003. 2.00 p.m. – 3.54 p.m. 27.1.03. CHAIRMAN |