Meeting documents

Apologies were received from Bill Chapple OBE and David Watson.

To disclose any Personal or Disclosable Pecuniary Interests.

There were no interests declared.

The minutes of the last meeting held on 2 July to be agreed as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 24 June 2013 were agreed as a correct record.

Public Questions is an opportunity for people who live, work or study in the county to put a question to a Scrutiny Committee about any issue that has an impact on their local community or the county as a whole.

Members of public, who have given prior notice, will be invited to put their questions in person.

The Cabinet Member and responsible officers will then be invited to respond.

Further information and details on how to register can be found through the following link:

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/about-your-council/scrutiny/get-involved/public-questions/

There were no public questions.

For the Chairman of the Committee to provide an update to the Committee on recent scrutiny related activity.

There was no update provided.

Nick Cave will update the Committee on Phase 2 of the Council’s Transformation Programme.

The Chairman welcomed Peter Hardy, Cabinet Member for Finance & Resources and Nick Cave, Service Director for Service Transformation, and explained that quarterly updates would be provided to the Committee.  Members were advised that Phase 2 of the Council’s Transformation programme was being developed to achieve savings (£10m of the £45m total planned savings over the MTP period), and to make the Council better equipped to meet future challenges.  A key aspect of Phase 2 was the development and implementation of a Target Operating Model (TOM) which sets out the future shape of the organisation.    Nick Cave made the following points:

·         The proposal was that there will be a leaner Head Office function.

·         Members are at the heart of what they are trying to do.

·         It was acknowledged that there was a very challenging agenda and that reducing costs will be difficult.

·         Ideas and comments that members have about the TOM and how to reduce costs would be very welcome. 

Members were invited to ask questions and the following points were raised:

·         It was noted that a new approach was being proposed and with the benefit of hindsight what could have been done differently in Phase 1 and why.

·         Nick replied that the action taken previously was a reaction to austerity measures and that in Phase 1 there had been limited vision for the future shape of the council.  Tactical compartmentalised changes have aligned activities towards a vision going forward which enables people to get on board with the changes and understand the direction of travel to match the Target Operating Model (TOM).

·         The Cabinet Member explained that previously business and process re-engineering took place, and that Phase 2 was about proposing a different shape for the council.  

·         The Member asked if the approach to tactical changes will be revisited in future.

·         Nick replied that changes will be aligned to the TOM, the IT structure will be reviewed and consideration will be given to what will fit with TOM.  Another question was whether SAP will still be required with a smaller operating unit. 

·         The Cabinet Member added that there will be a review to establish if corporate IT provides the best value. 

·         A Member expressed concern that as there was no plan until the end of Phase 1 what will be so different about Phase 2 and what benchmarking will take place to establish how much the operating model will save.

·         The Cabinet Member replied that Phase 1 consisted of one cut after another and that the aim was that there will be more opportunities for employees.

·         It was noted that plans were in place to make savings and that £65m has been taken out of the business.  In Phase 2 the aim was that the TOM will provide staff with different opportunities and that help and guidance will be available to them through the process. 

·         It was noted that there were no plans for the future for staff and that a holistic approach was now being adopted.

·         Nick replied that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To approve the recommended options for scrutinising the 2014/15 budget proposals.

The Chairman explained that the proposal was that Chairman of the other Select Committees will be invited to attend the Budget Scrutiny meetings.  In response to a question it was noted that capital will be included in the discussions.  A Member explained that it was very important to ensure that Select Committees were not in support of the proposed budget at the meetings. 

Members discussed the attendance of Select Committee Chairman at the budget Scrutiny meetings and it was noted that one option was for them to attend for their Committee items only.  Andrew Brown explained that the intention was to invite Select Committee Chairman to all the budget sessions and there was an expectation that they would attend the meetings relevant to their Committee.  The Chairman advised Members that the aim was to give the Chairman the opportunity to input into the discussions and that the Cabinet Member for each Committee will also be in attendance.  A  Member asked if Select Committee were co-opted will they be full Members of the Committee for the Scrutiny meetings or invited as witnesses.

It was agreed that clarity was required on the role of Select Committee Chairman in the process.  Andrew Brown explained that the Select Committee Chairman will be meeting on 1 August and that clarity be obtained on the involvement of Select Committee Chairman at the Budget Scrutiny meetings.    

Richard Ambrose will provide the Committee with a 6 month progress update on implementation of the budget scrutiny recommendations for 2013/14.

Richard Ambrose presented the 6 monthly progress on the 2013 budget recommendations and made the following points:

1. Equalities Impact Assessment – in 2012 a new process was introduced including screening the impact on the voluntary sector.  The aim was to strengthen the process and both Angie Sarchet and Martin Phillips became more involved in the process.

It was noted that the process was better than the previous year when it was very poor because there were late conversations and late papers.  In response to the suggestion that it was surprising that not all the recommendations had been implemented Richard Ambrose replied that there was a statutory duty to consider equalities and that 90% of the process works really well.

2. That the effective resident consultation process be further improved, including mechanisms to achieve better response rates – a  consultation had recently been completed with the business community and the aim was to start a wider consultation in September and to feed the results into the draft budget.  Council tax levels and target groups where there is a low response level will be reviewed.  Martin Phillips is leading the process.

3.  Support for the voluntary and community sector – extra funding is available of £250k for the current and the next year.    This will be used partly to help in the bidding process.  A member explained that he considered that the voluntary sector continues to be a wonderful investment.

It was also noted that voluntary organisations welcome long term resource agreements for example for 5 years and that a commitment to a resource grant provides stability.

4.  Presentation of budget papers continues to be improved– the aim is to focus on the key issues and a proposal was to prepare a narrative on key issues to allow more effective questioning. 

In response to a question it was confirmed that the recommendations will be updated before the next meeting on 5 September.

A member reported that at last years’ budget meetings the general view was that not all Cabinet Members had been prepared sufficiently and were unable to answer questions.  This was noted.

5.  Agreed in part.

6.  Cabinet continue to develop contract management and monitoring skills – it was noted that contract framework brings out best practise and that commercial training will be taking place which will be critical in future.

A Member noted that contracts management was a fairly new process for the County Council and a Member asked for an assurance as to how satisfied Finance were that the officers have the necessary skills to manage the contracts.  Richard replied that officers managing platinum contracts meet regularly and had been assessed.

A Member emphasised the importance of getting contracts under control and he noted that central government were unable to do this successfully. 

11.  Bus usage it was suggested that the Environment Select Committee researches bus usage over the Autumn of 2013. 

12.  SEN – the recommendation was that an initial plan is prepared for managing down statementing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Discussion item; the Committee may wish to approve further evidence gathering on this topic and agrees areas to explore in more detail.

The Chairman explained that the aim was to determine how to promote local democracy. 

A Member expressed concern that it was not clear what was relevant to the committee and he suggested that this be more appropriate if considered by the Communities portfolio. 

The following suggestions were made:

·         The review should consider what impacts on money.

·         It was noted that democracy was not taught in schools and suggested that that the issue was about the gender balance and cultural diversity.  The Member suggested that it was important to promote democracy in schools and that a 30.2% turnout in elections was woeful on democracy.  A further observation was that in the centenary of suffrage women were not engaged in democracy.

·         The Chairman suggested that the issue was with people’s perception because many were not aware of what work was done and he explained that it was important to move things forward.

·         A Member suggested that the paper on local democracy set out the background admirably.  He proposed that actions be completed and an indication of the costs be presented to the Committee.

·         It was also proposed that there was more evidence gathering and reviews of different ways of doing things. 

·         Another Member suggested that this was not a priority issue and should be considered by the Communities and Environment Select Committee.  He recognised the low turnout and suggested that the only way to increase turnout at local elections was to hold them on the same day as a general election. 

·         It was suggested that one of the reasons why participation was low is that the general view was that local councils were not wholly independent and unable to make their own decisions.  Many people do not know the difference between county and district councils and the Member recommended a move towards a unitary local government in order for there to be fewer local elections.     

·         It was suggested that more money be delegated to LAFs and it was noted that £0.5m had been removed from the local budget and had been centralised. 

To consider and agree the Finance, Performance and Resources Select Committee Work Programme 2013-14.  

The Committee was asked to comment on the draft Work Programme and made the following points:

·         It was suggested that local democracy and the future design of council services could be considered by the Select Committee Members and Chairmen. 

·         The Capital programme was considered to be a major issue and s106 slippages had been identified. 

·         It was noted that property had moved to a corporate property programme.

·         A member agreed the importance of the capital programme and noted that for 7/8 years there had been no capital programme and then the capital programme went from £0 - £30m.

·         It was suggested that March may be too early to receive a report on the impact of the welfare reform.      

·         It was noted that BCC’s emergency support fund policy will be set for the year commencing April 2014 and that it may be worth looking at it earlier in order for ant recommendations to be considered, before possibly undertaking a fuller review later in 2014.

·         It was suggested that interim managers be added to consultant spend as many can stay long term and request information on consultants. 

·         A member asked if there will be regular reports on Trusts for example if the work was within budget and was meeting targets.  It was agreed that regular reports be presented to the committee.

·         It was also suggested that commercial academies and the development of commissioning skills be reviewed.

·         A Member proposed that a review takes place to see how the democratic process will oversee organisations.

To note the Budget Monitoring Report 2013/14 – Quarter 1.

Budget Monitoring report 2013/14 – Quarter 1

http://democracy.buckscc.gov.uk/documents/s42186/Budget%20monitoring%20Cabinet%20report%20June%2013%20FINALFin%20only.pdf

The Committee noted the papers presented for information.

To note the next meeting of the Finance and Resources Select Committee on 5 September 2013 at 10.00am. 

5 September 2013 at 10am.