Meeting documents

Venue: Mezzanine Room 2, County Hall, Aylesbury. View directions

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Items
Note No. Item

10am

1.

Apologies for Absence/Changes in Membership

There were no apologies for absence.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence.

2.

Declarations of Interest

To disclose any Personal or Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

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Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

3.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 300 KB

To agree the Minutes of the Meeting held on 2 June 2015

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Minutes:

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 2 June 2015 were agreed as a correct record.

4.

Public Questions

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 question 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/

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no public questions.

10.10am

5.

Value for Money argument relating to Prudential Borrowing pdf icon PDF 478 KB

The purpose of this item is to help Members understand the rules and reasons for borrowing and, in particular, the value for money arguments for prudential borrowing.  The item is predominantly for information although it may assist in making future recommendations to Cabinet around financing of the capital programme, especially as part of its budget scrutiny inquiry.

 

Attendees:-

Leader- Martin Tett

Director of Assurance – Richard Ambrose

Tim Hannam – Corporate Director of Resources, Milton Keynes Council

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Martin Tett, Leader and Richard Ambrose, Director of Assurance were invited to the meeting to discuss the value for money argument in relation to prudential borrowing. The issue of prudential borrowing for roads had been raised as a Budget Scrutiny recommendation, which had not been accepted by Cabinet and Members thought it would be helpful to discuss this issue in more detail.

 

Richard Ambrose, Director of Assurance presented his paper around the rules and reasons for borrowing and the value for money argument for prudential borrowing. One of the concerns was repayment which would be charged to revenue (principal repayment and interest). Requirements and guidance for borrowing was set out in the Treasury Management Strategy. The current level of borrowing is £173 m, which has been reducing steadily over the last 5 years. There has been no new borrowing since 2008. The current budget assumes external borrowing of £30m relating to the Energy from Waste Plant and this year the Council is also expecting to borrow £36m on behalf of the Buckinghamshire Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership for the Aylesbury Eastern Link Road. This borrowing (on behalf of the LEP) will be cost neutral to the Council.

 

The main points of the presentation were as follows:-

 

·         Capital investment strategy approved by Cabinet last September agreed invest to save and to contain schemes which had a good business case which exceeds the financial costs of borrowing.

·         The hurdle rate was a good process of structured evaluation which looked at value for money and the priorities of the Council.

·         The revenue budget was under a lot of pressure particularly with the emergency budget last week with the increasing costs of protecting vulnerable people and the increase in the national living wage.

 

During questions the following main points were noted:-

 

·         All Members decide and take responsibility on the budget in agreeing the MTP.

·         Savings of £49 million was required over this financial year and the next two years. There are plans to deliver these but the robustness of these savings plans were in doubt in some cases and services were being tasked to identify alternative savings.  There needs to be savings in 18/19 of approximately £6 million and further cuts required in 19/20. There is a risk that there could be a reduction in the council tax threshold level. A 1% reduction in the threshold equates to £2.4 million.

·         19 authorities are using prudential borrowing for a variety of issues. The Leader noted that almost all were either London Boroughs or unitary councils with different financial models to the County Council. The Leader reported that this Council was using prudential borrowing where there was a good business case but a number of authorities had ran into financial problems because of the high level of revenue  payments required to finance their capital borrowing.

·         The Leader expressed concern about using prudential borrowing for roads due to the long termcommitment it imposed on the revenue budget and the reduction in financial resilience if emergencies arose  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

11.30am

6.

Balanced Performance Scorecard and Joint Budget Monitoring Report End of Year pdf icon PDF 221 KB

The reason for this item is for Select Committee Members to note and question the Cabinet Member for Finance & Resources on the Council’s Service Performance. Cabinet considers performance reports quarterly and the papers attached for the Select Committee are a copy of the balanced performance scorecard and joint budget monitoring report quarter 4 which was presented to Cabinet on 22 June 2015.

 

The following appendix 2 is attached as a link (59 pages):-

Cabinet Portfolio Detail

 

Attendees

Matt Strevens – Corporate Finance Business Manager

John Chilver – Cabinet Member for Resources

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Matt Strevens, Corporate Finance Manager attended the meeting and reported on the Joint Budget Monitoring report and performance against corporate targets.  There was an overspend on portfolio budgets of £1.161 million, the biggest contributing factor being Children Services (£1.35million). There were still pressures in terms of attracting permanent social workers and the pressure of increasing demands.

 

In terms of the Capital Programme there was now a new gateway process to stop slippage of Schemes. Expenditure would only be released on a stage by stage basis if they had passed the gateway process. The net outturn position for the year is £23.3million slippage/underspend. The accounts are un- audited at the moment and would be submitted to Regulatory and Audit Committee.

 

A Member commented on the budget scrutiny recommendations and to make sure for next year’s budget that risks were considered when the budget proposals are put forward.  The Director of Assurance reported that the impact of budget proposals would be subject to challenge through the Business Assurance Team and that budget proposals would be informed through the use of risk registers. The Strategic Risk Register could not be put in the public domain because of commercial / sensitivity reasons.

 

A Member commented on Section 106 funding and that it was important to maximise this funding. There had been a recent Inquiry into this area. Reference was made to Milton Keynes Council who had a good record in this area.

 

Quarter 1 information would be presented to Cabinet on 7 September 2015.

 

11.40am

7.

Chairman's Report pdf icon PDF 329 KB

For the Chairman of the Committee to provide an update to the Committee on recent scrutiny related activity including the Rent In Advance Inquiry.

 

An update will also be given on Free School Meals Capital Expenditure – Simon Brown (Operations Manager Commissioning) will attend.

 

The Select Committee considered a report on Leadership Development Expenditure at their meeting in March 2015. Members asked for a written update on Leadership Development to come to a future meeting and for information on Project Management training for employees.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Rent in Advance Inquiry had its final meeting yesterday and was being chaired by Steven Lambert. The report will be presented in September.

 

Members were referred to a Centre for Public Scrutiny document called the Change Game where this County Council’s budget scrutiny process was quoted as best practice.

 

An update was given on the Capital Expenditure on free school meals by Simon Brown, Commissioning Manager. One of the problems was that the contract would only run until 31 March and following this time funding was uncertain. If the subsidy was taken away parents would have to pay for the meal. The Council would be at risk in taking out a long term contract. A number of larger schools have provided their own solution which has meant that it is difficult to make a viable solution for the remaining schools.

 

There were 8 schools out of 38 with no solution for hot meals. There were also health and safety issues with using hot plates.  There were different options in terms of food being delivered and served and also washing up being provided. Some schools had a dishwasher fitted. It was crucial to have no impact on educational delivery.

 

In the Autumn there would be a questionnaire set up to see how the hot and cold school meals were being received. This would be analysed according to geographical area. In terms of the impact of school meals on performance they would wait for the SATs results although it would be difficult to understand how much of an impact the school meal had rather than other aspects of attainment. Other areas that could be looked at were pupil behaviour and engagement in the afternoon.  This information should be available at half term. Providers could also monitor quality and the balance of diet. Trading standards could also spot check schools and report back on standards. Whether a school supplied hot or cold meals could impact on admissions.

 

Members agreed that an update should be given at the November meeting. £6.5 million had been spent since 2008.

Action: Committee Adviser/Commissioning Manager

 

Further detail on Leadership Development should be submitted to the September meeting particularly on why agile project management has been selected.

Action: Committee Adviser/Head of Organisational Development

 

 

11.50am

8.

Committee Work Programme pdf icon PDF 95 KB

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

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee Work Programme was noted.

12 noon

9.

Six month recommendation monitoring update on Budget Scrutiny pdf icon PDF 317 KB

To receive a six month recommendation monitoring report on the budget scrutiny recommendations and discuss the RAG status.

 

Attendees

Richard Ambrose – Director of Assurance

Martin Tett - Leader

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member for Resources, John Chilver and the Director of Assurance presented their report and the following points were noted:-

 

·         Outcome based methodology – at the County Council meeting on 16 July there would be a Member discussion on the proposed refreshed Strategic Plan. This contained three different themes which would help to clarify priorities and where resources should be allocated (linked to an outcomes based approach).

·         Portfolios and Business Units would review the current Medium Term Plan and come up with proposals. This would then be discussed by Portfolio Member Groups and resources would be reviewed alongside the new Strategic Plan. There would be robust challenge from ‘Star Chamber’ to ensure that the proposals were deliverable to develop a draft budget in early January. The Comprehensive Spending Review was key to future funding. The estimates for Business rates and council tax should then be more accurate. Budget Scrutiny would meet in the week commencing 18 January.

·         Voluntary sector impact assessment would be looked at at an earlier stage and there would be the potential for earlier dialogue which affected organisations.

·         With major capital programmes there was a new gateway process which had been implemented for a year to help provide greater visibility and hopefully help avoid slippage. There was also a new Capital Manager post to look at key projects and the need to use external specialists on complex projects. In terms of the Hughenden Quarter Project KPMG were undertaking a review and they were awaiting a draft report on the lessons learnt. A Member asked about the review that was being undertaken by Capita in relation to the health and wellbeing portfolio. Rachael Rothero was currently on secondment and developing proposals following this review and this would be considered by the Cabinet Member in the near future.

·         Recruitment and retention – not all staff were in place yet but they were recruiting social workers from Romania and some start dates were imminent.

·         LAFs – a review of LAFs would be undertaken shortly and a report would be given to Members in the Autumn.

·         Options appraisal for the use of residual heat from the Energy for Waste plant was being looked at by FCC for the feasibility in the longer term, particularly looking at central Aylesbury. There could be some funding from the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

 

Recommendation One – Outcomes based Budgeting

On track

 

Recommendation Two – Risk Register

On track

 

Recommendation Three – Voluntary Sector Funding

On track

 

Recommendation Four - Project Management of Major Capital Programmes

On track

Recommendation Five – Prudential Borrowing

Members had the debate at this meeting and will need to consider further information. On track

 

Recommendation Six – Recruitment and Retention

Committee have concerns that this may not be fully implemented.

 

Recommendation Eight – Local Area Forums

On track

 

Recommendation Nine – Energy from Waste Plant

On track

 

 

12.20pm

10.

Date and Time of Next Meeting

29 September 2015 – 10am

Additional documents:

Minutes:

29 September 2015