Meeting documents

The Members noted the appointment of a new member, Ms Anita Cranmer.

Apologies were received from Mr Bill Bendyshe-Brown and Ms Cranmer. 

To disclose any Personal or Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

Mr Martin Farrow declared an interest in relation to the last item, as his company was doing some work on behalf of the Department of Work and Pensions.

To agree the Minutes of the Meeting held on 12^th and 26^th September 2017.

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 the 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/getting-involved/

There were none. 

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

The Chairman advised Members that he had met with the Director of Finance and Assets to discuss the preparation for the Budget Scrutiny Inquiry in January.

Purpose: The Committee will gain an insight into the Council’s current approach to Project and Programme Management.  This will be an opportunity for Members to explore the effectiveness of current methodologies, to consider whether there are sufficient dedicated resources to support project and programme management corporately and to assess any strategic risks around inconsistency of approach to project and programme management across the Council.

Contributors:

Mr John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources

Mr Stephen Rawlinson, Project Management Officer, Strategic Finance

Mr Richard Ambrose, Director of Finance and Assets

The Chairman welcomed Mr John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources, Mr Stephen Rawlinson, Programme Management Officer and Mr Richard Schmidt, Head of Strategic Finance to the meeting. Mr Rawlinson highlighted the key areas of his report on Project and Programme Management across the Council.

During the discussion and in answer to Member’s questions, the following points were noted:

• Each Business Unit organised their own projects and the Programme Management Officer focussed on providing tools and training to help develop skills to ensure the effective delivery of projects. To this end, a Project Management toolkit was developed which was available online and this had been refreshed this year. This is supported by an organisational-wide Lessons Learned Log, a Community of Practice and a new two day Project Management Enhanced Skills training course.
• Now that these resources were in place and had been promoted across the Council, the next step would be to evaluate their use and assess if improvements had been seen in Project Management as a result. 
• Mr Schmidt commented that there were a variety Project Management models and the Council had adopted a ‘hub and spoke’ model due to the diverse nature of its business. Each Business Unit would manage their projects, with Mr Rawlinson setting out the corporate best practice framework which should be used. 

• Members were keen to understand if Business Units (BUs) were adopting a consistent approach to project management in line with the corporate toolkit. The Programme Management Officer explained that this year he hoped to conduct a more formal quality assurance approach, which would help to evidence if the toolkit and the Community of Practice, where representatives from each BU shared their learning and promoted the training and toolkit to other staff in their own BU, were making an impact on the quality of projects.
• A Member asked if the toolkit was being effective and whether the staff using it found it helpful or bureaucratic. It was suggested that it would be useful to survey staff to ascertain how the toolkit and lessons learned log were being used and how this had informed practice and improved the quality of project outcomes.  Mr Rawlinson welcomed this suggestion.

ACTION: Mr S Rawlinson

• A Member noted that the report commented on a reduction in capital slippage, whilst at Regulatory and Audit Committee the previous week, it had been noted that there was currently significant slippage. The Cabinet Member assured the Committee that whilst slippage had been reported to Regulatory and Audit, this was mainly due to the Orchard House project which was no longer going ahead and on the whole, capital slippage had been much reduced in recent years, due to improved gateway processes at Asset Strategy Board.

• Mr Rawlinson was trying to establish how many Prince 2 qualified practitioners were currently employed by the Council.  A Member commented that it was important to know this information as qualified practitioners would be crucial in driving the framework into the culture of the organisation.
• There was a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Purpose: The Committee is asked to consider and agree the draft inquiry scope for the Budget Scrutiny Inquiry 2018.

Contributors:

Mrs Kelly Sutherland, Committee and Governance Manager

All Members of the FPR Select Committee

Mrs Kelly Sutherland took Members through the draft scoping document for Budget Scrutiny 2018.  It was noted that the inquiry would follow the same methodology as the 2017 inquiry.

The Members received information on key dates, noting in particular the Budget Briefing on 19^th December with Richard Ambrose, Director of Finance and Assets and the Budget Scrutiny meetings with individual Cabinet Members which would take place on 9^th-11^th January 2018. The final Inquiry report would be considered at Cabinet on 12^th February 2018, ahead of the final budget being agreed at Council on 22^nd February 2018.

Mrs Sutherland advised Members that the public would be invited to submit questions via social media and noted the ongoing consultation on budget proposals which would inform the draft budget.

The Chairman noted that this would be a challenging time as there would be a large amount of preparation work required.

The Committee agreed the draft scope. It was also agreed that the Chairman would approve any final changes to the report on the Committee’s behalf, in order to meet the Budget timescales.

Purpose: The Committee will examine a progress report on the implementation of the recommendations from the Income Generation Inquiry after 12 months.  Members will have an opportunity to question the Cabinet Member and the Commercial Director, before discussing and allocating a RAG status for the progress of each recommendation.

Contributors:

Mr John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources

Mr Jonathon Noble, Commercial Director, Resources

The Chairman welcomed Mr Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources and Mr Jonathan Noble, Commercial Director. Mr Noble took Members through the progress report. During the discussion and in answer to Members’ questions, the following main points were noted:

• Business Unit Plans for this year included a chapter on Commercial Activity which specifically addressed contract management and how income would be generated.  Forecasts at the half year point suggested that the Council will exceed its Income Generations targets by £195,000.  It was agreed that a report on Income Generation which would be presented to the next Cabinet would be circulated to the Committee.

ACTION: Head of Strategic Finance

• A Member asked how closely the cost of sales and margins were monitored and whether a Business Units(BUs) ‘profits’ remained in the BU or had to be returned to the corporate centre. In response, Mr Noble explained that as a public sector organisation and Council cannot make a ‘profit’, but income was used to offset savings. The Council manages its budget as a whole, so if one BU is underspent monies can be moved to another BU.
• It was noted that the Resources BU generated almost a third of its budget through income.
• Mr Noble believed that the Council had sufficient expertise and capacity to identify additional income opportunities. It was important to collaborate across BUs to share expertise and resources.
• A Member asked if income generation opportunities were implemented quickly enough. Pre-application advice for Development Control was also seen as an area where the Council could generate an income, as other Councils already charged for this.  It was agreed that Mr Noble would investigate this opportunity.

ACTION: Commercial Director

• Some of the surplus income generated by Adult Social Care was achieved by re-assessing clients’ financial circumstances more regularly to identify whether clients could pay more towards services. 
• Mr Noble confirmed that he would supply Members with a list of the live bids held on the central funding register.

ACTION: Commercial Director

• Mr Schmidt advised Members that fees and charges would routinely be uplifted by inflation, currently estimated at 3%. 
• Mr Chilver concluded the report by commending the work of Mr Noble and the Commercial Team who had driven improvements in income generation.

It was agreed that the Chairman and the Committee and Governance Adviser would assign a Red Amber Green Status against the recommendations following the meeting and circulate to members for comment.

ACTION: Chairman and Committee & Governance Adviser

Purpose: The Committee will receive an update on the progress of the LASR Property Review and One Public Estate work.

Contributors:

Mr John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources

Mr Donald Milligan, Programme Manager

Mr Richard Ambrose, Director of Finance and Assets

The Chairman welcomed back Mr Chilver, Mr Donald Milligan, Programme Manager, and Mr Richard Ambrose, Director of Finance and Assets. 

The Committee received an update with regards to the LASR Property review and One Public Estate projects in exempt session.

RESOLVED

That the press and public be excluded for the following item which is exempt by virtue of Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12a of the Local Government Act 1972 because it contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

The Committee may continue more detailed discussions in confidential session.

The Committee received an update on the LASR Property Review.

Tuesday 19^th December 2017 at 10am in Mezzanine Room 1, County Hall, Aylesbury.

Tuesday 19 December, 10:00, Mezzanine Room 1, County Hall, Aylesbury