CHILTERN DISTRICT COUNCIL

MINUTES of the Meeting of the SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

held on 18 December 2001

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE were received from Councillors Miss P A Appleby, Ms J E Bramwell,                           M A Peters, A H Reed and G E Sussum.

     IN ATTENDANCE Councillors Mrs M A Hamilton and D W Phillips.

39.     MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 13 November 2001, copies of which had been previously circulated, were signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

40.     DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST    

There were no declarations of interest.

41.     LOCAL AUTHORITY OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY OF HEALTH

The Audit Commission had recently published guidance, which gave examples of good practice to

help local authorities to develop health scrutiny in their areas. Although the role of scrutiny had been given to London Boroughs, County Councils and Unitaries it was recognised that authorities at all levels would need to work with their neighbours to address services/issues that cross local boundaries.

The guidance aimed to assist local authorities to work with the various NHS agencies to establish local objectives and priorities for scrutiny and to adopt an approach that would add value locally.

Buckinghamshire County Council planned to set up a single health scrutiny committee and the co-opted member from this District was Councillor Mrs Hamilton. Councillor Mrs Hamilton informed Members that the County Council had deferred the decision on implementing a forum.

Reservation was expressed that specialist medical knowledge would be needed to take part effectively, but an item such as the waiting list was an area that could be scrutinised effectively.

     Note: Councillors Mrs V Head and Mrs J Ottaway entered the meeting at 6.36pm and 6.40pm respectively.

42.     REVENUE BUDGET

The Executive had considered a report at their meeting on 11 December 2001 and the report of the

officers gave a summary of the recommendations.

The Chairman advised Members that, before the budget itself was discussed, he would like to give consideration to the principle of how to scrutinise a budget.  This would also look at the timescale to produce a budget so that next year this Committee would be better placed to be involved earlier in the budget making process.

A number of points were raised

The first few points were part of the Financial Strategy, which was determined in July and updated

in October each year and it was in the remit of Scrutiny to examine this.

When looking to make savings it was very difficult to split the statutory and discretionary elements. Also savings could just as easily be made in statutory services as in discretionary ones.

The financial strategy forecast was usually much closer to the actual budget, but the exceptional circumstances this year had meant the budget had changed dramatically over the last two months.

The Director of Corporate Services explained that the timing of the announcement of the provisional figures this year made it very difficult to produce a report in time for the Executive meeting. There were also additional and unique problems because of the Superannuation situation.  

The Actuary had supplied details on stepped increases to the employer contributions just prior to the Executive meeting and three options were given.  The Director of Corporate Services advised Members that Option two had been agreed by the Executive as it showed considerable savings in the next two years. This option allowed a stepped increase over three years.

Members asked if it was possible to pay off the whole amount with balances. The Director of Corporate Services advised that the calculations needed to produce the answer were very complex and the Actuary could not give the figure until the end of January; it was unlikely the Council could afford the amount required from balances.  

The Council Tax base would go to the January meeting of the Council based on the figures published on 1 December this year. The Executive was recommending that a 9.1% increase in Council tax would be made for 2002/2003. This increase would not be necessary if the problem with the Superannuation had not arisen.

It was suggested that details of the increase should be included with the council tax demand.

The Members of this Committee appreciated the difficult position the Executive had to work with and urged them to make every effort to follow up the problems experienced this year to eliminate the shocks in future years.

RESOLVED -

1.     That the budget recommendations be related back to the Financial Strategy.

2.     That every effort be made to investigate the situation regarding superannuation.

     Note: Councillors P M Jones and D W Phillips left the meeting at 7.54pm and 8.00pm respectively.

43.     EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC

     RESOLVED -

That under Section 100(A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act

Note: The relevant paragraph number from Part I of Schedule 12A is indicated at the end of the Minute heading.

The meeting of the Scrutiny Sub-Committee (28.08.2001 Minute 4 referred) had agreed that a

review of the formal relationship between this authority and Chiltern Hundreds Housing Association should be undertaken.

The review team had met a number of times and considered reports and presentations by officers, attended a meeting between officers of this authority and of the housing association and also attended training on developing a framework for local authority and housing association partnership working.

Consideration was given to introducing a partnership agreement between this Authority and all Housing Associations we work with. This Council currently worked with two partners other than CHHA.  It was agreed that this practice should continue.

The 30-year agreement between this Council and CHHA currently represents good value for money and Members agreed that this should continue. The agreement should be re-evaluated following the review of the allocations policy later in the new year and the new legislation expected shortly.  

Members agreed that local residents should know that this Council was working towards making improvements from which they would benefit.

     RESOLVED -

1.     That the report be noted.    

The Chairman thanked the Members and staff who had worked on this review, especially as this was the first topic to be scrutinised.  

Note: Councillors B M Curson and P T Priestley declared a non-pecuniary interest in the above item.

The meeting ended at 8.40pm.