Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Leslie Ashton 

Media

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Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for absence/changes in membership

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Apologies had been received from Mrs Jilly Jordan. The Chairman welcomed Mr Mike Appleyard as a new member of the committee, replacing Mr Brian Roberts.

2.

Declarations of interest

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

3.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 454 KB

The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 25th June 2020 to be confirmed as a correct record.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 25 June 2020 were agreed as an accurate record.

4.

Public Questions

No public questions have been received.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

No public questions had been received.

5.

Chairman's update

For the Chairman to update the Committee on Finance and Resources scrutiny activity since the last meeting.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman explained to the Committee that initial discussions had taken place with officers in preparation for the budget scrutiny inquiry taking place in January. A budget briefing would be arranged with members in November/December and a scoping document would be presented to this committee for agreement at its next meeting.

6.

Return of staff to the office environment and update on future ways of working pdf icon PDF 1 MB

The Committee will receive an update on the return of staff to the office environment and future ways of working.

 

Contributors:

Katrina Wood, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Resources

John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Property and Assets

Ian Thompson, Corporate Director for Planning, Growth and Sustainability

Sarah Murphy-Brookman, Corporate Director for Resources

John Reed, Service Director for Property and Assets

John McMillan, Service Director for HR & OD

Tony Ellis, Service Director for ICT

 

Paper:

Return of staff to the office environment and update on future ways of working

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Ms Katrina Wood, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Resources provided an overview of the return of staff to the office environment. Ms Wood summarised the slides appended to the agenda pack and updated the Committee of the progress made to date. Much of the work which had commenced had to be reviewed following the updated Government advice issued on 22 September that people should remain working at home, where possible. The following points were highlighted:

 

  • A return to office steering group, chaired by the Corporate Director for Planning, Growth and Sustainability was in place and developing a dynamic action plan.
  • Employees had been categorised to understand the numbers who needed to be in the office to undertake their role, who would predominantly be home based, whose role was community based and who needed to be office based because their home environment was not suitable. Signage had been installed in all council buildings, along with screens where customer contact would take place, there was a system for staff to sign in to maintain track and trace requirements and desks had been colour coded so staff knew where they could work when in the office.
  • Increased support was in place for staff working from home including the Employee Assistance Programme which provided counselling, a number of Health and Wellbeing Champions, Webinars and eLearning courses and online wellbeing and fitness activities organised by staff. Staff had also been supplied with the appropriate software and hardware to undertake their roles from home.
  • There had been comprehensive communications and engagement for staff including regular vlogs from the Chief Executive, virtual roadshows for staff, regular updates on the intranet, consultations with employee reps and trade unions respectively, and surveys to understand staffs experience at home.
  • With government guidance changing to reflect the number of cases locally, guidance was kept under regular review and the impact of staff working from home was being considered as part of a longer term strategy.

 

The following key points were raised by the Select Committee members during discussion:

 

  • A member queried what the workplace financial implications had been and the committee was advised that colleagues in facilities management had kept track of covid related spend and the Council would continue to lobby Government to cover these actual costs.
  • The number of staff in each of the work place categories was queried. The Committee was advised that the vast majority of staff were working from home, role permitting but many staff did have to be in the offices, which had been made covid secure, for a variety of reasons. Mr I Thompson, Corporate Director for Planning, Growth and Sustainability advised that he would circulate numbers of staff in each category to members following the meeting.

Action: I Thompson

  • The Committee was advised that 800 was the maximum occupancy within the offices, although not all space was necessarily utilised each day. There was a system in place to keep track of numbers in the offices on a daily basis and a requirement  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

6 Month Review of Recommendations from the 2020 Budget Scrutiny Task & Finish Group pdf icon PDF 687 KB

The Committee will consider a 6 month review of recommendations from the 2020 Budget Scrutiny Task and Finish Group.

 

Contributors:

Martin Tett, Leader

Katrina Wood, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Resources

Sarah Murphy-Brookman, Corporate Director for Resources

Ian Thompson, Corporate Director for Planning, Growth and Sustainability

Richard Ambrose, Service Director for Corporate Finance (Section 151 Officer)

 

Paper:

6 month review paper

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Mr M Tett, Leader presented the report and placed on record his thanks to the Finance and Resources Committee for their work in scrutinising the budget. The update paper appended to the agenda pack provides an update to each of the recommendations made by the 2020 Budget Scrutiny Task and Finish Group.

 

The following key points were raised by the Select Committee members during discussion:

 

·       A member asked what steps the council had taken in its strategy to reduce agency staff, particularly in the planning service. Mr Tett and Ms Wood affirmed that addressing agency numbers was a priority of the Council. The Committee was advised that work had been undertaken to identify the number of agency workers and understand whether their roles were to cover established posts or whether they had been employed to focus on particular projects. It was confirmed that the council used one single supplier for agency staff and the use of agency staff was understood and controlled. Work was underway to promote the Council as an excellent place to work, this included a successful social media campaign that had helped recruit other national shortage occupations within the Council, notably children’s services and adult social care. Attempts were made to convert agency staff to permanent contracts where appropriate and the wider picture of looking at reward structures and creating an excellent culture were ongoing areas of work HR were undertaking in partnership with service areas. The planning service was currently in the first wave of service transformation and as part of the transition to a larger authority some experienced staff had been moved across teams to maximise performance.

·       Mr Tett advised the Committee that much of the transformation progress planned for the April to August period had been significantly affected due to the Council’s efforts being focused on its covid response. Due to the potential of a second wave, the Committee were informed that this may further affect progress with staff potentially having to move from their business as usual roles to once again support the covid response. Cabinet Members had been asked to re-visit priorities as significant resources set aside to deliver all priorities were expected to be diverted to the covid response.

·       A member questioned the Council’s strategy for dealing with and allocating monies received from section 106 and community infrastructure levy (CIL) developer contributions and queried the influence members had over this funding. The Committee was advised that the recently published Government consultation on planning, the Planning White Paper, proposed s106 and CIL be abolished and replaced with a levy on developments over a certain threshold. Discussions had been held with the portfolio holder about harmonising the legacy councils’ approaches with the intention of involving local members.

·       Key worker housing was listed as a priority in the update report and the Committee noted that a report had been proposed for autumn to assess possible business cases. The Committee was advised that a paper to develop a strategy on affordable housing was in progress,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

Q1 Budget Monitoring Report pdf icon PDF 637 KB

The Quarter 1 Budget Monitoring Report as presented to Cabinet at its meeting on 28 July is attached for the Committee to consider.

 

Contributors:

Martin Tett, Leader

Katrina Wood, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Resources

Richard Ambrose, Service Director for Corporate Finance (Section 151 Officer)

 

Paper:

Q1 Budget Monitoring Report

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Ms K Wood, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Resources presented the Q1 Budget Monitoring Report which was presented to Cabinet at its meeting on 28 July. Ms Wood summarised the report which reflected the business as usual and covid pressures faced during that period.

 

The forecast revenue outturn was an overspend of £5.97m. Many pressures were covid related with not all costs being recovered and not all lost income being offset by Government. ‘Business as usual’ pressures were noted in adult services within learning disability budgets, childrens services within home to school transport budgets and in staffing budgets within the Planning, Growth and Sustainability directorate. A quarter 2 update report would be presented to Cabinet at the end of October and the Committee was advised that figures were not expected to be significantly different with many income streams still yet to have been stood up by the end of Q2. The committee was advised that it was difficult to predict additional lost income and further Government support at the present time with covid cases on the rise again locally, and nationally. Further, it was noted that there may be slippage on capital increases due to the impact of covid.

 

The following key points were raised by the Select Committee members during discussion:

 

  • In relation to Government support, the committee was advised that the council had been lobbying where it could and awaited the rules and regulations to be shared around lost income. Local Members of Parliament were aware of the council’s concerns, particularly around the reimbursement of fees and charges and concerns around the collection of council tax and business rates, all of which lead to difficulties with forecasting for the next financial year. The Council had received information from Government on the income protection scheme, however this scheme applied only to the current financial year and there was a lack of clarity on support to local authorities in the next year.
  • Leisure centres were recognised as a significant strain on this year’s budget, and potentially could be an issue in the next year, dependant on the local and national situation. Central Government was being lobbied on this issue which was a significant concern for many local authorities, with leisure centres being outsourced and the Council receiving an income from leisure operators. 
  • Clarity was provided on the difference between the transformation delivery programme and transition funding in such that a transition budget was created in the lead up to becoming a unitary authority and at the beginning of the year this had an underspend which was moved to the transformation programme which the Shadow Authority had previously approved to focus on bringing teams and systems together to deliver further savings. The balance of the transition fund had been added to the 14m transformation pot to total 16.7m. Covid had delayed some of the transformation work although service reviews had commenced and remained closely monitored.
  • Concern was raised that since the return to school in September, home to school transport  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

9.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 399 KB

The Committee will discuss the work programme and agree the items for the next meeting.

 

Contributors:

All Committee Members

 

Papers:

Work Programme attached

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee noted the work programme as appended to the agenda pack. The Committee was advised that the climate change strategy was an area of work on the work programme of the Transport, Environment and Climate Change Select Committee. The scrutiny officer would circulate reports to members of this Committee for their information and if any member wished to attend to contribute to those meetings this could be explored.

 

The Committee requested a report on section 106 and CIL contributions to understand the level of contributions the Council had at present and the proposals and associated timelines for spending. Members were concerned that these payments were time limited and that some funds were held on behalf of town and parish councils who may not be aware of timescales for spending. This issue had also been raised at Community Board meetings.

 

The Committee also requested a further covid update report be provided at its next meeting so that it could assess how the situation had changed since the last update report was presented in June.

10.

Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting will take place on Thursday 26th November 2020 at 2pm.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Thursday 26 November 2020 at 2 p.m.