Introduction by the Chairman

The Chairman welcomed all present and outlined the order in which agenda items and reports would be taken at the meeting.

In accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct, Members are requested to declare any

interests orally at the start of the meeting and again immediately before consideration of the

matter. Members are reminded to specify the agenda item number to which it refers and

whether the interest is of a personal or prejudicial nature.

Members are also reminded of the requirements of Section 106 of the Local Government

Finance Act 1992 that they should declare and not vote on specified matters if they are two

months or more in arrears with their Council Tax payments.

Alison McDade declared a personal interest in item 7 by virtue of her husband being an employee of Richmond Council.

To consider and approve the minutes of the Finance and Performance Overview and

Scrutiny meeting held on 13 January 2011 – attached.

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 January 2011 were approved and the Chairman was authorised to sign them.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Churchill and Councillor Harrison.  Councillor Evans attended as substitute for Councillor Harrison.

This report provides an update on the items requested at the January 2011 Finance & Performance Overview & Scrutiny Committee.  These updates cover:-

• Timetable for the new Local Performance Management Framework
• Affordable housing
• Libraries Efficiency Programme, including information about Outsourcing Children’s Centres

The Assistant Director, Commissioning, Corporate Policy and Strategy and the Director of Finance and Corporate Resources responded to questions from the Committee on the updated information included in the report.  The Committee was advised that discussions to make the seventh Children’s Centre operational were ongoing and funding options were being investigated and would be reported to the meeting of Cabinet in March.

RESOLVED:

1. That the update report be noted
2. That a further update on the Children’s Centres be reported to the meeting of this Committee on 6 April 2011.

This report sets out the current work to implement the Council’s new strategic direction as agreed by Cabinet in November 2010

The Assistant Director, Finance and Corporate Services introduced the report and tabled a paper showing a list of services with indicative dates for initial reports on the commissioning process.  He explained that Cabinet would receive a report at its next meeting which would detail priority proposals.  Ongoing work would be undertaken with the Strategy Panel on the other proposals.  He advised that while only a few proposals would have been finalised prior to the next meeting of this Committee, he would be able to share details on those which had completed this stage at the 6th April meeting.

The Assistant Director, Commissioning, Corporate Policy and Strategy, the Assistant Director, Finance and Corporate Services and the Director of Finance and Corporate Resources responded to questions from the Committee on the report.  The Committee was advised that,

Ø      Events would be held following the ‘All in One’ survey to explore what the community could offer and this would inform the issue of capacity building and its funding.

Ø      The ‘Invest to Save’ fund had been established to cover such matters as capacity building and general arrangements were not being imposed as the direction might be different for different services.

Ø      No decisions had been made on whether services would be outsourced and the timescales listed on the tabled paper indicated when a report would be available.

Ø      Staff would be consulted when firm proposals were available on how services would be provided although Members should be aware that service changes were already happening under the efficiency and budget review initiatives.  Staff consultation was governed by legal frameworks.

Ø      In terms of savings required, the Council had initially identified £35 million of which £12 million is being achieved through the budget review and £8 million from procurement and other programmes originating form the PwC review, leaving £15 million.  Currently the range of total required savings is between £28 million and £33 million, leaving a gap of up to £13 million and a strategy is in place to close this gap.

RESOLVED:

1. That Interim reports be provided to the Committee to enable scrutiny to contribute to key milestones in the development of the Council’s efficiency and transformation programme, corporate plan and future commissioning arrangements

·         Quarter 3 Finance Update as at December 2010

·         Revenue Budget Strategy & Council Tax 2011/12

·         Capital Budget 2011/12 to 2015/16

·         Finance & Corporate Services and Central Items Budgets 2011/12

The Chairman announced that each report provided under Item 7 of the agenda would be considered in turn.

Quarter 3 Finance Update as at December 2010

The Director of Finance and Corporate Services introduced the report and advised that while the figures showed a total underspend, this was unsurprising as the organisation was undergoing a period of contraction and rapid change.  He explained that the underspend included the holding of vacancies and that this was likely to continue to the year’s end.  In response to questions from the Committee, the Director replied that,

Ø      In terms of in-year adjustments for Education and children’s Services, the government had indicated that it would not support certain projects and the council withdrew.  Some schemes involved committed funds and these were supported to the year end.

Ø      That it was very possible that the underspend would increase by the year end due to the factors discussed.

Ø      The projected outturn in the capital programme was projected spend and budgets would be adjusted to take account of slippage.

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources stated that he was looking at a four-year strategy and a global figure of savings was needed.  There was advantage to making savings early, to ensure savings were achieved at a time when the public understood the need to achieve savings. The public was less likely to accept cuts in years three and four.

RESOLVED:

1. That the monitoring report for quarter three be noted.

Reserves

The Chairman invited the Director of Finance and Corporate Resources to comment on Reserves (pages 36 and 45 of the agenda).  The Director explained that the overall figures included in the Reserves had not changed but that updated and more detailed projections of usage were now included.  Cabinet Members had been identified as having responsibility for particular reserves and a detailed report would be produced for projections on a number of reserves.

An updated document was tabled to replace page 45.

In response to questions from the committee, the Director of Finance and Corporate Services advised,

Ø      The full number of redundancies for the four year period was not known and the commissioning strategy might mean that there would be TUPE implications rather than job losses.  £1.2 million had been spent to date on redundancy and 191 posts had been identified for deletion under the budget review process.

Ø      The £6 million allocated for redundancy in the Invest to Save fund was an upper estimate.  This sum was intended to cover four years.

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources amplified the explanation for the Invest to Save fund and stated that PWC had said that £7 million would be needed upfront, but the fund also needed to cover any schemes where the council had to buy out agreed terms (staff parking changes being a recent example) as well as redundancy.  The initial requirement looked as if it might be £15 million and he was therefore nervous that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

Report of the Head of Democratic Services detailing the proposed work programme until April 2011.

RESOLVED:

1.      That the report be noted and the work programme updated in the light of discussions at this meeting.