Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors Churchill and Elliott who both sent substitutes.

In introducing the meeting, the Chairman reported that Mr Blackburn had resigned from his position because he was no longer residing in the area.  Members thanked Mr Blackburn for his contribution and agreed that a letter of thanks should be written on behalf of the Committee.

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 the nature of the interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider and approve the minutes of the Finance and Performance Overview and Scrutiny meeting held on 12 June 2012 – attached.

RESOLVED that the minutes of 12 June 2012 be received and approved and the Chairman be authorised to sign them.

This report presents an update on the latest performance of the strategic projects and programmes as well as the performance of corporate indicators during quarter one. It highlights areas of the Council’s performance that the Committee may wish to investigate further.

The Cabinet Member for Performance and the Assistant Director for Commissioning, Corporate Policy and Strategy were present for this item.

It was noted that indicators were now included that related to the Council’s new public health responsibilities.  The Assistant Director explained that some of these were currently measured by public health.

It was reported that the borough was seventh on the overall crime indicator, however this was a rolling twelve month indicator and could therefore change significantly from quarter to quarter. The top eight or so London boroughs were clustered in their positioning on the table because they were comparatively close in their statistics.  The Environment, Sustainability and Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee would continue to monitor crime statistics as part of its community safety remit.

In response to a point raised about one of the report appendix’s headings, the Cabinet Member explained that “putting people first: a lower tax borough” was an important issue for many residents.

It was agreed that the residents’ survey – which would be used to inform the indicators under the heading “involving our community” – would be circulated to the committee for information only.

RESOLVED that

1. the performance reports should focus on programmes, projects and measures when indicators have been red for two consecutive quarters.
2. the survey relating to the “involve our community” heading be circulated to members for information only.

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources, and the Director for Finance and Corporate Services were present for minute items 72, 73 and 74.  The items were introduced at the same time, with questions being invited on them separately.

The Deputy Leader reported that he was pessimistic about next year’s financial situation, primarily as a result of the degree of uncertainty that remained around the new grant scheme.  Areas of expected growth were highlighted and included homelessness and pensions. Councillor Samuel reported that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would be making a budget statement on 5 December 2012, with more details confirmed about the grant by the end of December.

The Director re-emphasised the Deputy Leader’s remarks about the degree of uncertainty, adding that initial modelling had shown some unexpected results to the Council’s budget.  It was noted that the amount spent on homelessness provision could rise further once the government rent caps took effect.

In 2011 it was agreed that each Overview and Scrutiny Committee would receive a report in September/October which would “outline both specific changes being implemented, ideas under development and other areas being considered which will have a significant impact on the relevant service’s future budget”.  This report provides this information in respect of the Finance and Corporate Services Directorate.

Councillor Samuel stated that any service being commissioned would be expected to provide an improvement for the Council, either via delivery of savings, better services, or a combination of the two.  It was noted that commissioners used their judgement when commissioning services in order to secure improvements. 

The use of agency staff was discussed, with it being noted that their use was sometimes a more efficient way of managing services, particularly if restructuring was taking place, or when the required levels of staffing fluctuated.

In response to questions the Director said that the Council Tax Support Scheme would be considered at Cabinet in November.

There was to be a report on the performance of shared services in due course although it was reported that Legal Services, Internal Audit and Human Resources had all delivered greater than expected levels of savings.

The Medium Term Financial Strategy would not be published until the local government finance settlement was known.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

This report gives details of the revenue and capital budget position for Finance & Corporate Services to the end of Quarter 2 2012/13.

Members raised a number of questions on the investments listed in the appendix. The Director said that the Debt Management Office (DMO) tended to be used when other alternatives were not available. It was recognised that the Council had a limited number of organisations it could lend to because of the risk involved and the DMO offered the lowest risk investment but for the lowest risk return.  Richmond upon Thames was lending money to other authorities as they were deemed to be institutions that were safe to lend to and that, like investments with other institutions, they paid a market rate to the Council.

It was reported that the Council had a significant future borrowing need if it was to deliver all of its proposed capital projects.  A judgement needed to be made on when the best time to borrow was, while having consideration for current and expected borrowing costs, and levels of internal lending.  The Council was going to be increasing levels of internal borrowing over the next few years.

The overall figure for current investments fluctuated significantly across the year and current levels were not unusual in that context.

In response to a Member’s question it was reported that a Cash Fund Manager had been used in the past and although they delivered some initial gains, the internal team outperformed them in the longer term.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

Attached to this report is the 2^nd Quarter Financial Monitoring Report to be presented to Cabinet on 18 October 2012.

The Director confirmed that the projections indicated income from parking enforcement and on/off street parking were above budget.  It was noted that it was difficult to quantify the effect the Olympics had had on the borough.

The Carbon Reduction Commitment was explained to the Committee.

Councillor Samuel said that overall staffing had been reduced by around 16%, with the sharing of more services expected to bring further reductions in headcount.

RESOLVED that report be noted.

This report provides a detailed summary of measures being taken to reduce sickness absence levels in response to an increase observed for the 3 monitoring periods from quarter 2 (July – September 2011).

The Chief Executive and HR Manager for Strategy and Partnerships were present for this item.

The HR Manager explained that sickness absence was managed by both direct responses such as occupational health and enhancing staff wellbeing such as good management.  A challenging target of 7 FTE days lost per staff member had been set for the forthcoming year.  Regard would also be held for the levels of absenteeism in other authorities.

It was reported that comparing levels of sickness absence with private sector companies was difficult because of differences in the way the figures were compiled, although it was noted that Richmond upon Thames had a level of sickness absence comparable to other local authorities.  Shared services were included in the figures for the authority that employed the staff – in this case, Richmond would report on levels of sickness for Internal Audit.

The Chief Executive confirmed that the Council was going to continue using the Best Value Performance Indicators for as long as possible in order to continue to be able to make reliable comparisons with other authorities.  Based on these measures, Richmond was achieving a similar level of sickness absence as neighbouring Kingston.

The Chief Executive emphasised the ongoing nature of sickness absence management.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

This report provides an up-date on the actions following the 2011 Staff Survey Results, agreed as part of the Committee report on 17^th April 2012.

The Chief Executive and HR Manager for Strategy and Partnerships were present for this item.

The Chief Executive said that the level of viewership for her blog had been high, although the amount of feedback received was low.  The blog was introduced in order to keep staff engagement measures fresh.  The cost of campaigns such as this was covered by the corporate communications contract.

It was reported that the ‘back to the floor’ exercises had been particularly useful for the officers involved.  The Chief Executive said that she had been able to learn about other areas of work and that she had deliberately picked services that were under pressure.  Feedback from managers had been positive.  Cabinet Members would regularly visit services covered by their portfolios.

Following questions about the staff awards ceremony, the Chief Executive said that this had been scaled back in response to feedback from staff about the inappropriateness of extravagant events in the current financial situation.  The Senior Management Team felt that it was important to recognise staff for their contributions, so a low key scheme with a voucher prize was now operating every quarter.

The HR Manager said that the next full staff survey would take place at the end of 2013, although there was to be a smaller scale ‘Pulse’ survey happening before that.

The Chief Executive felt it was important to recognise that outside influences such as the economy affected the results of this survey, although she added that the key to improving the results in the next survey was good line management.

RESOLVED that

1. the results of the ‘Pulse’ survey be distributed to the committee for members’ information;
2. the report be noted.

This report gives details of the proposed work programme.

It was reported that there had been a request for a task group on commissioning and its impact on the voluntary sector.  The Chairman agreed to discuss the options for this with the scrutiny officer.

RESOLVED that the work programme be noted.