Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Joanne Beecham and Debbie Chance.  Officers confirmed that Councillors Tom Baker-Price and John Fisher were attending as their respective substitutes.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and / or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests, and any Party Whip.

Councillors Tom Baker-Price and Andrew Fry declared other disclosable interests in Minute Item No. 95 in their capacity as Worcestershire County Councillors and members of the Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority as these organisations would receive funding from Council Tax once the Council Tax Resolutions had been agreed.

There were no declarations of any party whip.

RESOLVED that

the minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on Thursday 9^th January 2020 be approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Executive Director of Finance and Resources presented the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) 2020/21 to 2023/24 and in so doing highlighted the following matters for Members’ consideration:

·                The external auditors, Grant Thornton, had issued a Section 24 Notice to the Council in 2019.  In this notice three recommendations had been made to the Council.

·                The first of these recommendations focused on the budget for 2019/20 and the external auditors had urged the Council to deliver the savings set out in the MTFP earlier that year.

·                The second recommendation had focused on the need for the Council to have a balanced budget in 2020/21.

·                The third recommendation had urged the Council to have a sustainable budget for 2021/22 to 2023/24.

·                The external auditors had raised concerns about the need for Members to make difficult decisions in order to balance the budget.

·                The financial framework for the authority had been agreed in the autumn in 2019.  This had outlined the Council’s aim over the four year period to increase balances in the general fund to £1.5 million and balances in the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) to £1 million.

·                A number of difficult decisions had been taken by Members during the municipal year including in respect of the Rubicon Business Centre, changing support for Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) groups and the closure of the One Stop Shops.

·                The MTFP showed a balanced budget for 2020/21 with £82,000 returned to balances.  This would increase the Council’s balances to over £1 million.

·                However, there remained a total of £1.6 million to save over the following three years.  To address this gap, further difficult decisions would need to be taken by Members.

·                Officers had identified a number of potential savings during the year. 

·                Savings had been achieved through negotiating a new insurance contract as part of a group with other local authorities.

·                Further savings would be achieved as a result of a review of the Dial a Ride operating model, which would result in the reduction in the number of buses in operation from six to five and the introduction of a voluntary car scheme.  The proposed changes to the Dial a Ride scheme would result in an increase in the efficiency of the service and it was anticipated that there would be a corresponding increase in income.

·                The actuaries for the Worcestershire Pension Fund had reported that the investments that had been made for the fund had performed well over the previous three years resulting in a reduction in the level of pension contributions that would need to be made by the Council moving forward.

·                The Council had received New Homes Bonus (NHB) funding for 2020/21 which had not been anticipated.  However, the Government had been clear that no legacy payments would be provided to the Council for the NHB.

·                There remained a lot of uncertainty for the future in terms of local government funding.  The Council did not know what terms would be included in the Government’s Fair Funding Review for district  ...  view the full minutes text for item 94.

Attached is the Executive Committee Work Programme. The Executive Committee do not meet until 11^th February 2020 the minutes from that meeting will follow in an additional papers pack.

Members considered the minutes from the meeting of the Executive Committee held on Tuesday 11^th February 2020.  The Committee noted that the Budget Scrutiny Working Group had made recommendations to this meeting in respect of the Medium Term Financial Plan 2020/21 to 2023/24 which had been approved by the Executive Committee.

During consideration of this item Members also considered the content of the Executive Committee’s Work Programme for the period 1^st March to 30^th June 2020. 

RESOLVED that

1)        the minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee held on 11^th February 2020 be noted; and

2)        the content of the Executive Committee’s Work Programme for the period 1^st March to 30^th June 2020 be noted.

The content of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Work Programme was considered by Members.  Concerns were raised about the number of items that were due to be considered at the meeting of the Committee that was scheduled to take place in March 2020.  Whilst the Homes England Asset Transfer item would not be available to consider until June 2020 the other items were scheduled to be reported to Members. 

Members discussed the items that were on the work programme for consideration in March and noted that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s annual report and the final reports of the Scrutiny Task Groups needed to be considered as soon as possible.  However, Members noted that the Members’ IT Policy and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Policy had already been considered by the Member Support Steering Group, prior to any report being made in respect of these matters to the Executive Committee.  In this context Members agreed that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee did not need to pre-scrutinise the Members’ IT Policy and BYOD Policy.  However, the Committee noted that ICT support for elected Members could have financial implications for the Council, particularly if Members’ iPads were replaced with more expensive IT equipment.  Members suggested that wherever possible the Council should strive to ensure that financial expenditure on Members’ IT equipment was kept to a minimum.

RESOLVED that

1)        the Members’ IT Policy and Bring Your Own Device Policy be removed from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Work Programme and no longer made subject to pre-decision scrutiny; and

2)        the content of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Work Programme be noted.

(Report to follow).

Officers confirmed that there were no draft scoping documents for consideration on this occasion.

a)        Budget Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor Wheeler

b)        Performance Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor Wheeler

a)        Budget Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor Jenny Wheeler

Councillor Wheeler advised that during the latest meeting of the group Members had pre-scrutinised the Medium Term Financial Plan 2020/21 to 2023/24.  During this meeting Members had proposed two recommendations which had subsequently been agreed by the Executive committee.  The first called for Officers to present the capital programme in a different way in future, which would involve grouping the items in accordance with the strategic purposes.  Members were advised that this would be a more logical approach to presenting the capital programme than the present format. 

The second recommendation had focused on the Section 24 Notice that had been issued by the external auditors, Grant Thornton, to the Council.  At the latest Audit, Governance and Standards Committee meeting the external auditors had indicated that the Section 24 Notice might be lifted in the autumn, subject to the Council successfully submitting its accounts and receiving a positive Value for Money assessment.  However, no formal letter would be issued by the external auditors regarding this matter.  The Budget Scrutiny Working Group had concluded that the Council had a responsibility to notify the public that the Section 24 Notice no longer applied to the Council and this had formed the basis of their recommendation.

During consideration of this item Members noted that to date 100 per cent of the recommendations that had been proposed by the Budget Scrutiny Working Group during the year had been approved by the Executive Committee.  On behalf of the Executive Committee the Portfolio Holder for Corporate Management thanked the group for their hard work and noted that the recommendations that had been made through the budget scrutiny process had been very helpful. 

b)        Performance Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor Andrew Fry

Councillor Fry advised Members that the group had met since the previous meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  During this meeting Members had discussed performance monitoring arrangements for the authority moving forward.  An update had been provided by Councillor John Fisher about the evidence he had gathered when monitoring measures for the strategic purpose help me find somewhere to live in my locality and Councillor Yvonne Smith was due to provide an update in respect of her findings for the strategic purpose ‘help me be financially independent at the following meeting.

The group had decided at their latest meeting that in future they should monitor the performance of Council services collectively, rather than each Member monitoring a different strategic purpose.  This would start with a focus on housing Services at the following meeting of the group, due to take place in March 2020.

c)         Parking Enforcement Task Group – Chair, Councillor Mark Shurmer

Councillor Shurmer confirmed that the group was aiming to complete their review in time to report back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting that was scheduled to take place on Thursday 19^th March 2020.

a)        West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Overview and Scrutiny Committee – Council representative, Councillor Chalk; and

b)        Worcestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) – Council representative, Councillor Chalk.

The following updates were provided in respect of external scrutiny bodies:

a)        West Midlands Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee – Redditch Member, Councillor Michael Chalk

Councillor Chalk circulated an update from the latest meeting of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  He advised that a young woman, rather than young man as suggested in the written update, had attended the meeting.  

During the meeting Members had discussed the HS2 project.  The Committee had been advised that there would be opportunities available to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).  As there were many businesses in Redditch that could be classified as SMEs there could be opportunities available to companies based in the Borough as part of this project. 

b)        Worcestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee – Redditch Member, Councillor Michael Chalk 

The Committee was informed that the following meeting of the Worcestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) was scheduled to take place on Wednesday 19^th February 2020.  This meeting would provide Members with an opportunity to prepare for an interview with representatives of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust that was due to take place at a later date.