Agenda item

To consider the following Questions for the Leader which have been submitted in accordance with Standing Order 8A:

1.   “Planning & Development”
(Mr C T Wareing)

2.   “Budget Overspends”

     (Councillor J Brunner)

3.   “Council Funding”

     (Councillor C MacMillan)

 (Questions attached)

(Abbey / All Wards)

The Leader responded to a number of questions which had been submitted in accordance with Standing Order 8A, namely: 

a)         Planning and Development

            (Mr C T Wareing)

Mr Wareing’s question related to a number of possible developments within the Borough and the need to provide an adequate associated infrastructure.

The Leader responded that a significant expansion of housing within the Borough which, he pointed out, had not been proposed by the Council, would certainly be a mistake without the necessary development of associated infrastructure.

The Council had offered to construct the Bordesley By-Pass in connection with the Abbey Stadium Development, demonstrating the Council’s responsible attitude to the provision of such infrastructure.

Sadly, it appeared that the Abbey Stadium development that had been proposed by Atlantic Beacon would not be coming to fruition and that, consequently, the Council’s fall-back scheme would be adopted.

b)         Budget Overspends

            (Councillor J Brunner)

Councillor Brunner’s question related to a contention that the Council had overspent on its 2006/07 budget and that this had been alleviated by a change in the treatment of Capital Charges.

The Leader replied that the Council did not overspend on its General Fund Budget for 2006/07. In fact the report of the Head of Financial Services to the Executive Committee on the 13^th of June had clearly stated that the budget had been underspent by £487,000 of which only £1,000 had been from Capital Charges. The Leader believed this was a good result for the Council.

The same report had also highlighted that all four Directorates had made savings against their approved budget, albeit that, at a Cost Centre or Service level, there had been some variances. All of the variances had again been highlighted within the report.

In response to questions regarding the adequacy of the financial reporting and compliance with the Constitution, the Leader indicated that Councillors had already raised this issue with Officers and the Borough Director had been asked to expedite this review to ensure improvements were made where possible and to ensure that, whatever reporting arrangements were ultimately agreed, compliance with the Constitution was assured. Alternatively, where issues could not be addressed, proposals to amend the Constitution would be brought forward as a matter of urgency.

c)         Council Funding

            (Councillor C MacMillan)

Councillor MacMillan’s question related to the provision of a breakdown of the proportion of the Council’s funding spent on front line services and that spent on overheads and administration.

In response, the Leader indicated that the answer to this question clearly depended upon the interpretation of “overheads and administration”. For the purposes of his answer the Leader had assumed that it meant Central Support Costs such as Finance, Legal, and Human Resources costs, etc.

The Leader advised that , of the £48,500,000 Gross Expenditure referred to in the 2006/07 Statement of Accounts presented to Council that evening, the overhead and administration costs amounted to £4,300,000. This meant that the cost of the Direct Services amounted to £44,200,000 and therefore the overhead costs equated to approximately 10%.

The Council’s Council Tax revenue for 2006/07 had been £4,800,000. This clearly only supported 10% of the gross expenditure. Of this, 10% went to support Administration and Overhead costs. The Council did not allocate funding to individual services but funded any service deficits in the summary accounts.

Unfortunately comparisons with previous years were problematic because of changes to accounting practices / presentation. Officers were to be asked to provide the additional information in due course.

d)         Our Education System

            (Mr C T Wareing)

Mr Wareing’s question related to a proposal by the County Council that DinglesideMiddle School be closed.

The Leader concurred that a decision to close DinglesideMiddle School would have an adverse impact on the Woodrow area and that, sadly, it appeared that the decision to close had already been made in principle.

The Leader was to work alongside his County Council colleague for the Arrow Valley West Division to ensure that the parents of children who were being educated at Dingleside were not “trampled underfoot” by the County Council. All steps would be taken to ensure that parents were given the necessary assistance to transport their children to alternative schools, that the best possible time was chosen for such a closure to take place and that staff were given the necessary support to prevent a collapse in their morale.

As an indication of the action that was being taken in this respect, the Leader advised that he was to meet representatives of the County Council Education Department the following day.