To confirm the record of the meeting of the Resources Scrutiny Panel held on 12 November 2015 and 13 January 2016 (previously circulated).

The minutes of the meeting of the Resources Scrutiny Panel held on 12 November 2015 and 13 January 2016, copies of which had been previously circulated, were confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

In accordance with the Regulations, Members are invited to declare any disclosable interests under the Code of Conduct and the nature if those interests in respect of items on this Agenda and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

No declarations of interest were made.

To receive any petitions, deputations and questions received from Members of the Public in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 217.

The total time allowed for this item shall be 30 minutes. Petitions, declarations and questions shall be dealt with in the order in which they are received. Questions may also be submitted at short notice by giving a written copy to the Committee Administrator 15 minutes before the start of the meeting.

The total time allowed for questions at short notice is 15 minutes out of the total time of 30 minutes. Any petitions, deputations and questions that have been submitted with prior formal notice will take precedence over questions submitted at short notice. Any questions that are not considered within the time limit shall receive a written response after the meeting and be the subject of a report to the next meeting.

No petitions, deputations or questions were received from members of the public.

To consider any questions with notice from Members received in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rules No 219 and 219A.

No questions were received from Members

To consider any Notices of Motion from Members submitted in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule No 220.

No Notices of Motion were received from Members.

To consider any matter referred to the Panel for a decision in relation to call in of a decision in accordance with Procedure Rule 206.

No matter was referred to the Panel for a decision in relation to call-in of a decision in accordance with Procedure Rule 206.

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Mr T King left the meeting at 7:02 p.m. after attendees had confirmed they had no questions for the Portfolio Holder

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To receive Report No.7/2016 from the Director for Resources.

·         The above report was presented to Cabinet on 12 January 2016, where Cabinet Approved the Recommendations to Council.

·         Scrutiny has requested this report so that it can review and comment on proposals before the Council Meeting on 22 February 2016.

Report No. 7/2016 was received from the Director for Resources.

During discussion the following points were noted:

a.    The Panel thanked the Director for Resources and the Assistant Director – Finance for a well-written and presented report.

AGREED:

1)    That the Panel NOTED the contents of the report.

To receive Report No. 37/2016 from the Chief Executive.

(Report to Follow)

Report No. 37/2016, which was previously circulated under separate cover, was received from the Chief Executive. 

During discussion the following points were noted:

a.    Customer Services had not met their targets but work was ongoing to improve the service.

b.    8% of calls were abandoned and although this is the target, some Members felt that this was too high. A review was being carried out to determine what is preventing the targets being met and to assess whether we have the right performance measures in place.

c.    Council staff should use the standard email signature when contacting customers as this would notify people of the staff member’s direct phone number so reducing the need for people to contact Customer Services.  The Director informed the Panel that she would remind staff about this.

d.    The Govmetric screen in the main foyer was possibly in the wrong location as it was being used as a toy by children.

e.    Key contact details were distributed to all Councillors in the Members’ Handbook 2015 and had been published on the Intranet.

f.     Officers are currently looking at website providers and reported that the demonstrations seen so far were vastly better than what we have at the moment and presented a huge opportunity for the Council.  Councillors would receive training in respect of the new website at the appropriate time.

AGREED:

1)    That the Director would send all Councillors the link to the ‘Key Contact’ details on the Council’s intranet.

2)    That the Director would notify the panel of the ‘success criteria’ for the Governance Team briefings at the People Directorate’s team meetings.

3)    That the previous year’s quarterly sickness figures should be included in future reports for comparison.

4)    That the Panel NOTED the contents of the Report

To receive Report No. 27/2016 from the Director for Resources.

(Report to follow)

Report No. 27/2016, which was previously circulated under separate cover, was received from the Director for Resources. 

During discussion the following points were noted:

a.    There was an error on page 76 (Appendix 2B: Virements) – the current ceiling for Adult Social Care Assessments should read £833,200 and NOT £200,400 as stated.

b.    Intelligence from the 2015/16 budget had fed into the 2016/17 budget so Members can be assured that any under or overspends for 15/16 were factored into the new budget.

c.    The post of Business Intelligence Manager would be re-advertised following an unsuccessful recruitment process and the costs for this post would be included in the People Directorate for 16/17 and not the Chief Executive’s Office.

AGREED:

1)     The Assistant Director  would notify members of :

i)       What were the delays to the capital programme? (page 66, item 2.6)

2)     The Assistant Director would update the Medium Term Financial Plan and add as an addendum to Cabinet.

3)     That the panel NOTED the contents of Report.

To receive Report No. 52/2016 from the Director for Resources.

§   The above report is due to be presented at Cabinet on 16 February 2016.

§   Scrutiny has requested this report so that it can review and comment on proposals before the Cabinet meeting so as to inform the decision-making process.

§   The report and its proposals and the date which it presented to Cabinet may be amended following the outcome of the Scrutiny panel. Scrutiny is therefore asked to consider the report and provide feedback to the Portfolio Holder and Director for Resources.

Report No. 52/2016 was received from the Director for Resources.  A presentation was also received from Mr Nix, Head of IT.

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Mr S Della Rocca left the meeting at 7:50 p.m. and re-joined the meeting at 7:53 p.m.

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During the discussion the following points were noted:

a.    The new system would have better processes so leading to increased efficiency and greater cost savings.

b.    The option for a new system to be hosted by a private organisation would lead to much greater costs for relatively the same product.

c.    The contract would identify fees and upper limits so reducing the risk of increased costs.

d.    The ‘Project Manager’ would be identified once the proposed plan had been approved by Cabinet.

AGREED:

1)    That the panel NOTED the report.

2)    That the panel AGREED the recommended option.

To consider Scrutiny issues to review

Copies of the Forward Plan will be available at the meeting

The panel reviewed the Forward Plan and noted the forthcoming reports.

To receive any items of urgent business which have been previously notified to the person presiding.

There was no urgent business

21 April 2016

The next meeting would be held on Thursday 21 April 2016.

AGREED:

Agenda items for the next meeting should include:

1)    IT Department: follow up from previous scrutiny paper

2)    Scoping Paper: Corporate Admin Review

3)    Human Resources

4)    Legal Services