Agenda, decisions and minutes

Purpose: To receive any Declarations and advise Members accordingly.

Councillor Arnold Woolley declared a personal interest in minute number 56 (Police & Crime Commissioner: Consultation on the Crime & Policing Plan for 2016/17) as he was the Vice-Chair of the International Police Association North Wales Branch.  

Councillor Arnold Woolley declared a personal interest in minute number 56 (Police & Crime Commissioner: Consultation on the Crime & Policing Plan for 2016/17) as he was the Vice-Chair of the International Police Association North Wales Branch.  

Purpose: To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 12^th November 2015.

            That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman. 

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 12 November 2015 had been circulated to Members with the agenda.

Matters Arising

                        Councillor Marion Bateman thanked officers for their email response to her request for information about recycling but added that it had not included details of tonnages.  She had found some information herself but asked for the quarter 2 data which the Chief Executive agreed to provide.   

            RESOLVED:

            That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman. 

(a)       That the Committee supports the four priorities in the Police & Crime Plan:

            1.         Crime Prevention;

            2.         Delivering an effective response;

            3.         Reducing harm and the risk of harm;

            4.         Building effective partnerships

(b)       That the Police & Crime Commissioner provide his list of savings made and his proposed efficiencies in due course;

(c)        That the Council will investigate changing the wording on the Council Tax demand letter from ‘Police and Crime Commissioner North Wales’ to ‘North Wales Police’; and

(d)       That the Police & Crime Commissioner and his colleagues be thanked for attending the meeting. 

The Chief Executive introduced Mr. Winston Roddick (Police & Crime Commissioner), Mr. Julian Sandham (Deputy Police & Crime Commissioner) and Mr. Stephen Hughes (Acting Chief Executive) to the Committee.  The full set of answers to the questions submitted to the Police & Crime Commissioner for his previous attendance at the County Council meeting on 23 July 2015 had been circulated to Members earlier in the week. 

                        The Chief Executive provided an overview of the work of the Regional Safer Communities Board, for which Flintshire and Wrexham were the lead authorities,  and the ‘strategic fit’ of the Flintshire Local Service Board priorities of   reducing crime and disorder, substance misuse and reducing re-offending with those of the Police and Crime Plan 

                        Mr. Roddick thanked the Chief Executive for the introduction and said that in part it was due to his efforts that there was such a good fit between the Council’s policies and the Police & Crime Commissioner’s Plan.  He added that the Chief Executive had worked hard on the Safer Communities Board.  One of the key tasks was to set out the strategic direction for North Wales and he was in the process of obtaining the views of the public, the voluntary sector and the business sector on what they felt was important, which was the reason for attending this meeting.  North Wales was one of the safest places to live in and if was important that residents felt safe and that the Police were visible and available where they were needed the most.  The Police & Crime Plan was revised each year and set out in detail the level of service that the public could expect.  Mr. Roddick commented on a survey that Members could take part in. 

                        Mr. Roddick provided a detailed presentation which covered the following areas:-

·                                                           Finance

·                                                           The future financial challenge

·                                                           Current planning assumptions

·                    Changes in North Wales Police (NWP) workforce numbers over time

·                                                           The current policing objectives

·                                                           Priorities

·                                                           Volume crime and protective services

He spoke of the financial challenge faced by NWP and the cuts in funding of over £24m by the end of March 2016 which made the delivery of priorities challenging.  The force continued to perform well in the unprecedented situation and Mr. Roddick commented on the risks, particularly in the light of the recent attacks in Paris, associated with cutting funding which would affect the service.  The final settlement figure would be received on 17 December 2015 and until this was received, there were some elements of funding that could not yet be finalised but the current financial assumptions indicated that £8.201m of savings would be required over the next four years to 2019/20.  Mr. Roddick explained that cuts of this level would represent a significant challenge and would lead to a change in the way policing was carried out.  He commented on the impact on Police Officer and Police Staff numbers and reflected on the success to date of protecting the front line from the financial cutbacks but acknowledged that further cuts would increase the pressure on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56.

(a)       That the verbal update on the Provisional Settlement and the Medium Term Financial Strategy be received; and

(b)       That the Leader and the Chief Executive be thanked for their efforts in lobbying on the Council’s behalf. 

The Chief Executive provided a verbal update on the Medium Term Financial Strategy.                     

                        He explained that the provisional settlement had been received the previous day and a full presentation would be provided to Cabinet at its meeting on 15 December 2015.  The provisional settlement was a draft but it rarely changed prior to the publication of the final version.  However, there was a longer consultation period to March 2016.  Based on intelligence from Welsh Government (WG) to expect the same rate of cut for 2016/17 as for 2015/16, the Council had been working on a reduction of 3.5% in Revenue Support Grant (RSG).  The average cut for Wales had been 1.4% and Flintshire County Council was to receive a reduction in RSG of 1.5% which put the authority at 12^th out of 22 Councils.  The difference between a reduction of 1.5% compared to 3.5% equated to £3.8m.  Details of specific grants had not yet been provided but it had been indicated that the Supporting People grant would not change which was positive.  It was anticipated that the Single Environment grant would be reduced by 6% to 7% and clarification was still awaited on the Families First grant.  However, the Council Tax Reduction Scheme was not inflation protected and therefore provision of the scheme would become a budget pressure of approximately £350,000 over the two years to date.  The Chief Executive said that it was important to remember that even though Flintshire was 12^th in the table for RSG, it was 19^th out of 22 for ‘per capita’ funding.  The average ‘per capita’ was £1309, Flintshire received £1196 and the highest figure was £1576 which was a substantial difference.  Discussions would be undertaken at a later date on the remaining budget gap.  The Chief Executive added that the Pupil Deprivation grant allocation per head was to increase from £1050 to £1150 which amounted to £250,000 but this figure was passported directly to schools. 

                        Councillor Aaron Shotton said that the timelines currently set for the budget meetings in December 2015 remained unchanged and further meetings would be arranged for January 2016 which would allow for the opportunity to consider the remaining budget gap.  He felt that the improved position in funding should be welcomed along with the strong case put forward by Flintshire County Council to argue the case against cuts to public services.  He felt that without the lobbying by the Council, the cuts by WG would have been greater and that the fact that the reduction was only 1.5% should be recognised as a success.  He commented on the additional Social Care funding which had been announced totalling £50m but indicated that this was already included in the RSG allocation which was based on a formula.  On the issue of Council Tax Reduction Scheme, further discussions needed to take place on exemptions to the scheme.  Councillor Aaron Shotton welcomed the lower than anticipated reduction in funding, as a result of lobbying, which he felt was positive. 

                        The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57.

(a)       That the Month 6 Revenue Budget Monitoring Report be received; and

(b)       That no formal recommendations be made to the Cabinet on this occasion.          

Revenue Budget Monitoring 2015/16 (Month 6)

                        The Corporate Finance Manager introduced a report to provide Members with the Revenue Budget Monitoring 2015/16 (Month 6) for the Council Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) which was to be submitted to Cabinet on 15 December 2015.  

            For the Council Fund, the projected net in-year expenditure was forecast to be £0.291m higher than budget which was a reduction of £0.304m on the overspend at Month 5.  Appendix 1 detailed the movements from Month 5 which included a higher than expected income as a result of an ongoing rental review for the premises in Ewloe.  Appendix 3 provided details of the latest position of the programme of efficiencies and it was projected that £10.770m (84%) would be achieved resulting in a net underachievement of £2.104m.  Taking into account the current overspend at Month 6, the balance on the contingency reserve at 31 March 2016 was projected to be £4.245m.  A summary of Earmarked Reserves as at 1 April 2015 was reported and the Month 6 estimate for the amount of reserves at 31 March 2016 was £15,922,928.  The section on risk management included details of the levy of 15% that the Council was required to pay for Municipal Mutual Insurance (MMI) and the requirement to increase this levy in the future.  Options were being considered for meeting the potential significant liability and would need to be met from the contingency reserves.

            The Month 6 monitoring report for the HRA was projecting in-year expenditure to be £0.147m lower than budget and a projected closing balance as at 31 March 2016 of £1.384m.      

            In response to a query from Councillor Robin Guest on the amount of the increase for the MMI, the Corporate Finance Manager explained that it was anticipated that it would be an increase of 20% from 15% to 35% which equated to £0.800m. 

            Councillor Richard Jones referred to the lower than anticipated income from the Telecare Service, which he had calculated as being 1,000 fewer people using the service over a 26 week period, and queried whether this was correct.  The Corporate Finance Manager indicated that the shortfall in income was for 52 weeks and explained that further information on the reason for the variance had been shared with Members in the summary circulated by the Member Engagement Manager the previous day.

            Councillor Jones also queried the overspend in Democratic Services of £0.110m for an efficiency that was agreed within the 2014/15 budget and the revised efficiency for Staff Car Parking Charges of £0.030m.  In response, the Chief Executive reiterated that a detailed explanation on the reduction in Telecare income had been provided to Members.  On the Democratic Services efficiency, he indicated that there had been a delay in the completion of the staffing review but confirmed that it would be implemented.  The Chief Executive added that the revised efficiency for Staff Car Parking was due to a delay in the implementation of the scheme within the County Hall complex.  The Chief  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

That the Committee accepts the reasons for the overspend in the Streetscene and Transportation Portfolio and is assured by the on-going work within the service to mitigate the overspend.

The Chief Officer (Streetscene and Transportation) introduced the report to provide more information on the reasons behind the projected overspend of £1.108m for the financial year 2015/16 in the Streetscene and Transportation Portfolio.  

                        He explained that the projected overspend was due to a number of elements which had been as a result of the delay in implementation of some proposals.  He assured Members that these delays would not reoccur in the future and were therefore one-off overspends. 

            Waste Collection Policy

                        The Council’s revised waste collection policy was approved by Cabinet in April 2015, which created a delay in the introduction of a number of revised working arrangements for the waste service.  The policies required significant consultation and could therefore not be implemented immediately after approval by Cabinet.  The cessation of the waste container delivery service which was introduced in July 2015 had resulted in an overspend of £50,000 and the new service charge for a second garden waste bin was to be introduced from March 2016 resulting in a loss of income of £25,000.  Following extensive public engagement and resident/member notifications, the seven day waste collection service had been introduced from mid-September which meant that the full year benefit had not been achieved. 

                        The proposed rationalisation and changes to Household Recycling Centre provision (HRC) were further delayed by a Call-in on the original Cabinet decision and as a result of the delay, the total overspend was £175,000. 

            Car Parking Strategy

                        The Strategy was approved in April 2015 and had been delayed due to the need for a full statutory consultation period which resulted in a loss of income amounting to £110,000 against the full year target at period 5. 

            Grass cutting policy

                        The grass cutting policy was also approved by Cabinet in April 2015 which included the reduction in the frequency of some grass cutting services and the decision to outsource some of the provision.  The decision came after the commencement of the grass cutting season and the delay resulted in the partial loss of the full year saving of £50,000. 

            Zero tolerance for littering

                        The Chief Officer (Streetscene and Transportation) explained that a later than expected introduction of the proposals had contributed to the overspend within the service which he was confident was a one-off. 

Other areas, including the reduced electricity sales from the gas engines at Brookhill and Standard landfill sites (shortfall in income of £150,000), the under achieving income levels in the waste recycling market (loss in income at period 5 of £236,000) and Denbighshire County Council reviewing its own contractual arrangements for composting their domestic garden waste (loss of £60,000 income), had all contributed to the overspend within the service.  The Chief Officer provided details of the reduction in rates per tonnage of glass, aluminium, steel and paper and said that, because this was a national problem, it had been identified as a corporate risk rather than a risk to the service. 

In response to a question from Councillor Marion Bateman about the gas  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59.

            That the Committee is assured by the progress and performance reported on within the Quarter 2 Improvement Plan Monitoring report.  

The Chief Executive introduced a report to provide an explanation of the progress being made towards the delivery of the impacts set out in the 2015/16 Improvement Plan.   

                        He commented on the new format as a result of the purchase of performance management software, CAMMS, which he felt was an excellent system.  There were two high level (Red) risk areas for this Committee which were the scale of the financial challenge, which was self-explanatory, and the second risk area on capacity and capability of the organisation to implement necessary changes. 

                        Councillor Richard Jones referred to the actions on Developing Communities and suggested that a figure to identify the numbers involved should be shown alongside the percentage completed figure.  He also queried the ‘yellow’ rating shown for the risk for ‘public attitude to accessing services on-line’ and was advised by the Chief Officer (Governance) that risks had five categories (green, amber, yellow, red and black) rather than the three of red, amber and green for performance indicators.                  

            RESOLVED:

            That the Committee is assured by the progress and performance reported on within the Quarter 2 Improvement Plan Monitoring report.  

(a)       That the Forward Work Programme, as submitted with the verbal amendments, be approved; and

(b)       That the Member Engagement Manager, in consultation with the Chair, Vice-Chair and officers, be authorised to vary the work programme between meetings.

The Member Engagement Manager introduced the report to consider the Forward Work Programme for the Committee. 

            He advised that the budget meeting for this Committee would take place on the morning of the 18 December 2015 with a ‘mop up’ meeting to which all Members would be invited, being held in the afternoon of the same day in the Council Chamber.  The Chief Executive indicated that the Corporate Services budget and Corporate Finance issues would be considered at the morning meeting. 

            The Member Engagement Manager detailed the items for consideration at the 14 January 2016 meeting of the Committee.  He explained that a further round of budget meetings would be held between 15 and 29 January 2016 and that Members would be advised once the dates for each Committee had been confirmed.  

            RESOLVED:

(a)       That the Forward Work Programme, as submitted with the verbal amendments, be approved; and

(b)       That the Member Engagement Manager, in consultation with the Chair, Vice-Chair and officers, be authorised to vary the work programme between meetings.

                        There was one member of the press and no members of the public in attendance.