Agenda, decisions and minutes

Councillor Arnold Woolley declared a personal interest in agenda item 4 – Improvement Plan Monitoring Report, as he was Chair of the Flintshire Scouts Executive Committee.  

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 13 March 2014.  (copy enclosed)

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

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 13 March, 2014 had been circulated to Members with the agenda.

Matters Arising

            Councillor Clive Carver referred to the penultimate paragraph on page 4 and indicated that he had not received the information on the number of vacancies that had been requested at the meeting.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development apologised for the delay in providing the information but advised that she had sent it to the Member Engagement Manager just before the start of this meeting for circulation to Members.  She asked Members to contact her if they had any further queries following receipt of the information. 

RESOLVED:

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

            That the Committee notes the 2013/14 Mid Year Improvement Plan Monitoring Report and will continue to highlight and monitor poor performance and feedback details of any challenge to the Policy, Performance & Partnerships Team for reporting to Cabinet where appropriate.   

The Chairman introduced the report for Members to note and consider elements of the 2013/14 Mid Year Improvement Plan Monitoring report relevant to the Committee for the period October to December 2013.  He introduced the officers in attendance for each section to the Committee.   

                        Councillor Richard Jones felt that presentations by the officers should be provided as had been at the earlier meeting of Housing Overview & Scrutiny Committee. 

                        Councillor Paul Shotton referred to appendix one on Welfare Reform and asked whether assistance had been put in place to help tenants who wanted to downsize and he welcomed that employees in the Flintshire Connects offices would be able to provide assistance to Universal Credit claimants.  He also sought clarification on whether the Connah’s Quay Flintshire Connects office would be opening in June 2004 as scheduled and whether it would enable a more agile working arrangement.  In response, the Revenues and Benefits Manager said that the lack of smaller properties for tenants to move into was a problem and work was ongoing to try and identify an outcome.  On the issue of Universal Credit, he commented on the partnership agreement that was in place to provide support for claimants, which was funded by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).  He added that the first tranche in the pilot scheme were single people under the age of 25 so an increase in demand for assistance was not expected due to the small numbers eligible under the pilot scheme.  The Head of ICT and Customer Services confirmed that the Connah’s Quay Flintshire Connects office was expected to open on 9 June 2014 as scheduled.  The majority of staff from the Connah’s Quay Council Office were being relocated to the Flint office along with some employees from Phase 4 in County Hall.  Due to the number of staff now based in the Flint office, agile working was being adopted and encouraged. 

                        Councillor Arnold Woolley queried the date on appendix one and was assured by the Head of ICT and Customer Services that the data related to Quarter 3 – October to December 2013. 

                        In referring to the issue of hotdesking and agile working, Councillor Marion Bateman asked whether it was possible for Members to have Flintshire County Council owned mobile phone numbers for officers working from home as they were not displayed on the infonet.  The Head of ICT and Customer Services confirmed that officer’s work extension numbers could be transferred to an alternative number such as their mobile or home number.  However, this was not applied consistently in all areas of the Council and he agreed that Flintshire County Council owned mobile numbers should be published on the infonet.  Councillor Clive Carver also raised concern about not being able to contact those officers who were working from home.  He referred to the Council’s new website which he had experienced difficulty in navigating around as he felt that some of the information was not where he expected it to be.  Councillor Richard Jones also  ...  view the full minutes text for item 90.

            That the report be noted.        

The Head of Finance introduced a report to provide Members with the Revenue Budget Monitoring 2013/14 (Month 10) information for the Council Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) which had been submitted to Cabinet on 15 April 2014.  She introduced the Finance Manager to the Committee.   On this occasion, the information had gone to Cabinet prior to coming to Scrutiny simply as a result of the change made to the date of the April meeting.

                        For the Council Fund, the projected net in-year expenditure was reported to be £2.151m less than budget which was an increase of £0.170m on the £1.981m reported at Month 9.  The main items contributing to the £0.170m variance included the identification of efficiencies under the Corporate Administration review and improved trading and reduced costs in Leisure which was offset by an overall increase in the cost of Out of County placements.  This continued to be a significant pressure on the budget and there was a need to ensure the issue was monitored for the remainder of the 2013/14 financial year and into 2014/15 and onwards. 

Carry forward requests were detailed in paragraphs 3.06 to 3.11 which were for works which had been planned for 2013/14 but had not been completed during this period.  Section 5 detailed the budget assumptions and new risks and explained that the costs associated with the clean up of the former chemical plan in Sandycroft (Euticals Ltd) were being monitored monthly.  The Head of Finance explained that it had previously been projected that the cost to the Council in 2013/14 would be £0.400m but it was now expected to be nearer to £0.300m, with further costs in 2014/15 which were being quantified; further details of the costs would be sent to Members when available.  She added that the Council were now in ownership of the site and once the clean-up had been completed, it was planned that the site would be decommissioned and sold.  Agreement of the clean up decommissioning plan would determine the cost in 2014/15.

The projected contingency reserve balance at 31 March 2014 was £4.792m.  The overall projected underspend for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) for 2013/14 was £0.089m and a projected closing balance at Month 10 of £1.522m, which at 5.33% of total expenditure satisfied the prudent approach of ensuring a minimum level of 3%. 

                        In response to a query from Councillor Marion Bateman about whether the Council had incurred costs of £0.300m for the clear-up of the former Euticals site, the Head of Finance said that the Council and Natural Resources Wales had incurred costs and financial help had been sought from the Welsh Government but this had not been made available. Flintshire County Council had incurred costs due to it’s responsibilities for environmental protection to make the site safe and it was unlikely that all of the costs would be recovered. 

                        Councillor Haydn Bateman asked about the winter maintenance reserve and whether it had been used.  The Head of Finance explained that as part  ...  view the full minutes text for item 91.

            That the report be noted. 

The Revenues and Benefits Manager introduced a report to update Members on the latest position regarding Welfare Reform. 

                        He detailed the background to the report explaining that it had been agreed that arrangements were needed to report on the operational aspects of managing Welfare Reform.  Members had received an update at a workshop in November 2013 and the report which was aligned to the Council’s performance reporting cycle had been submitted to Cabinet in March 2014 and Housing Overview & Scrutiny Committee in April 2014.  He provided details on the following key areas:-

·        Benefit Cap

·        Maximum Rent Social Sector (MRSS)

·        Council Tax Reduction Scheme

·        Discretionary Assistance Fund (DAF)

·        Personal Independence Payments

·        Universal Credit (UC)

·        Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP)

·        Welfare Reform Training and Development Programme

·        Welfare Reform Response Team (WRRT)

The Leader of the Council thanked the Revenues and Benefits Manager for the detailed report.  He detailed the reasons for its submission to other forums and said that the Council should be proud that it had gone above and beyond what other Councils had done in the United Kingdom and it meant that the Council was not fire-fighting.  On the issue of Universal Credit, he said that the Council had not asked to be part of the pilot scheme and Shotton was the only area in Wales that had been selected.  The point of the report was that once the Welfare Reform board had been dissolved and all was operational, there had been a need to ensure that all involved received updates, which he hoped Members welcomed and would continue to receive them in the future. 

            Councillor Paul Shotton thanked officers for the report but stated that he found aspects of the information reported to members about the impacts of welfare reform concerning.  He referred to the crisis loan scheme which had been replaced by the DAF which was a cash limited fund which would initially run until March 2015.  He asked whether a scheme would be put in place to replace the DAF when it ceased.  He commented on the loophole within the MRSS (commonly known as Bedroom Tax) which had since been closed and the undertaking by Councils in London to move benefit claimants out of London because of the Benefit Cap.  Councillor Shotton raised concern about the distress caused due to the delay in processing Personal Independence Payments and asked whether any processes were in place to rectify the problems experienced.  He spoke of the Universal Credit pilot scheme in Shotton which had resulted in three claims being received and welcomed the comment that support would be provided for those affected at the Connah’s Quay Council and Citizen’s Advice Bureau offices.  In response, the Revenues and Benefits Manager advised that the DAF scheme in England would not be available from April 2015 but an announcement for Wales was still awaited. 

            Councillor Ian Smith queried whether any tenants had been made homeless and asked whether tenants were building up rent arrears because of the ‘bedroom tax’.  In response, the Revenues  ...  view the full minutes text for item 92.

(a)       That the Forward Work Programme be approved subject to the Committee noting that the Annual Improvement Report from Wales Audit Office may not be available for May 2014;   

(b)       That the Workforce Information Report including progress on appraisals be included in the Forward Work Programme; and

(c)        That updates on the Euticals issue be included within the Revenue Budget Monitoring reports. 

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

            He detailed the items reported for consideration at the 8 May, 12 June and 10 July 2014 meetings but added that the Workforce Information report had been omitted from the Forward Work Programme.  During earlier discussions, further information on appraisals had been requested, and the Member Engagement Manager suggested that this be incorporated into the Workforce Information report. 

            The Head of ICT and Customer Services advised that due to delays in the receipt of the Annual Improvement Report from Wales Audit Office, the report might not be available for consideration at the 8 May 2014 meeting. 

            In response to a query from Councillor Richard Lloyd about whether a monthly update on the former Euticals site at Sandycroft was to be provided, the Member Engagement Manager advised that he would ask the Head of Finance to include the information in the monthly Revenue Budget Monitoring reports about the amounts spent on the site. 

            RESOLVED:

(a)       That the Forward Work Programme be approved subject to the Committee noting that the Annual Improvement Report from Wales Audit Office may not be available for May 2014;   

(b)       That the Workforce Information Report including progress on appraisals be included in the Forward Work Programme; and

(c)        That updates on the Euticals issue be included within the Revenue Budget Monitoring reports. 

                        There was one member of the press in attendance.