Agenda, decisions and minutes

No declarations of interest were made.

No declarations of interest were made.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 2 July 2014.

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

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 2 July 2014 had been circulated with the agenda.

Matters Arising

Minute 6: Wales Audit Office (WAO) Performance Audit Regulatory Programme 2014-15 - the Chief Executive said that he had made a request to the WAO for further information on its governance arrangements and financing to answer the specific questions from the previous meeting.

RESOLVED:

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

(a)       That the contents of the report be noted; and

(b)       That written responses be provided to Councillor Woolley’s written observations and questions, by 8 August 2014.

The Chief Executive introduced an update on the Functional Value for Money (VFM) Programme and the Programme Management arrangements in place, as requested at the previous meeting.  A total of £7.5m of functional VFM efficiencies were included in the 2014/15 budget, monitored through a programme management system supported by the tracking spreadsheet shared with Members which showed progress and levels of risk.  This indicated that overall progress against individual targets was consistently strong.  The workforce efficiencies achieved at this stage were below target with further work to be done.

The Corporate Finance Manager spoke about the monitoring process to assess progress and risk on each initiative, involving communication links between Service Heads and Finance Managers, regular review by the Functional VFM Board and updates to the Chief Officer Team.  Progress on the achievement of all efficiencies included in the 2014/15 budget would be incorporated in the regular budget monitoring reports from Month 3.

Councillor Robin Guest asked whether the identification of around 40% of target workforce efficiencies had resulted in specific savings.  The Chief Executive confirmed that these efficiencies had been achieved to date through the reduction of posts at all levels by voluntary agreement.

Councillor Arnold Woolley suggested that the format of the spreadsheet could be improved by avoiding the use of acronyms and replacing the colour coding with a corner flash or ‘RAG’ status circle to reduce printing costs and for ease of reading.  The Chief Executive agreed to review this but explained that the document was a standard format used by officers and shared with the Committee.  Councillor Woolley went on to suggest the inclusion of more detail on the delivery of actions, such as the allocation of workload from voluntary redundant posts, and commented on the updating of information in the spreadsheet.

In response to queries raised on efficiencies for Learning Disabilities, the Chief Executive said that consultation on changes to on-call arrangements were taking place and that the two other efficiencies questioned in this area were both achievable.

In thanking Councillor Woolley for his questions, the Chair suggested that the full list of questions be passed to the officers to enable a detailed response to be shared with the full Committee prior to the next meeting.  Councillor Woolley agreed and went on to refer to the Committee’s role in scrutinising. The Chief Executive agreed with this approach given that some of the issues within the spreadsheet were specialist areas and said that a response would be provided to the Committee within a week.  Councillor Clive Carver asked that the questions and answers be circulated to the Committee by email as well as hard copy.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the contents of the report be noted; and

(b)       That written responses be provided to Councillor Woolley’s written observations and questions, by 8 August 2014.

That the comments/observations of the Committee are fed back to the Policy, Performance & Partnerships Team who are responsible for the overview and monitoring of improvement targets, for inclusion in the report to Cabinet.

The Committee received a report to note and consider the 2013/14 year end service performance report produced under the adopted business model of the Council, covering the period January to March 2014.  The responsible officers each gave a short presentation on performance, outlining work which had been undertaken to improve performance and areas where improvement was needed, as outlined within the report.

Finance

The Chair offered her congratulations to the Revenues & Benefits team for their excellent work in providing assistance.

Councillor Paul Shotton welcomed the news that the Council was the joint highest performer in Wales for the collection of Council Tax and the second highest in collecting Non Domestic Rates (NDR).  He stressed the importance of residents being able to seek assistance from the Flintshire Connects offices and asked for an update on footfall at the offices.  The Chief Executive said that monthly statistics would be shared with the Committee.

In response to a question from Councillor Clive Carver on Court action taken by the Council for two outstanding amounts of NDR, the Revenues & Benefits Manager explained that the two companies had exposed a legal loophole in changes to NDR charges on empty properties.  He said that the Council had paid a proportion of the legal costs which could not be recovered beyond £70, as set out by the Welsh Government (WG), however an administration grant from WG was used to cover partial costs such as legal action.  When asked for the approximate cost to the Council of the Court action, the Revenues & Benefits Manager estimated this to be around £9K but would confirm the actual figure after the meeting.  The Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance said that the loophole was of national significance and was proud that Flintshire had been at the forefront of instigating legal action to stop this practice.

Councillor Robin Guest felt that the Council should be offered a contribution from the WG or central Government in recognition of the positive outcome from the legal action.  On the success in Council Tax collection rates, the Revenues & Benefits Manager said that the emphasis of work had changed to debt management to proactively assist customers and resolve future payments which was supported by the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and the Fair Debt Policy which was in place to assist households.

Councillor Mike Peers remarked on the need to improve sickness absence figures in the Council and asked that commentary in the report reflect the current position rather than stating that the target had not been met but had improved from the previous year.  When asked about the amount of uncollected Council Tax, the Revenues & Benefits Manager said that this was in the region of £180K per annum.

The Chief Officer (People & Resources) commented on the need for a consistent approach to reporting attendance management and benchmarking within the new portfolio area to give a better understanding.  Proactive actions were taken to address absences, with reports reflecting long and short-term absences.

The Chief Executive said that attendance figures  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

That the report be received.

The Head of ICT & Customer Services introduced a report to note and consider elements of the 2013/14 Year End Improvement Plan Monitoring Report relevant to the Committee for the period January to March 2014.

Achieving Efficiency Targets

Councillor Mike Peers asked for explanation on differences in progress on some of the value for money reviews.  The Head of ICT & Customer Services referred to the spreadsheet discussed earlier in the meeting and said that efficiencies to be delivered in-year were tracked in monthly monitoring reports.

Councillor Peers felt it was unwise to describe a shortfall of £125K against the procurement cost efficiency target as a ‘slight’ amount.  The Corporate Finance Manager said that this was a fair point although the amount was in relation to the target of £1.723m.  He went on to say that the shortfall had been accounted for and offset by other efficiencies.

Access to Council Services

Councillor Peers felt that more promotion was needed on the excellent Flintshire mobile ‘app’ which allowed contact with the Council but felt it would be useful to include a facility to comment on previous incidents.  He expressed his disappointment at the decision taken by North Wales Police (NWP) not to take up occupancy at Flintshire Connects in Buckley.  The Head of ICT & Customer Services explained that NWP had agreed to hold regular surgeries at the office but had opted not to take up permanent residence due to the cost of converting the offices to requirements.

Following a question from Councillor Arnold Woolley on Flintshire Connects branches, it was explained that North Wales Police shared accommodation in both Holywell and Flint but not at Connah’s Quay.

RESOLVED:

That the report be received.

That the reports be noted.

Revenue Budget Monitoring 2013/14 (Outturn)

The Corporate Finance Manager introduced a report on the Council Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) outturn for 2013/14 (subject to audit) and the impact on the respective level of reserves at 31 March 2014, as endorsed by Cabinet and reflected in the Statement of Accounts reported to Audit Committee on 16 July 2014.

For the Council Fund, the final net in-year expenditure was £3.387m less than the budget, which was an increase of £0.235m reported at Month 12.  A contingency reserve balance of £5.328m was reported, as at 31 March 2014.  Details of all variances against the budget were shown in the report, along with a brief overview of the year.

An update on efficiencies advised that £4.213m had been achieved during the financial year, representing 79% of the target.  An overview was given of the latest position on non-standard inflation, as included in the report.  The latest position on unearmarked reserves reported the final level of contingency reserve as £5.328m as at 31 March 2014.

It was explained that this would be increased to £6.073m in 2014/15 due to the repayment of exit costs (associated with Phase 1 of the senior management review) to the reserve, as a result of these costs needing to be accounted for in 2013/14.  A sentence omitted from the report stated that the amount would be offset by projected costs of £0.696m incurred in 2014/15 associated with Organisational Change & Redesign and approved by delegated powers.

On the HRA, a net underspend of £0.229m was reported, leaving a closing balance of £1.662m at 31 March 2014, which was 5.81% of the total expenditure, exceeded the recommended minimum level of 3%.

In response to queries raised by Councillor Mike Peers on variances within the Council Fund and HRA, the Corporate Finance Manager agreed to circulate information on costs and the likely completion date of the investigation within Waste.  He would also liaise with Housing colleagues to respond with explanation on the sub-contractor overspend of £0.437m due to adverse weather conditions.  In relation to variances in Leisure Services, it was explained that additional resources had been agreed as part of the budget process for 2014/15 to address this and that any new variances would be included in monthly budget reporting as usual.

Councillor Peers said that no supporting information had been provided to explain why the £0.060m efficiency under the Flintshire Futures Assets Workstream (Facilities Management) had not been achieved.  The Head of ICT & Customer Services explained that some delays had occurred on the closure of the Connah’s Quay office following the opening of Flintshire Connects, however a full response would be provided to the Committee.

As a general comment, the Corporate Finance Manager referred to the level of detail in the report and suggested that a better approach may be for Members to share questions on specific service areas in advance of the meeting to enable a full response to be given.

The Chair referred to the increase in projected  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

That the content of the reports be noted.

The Corporate Finance Manager introduced a report to provide Members with the first available Revenue Budget Monitoring information for 2014/15 (as at Month 2) for the Council Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) as approved by Cabinet on 15 July 2014.

The level of detail contained within the report had been impacted by the need for resources to be diverted to work on the closure of the accounts for 2013/14 within the statutory deadline, however communication was continuing with service managers on changes in demand to their respective areas.

Some emerging issues and risks had been identified, as detailed, and included out of county placements, deprivation of liberty assessments, professional support (leaving care), Single Status and the former Euticals site.

No significant variations had been identified in the HRA.

The position on unearmarked reserves reported that the final level of Council Fund Contingency Reserve brought forward into 2014/15 was £5.328m, as noted in the previous agenda item.

An update on the progress against the Corporate Efficiencies and Workforce Efficiencies was included in the report as discussed in the earlier agenda item.

During an update on the monitoring of efficiencies, the Head of ICT & Customer Services reported that following the first voluntary redundancy programme earlier in the year, work was underway to deal with a number of deferred voluntary redundancy applications prior to a follow-up programme in late August/September 2014.

On the former Euticals site, Councillor Robin Guest asked whether assistance sought from the Welsh Government (WG) would impact on the ownership of the site.  The Corporate Finance Manager said that this would need to be a consideration when seeking a response from WG.

RESOLVED:

That the content of the reports be noted.

That the Forward Work Programme, as amended at the meeting, be approved.

The Member Engagement Manager introduced the report to enable the Committee to consider the Forward Work Programme.  The following suggestions were agreed:

·         Items on the Wales Audit Office Certificate of Compliance and Budget Setting and Budgetary Control Arrangements for the meeting on 11 September 2014.

·         Update on the flexible working pilot on 9 October 2014.

·         The Member Engagement Manager to liaise with the Chair and Chief Officer (People & Resources) to schedule future items on Agile Working and Health & Wellbeing.

Councillor Arnold Woolley requested items on the Funship in Mostyn (responsibility, removal of assets and liability) and the transfer of maintenance costs of the Flintshire bridge in Connah’s Quay.  The Member Engagement Manager said that he would provide a response outside the meeting.

The Member Engagement Manager advised that the People Strategy Implementation workshop was likely to be held on the afternoon of Monday 20 October 2014, but would confirm in writing to the Committee.

Following a comment from Councillor Robin Guest, it was noted that progress on functional value for money reviews would be included as part of the budget monitoring reports to the Committee.

RESOLVED:

That the Forward Work Programme, as amended at the meeting, be approved.

There were two members of the press in attendance.