Agenda, decisions and minutes

No declarations of interest were made.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 19 November 2012.

(a)       That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman; and

(b)       That the Member Engagement Manager place Variances in Social Services budget monitoring reports on the Forward Work Programme.

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 19 November 2012  had been circulated to Members with the agenda.

Matters Arising

                        The Chairman referred to page 5 of the minutes and variances and said that he had met with the Corporate Finance Manager to discuss how variances could be made more easily identifiable.  A further meeting would take place between the Chairman, Councillor C.S. Carver and the Corporate Finance Manager.

                        Councillor C. A. Thomas referred to page 5 and said that she had not received a response from the Corporate Finance Manager on the under spend in the School Improvement Service and the variance under Agricultural Estates Service.  The Corporate Finance Manager said that he had sent information to Councillor Thomas the previous week via email. Councillor C. A. Thomas said that the auto forwarding facility on her Flintshire email address was no longer in operation.  She asked if this service could be reinstated.  The Chief Executive said that a personal email address could be used instead of the Flintshire address, but in doing so, responsibility for security of emails would rest with the councillor.

                        The Chairman referred to page 8 and said that variances in Social Services budget monitoring reports should be added to the Forward Work Programme.

            RESOLVED:

(a)       That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman; and

(b)       That the Member Engagement Manager place Variances in Social Services budget monitoring reports on the Forward Work Programme.

            (a)       That the report is received and:

            (b)       That the printing format of the appendices be reviewed.

            (c)        That information about variances of over £25,000 should be reported. 

            (d)       That a net position of zero be removed from future reports.      

The Corporate Finance Manager introduced a report on the Revenue Budget Monitoring 2012/13 (Month 6) which was due to be considered by Cabinet on 18 December.   

                        The latest forecast projected an in-year overspend of £0.714 million on the Council Fund and a projected net under spend of £0.349 million on the Housing Revenue Account. 

                        For Council Fund there was an improvement on the month 5 position of £0.269m which mainly related to a reduced overspend of £0.078m within Corporate Services and an increased under spend of £0.191 m within Central and Corporate.  The reasons for all variances over month 5 were included in Appendix 1 of the report.

                        The Corporate Finance Manager highlighted the risks and assumptions in relation to the projection and also the non standard inflation held in respect of Energy for Street Lighting, Energy, Fuel and Food.  To date only the allocations for fuel of £0.196m and food for £0.133m had been allocated to service areas.  The allocations for energy continue to be held centrally although latest forecasts suggest that the allocations will be required in full.

                        The current projected level of contingency reserve at the end of March 2013 was an overdrawn amount of £0.083 million.

                        The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) latest projection was an under spend of £349,000 which would mean a closing balance at the end of the financial year of £1.419m, which at 5.2% of total expenditure satisfied the minimum level of 3%.

                        Councillor D. Mackie said that the way the appendices had been printed made them difficult to read.  The Head of Finance said that she would speak to Committee Services to see if this matter could be rectified.

                        Councillor R.G. Hampson asked whether the £349,000 under spend on the HRA could be used to increase spend on improving the council housing stock.  The Chief Executive confirmed that all efficiencies were reinvested in property repair and maintenance and that a number of targets e.g. bathroom replacement were being exceeded as a result. 

                        Councillor G. H. Bateman asked about the budget pressure of £25,000 that had been caused by the relocation of Leisure Services staff to Deeside Leisure Centre.  The Chief Executive said that this represented the office space left behind at County Hall, and the costs associated with loss of rental and ongoing utility costs as an accounting exercise for property costs. 

                        Councillor P. Shotton asked about the grant settlement for Flintshire from the Welsh Government and how the welfare reforms would affect this.  The Head of Finance said that there were budget pressures in 2012-13 which related to increased staffing in benefits section, costs of systems and that these would run into 2013-14.  A total of £8.8m of Council Tax Benefit support funding had been awarded to Flintshire, but the impact of the policy change had not yet been fully investigated.  The Chief Executive said that the public had to be consulted about the changes and that members would be made aware of the consultations.  He said that the £8.8m funding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

            (a)       That the reports be received.

(b)       That copier invoice errors be pursued.

(c )       That 100% of undisputed invoices should be paid in 30 days.

(d)       That Human Resources explore new categories to avoid the use of “other” and that for quarter 3, reports about short and long term absences would be available.

(e)       That a report on the progress of the Physiotherapy project be submitted to committee in April 2013.

(f)        That it be recommended that the business case for tablets include savings associated with electronic handbooks, diaries and A-Z.

(g)       That Councillor J. Johnson be provided with further information about dog fouling enforcement. 

Finance

                        The Head of Finance presented the Quarter 2 Service Performance Report from Finance which covered the period 1 July 2012 to 30 September 2012.

                        An update regarding the final settlement for Flintshire County Council would be given to cabinet the following week.  The medium term financial strategy 2013-14 would be discussed in January 2013.   A team from Finance had been working on Single Status with Human Resources.  The Revenues and Benefits team were awarded IWRB improved team of the year.  The Revenues team had successfully piloted agile working in their department and it would now be offered to Benefits in quarter 3. Finance staff had been working with Flintshire Futures on corporate investment, corporate debt policy and fees and charges.  The Finance Review was near completion with the new structure to be in place from 7 January 2013.

                        The Head of Finance summarised the performance indicator results for quarter 2.  The quarter outturn for Performance Indicator CFH/006, Percentage of undisputed invoices paid on time (30 days) was 78.8% which fell short of the quarter target of 95%.  This was partly attributed to a temporary technical problem with invoice payment system.   

                        Councillor C.S. Carver said that every councillor had been sent an invoice for photocopying, and was surprised at the amount of copies used.  The Member Engagement Manager said that he would investigate the photocopying costs for Democratic Services.  Councillor N. R. Steele Mortimer said that 100% of undisputed invoices should be paid within 30 days.  The Chief Executive agreed that a target of 100% should be the aspiration

            Human Resources and Organisational Development

                        The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development presented the Quarter 2 Service Performance Report from Human Resources and Organisational Development which covered the period 1 July 2012 to 30 September 2012.

                        An update was given on ongoing projects undertaken by the department such as Single Status which now had a new timetable for implementation which was likely to be June 2013.  It was envisaged that equal pay claims would be settled after the implementation of single status towards the end of 2013.  A review of policies, including agile working policies was now underway.  Phase 2 of I-Trent Manager Self Service was now complete.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development explained that the Occupational Health Partnership Agreement with Wrexham County Borough Council was continuing to operate “successfully”.  She said that the aim was to offer Occupational Health services to other Councils and/or organisations and operate more as a semi-commercial Unit in the future.

                        The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that performance indicator CHR/002 – The number of working days/shifts per full time equivalent (FTE) local authority employee lost due to sickness absence for quarter 2 was 2.3 days.  The target for quarter 2 had been 2.00 days.

Councillor C.S. Carver thanked the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development for the report.  He asked about the categories used to define reasons for sickness absence and asked what the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

That the Forward Work Programme be amended to reflect the suggestions made.

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

            The next meeting was to be held on 17 January 2013 and no changes had been identified for the programme for the meeting.

It was agreed that a Flintshire Futures Work Force programme report by Flintshire Futures be submitted to committee by the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development for the 14 February 2013 meeting.

            It was agreed that a Procurement Report by the Head of ICT and Customer Service be submitted to the committee for the 14 March 2013 meeting.

            It was agreed that a progress report about the Physiotherapy Service by the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development be submitted to the committee for the 18 April 2013 meeting or thereafter.

            The Member Engagement Manager asked if the committee wished to set up a Task and Finish Group to look at variances, with Social Services being the first focus as suggested by the Chief Executive at the November meeting.   This was agreed by the committee and members nominated to serve on this group were Councillors R. Jones, M. Bateman. G. H. Bateman, P. Shotton and I. A. Dunbar.

RESOLVED:

That the Forward Work Programme be amended to reflect the above suggestions.

                        The meeting commenced at 10 a.m. and ended at 1.00 p.m.

There were no members of the public or press in attendance.