Agenda, decisions and minutes

No declarations of interest were made. 

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 14 November 2013.

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

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 14 November 2013 had been circulated to Members with the agenda.   

RESOLVED:

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

That the following be noted:-

i)          the Medium Term Financial Plan as at 30 September 2013 

ii)         The Organisational Change and Re-Design Plan & Budget Strategy

iii)        The approach to sharing the budget strategy and proposals with Members over the coming three months. 

The Leader of the Council introduced the report to provide Members with an update on the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) 2014/15 – 2018/19.  He explained that the report had been submitted to Cabinet in October 2013 and included an updated MTFP as at 30 September 2013.  Member workshops on the 2014/15 budget were due to be held on 16 and 18 December 2013 with the scrutiny budget meetings taking place in January 2014.  The MTFP covered a five year period but the focus was on the budget for 2014/15 and the financial challenges that lay ahead.  This was an opportunity for Members to have a clear understanding of the principles that underpinned the MTFP and the workshops would allow Members to see how the principles had been applied. 

The Head of Finance detailed the background to the report and explained that the budget gap as projected at 30^th September was £16.5m for 2014/15 and £47m over the five year period of the MTFP.  This had been affected by the level of funding available to the Council, which was 80% from Welsh Government with the remaining 20% being from Council Tax.  The final settlement figure had been received the previous day which indicated that the budget gap was now £15.1m. 

The Corporate Finance Manager explained that prior to the settlement being received the funding forecasts had been revised to assume a cash reduction of 4% in both 2014/15 and 2015/16 and an assumed ‘cash flat’ position for the following years.  However the MTFP had subsequently been updated to reflect the settlement figures and also a change to the collection rate for Council Tax to 99% in line with the recent decision of Cabinet.  It was reported that the MTFP currently assumed grant levels remain the same as 2013/14 (£34.761m) as no details of any significant changes had been received at this stage.

Within the grants figure was £1.4m which was linked to the achievement of outcomes under the Outcome Agreement which the Council had with Welsh Government.  The Corporate Finance Manager advised that the MTFP assumed that all outcomes would be achieved and that the Council would receive the full grant settlement.  Each year an assessment is needed to be made on the inflationary increase required for service areas.  A detailed exercise had been carried out since May to target price inflationary increases to where there was a business need only, rather than a flat increase across all service areas.  The effect of this was to reduce the inflation provision requirement for 2014/15 from that previously assumed to £2.909m, a reduction of £1.118m.  The Corporate Finance Manager advised that no adjustment had been made at this stage for future years and the table in the report detailed the assumptions currently made. 

The full year effect of previous year budget decisions was required to be adjusted to the base budget in order to ‘follow through’ the decisions made in budgetary terms.  For 2014/15 the impact for all Service Areas  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.

That the reports be noted.         

The Corporate Finance Manager introduced a report to provide Members with the revenue budget monitoring 2013/14 (Month 6) information for the Council Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) which was being submitted to Cabinet on 17 December 2013.  

For the Council Fund, the projected net in-year expenditure was reported to be £1.012m less than the budget which was a decrease of £0.062m on the £1.074m reported at Month 5 as reflected in the table at paragraph 3.01. 

The main reasons for the changes related to two main areas, a reduction in the projected underspend of £0.171m in Community Services, although this was off set by by an improved position of £0.124m within Corporate Services.

Progress of the programme of efficiencies were detailed in paragraph 3.04 which currently indicated that £4.506m of the £5.331m included in the budget (84.5%) would be achieved, resulting in a net under-achievement of £0.825m; full details were provided in appendix 9. 

Paragraph 4 detailed the amounts for pay inflation and non standard price inflation which had not changed from Month 5 and the risks and assumptions were identified in section 5.00.  These included the increasing costs in relation to Out of County Placements,, costs associated with the former chemical plant in Sandycroft (Euticals Ltd) and also the risks associated with any periods of severe weather which would impact on the Winter Maintenance reserve.

The current position of unearmarked reserves was detailed in paragraphs 6.01 and 6.02 where it was reported that after taking account of an allocation for £0.518m for recovery costs following the March 2013 severe weather, and taking account of the impact of the projected in year budget position, the current projected level of the contingency reserve at the end of March 2014 was £3.653m.   

The Corporate Finance Manager also advised of a projected underspend of £0.062m on the HRA which was an increase on the underspend of £0.014m reported at Month 5.  The projected closing balance at Month 6 of £1.495m was 5.2% of the total expenditure and satisfied the prudent approach of ensuring a minimum level of 3%.  Appendix 8 detailed the reasons for significant variances occurring to date and the actions planned to deal with them.    

In response to a query from Councillor Haydn Bateman about the lower than anticipated levels of income for Fixed Penalty Notices for Highways Development Control & Regulatory Services, the Corporate Finance Manager advised that he would provide a written response. 

Councillor Bateman also asked about the variance of £0.276m in Repairs and Maintenance and its cause.  The Corporate Finance Manager said that the increase in costs was to do with an increase in the number of jobs undertaken so there was an overspend on materials but that work was ongoing to try and mitigate some of the overspend in the second half of the financial year.  The Head of Finance said that the HRA was still anticipated to come in on target so overall, it was a good news story.  The Leader of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.

That the Workforce Information report for quarter two for 2013/14 be noted.         

The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development introduced a report to provide Members with an update for the second quarter 2013/14 on the following areas:-

·        Establishment

·        Headcount

·        Agency

·        Turnover

·        Diversity

·        Absence

On the issue of Agency placements, the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development indicated that Members had requested that information on the length of the placements be included in the Workforce Information reports but this had been omitted.  She apologised and advised that the details would be included in future reports and that the information would be sent to Members electronically.  The table in paragraph 3.04 included details of the number of placements for July to September and showed a reduction on the same period in 2012 and a continuing pattern of the number of agency workers used.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development explained there were particular areas where agency placements exceeded 12 weeks and where the use of agency workers was high.  She explained that plans were in place in some service areas to review working patterns, with the intention of making optimum use of the existing workforce, which would align with the implementation of new terms and conditions under Single Status, thereby allowing for significant reductions in the number of agency placements from April 2014.  The number of days lost due to absence in quarter 2 had increased slightly from the comparative quarter in 2012/13 but a number of areas where the absence rates had been consistently high were starting to improve.    There was a slight improvement in the number of employees who had 100% attendance which represented an increase of 1% when compared to the same quarter in 2012/13.  it was agreed that the Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development would submit a report to a future meeting of the Committee on the ongoing work being undertaken on improving attendance.   

Councillor Haydn Bateman referred to the figures reported for days lost due to absence and the significant increase in stress/depression related absences and queried how this would be addressed.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that tools, techniques and training were in place to urge managers to intervene with employees as early as possible and to provide proactive support where necessary.  She said that it could be an area to focus on in a follow up report. 

Councillor Arnold Woolley said that where there was a mix of stress spread across domestic, social and work areas, it was important to ensure that the Council did not end up compensating for this and asked if there were any measures in place to guard against it happening.  The Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development said that this was a multi faceted and complex area and there was a need to focus on managing workplace stress as effectively as possible.   

RESOLVED:

That the Workforce Information report for quarter two for 2013/14 be noted.         

(a)       That the Forward Work Programme be noted; and

(b)       That the Member Engagement Manager pass on the suggestions from Councillor Woolley to the Environment Overview & Scrutiny Committee Facilitator. 

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

He explained that the Budget workshops for Members were due to take place on 16^th and 18^th December 2013 at 2pm and detailed the items due to be considered at the January and February 2014 meetings of the Committee.  Following a discussion earlier in the meeting, the Workforce Information Quarter 3 report scheduled for February 2014 would include details of the ongoing work being undertaken on improving attendance. 

Councillor Arnold Woolley asked that the following issues be considered by the Committee as he felt that they were threats to resources:-

- Issue of changing legislation on local authorities responding to flood relief

- responsibilities of a third Dee crossing, and its maintenance

- Mostyn Funship

The Member Engagement Manager said that the issues were in the remit of the Environment Overview & Scrutiny Committee and that he would pass on the suggestions to the Committee Facilitator.  The Chief Executive confirmed that the first two items could be considered but that the third issue was a private land issue. 

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the Forward Work Programme be noted; and

(b)       That the Member Engagement Manager pass on the suggestions from Councillor Woolley to the Environment Overview & Scrutiny Committee Facilitator. 

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