Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on 14 December 2010.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 14 December 2010 were approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any Declarations of Interest from Members.

Councillors David Rendel and Jeff Beck declared an interest in Agenda Item 5, but reported that, as their interest was personal and not prejudicial, they determined to remain to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.

Purpose: To receive an update on actions following the previous Committee.  

The Committee considered a report providing the information requested at the previous meeting (Agenda Item 4).

Policy and Communication Budget

Information was provided as requested at the last meeting, when concerns were raised that Policy and Communication were delivering budget underspends year on year.  It was noted that the majority of savings consistently came from freezing posts, with examples provided for four posts in 2010/11.  These posts had been deleted with effect from 1 April 2011. 

A view was given that as the decision to freeze posts was taken early in the year then perhaps not all the posts were necessary.  A concern was added that this was inflating the budget unnecessarily with a view to using savings to offset overspends elsewhere. 

(Councillor David Goff joined the meeting at 6.35pm).

The post of Economic Development Officer had been filled on a secondment since June/July 2010 to the end of the financial year.  There was some concern expressed that this post would not be continuing, particularly in the current economic climate.  Further information was requested on the saving delivered from this post as it was only frozen in the first quarter and whether a saving had been made from the seconded member of staff’s substantive post. 

Andy Walker assured Members that there was a business case for each of these posts and there was no unnecessary budgeting.  This would continue to be the case for future budget discussions. 

It was suggested that the post of Civil Contingency Officer became less of a need when relevant plans and policies had been produced.

Legal and Electoral Service Budget

This had been added to the work programme for discussion at a future meeting.

Corporate Property Asset Management Plan (AMP)

The valuations of properties listed in the Asset Register were based on existing use and not open market value.  Andy Walker explained that this was not an issue when/if the Council sought to borrow money as this would not be done against existing assets.

It was believed that a property holding needed to be of a certain value for it to be considered.  It was agreed that this amount would be requested.

The potential for the timings of condition surveys and valuations to be linked was being considered.

It had been advised that further detail on disposals could be provided on request, but had not been included in the AMP.  Members felt that detail should be included in the AMP for properties where disposal was under consideration.  It was agreed that this view would be communicated to the Head of Property and Public Protection and Portfolio Holder for Property. 

An update was requested on whether the Asset Register could be appended to the AMP. 

The potential to remortgage properties/release equity was queried last time and Andy Walker advised that there were no restrictions to enter into such an arrangement.  There would however need to be reasons for doing so and, while all financing streams were explored, this was not seen as the best financial option  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.

Purpose: To discuss the measures being taken to manage the Directorate budget, with a particular focus on Adult Social Care. 

(Councillors David Rendel and Jeff Beck declared a personal interest in Agenda item 5 by virtue of the fact that they had relatives living in a care home in West Berkshire.  As their interest was personal and not prejudicial they were permitted to take part in the debate and vote on the matter).

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 5) concerning the budget pressures within Adult Social Care.

Jan Evans introduced the item by highlighting the following points made in the report:

·                    The month 8 budget position was little changed from that reported at month 7, with a forecast overspend of just over £2m. 

·                    Negotiations with NHS Berkshire West with regard to Continuing Health Care cases did not achieve the level of savings hoped for.

·                    A pressure of £830k had been identified due to the number and complexity of need of older residents and those with a physical disability.  An example of this was where an elderly individual, who was perhaps very frail, was discharged from hospital with substantial needs to be met to allow them to stay in their own home.  Two carers often had to be employed in this circumstance. 

·                    The option of ceasing to offer new nursing home placements was considered, but there was concern that the Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH) would fine local authorities for delayed transfer of care which removed this possibility.  The Council had not been fined by the RBH as any delays had been kept to a minimum.  However, the North Hampshire Hospital had fined the Council a sum of £12k. 

·                    NHS Berkshire West had funded 14 nursing home placements up to 31 March 2011 to help reduce the immediate pressure, this amounted to savings of around £150k.  These placements were in the budget build for next year. 

·                    A total of 8 capital depleters were identified in 2009/10 and these were still being funded.  This had risen by a further 14 in the current financial year and the Client Financial Services Team had identified a further 6 that could potentially be added in the coming months.  This would continue to be a pressure in 2011/12 and provision for 28 capital depleters had been built into the budget.  The recession was felt to be a factor in the increase in capital depleters.  This and other pressures had been included in budget modelling work undertaken with Accountancy which, it was hoped, would lead to a significant increase in the budget from 2011/12 onwards. 

·                    A difficulty with managing the capital depleters budget was the fact that many clients were self funding when they originally moved into a nursing home, however this meant they were not known to the Council when they came forward for assistance. This became an option when an individual’s capital had depleted to the threshold level of £23.5k (this covered total cash assets as well as property).  It was however possible to estimate the length of time a client would reside in a nursing home, which meant some turnover was expected  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

Purpose: To inform Members of the latest financial performance of the Council. 

The Committee considered the month 8 financial performance report (Agenda Item 6).

The point was made that this report compared to the position in month 7 and it would be preferable for the Select Committee to consider changes made since the previously received report (in this case month 6).  Andy Walker agreed to look at accommodating this in some way. 

The significant impact made by the levies and interest budget line was noted.  This was detailed in the Part II report.  Andy Walker advised that only a small fraction was as a result of treasury management. 

Andy Walker informed Members that an application had been submitted to the Department for Communities and Local Government asking to capitalise costs of staff redundancies in the longer term.  This was for staff funded from specific grants whose costs could not be met from within the grant.  The outcome of this would be reported in February 2011, hopefully by the time the Executive met on 17 February 2011. 

At this stage these redundancy costs of circa £320k were set against the Economic Downturn Provision included in specific earmarked reserves.  This £1.4m provision was established in the 2010/11 financial year. 

Only 29% of the recruitment freeze target had been achieved across Children and Young People.  Reduced turnover meant achieving this target was challenging.  This contributed to the increased overspend in the Directorate. 

The income target for the Youth Service of £1.2m was queried and further detail requested to explain how it was generated.  It was noted that this target covered the entire Youth Services and Commissioning service area. 

Pressures in the Property and Public Protection budget were partly due to the running costs of West Street House and West Point.  It was agreed that further information would be requested on this as it was pointed out that the move to these buildings was intended to reduce costs.  Andy Walker explained that this cost would be spread across the service areas making use of the buildings and they would be recharged at year end. 

A reduction was planned in highway maintenance of £250k.  However, Members were concerned that this would have come under pressure as a result of the severe winter weather conditions experienced in December.  Further information would therefore be requested to explain if this budget had come under pressure.  The winter maintenance budget was forecast to be £175k overspent and it was queried whether additional costs encountered in December and potentially further into the winter were covered in this overspend.  A view was given that the increased salt stock would have been budgeted for, but might not have taken into account the need to replenish stocks if necessary. 

Savings were being found from the concessionary fares budget and this was believed to be due to a reduced usage of bus passes.  Further information was requested on the reasons why this had reduced. 

Savings were also being found from a lower than anticipated spend on sewage treatment works of £50k.  The question would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

Purpose: To consider and prioritise the work programme for the remainder of 2010/11.  

The Committee considered the Resource Management Select Committee Work Programme (Agenda Item 7).

The following items were noted for the agenda of the next meeting being held on 15 March 2011:

·                    Financial Performance Report (Month 10)

·                    Value for Money

·                    Local Land and Property Gazetteer

·                    Car parks budget

RESOLVED that the work programme and the items scheduled for the next meeting would be noted.  

Purpose: To receive a report on the changes to the Council’s Establishment over the second quarter of 2010/11. 

The Committee considered the Quarter 2 Establishment Report (Agenda Item 8).

The decrease in the Council funded establishment was noted as was the increase of 60 joint and externally funded posts during the course of the last 12 months. 

Councillor Jeff Brooks proposed that the inclusion of a year end projection for both Council and joint/externally funded posts would be a benefit to the report.  This was supported by Members in making the future position as clear as possible as it was not expected that there would be any increase to the establishment in 2010/11 and a projection would give detail on this. 

RESOLVED that the Head of Human Resources and the Portfolio Holder would be asked to give consideration to including a year end projection in the report for both Council and joint/externally funded posts.