Agenda item

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

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

Newbury Cinema Subsidy

Nick Carter advised that financial data needed to be provided by the Kennet Centre before the subsidy would be paid.  A budget provision was in place to cover the subsidy, if required, and would need to be available for a five year period.

Quarterly Budget Reports

Although, as an exception, the Quarter 2 budget report would be provided to the Committee without being first presented to the Executive, the decision had been taken by the Portfolio Holder for Finance (Councillor Keith Chopping) that these reports should be taken to the Executive in the first instance as the formal decision making body. 

Some Members of the Committee were of the view that this approach made scrutiny of the quarterly reports meaningless when they had already been signed off and consultation should take place before Executive meetings to enable recommendations for improvement to be made. 

Councillor Chopping reasserted his view that the process of quarterly reports being approved by the Executive should continue, before views were sought from the Committee.  However, Councillor Chopping consented to discuss this further with Executive Members and senior Officers.

In considering the budget reporting timetable, it was suggested that it would be useful to hold a Committee meeting in January 2011 to consider the month 8 position. 

Capital depleters (Adult Social Care)

It was noted in the month 5 report that there had been a sharp increase in the number of people who were previously self funding whose capital had depleted and were eligible for support.  It was felt that this had risen on an annual basis and the accuracy of budget forecasting was questioned. 

Andy Walker advised that this issue was under close scrutiny within Community Services and was felt to be due to a variety of reasons, including the current economic situation.  A contingency budget was held based on the best information available. 

Nick Carter assured Members that benchmarking analysis was undertaken both within the Directorate and in the Finance service area, and suggested that the Corporate Director for Community Services be invited to a future meeting to discuss this and other measures being taken to manage the Directorate budget.  In particular, this should focus on Adult Social Care. 

Placing a charge against an individual’s property to contribute or pay for their care

It was agreed that an update on developments with this work would be provided as part of the item to discuss the Community Services Directorate budget.  

Budget for new and unexpected care packages for clients with a learning disability

A contingency budget was not held for unexpected clients with learning disabilities.  Work being undertaken to manage this issue would be included as part of the item to discuss the Community Services Directorate budget.

Street lighting contract

Councillor Chopping confirmed that the potential to turn off some street lights could be considered at a later stage to achieve savings, assuming there would be no risk to safety in doing so. 

The procurement of the contract was touched upon at the last meeting and in follow up, Nick Carter advised that the street lighting team had been able to spot purchase electricity at a very good rate.  However, this aspect had not been carried forward as part of the Berkshire wide procurement process that had been entered into for some contracts.  Other than achieving some limited corporate savings and benefiting schools, this Berkshire wide approach did not provide significant benefits for the Council as good rates had already been negotiated in many cases. 

West Street House and West Point running costs

Steve Broughton explained that actual costs had proved to be higher than estimated.  This was due to the fact that these were higher specification buildings and, because of the tight timeframes when purchasing the buildings, costs of utilities, maintenance etc had to be estimated. 

Capital expenditure in the Community Services Directorate

It was noted that the level of uncommitted expenditure had reduced slightly between quarters one and two. 

Land charges income

A budget pressure of nearly £50k was noted by the Committee as a result of a reduction in land charges income.  Nick Carter explained that this was primarily due to decisions taken by the Government to abandon Home Information Packs and to remove the personal search fee.  The general stagnation in the housing market was another contributing factor.  This was an ongoing pressure which was included in the base budget. 

RESOLVED that:

(1)       Councillor Keith Chopping would discuss the release of quarterly budget reports with Executive Members and senior Officers.

(2)       Consideration would be given to holding a Committee meeting in January 2011 to consider the month 8 position. 

(3)       Teresa Bell, Corporate Director for Community Services, would be invited to a future meeting to discuss the measures being taken to manage the Directorate budget.  In particular, this should focus on Adult Social Care.