Meeting documents

Overview and Scrutiny Committee
Tuesday, 28th August, 2012 7.00 pm

Date:
Tuesday, 28th August, 2012
Time:
7.00pm
Place:
Peel Room, Bury Town Hall
 

Attendance Details

Present:
Councillor M Hankey(in the Chair);
Councillors D Cassidy; S Carter; A J Cummings; M James; S Haroon; P Heneghan; L Fitzwalter; D O’Hanlon; R E Walker and M Wiseman
Co-opted:
Public in attendance: No members of the public were present at the
meeting.

Also in attendance: Councillor Isherwood- Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources
Councillor Lewis - Cabinet Member for Leisure, Tourism and Culture
Councillor Parnell, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People
Councillor J Smith - Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Corporate Affairs
Buttons
Item Description Decision
Open
OSC.267 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
 
OSC.268 PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
 
OSC.269 Minutes of the Meeting held on Tuesday, 12th June, 2012 7.00pm
It was agreed:

That the Minutes of the last meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, held on 12 June, be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.
OSC.270 CORPORATE FINANCIAL MONITORING - APRIL TO JUNE 2012
It was agreed:

1. That the financial position of the Council as at 30 June 2012 be noted.

2. That the s151 Officer’s assessment of the minimum level of balances be noted.
OSC.271 CAPITAL OUTTURN 2011/12
It was agreed:

1. That the final capital outturn for 2011/2012, and explanations for major variances, as detailed in Appendix A and the report submitted, be noted.

2. That the financing of the Capital Programme in 2011/2012, as detailed in Paragraph 3.5 of the report, be noted.

3. That the re-profiled/slippage requests and associated funding into 2012/2013 as detailed in Appendix B of the report be noted.

4. That the level of Capital Receipts realised in year as detailed in Appendix C of the report be noted.
OSC.272 REVENUE AND HRA OUTTURN 2011/12
It was agreed:

That the report be noted.

OSC.273 2011/12 TREASURY MANAGEMENT ANNUAL REPORT
It was agreed:

1. That in accordance with CIPFA’s Code of Practice on Treasury Management, the report be noted.

2. That the half yearly Treasury Management report to be submitted to this Committee include detailed investment information.

OSC.274 PLAN FOR CHANGE UPDATE
It was agreed:

1. That, in advance of a further detailed report being submitted to this Committee, the views and comments set out above be forwarded to the Cabinet Member for Leisure, Tourism and Culture to form part of the review consultations.
2. That future Plan for Change reports set out the proposed direction of travel with clear proposals to assist the Committee in its role of contributing to the formulation of options.
OSC.275 CORPORATE PLAN PROGRESS REPORT - QUARTER 1 2012/2013
It was agreed:

That the report be noted and a further update be submitted at the end of Quarter 2.
OSC.276 OFSTED INSPECTION (SLAC) ACTION PLAN
It was agreed:

1. That the report be noted.

2. That a progress update on the draft action plan be submitted in 6 months
time.

3. That further to recommendation (2) above, the Chair of the Children’s
Safeguarding Board be invited to attend the meeting.
OSC.277 REQUEST FOR SCHOOLS OF CONCERN SUB-COMMITTEE
It was agreed:

That a Schools of Concern Group be set up as a sub Group of this Committee with membership sought by Democratic Services
OSC.278 CHILDREN'S SERVICES ANNUAL COMPLAINTS REPORT 2011-2012 ***FOR INFORMATION***
It was agreed:

That the report be noted.

The meeting started at 7.00 pm and ended at 10.25pm

Preamble

Preamble
ItemPreamble
OSC.267Councillor Carter declared a personal interest in Minute OSC.275 below, Plan for Change Update, as the spouse of the Cabinet Member for Leisure, Tourism and Culture.
OSC.268There were no members of the public present at the meeting to ask questions under this item.
OSC.270The Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources submitted a report which provided information on the Council’s financial position for the period up to June 2012 and projected the likely outturn at the end of 2012/2013.

The report included details of Prudential Indicators in accordance with CIPFA’s Prudential Code.

Questions and comments were invited and the following issues were raised:

• In response to a question concerning vacancy management within Adult Care Services, the Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources highlighted that all positions were reviewed when posts become vacant and acknowledged the challenges of maintaining current levels of service with reduced staffing numbers.

• With regard to the issue of income derived from planning applications, the Cabinet Member accepted that income had reduced but stressed that all potential developments were examined on the merits of the actual application. It was further explained that a delay in legislation had impacted on the level of planning income received.

• In response to a question from Councillor Heneghan, the Executive Director of Resources undertook to provide the net financial position, including the subsidy, of the Council’s Civic Halls

• The Executive Director of Resources undertook to provide the Chair, Councillor Hankey, with further detail in respect of the £100,000 budget adjustment for Civic Halls.

• The Cabinet Member responded to concerns about the demand pressures relating to Children’s Agency Placements. It was reported that a range of preventative strategies had been introduced and it was hoped to reduce the overspend by £600,000.
OSC.271
The Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources submitted a report providing Members with details of the:
• The capital outturn figures in respect of the last financial year 2011/12;
• Major variances between the Revised Estimate and the Outturn;
• The financing of the Capital Programme in 2011/12;
• Re-profile of budgets/allocations and funding into 2012/13; and
• Details of the capital receipts received during the year.

Questions and comments were invited and the following issues were raised:

• Members of the Committee question the Cabinet Member on the acquisition of the former Town Centre Fire Station. It was explained that the Council had purchased the land as a strategic town centre site.

• In response to a question concerning the status of the Extended Schools programme, Councillor Parnell, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People undertook to provide the information.

OSC.272The Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources submitted a report providing Members with details of:

• the revenue outturn figures in respect of the last financial year, 2011/2012, detailing specific carry-forward requests and the proposed application of the carry-forward rules;
• major variances between the revised estimate and the outturn;
• the level of school balances;
• transfers to / from reserves;
• HRA outturn for the year;
• The minimum level of balances in the light of risk assessments

The figures in the report are consistent with the figures included within the Statement of Accounts which were both approved by the Responsible Finance Officer and presented to Audit Committee on 26 June 2012.

In response to a question concerning the issue of schools carrying forward surpluses, it was explained that the issue is monitored and schools are required to provide the rationale behind building up balances.

OSC.273The Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources submitted a report providing details of Treasury Management activities during 2011/12. The Council undertakes Treasury Management Activities in accordance with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Code of Practice on Treasury Management, which requires that the Council receives an annual strategy report by 31 March for the year ahead and an annual review report of the previous year by 30 September.

In response to a question from Councillor Walker, the Executive Director of Resources explained that investments were undertaken by officers within the parameters and policy set by Elected Members.

In considering the report the Chair, Councillor Hankey, congratulated the officers involved in the report for their work.
OSC.274The Cabinet Member for Leisure, Tourism and Culture and the Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods and Regeneration submitted a report providing an update on the Plan for Change reviews in respect of Leisure and Parks and Countryside. The report set out a number of proposals that had been developed prior to a range of engagement and consultation activities with stakeholders and members of the public. It was reported that final proposals and recommendations would be submitted to this Committee in advance of a decision by Cabinet.

During discussion of the review report, the following comments and suggestions were put forward by Members of the Committee in respect of the individual reviews:

Leisure Parks and Countryside
Consideration should be given to other ways of providing the crèche/cafeteria services in a viable way. Discontinuation should be last resort. Any self managed groups must be clearly aware that they are managing services on behalf of the Council and ensure equality of usage
Explore local provision with a view to looking at possible partnership working with nearby nurseries. Look at possibility of allocating rangers in relation to the amount of identified green space within individual townships
Focus leisure centre promotion/marketing on current non users Council must offer a high level of support and help to volunteers who initially take on self management of facilities/provision.
Market specific features offered by the leisure centre for particular groups e.g families; young people; elderly When looking at future provision of play areas in the borough, safety of equipment must be of paramount concern
Look at use of volunteers, with the Council offering help/incentives to encourage volunteers to run certain aspects of the service.
Consider niche marketing which focuses on what can be offered that differs from what is available through private provision



Further questions and comments were invited and the following issues were raised:

• The Chair, Councillor Hankey, commented that more detail, including further financial information, was required to enable the Committee to input into the review process.

• Councillor O’Hanlon suggested that the reviews should include details of invest to save schemes.

• The Chair, Councillor Hankey, commented that major budget savings were not identified or proposed within the report. In response to a question concerning operational decisions, the Cabinet Member confirmed that these were not part of the review process.

• In response to a suggestion that a working group be set up to be involved in the review process the Chair, Councillor Hankey, commented that a Group could meaningfully be set up to look at the long term Leisure Strategy of the Council, but at this stage the whole Committee should be involved in scrutinising the proposals coming forward as part of the Plan for Change.

OSC.275A report was submitted by the Leader of the Council outlining the progress during quarter one 2012-2013 for the corporate performance indicators and projects within the Bury Council Corporate Plan. The information is extracted from the Performance Information Management System (PIMS) and provided by the responsible services.
OSC.276The Cabinet Member for Children and Families submitted a report providing details of the recent report from Ofsted on Safeguarding and Looked After Children Services, which was published on 13 June 2012, and a draft action plan to respond to the issues raised.
OSC.277
Further to Minute JCC.02, of the meeting of JCC Teachers held on 21 June 2012, the Committee considered a request to re-constitute the Schools of Concern Sub Group.
OSC.278Jane Whittam, Complaints Co-ordinator, submitted a report setting out information in respect of complaints related to Children’s Services covering the period 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012.