Agenda and decisions

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillor Sarah-Jane McDonough.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 16 March 2020

Minutes attached

It was RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 16 March 2020 be approved as a correct record for signature by the Chair.

To consider the following Part 1 Decisions of the Executive taken on Wednesday 10 June 2020.

Executive                                                                                                      Page No.

Agenda Item No.

2          Minutes of the Executive – 13 May 2020                                                     3

3          Coronavirus Recovery Plan - Review of the Medium Term

           Financial Strategy and Impact of Covid-19 on the Council’s

General Fund Revenue Budget                                                         9

4          Corporate Performance – Quarter Four 2019/20                           43

Notice of Decisions to follow

PLEASE BRING YOUR AGENDA AND REPORTS FOR THE EXECUTIVE MEETING HELD ON 10 JUNE 2020

The Committee considered the decisions on the following matters arising from the Executive meeting held on 10 June 2020.

Minutes of the Executive – 13 May 2020

Noted.

Coronavirus Recovery Plan – Review of the Medium Term Financial Strategy and Impact of Covid-19 on the Council’s General Fund Revenue Budget

1.          Theme: Financial position including consideration of Section 114 Notice

Response – The report to the June 2020 Executive set out a number of measures that were recommended to improve the resilience of the General Fund balances that were agreed by the Executive.  This held or stopped some spend and diverted the use of receipts to ensure that if there was no more funding to be given by the Government, the General Fund could, after taking these measures absorb that cost.  These measures, whilst not ideal, mean the General Fund could meet a £4.8Million cost of COVID in 2020/21. These measures were to be reviewed at the end of September, thus negating the need to issue a S114 notice, as balances would be sufficient on the central scenario.

The report also set out further measures which would further improve the Council’s financial position and this included:

·     a future report on the disposal of land and assets identified as part of the Locality reviews to minimise the use of revenue contributions to capital;

·     to get under way the transformation agenda to help identify savings through new ways of working;  

·     setting aside any 2019/20 pilot gains up to the level of 2020/21 NDR gains of £1Million which may be lost as a result of the impact of COVID-19 and assumed in the current year to be realised; and

·     approve the development over the summer of a priority list of services as a further precautionary measure,  if losses and the impact of COVID-19 is financially greater than modelled.

These further measures should help the future resilience of the General Fund but it is very much going to be dependent on the depth of any recession, support from central government, changes to future LG funding models and the impact of the pandemic is monitored on a monthly basis.

In reply to supplementary questions, the Strategic Director (CF) stated:

·     it would be her duty (as Section 151 Officer) to raise the issue of a potential Section 114 Notice should the Council reach a position where it had insufficient resources to meet its in-year financial commitments;

·     there was now an additional step in the process, whereby the Section 151 Officer was required to inform the Government if the above situation occurred;

·     should a Section 114 Notice be issued, then the Council would only be able to fund essential spend.  There was also the possibility that the Government would appoint commissioners to oversee the running of the Council (as happened recently in the case of Northamptonshire County Council; and

·     the issue of a Section 114 Notice was seen as an action of last resort.

2.          Theme: Service prioritisation

Response - The report contained a number of resilience  ...  view the full decision text for item 3.

The Chair agreed to waive the right to call-in relating to the following Urgent Decisions taken by Officers in order to comply with new legislation and as part of the Council’s emergency response to the national COVID-19 pandemic:

a.    Gas Access Process

b.    Damp and Condensation Service

c.    Aids and Adaptation Service

d.    Local Authority Discretionary Grant Fund

e.    Temporary accommodation

f.     Housing lettings and terminations

g.    Customer Service Centre and main reception walk-in services

h.    Closure of the play service

i.      Community response team

j.      Local Community Budgets

k.    Community Centres

l.      Indoor Market

m.   Car parks

n.    Parks equipment and car parks in open spaces

o.    Commercial rent policy

p.    Caretaking service

q.    Cemetery arrangements

r.     Closure of recycling banks

s.    Toilet closures

t.      Suspension of non-urgent repairs

u.    Allotment communal facilities

v.    Pavilion closures

w.   Suspension of bulky waste collections and skip services

x.    Highway verge cutting

y.    Major works / delivery team projects

The Officer Key Decisions were included in the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Incident Management Report that was considered by Council on 20 May 2020.  

The Key Decision forms which provide more details are available on the Council’s website via the following link: Link to Key Decision Forms.

Members noted the list of urgent Part I decisions set out in the agenda authorised by the Chair of the Committee during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

To consider any Part 1 business accepted by the Chair as urgent

None.

To consider the following motions –

1.  That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as described in paragraphs1 – 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act as amended by Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006.

2.  That Members consider the reasons for the following reports being in Part II and determine whether or not maintaining the exemption from disclosure of the information contained therein outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

It was RESOLVED:

1.  That, under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as described in paragraphs 1 to 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by SI 2006 No. 88.

2.  That having considered the reasons for the following item being in Part II, it be determined that maintaining the exemption from disclosure of the information contained therein outweighed the public interest in disclosure.

To consider the Part II Decisions of the Executive taken on Wednesday 10 June 2020

Executive                                                                                                      Page No.

Agenda Item

7          On-site Building Material Management Contract 2020/25          81    

Notice of Decisions to follow

PLEASE BRING YOUR AGENDA AND REPORTS FOR THE EXECUTIVE MEETING HELD ON 10 JUNE 2020

It was RESOLVED that the Part II decision of the Executive held on 10 June 2020 concerning the On-site Building Material Management Contract 2020-2025 be noted.

None.

None.

To consider any Part II business accepted by the Chair as urgent

The Committee noted the officer response to a Member’s question in respect of the Council’s Strategic Risk Register.