Agenda and minutes

To confirm the minutes from the previous meeting

The Minutes of the Finance & Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 6^th December 2016 were confirmed by the Members present and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Adeleke and Elliot.

To receive any declarations of interest

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered -

(i)            must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent

and, if the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest, or a personal interest which is also prejudicial

(ii)           may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter (and must withdraw to the public seating area) unless they have been granted a dispensation.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Members’ Register of Interests, or is not the subject of a pending notification, must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal and prejudicial interests are defined in Part 2 of the Code of Conduct For Members

[If a member is in any doubt as to whether they have an interest which should be declared they should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer before the start of the meeting]

None.

An opportunity for members of the public to make statements or ask questions in accordance with the rules as to public participation

None.

None.

D Skinner introduced the report and drew members’ attention to page 5 onwards, which detailed the changes since the last Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting in December. He welcomed questions from the committee.

Councillor Tindall referred to page 11 and queried if the £200k for the leisure review was from reserves or if it was additional. D Skinner confirmed it wasn’t additional; it was just the £200k from reserves.

Councillor Birnie asked if the staff costs, in addition to pension requirements, had a general increase in salaries. D Skinner explained that the increase had factored in the 1% pay award and also any increments. He said this was detailed in the report from the last meeting in December.

Councillor Birnie highlighted a large percentage increase in the Management Team employee costs. D Skinner advised this was due to the realignment in the Corporate Management Team budgets following the realignment of responsibilities following a reduction in the posts within the Leadership team.

Councillor Douris referred to the employee budget reduction in Housing Benefits and asked if it was due to a vacancy void or reduction in post. D Skinner advised it was a saving created by the removal of a post.

Councillor Douris sought clarification on the cessation of a Primary Authority function. D Skinner advised that Regulatory Services previously carried out inspections nationally for Tesco and the activity has been ceased due to the loss of income and that it didn’t reflect the risk of activity. 

Councillor Douris referred to the removal of Civic Buildings Business Rates on page 10 and asked if the rates for The Forum would be lower given the size difference and the energy efficiency. D Skinner advised that the energy efficiency wasn’t reflected in the rates but The Forum would definitely be more efficient. He said they were currently waiting for the calculation of the new business rates.

Councillor Tindall referred to Councillor Birnie’s earlier question relating to the Management Team employee budget and sought clarification on identifying the increase for the realignment. The Chief Executive referred to page 9 where a detailed summary and breakdown could be found covering inflation, growth items, one-off items and officer’s efficiency savings and that there were savings of £103k detailed for the leadership team restructure.

Councillor Birnie queried if the 17% increase in the Housing Strategy employees budget was due to a new post. D Skinner confirmed it was.

Councillor Douris referred to the Get Set Go Dacorum project expenditure and queried its removal. M Rawdon explained the project was due to finish in September 2017 and there were no additional costs as it was grant funded. 

Councillor Douris sought clarification on the past service costs on page 19. D Skinner advised it was linked to the cost of the pensions deficit as explained by the Corporate Director (Finance & Operations) in his presentation on key changes since the December OSC.

Councillor Tindall sought clarification on the £27,942 increase in premises budget for Community Centres and Public  ...  view the full minutes text for item 73.

J Doyle introduced the report and drew members’ attention to the financial implications on page 80 which highlighted that the total figure for the increase would be £10,427. He explained that the conclusions were detailed on page 82 and this also highlighted that members hadn’t received an increase on their basic allowance rate since 2008/09. He said the increase would bring us up to the average allowance rate in comparison with other Local Authorities in Hertfordshire.

Councillor Taylor said he had been involved with discussing the matter at length and felt happy to say the increase was acceptable.

Councillor Tindall felt that a 2.1% increase for members was reasonable as staff had received a pay increase in the last few years and the members hadn’t since 2008/09. 

The Chairman sought clarification on the HM Revenue & Customs mileage allowance rate as he thought it was 40p per mile but the report stated it was 45p. Councillor Tindall explained that the County Council rate was 45p and his understanding was that it was to reflect all motoring costs and not just fuel. 

Outcome:

The Committee considered the report of the Independent Remuneration Panel following its review of the Council’s existing Members’ Allowance Scheme and agreed with its recommendations to implement a 2.1% increase.

The Chairman asked the officers if there were any items they wanted to add to the meeting in March. There were no amendments to the work programme.

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending.