Agenda item

The Chairman made an observation that the quarterly budget reports were very similar. N Howcutt suggested he could create an executive summary of quarter on quarter changes to be placed at the beginning of the document if that was something the committee would prefer. The committee agreed that would be a good idea. Councillor Claughton said he didn’t find the report template very helpful and asked if it was something that could be reviewed. L Roberts said this matter had been discussed at the ‘away day’ with Cabinet and CMT, and they were looking at possible improvements.

N Howcutt introduced the report and summarised the key issues; a General Fund pressure of £126k, not significantly different to quarter one. The HRA has a surplus of £433k, a slight increase quarter on quarter. The Capital Programme has a slippage of £3.1m, which is less than 5% of the overall programme.

Councillor Townsend referred to the minimum revenue provision of the core funding. He noted that the provision was £165k lower as a result from 18/19 and asked why it wasn’t included in the original budget. N Howcutt advised that the budgets are set in November/December, but also they don’t know the actual outturn of the capital programme until May/June so it was a timing issue.

Councillor Sobaan Mahmood asked for some more information on the £35k Brexit fund and what it covered. N Howcutt explained that it covered the costs we had incurred to date for exploring the expenditure implications of Brexit. He advised they had set up the Brexit implication model and that had highlighted the areas that would need investment. They had also used some of those funds for training additional Environmental Health Officers. He added that we were in a secure period at the moment but once Brexit has happened we would need to spend significantly more than the current government funding.

Councillor Claughton referred to paragraphs 4.1 and 4.2. He queried if the £50k fuel costs were duplicates or if the spend had doubled. N Howcutt explained that the fuel had overspent slightly last year but also because they were changing the fleet around they haven’t had the correct vehicles available for certain routes so they’ve had to split routes and carry out double journeys.

Councillor Barrett drew attention to the additional £80k insurance income and asked if it could have been anticipated in the original budget. N Howcutt advised we had signed a new insurance contract in year this year and the costs were lower than we projected they would be. Also the volume of work going through had increased and we recharge the costs to a lot of external organisations that feed off of our insurance so we had benefitted from that.

Councillor Barrett referred to the £80k investment income and asked what cash balances we had to produce that. N Howcutt advised that our cash balances at present were approximately £95.2m, significantly higher than projected.

Councillor Chapman referred to paragraph 4.1 and expressed his concern for the amount spent on agency staff. N Howcutt said he could speak to HR colleagues about the volume of permanent staff versus agency staff if required. He explained that we have had some short term projects and when we’ve taken the income we have to deliver the work.  He added that they have had some employees off work for various reasons so it made sense to bring in temporary staff.

Councillor Chapman referred to paragraph 5.2 relating to garage voids. He asked if there were any results yet from the garage survey. L Roberts advised that they had appointed a consultant two weeks ago on a full time basis to lead the project. She said there had been an issue with the surveys and they had to use some paper forms due to the interfaces not working. She said they planned to bring a report to this committee in February 2020 and hoped that would bring a more complete picture of the service.

Councillor Hollinghurst felt that garages were too small for cars these days and asked if there was a possibility of demolishing and rebuilding the garages but building less and making each one wider. He also suggested increasing the rents and making them premium garages. L Roberts advised that the outcome of the survey would look at the potential for demand and whether people want garages for cars, storage or alternative uses such as workspaces.

Councillor Taylor asked how we were engaging and consulting with residents about the use of garages in their area. L Roberts said they had a list of residents who had expressed an interest in garages so there were officers going through the system and contacting the individuals. Councillor Taylor asked if there was any engagement with the wider community. L Roberts replied that hadn’t been planned for at present but it was something they would look at going forward. Councillor Taylor asked for full details of the engagement process and asked for copies of any surveys or information that is circulated with the wider community so they can be kept informed at all times.                                                                                  Action: L Roberts

Councillor Adeleke referred to the budget of £25k for the replacement kiosks and asked if that was council property. N Howcutt explained that it referred to the replacement kiosks in the customer service unit and the works had been bought forward to ensure they had the resilience in service. Councillor Adeleke asked if they had considered the ongoing maintenance. N Howcutt advised they had the continued ongoing maintenance they already have at the moment so all costs were already factored in to the budget. He said it would be a better system and more resilient.

Councillor Chapman referred to page 20 regarding buying back a leasehold property that had been sold under the Right to Buy scheme. He asked if this was unusual. N Howcutt explained that there were extenuating circumstances in this case and it was in the council’s best interest to buy the property back.

Councillor Claughton referred to paragraph 6.5 relating to an underspend of £270k. He asked what the vacancies were and what impact that had on the services. N Howcutt said this report was at the Housing and Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee last week and it was discussed in detail. He suggested reading the minutes of that meeting as there wasn’t a representative from Housing here to answer his queries.

Councillor Stevens asked if tenant’s charges were fully recovered and if they were properly proportioned to each of the tenants. N Howcutt advised yes they were. He explained that until the service was delivered it may mean that the recharge goes up or down depending on the standard of service and whether the work has been completed or not.

Outcome:

The report was noted.