Meeting documents

• (Attachment: 1)Minutes

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 22nd January 2015 be approved as a correct record.

Committee Members: Councillors R, Mantle, Mrs. D.A. Ross-Tomlin and P. Shillinglaw.

Other Members: Councillor M.J. Selby.
 

None.

The Committee received a briefing from Cllr V.W. Broad, Leader of the Council. The briefing set out the achievements made by the Council so far in 2014/15, and touched on the new working style adopted by the Leader and Executive since his election in June 2014.

The briefing made reference to the following:

• Greater cross-party communication, including new Leader’s surgeries, regular Member updates and a new format for Group Leaders’ meetings;
• The introduction of webcasting as a tool for greater transparency and public engagement;
• The creation of the shadow Portfolio Holder role;
• The development of the new Waste Transfer Station at Earlswood;
• A number of regeneration projects that had been progressed across Redhill, Preston and Merstham and a total of £1bn that had been invested in development schemes within the borough;
• The active business support programme, and the range of support for residents which included the Living & Ageing Well programme, the Young Workers scheme, and Community & Special Projects Group;
• The success to date of the JET pilot, which a number of nearby Councils were understood to be interested in replicating.

As a new initiative, the Committee noted that the Leader would be circulating an Annual Report to all Members the following week.

Questions and comments were made by the Committee regarding:

• Member communications – the Committee agreed that the Leader’s surgeries were a valuable addition, and that the new format for Group Leaders’ meetings had been productive. The Committee requested that Members be informed about staffing changes as early as possible, though it was noted that there were occasions where matters needed to be handled with sensitivity;
• Business support – it was agreed that more detailed information about small business grants would be provided following the meeting;
• Redhill regeneration – the Committee noted that the Leader was liaising with Surrey County Council regarding recent traffic problems, following the switch to a two-way road layout in Redhill;
• Textiles recycling – the Committee noted that the Council was seeking to increase textile recycling;
• External communications – the Committee noted that the Leader held regular meetings with the Council’s Communications team and that the most recent issue of the Borough News was indicative of a new proactive approach to communicating the Council’s successes to residents. It was noted that the recently issued council tax leaflet also followed this approach.

The Chairman thanked the Leader for attending and congratulated him on the successes set out above.
 

RESOLVED that the Leader be thanked for briefing the Committee and responding to questions.
 

• (Attachment: 2)O&S Committee Work Programme 2015-16 Report (123K/bytes)

The Committee received a report on the proposed work programme for 2015/16, which continued the streamlined approach taken in previous years in order to support the Council’s drive towards greater efficiency.

The Committee noted two key variances from the previous year’s programme:

• It was proposed in 2015/16 to continue to utilise the Committee’s capacity for external scrutiny and in particular to review the work of local health services;
• It was proposed that the Committee’s annual ‘Crime and Disorder’ scrutiny would from 2015/16 focus wholly on the work of the East Surrey Community Safety Partnership, which had been created in 2014.

The Committee noted that the scrutiny of local health services would include consideration of the impact of the Care Act 2014, scheduled to come into effect in April 2015.

The Committee made further comments regarding:

• The proposal for a strategic commercial partnership with private sector organisation Civica – it was noted that this would be reported to the Committee for consideration at its next meeting on 25 March 2015, before being considered by the Executive in April;
• The Joint Public Sector Board – the Committee noted that there had been little business to consider in the last 12 months, following the successful completion of several large regeneration projects which had been the focus of the Board in previous years. However, it was noted that the Board was expected to meet again soon;
• The Committee were aware of local issues relating to education provision, and to highways matters as a factor in development management, and suggested that these were subjects for consideration by the Reigate and Banstead Local Committee.

RESOLVED that the proposed Work Programme for 2015/16 as set out at Annex 1 attached and detailed in the report be approved (taking account of the Management Team’s comments) for recommendation to the Executive and the Council.
 

• (Attachment: 3)Draft Treasury Management Strategy 2015/16 Report (233K/bytes)

The Committee received the draft Treasury Management Strategy 2015/16, which had been published for consultation by the Executive on 29 January 2015.

The Committee welcomed the Executive Member for Finance, Councillor G. Knight, who gave a brief presentation setting out the current position with regard to the Council’s finances, as well as the outlook and options for the future.

The Committee noted that the draft Strategy had been considered and supported by the Treasury Management Portfolio Panel on 4 February 2015.

The Committee received a summary of the issues raised at the Portfolio Panel and the amendments that they had proposed to the Strategy, which included:

• Increasing the time limit for some investments to a maximum of 3 years;
• An addition to the MRP Statement to the effect that no MRP be charged on investment properties held solely for capital-appreciation purposes with an intention to sell, and MRP of 1% be charged on investment properties held for income-generation purposes;
• Raising the prudential borrowing limits by £10m.

The Committee considered that these amendments were timely, and supported their recommendation to the Executive.

RESOLVED that the draft Treasury Management Strategy for 2015/16 be noted.
 

• (Attachment: 4)Quarter 3 Performance Report (624K/bytes)

The Committee received a quarterly report that detailed major variances on performance in relation to the Council’s Revenue Budget, Capital Programme and Key Service Indicators covering the period up to December 2014. An Internal Audit report on Customer Services (Wave 1 review) had also been submitted for this reporting period.

The detailed performance information had been placed in the Overview and Scrutiny support area of the eMembers Room.

Questions and comments were made by the Committee regarding:

• The forecast overspend in subsidy grants to tenants - the Committee noted that this was unbudgeted in 2014/15 but had been built into the budget for 2015/16;
• The forecast overspend on benefits – the Committee noted that this was a temporary effect of the Real Time Information system introduced by HMRC and the Department for Work and Pensions. This identified benefits overpayments much more quickly than was previously possible, and would actually prevent overpayment of benefits in the future;
• The forecast overspend in Waste & Recycling – the Committee noted that this was mainly due to falling paper recycling prices, but it was anticipated that the recently opened Waste Transfer Station at Earlswood would reduce operating costs and increase income. The Committee noted that the Council continued to receive Landfill Tax credits from Surrey County Council and that this was included in the revenue budget figures;
• The additional income generated by property activity relating to Linden House– the Committee agreed that this demonstrated the significant benefits to be gained through taking a more commercial approach.

The Committee received, as part of the quarterly report, the proposed strategic and operational risk registers for 2015/16.

It was noted that the operational risk relating to homelessness was primarily driven by economic and sociological factors beyond the control of the Council. The Committee recognised that the Council was progressing several streams of work which aimed to prevent and combat this problem, and that this involved regular liaison between the Executive Members for Housing & Welfare and Finance.

RESOLVED
(i) that the performance information for the third quarter of the year 2014/15 be noted; and
(ii) that the strategic and operational risk registers for 2015/16 be agreed.
 

It was reported that there were no items arising from the Executive that might be subject to the ‘call-in’ procedure in accordance with the provisions of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules.

None.