Agenda and minutes

Cabinet Member Councillor David Bellotti sent his apologies to the Panel.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officer before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

Lin Patterson (Campaign Team - Save Our 6.7 Buses) has registered to make a three minute statement.

A member of the public, Lin Patterson made a statement to the Panel on ‘Save Our 6-7 Buses’ in which she thanked the Council regarding bus subsidies. A copy of the statement can be found on the Panel’s Minute Book.

Councillor Bull commented that the decisions on bus subsidies were not confirmed, Ms Patterson acknowledged that the process was not over yet.

To be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

There is no report attached. There will be a presentation at the meeting.

The officer was unable to attend the meeting. The item was deferred for consideration at a future meeting of the Panel.

The Medium Term Service and Resource Plan report is attached.

The Panel considered and commented on the Medium Term Service and Resource Plan.

ANNEX 1

P10. Councillor Macrae stated that he was horrified that 220 families are costing £250-300k. The Strategic Director for Resources Andrew Pate explained that the figure included a range of public expenditures from a wide range of agencies, not just the Council and  including police plus health. He explained that significant work as part of the connecting families project was needed to take this forward; it is not a quick win and is about prevention.

P11. Councillor Gerrish noted that there was no reference to ICT coming back in house but was referred to elsewhere.

P13. Councillor Myers asked what protection was in place in terms of the Government nationalising parts of our commercial estate. The Strategic Director explained that there was not a Government plan to do this and that their direction of travel was more local control and localism but with financial restrictions.

Councillor Barrett asked if the Avon Pension Fund could be used to fund projects. Tim Richens, Divisional Director Finance explained that the Pension Fund could only invest in line with underpinning legislation and not on individual local schemes.

P16. Councillor Macrae asked about the tourism levy. The Strategic Director explained that this would be based on practice in other places eg. France and the Lake District. Councillor Gerrish stated that it was a sensible way to look to find additional revenue and that he was comfortable with the principle, he explained that hotels could collect the money.

P18. Workforce Planning - Councillor Macrae raised the issue of the impact of the proposed cuts on staff morale, he stated that there would be an increasing cost to the authority due to the stress of the cuts which was impacting a large number of staff. He stated that he hoped this was taken on board. The Strategic Director explained that all divisional directors and managers are asked to be aware of these issues; he stressed the need for good communication and acknowledged that it was a significant challenge. Councillor N Roberts stated that the change programme does help in that people can see that it is about innovating and not staying the same. He further stated that the authority had a responsibility to set a budget according to what funds we have, he said that there would be some natural wastage. Councillor Barrett added that morale is paramount. William Harding, Head of Human Resources assured members that there is full consultation with the Unions and staff.

Appendix 1

P21. Councillor Gerrish stated that the plan to hold wage growth to 1% might be asking too much over this length of time. The Divisional Director for Finance explained that there will be variations in the three year plan but that the assumption was in line with the Government’s public sector guidelines.

Appendix 2

Councillor Gerrish asked if there is capacity to manage the scale of the programme regarding the work for DDA. The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

This will be a verbal update by the Cabinet Member for Community Resources – Councillor David Bellotti.

The Cabinet Member for Resources sent his apologies to the Panel. There was no Cabinet Member Update.

See report attached on the future work plan for the Panel.

The Panel noted the Future Work Plan.