Agenda and draft minutes

Councillor Furse sent his apologies and was substituted by Councillor Richard Samuel.

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 Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

Councillor Charles Gerrish, Cabinet Member for Finance and Efficiency declared an interest as Chair of ADL which is referred to in the papers.

There were none.

The report attached presents the Council’s Corporate and Budget Planning 2019-2020. Please note appendix 5 and 6 will be sent out at a later date.

David Trethewey – Director of Partnerships and Corporate Services and Donna Parham – Director of Finance introduced the report.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Efficiency, Councillor Charles Gerrish was present to answer questions.

Panel members asked the following questions and made the following points:

The Panel noted the comments from other PDS Panels.

Councillor O Brien pointed to the high and medium risk factors in Appendix 2 (such as office accommodation) and asked if officers were confident that the strategy for savings was sufficiently robust. The Finance Director responded that 35% of savings plans are marked as high risk this year whereas it was over 60% this year so this was a better position. She further explained that the budget contingency is being added to and all high and medium risk factors will be monitored.

Councillor Becker asked how this authority compares to others regarding Council Tax. The Finance Director explained that this authority is currently third lowest in Council Tax charges in the region and should remain so despite the increase.

Councillor O Brien asked if our key partners (for example social housing providers) would be proactive in supporting the savings proposed. The Director of Partnerships and Corporate Services explained that part of the purpose of the Core Offer is to be clear what the authority can afford to deliver and to enable a more honest engagement with partners and the community.

Councillor Rayment noted the comments from the Communities, Transport and Environment Panel and asked if they had been followed up. The Cabinet Member for Finance and Efficiency, Councillor Charles Gerrish confirmed that the relevant Cabinet Member had noted the comments and will report back where requested.

The Cabinet Member will update the Panel on any relevant issues. Panel members may ask questions on the update provided.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Efficiency updated the Panel, he explained that he had mainly been working on the budget papers but also reported that there were two potential property acquisitions which will lead to increases in income in the future.

This report presents the latest workplan for the Panel. Any suggestions for further items or amendments to the current programme will be logged and scheduled in consultation with the Panel’s Chair and supporting officers.

The Panel agreed to move the March meeting from 27^th to Monday 4^th March 2019 and noted the following items for that meeting:

·  Local Government Funding Changes

·  People Strategy

Councillor Rayment asked about ‘New Member Training’ and ‘Council Website’ as items the Panel asked to be briefed on. The Chief Executive explained that the content for new member induction is currently being worked on and it would be useful to have the views of current members. Councillor Bevan stated that it was important to include Group Leaders in new member induction. Councillors agreed that it would be useful for new members to have a meaningful chart showing officer responsibilities. The Director of Partnerships and Corporate Services stated that he was looking at getting this chart onto the front page of the website. He also confirmed that he would set up a session for members on the new website.