Minutes for Cabinet Member - Performance and Governance meeting, Sep 2 2009, 9.00AM official page

No apologies for absence were received.

Members and Officers are requested to give notice of any personal or prejudicial interest and the nature of that interest, relating to any item on the agenda in accordance with the relevant Code of Conduct.

No declarations of interest were received.

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 5 August 2009 be confirmed as a correct record.

Joint Report of the Chief Executive and the Director of Finance and Information Services

The Cabinet Member considered the joint report of the Chief Executive and the Finance and Information Services Director on the first four months‘ forecast position, based on information as at the 24 July 2009, in relation to the Portfolio’s 2009/10 Revenue Budget.

Annex A to the report detailed the Portfolio’s budgets that were monitored and reported on the risk assessed basis and indicated that there were no areas of concern. Options to deal with future budget pressures were to be presented in further reports.

The report concluded by requesting that any comments about the overall performance of the Portfolio’s Revenue budget be referred to the Cabinet.

RESOLVED:

That the progress on the Performance Portfolio’s Revenue budgets that are subject to risk based monitoring be noted.

Joint Report of the Chief Executive and the Director of Finance and Information Services

The Cabinet Member considered the joint report of the Chief Executive and the Finance and Information Services Director on the final 2008/9 outturn position for the Performance and Governance Portfolio.

The report outlined the 2008/09 Revenue and Capital outturn for the Performance Portfolio; identified the major variations, as well as the comments of the Chief Executive on any ongoing revenue issues for later financial years; and that the final outturn position for this Portfolio, when compared with the 2008/09 Revenue budget, indicated a net underspend of £110,000.

Annex A to the report summarised the divisions of service provided by the Portfolio and compared the original estimates with provisional outturn figures.

The report concluded by requesting that the Cabinet Member give consideration to the submission of comments on the outturn to the Scrutiny and Review Committee (Performance and Corporate Services).

RESOLVED:

That the final outturn position for the Performance Portfolio Final Accounts 2008/09 be noted.

Report of the Chief Executive

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Chief Executive on the progress made towards the achievement of Sefton’s Corporate Plan Objectives and National Performance Indicators (NIs) as at 31 March 2009, as part of the Performance Management Framework.

The report indicated that regular performance monitoring was essential to ensure that the Council was delivering services effectively and that this was the last quarterly monitoring report of 2008/09, focusing on the Corporate Plan and NIs and summarising progress made. Sefton’s Performance Monitoring System (SPRINT) had been used to produce the report.

Mrs.S. Varga, the Senior Corporate Support Officer presented the report and answered questions thereon. Concern was expressed at the absence of data from certain departments and partners (e.g. the Youth Offending Team, Children’s Services and the Merseyside Fire Authority) and the Senior Corporate Support Officer indicated the measures that were being implemented as part of the Performance Management Escalation Policy to address problem areas. 

 RESOLVED: That

(1)

the level of progress toward the achievement of Sefton’s Corporate Plan Objectives and NIs as at 31 March 2009 be noted; and 

(2)

the Director of Children’s Services be requested to submit a further report and also his Action Plan in response to the Youth Offending Team Inspection Report. 

Report of the Chief Executive

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Chief Executive on Sefton’s Value for Money (VFM) profile 2008/09, which was produced to assist the Council in reviewing its own performance, as well as to support auditors by acting as an initial filter to help identify the key issues facing Sefton.

The report indicated that the assessment of use of resources was part of the new Performance Assessment Framework for Local Government, known as the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA); the use of resources framework had been revised to meet the needs of the CAA; costs and performance were brought together in this profile to enable authorities to compare whether they provided VFM for services and it ranked Sefton’s costs and performance against all the Metropolitan Boroughs.

The report concluded by requesting the Cabinet Member to exercise his discretion and refer the report to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Performance and Corporate Services).

RESOLVED: That

(1)

the report on the content of Sefton’s Value For Money 2008/09 profile be noted; and

(2)

the report be referred to the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Performance and Corporate Services) to assist in the preparation of his work programme.

Report of the Chief Executive

The Cabinet Member considered the report of the Chief Executive on the performance monitoring results in relation to the Departmental Service Plans and NIs as at quarter one 2009/10.

The report indicated that the performance monitoring and review processes were required to ensure the timely identification of performance issues and that necessary corrective action could be taken in line with the approved Escalation Policy which would develop as the year progressed.

RESOLVED:

That the progress of Departmental Service Plans and NIs be noted.