Minutes for Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting, Nov 16 2009, 6.00PM official page

To confirm the minutes of the Part I meeting held on 7 September 2009

The Part I minutes of the last meeting held on 7 September were confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

To note the report of the Director of Resources

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Resources purpose Committee on the context of the current budget setting process, and the direction indicated to date by the Cabinet.  It was hoped the report would provide a useful preparatory document for the Committee in advance of when it comments on budget proposals in February.

It was noted that the Council’s code of corporate governance highlighted the importance of the role Overview & Scrutiny Committee had in reviewing the decisions of the Executive. 

The report summarised the overall context of the budget the main points being that the strain on public sector finances indicates that there would be real cash reductions in the level of grant funding to local authorities either both for the general revenue support grant and for specific grants and this Council was anticipating a minimum 5% cash reduction in its grant. The recession has had a major impact on most of the Council’s major income streams, as detailed in the report, and further no material improvement was expected before 2011/12.

The Council’s current strategy for responding to the financial challenges it faces was summarised as follows.

·         to aim to balance income and expenditure by 2013/14 (£883k in 2009/10),.  Reserves were limited and therefore could only be relied on for one or two years to smooth the transition to a balanced budget and in addition establishing a level of general reserves to cope with the inevitable one-off spending needs or income shortfall that all organisations face from time to time.

·          The following two years would be crucial to the strategy as they would take us past the next General Election, and should see the economy coming out of the worst of the recession. 

The report contained a table of forecast expenditure and income from 2009/10 through to 2013/14, highlighting the funding gap which needed to be bridged to balance the budget.  This showed that on a worst case scenario the Council could be seeking to find up to £1.9m in savings by 2013/14.

In the coming cycle of Policy Advisory Group meetings, draft budgets would be considered.  No growth would be included in the draft budgets but they would include a series of saving measures as part of their strategic planning on the basis of proposals submitted by Officers.  The initial proposed savings for 2010/11 were as follows:-

(i)                 Reduce subscriptions and donations budget - £20k

(ii)               Reduce costs of South Bucks Report - £12k

(iii)       Transfer Community Development Funding to Bucks Foundation - £12k

(iv)       Leisure – reduction in net budgets including removing Team Leader post - £68k

(v)        Land Charges/Planning/Licensing Admin – Review processes with aim to reduce net costs - £25k

(vi)       Amenity Assistant post – delete on retirement 2010/11 - £30k

(vii)      Review administrative processes in Environment Unit - £14k

(viii)     Support Services initial saving - £50k

(ix)       Capswood – restructure lease - £250k

Members noted: -

·         the timetable of events for the budget process through to next February  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

To note the report of the Director of Resources

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Resources on the progress of the Pathfinder Support Services project, the outline the remaining stages to bring the project to its conclusion and the key risks facing the project.

In 2008 the local authorities in Buckinghamshire and the Fire & Rescue authority undertook work to consider a business case for the provision of shared back office services.  To put in scope of the procurement four core services: - Finance, ICT, Personnel and Property & Facilities Management and to deliver services by a joint venture company with a private sector partner. Five organisation agreed to proceed to the procurement phase, namely:   Aylesbury Vale DC, Buckinghamshire CC, Bucks & MK Fire & Rescue Authority, South Bucks DC and Wycombe DC. To manage the project a Joint Committee had been established by the partners, and an Inter Authority Agreement entered into with a Project Board overseeing the progress of the project and the activities of the project team.

The size of the potential contract meant that it would be tendered under EU procurement rules.   In June the EU notice was published and this resulted in six bidders entering the pre-qualification phase which reduced the number of bidders down to four. A meeting was organised at the beginning of October for the four bidders in order to make sure they were clear on the Councils’ requirements and set out process for the procurement.  Just before and after the meeting two of the bidders dropped out of the procurement leaving two bidders, IBM and Mouchell.  They had been asked to submit outline proposals for Support Services by 17/11/09, after which each Partner would have to decide if they wished to proceed to the next detailed stage.

The remaining parts of the report dealt with the steps to be completed in the procurement process plus the main activities that would need to be completed as part of this project and in addition the main risks to the project.

The project was requiring a significant amount of resources with £98K earmarked to date as South Bucks contribution towards the procurement costs of the project and in addition there was a large amount of senior officer time that had been devoted to the project.   

It was envisaged that due to the size and complexity of the project the various partner authorities would undertake their own scrutiny, probably in September 2010, of any final proposals before any decision was made.  In addition in the future there would probably be a report from the District Auditors on the outcome of the Procurement that would be made to all the partner authorities.

                        RESOLVED that the report be noted

To note the report of the Director of Resources

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Resources on the Task and Finish Groups interim report on Crime and Disorder - Community Safety.

Members noted that a recent change in legislation required local authorities to scrutinise the Crime and Disorder partnerships on an annual basis.  The purpose of the Community Safety Partnership was one of the Council’s key strategic partnerships and supports the delivery of a key objective of the Council.   The report detailed the number of different external agencies that were involved in the South Bucks Community Safety Partnership.

It was noted that: -

·         SBDC Community Safety Team comprised Community Safety Manager, Two Community Safety Project Officers and an Intervention Officer and  in addition the team was supported and works alongside an Anti-Social Behaviour Administration Officer (TVP) p/t and a TVP Community Police Officer

·         The Community Safety Team recorded calls from local residents and feedback from Neighbourhood Policing Team, which provided a useful record of criminal activity and disorderly conduct in the district

·         the Community Safety Team actively encouraged residents to become a member of Neighbourhood Watch or alternatively, sign-up to the Community Messaging service where residents could positively influence the activities in their neighbourhood

·         The current areas of work carried out by the project officers included: - Domestic Violence,  Graffiti, Drugs and Alcohol, Cohesion

·         Other Work including: - Arranging for local school children to attend ‘Hazard Alley ‘at the safety centre in Milton Keynes to learn about personal safety; Organising the launch of the ‘Home Safety Check’ scheme in South Bucks in conjunction with Bucks fire and rescue service and Attending Neighbourhood Action Groups including those at Iver, Gerrards Cross and Stoke Poges and Wexham.

·         The specific projects list for Serious Acquisitive Crime (SAC), reducing reoffending and communication projects, data analysis, NAGS

·         The structure of South Bucks reporting within Community Safety which demonstrated the complex connections between the various areas within Community Safety.

Members asked a number of questions about detailed aspects and sought clarification and explanation of certain issues concerning: -  number of staff involved; Crime Statistics - level of serious acquisitive crime had fallen by 20.6% over the past months and was also well below the predicted level of offending for 2010, The ‘Here’s A Bright Idea Campaign’, where timer switches (money obtained from a government grant)  were given out to residents to encourage them to leave a light on when they were at work to make their home look occupied; and the KEYP SAFE project, which encouraged residents with high value cars to keep their keys out of view; Police tasking and CCTV – effectiveness, including  ANPR. 

After consideration of the information available it was

RESOLVED that: -

(1)    the report be noted;

(2)    the following areas be taken forward: -

·         Comparison with other Districts regarding the overall spend and level of crime.

·         Place Survey – performance regarding national indicators to be reported back on a regular basis

·         Cocooning - - where  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

To receive: -

(a)               The Agenda and Minutes for 11 September 2009

(b)               The Agenda for 9 October 2009

Members noted for information the Agenda and Minutes for the 11 September and the Agenda for 9 October 2009 meetings regarding the Bucks County Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee for Public Health.

An opportunity for Members to raise questions about items:

• during the meeting
• written questions submitted previously
• raised by information items

There were no Members questions submitted at this meeting.

To note the work programme timetable (April 2009 – April 2010)

The Committee received the latest update of the work programme incorporating all actions and reviews within the responsibility of the Committee, planned by meeting date for the period April 2009 – May 2010.

The following items be added to the Work Programme: -

·         VfM Review - Community Safety

·         External Scrutiny of Health - verbal update from Cllr to include ambulance response times in South Bucks

·         Fraud Risk for SBDC

            RESOLVED that the work programme, with amended topics and priority dates as appropriate, be adopted as part of the future work programme of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the year April 2009 – May 2010

For information only

Members noted for information the leaflet on “Making the most of Your Local Heritage” – A Guide for Overview and Scrutiny Committees and suggested that this be forwarded on to the Sustainable Development PAG for information purposes.

Members noted that the next scheduled meeting would be held on Monday 1 February 2010 at 6.00 p.m.

The Chairman to move the following resolution:-

“that under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act”

RESOLVED that under Section 100.A of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act

(Paragraph 1 – because of information relating to any individual)

To receive the Part II minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 7 September 2009

(Paragraph 3 – because of information relating to the financial or business affairs of a particular person)

The Part II minutes of the last meeting held on 7 September were confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

The meeting having commenced at 6.00 p.m. terminated at 7.53 p.m.