Agenda and minutes

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Items
No. Item

24.

Apologies for Absence and Substitutions

The Committee is asked to note any apologies for absence and substitutions received from Members.

 

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence submitted by Councillors and therefore there were no substitutions on this occasion.

 

25.

Minutes of the Last Meeting pdf icon PDF 118 KB

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee, held on 30 July 2018.

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 30 July 2018 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

 

26.

Declarations of Interest

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Personal Interest, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

 

Minutes:

There were none made at this time.

 

27.

Questions on Notice pursuant to Council Procedure Rule 37

Subject to providing two working days' notice, a Member of the Committee may ask the Chairman of the Committee a question on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties which affect the Tendring District and which falls within the terms of reference of the Committee.

Minutes:

Subject to providing two working days’ notice, a Member of the Committee could ask the Chairman of the Committee a question on any matter in relation to which the Council had powers or duties which affected the Tendring District and which fell within the terms of reference of the Committee.

 

There were no such questions on this occasion.

 

28.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive - A.2 - Performance Report 2018/19 First Quarter pdf icon PDF 180 KB

To present to the Committee the Performance Report for the period April 2018 – June 2018.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee had before it a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Corporate Services) which presented the Performance Report for Quarter One (April 2018 to June 2018), including the Corporate Plan and Priorities and Projects 2018/19.

 

Appendix A to that report contained details of the 18 indicators and projects where performance was measured. Of those, 14 (78%) were on, or above, their expected target and 4 (22%) were not currently in line with the expected performance.

 

Members were informed that the Performance Report for Quarter One had been presented to Cabinet on 14 September 2018. Any feedback from the Committee would be presented to a future meeting of the Cabinet as a separate reference report.

 

The Council’s Human Resources Operations Manager (Katie Wilkins) gave the Committee an update in respect of the indicators and projects.

 

Prior to the meeting a question sheet had been circulated to members of the Committee which had given them the opportunity to ask any service specific questions on the Performance Report for Quarter One (April 2018 to June 2018). This had enabled Officers to gather responses in time for the meeting. The Human Resources Operations Manager went through the questions and answers with the Committee.

 

Questions had been asked in regards to the following:

 

Public Conveniences and Recycling all plastic, all colours, tin foil and tins to encourage a recycling culture.

 

Officers responded to questions raised by Members on various topics and where an answer was not immediately available, the Human Resources and Business Manager undertook to respond to Members as soon as possible after the meeting.

 

It was RESOLVED that the contents of the report be noted.

 

29.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive - A.1 - Corporate Budget Monitoring for the First Quarter of 2018/19 [includes update on Ten Year Financial Forecast] pdf icon PDF 120 KB

To provide an overview of the Council’s financial position against the budget as at the end of July 2018 and to present an updated forecast on an on-going basis as part of developing the budget for 2019/20 and beyond.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee had before it a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Corporate Services), which presented it with an overview of the Council’s actual financial position against the budget as at the end of July 2018 and which also presented an updated forecast on an on-going basis as part of developing the budget for 2019/20 and beyond.

 

The Committee was made aware that, at its meeting held on 14 September 2018, Cabinet had considered the same report and had resolved:

 

“(1)    That, in respect of the financial performance against the budget at the end of July 2018, -

 

(a)     the position be noted;

 

(b)     the proposed in-year adjustments to the budget as set out in Appendix H be agreed;

 

(c)     future amendments to in-year employee budgets to reflect organisational changes be  delegated to the Chief Finance Officer on the basis that they do not increase the Council’s overall net budget; and

 

(d)     the decision to continue to be a member of the Essex Business Rates Pool and associated bid for pilot status in 2019/20 be delegated to the Finance and Corporate Resources Portfolio Holder if advantageous to the Council.

 

(2)     That, in respect of the Updated Long Term Forecast, -

 

(a)         the updated forecast be agreed; and

 

(b)         the Resources and Service Overview and Scrutiny Committee be consulted on the updated position.”

 

The Cabinet report referred to above was attached as Appendix A to the report A.1 for the Committee’s consideration.

 

Members raised questions and concerns which were responded to by the Head of Finance, Revenues and Benefits Services.

 

Having considered and discussed the report, Councillor Stephenson moved and Councillor Scott seconded and it was:-

 

RESOLVED (a) the Committee notes the report and welcomes the revised approach to reporting key financial information and looks forward to seeing this evolve over the coming months; and

 

 

(b)   that the COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDS TO CABINET that:-

 

 

(a)         (1) the Committee proposes that in respect of the in-year position for 2018/19, the Committee notes the position regarding planning income which was expected at some point given the progress of the local plan.  However, it is suggested that if this trend in planning income continues, Officers explore ways to manage the cash flow implications across financial years to alleviate any adverse implications on the budget in any one year.

 

(b)         (2) The Committee will remain alert to the rental income situation within the HRA and hope to see the position stabilise over the coming year.  Although not necessarily for inclusion in future reports, it would be helpful for Members to receive more detailed information concerning void periods on a regular basis whilst the current adverse position continues.

 

(d)     (3) In respect of the money owed by one public sector debtor, it would be helpful to the Council’s cashflow position if the relevant service took whatever steps necessary to ensure that money is recovered as soon as possible during the year.

 

(e)     (4) In respect of the Updated Forecast, the Committee notes the updated forecast  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

30.

Scrutiny of Proposed Decisions pdf icon PDF 111 KB

Pursuant to the provisions of Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 13, the Committee will review any new and/or amended published forthcoming decisions relevant to its terms of reference and decide whether it wishes to enquire into any such decision before it is taken.

 

Matters may only be raised on Forthcoming Decisions at Committee meetings where the Member has notified the Committee Services Manager in writing (or by personal email) of the question they wish to ask, no later than Midday, two working days before the day of the meeting.

Minutes:

Pursuant to the provisions of Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 13, the Committee reviewed any new and/or amended published forthcoming decisions relevant to its terms of reference with a view to deciding whether to enquire into any such decision before it was taken. The relevant forthcoming decisions were before the Committee.

 

The Committee noted the submitted list of published forthcoming decisions, but wished to scrutinise the Tourism Strategy.

 

31.

Work Programme 2018/2019 pdf icon PDF 99 KB

At the request of the Chairman, the Committee will reconsider its work programme for 2018/2019 in order to decide the items that will be considered by the Committee; those that should be looked at by a Task and Finish Working Group; those items that should be the subject of an All Member Briefing and those items that should be entirely deleted from the work programme.

 

The current Work Programme for the Committee is attached for Members’ reference.

Minutes:

At the request of the Chairman, the Committee reconsidered its work programme for 2018/2019 in order to decide the items that will be considered by the Committee; those that should be looked at by a Task and Finish Working Group; those items that should be the subject of an All Member Briefing and those items that should be entirely deleted from the work programme.

 

Having discussed the matter it was –

 

RESOLVED that the following amendments be made to the Committee’s Work Programme for 2018/2019:-

 

5 November 2018 – remove Clacton Airshow to an All-Member Briefing.

 

5 November 2018 – add Recycling – Task and Finish

 

5 November 2018 – Remove Corporate Budget Monitoring 2018/19 Second Quarter as this report is not going to Cabinet until 9th November 2018.

 

Add an additional meeting before the meeting of 17th December 2018 for Corporate Budget Monitoring 2018/19 Second Quarter.