Minutes - 30 January 2008

BABERGH DISTRICT COUNCIL           

OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY(COMMUNITY SERVICES) COMMITTEE

MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY (COMMUNITY SERVICES) COMMITTEE HELD AT THE GRANARY, QUAY LANE, SUDBURY ON WEDNESDAY 30 JANUARY 2008 AT 12 NOON

PRESENT: Mr J A B Long – Chairman

Mr A F D W Osborne, Mr J R A Sayers and Mr D L Wood were unable to be present. 

61 - Substitutes
62 - Declaration of Interests
63 - Minutes
64 - Petitions
65 - Questions from Members
66 - Work Plan
67 - Budget Scrutiny
68 - Managing the Transition to a New National Performance Framework

61     SUBSTITUTES

It was noted that in accordance with Council Procedure Rule No. 5 a substitute was in attendance as follows:-

Mr G S White (substituting for Mr J R A Sayers).

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62     DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

Mr G S White declared a personal interest in the item referred to in Minute No. 67 below, by virtue of the fact that he is a member of the Board of the South Suffolk Leisure Trust.

Mr B D Hurren declared a personal interest in the item referred to in Minute No. 67 below, by virtue of the fact that he is a member of the Management Board of The Quay Theatre, Sudbury.    

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63     MINUTES

Members had before them for confirmation the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 4 December 2007 and the Minutes of the joint meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny (Community Services) Committee and the Overview and Scrutiny (Stewardship) Committee held on 11 December 2007.  It was noted that the Overview and Scrutiny (Stewardship) Committee at its meeting on 29 January 2008 had approved the Minutes of the joint meeting, subject to two amendments and subject to the concurrence of the Overview and Scrutiny (Community Services) Committee.  The Overview and Scrutiny (Community Services) Committee concurred with the two amendments.

RESOLVED

(1) That the Minutes of the meeting held on 4 December 2007 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

(2) That the Minutes of the joint meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny (Community Services) Committee and the Overview and Scrutiny (Stewardship) Committee held on 11 December 2007 be confirmed and signed as a correct record, subject to the following amendments:-

In Minute No. 6 delete

“The SFP had not accepted a proposal put forward by the Information Management Task Group to fund a new joint post of Security Officer.”

Substitute

“The proposal put forward by the Information Management Task Group to fund a new joint post of Security Officer had yet to go through the SFP process.”

In Minute No. 6, recommendation (6), remove the comma after “opportunities” and insert a comma after “car parking”.

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64     PETITIONS

None received.

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65     QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS

None received.

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66    WORK PLAN

The Head of Corporate Services submitted a report (Paper G193) which provided details of the Committee’s anticipated work for the remainder of 2007/08, including items that may be the subject of call-in procedures.

RESOLVED

That the Work Plan submitted as Paper G193 be noted.

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67            BUDGET SCRUTINY

The Head of Finance presented a report (Paper G186) concerning scrutiny of the draft budgets.  These had been approved by Strategy Committee on 10 January 2008.

In the ensuing discussion, the following were among the points noted:-

• The proposed Council Tax increase was based on the headline RPI rate of inflation of 3.9% in September 2007, which would again achieve the Council’s aim of limiting increases to no more than inflation.

• The Committee was not asked to comment on the issue of the Council’s future financial strategy, as this would require further consideration once the 2008/09 budget had been approved.

• Paragraph 5.9 of Paper G186 updated Members on proposed amendments to the budgets to reflect changes which had occurred since the Strategy Committee meeting.  These related to the Government increase in statutory fees for planning applications, the current situation on the Hadleigh Pool/Leisure facilities project, and potential expansion of facilities at the Kingfisher Leisure Centre during 2008/09.  In relation to the latter it was noted that the Committee might be asked to scrutinise the South Suffolk Leisure business plan at a future meeting.

• Paper G173 explained the position on the draft Housing Revenue Budget for 2008/09 and the three-year capital programme for council housing which had been approved by the Strategy Committee on 10 January 2008.  Rent increases next year would be 6.6% on average, not 5.2% as stated in Paper G173.  The increase was necessitated by the Government’s rent re-structuring arrangements.  The reasons for the change from 5.2% to 6.6% were explained.  They had been accepted by the Housing Panel and the Tenants’ Forum.

• Over the previous three years the total salary and wages bill had increased by between 3.5% and 4% per annum.  Over the same period there had been a small but steady decrease in the number of full-time equivalent posts, from around 280 in 2004/05 to just over 270 in 2008/09.

RECOMMENDED TO STRATEGY COMMITTEE

That the draft budget for 2008/09 be approved as set out in Papers G186, G173 and G169.

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68     MANAGING THE TRANSITION TO A NEW NATIONAL PERFORMANCE FRAMEWORK

The Head of Corporate Services submitted a report (Paper G189) concerning potential changes to aspects of the Council’s performance management systems as a result of the requirements of the new National Performance Management Framework.

Members noted that at their next meeting they would be asked to make recommendations to the Strategy Committee about performance indicator targets for 2008/09.

RESOLVED

That the project plan “Managing the transition to a new National Performance Framework” as set out in Appendix A to Paper G189 be approved.

The business of the meeting was concluded at 1.25 p.m.

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