To receive apologies for absence (to include reasons, where appropriate) from Members / Officers.  

Apologies for absence were received from the following Members for the reasons so stated:

Councillor D Jones – Other Council Business

Councillor D Sage – In hospital.  

To receive declarations of personal and prejudicial interest (if any) from Members/Officers in accordance with the provisions of the Members’ Code of Conduct adopted by Council from1st September 2008.

None.

To receive the minutes of a meeting of the Catalogue Supplies Service Joint Committee of 19 December 2014.

RESOLVED:               That the minutes of the Catalogue Supplies Joint Committee of 19 December 2014 were approved as a true and accurate record.   

The Corporate Procurement Manager presented a report to apprise Members of the service trading and operational performance during the year to date and presented the proposed Revenue Budget for 2015-16. 

He reported that for the period to the end of December 2014 service turnover had been positive with overall sales achieving target with significant growth from schools in the Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan Councils.  The order book turnover to date was up by 1.46% with Catalogue Stores up by 4.22% and Catalogue Direct down by 5.72%.  The full year comparison showed a variance of £1,702 which was ahead of target with a % of target to be achieved in the remaining 12 weeks being 27% which he believed was achievable.  He outlined turnover by customer area for 2014-15 compared to 2013-14 which had seen lower than expected turnover from the Joint Authorities, particularly the Catalogue Direct range.  There had been a continuation of the successful extension of the service into the educational sectors of Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan authorities along with increased turnover by various housing associations and South Wales Police had seen an increase in Catalogue Stores turnover against both target and last year’s actual figures.  He stated that the commencement of the new Aberdare Community School refurbishment in January would contribute to the achievement of the Catalogue Direct overall target for 2014-15. 

The Corporate Procurement Manager reported on a summary of revenue budget expenditure / income for the financial year to 31 December 2014 and detailed the   reasons for variation between budget and expenditure / income which showed a projected surplus of £220k for 2014-15. 

The Committee referred to the increase in transport costs which had seen an overspend of £27k due to the increased usage of the service by schools in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan thereby affecting profitability and whether consideration could be given to increased delivery charges for those customers.  The Business Operations Manager informed the Committee that this business was from schools and not from corporate.      

The Committee questioned the increase in external audit fees.  The Finance Manager Technical and Corporate informed the Committee that the audit fees had been stagnant for several years and that the auditors had reviewed their fees charged so that they were based on activity.  She stated that she would request a breakdown of the audit fees for the Committee.

The Corporate Procurement Manager reported on service performance indicators for the year to 31 December 2014 together with comparison for 2013-14 in relation to Product Availability; Stockholding Value and Debt Management.  An additional performance indicator had been requested by officers detailing the breakdown of order value by banding.  He stated that the average stock level available for customers on first request is above target at 96.72%; with stockholding value at 9.4 weeks compared to the service target of 8 weeks stock equivalent.  Debt management was down to 3.6 weeks compared to the service target of not greater than 5.5 weeks credit income.  He informed the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 79.

To consider any other urgent item(s) of business in respect of which notice has been given in accordance with Part 4 (paragraph 4) of the Council Procedure Rules and which the person presiding at the meeting is of the opinion should by reason of special circumstances be transacted at the meeting as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items.

The minutes and report relating to the following items are not for publication as they contain exempt information as defined in Paragraph 14 of Part 4 and Paragraph 21 of Part 5 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information)(Variation) (Wales) Order 2007.

If following the application of the public interest test the Joint Committee resolves pursuant to the Act to consider these items in private, the public will be excluded from the meeting during such consideration.

RESOLVED:                         That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation)(Wales) Order 2007 that the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item as the minutes contained exempt information as defined by Paragraph 14 of Part 4 and Paragraph 21 of Part 5 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

                                               Following the application of the public interest test it was resolved that pursuant to the Act referred to above to consider the exempt minutes of the Joint Committee in private and report on the County Borough Supplies Stock Holding Principles in private with the public excluded from the meeting, as it was considered that in the circumstances the public interest in maintaining this exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information because of the prejudice disclosure would cause to the individuals concerned by virtue of Paragraph 14 of Part 4 and Paragraph 21 of Part 5 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

RESOLVED:               That the exempt minutes of the Catalogue Supplies Joint Committee of 19 December 2014 were accepted as a true and accurate record.