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 from 1 September 2008 (including Whipping declarations)

None

To receive for approval the minutes of a meeting of the Corporate Resources and

Improvement Overview and Scrutiny Committee of 11 July 2016.

Under the Sickness Absence Report item, Members were advised that the recommendation that the Chief Executive’s appraisal contain a target to reduce sickness absence across the Authority by 10%, was rejected following legal advice that it was not within the Committee’s remit to set a target. Members were advised that they would receive an update on progress to a future meeting.

RESOLVED         That the Minutes of the Corporate Resources & Improvement Overview and Scrutiny Committee of 11 July 2016, be approved as a true and accurate record, subject to the minutes being amended to reflect that Councillor N Clarke had attended the meeting.  

Invitees:

All Members of Cabinet and Corporate Management Board

All Overview and Scrutiny Chairs  

The Head of Finance & Section 151 Officer presented the budget monitoring report providing an update on the Council’s financial position as at 30^th June 2016 and projected outturn for the year against the budget approved by Council in March 2016.

On 10^th March 2016 Council approved a net revenue budget of £254.891 million for 2016-17, along with a capital programme for the year of £43.553 million which was recently revised to £49.530 million. As part of the Performance Management Framework, budget projections were reviewed regularly and reported to Cabinet on a quarterly basis. The delivery of agreed budget reductions was also kept under review and reported to Cabinet as part of this process.

The overall projected position as at 30^th June 2014 was a net over spend of £164,000 comprising £564,000 net over spend on directorates and £400,000 under spend on corporate budgets.

At year end consideration was given to requests from directors to carry forward any planned directorate under spends for specific purposes the following year in line with protocol, providing these could be met from within the Council’s cash limited budget for 2016-17.

A report presented to Cabinet on 5 July 2016 highlighted that of the £11.225 million budget reduction proposals for 2015-16, £2.692 million were not met in full with a shortfall in the financial year of £1.909 million. A summary of the latest position showed that progress had been made although there remained an ongoing shortfall of £1.172 million in 2016-17 against these specific proposals.

Members referred to the table demonstrating a comparison of budget against projected outturn at 30^th June 2016 and suggested that in future it would be useful to include the original budget so that a comparison could be made.    

The Committee asked if the procedure for carrying forward an over spend was a recent change to procedure. The Head of Finance & Section 151 Officer explained that it was not a new change this year and the principle behind it was to incentivise budget holder behaviour because it should not be assumed that they would start with a zero balance. Members asked if this had ever happened and they were advised that it had happened in the previous two years.

The Committee referred to corporate issues outside the councils control and the way that the individual Directorate was expected to find the shortfall. Members suggested that some corporate issues should be re-profiled as they were outside the Council’s control such as MREC, Blue Badges and School Transport.

The Committee referred to the list of AMBER savings and in particular, the lease of Raven’s Court building. Members felt that it should show as red because of the delay in securing a tenant. The Head of Finance & Section 151 Officer explained that the report was originally prepared at the end of quarter 1 and at that time negotiations were still underway with an interested tenant. The category was therefore amber because there was some risk around delivering the saving. The Corporate  ...  view the full minutes text for item 212.

Cllr Hywel Williams, Cabinet Member - Resources

Andrew Jolley, Corporate Director - Operational and Partnership Services

The Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services presented a report on how the Local Authority was getting best value for money on services and goods and what other local authorities were doing in the UK and wider. He explained that it was common sense to secure the best deal possible. It was important to understand the value of procurement as demonstrated by savings of £800,000 in school transport alone.

The corporate procurement project had a number of work streams to deliver the outcome of ensuring efficiency in the purchase of goods and services through the management of contracts and effective cross directorate overview of procurement. A task and finish group had been set up to review and update the internal contract procedure rules to ensure the authority had the ability to be innovative and flexible in the way it bought goods and services. This would include a review of the contract thresholds to ensure procurement could be undertaken at the right level with a balance of probity but also speed.

The Procurement Team worked with local providers to ensure they had access to the Authority’s service requirements, encouraging small to medium size enterprises to bid for business. Purchasing cards had been rolled out across the relevant departments in the authority. The team was working closely with Finance and Welsh Government to ensure implementation of EProcurement and the roll out of Basware, an electronic system providing an electronic marketplace across the authority. The team continued to roll out eTendering with full electronic tendering to be implemented by April 2017. A Corporate Contracts Register had been implemented via the etenderwales portal and staff trained on how to upload any contracts/spend. The introduction of a pre tender form, a category management approach, the use of fully procured frameworks offering the best value for money, E auctions and non-cashable savings all contributed to an improvement in the efficiency of the authority in the purchase of goods and services.

The Authority was in a good position to maintain its improvement in procurement across the Authority and to further develop a culture ensuring that procurement was seen as a positive force in the delivery of services and cost reduction.

The Committee asked why purchasing cards were not well accepted locally.

The Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services explained that they were useful for small purchases in the same way you would use a debit card but not normally used in larger purchases.

Members referred to the number of national procurement frameworks and asked if in order to drive costs down, staff in these frameworks were on zero hours contracts. The Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services explained that staff were employed by Welsh Government and not by the Authority on zero hours contracts. There was one National Procurement Service and a number of frameworks within e.g. solicitors and food. There were other organisations in England with frameworks that the Authority could join and this was better than undergoing an individual procurement process.

The Committee acknowledged that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 213.

The Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services submitted a report, the purpose of which, was to present the items due to be considered at the Committee’s meeting on 7 December 2016, and seeking confirmation of the information required for the subsequent scheduled meeting to be held on 17 January 2017, and finally, present a list of further potential items for prioritisation by the Committee.

RESOLVED          That Committee:

1. Noted the topics due to be considered at the meeting of     the Committee for 7 December 2016 and confirmed that it did not  require any additional specific information to be provided by the invitees listed or the Overview & Scrutiny Unit;

2. Determined the invitees to be invited to attend, any specific information it would like the invitees to provide as well as any research that it would like the Overview & Scrutiny Unit to undertake in relation to its following meeting scheduled for 17 January 2017;

3.  Revisited and considered the list of future potential items for the Committee’s Forward Work Programme and reprioritised as the Committees deemed appropriate. “Rationalising the Council’s Estate including Depot Rationalisation” due to be considered at 8 February 2017 meeting changed to 15 March 2017 and “Business Plan 2016/17” moved to 8 February 2017.                    

To consider any items 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.

None.