Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor I G Fleetwood.  There were no replacement members in attendance.

There were no declarations of Councillors' interests at this point of the proceedings.

RESOLVED

          That the minutes of the Value for Money Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 24 November 2015 be agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

(To receive a report from David Forbes, County Finance Officer, which describes the budget proposals arising from the Provisional Local Government Settlement, announced on 17 December 2015 and the implications for the Commissioning Strategies within the responsibility of the Value for Money Scrutiny Committee ("How We Do Our Business" and "Enablers and Support to Council's Outcomes").  The Committee have the opportunity to make comment prior to the meeting of the Executive on 2 February 2016)

Consideration was given to a report from the Executive Director of Finance and Public Protection which described the budget proposals arising from the Provisional Local Government Settlement announced on the 17 December 2015.  The report also included the implications for the Commissioning Strategies within the responsibility of the Value for Money Scrutiny Committee – "How We Do Our Business" and "Enablers and Support to Council's Outcomes".

Claire Machej, Head of Finance (Corporate), guided the Committee through the report and invited relevant officers to introduce details of their own service areas.

David Forbes, County Finance Officer, introduced the Budget and Policy Framework –Finance and Audit (paragraph 1.11), Fisheries precept – Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA) (paragraph 1.12) and Decision making, including Democratic Processes (paragraph 1.13).

During discussion of this section of the report, the following points were noted:-

·       The Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA) Board had two LCC elected members and a further 21 members;

·       It was clarified that the penalties incurred by SERCO were within this financial year and further confirmed that the full amount of penalties available under the contract had been taken this year;

·       The reduction in counter fraud activity may be avoided depending on the available wider initiatives as part of the local government finance settlement.  The message received from Government was that if schemes could be developed to reduce county fraud activity, capital receipts could be used to support that work;

·       In relation to internal audit, caution would be taken not to reduce the level of input too far as the external auditors had the ability to undertake the required level of internal audits themselves and invoice the local authority for that work which would prove more costly;

·       Although the Government offered the local authority a four year deal, this presented a number of complications, advantages and disadvantages.  The DCLG had suggested a clear and set format for DCLG grants but other grants were also available from other government departments.  As a result, it was difficult to set a four year budget as the other Government departments had not offered a similar four year deal.  The four year efficiency statement produced by local authorities was not expected to be required until September/October 2016 and, although it may be in the Council's best interest to do that, there were a number of uncertainties at the present time;

·       It was confirmed that capital receipts within the revenue budget could also be used for other areas.  This was currently out to consultation but, for the next three years, capital receipts could be used on capital expenditure designed to expand the business and reduce expenditure.  For example, capital receipts could be used for redundancy charges;

Judith Hetherington Smith, Chief Information and Commissioning Officer, introduced the section on Information Management and Technology (IM&T) Strategy and Support (paragraph 1.16) where the focus was to negotiate with suppliers to reduce third party costs.

During discussion, the following points were noted:-

·       Confirmation was received that the broadband project was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

(To receive a report from Judith Hetherington Smith, Chief Information and Commissioning Officer, which provides the Committee with an update on the recent performance on the contract)

Consideration was given to a report from the Chief Information and Commissioning Officer which provided the Committee with an update on the recent performance against the contract with Serco.

Judith Hetherington Smith, Chief Information and Commissioning Officer, introduced the report and advised that the December figures for the Customer Service Centre (CSC) had successfully achieved all of their KPIs since the report was published.  Paul Briddock, Partnership Director for Serco, was also in attendance for this item.

During discussion, the following points were noted:-

·       It was agreed that the agenda title of these update reports should be changed for future meetings to reflect which contract the report referred to;

·       Councillor P M Dilks expressed serious concern at the tone of the minutes of the meeting of the Value for Money Scrutiny Committee and requested clarification of the process of preparation of the minutes.  The Head of Democratic Services asked if this view was that of the wider Committee and it was confirmed that it was not;

·       Councillor P M Dilks had requested, at the previous meeting, a list of outstanding issues from this contract, including how many emergency payments had been made, how many staff had not been paid and how many schools and businesses had been affected as a result.  This information was requested again;

·       It was reported at the last meeting that an overall plan would be put in place to monitor the situation and this would be presented to the Committee at its meeting in January.  The Committee was disappointed that this had not been presented at this meeting  and that a known date when the full implementation of the contract was still not available.  It was advised that the programme and date should be available at the end of January;

·       There had been difficulties in evidencing the data which had taken longer than anticipated.  It was important that a client function on behalf of the Council and it was advised that even if there was a 1% error margin, the data would be rejected in its entirety;

·       The report referred to the data in November as the December data was not available in time for the report to be published.  Paul Briddock, Partnership Director for Serco, gave a verbal update on the December figures – KPIs 4 and 5 had been verified by LCC staff and KPI09 was now green rather than amber;

·       The Committee acknowledged that improvements had been made but that Serco would continue to be held to account until the contract requirements were met;

·       The difficulties of the contract had been discussed in part with KPMG at the Audit Committee and the County Finance Officer was keeping them up to date on progress.  The District Auditor had advised that there may be a risk that the accounts may be qualified this year as a result or that they may be late.  It was expected, however, that the normal deadline for the accounts would be met;

·       The process of preparing the year  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

(To receive a report from Nigel West, Head of Democratic Services and Statutory Scrutiny Officer, which provides the Committee with the opportunity to consider its work programme for the forthcoming year)

Consideration was given to a report of the Director responsible for Democratic Services which provided the Committee with the opportunity to consider the work programme for the coming year.

Members were advised that an additional item would be presented to the Committee in February 2016 – One Public Estate.

The County Finance Officer also requested that the following two reports be added to the work programme for February 2016:-

·         Treasury Management Update 2015/16 – Quarter 3

·         Treasury Management Strategy Statement & Annual Investment Strategy 2016/17

The Chief Information and Commissioning Officer asked the Committee to note her apologies for the next meeting and advised that Sophie Reeve, Chief Commercial Officer, would present the Serco Contract Performance Update on her behalf.

RESOLVED

          That the work programme, with the amendments noted above, be agreed.