Issue - meetings

To present details of delivery of the Corporate Plan for 2016-18 and project delivery, in the context of the Council’s financial performance.

(Executive Councillors:  Cllrs J A Gray and D M Tysoe)

i.  Notes the progress made against Key Activities and Corporate Indicators in the Corporate Plan and current projects, as summarised in Appendix A and detailed in Appendices B and C of the Officer’s report;

ii. Notes the Council’s financial performance at the end of March, as detailed in the Financial Performance Monitoring Suite in Appendix D and the register of reviews of Commercial Investment Strategy propositions as detailed in Appendix E of the Officer’s report.

Having welcomed the Finance Manager to his first Cabinet meeting since commencing employment with the authority, the Cabinet considered a report by the Corporate Team Manager and Finance Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) and commented on progress against the Key Activities and Corporate Indicators listed in the Council’s Corporate Plan for 2016/18 for the period 1 January to 31 March 2018.  The report also incorporated progress on the current projects being undertaken at the Council and financial performance information as at the end of March.

One particular ‘red’ indicator that the Executive Councillor for Resources referred the Cabinet to related to the average time between referral of Disabled Facilities Grants to practical completion for minor jobs up to £10,000. It was noted that the service was gradually improving and the time taken to the completion of the job had reduced in Quarter 4.  It was hoped that in the next financial year the service would be operating within target.

The Finance Manager explained that the Financial Performance information provided the provisional position prior to the final audit of the accounts.  Regarding Revenue, the provisional outturn identified an overspend of £0.5m.  The provisional outturn for the Capital programme identified an underspend of £3.1m.

The Cabinet were referred to the impact of the Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB) savings on the forecast outturn which had subsequently been overturned and the Red, Amber, Green ratings that had been awarded to the £1.9m of approved ZBB and Line by Line Review savings.

The Cabinet acknowledged the significant impact on the budget, having not delivered some of the ZBB savings.

The report also included the total variances for each Service and the main reasons where variances were greater than £50,000.  The Cabinet were informed that overspend within the Operations Service was substantial, one reason being the costs incurred to collect recyclable material. Overall the financial position was that the forthcoming budget setting process would be challenging.  However, continued progress with the Commercial Investment Strategy presented material returns of between 6 – 9%.

Having considered the comments of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Performance and Growth), circulated separate to the agenda, the Cabinet

RESOLVED

i.  to note the progress made against Key Activities and Corporate Indicators in the Corporate Plan and current projects, as summarised in Appendix A and detailed in Appendices B and C of the Officer’s report;

ii. to note the Council’s financial performance at the end of March, as detailed in the Financial Performance Monitoring Suite in Appendix D and the register of reviews of Commercial Investment Strategy propositions as detailed in Appendix E of the Officer’s report.

The Integrated Performance Report 2017/18 – Quarter 4 is to be presented to the Panel.

With the aid of a report by the Corporate Team Manager and the Finance Manager (a copy of which has been appended in the Minute Book) the Integrated Performance Report 2017/18 – Quarter 4 was presented to the Panel.

As the Members had the final performance for 2017/18, the Policy, Performance and Transformation Manager was in attendance and informed the Panel of the highlights for 2017/18. Members also received the highlights of the Council’s financial position from the Head of Resources.

The Panel was informed that the reason for the increase in complaints about missed bins is because of the Waste Round Reconfiguration. As a result of the reconfiguration, the days of bin collections had been changed and different drivers and crews had been allocated to the rounds and this led to some issues on the lack of knowledge. In addition, small lanes that were not on maps are where most bins were missed.

Regarding Project Management, Members were advised that some projects had a ‘Red’ status because the deadlines were unrealistic to begin with. It was explained that the Project Management Governance Board is taking a stronger role in holding Project Managers to account. There have been changes to the business case templates, more training has been provided and there is greater challenge from those approving and overseeing individual projects.

Members were informed that homelessness is measured at service level and that this is regularly reviewed by the Executive Councillor but that the indicator included in the 2017/18 Corporate Plan was the average length of stay in temporary accommodation. In addition to this the Council has a trailblazer project to tackle homelessness.

It was explained to the Panel that, as the finance is complex and interlinked, it would be difficult to identify the extra cost of getting back on track where a target is not being achieved but Officers would look into it.

The Panel was informed that improvement on delivering Disabled Facility Grants is continuing however delivery is getting more difficult every year as the Council are paying out more than they are receiving in grant from Central Government.

It was confirmed to Members that a performance indicator target is set at the beginning of the year however there is the opportunity to review this and if a good case is made to do so, or circumstances have significantly changed, then a revised target can be proposed for Member approval.

The Panel was informed that a report containing the cost of not filling vacancies and the impact on staff and service performance was due to be submitted to and discussed at the Employment Committee meeting on 28th June 2018.

A further explanation of why Operations had overspent their budget in 2017/18 was provided. Members were informed that the Waste Round Reconfiguration did not produce the savings anticipated. In addition, the Executive Councillor for Resources advised the Panel that the waste collection budget was also affected by the falling value of recyclable materials worldwide and rates of contamination in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8