Minutes:
The
Committee received an overview of the report in relation to Revenue Budget
Monitoring for 2017/18. Members then
raised the following issues:-
·
In relation to CORP704 whether the proposal to delete the vacant post of
assistant HR officer was cost effective in the long term. Members were advised
that cost saving measures such as this were required in order to balance the
Head of Service budgets. In relation to
Human Resources specifically, the Chief Executive advised that discussions were
ongoing regarding the configuration of the Section as there were capacity
issues. The interface with schools, for
example, was a particular issue as it was felt that School Governors and Head
Teachers needed to deal with HR issues in a more focused manner and not
escalate these to the HR Section, as was the case at present. There was therefore an unrealistic
expectation on HR, which did not have the capacity. Members then asked whether schools would be
required to ‘buy in’ the assistance of HR and were advised that this would be
considered as part of the review. The
Chief Executive urged those Members, who were also School Governors, to address
the noncomplex HR issues within the school and not rely on the Authority’s HR
Section.
·
Members were concerned at the management of the large number of
variances particularly in the Social Services Directorate and were advised that
budgets needed to be controlled. The
Children’s Services Budget was however particularly volatile as each package of
care could be very expensive, dependent on the level of care required. The Director expected that there would be in
the region of £675k underspend as the numbers of Looked After
Children had fallen. This would also
have a knock on effect to Child Care Legal costs. Members expressed concern that any cuts made
would not increase risk and were advised that none of the service changes to
date had been detrimental to either the quantity nor
quality of service. The Director advised
Members that savings could be realised through a further transformation of
services.
·
In relation to the 21st Century schools project, Members
noted that the project had been profiled and that the spend
was under control.
·
Members questioned the position in relation to the Princess Royal
Theatre and noted that the summer months were usually quiet and that there was
normally an increase during the autumn/winter.
There had also been an increase in the booking fees and it was envisaged
that this together with the increase in bookings would mitigate the overspend.
Members also noted that there would be a review of the Arts provision
throughout the County Borough with a view to generating income for the
Authority.
·
The Director of Environment confirmed that the income streams referred
to in the circulated report, for the Environment Directorate were achievable.
Those referred to under the Corporate Section (ICT) were achieved through
such things as the secondment of staff to the Western Bay and also hosting such
services as the Registrars.
·
In relation to Home Care, the percentage of cases
undertaken by the Authority had fallen from 20% to 14% and were usually
the more complex cases. This was due, in
part, to the fact that the in house provision was more expensive than the
private sector. Members noted that
Dynamic Purchasing would be in operation in August, which was in effect an on
line auction for care packaged.
·
Members asked how the overspend in external provision could be addressed
and were advised that this could not be done but that the Authority had reduced
the rate of admission to hospital as a result of assessments not resulting in
over provision. The Chief Executive
added that the Authority could not guarantee that there would be an in house
provision in 5 years as the service was too expensive.
·
Members suggested that perhaps there were opportunities for income
generation in such areas as the Registrars Service, which could provide a
service in relation to such things as genealogy.
Following
scrutiny, the Committee was supportive of the proposals to be considered by the
Cabinet.