Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, - Swale House. View directions

Contact: Democratic Services, 01795 417330 

Items
No. Item

1141.

Fire Evacuation Procedure

The Chairman will advise the meeting of the evacuation procedures to follow in the event of an emergency. This is particularly important for visitors and members of the public who will be unfamiliar with the building and procedures.

 

The Chairman will inform the meeting whether there is a planned evacuation drill due to take place, what the alarm sounds like (i.e. ringing bells), where the closest emergency exit route is, and where the second closest emergency exit route is, in the event that the closest exit or route is blocked.

 

The Chairman will inform the meeting that:

 

(a) in the event of the alarm sounding, everybody must leave the building via the nearest safe available exit and gather at the Assembly points at the far side of the Car Park; and

 

(b) the lifts must not be used in the event of an evacuation.

 

Any officers present at the meeting will aid with the evacuation.

 

It is important that the Chairman is informed of any person attending who is disabled or unable to use the stairs, so that suitable arrangements may be made in the event of an emergency.

 

Minutes:

The Chairman drew attention to the fire evacuation procedure, as set out on the agenda.

1142.

Minutes

To approve the Minutes of the Meeting held on 12 January 2017 (Minute Nos. to-follow) as a correct record.

 

Minutes:

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 12 January 2017 (Minute Nos.1100 – 1108) were taken as read, approved, and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

 

A Member referred to Minute No. 1105 and expressed his disappointment at the Cabinet’s response to the Leisure and Tourism Review, which was due to be considered by the Cabinet on 1 February 2017.

1143.

Declarations of Interest

Councillors should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves or their spouse, civil partner or person with whom they are living with as a spouse or civil partner.  They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.

 

The Chairman will ask Members if they have any interests to declare in respect of items on this agenda, under the following headings:

 

(a)          Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI) under the Localism Act 2011.  The nature as well as the existence of any such interest must be declared.  After declaring a DPI, the Member must leave the meeting and not take part in the discussion or vote.  This applies even if there is provision for public speaking.

 

(b)          Disclosable Non Pecuniary (DNPI) under the Code of Conduct adopted by the Council in May 2012.  The nature as well as the existence of any such interest must be declared.  After declaring a DNPI interest, the Member may stay, speak and vote on the matter.

 

(c)          Where it is possible that a fair-minded and informed observer, having considered the facts would conclude that there was a real possibility that the Member might be predetermined or biased the Member should declare their predetermination or bias and then leave the room while that item is considered.

 

Advice to Members:  If any Councillor has any doubt about the existence or nature of any DPI or DNPI which he/she may have in any item on this agenda, he/she should seek advice from the Director of Corporate Services as Monitoring Officer, the Head of Legal or from other Solicitors in Legal Services as early as possible, and in advance of the Meeting.

 

Minutes:

No interests were declared.

1144.

Financial Management Report pdf icon PDF 375 KB

The Committee is asked to consider the Financial Management Report for April – September 2016. 

 

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance and the Head of Finance have been invited to attend.

 

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed Members and Officers to the meeting.  The Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance advised that the report represented the first six months of the financial year, which showed an underspend of £670,000.  Savings were being made throughout the year where possible, and he applauded officers for good financial management.

 

The Chairman invited the Scrutiny Committee to ask questions, and went through the report page by page.  The following summarises the responses given to questions.

 

·        Page 2 - Planning pre-application advice: the Head of Planning Services advised that due to workload, the pre-application advice service had been ceased for around three months, to allow for recruitment of additional staff.  It was anticipated that the increase in planning fees would help to compensate for the increase in costs as a result of this delay. 

 

·        Page 3 – a Member considered that planning application income should be budgeted more carefully.

 

·        Page 4 – the Head of Resident Services confirmed that, unfortunately, there had been a saving as it had not been possible to gain further access to the private sector.  A Member suggested that this was an area for future review by the Scrutiny Committee.

 

·        Page 4 – the Chief Accountant drew attention to page 12, which set out the detail of the bad debt provision of £30k.

 

·        Page 5 – the Cabinet Member for Planning advised that the £25k loss of income for section 106 agreements was as a result of changes required following a court decision elsewhere.

 

·        Page 6 – the Cabinet Member for Regeneration advised that a “more cautious” approach to marketing apprenticeships was required due to a change in the number of applications/school leavers, and a change in guidelines from the Department for Education.  A Member asked for information about when this decision had been taken.

 

·        Page 6 – the Chief Executive explained that the savings in Chief Executive and Corporate Costs were largely due to staff salary saving and a reduction in the use of facilitators and away days.

 

·        Page 6 – the Cabinet Member for Safer Families and Communities advised that the reduction in income for closed circuit television was a result of Minster Parish Council no longer making a contribution.

 

·        Page 6 – Underspend on WWI Grants – it was clarified that there was unlikely to be an underspend by the end of the year as additional grants had been awarded since the report had been produced. 

 

·        Page 6 – Economy and Community Services – it was clarified that savings had been made as the officers acting up would have been positioned at the lowest point of the relevant salary scale.

 

·        Page 7 – the Head of Resident Services advised that the overspend of £177k on the Bed and Breakfast budget was higher than they would like, but the £35k underspend on the homeless hostel budget was as a result of the renegotiation of the agreement with AmicusHorizon.  She further explained that £177k was the projection to year-end, and next year this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1144.

1145.

Draft Budget 2017/18 pdf icon PDF 230 KB

To review the draft budget 2017/18 and make the necessary recommendations to the Cabinet on 1 February 2017. 

 

Cabinet, Strategic Management Team and Heads of Service have been invited to attend.  The Medium Term Financial Plan and 2017/18 Revenue and Capital Budgets report, Settlement update and the draft Budget Book have been attached.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance introduced the report, which had been considered by the Cabinet on 7 December 2016, and drew attention to the update on pages 45 and 46 regarding the Local Government Financial Settlement which had been announced on 15 December 2016.  The Budget Book had been updated to reflect this, and was set out on page 54 onwards.

 

The Chairman congratulated the Head of Finance and his team for the way in which the budget was presented.  He suggested that Members should focus their questions on pages 45 and 46, and then pages 54 onwards. 

 

In response to a question regarding an announcement by Gavin Barwell MP that money would be available for Swale for affordable housing and where this would appear in the budget, the Head of Housing advised that the money was not specifically for starter homes and they were currently working through the guidance to see how the money could be spent.  The Head of Finance undertook to provide additional information.

 

In response to a question regarding the Transformation Team, the Chief Executive clarified that the eighteen month period would finish around October 2017, but it was possible that an extension to the work of the team would be subject to discussion nearer the time.

 

·        Page 30 – in response to a question regarding the table, the Head of Commissioning and Customer Contact explained that the index was reviewed when contracts were re-negotiated by agreement of formally renewed. 

 

·        Page 55 – Increase in homelessness costs: in response to a comment that the figure was optimistic, the Head of Finance and the Head of Resident Services advised that the figure included in the budget was realistic but challenging, and the budget was closely monitored and regularly reported to Members.  It was a reactive service and homelessness was expected to increase, but they were working on ways to reduce the cost of provision as it was increasingly challenging to reduce the volume.

 

·        Page 56 – Environmental Health: a Member asked whether £7,500 was reasonable given there may be additional cost pressures around monitoring air quality.  The Mid -Kent Environmental Health Manager advised that the forecast was realistic and could be maintained.  In response to further questions regarding air quality, and whether more budget was required to improve air quality across the Borough, the Mid-Kent Environmental Health Manager advised that the savings related to a Kent-wide contract, and that Swale had taken over management arrangements from Medway for the air quality monitoring contract.  It was also clarified that the increase in shellfish sampling costs was due to increased costs being passed on to the Council from the contractor, Port of London.

 

·        Page 56 – Resident Services: it was clarified that this service was being brought back in-house as it would generate a new income stream.

 

·        Page 57 – Garden Waste collections: in response to a question, the Cabinet Member for Environment and Rural Affairs was confident that subscriptions would increase in spring, and referred to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1145.