Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on 29 November 2016.

The minutes of the meeting held on 29^th November 2016 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Jason Baker, Val Keitch and Garry Shortland.

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (as amended 26 February 2015), which includes all the provisions relating to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI), personal and prejudicial interests, Members are asked to declare any DPI and also any personal interests (and whether or not such personal interests are also "prejudicial") in relation to any matter on the Agenda for this meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no questions raised by members of public at the meeting.

This is an opportunity for Members to question the progress on issues arising from previous meetings.  However, this does not allow for the re-opening of a debate on any item not forming part of this agenda.

There were no issues raised from previous meetings.

The Chair informed members that the Transformation Board scheduled for the 10^th January has been cancelled and there will now not be a meeting until February. It was her understanding that the programme is currently running two months behind with regard to the procuring of software and additional monies may be required to achieve the required timescales to realise the savings. Members of the Committee were encouraged to bring any issues or comments to either the Chair or the Vice Chair in advance of the Transformation Board meetings.

Members were also informed that a Call-in request had been received from Cllrs Mike Beech and David Norris pertaining to a recent decision on Recycle More by the Somerset Waste Board. In line with the agreed procedure, the Somerset Waste Board have been informed, but given that the timing of the submission of the Call-in just before the offices closed for the Christmas Break, officers had not yet had chance to discuss the implications with officers from the Waste Partnership. If the matter progresses to the Committee Stage, it is anticipated that it will be considered at the SSDC Scrutiny Committee Scheduled for 31^st January.

Members noted the District Executive minutes and the feedback provided by scrutiny members who attended.

The Assistant Director (Finance and Corporate Services) supported by members of the Finance team gave a presentation to members, covering the following points: (a copy of the presentation can be provided on request)

-       Legal Requirements of setting a balanced budget by the 11^th March

-       The Financial Management Process and the relationship between the Council Plan and Key Strategies and financial planning. Members were reminded of the key Scrutiny role of ensuring that the Council plan is adequately resourced on an annual basis.

-       The SSDC approach to setting the budget including the annual setting of priorities, identifying underspends and unavoidable budget pressures.

-       Signs that an authority may be reaching the ‘Tipping Point’ including decision paralysis and an inability to fulfil statutory functions.

-       How to Scrutinise a budget by checking it aligns with an up to date Council Plan and other key strategies, what are the risks? Are the judgements sound? Have the appropriate Equality Impact Assessments been conducted? Has the necessary consultation been carried out?

-       The difference between Audit and Scrutiny roles in financial planning and monitoring.

During discussions, the following points were raised:

-       As the authority moves forward, there will continue to be a reduction in the level of funding available and members will need to make informed decisions about what services and projects are priorities and what cannot be done. All members need to be a part of this discussion and there will need to be an updated Annual Action Plan to inform these discussions.

-       The key is to ensure the Financial strategy provides the ability to move quickly and adapt, for example needing to reduce the Dependency on New Homes Bonus.

-       It’s important not to take ‘knee jerk decisions’ in relation to financial decisions, and continuing with our robust financial management arrangements will mean we should be able to take a considered approach, considering all of the evidence and assessing the risks.

-       The benefits of internal borrowing were explained to members in that using our own capital to purchase items such as fleet vehicles was a better long term options as the capital sum would be repaid by the service and the council would be the owner of the asset.

-       Business Rate growth is very risky.

-       Members need to always assess the impact when considering financial decisions, this requires ensuring appropriate consultation.

The Scrutiny Committee thanked the officers for a very informative presentation and discussion.

Members considered the reports contained in the District Executive Agenda for 5 January 2017 and made the following comments:

Report from Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (Agenda item 6)

·         Members noted this report.

Direct Hostel Provision, Move on Accommodation and Support (Agenda item 7)

·         Scrutiny members were grateful to the Corporate Strategic Housing Manager for attending the meeting at short notice to answer members questions.

·         Members sought assurance that multi-agency solutions to addressing homelessness are being sought where appropriate and that effective monitoring arrangements are being put in place to ensure that long term solutions are being provided to our most vulnerable residents?

·         Members noted that £160k would be added to the MTFP for the next 2 financial years whilst the impact of recent legislative changes are assessed.

·         Scrutiny Committee were keen that the scheme is effectively measured in terms of outcomes achieved particularly in the longer term and suggested collecting data with regards to the issues that have been experienced accessing mental Health Services.

Council Tax Support Scheme for 2017/18 (Agenda item 8)

·         Members supported the recommendations and specifically made reference to supporting the current 15% minimum payment being retained whilst the impact of the roll out of Universal Credit is assessed.

Strategic Commercial Land and Property Project (Agenda item 9)

·         Members supported the principles of becoming more commercially minded to support SSDC’s ambition to generate further income streams to support our corporate priorities. The committee noted that it will be important to ensure governance arrangements do not unnecessarily hinder a more commercial approach but would like to reiterate the importance of accountability and transparency when dealing with public funds.

·         Members welcomed the potential for SSDC to develop the in-house capacity so that in the future we will be better placed to put suitable regeneration schemes together ourselves and sought assurance that the money being spent at this stage would lead to knowledge being retained within the organisation over the longer term.

·         Members sought clarification as to what the decision making process will be for the final strategy and assumed that it will need to be a Full Council decision?

·         The importance of looking at other authorities comparable to SSDC was stressed as part of the Strategy development process.

Policy for Awarding Private Sector Housing Grants/Loans and other Financial Assistance (Agenda item 10)

·         Scrutiny supported this approach to maximising available funding streams to provide DFGs. They asked for clarification that any monies paid into funds such as the Joint Community Equipment Service would be solely for the benefit of SSDC residents and wouldn’t be spent elsewhere in the county?

·         In light of the issues currently facing local authority financing and the importance of needing to retain an element of flexibility, members questioned the prudence of allocating specific levels of funding within the policy and suggested that robust  monitoring would be needed to ensure that resources were allocated to where they are most needed.

Medium Term Financial Plan and Capital programme Update 2017/18 (Agenda item 11)

·         Members thanked members  ...  view the full minutes text for item 97.

This matter was discussed as part of the Committee’s consideration of the District Executive agenda as stated above.

The Committee appointed Councillors Mike Beech and Val Keitch to the Somerset Rivers Authority Joint Waste Panel.

The following Task and Finish Groups are currently in progress:

Consent for Disposal of properties – A report would be coming forward re-focusing this work on the SSDC Rural Lettings policy and how the impact of Yarlington’s continued disposal of rural properties can be mitigated.

Discretionary Housing Payments – Final report of this group will to Scrutiny in March

Street Trading – The draft Street Trading Policy is now out for consultation – the consultation period will end on 3^rd February.

Council Tax Support – Members supported the Task and finish group recommendations, this group has now finished.

National Non Domestic Rates Discretionary Relief –. The task and Finish group are still waiting on the data specific to charitable organisations, to inform their recommendation to Peter Seib- Portfolio Holder for Finance

Right to Buy Clawback –The task and Finish group met just before Christmas and a draft letter is being considered by the group to sendin response to the request from Garry Orr.

There were no updates on matters of interest.

Members noted the content of the Scrutiny Work Programme. Members were reminded that as from the 20 January there would only be 2 days a week dedicated Scrutiny Manager time and that the priorities of the Committee will need to be adjusted accordingly.

Members noted the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee would be held on 31^st January 2017, in Council Chamber B, Brympton Way.