PDF 113 KBVenue: The Capesthorne Room - Town Hall, Macclesfield, SK10 1EA. View directions
Contact: Mark Nedderman Senior Scrutiny Officer
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Also Present Minutes: Councillor P Hayes – Finance Portfolio Holder Councillor P Mason – Cabinet Support Member |
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Officers Present Minutes: Christine Mann – Finance Manager Alex Thompson – Finance Lead Strategy and Funding Mark Nedderman – Senior Scrutiny Officer |
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Minutes of Previous Meeting Minutes: RESOLVED – That subject to the addition of the names of Councillors D Newton and F Keegan in the list of apologies for absence, the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 20 July 2012 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman |
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Declarations of Interest To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda. Minutes: There were no declarations of interest |
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Declaration of Party Whip To provide an opportunity for Members to declare the existence of a party whip in relation to any item on the agenda. Minutes: There were no declarations of the existence of a party whip. |
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Public Speaking Time/Open Session A total period of 15 minutes is allocated for members of the public to make a statement(s) on any matter that falls within the remit of the Committee.
Individual members of the public may speak for up to 5 minutes, but the Chairman will decide how the period of time allocated for public speaking will be apportioned, where there are a number of speakers.
Note: In order for officers to undertake any background research, it would be helpful if members of the public contacted the Scrutiny officer listed at the foot of the agenda, at least one working day before the meeting to provide brief details of the matter to be covered. Minutes: There were no members of the public present who wished to address the committee. |
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Quarter 1 Finance and Performance Report To give consideration to the attached report of the Director of Finance & Business Services / Strategic Director, Places & Organisational Capacity prior to it being submitted to Cabinet. Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee considered a report of the Director of Finance and Business Planning and Strategic Director Places and Organisational Capacity relating to the first quarter review of performance 2012/13.The Committee was informed that the report had been presented in a new format which it was hoped would provide members with access to better information to improve understanding of the Councils current position on performance and the steps proposed to improve performance.
The report provided summary and detailed information about the Council’s financial and non-financial performance at the first quarter stage of 2012/2013, and contained requests to Cabinet for approval of supplementary revenue and capital estimates and virements.
Section 1 of the report provided projections of service revenue financial performance for the 2012/2013 financial year. It focused on the key financial pressures which the Council’s services were facing and areas of high financial risk to the Council, and the remedial measures identified by services to mitigate these pressures. Key issues affecting services capital programmes were also reported.
Section 2 provided an update on the overall Financial Stability of the Council, including the positions on Grants, Council Tax and Business Rates, Treasury Management, Centrally held budgets, and the Management of the Council’s Reserves.
Section 3 provided a summary of the key non-financial performance headlines for the year to date.
The Committee made the following comments:
As a general comment the committee expressed the view that in future service managers and accountants should be invited to attend meetings to answer detailed questions on their respective service areas in connection with performance reports.
The Committee highlighted that in the Children and Families budget (paragraph 7) the report referred to pressures linked to Special Education Needs (SEN) and elsewhere to the rising costs of adult social care. The committee was informed that although in recent years fewer people had required care, as a result of that care being more specialised in nature, costs were still rising. However, Members contended that neither of these two matters were new developments and indeed the Council had been aware of them for some time, and therefore questioned why the matters had been referred to in the report as emerging pressures.
Members also questioned why the care costs of £3million in Children and Families had not been brought to the attention of Members before now.
Additional queries were raised about the employment of social workers through agencies, and whether additional costs were being borne by the Council to provide training for agency staff.
It was contended that there was insufficient information contained in the report on pages 18/19 to explain the remedial action being taken in respect of the matters outlined in that section.
In response to additional questions the Committee was informed:
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