MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE SCRUTINY COMMITTEE HELD AT COUNTY HALL, NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT ON THURSDAY, 22 DECEMBER 2005 COMMENCING AT 6.00 PM

 

Present :

 

Cllrs Garry Price (Chairman), Anne Bishop (deputising for William Burt), Mike Cunningham, Brian Mosdell

 

Co-opted Members (Voting): Ms Sue Poston

 

Co-opted Members (Non-voting): Mr Bob Blezzard,

 

Also Present (Non voting) :

 

Cllrs Geoff Lumley, Jilly Wood

 

Apologies:

 

Cllr William Burt, Mr Anthony Marvin

 

 


13.             MINUTES

 

RESOLVED:

 

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 24 November 2005 were confirmed.

 

14.             DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

 

A written declaration of interest had been received from Mr Bob Blezzard relating to Sandown County Middle School and Sandown Town Council.  No further declarations were received at this stage.

 

15.             URGENT BUSINESS – CO-OPTED MEMBERSHIP OF THE COMMITTEE

 

The Members were reminded that the full Council, at its meeting on 14 September 2005, agreed to a revised membership for the Scrutiny Committee.  This included a scheme under Section 115 of the Local Government Act 2000 for the appointment of two co-opted members.  The provisions of the legislation enabled such co-opted members to have full voting rights.

 

The appointment of a representative nominated by the Town and Parish Councils was outside of the approved Section 115 scheme and therefore the person did not have full voting rights.

 

The Scrutiny Committee considered that the Town and Parish Council representative should have the same voting rights as the two other co-opted members.  This could only be achieved by the full Council amending the Section 115 scheme.

 

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND TO FULL COUNCIL:

 

THAT the scheme made under Section 115 of the Local Government Act 2000 be amended to enable the Town and Parish Council representative the same voting rights as the other two co-opted Members.

 

16.             BUDGET UPDATE

 

The Chief Financial Officer provided an oral update for the Committee, and confirmed that the Council had been advised of the Government Grant for 2007/08 as well as 2006/07.   Members were advised that after 2007/08, the Government would be announcing Government Grants for a 3 year period, thus enabling longer term budget planning for local authorities.

 

Concerns remained about the change in methodology of future Government Grants, and Members were advised that any changes to the Area Cost Adjustment could adversely affect the Island.

 

As part of the consultation exercise, 5 Focus Groups had been established to consider specific budget issues.  A facilitator had been used during the three consultation sessions to date, and the results had been extremely useful. 

 

The Cabinet Secretaries were currently considering the suggested 5% efficiency savings put forward by Heads of Service and the service priorities list submitted by the Members’ Panel.  It was anticipated that although the Government Grant was better then initially expected, any advantage could be taken up by new funding pressures caused by costs transferred to the Council by the Health Trusts.

 

Members noted that big pressures for the Council included inflationary increases, increases in costs for providing Adult Services, Children in Transition, and support for the homeless. 

 

An initial budget report for the forthcoming financial year would be presented to the Cabinet in January 2006, with the final budget recommendation to the Council probably being formulated at the Cabinet meeting scheduled for 7 February 2006.

 

RESOLVED: 

 

THAT the report be noted.

 

17.             PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND SCRUTINY

 

The Committee was advised that the Quarterly Performance Management Report provided statistical information on performance of council services in relation to the corporate objectives.  Information had been prepared on a quarterly basis and presented to Cabinet.  However, it had traditionally taken approximately eight weeks to produce the report, by which time it was often too late to affect the results.

 

In order to improve the process, the Performance Management Team had undertaken research for the acquisition of an appropriate software package to better manage the Council’s performance.  A preferred supplier had been selected.  It was envisaged that the new software would produce a report to Cabinet in mid-April relating to the final quarter of 2005/06. 

 

The proposed new software package would provide more information at an earlier stage, which would enable the Scrutiny Committee to make a real impact on service improvement in the future.

 

Members were advised that a demonstration of the new software had been arranged for 6 January 2006 and all were invited to attend.

 

RESOLVED:

 

                                   i.     THAT the Scrutiny Committee support in principle, the purchase of performance management software to assist the Council in delivering its priorities and objectives as it would be an invaluable tool in the Committee’s work.

 

                                 ii.     THAT the Corporate Policy Officer forward details of the software demonstration scheduled for 6 January 2006 to all Members of the Scrutiny Committee.

 

 

CHAIRMAN