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Contact information

E-mail

customer.service@shropshire.gov.uk

Telephone

0345 678 9000

Postal Address

Shropshire Council
Shirehall
Abbey Foregate
Shrewsbury
Shropshire
SY2 6ND

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Shrewsbury/Oswestry Room, Shirehall, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY2 6ND. View directions

Contact: Julie Fildes  Scrutiny Committee Officer

Items
No. Item

32.

Apologies for Absence and Substitutions

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence.

33.

Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

Members are reminded that they must not participate in the discussion or voting on any matter in which they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and should leave the room prior to the commencement of the debate.

 

Minutes:

Members were reminded that they must not participate in the discussion or voting on any matter in which they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and should leave the room prior to the commencement of the debate.

 

 

34.

Minutes of the meeting held on 14 September 2016 pdf icon PDF 73 KB

To consider the Minutes of the Performance Management Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 14 September 2016, attached marked:  3

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 14 September 2016 were confirmed as a correct record.

 

35.

Public Question Time

To receive any public questions or petitions from the public, notice of which has been given in accordance with Procedure Rule 14.  Deadline for notification is 5.00 pm on Friday 11 November 2016. 

Minutes:

There were no public questions.

36.

Member Question Time

To receive any questions of which Members of the Council have given notice.  Deadline for notification is 5.00 pm on Friday 11 November 2016. 

Minutes:

There were no questions from Members. 

37.

Revenue Monitoring Report - Quarter 2 2016/17 pdf icon PDF 227 KB

Report of the Head of Finance, Governance and Assurance [s151 Officer], attached marked:  6

 

Contact: James Walton      Tel: 01743 258915

Minutes:

The Head of Finance, Governance and Assurance introduced the Revenue Monitoring Report – Quarter 2 2016/17 (copy attached to the signed minutes).

 

He responded to questions from Members in relation to the debt owed to the Council by Shropshire CCG, the early onset of winter pressures and the work on flow through the NHS and Social Care system. 

 

The Director of Adult Services responded to questions on the status of People 2 People and explained work underway to address issues around pension liabilities, TUPE transfer and keeping  roles attractive.  He confirmed that the Council attracted payment when other councils visited to explore the approach. 

 

In response to questions regarding the status of the Sustainable Transformation Programme (STP), the Portfolio Holder for Adult Services said he and the Portfolio Holder for Health, who chaired the Health and Wellbeing Board, were in discussion with the CCG to agree a Joint Statement to be released shortly.  It was hoped that the position would be clearer by Christmas.

 

Members enquired if there was any value that could be attributed to the work of the voluntary sector, to understand the return on any investment.  The Director of Adult Services said that measuring preventative activity would always be difficult as that would be measuring something that did not happen.  It was suggested by the Chair that it might be possible to measure this through improvement in quality of people’s lives and the Portfolio Holder Adult Social Care reported that he Chaired the Social Value Group for Shropshire which attempted to support and measure social value.  He offered to provide more context and information on this if required.

 

Officers responded to a number of other questions related to housing health, home to school transport, savings due to vacancy management related to the strategic management board, customer involvement, the overspend in IT services, the corporate budget

 

Members discussed the way the information was presented in the report, some feeling that more detail was needed.  The Head of Finance, Governance and Assurance said it was difficult to get the balance right.  He was always happy to expand on the detail in the report at meetings and pre-warning of any questions would help with this.  The Chairman suggested that expressing the notes in easier layman’s terms would also be helpful. 

38.

Capital Monitoring Report Quarter 2 2016 - 2017 pdf icon PDF 194 KB

Report of the Head of Finance, Governance and Assurance [s151 Officer], attached marked:  7

 

Contact: James Walton      Tel: 01743 258915

Minutes:

The Head of Finance, Governance and Assurance, introduced the Capital Monitoring Report Quarter 2 2016/17 (copy attached to the signed minutes).  The report reflected the re-profiled 2016/17 budget of £60.2m and the future year’s capital programme budget, expenditure to date of 26% of the revised budget; a projected outturn in line with the re-profiled budget of £60.2m and the current funding of the programme and its future affordability. 

 

Members heard that the capital programme was now being considered in a more aspirational way linked to the Corporate Plan and economic vision.

 

In response to questions about the £8.4m removed from the Programme, the Head of Finance explained that some schemes were historical.  These were not savings but de-committed schemes which would be redirected into areas which could provide better value.   Members asked particularly about removal of the Small Business Loan scheme which had seemed a good invest to save scheme.  They heard that the Enterprise and Growth Scrutiny Committee had considered the scheme and there had been low take up despite significant promotional activity.  Members were reminded that the Growth hub provided support and sign posting to small businesses and the new Head of Economic Growth would be taking up the post in January.

 

Members also discussed renewal of street lighting and the Director of Place and Enterprise confirmed that the Council was in year two of a five year programme involving £200,000 spending a year installing LED lights.  Attempts were being made to accelerate this work. 

 

The Chair thanked officers for responding to questions. 

39.

Report of Financial Strategy Task and Finish Group pdf icon PDF 119 KB

To receive a report from the Financial Strategy Task and Finish Group, TO FOLLOW marked: 8

 

Contact:  Tom Dodds, Commissioning Support Manager and Statutory Scrutiny Officer, tom.dodds@shropshire.gov.uk

Minutes:

Members received and agreed the report from the Financial Strategy Task and Finish Group on the Corporate Plan and Strategic Actions Plan.   

40.

Arrangements for 2017/18 Budget Scrutiny

The Head of Finance, Governance and Assurance (Section 151 Officer) will provide an update at the meeting.

 

Contact:  James Walton, tel 01743 258915

Minutes:

The Head of Finance reminded Members of progress with the Financial Strategy for 2017/18.  This had been updated by Council on 21 July 2016 when savings considered to be achievable had been agreed.  On 28 September 2016, Cabinet had recommended a position where 2017/18 would be balanced and 2018/19 a gap of £2m.  Another update of the Financial Strategy would go to Cabinet on 30 November and Council on 15 December 2016 with some minor changes to the profile of savings. 

 

The provisional settlement was due to arrive before Christmas and it was hoped that this would align with what had previously been agreed.  In early February 2017, the final settlement would be received which would allow the Strategy for 2017/18 to be finalised.  Members noted that the next meeting of the Performance Management Scrutiny Committee was scheduled for 15 February 2017 but this was not seen as an issue as Scrutiny had had the opportunity to review current proposals before submission to Council in July 2016.  However, it would be possible to build in an additional meeting if required. 

 

The Chair thanked the Head of Finance, Governance and Assurance for the update. 

41.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 50 KB

To consider proposals for the Committee’s Work Programme, attached marked:  10

Minutes:

The Chair suggested a Task and Finish Group on the current and potential future use of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), New Homes Bonus and Section 106 funds.  She also referred to the request of another member to look at Empty Homes which might be a beneficiary of that work.    Another Member felt it would be helpful to have an easy to understand guide related to these areas.

 

It was agreed that a scope for a Task and Finish Group be drawn up for the Committee’s approval. 

 

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