Agenda item

The Committee is asked to note the Task Group and Rapid Scrutiny updates provided and comment as appropriate.

The Committee was asked to consider the updates provided on the current Task Groups and Rapid Scrutiny Exercises under the responsibility of the Committee.  The updates provided included the annual report from the Budget and Performance Task Group and final report of the Member Support in the Locality Task Group.

Further information was provided as follows:

Budget and Performance

The Chairman of the Task Group thanked the Senior Scrutiny Officer for the preparation of the report and requested that the Committee adopt the recommendations contained therein.

The recommendations made included that the Task Group should be abolished with the Organisation and Resources Select Committee responsible for monitoring corporate financial issues and Resources department spend.  The other Select Committees would take responsibility for relevant service budgetary issues.  Formal reporting would be by exception.

Ensuing discussion included that the Overview & Scrutiny Liaison Board, whose membership included the Chairman and Vice Chairman from each of the Select Committees, would ensure that an open dialogue remained across all committees to address any issues arising.

Officers were congratulated on ensuring that overall spend did not exceed the budget at year end taking into consideration the departure of the S151 Officer and additional cost pressures (which included the growth in the winter gritting programme and additional resources required for the climate change programme).

Clarification was provided that a new Interim Director of Finance had now been appointed and was expected to be in post for between 6 to 12 months whilst a structure review was undertaken.

Resolved:

To endorse the recommendations made by the Task Group and that the revised scrutiny arrangements for budget and performance monitoring be reviewed in 12 months time.

Member Support in the Locality

The Member Support in the Locality Task Group had been established to consider the level of support provided to Councillors. 

The final report provided details of the recommendations made by the Group and summary of Councillor responses to the survey circulated on support available to resolve casework and community area issues.

Clarification was provided that area boards now had a dedicated press officer within the Communications team to assist with their casework. 

Issues raised included that the potential blurring of roles between Community Area Managers and Democratic Services Officers had been addressed through a managers meeting between the two teams and that the paper contacts directory was now unlikely to be available to Councillors by 1 November as recommended.

Resolved:

1)        That the committee endorsed the recommendations made noting that the paper contacts directory may not be available for 1 November 2010.

2)        That a review on member support in the locality would be undertaken by the Committee in 12 months.

Workplace Transformation Programme

The Corporate Director – Resources confirmed that the Workplace Transformation Programme had been reviewed in the light of financial pressures but reported that the programme would remain unchanged with expected savings to the council of £4.5m per year.  Clarification was also provided that discussions continued regarding the PFI project with Jarvis in relation to the Monkton Park premises. 

Section 106

The comments of the Task Group, as outlined in the interim report previously submitted to the committee, were sent to the Portfolio Holder for consideration.  The comments were noted.  A report was expected to be submitted to Cabinet later in the year when the Task Group would reconvene to consider it’s content.

Corporate Procurement Strategy

Clarification was provided that the rapid scrutiny exercise focused on the structure and process within corporate procurement and that the recommendations made reflected this focus. 

The committee understood that the structure and scale of responsibility within procurement was being reviewed in addition to the current corporate contracts in place to ensure value for money was being provided.

A presentation was made by the Corporate Director for Resources on the proposed strategy and approach to future procurement and commissioning.  This outlined the actions intended to address the significant savings required over the next 4 years.

The Committee also noted the impact the transfer of procurement responsibility from the PCT to the council could have once the council adopted the responsibility in two years. 

Resolved:

1)        To note the report and endorse the recommendations contained within.

2)        That the appointed scrutiny representatives (Cllrs Tony Deane and Nigel Carter) would ensure the Committee was kept informed of developments including proposals for future scrutiny of the procurement and commissioning programme.