Agenda, decisions and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor RB Martlew and Greg Harlow (Chief Executive). 

The minutes of the Resources Portfolio Holder’s meeting of 3 April 2008 were agreed as a correct record.

Matters arising

The Corporate Manager, Finance and Support Services, informed the Portfolio Holder that the ICT / Northgate situation was ongoing.

The Treasury Management Update would be an agenda item for the next Portfolio Holder meeting.

An update on concessionary bus fares would be included in Agenda item 7. 

The Finance Portfolio Holder APPROVED the budget rollovers, as summarised in Appendix A to the report, be carried forward into the 2008-09 financial year.

The rollovers for approval in appendix A amount to £432,790 in respect of the General Fund revenue budget, £311,000 for the General Fund Capital Programme and £12,500 for the HRA revenue budget.

The Corporate Manager, Finance and Support Services, presented the report and explained to the Portfolio Holder that the relevant Corporate Manager had been briefed on the rollovers listed.  He added that the amount of the rollover needed to be agreed before the end of July 2008.

In reply to a specific question the Corporate Manager agreed to report back to the Portfolio Holder the circumstances behind the decision to undertake grounds maintenance works in Willingham Churchyard.

The Finance Portfolio Holder APPROVED the budget rollovers, as summarised in Appendix A to the report, be carried forward into the 2008-09 financial year.

The rollovers for approval in appendix A amount to £432,790 in respect of the General Fund revenue budget, £311,000 for the General Fund Capital Programme and £12,500 for the HRA revenue budget.

The Revenue Collection Performance figures were presented.

The Corporate Manager, Finance and Support Services, undertook to provide a written response to the Portfolio Holder to explain the 1-4 Performance Measure shown at the top of the report.

The Portfolio Holder asked if a press release had been issued to highlight the Council’s excellent performance against council tax collection and benefits recovery.  The Portfolio Holder undertook to speak to the Communications Manager, Georgina Hayward, to determine the need for a press release to cover the overall performance of the Revenues Service for 2008/09.

The Portfolio Holder thanked Lee Phanco and his team for their work. 

The Corporate Manager, Finance and Support Services, apologised for the lateness of the report.   In presenting the report, he said that there were changes to the type, and format, of the data presented from the reports in 2007/08. 

For Quarter 1 there were two key messages:

1.      There was no, as yet, discernible effect on the data of the general economic downturn

2.      Performance was currently on target.

Concern was expressed at the level of staff sickness within the benefits team and the potential impact on performance.

It was explained that officers would monitor data on a monthly basis, but that reports would be presented to the Portfolio Holder quarterly.  In the event of the monthly monitor highlighting negative trends they would be presented to the Portfolio Holder at the earliest opportunity.

The Portfolio Holder NOTED the report and commented that performance would be closely monitored. 

The Finance Portfolio Holder AGREED that the performance targets shown in bold in Appendix A to the report be incorporated into the 2008/09 Service Plan for the Finance and Support Service.

The Corporate Manager, Finance and Support Services presented the report and explained the rationale behind a number of target changes.

The Finance Portfolio Holder AGREED that the performance targets shown in bold in Appendix A to the report be incorporated into the 2008/09 Service Plan for the Finance and Support Service.

The Corporate Manager, Finance and Support Services presented the report and explained that the figures in paragraphs 2(a) and 11 should read: 

He explained that the report highlighted key areas where over and under spends might become issues.  He added that figures were currently unavailable for a number of indicators, but provisional data indicated that there should not be a problem.

It was confirmed that work was ongoing to identify further savings to meet the Gershon Efficiency target shortfall.

The Portfolio Holder undertook to establish whether a press release detailing savings within the Council’s annual efficiency statement had been released.

The Portfolio Holder was informed that the Integrated Business Monitoring Report would be presented to Cabinet in September after being updated to reflect updated information for the current financial year, by the end of August.

The Portfolio Holder NOTED the report.

The dates of the next four meetings were set as follows:

·          Thursday 18 September 2008

·          Thursday 16 October 2008

·          Thursday 20 November 2008

·          Thursday 18 December 2008.

All meetings will start at 10am and be held in the Jeavons Room at South Cambridgeshire Hall.

The dates of the January to May meetings will be agreed at the October meeting.

Councillor RT Summerfield offered his apologies for the September meeting