Meeting documents
Corporate Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee
Tuesday, 23rd October 2007
Present
Chair
Mrs CM Meaden
Councillors
L Fraser, D Hawkins, PM Southwood, CM Teggin
Deputy
A Pritchard (for Cllr Mrs K Wood)
Cabinet member
SA Holbrook
Apologies
IM Moon
Index to Minutes
Minute 20 - DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Minute Text :
Members were asked to consider -
(a) whether they had a personal or prejudicial interest in any matters to be considered at the meeting and, if so, to declare them and state what they were;
(b) to declare, pursuant to paragraph 18 of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules, whether they were subject to a party whip in connection with any matter to be considered and, if so, to disclose the nature of the whipping arrangement.
No declarations were made.
Minute 21 - PROJECTED BUDGET 2008/2011
Minute Text :
Prior to the Director introducing his report, it was moved by Councillor Fraser and seconded by Councillor Pritchard, that,
"The meeting be postponed and the Director provide a more detailed report for consideration by the Committee."
The motion was put and lost (2:4).
Following the Cabinet meeting of 4 October, 2007 (minute 225 refers) which had recommended to Council for approval a number of budget savings, the following two items had been referred to this overview and scrutiny committee for discussion:
(i) A reduction of £30,000 to be achieved by staff restructuring within the Transformational Change Team;
(ii) A reduction of £60,000 within the Corporate Policy Team to be achieved by restructuring and a reduction in printing costs.
The Deputy Chief Executive / Director of Corporate Services informed the Committee that both savings could be achieved without a reduction in existing staff or levels of activity within the sections. The saving of £30,000 could be achieved as not all appointments had been made to the Transformational Change Team since the budget was originally established. Therefore, this figure could be deleted from the budget.
The £60,000 saving was through a combination of £45,000 staffing and £15,000 printing costs. The loss of one member of staff in the Policy Team had led to a re-distribution of workloads amongst the team without any impact on activity. The Best Value Performance Plan, previously produced in a colour glossy format, would now be made available on the internet and only printed in a black and white version. This would mean that £15,000 could be removed from the current Policy Team printing budget of £21,500.
Councillor Southwood asked about any associated risks with these savings. In response, the Director commented that the savings proposed had been suggested in the knowledge that these would incur the least risk. Any impacts on staff or service would be logged and actions would be put in place to alleviate any risks.
Councillor Fraser suggested that all these points should have been included in a more detailed written report. The Director acknowledged the point being made but stated that questions would often arise even in respect of the most detailed reports.
In response to a question from Councillor Fraser on the Coroner's budget, the Director informed the Committee that the Council did not have the same degree of control over the budget for the Coroner's service as it did over the items under discussion but that he would be bringing back a comprehensive report to the next meeting of this Committee on the Coroner's budget.
Councillor Pritchard asked how the figure for £15,000 printing costs was arrived at. In response, the Director stated that having in the past produced colour glossy documents for the BVP he was confident that this amount could be removed from the budget in anticipation of doing this more cheaply.
Councillor Teggin congratulated the officers on putting forward the proposed savings which could be regarded more as service re-engineering.
On a motion by Councillor Hawkins, seconded by Councillor Teggin, it was -
Minute Decision :
Resolved (4:2) - That these budget savings be endorsed by this Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
(Minutes Published: 26 October 2007)