Mark Goulding, Principal Accountant, introduced a report presenting financial monitoring information for Environment as at close of the third quarter of the 2017/18 financial year that gave a consideration of performance against the revenue budget, including savings, income and debt, and a commentary on performance against the capital budget.  The report noted budget movement in the third quarter, notably the move of integrated transport from Children and Families to Environment with a budget of £5.6M.  The report was supported by a presentation addressing issues highlighted within the report and considering the anticipated financial position for the following financial year.

The Committee was advised of a predicted current year £981k overspend arising principally from issues related to implementation of savings proposals in Waste and Environment in respect of the waste contract and in Sports and Recreation in respect of delays to operational changes and capital works at Woodchurch and Leasowe Recreation Centres respectively; and to a shortfall of advertising income under Localism and Engagement.  Underspends were advised in Housing Strategy, homelessness and housing benefit assessment  teams, each, in part at least, as a result of staffing vacancies.

The Chair queried a reported £70k shortfall in respect of the Floral Pavilion Theatre, noting that the reporting of such financial issues appeared to be recurrent and querying what actions were being taken to make the Theatre more sustainable.  The Committee was advised that income and charges were reviewed to increase income, and staff deployed for efficiency, but that budgetary targets remained a struggle.

The Chair further queried the reasons for reported staff vacancies in the housing benefit assessment team, commenting that staff needed to be in place to deal with the roll-out of Universal Credit. 

Councillor Chris Carubia sought clarification on any connection between the Aids and Adaptations / Disabled Facilities Grant and the Supporting People budgets, further noting that the £30k cap on aids and adaptations had been in place for several years.  The Aids and Adaptations / Disabled Facilities Grant budget was advised as a capital budget that assisted people to make required structural changes to properties, while the Supporting People budget funded supported housing, including contracts let by the housing teams for supported living.

Councillor Lesley Rennie, noting that charges now applied for garden waste collection and that a discount for on-line payment had been removed, queried what marketing was to be done to get further people to sign up.  Mark Smith, Strategic Commissioner – Environment, undertook to recirculate (including to substitute members) the slides circulated to members of the Committee after the budget scrutiny workshop.

In response to a query from Councillor Brian Kenny, it was advised that it was hoped the anticipated savings in relation to the establishment of the Coroner service on a city region basis would accrue in time.

Councillor Adam Sykes queried the reported overspend / non-achievement of planned savings on the waste contract, and queried whether there was a risk of not achieving an ongoing saving.  The Strategic Commissioner advised that preliminary work had been undertaken on potential savings on the waste contract that had proved to be non-achievable on implementation.  Work was being undertaken on identifying comparable savings.

Councillor Adam Sykes queried whether the shortfall in the Localism and Engagement budget related to Wirral View not achieving advertising targets and asked for a breakdown of the shortfall.  The Committee was advised that ambitious targets had been set across Communications, Marketing, Press and PR services.  Councillor Lesley Rennie referenced comments made on previous occasions indicating that Council advertising would be through Wirral View only, but noting that wraparounds were appearing with other local media.  Councillor Christina Muspratt further commented on the previously reported advertising strategy and the need for Members to know how successful that strategy had been, together with the related financial position.

In response to comments from Councillor Tony Smith advising of a report from a constituent indicating that a cash or card payment of an Invigor8 membership instalment had been declined at Woodchurch Leisure Centre and a direct debit facility only offered, the Strategic Commissioner undertook to respond directly to the Member.

Councillor Foulkes noted that the financial reports only allowed Members to consider issues in hindsight at a specific time but suggested that there were some issues known to Members, such as the Floral Pavilion Theatre, that had existed for some time.  Officers were asked to look at including opportunities for Members to consider particular persistent overspends or service issues in the Committee work programme to allow for a more in-depth analysis of such matters.  Further to a request from Councillor Chris Carubia for sight of the Theatre Business Plan, Councillor Tony Jones suggested that information such as the Business Plan could be made available as part of one of these  more detailed reviews. 

RESOLVED – That

(1)  the quarter 3 revenue forecast overspend for Environment of £1M be noted;

(2)  the performance of the capital projects and amendments to the capital programme under Environment be noted;

(3)  the Head of Communications report to the next meeting of this Committee on Wirral View, including the financial position with regard to advertising and the reach of the publication across the Borough;

(4)  the Committee Work Programme include an option to include specific reviews or consideration of identified persistent overspends or service issues, such as the Floral Pavilion Theatre as referenced above.