Agenda and minutes

To declare any personal / prejudicial interests for the purpose of Section 81 (3) of the Local Government Act 2000 and paragraphs 8 to 12 of the Members Code of Conduct.

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm as  correct records, the minutes of the meetings held on 24 January and 7 February 2011

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 24 January and 7 February 2011, be confirmed as correct records.

To receive nd consider the attached report of the Head of Scrutiny and Member Development

The report of the Head of Scrutiny and Member Development introduced the following papers:

• Financial Health Monitoring 2010/11 – Third Quarter Report.  This set out the Council’s financial health position for 2010/11 after nine months of the financial year and covered revenue expenditure and income projected to the year end.  It also highlighted the position regarding other key financial indicators, including Council Tax collection and the payment of creditors.
• Council Business Plan Performance Report Quarter 3 2010/11.  This presented performance information summarising progress against the Council Business Plan improvement priorities for the third quarter of 2010/11 which was the final year of delivery for the plan.  A performance indicator report was included and of the indicators which could be reported, 43% were currently predicted to hit target, 30% were amber and 13% were red.

The Chair welcomed the following to the meeting for this item:

• Nicole Jackson, Assistant Chief Executive (Corporate Governance)
• Doug Meeson, Chief Officer (Financial Management)
• Alex Watson, HR Manager
• James Rogers, Assistant Chief Executive, (Planning, Policy and Improvemen)
• Julie Meakin, Chief Commercial Services Officer

With regards to the Financial Health Monitoring report, the Board was informed that at this stage of the year, the figures available provided a more accurate position of the Council’s financial health and were also used for predicting the following year’s budget.  Members were informed of an improvement in the financial position since the last Financial Health report and the various factors that led to this.  These included savings made across directorates, the use of low interest rates on short term borrowing requirements, projected savings made through the Early Leavers Initiative and changes to accounting arrangements that allowed the use of capital receipts connected with PFI schemes.

It was now projected that there would be a £5.2 million underspend with reserves of £19 million for the following year.

In response to Members comments and questions, the following issues were discussed:

• The use of agency staff and the possibility of having an ‘in house’ agency – it was reported that the Council was looking at reducing the use of agency staff and currently had a full time equivalent of 280 agency staff in employment.  Many of these were still required due to issues such as the Early Leavers Initiative and there was a question of whether any of these should be directly employed.  There was also the position of staff awaiting redeployment to be considered before it could be decided whether there was a need to internalise temporary staff arrangements of create a  bank of temporary staff.
• The following years budget had been projected on the latest figures that had shown savings since the six monthly financial health report.
• PFI – in response to a question of how long the Council would be able to use capital receipts linked to PFI schemes, it was reported that the programme was due to run until 2034.
• Procurement savings – the Council had targeted an overall saving of £20 million through procurement, £5 million of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 77.

To receive and consider the attached report of the Chief Executive

The report of the Chief Executive presented proposals for the new set of strategic planning documents for advice and consideration before they went to Executive Board and Council for approval.  They included the proposals for the long term partnership strategy for the City, the Vision for Leeds 2011 to 2030 and the first set of delivery plans for the first 4 years.  These proposals had been developed in light of the current financial situation which meant that priorities had to be more focussed than in previous plans.  The proposals also took into account, the results of two recent public consultations on the Vision for Leeds and the Spending Challenge.

The Chair welcomed the following to the meeting for this item:

• Tom Riordan, Chief Executive
• James Rogers, Assistant Chief Executive (Planning, Policy and Improvement)
• Martin Dean, Head of Leeds Initiative and International Partnerships

Members attention was brought to the appendices in the report that outlined the new City Planning Framework and the City Priority Plans 2011-15.  There was an ambition to get Leeds recognised as the best City in the United Kingdom and the new values of the organisation as highlighted in the Council Business Plan were highlighted.

In response to Members comments and questions, the following issues were discussed:

• Staff appraisals – Members welcomed the approach to ensure that all staff had appraisals and it was reported that it was a target for all staff to have had an appraisal before the end of March 2011.
• Scrutiny of external partners – external partners had a duty to co-operate and the need to get the right relationship with partners to respond to each others concerns was stressed.
• The role of partners and turning plans into action – it was recognised that the plans would be meaningless without actions and work had to take place with all partners across the public and private sectors to achieve targets.  The Board was informed of the various partners the Council was involved with and work with developers to ensure employment opportunities and apprenticeships for local people was cited as an example of how working with partners could contribute to the success of the city.
• Work with health partners and how this affected services across the Council.
• The role of Marketing Leeds – it was reoprted that Marketing Leeds submitted an annual report to Executive Board and had also submitted reports to Scrutiny Board (City Development)
• Transport – it was recognised that their could be improvement and that more control and influence over public transport services would be benficial
• Population/Housing pressures – this was regarded as a major challenge and would require in depth work with planners and developers.
• Culture – it was felt that there was a lack of things to see and do in Leeds compared to other similar sized cities.  It was reported that Leeds did not always promote many of its cultural achievements as well as it could such as the College of Art which had the best results in the country.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 78.

Members considered the performance information detailed in the report and were informed of the progress with those indicators that were currently classified amber and red.

In response to Members comments and questions, the following issues were discussed:

• There had been a reduction in the proportion of disabled staff employed by the Council due to higher numbers of disabled staff leaving under the Early Leavers Initiative.
• There had been a high increase in the number of e-mails received by Benefits and Streetscene Services which had meant re-prioritisation of work.  These areas were now back on track to meet targets.
• Recording of statistics for the call centre, criteria used to classify missed or abandoned calls and the possibility of introducing voice recognition software.

RESOLVED – That the report and discussion be noted.

To receive and consider a report from the Head of Scrutiny and Member Development outlining the Scrutiny Board’s work programme for the remainder of the current municipal year.

The report of the Head of Scrutiny and Member Development outlined the Board’s Work Programme and also included recent Executive Board Minutes and a copy of the Council’s Forward Plan of Key Decisions.

The Board was made aware of a request on behalf of the Corporate Governance & Audit  Committee ???

RESOLVED –

(1)  That the report be noted and work programme be updated accordingly.

(2)  That the Forward Plan and Executive Board minutes be noted.

To note that the next meeting of the Board will be held on Monday, 13 April 2011 at 10.00 am with a pre meeting for Board Members at 9.30 am.

Monday, 4 April 2011 at 10.00 a.m.  Pre-meeting for all Board Members at 9.30 a.m.