Agenda and minutes
Venue: Committee Room 4, Brent Town Hall, Forty Lane, Wembley, HA9 9HD
Contact: Peter Goss - Democratic Services Manager 020 8937 1353 Email: peter.goss@brent.gov.uk
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Declarations of personal and prejudicial interests Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting, any relevant financial or other interest in the items on this agenda. Minutes: None declared. |
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Deputations (if any) Minutes: None. |
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Minutes of the previous meeting PDF 111 KB Minutes: RESOLVED:-
that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 11 October 2011 be approved as an accurate record of the meeting. |
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Matters arising (if any) Minutes: None. |
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Environment and Neighbourhood Services budget issues PDF 331 KB The Director of Environment and Neighbourhood Services will attend the meeting to provide a presentation for Members on current budget issues facing this service. Minutes: Sue Harper (Director of Environment and Neighbourhood Services) outlined the structure of the department by reference to a Powerpoint presentation. She pointed out that the Streetcare section no longer existed and the department was now split into two large areas - the Environment and Protection Services division and the Neighbourhood Services division. Continuing with the Powerpoint presentation, Bharat Jashapara (Assistant Director, Strategic Finance) outlined the departmental budget. He pointed out that the Neighbourhood Services element of the budget included the funding received from Transport for London and that overall the departmental budget was greatly reduced from the previous year. The 2011/12 budget for the department included a large level of income, a significant part of which was from parking charges.
In response to a question about the impact of the delay in implementing the library transformation programme, Sue Harper explained that there had been slippage in achieving the part year savings this year of £408,000 due to the libraries not closing until October and this would have to be made up with savings in other areas. She stated that there was still uncertainty on the outcome of the legal challenge and if the programme could not be fully implemented then alternative savings would have to be identified.
Members asked if the department faced any further changes. Michael Read (Assistant Director for Environment and Protection) stated that further organisational change was not planned but a number of areas of operation would be subject to review. The parking contract had been added to the One Council programme. The need to retender the contract offered opportunities to work with other boroughs in seeking to improve performance and make savings. Jenny Isaac (Assistant Director for Neighbourhood Services) added that the highways contract ended in 2012 and this presented the opportunity to look at joint procurement options that would build on performance under the current contract and modernise approaches to delivery of the contract. Sue Harper stated that the opportunity was also being taken to look at how the garden and trade waste services could be improved, to take part in a review of the grounds maintenance contract and in reviewing the youth service and provision of services for the youth. In being asked what savings target the department was working towards, Sue Harper replied that no overall target had been set and it was too early to say what savings each of the individual projects would achieve.
Members asked about the current position regarding negotiations with Veolia on the waste and street cleaning contract. Sue Harper replied that a number of meetings had been held and that agreement had been reached on the remaining two years of the contract. It had not been possible to achieve the targeted full year savings on the contract this year and this shortfall had to be covered by the department. A final meeting with Veolia was scheduled to discuss a possible two year extension to the contract. Michael Read outlined the changes to street sweeping that had been ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
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First reading debate on the 2012/13 to 2015/16 budget PDF 381 KB Full Council will be holding its first reading debate on the 2012/13 budget at its meeting on Monday 21 November. The Director of Finance and Corporate Services will set out the financial issues that will form the background to that debate.
The Leader and Lead Member for Finance and Corporate Resources will attend the meeting to answer questions from Members. Minutes: Mick Bowden (Deputy Director of Finance and Corporate Services) outlined the budget and medium term financial plan for the period 2012/13 to 2015/16 by means of a PowerPoint presentation. He updated the committee on the national economic conditions, pointing out that the recession was deeper than previous recessions and would take longer to recover. The gap between wages and inflation was widening which impacted on consumer confidence. He reminded the committee of what the coalition Government's objectives were and the impact this was having on local government. Mick Bowden then drew the committee's attention to the inverted relationship between efficiency savings that provided the bulk of the saving to start with but tailed off and savings from service transformation that were slow to realise but provided the bulk of the required savings later in the 5 year programme. He outlined the funding gap for the years 2011/12 to 2015/16 but pointed out that the spending review period only went up to 2014/15. Mick Bowden outlined the issues concerning the future level of the Council Tax and the risks the Council faced. He then went on to present to the committee the main points arising from the Council housing finance reforms. The actions that needed to be taken to ensure the Council spent within the resources available were presented to the committee before finally the timetable for service and budget planning was submitted.
In answer to a question about the risks attached to the Business Rate reform, Mick Bowden explained that the anticipated transitional arrangements that would be in place up to 2014/15 would mean no change to the present but the outcome of the consultation on this was still awaited. Members of the committee received a separate written briefing on how the Council needed to be sure of its processes for collecting business rates in the future.
It was pointed out to the committee that the Council had been awarded £25M for primary school investment, the third highest amount for any authority, but that the details of how this would be spent were still to be supplied. This information could be provided to the committee at a later date. Councillor John reported to the committee that the funding allocated nationally was still not considered to be sufficient to meet the demand for school places and that the pressure in London was most acute. All the London boroughs agreed that more was needed and so how the Council spent its allocation would need careful consideration.
The committee was informed that the report to full Council in support of the first reading of the budget would set out the key risks and the Council's approach to maintaining sufficient reserves. Calculations were being undertaken to assess the impact of the proposed removal of the Council Tax discount on second homes but it was felt that the impact on Brent would be low. Further discussions were taking place on the options for Council Tax benefit on empty homes.
In answer to further questions from ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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A copy of the committee's work programme is attached for comment and update. Minutes: The committee noted its existing work programme, as amended by reference to items arising from the discussion above on the budget. |
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Any Other Urgent Business Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Democratic Services Manager or his representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 64. Minutes: None. |
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Date of Next Meeting The next scheduled meeting of the Committee is on 6 December 2011. Minutes: It was noted that the next meeting of the committee would take place on 6 December 2011. |