Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed all those in attendance.

There were no apologies for absence.

To note any declarations of interest from the Councillors.  They are asked to indicate the relevant agenda item, the nature of the interest and in particular whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest.

Any declarations of interest made at the meeting which is not on the register of interests should be notified to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion.

There were no declarations of interest.

To note any announcements from the Chair

The Chair advised that due to the scale of the budget proposals scrutiny would be split between two sessions with the Resources and People directorates and Corporate Risk Register being considered initially, and the Place and Neighbourhoods directorates plus Capital Programme and Treasury Management following at the meeting at 5pm on 22^nd January 18.

Up to 30 minutes is allowed for this item

Any member of the public or Councillor may participate in Public Forum.  The detailed arrangements for so doing are set out in the Public Information Sheet at the back of this agenda.  Public Forum items should be emailed to democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk and please note that the following deadlines will apply in relation to this meeting:-

Questions - Written questions must be received 3 clear working days prior to the meeting.  For this meeting, this means that your question(s) must be received in this office at the latest by 5 pm on *name deadline date*

Petitions and Statements - Petitions and statements must be received on the working day prior to the meeting.  For this meeting this means that your submission must be received in this office at the latest by 12.00 noon on *name deadline date*.

There were no items of public forum business.

Councillor Morris, Chair of the Medium Term Financial Plan Task and Finish (MTFP T&F) Group provided a presentation setting out their key findings, a copy of which can be found at Appendix A.  During the ensuing discussion the following matters were discussed;

·         The MTFP T&F Group recognised the importance of the MTFP and suggested that it should ideally cover more than 5 years and continually be reviewed to ensure it remained fit for purpose.

·         The work of the MTFP T&F Group had been very robust and was a significant improvement on scrutiny of the budget from recent years. The strength of the T&F Group was largely due to the fact that meetings were not public, which meant confidential matters could be freely discussed, and also that the membership was relatively tight (at 5 Members) which increased expertise and ownership.

·         In future it would be prudent to strengthen the budget scrutiny process by starting earlier and drilling down into pressure points (e.g. Adult Social Care) in more detail. Key Performance Indicators could play more of a role in budget scrutiny going forward as would provide an easy way in which to measure progress.

Members and officers who supported the work of the MTFP Task and Finish Group were thanked for their contributions and it was agreed that the process would be replicated for future years.   

RESOLVED: 

That the findings of the MTPF T&F Group be noted and inform the ensuing Scrutiny of the budget proposals for 18/19; and

That the MTFP T&F Group process for budget scrutiny be rolled out for 18/19 and beyond.

Following a brief introduction from officers, Members went on to scrutinise the budget proposals for the Resources and People Directorates, as well as the Corporate Risk Register.  The key points were as follows;

• BE6 - Plans were in place to make savings by freezing incremental pay rises for senior managers.
• BE43 – The Council was owed a substantial sum from outstanding debts, mainly in relation to Adult Social Care.  The payments would be recovered sensitively and more cohesive systems would be introduced going forward. It was agreed that additional details of the scheme would be provided in due course.
• FP01 – The proposal to save £4.4m from the Neighbourhood’s budget by introducing efficiencies would be delivered by reducing support to some external organisations (as approved 3 years ago) and seeking better value for money from contracts.  The savings for 18/19 had already been identified. Any surplus from Bristol Waste Company  would be reviewed towards the end of the period.
• FP14 – The proposal to establish an in-house debt collection service would aim to make the process more ethical and reduce stress for families, whilst also reducing costs by seeking solutions and requiring fewer house visits.
• FP32 – The budget to assist families with ‘no recourse to public funds’ was being reduced, however, the intention was that more money would be reclaimed from the Home Office so the level of service provision would not be affected.  A policy for the future was being prepared and would be circulated to Members for comment. 
• FP33/37 – It was right to look at ways to enable people to stay in their own homes whilst reducing costs, but not if there were knock on effects on other services such as the NHS. Within the last 6 months there were 60 fewer users in residential care.
• RS02 – The road maintenance budget included provision for tree pollarding and reduction of epicormic growth during 18/19, after which the longer term plan for trees would be agreed.
• RS14 – The closure of all Citizen Service Points bar that at Temple Street may inconvenience some residents although the Customer Service Call Centre could assist in most instances.
• RS15 – The outcomes around the consultation re the proposal to remove discretionary rate relief on business rates for charities, voluntary groups and not for profit organisations would be available in late January 18.   The suggestion was that rate relief be withdrawn for organisations with turnover of £100k or more but a Cabinet paper setting out the details of the policy would be prepared in due course.
• IN25 – The plans to increase the admission fees at Red Lodge and the Georgian House Museum had led to concerns being raised that visitor numbers would reduce, which would be counterproductive, although the Cabinet Member was confident the savings could be delivered.
• IN30 – The Bristol Platform to increase use of volunteers across the city was in the early stages but it could potentially bring in significant income (e.g. York were raising £90k a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.