-
Agenda and minutes
Venue: Muriel Matters House, Breeds Place, Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 3UY
Contact: Democratic Services on 01424 451484 email: democraticservices@hastings.gov.uk
Items No. Item Apologies for Absence
Minutes:
Apologies received from Cllr. Roberts, Cllr. Arthur, Cllr. Foster, Cllr Turner and Cllr. Collins who is substituted by Cllr Carr
Declarations of Interest
Minutes:
None
Minutes of the Previous Overview and Scrutiny Committee PDF 98 KB
Minutes:
RESOLVED - That the minutes of the meeting held on 27th July 2022 be approved as a true record
Financial Monitoring Quarterly Reports for 2022/23- Quarter 1 PDF 161 KB
(Kit Wheeler, Chief Finance Officer)
Additional documents:
- Appendix 1 (Part 1) 2022-23 QTR 1 Ops combined , item 117. PDF 93 KB
- Appendix 1 (Part 2) 2022-23 QTR 1 Corporate , item 117. PDF 74 KB
- Appendix 2 - Capital Summary to 30 June 2022 , item 117. PDF 197 KB
Minutes:
The Chief Finance Officer reported to the committee. The format and style of the report is to be refreshed and this may come by quarter two.
The Senior Finance Officer reported the position of expenditure. The current revenue position forecasts an overspend of £1.475million at year end. Without reducing this overspend or finding offsetting funds this will lead to a draw on the council reserves. Homelessness expenditure is still our greatest cause for concern. The capital programme budget is forecasts to be on budget. A graph at paragraph 37 highlights the growth in the numbers of clients in temporary accommodation. If it wasn't for the forecast £1.65million overspent on homelessness, we'd be reporting an underspend position.
Capitals forecasting to be on budget at the end of the year but as usual with capital expenditure on large projects, there is the potential for some slippage between years due to unforeseen delays
Questions were asked by the committee:
Excluding the overspend on homelessness the council would be in an underspend position, does this underspend included the planned use of reserves?
The Senior Finance Officer answered yes, the planned reserve transfers are built into the forecast outturn position. This includes carry forwards which are unspent budget from last year where the service didn't get around to doing the work that it had intended to do.
The Chair asked regarding the reserves being higher than previously forecast. Previously they were forecast as £5.5million but were now standing at in excess of £9million?
The Senior Finance Officer answered that at the time the forecast was believed to be correct. The accounts for 20-21 and 21-22 have not been audited yet. There was greater income from the Government than had been forecast and lower expenditure from services, in part due to delays caused by Covid-19. The council does not have an additional £3million. Many costs have gone up in all areas of council work.
Will underspends from vacancies not impact on services?
The Managing Director answered there is a recruitment freeze. This is to make as much in year savings as possible and reduce the need for redundancies. It was acknowledged that a recruitment freeze is a blunt instrument and key posts would still need to be recruited to.
Parks and gardens have an overspend on procurement?
The Managing Director answered that the overspent money had been agreed to be spent on consultants to review specification for the Grounds Maintenance Contract. The council has to give notice by 5th November. The Chief Finance Officer explained that going forward every proposal will go through a whole costing exercise.
Why is a Employability and reporting coach considered essential?
The Managing director explained the post considered an exception to the recruitment fee since it's fully paid for externally.
Why is there a overspend on Muriel Matters House and decorative lighting?
The Senior Finance Officer explained there is a overspend this year due to an expenditure that was budgeted for last year that didn't happen. This additional expenditure is ... view the full minutes text for item 117.
Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme (2022/23) PDF 125 KB
(Coral Harding, Continuous Improvement and Democratic Services Officer)
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Continuous Improvement and Democratic Services Officer reported the membership of each working group.
Finance – Cllr Patmore(Lead), Cllr Cannan, Cllr Hay, Cllr Pragnell
Equalities – Cllr Arthur(Lead), Cllr Foster
Living Environment – Cllr Jobson(Lead), Cllr Foster, Cllr Roberts
Follow Up – Cllr Patmore(Lead)
As the lead of the Living Environment working group the Vice Chair asked if any further meetings have happened with Southern Water. The Managing Director answered that a letter has been sent to Southern water to the new Chief Executive.
The Leader of the council explained that there is more meeting than previous years but there are not frequent enough updates from Southern Water and a real need for constant updates.
It was asked if the council had been made aware that London Road being closed for 3 weeks. The Managing director explained that road closures are dealt with by East Sussex County Council their responsibility to update to their customers and residents. There are limited powers when its emergency utilities work.
The Chair announced there will be Meet the Leader meeting on Monday 17th October and gave thanks to Cllr Barnett for being available.
RESOLVED (unanimously)
That the committee note the progress of the Overview and Scrutiny work programme for the 2022/23 municipal year and follow up actions.
Reason
It is the responsibility of members serving on the Overview and Scrutiny committee to set their own work programme for each municipal year and complete the associated actions by the end of year.
-
My council
Contact
Got a question about democratic services?
Content
The content on this page is the responsibility of our Democratic Services team.