Name

Minute

Reason

Interest

Councillor Mrs Watkins

No. 101 Tracking Resolutions.

Member of Plymouth Community Homes Board

Personal

Councillor Jack Thompson

No. 101 Tracking Resolutions.

Member of Plymouth Community Homes Board

Personal

Councillor Wildy

Partner is a contractor with Devonport Regeneration Community Partnership

Personal

       (i)            regarding O & S Commission minute 37(5) which refers to  presentations on Care Quality Commission for all Members and LSP theme groups, officers advised that the scrutiny and LSP theme group would be invited to receive a presentation at the first Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Panel or first informal briefing of the Panel of the new municipal year.

     (ii)            regarding O & S Commission minute 37(5) which refers to LSP theme group chairs and scrutiny chairs it was commented that the breakfast meeting held earlier in the day had been a very useful and productive event.

    (iii)            regarding O & S Commission minute 94 (a) 3 which refers to the implementation of locality working, officers advised that an implementation timetable would be made available to members as soon as available.

    (iv)            regarding O & S Commission minute 94 (a) (1) With regard to Health and Adult Social Care OSP draft minute no. 56 – Joint Strategic Needs Assessment the Chair of the Adult Health and Social Care OSP reported that she had met with the director for community services and the Chief Executive of the Primary Care trust and was entirely satisfied that the status quo should remain.

       (i)            the cabinet accepted recommendations about value for money and the delivery of efficiency targets and acknowledged that there would be significant pressure on the Council and its partners to do more for less;

     (ii)            it was acknowledged that there was more to do in regards to communicating what the Council was doing, and to listening to what people say;

    (iii)            there would be a continued focus on Children’s and Adult social care;

    (iv)            a review of Corporate Improvement Priorities, and targets would be part of the planning process for the coming year;

      (v)            regarding recommendation 2.8 it was anticipated that mainstream budgets would not be allocated against CIPs although specific spending would be shown;

    (vi)            regarding recommendation 5.4 about the unannounced inspection in Children’s services: it was hoped that although the result of the recent full OFSTED  inspection is yet to be published it would show that, while there were still challenges in the delivery of services to children and young people, they should not be described as ‘poor’.

(1)     The Chair and Head of Performance, Policy and Partnerships would allocate relevant budget scrutiny recommendations to panels in conjunction with panel chairs and lead officers for inclusion in forward work programmes

(2)     That the management board undertake a formal mid year review of the progress against recommendations in September or October 2010

       (i)            there were only 3 grants described that had not been applied for;

     (ii)            officers apologised for the amount of time it had taken to collect the data and as a result had developed a set of principles going forward for  recording grant related decisions;

    (iii)            a corporate grant coordinator role would be created and a corporate grants register set up;

    (iv)            the authority is considering purchasing software to help identify sources of grant funding;

       (i)            the projected overspend of £3.146m has been mitigated by a £2.144m VAT repayment from HM customs and excise and a £0.229m Local Authority Business Growth Incentive grant which has resulted in a projected overspend of approximately £400,000 after applying a number of ‘corporate health’ adjustments;

     (ii)            a further dividend from Heritable Bank of £195,000 has been repaid, although there was still money outstanding this was currently subject to legal process;

    (iii)            the capital position was outlined and the assessment of year end spend is £95.8m, actual spend on the Capital programme as at end of January 2009 is £62.364m.

    (iv)            the unexpected rejection of the bid for funding a gypsy site within the city was a significant problem, legislation stipulated that a suitable site would need to be created for gypsies. With the rejection of the bid the Council has continued to review its options which could include approaching the Homes and Communities Agency to look at any problems with the bid;

      (v)            there has been no extra funding set aside for the move to Localities, it is expected that the Localities programme would be funded from existing resources;

    (vi)            the spending gap on the capital programme between January and year end was an annual occurrence, the authority continues to improve project management to reduce slippage;

   (vii)            section 106 monies are now placed in a central pot. There is reference to section 106 monies within the overall capital position. It was suggested that to further scrutinise this area would require the presence of representatives from the Development Department;

 (viii)            budget pressures had been identified in Adult Services and Services for Children and Young People, these pressures have been addressed in part by transferring resources from the back office to the front line;

   (ix)            although statistical analysis can help forecasting of where budgetary pressure may be in the future it is not an exact science for example, further high profile cases such as the Baby P case could see further increases in the number of looked after children;

     (x)            which ever party forms the next government there are likely to be deep cuts to public sector spending, the Council will have to make painful decisions with partners on priorities for the city, it is clear that some services the council provides now will need to be cut in the future.

       (i)            that the quarterly reports from each panel are not consistent in the information they provide;

     (ii)            members’ attendance should also reflect attendance at task and finish groups, including any joint reviews;

    (iii)            the budget of each panel should be included within the report.

(1)     To defer recommendations from the Health and Adult Social Care OSP until the next meeting of the municipal year when a permanent lead officer is appointed;

(2)     to approve the recommendation of the Growth and Prosperity OSP, minute 55 (1) to transfer the scrutiny of the carbon reduction commitment to the Support Services OSP;

(3)     to approve the recommendation of the Growth and Prosperity OSP minute 65 (1) supporting the governance proposals for the growth agenda;

(4)     to approve Customers and Communities OSP recommendation minute 69 “following the completion of the work regarding recycling rates by the LSP Safe and Strong Theme Group, a revised report regarding partnership working is submitted to the Panel, with SMART targets and demonstrating a more proactive approach to the issue.”

(5)     that Customers and Communities OSP minute 71 (1) that the views of both Efford and Compton wards are sought regarding Councillor Ball’s Councillor Call for Action.

(6)     to defer Customers and Communities OSP recommendation minute 71 (2) for further investigation into how the Councillor Call for Action will work within the new Locality working structures.

(7)     Customers and Communities OSP recommendation draft minute 79, that the tree strategy is added to the Growth and Prosperity OSP work programme, is approved.

(8)     that the Plympton Area Committee draft minute 58, to approve the recommendation to add the scrutiny of the Community Events and Road Closure Policy to the Growth and Prosperity OSP work programme under CIP 11.

(1)     the forward plan be circulated to all Panel and Theme Group Chairs

(2)     The format and publication of the forward plan is reviewed to be made it more accessible and clearer to understand