Archived decisions

ITEM 3

AT A MEETING of the POLICY AND RESOURCES SCRUTINY AND SELECT COMMITTEE of the COUNTY COUNCIL held at The Castle, Winchester on 31 October 2005.

PRESENT:

Councillors:

p M.J. Kendal (Chairman)

26 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should, normally at the time of debate, declare their interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9,10,11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed. No interests were declared by Members on this occasion.

27 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 11 July 2005 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Arising thereon - Minute 23 - Community Safety Service - Members asked the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services to provide them with an update on progress with the questions raised relating to:

· Possible charging for return of supermarket trolleys.


· Training of Community Safety Officers in use of defibrillators.

28 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

The Chairman had no communications on this occasion.

29 DEPUTATIONS

No deputations had been notified under Standing Order 21.

30 SCRUTINY PANEL 2 PROJECT INTEGRA

The Committee considered the report of the Panel (Item 6 in the Minute Book) relating to the long term role of Project Integra and the part to be played by the County Council in the Project Integra Board. Members generally endorsed the approach advocated of developing the Project Integra Board to improve the partners' performance in waste collection and recycling, with the County Council taking a longer term strategic view of the wider issues posed by commercial industrial waste as well as municipal waste. They considered it would be vital to engage fully with all the partners - the district councils, the unitary councils of Portsmouth and Southampton - and indicated that members of the Panel would be ready to meet the Project Integra Board to discuss the recommendations. The Committee also specified that they would expect to monitor progress after the recommendations had been through County Council and Cabinet.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the nature of Project Integra and the Management Board be redefined as a facilitation network between the 15 partner businesses rather than a business in itself, thus allowing:


· the current Management Board to focus on progressing municipal waste with appropriately focused support, targets and expectations


· the waste disposal authorities to create a separate parallel structure within the broader scope of Project Integra to progress work on the wider integrated waste management issue, including commercial and industrial waste - with an opportunity to waste collection authorities willing to make firm financial commitment to be included


(b) That the vision of Project Integra as a whole is one of "waste management" which is developed and owned by the Leaders and Chief Executives of the appropriate partners. From this wider vision would then flow strategies and plans for defined elements such as:


· municipal waste


· commercial and industrial waste


(c) That detailed recommendations in paragraphs 5 and 6 of the report be adopted covering:-


· the role of Hampshire County Council and lessons it needs to learn


· the way in which the Project Integra Executive Officer role would need to be redefined to provide support for the suggested structure and vision


· suggested approaches to other barriers which have evidenced themselves as key to making progress as a partnership


(d) That the Council recommends that key Executive Members and senior Officers work with the unitary authorities and the district councils to seek their concurrence to the main provisions of the report.

31 IT SERVICES - ANNUAL REPORT OF COMPLAINTS AND COMPLIMENTS

The Committee considered the report of the Head of IT Services (Item 7 in the Minute Book). The Head of IT Services responded to points of detail. It was confirmed that this was the last of a series of reports on complaints and compliments relating to central departments; the others had been considered by the Committee in July.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the report be noted and that the IT Services complaints monitoring process be further developed to record compliments formally.


(b) That the Committee continues to receive an annual complaints and compliments report on IT Services at the same time as those relating to other central departments.

32 BUDGET SETTING PROCESS FOR 2006/07 ONWARDS

The Committee considered the report of the County Treasurer (Item 5 in the Minute Book) on arrangements for future scrutiny of budgetary issues. They also had before them three reports previously considered by the Cabinet on medium term financial strategy; proposed Government changes; and a confidential report on major projects in the capital programme. The Committee gave initial consideration to possible savings as a means of minimising the Council tax increase and suggested the following possibilities:

· reduced revenue contributions to capital


· examine the effects in terms of reductions in services which would be required to achieve a council tax increase of only 2.7%, i.e. the same as the increase in the retail price index


· concentrate on central and non-statutory services for some of the savings, for example economic development, the Brussels Office


· consider zero-based budgeting


· a methodical review of the County Council's land and property holdings to identify and dispose of premises which were under-used or had high maintenance costs


· have all the efficiency savings emerging from Best Value reviews actually been implemented?


The Committee accepted that significant savings would be needed to achieve the possible 4.7% rise in council tax increases, and a further £8-9m would be needed if it were proposed to achieve a 2.7% council tax increase. If savings on this scale were to be required, then reductions from the big spending departments such as Children's Services and Adult Services, would be inevitable. However, Members felt that there were still too many uncertainties at this stage for them to make informed observations on the budget for next year. A report on budget guidelines would be going to Cabinet on 19 December, and the Committee therefore

RESOLVED:


(a) That the Cabinet be requested to consider the impact of an option to achieve a council tax increase of 2.7%.


(b) That the next meeting be rearranged from Monday, 5 December to Wednesday, 14 December in order to enable the Committee to receive a briefing on the settlement outcome and hence maybe more suitable observations on the budget to the Cabinet.

33 EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC

RESOLVED:

That, by virtue of paragraph 9 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting.

34 CAPITAL PROGRAMME : MAJOR PROJECTS REVIEW

The Committee considered the confidential report of the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services on key issues relating to the County Council's Capital Programme. The Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services gave an explanation of several aspects, notably the refurbishment of Ashburton Court; the programme of generating capital receipts to support the County Council's capital programme and the benefits to the County Council of working with the South East Centre of Excellence.

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