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 10 April 2006.

PRESENT:

Councillors:

p M.J. Kendal (Chairman)

50 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 such interests were declared by Members.

51 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 25 January 2006 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Arising on Minute 46, section 7.32, Community Safety Officers, it was noted that the figure of 540 officers referred to a total comprising 26 existing officers and the 514 extra officers proposed by the Police Authority. A full report on the role and functions of accredited community safety officers would be included on the agenda for the Committee's next meeting in June.

Arising on Minute 48, Scrutiny Panel 3, ICT, the Committee requested a report back on progress from the e-champion at their next meeting.

52 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

The Chairman reported that draft terms of reference for the County Council's new scrutiny structure - to comprise a scrutiny coordination panel and 5 Policy Review Committees, had been drafted and would be the subject of consideration by the County Council at its May meeting. In the light of that decision, a report would be prepared on the way forward at the Committee's next meeting.

53 DEPUTATIONS

No deputations had been notified under Standing Order 21.

54 BUDGET MONITORING 2005/06

The Committee considered a report of the County Treasurer (Item 6 in the Minute Book) highlighting several issues which had arisen from monitoring of the Policy and Resources revenue budget for the current year. The Chief Executive and the Director of Human Resources gave an outline of the rationale behind the recent merger of the two departments, and mentioned the efficiency savings which were expected to arise. They explained the roles of the Resourcing Centre, the Employment Practice Centre and also the development of the County Council's corporate contact centre and referred to the synergies which would derive from integration. The Committee asked for a further report on the structure of Human Resources, work force plans and arrangements for scrutiny to come before them at a future meeting.

The Committee also considered the costs of the Coroners' Service and arrangements for control of the County Council's capital programme. In the latter connection, the County Treasurer was asked for more details on the costs of M33 Minerva and the £1.6m on advance, PFI and site disposal fees referred to in Appendix 2 of the report.

RESOLVED:

That the report on budget monitoring be noted and that a further report be submitted to the Committee on Human Resources.

55 PRIVATE FINANCE INITIATIVE AND ALTERNATIVE FUNDING MECHANISMS FOR STREET LIGHTING RENEWAL

The Committee considered the report of the County Treasurer (Item 7 in the Minute Book), which arose from a request at their last meeting (Minute 49 refers). The Committee debated the issues and

RESOLVED:

That the following comments be made to Cabinet:-

· That the County Council should, because of the Government grant available, support private finance initiative (PFI) schemes only as a means of accessing capital funding which cannot be found at an acceptable cost from any other source.


· That the County Council should avoid schemes with a long-term cumulative impact which would have the effect of mortgaging the future for the County Council or its successors.


· That the County Council should continue to protect its own capital resources in the form of land and property reserves which can be recycled to build up flexibility to fund its own capital projects, without recourse to PFI or any other external funding source.


· That there should be an equitable sharing mechanism for any savings achieved through future refinancing between the County Council and any PFI contractor to be stipulated within the specification.


· The County Council to retain control over the service provided in any schemes funded through the PFI route.

56 SUSTAINABILITY - AALBORG COMMITMENTS - BASELINE REVIEW

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Environment (Item 8 in the Minute Book). The Director of Environment's representative explained that the 10 areas of activity covered by the Aalborg Commitments were prescribed as part of the Europe-wide initiative, but it was up to the County Council to develop a distinctive Hampshire approach to measuring performance. He accepted that the way in which performance had been measured so far was a subjective self assessment, and reported that receipt of external moderation by the Audit Commission was imminent and would provide an independent standpoint on the work done so far. It was expected that a report would be submitted to the Cabinet and it was therefore

RESOLVED:

(a) That the Comprehensive Performance Assessment - style scores derived for the baseline review of the Aalborg Commitments, as set out in the appendix to the report, be endorsed.


(b) That priority should be given to Section 2 - Local Management towards sustainability - as the key area which would drive further improvements in sustainability performance.


(c) That sustainability based on the Aalborg Commitments be accepted as a key priority for the County Council.


(d) That performance in sustainability be regularly monitored against the baseline review.

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