Archived decisions

Item 3

AT A MEETING of the HAMPSHIRE FIRE AND RESCUE AUTHORITY FINANCE AND GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE held at the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Eastleigh on 24 April 2008.

PRESENT:

Councillors: R. Smith (Chairman); I.F.E. Beagley; M.F. Cartwright; P.R.C. Hutcheson; R.H. Price; D. Simpson; M.J. Woodhall.

96 APOLOGIES

    Apologies for absence were received from Councillors M.G. Cooper and B.D. Dash.

97 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 Fire Authority's Code of Conduct consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed.

There were no declarations of interest made by members under this item.

    MINUTES

    The Minutes of the meeting held on 17 January, 2008 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

98 DEPUTATIONS

There were no deputations made under this item.

99 APPOINTMENT - ASSET MANAGEMENT WORKING GROUP

The Committee agreed to appoint Councillor Simpson to the Asset Management Working Group in place of Councillor House, and agreed that the remaining position would remain vacant until the proportionality of the Committee was recalculated at the next annual meeting of the Authority.

100 MANAGING EFFICIENCY GAINS

    The Committee considered the report of the Chief Officer (Item 6 in the Minute Book) on the management and recording of efficiency gains. The Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR07) required Authority to identify £1,055,000 of efficiency gains in each of the next three years. These efficiency gains would then be required to fund growth of the Authority. As such, it was necessary to record efficiency gains more effectively both to enable better utilisation and management of efficiency gains and to be able to clearly demonstrate the achievement of these gains to internal and external scrutiny.

    The Committee agreed that these steps were necessary to facilitate the realisation and utilisation of efficiency gains. Members discussed possible efficiency savings, and requested that information on efficiency savings should be added to budget monitoring reports to show the levels of savings realised and the source of these and potential savings.

    RESOLVED:

    (1) That the Chief Officer is authorised to manage the efficiency plan via the Directors' Group financial monitoring process as an integral part of overall budget management.

    (2) That progress will be reported to the Authority in the quarterly budget monitoring reports to the Finance and General Purposes Committee.

101 EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC

    RESOLVED:

    That the public be excluded from the meeting during the following item of business, as it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during that item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information within Paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, and further that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons set out in the report.

102 CODE OF PRACTICE RELATING TO CONTRACTS (EXEMPT)

    The Committee considered the report of the Chief Officer (Item 8 in the Minute Book) setting out the annual report on contracts and proposed contracts that were likely to exceed £50,000.

    [SUMMARY OF AN EXEMPT MINUTE]

103 DISPOSAL OF LAND - BASINGSTOKE (EXEMPT)

    The Committee considered the report of the Chief Officer (Item 9 in the Minute Book) on the disposal of a portion of land in the Basingstoke area. The decision to dispose of the land had been taken by the Authority, but further approval was required to proceed.

    [SUMMARY OF AN EXEMPT MINUTE]