Items
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Item |
24. |
Minutes PDF 334 KB
To approve as a correct record
the minutes of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny
Committeemeeting held on 10 November
2020.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Senior Democratic Services
Office updated the Committee regarding the recent scrutiny review.
She stated that the report had been approved by Cabinet in December
2020, and since then officers had been working to begin the
review’s implementation. She stated that the team were
working to outline how to progress the recommendations, with the
majority being implemented at the beginning of the 2021/22
municipal year. She summarised and stated that regular update
reports would be brought before the Committee.
The minutes of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee held
on 10 November 2020 were approved as a true and correct
record.
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25. |
Items of Urgent Business
To receive additional items
that the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter
of urgency, in accordance with Section 100B (4) (b) of the Local
Government Act 1972.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
There were no items of urgent
business.
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26. |
Declaration of Interests
Additional documents:
Minutes:
There were no interests
declared.
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27. |
Communications Strategy (Verbal Update)
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Director of Strategy,
Communications and Customer Services began the update by stating
that the Local Government Association had been invited to peer
review the Council’s communications and perform a
‘health check’ of the communications functions. She
outlined that this peer review had been completed in October 2020,
and the feedback report had been received in mid-December 2020. She
explained that as part of the review the LGA team had interviewed
local media representatives, officers, partners and Councillors,
and the feedback report had included some recommendations. The
Director of Strategy, Communications and Customer Services outlined
some of the recommendations, which included a ‘who reads
what’ survey to look into how residents accessed information,
such as via social media, local media, or the Council’s
newsletter website. She stated that the LGA report would be used to
inform the Communications Strategy, as well as to develop an action
plan, both of which would be brought before the Committee. She
summarised and explained that the Committee would have the chance
to look over the peer review and action plan in March 2021, before
the final Communications Strategy would be brought to Committee in
June 2021.
Councillor Hague questioned how the Council utilised social media
platforms such as Facebook. The Director of Strategy,
Communications and Customer Service replied that Thurrock Council
had their own social media channels on platforms such as Facebook
and Twitter, but also utilised community forums to share Thurrock
Council information. She stated that Thurrock could also comment
directly on some open social media pages or groups. She added that
social media would form a big part of the Communications Strategy.
Councillor Rice questioned whether the local elections due to take
place in May 2021 would still be going ahead, due to the increasing
numbers of COVID deaths. The Corporate Director of Finance,
Governance and Property replied that current information indicated
that the local elections would still be going ahead, and the
Council were working with the Electoral Commission to ensure the
elections could safely be delivered, particularly at polling
stations and counting centres. He stated that the elections team
would continue to organise the elections, until instructed
otherwise by central government. Councillor Hague stated if there
would be a communications campaign to highlight the postal vote
system, as this would reduce the level of contact. The Corporate
Director of Finance, Governance and Property responded that the
elections team were currently undertaking the registry elections
process, which reminded all local residents of the postal vote
option.
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28. |
Draft General Fund Budget & Medium Term Financial Strategy Update PDF 602 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Corporate Director Finance,
Governance and Property introduced the report and stated that in
the current 2020/21 financial year, a six month forecast Cabinet
report had outlined a deficit of £2.7million. He stated that
at the beginning of the financial year, the Council had been
reporting a surplus of £4.7million, which indicated a
£7million in-year change due to the COVID pandemic. He
explained that additional funding had now been received which would
ensure the budget was balanced at the end of the 2020/21 financial
year, but the budgeted surplus had been lost and this would affect
future budgets. He outlined that there was currently a
£34million funding gap over the next three years, with a
£19million deficit in 2021/22 and a £25million deficit
split between 2022/23 and 2023/24. He explained that the lost
surplus this year would be compounded by an increased collection
fund deficit from decreased business rates and council tax
collection, which would impact on potential expenditure in the next
few years. He added that this would also be affected by increased
costs in adult and children’s social care. He described how
Thurrock were in the lowest quartile for adults social care
expenditure, but this meant there were still pressures in the
system and the pandemic would have a greater impact on the service.
He stated that the reasons for the pressures in the service were
due to demographic changes, an increased number of resilience
payments, increased inflation, increased staff pay, increased
treasury budgets and interest costs.
The Corporate Director of Finance, Governance and Property stated
that the Council were currently undertaking a number of one-off
approaches to buy some time, due to the size of the deficit. He
stated that the government had undertaken a spending review in
November 2020 and the Chancellor had agreed on a one year
settlement, but this only informed resources for 2021/22. He added
that government grants and council tax income had been built into
the budget, which ensured it would be balanced.
The Corporate Director of Finance, Governance and Property then
explained that the team had been working on ways to reduce
expenditure and increase income, which included the freezing of
non-essential vacant post recruitment. He explained that this would
reduce the number of employees over the Medium Term Financial
Strategy (MTFS), and would save approximately £4million. He
stated that this would have an impact on services as it would
reduce the number of the staff, but directorates would try to
mitigate this as much as possible. He stated that the Council would
also be stopping some allowances such as overtime, car allowances,
and shift work. He explained that over the past two years the
Council had undertaken a review and restructure of staff pay
grades, which had been affordable but had led to increased funding.
He stated that he understood that this was a sensitive issue, but
outlined that it would save the Council approximately
£800,000. The Corporate Director
of Finance, Governance and Property then outlined the proposed rise
in ...
view the full minutes text for item 28.
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29. |
Capital Strategy 2021/22 PDF 231 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Corporate Director Finance,
Governance and Property introduced the report and stated that the
report set out the approach to capital borrowing over the coming
years, as well as outlining prudential indicators. He stated that
the report also contained the capital and treasury management
strategy, and in previous years would have outlined the targets for
investment and the investment approach. He explained that as the
council were no longer pursuing new investment opportunities, the
report was now based on existing capital investments, which meant
that future borrowing requirements had decreased. The Corporate
Director of Finance, Governance and Property highlighted point 3.3
of the report and stated that this was the same as previous years,
and included temporary borrowing which had been undertaken since
2010. He explained that this also outlined changes to interest and
the ability of the Council to borrow, including the Council’s
move to PWLB borrowing. He commented that the MRP had not changed,
but was an annual requirement to be included in the report. He
summarised and stated that current levels of net borrowing were
between £300 and £400million.
The Chair highlighted table 4 on page 39 of the agenda, and
questioned why the total future debt appeared to increase. The
Corporate Director of Finance, Governance and Property replied that
this was due to the decreasing number of investments which would
not be replaced once they matured. He added that this also
reflected the capital programme, for example the A13 project and
ongoing HRA development, as this borrowing equated to funding the
capital programme. The Chair then questioned the process for the
sale of assets. The Corporate Director of Finance, Governance and
Property replied that the asset team were currently reviewing and
classifying all government assets. He stated that these had been
classified into approximately 60-70 operational assets; 50-60
community assets; and 200 assets that did not fall into either of
these categories. He explained that the assets team were liaising
with all directorates to ascertain service needs, for example
housebuilding or local plan development potential, and then
deciding if the assets needed to be disposed or could be utilised.
He explained that all asset disposals over £250,000 now
needed to go through Cabinet for approval, and felt that asset
disposal was not just about increasing capital receipts, but also
about decreasing exposure and liability. The Chair queried what
level of democratic oversight occurred for asset disposals. The
Corporate Director of Finance, Governance and Property replied that
the asset disposal would be brought before the relevant overview
and scrutiny committee. He explained that the assets due to be
brought forward to Cabinet in February were not controversial, for
example some tenants wished to purchase the assets. He stated that
the team were developing a flowchart process for housing sites,
which would go before the Housing Overview and Scrutiny
Committee.
Councillor Ralph sought reassurance that all assets would be
properly valued before they were sold. The Corporate Director of
Finance, Governance and Property replied that since 2019 all
...
view the full minutes text for item 29.
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30. |
Draft Capital Programme PDF 150 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Corporate Director Finance,
Governance and Property introduced the report and stated that this
report was brought before the Committee every year and outlined the
new schemes that would be included in the capital programme, and
formed part of the budget setting in February. He stated that due
to the Council’s financial position the capital programme did
not include as many schemes as in previous years, as the majority
of capital schemes required lots of staff and resources to deliver,
which would be reduced due to a reduction in capacity and vacant
post staff freezes. The Corporate Director of Finance, Governance
and Property outlined the two aspects of the capital programme
which were: smaller schemes outlined in 4.2 of the report which
were divided into the digital, operational, and property pots; and
larger schemes which were included at appendix 2.
The Chair questioned the affordability of some of the projects, and
asked how budgets were going to be managed. The Corporate Director
of Finance, Governance and Property replied that over the past year
the Council had worked hard to improve its project management
capabilities, including increased senior management involvement,
and new team members who had project management experience. He
explained that the Project Board met monthly and was chaired by the
Chief Executive to monitor delivery, timescales, and budgets of
ongoing projects. He explained that there were always challenges on
public sector budgets due to project cost overruns and delays, but
controls were now in place to improve project management.
Councillor Ralph questioned the Stanford-le-Hope Interchange
project, and asked if the Council had claimed back funds from DP
World. He felt it was good to see third party investment in these
schemes, and urged the Council to claim back any necessary monies.
The Corporate Director of Finance, Governance and Property replied
that the Council claimed as much back as possible on these schemes,
and would confirm in writing if DP World funds had been claimed.
Councillor Rice then queried the spend of £9million on
consultants for the Stanford-le-Hope Interchange project. He also
questioned overspend on the A13 widening project, and potential
funding for the A13 East Facing Access scheme. The Corporate
Director of Finance, Governance and Property stated that he did not
recognise the figure of £9million spent on consultants, but
would come back to the Committee with a written reply and brief
update on the position. He stated that the Council were
contractually obliged to pay for the A13 widening scheme, and the
team were working hard to mitigate the £30million overspend,
including through monthly claims to Kier. He added that the team
were also working to increase the contributions from third parties,
including SELEP and the Highways Agency. He stated that as a last
resort the Council could use prudential borrowing, but would use
capital receipts before then. He explained that the Council were
currently undertaking feasibility studies regarding the A13 East
Facing Access Scheme, but explained that government grants could be
used to cover this cost. He ...
view the full minutes text for item 30.
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31. |
Work Programme PDF 268 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Chair stated that the
Communications Strategy report would be brought before the
Committee in June 2021. The Corporate Director of Finance,
Governance and Property requested an additional finance update in
March 2021. Councillor Duffin requested a paper on
commercialisation, and the Corporate Director of Finance,
Governance and Property replied that he would look into this to
ensure it fell within the remit of Corporate Overview and Scrutiny,
particularly surrounding asset disposal.
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