Issue - meetings

The Chair took the report as read and opened the floor to questions.

The Strategic Director – Corporate Resources replied to Members’ questions as follows:-

·       temporary accommodation was an area of significant budgetary pressure;

·       homelessness impacted on several budgets;

·       in terms of income, Q2 was similar to Q1;

·       property income was down, but the new Interim Head of Service would be addressing outstanding debts;

·       funding was now available for debt recovery with the Legal department;

·       a standardised approach was required for debt recovery as there were too many types of property debt;

·       commercial property debt was only a debt once the tenant had moved;

·       the Government had introduced a significant uplift in planning fees in the past year. Consequently the number of planning applications had dropped, although it was important to note that one or two major applications would make a noticeable financial difference;

·       a new interim Head of Culture had been appointed and would be addressing the RAMM underspend and look at a number of ideas;

·       ‘unapportionable overheads’ were pension strain payments and were not budgeted at the start of the year; and

·       setting the budget and reporting on it no carbon impact in itself, it was what was done with the budget that had an impact.

On the subject of General Fund Capital, Councillor Moore called for a more strategic approach to investment. She asked if it was possible to change the reporting format to see what was active and what was possible. The Strategic Director – Corporate Resources explained that all the reports being presented were produced for Members, adding that he was always available to provide clarity if needed and would welcome views on how to make the reports more usable.

On the subject of the Housing Revenue Account, Councillor Moore remarked that she had no seen anything from the Council Housing and Development Advisory Board (CHaDAB) being fed back to the Executive. The Strategic Director – Corporate Resources informed that he would speak to the Monitoring Officer about CHaDAB reporting back.

Responding to final question from Councillor Moore about how Scrutiny could be the most impactful about the Budget, the Strategic Director – Corporate Resources noted that:-

·       this was the first instalment of the budget monitoring exercise; and

·       Democratic Services were working on a new table of meetings and Scrutiny as a whole was being recalibrated.

Members noted the reports from the Strategic Director – Corporate Resources.