Agenda item

To receive the report of the Strategic Director for Corporate Resources.

The Strategic Director for Corporate Resources presented the report making the following points:

a)     the Strategy came before the funding settlement was known;

b)     scrutiny had an important role and this was an opportunity to understand under and over-spends in year and look at proposals going forward;

c)     the issues were set out and some there may be concerns about and officers would take these away to work with the relevant Strategic Directors and Heads of Service;

d)     in terms of the list of work in preparation for LGR, it was not exhaustive but property was front and centre to ensure a good position to go to a new unitary authority; and

e)     dependent upon the outcome of LGR there would be discussions with other authorities.

The Strategic Director for Corporate Resources and Head of Service – Finance responded to Members’ questions in the following terms:

a)     a very high success rate remained within the Waste Service despite sickness and recruitment challenges;

b)     Environmental Health and Licensing services continued to be provided despite recruitment challenges and a statutory report would be brought to the Executive in the autumn;

c)     the report showed projections at the end of the year and anticipated change was shown within the budget which was determined in consultation with budget managers and Heads of Service;

d)     there was an apprenticeship programme which it was being looked to extend as there were many specialist areas in local authority which didn’t exist in other businesses. The Council Tax Team were taking on apprentices where there was government funding. The Legal Team had also had success with apprentices. He would get an update on the number of apprentices the council currently had;

e)     capital projects were financed in a number of ways - from revenue, grants from central government or other organisations, section 106 agreements, CIL, borrowing (usually from the public works loans board but not always and usually for longer term assets), or the sale of other capital assets which would generate capital receipts which could only be used for two purposes, building more capital assets or repayment of debt);

f)       spend on the capital programme was weak due to challenges with resources and the ambition being larger than it being possible to deliver in one year therefore improvement was needed in planning across multiple years. A Capital Programme Board was now in place, led by the Chief Executive which should support improvement. Another issue had been that a number of projects had gone out to tender and bids had been received which were significantly higher than the budget set. This had been an issue in the construction sector across the South West;

g)     CIL was statutory and a Planning matter therefore a specific debt collection process had to be followed and this would not lie with the new collections team. CIL was managed by the Strategic Management Board who received a monthly report. CIL was often large sums of money therefore one debt could be a significant amount which would skew data. This was not a concern to him but there was a need to keep a focus on CIL given the size and statutory nature;

h)     there was a rental income of £8.5million for commercial assets and whilst there had been challenges in retail over a number of years, ensuring clean data was the responsibility of the new team as was ensuring that other teams chased debts due to them. The team were currently focusing on debt over 5 years old. As the financial regulations had changed it would take time for observable reductions to filter through. Debt write-off was carried out on a six-monthly basis;

i)       a rise of £1.3million of outstanding debt could be one invoice and there were some challenges being negotiated with developers which had been a successful approach and the majority had now been paid. Invoices could be one day old and not in fact due yet but would show as a debt;

j)       CIL had previously been incorrectly shown against Commercial Assets but had now moved to the correct service area;

k)     he would ask the relevant Strategic Director about the capital programme for Fire Risk Assessment Works and the City Wall but it maybe that timing of the report was at play as he believed that the City Wall works had been undertaken;

l)       Guildhall Shopping Centre enhancements was an ongoing budget with uncertain timing. Part of roof required replacement and works were dependent on new leaseholders coming into the centre and the requirement to fit out;

m)   the Guildhall Shopping Centre was purchased in the knowledge that there was a gap between rent delivered and debt required to service the centre. Debt each year of £1.33million and net rental was over £2million which had dropped slightly reducing what went the into ear-marked reserve but a comfortable amount could still be placed there which funded staff in the organisation to deal with Guildhall work;

n)     invoices were auto-generated when a new lease was entered into. An audit report into sundry debt had highlighted a slowness which ha been taken up with the relevant service areas.

o)     the biggest challenge with voids in the HRA was the significant increase in the cost of repairs. Housing maintenance were very much aware of this and keen to address it. Income was coming down as voids were longer and repairs and maintenance had more to do. He was not aware additional staff being taken on to address this at the moment but this would remain under review; and

p)     Strata moving out of the Civic Centre would not have any impact on the budget as when they were set up across the three district councils part of the agreement was that accommodation would be provided.

The Chair invited the Portfolio Holder for City Management, Councillor Ruth Williams to assist with a question regarding Heavitree Park. Councillor Williams stated that there was no delay and procurement had been undertaken. Changes in the procurement of play parks had caused a delay and therefore a few parks were put together as a cluster.  Work would begin in new financial year and Heavitree was top priority. The paddling pool had already been consulted upon and there would be additional public consultation on the type of play equipment for the play park, and the utmost would be done to have the paddling pool open in time for the school summer holidays.