Agenda and draft minutes

Members are asked to declare any interest and the nature of that interest which they may have in any of the items under consideration at this meeting. 

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chairman to advise whether they have agreed to any item of urgent business being admitted to the agenda.

There was no urgent business.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on

The Minutes of the meeting held on 15 January 2013 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Report of Head of Finance and Procurement

Summary

The appended report, which was due to be considered at the 4 March 2013 Executive meeting, summarises the Council’s Revenue, Capital, Procurement action plan and Treasury performance for the first 9 months of the financial year 2012/13 and projections for the full 2012/13 period.

Recommendations

The Resources and Performance Scrutiny Board is recommended to:

(1)               Note progress, consider any areas of concern and areas of achievement and to determine any follow up action.

The Board considered a report of the Head of Finance and Procurement to which was appended the 2012/13 Quarter 3 Finance Report, considered at the 4 March 2013 Executive meeting, which summarised the Council’s Revenue, Capital, Procurement action plan and Treasury performance for the first 9 months of the financial year 2012/13 and projections for the full 2012/13 period.

The Corporate Finance Manager provided an update on the deletion of vacant posts which had been discussed at the previous meeting. The Board was advised that from a finance perspective, budget holders were challenged about vacant posts and equality and the potential impact on service provision was considered prior to deletion of a vacant post which required authorisation by a Director.

In introducing the report, the Strategic Finance Accountant reported that the variances on the revenues and capital projections were within the Council’s stated tolerances. The Council had a General Fund Reserve to meet any budgetary surplus or deficit however the current position was positive with all services reporting underspends and higher than budgeted investment received.

Resolved

(1)               That the report be noted.

Report of Corporate Performance Manager

Summary

The appended report, which will be considered at the 4 March 2013 Executive meeting, covers the Council’s performance for the period 1 October to 31 December 2012 as measured through the Performance Management Framework.

Recommendations

The Resources and Performance Scrutiny Board is recommended to:

(1)               Note progress, consider any areas of concern and areas of achievement and to determine any follow up action.

The Board consider a report of the Corporate Performance Manager to which was appended the Performance Management Framework Third Quarter 2012/13 report, which was considered at the 4 March 2013 Executive meeting. The report covered the Council’s performance for the period 1 October to 31 December 2012 as measured through the Performance Management Framework.

In response to Members’ questions regarding Banbury Brighter Futures, which had reported amber for two quarters, the Corporate Performance Manager explained that whilst the programme was on track the amber signified on-going changes with theme leads missing data from partners which affected reporting and could represent a risk in the longer term. The Director of Community and Environment was working with Oxfordshire County Council to address the issues. The Board noted that Brighter Futures was on the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) work programme and requested that a further update also be provided to Board members in due course.

In relation to planning performance, the Corporate Performance Manager confirmed that this was one of the few areas local authorities still had a statutory duty to report.

The Board noted that the performance area “Delivering 500 new homes in year” was reporting as red. Members commented that this was an ambitious target and that whilst planning permissions had been granted developers were not building properties. The Board suggested that the figures relating to the approvals granted should be included in the commentary column on the report.

In terms of processing of major applications within 13 weeks (NI 157a) which was still reporting red, the Board suggested that the performance report commentary should reflect the view that Members and officers acknowledged quality rather than quantity and ensuring the right decision was reached was more important that processing within 13 weeks.

The Board noted that the target to increase the household recycling rate to 60% was reporting as amber. The Head of Environmental Services explained that this was largely due to a change in policy from the Environment Agency whereby street sweepings could no longer be composted.

Resolved

(1)               That the Performance Management Framework Third Quarter 2012/13 report be noted.

Report of Head of Law and Governance

Summary

This report presents the Resources and Performance Scrutiny Board work programme 2012/13 for consideration.

Recommendations

The Resources and Performance Scrutiny Board  is recommended:

(1)               To consider the Resources & Performance Scrutiny Board work programme 2012/13 as set out at Appendix 1 of the attached report.

(2)               To note the update on the Council’s Partnership with Oxfordshire Rural Community Partnership.

(3)               To note the update on the Council’s partnership with Oxfordshire Waste Partnership.

(4)               To note the updates on other work programme items as set out in section 4 of this report.