Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors I Devereux, P Hodson and I Gourlay.

To approve the minutes of the Resources and Performance Panel held on 26 January 2016 (previously circulated).

The Minutes of the Resources and Performance Panel held on 26 January 2016 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Please indicate if there are any interests which should be declared.  A declaration of an interest should indicate the nature of the interest (if not already declared on the Register of Interests) and the agenda item to which it relates.  If a disclosable pecuniary interest is declared, the Member should withdraw from the room whilst the matter is disclosed.

These declarations apply to all Members present, whether the Member is part of the meeting, attending to speak as a local Member on an item or simply observing the meeting from the public seating area.

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider any business which, by reason of special circumstances, the Chairman proposes to accept as urgent under Section 100(b)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There was no urgent business.

Members wishing to speak pursuant to Standing Order 34 should inform the Chairman of their intention to do so an on what items they wish to be heard before the meeting commences.  Any Member attending the meeting under Standing Order 34 will only be permitted to speak on those items which have been previously notified to the Chairman.

There were no Members present under Standing Order 34.

There was no Chairman’s correspondence.

To receive comments and recommendations from other Council bodies, and any responses subsequent to recommendations, which this Panel has previously made.  (N.B.  some of the relevant Council bodies may meet after dispatch of the agenda).

At the Cabinet Meeting held on 2 February 2016 the following responses were made to the recommendations from the Resources and Performance Panel meeting held on 26 January 2016, on the following items:

(i)           Cabinet Report:  Budget 2016/2017

RESOLVED:  The Panel support the recommendations to Cabinet as set out below:

Recommendation 1

It is recommended that Council approve the revision to the Budget for 2015/2016 as set out in the report.

Recommendation 2

Council is recommended to reaffirm the Policy on Earmarked reserves and General Fund Working Balance and the maximum balances set for reserves as noted in the report.

Recommendation 3

It is recommended that Council:

1)    Approves the budget of £17,970 for 2016/2017 and notes the projections for 2017/2018, 2018/2019 and 2019/2020.

2)    Approves the level of Special Expenses for the Town/Parish Councils as detailed in the report.

3)    Approves the Fees and Charges 2016/2017 detailed in Appendix 4.

4)    Approves a Band D Council Tax of £112.87 for 2016/2017.

5)    Instructs Management Team to present the Council’s Efficiency Plan to Cabinet as soon as the Government guidance is published and that the Council takes up the option to ‘fix’ the four year settlement referred to in paragraph 1.3.

Recommendation 4

Council is recommended to approve a minimum requirement of the General Fund Balance for 2016/2017 of £932,756.

Recommendation 5

Instructs Management Team to present the Council’s Efficiency Plan to Cabinet as soon as Government guidance is published and that the Council takes up the option to ‘fix’ the four year settlement referred to in paragraph 1.3.

CABINET RESPONSE:  The comments of the Panel were taken into consideration when Cabinet considered the item.

(ii)          Cabinet Report:  Capital Programme 2015/2020

RESOLVED:  The Panel support the recommendations to Cabinet as set out below:

1)    Cabinet recommends to Council the amendments to capital schemes and resources for the 2015-22020 Capital Programme as detailed in the report.

2)    Cabinet recommends to Council that new capital bids are to be funded from available capital resources and included in the capital programme 201-2020 as detailed in the report.

CABINET RESPONSE:  The comments of the Panel were taken into consideration when Cabinet considered the item.

The Panel noted the responses made by Cabinet at its meeting held on 2 February 2016 to the recommendations made by the Resources and Performance Panel at its meeting held on 26 January 2016 in respect of the following items:

·         Budget 2016/2017.

·         Capital Programme 2015/2020.

The Panel received a presentation from the Personnel Services Manager.  A copy is attached to the minutes.

RESOLVED:  The Panel noted the contents of the presentation.

The Personnel Services Manager explained that the report contained information on the corporate performance monitoring undertaken during Q3 2015/2016.

Members were reminded that the indicators monitored were reported in full on the Performance Monitoring Q3 report.  The report included a summary of the performance levels achieved for the ‘status’ and ‘trend’ categories.  It was hoped therefore that this provided Members with a useful ‘snapshot’ at the start of the report.

The Personnel Manager explained that at the meeting held on 24 November 2015, the Panel requested additional performance figures to be incorporated into the Action Report to highlight any trends.  To address the request an additional column had been added to display the quarterly figure as a ‘snapshot’, as well as the cumulative performance for year to date.

Following a query arising from the Q2 2015/16 report, the Panel made a request to compare the number of long term vacant dwellings for the Norfolk District Councils.  The graph at section 3.1 of the report showed a breakdown of the number of long term vacant dwellings from 2004 to 2014.   It was noted that a benchmarking exercise had also been undertaken by Performance and Efficiency to gather the Q2 2015/16 vacant dwellings data for the Norfolk authorities.

The Panel’s attention was drawn to the following sections of the report:

·         Change to 2015/16 target figure for Indicator EP1a – Percentage of appeals lost against total number of major applications determined over a two year rolling period.

·         Key points from the Q3 2015/16 Monitoring Report.

·         CE11 – Supplier invoices paid within 30 days.  Due to continued focus on this indicator the wording at section 5.3 had been provided by the Group Accountant.

·         Overview of performance by Portfolio.

·         Overall Conclusion.

·         Appendix 1:  Action Report Q2 2015-16.

·         Appendix 2.

The Panel was invited to ask questions/comment, a summary of which is set out below.

Councillor Wareham referred to page 9, indicator EP1a – Percentage of appeals lost against total number of major applications determined over a two year rolling period and asked why no charts or figures had been provided.  In response, the Personnel Services Manager explained that this indicator had been included for information to keep Members updated as to the changes which would be applied in future reports received by the Panel.  The Chairman, Councillor Humphrey referred Councillor Wareham to page 18 which provided information on the planning applications and gave an indication on how Appeals had impacted/not impacted upon the Council.

The Chairman, Councillor Humphrey commented that he welcomed the additional columns which had been included to enable Members to identify any trend and gave examples of indicators CC6, CC7 and EP1b.

In response to comments made by Councillor Morrison regarding indicator CE4:  Affordable housing units built as a % of the total number of new build dwellings completed in the Borough, the target being 15% as opposed to 20%, the Chief Executive explained that although 20% was the level normally requested the amount of affordable housing required was not set at  ...  view the full minutes text for item RP122

Members are invited to discuss any future training opportunities that they might find useful.

Members were invited to forward any suggestions for future training.

To consider the Work Programme 2015/2016 and note the Forward Decisions List.

The Panel noted the Work Programme for 2015/2016.

To note that the next meeting of the Resources and Performance Panel will take place on Tuesday 22 March 2016.

The next meeting of the Resources and Performance Panel would take place on Tuesday 22 March 2016.