Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Tony Owen.

The following declarations were made during the course of the meeting –

Councillor Simon Fawthrop declared that he was employed by British Telecom in connection with the Exchequer Services Monitoring Report.

Councillor Stephen Wells declared that he was a member of Langley Park Golf Club in connection with the reports on land at the rear of 4-22 Long Meadow Close, West Wickham. 

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions to the Chairman of this Committee must be received in writing 4 working days before the date of the meeting.  Therefore please ensure questions are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm on Tuesday 29^th December 2015.

No questions had been received.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 26^th November 2015 (excluding exempt information) be confirmed.

Report CSD16007

The Committee noted matters arising since the last meeting.

The Committee noted the Forward Plan of private and key executive Decisions as published on 15^th December 2015.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions to the Resources Portfolio Holder must be received in writing 4 working days before the date of the meeting.  Therefore please ensure questions are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm on Tuesday 29^th December 2015.

Two questions had been received from Councillor Ian Dunn. The questions and replies are set out in Appendix A to these minutes.

The Committee considered the following reports for pre-decision scrutiny where the Resources Portfolio Holder was minded to take decisions.

Report FSD15073

At its meeting on 2^nd December 2015 the Executive received the second quarterly monitoring report for 2015/16 and agreed a revised Capital Programme for the four year period from 2015/16 to 2018/19, including changes to the Resources Capital Programme.

RESOLVED that the Resources Portfolio Holder be recommended to confirm the changes to the Resources Capital Programme agreed by the Executive on 2^nd December 2015.

West Wickham Ward

(See also the report in Part 2)

Report DRR16/001

A request had been received from the residents of 4 – 22 Long Meadow Close, West Wickham to purchase land at the rear of their gardens, which formed part of Langley Park Golf Club, to create extensions to their existing rear gardens. The land was owned by the Council and leased to the Golf Club, but was not needed as part of the golf course. Confidential details relating to the proposals were contained in a Part 2 report.

Councillor Nicholas Bennett, speaking as one of the ward Councillors, requested that his thanks to the Leader and the Resources Portfolio Holder for making the proposals possible be placed on record.  

During consideration of this item Councillor Stephen Wells declared that he was a member of Langley Park Golf Club. 

RESOLVED that the Resources Portfolio Holder be recommended to declare the parcels of land at the rear of 4 – 22 Long Meadow Close surplus to Council requirements to enable their sale to the neighbouring householders as recommended.  

Orpington Ward

(See also the report in Part 2)

Report DRR16/004

The garage at Goddington Park was previously used by Orpington Football Club for storage purposes, but they had now moved their equipment to their newly refurbished pavilion. The Council had no other use for the building and the owner of the Lodge at the Park entrance had requested to purchase the garage. It was confirmed that the Council’s position would be safeguarded by appropriate conditions. Confidential details relating to the proposals were contained in a Part 2 report.

RESOLVED that the Resources Portfolio Holder be recommended to declare the garage at Goddington Park, Goddington Lane, Orpington, surplus to Council requirements and to agree that it be sold to the owner of the adjacent property. 

Report DRR16/006

The Lodge at Bromley Hill Cemetery had been sold in 1994. The adjoining public toilets, which shared a cesspool with the Lodge, had now been closed, and, following negotiations about transferring responsibility for the cesspool, the owner had requested to purchase the toilets.  

RESOLVED that the Resources Portfolio Holder be recommended to declare the former public toilets at Bromley Hill cemetery surplus to Council requirements.

Members of the Committee are requested to bring their copy of the agenda for the Executive meeting on 13^th January 2016.

Report CSD16008

The Committee considered the following reports on the Part 1 agenda for the Executive’s meeting on 13^th January 2016.

(5)    Draft Budget and Update on the Council’s Financial Strategy 2017/18 to 2019/20

Report FSD16001

The Director of Finance presented the initial draft 2016/17 budget, including additional savings for 2016/17 and 2017/18 and actions to reduce the Council’s medium term budget gap. He emphasised that the grant settlement was not favourable for Bromley, although there were still details awaited. The government’s attitude towards the use of reserves by local authorities had shifted, and there was now an emphasis on using reserves for strategic purposes to achieve transformation and change. Business Rates and the New Homes Bonus would not be enough to support the Council’s budgets, and longer term thinking was needed.  It was important to keep lobbying government to secure fairer funding for the borough. 

A Member commented that the Council had to be forward-thinking on planning decisions.  The Council’s Growth Fund would be increasingly important not just to increase income from business rates but to reduce unemployment and dependency on public services. 

The Committee also discussed schools funding, and were concerned about the rules around Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), particularly in the light of the Council’s remaining statutory responsibilities for education and the introduction of a national funding formula for schools in 2017/18. It was intended that senior members and officers would, with the assistance of local MPs, seek to meet with the Education Minister.

The Committee thanked the Director for providing such a thorough and well-written report and suggested that paper copies should be circulated to all other Members of the Council. 

RESOLVED that the recommendations be supported.

(7)   Crystal Palace Park – Regeneration Plan 

Report DRR16/009

RESOLVED that the recommendations be supported.

The Chief Executive, Doug Patterson, updated Members on his work and answered questions on current issues. The financial pressures continued to be a focus, and he had met with the Rt. Hon. Greg Clark MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, that morning with the Leader and Director of Finance, to lobby for a fairer grant settlement for Bromley. He welcomed the potential 2% precept for adult social care announced by the government. A plan for integrating health and social care had to be developed by 2017/18 – this was an exciting opportunity. Major decisions were coming up on public sector spending in the borough affecting not just the Council but the Police, Health, the DWP and others. Other issues were work supporting counter terrorism, the Adult Education service, the Youth Offending Service, Waste4fuel, the Mytime contract and preparation for the GLA elections and a potential referendum on Europe. 

The Chief Executive responded to questions on the following issues –

·  New working practices: The digital office and associated changes in working practices were still a challenge, but progress was being made and the number of desks available was reducing.

·  The budget gap: The Chief Executive was confident that an effective budget for 2016/17 could be achieved, but hard decisions were needed around economic development, streamlining of services and income generation for future years. A member commented that already in some areas officers were under pressure with excessive workloads and response times were increasing. 

·  New Homes Bonus: There was still no clarity about the rules, but this meant that there was still an opportunity to influence what the rules would be.

·  Counter Terrorism Training: The Chief Executive was confident that the Council was as prepared as it could be. A major emergency planning training exercise was planned for February. He was unsure whether any training was available for members but would check on this.

·  Policing: A Member suggested developing closer links with the British Transport Police on issues such as Safer Neighbourhoods, as they might have less budget pressure than the Metropolitan Police.

·  Office to residential conversions: A member regretted the loss of office and commercial space to residential conversion, which meant fewer opportunities for entrepreneurs and new businesses. The Chief Executive commented that the rules were set by Government. 

Report CSD16006

The Committee received a report on performance of the customer Service Contract provided by Liberata for the period from 1^st June to 30^th November 2015. A letter from Liberata’s Contract Director, Amanda Inwood-Field, was included with the report, and she attended the meeting with other senior managers from Liberata.

The contract was performing well overall – there had been increased contact volumes in the summer due to changes in the domestic waste collection service, but Liberata had deployed additional staff to address this, and arranged for some calls to be transferred to their Barrow centre. The performance of the Reception was 69% over the reporting period against a target of 80%; changes had been implemented and performance for December had exceeded the target.

The customer portal now had over 14,000 registered users, of which about 26% were regular users (logging in at least once a week.) Functionality was limited at present, but more services would be provided as part of the digital by default approach.

Ms Inwood Field informed the Committee that she would welcome the opportunity to discuss with the Council the possibilities for taking on additional services, and officers confirmed that these issues were being addressed. 

Cllr Ian Dunn requested information on what percentage of time call-centre staff actually spent talking to customers on the phone, and also asked for actual numbers of transactions for the services listed in appendix 4.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

Report FSD16002

The Committee received a report on Liberata’s performance in the provision of Exchequer Services in the period from 1^st April to 30^th September 2015. At the request of the Chairman, additional information was tabled about outstanding Care Services debt.  A letter from Liberata’s Contract Director, Amanda Inwood-Field, was included with the report, and she attended the meeting with other senior managers from Liberata.

Officers reported that efforts had been made to reduce the amounts of aged debts and disputed invoices. Utility debt had reduced to £359k, and the collection rate for in-year debt was 88.13% as at the end of September; it was anticipated that the target of 90% would be met at the end of the year. The overall debt position had improved considerably. A debt management system was being procured to bring together data concerning an individual’s debt to be extracted from different systems and displayed on a single screen.

(Councillor Simon Fawthrop declared that he was employed by British Telecom in connection with this report.)

RESOLVED that the information in the report be noted. 

(Please note that there are pre-decision scrutiny recommendations in this report.)

Report FSD16006

The Committee received a report on the performance of the Revenues Service provided by Liberata for the period 1^st April to 30^th September 2015. A letter from Liberata’s Contract Director, Amanda Inwood-Field, was included with the report, and she attended the meeting with other senior managers from Liberata.

The Committee discussed whether payments by credit card should attract a charge to reflect the higher commission charges. Some Members were concerned that this placed an additional burden on the poor, but it was accepted that the charge was necessary to cover the Council’s costs and would drive some people to switch to paying by cheaper methods. 

RESOLVED that

(1) The information contained in the report be noted.

(2) The Resources Portfolio Holder be recommended -

(i)  to introduce charges on payments made corporately via credit card with effect from 1^st April 2016, with authority delegated to the Director of Finance to vary the rate from an initial rate of 2.25%;

(ii)  to agree in principle that charges be introduced on credit card payments made via the Parking and Adult Education systems, with the final decision delegated to the relevant Chief Officers following a cost/benefit appraisal; and

(iii) to consider the introduction of a £70 Council Tax penalty for failure to notify the Authority or to supply information as described in section 3.7 of the report and bring forward proposals at the earliest opportunity. 

Report FSD16005

The Committee received a report on the performance of the Benefits Service provided by Liberata covering the period from 1^st April to 30^th September 2015. A letter from Liberata’s Contract Director, Amanda Inwood-Field, was included with the report, and she attended the meeting with other senior managers from Liberata. Speed of claim processing was within the 13 day target, and performance on error rates had improved since 2014/15, with only one month outside the 5% tolerance level within this reporting period.

At the request of Councillor Ian Dunn, an Internal Audit report on a review of the contract issued on 12^th November 2015 had been circulated.

Members requested that, for the next report, DWP information on speed of processing for Outer London authorities be included. Another Member commented that the KPIs in the contract did not appear to be monitored in the report, and suggested that the construction of the report should be reviewed.

Universal Credit was due to start to be rolled out in Bromley on 18^th January 2016, initially just for new claims from some single people. It was confirmed that Library staff were receiving training, and it was hoped that a Member seminar could be arranged with the DWP.

Members noted that government funding for Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) had reduced to £563,127 for 2015/16. A Member commented that the wording in the report that the level of certain awards would have to be “restricted” was misleading, as each case was looked at on its merits. 

It was confirmed that the authority had not lost any DWP subsidy due to overpayments. 

RESOLVED that the information contained in the report be noted. 

Report CSD16009

The Committee considered its work programme for the remainder of 2015/16. It was noted that the School Improvement Panel had not met on 24^th November as stated in the report and that a report on the Growth Fund was expected for the March cycle.  

RESOLVED that the Press and public be excluded during consideration of the items of business referred to below as it is likely in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings that if members of the Press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information.

The following summaries

refer to matters

involving exempt information

The exempt minutes of the meeting held on 26^th November 2015 were confirmed.

The Committee scrutinised the following proposed decisions by the Resources Portfolio Holder.

West Wickham Ward

(See also the report in Part 1)

Councillor Stephen Wells declared that he was a member of Langley Park Golf Club in connection with the reports on land at the rear of 4-22 Longmeadow Close, West Wickham. 

The Committee supported proposals to sell the land.

Orpington Ward

(See also the report in Part 2)

The Committee supported a proposal to sell the property.

Chislehurst Ward

The Committee supported proposals to accept an offer for the purchase of Banbury House.

Penge & Cator Ward

The Committee supported the proposed sale of areas of land adjoining Penge Clinic to enable the NHS to redevelop the clinic as a new medical centre.

The Committee scrutinised the following exempt reports on the Executive’s Part 2 agenda for the meeting on 13^th January 2016 –

(14) Extension of the Exchequer Services Contract

(16) Investment Property Review – Estate Shops