Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Melanie Stevens.

There were no additional declarations of interest.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions that are not specific to reports on the agenda must have been received in writing 10 working days before the date of the meeting. 

Questions specifically on reports on the agenda should be received within two working days of the normal publication date of the agenda.  Please ensure that questions specifically on reports on the agenda are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm on 16 June 2022.

No questions were received.

In considering the minutes, the Portfolio Holder requested that his attendance at the meeting held on 24 May 2022 be recorded.

In response to a question by a Member on Minute 7: Pre-Decision Scrutiny of Executive Reports, the Head of Compliance and Strategy confirmed that food vouchers issued via the Bromley Household Support Fund could be used in a broad range of large and small supermarkets.  This did not include every food retailer in the Borough, but feedback received to date indicated that this had not caused a barrier to using the vouchers.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Executive, Resources and Contracts PDS Committee meeting held on 24 May 2022 (excluding exempt information) be agreed and signed as a correct record, subject to the above amendment.

The report dealt with the Committee’s business management including the proposed work plan for the 2022/23 municipal year.

In considering Minute 6: Forward Plan of Key Decisions, the Chairman observed that the work programmes of individual committees provided a good indication of items coming forward for consideration beyond the approximate 3-month period covered by the Forward Plan.

RESOLVED: That matters outstanding and the work programme be noted.

The Forward Plan of Key Decisions presented key and private Executive decisions covering the period June 2022 to September 2022.

RESOLVED: That the Forward Plan of Key Decisions be noted.

The Portfolio Holder provided an update on work underway across the Resources, Commissioning and Contracts Portfolio.

The Portfolio Holder was pleased to announce that the Local Authority’s new website had recently been launched.  A Member queried what work had been done to ensure the new website met all disability requirements, and the Portfolio Holder confirmed that the software included a range of accessibility measures and that further details of this would be provided to Committee Members following the meeting.  Another Member raised an issue with the search function on the website and this would be taken back to the Bromley Knowledge team to resolve. 

In considering financial matters, the Portfolio Holder advised that Liberata had agreed to increase its costs by inflation less 1.2 percentage points which was a non-contractual benefit.  Similar work was being undertaken across other services and contracts where possible to help minimise the impact of inflationary pressures on the Local Authority.  The Local Authority’s accounts for 2016/17 and 2017/18 had recently been definitively signed off following the resolution of a complex objection for which legal advice had been sought.  Members of the public were able to raise any issue with regard to the Local Authority’s accounts during the audit process which precluded them from definitively signed off until settled, and work was ongoing to settle any remaining issues on the accounts for subsequent years. 

In response to a question from a Member on the Government-funded £150 council tax rebate, the Assistant Director of Exchequer Services explained that the majority of rebates had been issued but that the refund process was more complex for those who did not use Direct Debit as a spotlight check was required to compare bank details with the Council tax account.  Full details on the progress in issuing the rebate would be provided to Members following the meeting.  A Member queried whether an incentive scheme would increase the use of Direct Debit by those completing transactions with the Local Authority, and the Portfolio Holder confirmed that work was underway to explore how uptake of Direct Debit could be increased. 

RESOLVED: That the update be noted.

Portfolio Holder decisions for pre-decision scrutiny.

The Committee considered the following report(s) where the Resources, Contracts and Commissioning Portfolio Holder was recommended to take a decision.

The report presented the provisional final outturn for the Local Authority at both Portfolio and Council-wide level for the 2021/22 financial year, including a £290k increase in General Fund balances, subject to the recommendations in the report being agreed.  The report also set out the potential implications of the Council’s financial position for the 2022/23 financial year.

The Chairman welcomed the annual Treasury Management report which outlined £13M revenue that the Local Authority had generated via its investments in the 2021/22 financial year to be reinvested in service provision.  It was noted that a number of the Local Authority’s loans had recently or would shortly mature and, as interest rates were increasing, it was planned to reinvest these funds in short-term investments.  Alternative investments were also used by the Local Authority including the CCLA Local Authority Property Fund, which was a successful low risk, long-term investment that generated significant capital.  A Member underlined the need for the Local Authority to uphold environmental, social and governance standards in its treasury management and the Chairman confirmed that the Local Authority’s investments were all made to banks or other parties based in the UK to which UK rules were applied and regulated by the Bank of England.  The Chairman further noted that the Local Authority had a fiduciary duty to invest in funds with a reasonable rate of return.  A Member welcomed a loan to Project Beckenham which was a very secure loan made in June 2017 at a good rate of interest and had supported the provision of temporary accommodation within the Borough. Another Member recommended caution with regards to future investment in sterling bonds due to current disruptions in the market.

In response to a question from a Member, the Director of Finance explained that from 2018/19, Local Authorities had been required to account for financial instruments in accordance with IFRS9 which required changes in the capital value of pooled fund investments to be recognised in revenue in-year.  Regulations providing a statutory override to reverse the impact of IFRS9 on the Local Authority’s General Fund were subsequently introduced in December 2018 and would expire in March 2023, after which it was intended for movements in value to be recognised in-year.  In preparation for this change and due to the potentially volatile nature of these investments, interest/dividend earnings above 2.5% for 2018/19 and 2019/20 and above 2% for 2020/21 and 2021/22 had been set aside in an Income Equalisation earmarked reserve to protect the Local Authority against unexpected variations in the capital value of these investments and any timing issues as the statutory override ceased.

RESOLVED: That the Portfolio Holder be recommended to:

·  Note the Treasury Management Annual Report for the 2021/22 financial year;

·  Approve the actual prudential indicators within the report; and,

·  Note the publication of the revised Treasury Management and Prudential Codes, with formal adoption required in 2023/24.

The report requested a variation of up to £150k to the Namos contract be agreed for the implementation of Oracle Fusion for Finance and Procurement functions as detailed in paragraph 3.3.4 of Report FSD22046.

In response to a question from a Member, the Director of Finance advised that the agreed licenses for Oracle Fusion included the additional modules detailed in the report.  Following the successful delivery of the core financial system it was planned to implement these modules to add additional functionality into the system.  The Local Authority had secured a very advantageous price for its Oracle Fusion licenses and the Chairman thanked Bromley staff for their excellent work in implementing the new software effectively.

RESOLVED: That:

·  A post-completion review be presented to Members by the end of the 2022/23 financial year; and,

·  The Portfolio Holder be recommended to agree a variation of up to £150k to the Namos contract for the implementation of Oracle Fusion for Finance and Procurement functions as detailed in paragraph 3.3.4 of Report FSD22046.

Members of the Committee are requested to bring their copy of the agenda for the Executive meeting on 29 June 2022.

The Committee considered the following reports on the Part 1 agenda for the meeting of the Executive on 29 June 2022.

(5)  PROVISIONAL FINAL ACCOUNTS

  Report FSD22052

This report presented the provisional final outturn for the Local Authority at both Portfolio and Council-wide level for the 2021/22 financial year, including a £290k increase in General Fund balances, subject to the recommendations in the report being agreed.  The report also set out the potential implications of the Council’s financial position for the 2022/23 financial year.

The Director of Finance introduced the report and advised that the inflated balances in earmarked reserves was due to the early receipt of Section 31 grant from government of £45,125k for business rate relief which would be fully utilised to fund costs accounted for in the 2022/23 financial year.  The cost of children’s social care, particularly at the higher end of need, was a current and growing pressure to the Local Authority culminating in an increase of circa £2M in costs in the last six months.  There was a deficit of -£7,142k in Dedicated Schools Grant reserve which reflected the shortfall in funding Special Educational Needs and Disabilities education provision.  The Local Authority was not permitted to meet any such shortfall via its General Fund and the Children, Education and Families PDS Committee would continue to closely monitor the deficit.

A Member queried an underspend in the public health budget during the 2021/22 financial year.  The Director of Finance explained that to maximise its resources, the Local Authority had prioritised expenditure of COVID-19 funding over ringfenced public health funding and that this approach would be scrutinised by the Adult, Care and Health PDS Committee in considering the final outturn report 2021/22 at its meeting on 28 June 2022.  Another Member noted a sizeable variation of £600k within the Legal Service and was advised that this was due to the high number and complexity of children and young people cases for which external counsel had to be retained in addition to the in-house work undertaken by the Legal Service.  There were also cost implications flagged for the Planning, Litigation and Licensing Team which related to a number of planning inquiries held during the 2021/22 financial year.  An underspend in the Democratic Services staffing budget for 2021/22 was due to vacant posts but the service was now fully staffed.

RESOLVED: That the Executive be recommended to:

• Consider the provisional revenue and capital outturns for the 2021/22 financial year and the earmarked balances on the General Fund as at 31st March 2022;

• Consider the variations in 2021/22 impacting on the Council’s 2022/23 financial position;

• Consider the comments from Chief Officers as detailed in Appendix 2 to Report FSD22052;

• Approve the requests for carry forwards totalling £465k (net) as detailed in Appendix 6 to Report FSD22052, subject to the funding being allocated to the Central Contingency in 2022/23 to be drawn down on the approval of the relevant Portfolio Holder;

• Agree the changes to the central contingency sum as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

The report outlined the performance of the Benefits Service provided by Liberata between 1 December 2021 to 31 March 2022.

The Revenues and Benefits Manager introduced the report alongside Darren Keen and Melissa Vickers representing Liberata.  With regard to a requirement within the Exchequer Services specification for the contractor to ensure that financial errors were found in fewer than 4% of the cases checked by the Authority’s monitoring team, the Chairman noted that performance had been considerably higher and proposed a soft target of 3% be introduced which was supported by the Committee.  A Member queried why the performance standard for processing both new Housing Benefit claims and changes to existing Housing Benefit claims was set at 100 days and was advised that this was for historic reasons and primarily related to delays in claimants providing necessary information.  In light of the progress made by Liberata in this area, the Revenues and Benefits Manager agreed that in future, reporting would be undertaken on the basis of cases processed in excess of 80 days.

In response to a question from a Member about Universal Credit, the Revenues and Benefits Manager confirmed that the reduction of households in Bromley claiming Universal Credit during the period under consideration was due to increasing levels of employment.  The Member expressed concern that plans to introduce a new housing element of Pension Credit to replace pensioner Housing Benefit from 2025 could create delays in payment.  The Revenues and Benefits Manager advised that the planned migration was being led by the Department for Work and Pensions and that it was likely that the new arrangements would initially be brought in for new claimants with existing claimants migrated as their circumstances changed.  The Member raised a further query on the arrangements for payment of Housing Benefit for claimants moving between Housing Associations and the Revenues and Benefits Manager explained that such cases were unlikely to show in the statistics but could be investigated on an individual basis as they arose.

RESOLVED: That:

·  The information contained within Report FSD22038 and the letter provided by Liberata detailed in Appendix 1 be noted; and,

·  A soft target of 80 days be introduced for processing new Housing Benefit claims and changes to existing Housing Benefit claims.

The report outlined the performance of the Customer Services Contract provided by Liberata between 1 December 2021 to 30 April 2022.

The Assistant Director of Customer Services introduced the report alongside Sarah Lyons representing Liberata.  In response to a question from a Member, it was confirmed that regular reviews identified MyBromley accounts that had not been accessed for two years and if account owners did not respond to an initial e-mail or two subsequent reminders, their accounts were closed.  Another Member raised a query around the Customer Contact Centre, and it was explained that the monthly service level target of answering 50% of calls within 60 seconds had been met for all months and that the given wait time for calls to be answered had been averaged across all calls received during the period.  Overall, customer satisfaction remained high at 90% or above during the six-month period and it was planned to use web chat functionality to increase the number of users completing customer satisfaction surveys in future. 

RESOLVED: That the information contained within Report CSD22062 and the letter provided by Liberata detailed in Appendix 1 be noted.

The report outlined the performance of the Exchequer Services Contract provided by Liberata between 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022.

The Assistant Director of Exchequer Services introduced the report alongside Laura Morris and Elaine Ledingham representing Liberata.  A Member queried whether the economic climate had impacted collection rates and was advised that collection rates remained steady.  The Exchequer Service provided support to individuals who reported experiencing financial issues including agreeing payment plans and making referrals to local support organisations such as Citizens Advice.  In response to a question, the Assistant Director of Exchequer Services confirmed that Liberata’s staff volunteer programme was still in place with some staff currently volunteering at Age Concern.

RESOLVED: That the information contained within Report FSD22040 and the action taken to address any performance issues be noted.

The report outlined the performance of the Revenues Services provided by Liberata between 1 December 2021 to 31 March 2022.

The Revenues and Benefits Manager introduced the report alongside Darren Keen and Tracey Hollidge representing Liberata.  The Committee discussed the Empty Homes Premium which had been launched on 1 April 2022 and applied a premium to owners whose houses had been empty for two years or more.  This charge was currently levied to approximately 300 houses in Bromley and a report would be presented to the Council’s Executive at its meeting on 3 August 2022 proposing that from 1 April 2023, the Premium be increased to 100% on properties empty over 2 years, 200% after 5 years and 300% after 10 years.  This initiative would be complemented by a Negative Homes Review to be undertaken in Summer 2022 and Committee Members were asked to flag any empty properties in their ward. 

RESOLVED: That the information contained within Report FSD22039 and the letter provided by Liberata detailed in Appendices 1 and 2 be noted.

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

There were no reports for the Committee’s consideration on the Part 2 agenda for the meeting of the Executive on 29 June 2022.