Agenda and minutes

Apologies for lateness were received from Councillor Shaun Slator.

Councillor Slator declared an interest in item 8 (Scrutiny of the Portfolio Holder for Resources, Commissioning and Contracts Management) as he would be affected by any changes to the Empty Homes Premium.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, members of the public may submit one question each on matters relating to the work of the Committee. Questions must have been received in writing 10 working days before the date of the meeting - by 5pm on: Tuesday 2 January 2024.

Questions seeking clarification of the details of a report on the agenda may be accepted within two working days of the normal publication date of the agenda – by 5pm on Wednesday 10 January 2024.

There were no questions.

The minutes of the Executive, Resources and Contracts PDS Committee meeting held on 27 November 2023 (excluding exempt information), were agreed and signed as a correct record.

Report CSD24007

The report dealt with the Committee’s business management including matters outstanding from previous meetings and the proposed work plan for the remainder of the year.

In response to a question concerning the Biggin Hill Update, the Portfolio Holder confirmed that a huge amount of work was being undertaken with the involvement of senior officers and third-party experts. The Portfolio Holder was seeking to provide a comprehensive update to the committee when the time comes.  Negotiations were ongoing, and the Chairman confirmed that when the report came back to the Committee he would ensure that there was every opportunity for residents to read the report, and if necessary the consideration of the report would be delayed to facilitate this.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

The Committee noted the Forward Plan of Key Decisions covering the period November 2023 to February 2024.  The Committee noted that the timescales set out in the Forward Plan for the Churchill Court Lettings Strategy were the latest that the report would be presented to Committee.

Members of the Committee are requested to bring their copy of the agenda for the Executive meeting on 17 January 2024..

The Executive, Resources and Contracts PDS Committee will be looking at the following items on the Executive Agenda:

·  Draft Budget 2024/25 and Update on the Council’s Financial Strategy

·  Outcome of Ofsted Inspection of Children’s Services

·  Academy Information System and Aspien Corporate Debt Management System Software Licence And Maintenance Arrangements

The Committee considered the following reports on the Part 1 agenda for the meeting of the Executive on 17 January 2024:

Report FSD24001

The report sought approval of the initial draft 2024/25 Budget including the full year effect of changes agreed as part of the 2023/24 Council Tax report and savings approved during the year with the resultant impact on the Council’s medium term ‘budget gap’.

A key part of the financial strategy was to highlight the budget issues that would need to be addressed by the Council over the coming financial years, by forecasting the level of available resources from all sources and budget pressures relating to revenue spending. More details of the capital programme and the impact on the revenue budget would be reported to the next meeting of the Executive.

PDS Committees views would also be sought and reported back to the next meeting of the Executive, prior to the Executive making recommendations to Council on the 2024/25 Council Tax and Adult Social Care precept levels.

The report provided details of the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement 2024/25 which was published on 18th December 2023 and represented a one-year settlement only. The awaited Fair Funding Review and changes relating to the devolution of business rates, which could have a significant impact on future funding, had been delayed and were unlikely to be implemented until at least 2026/27.

There were increasing challenges facing the Council as identified in the report. These included the need to address the ongoing Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) funding deficits, the medium-term risk of depletion of reserves and the resultant impact, funding the future capital programme and progressing to the next steps for the Transformation Programme. The report provided an update on the local authority landscape and the implications on a deteriorating financial position for many local authorities. As indicated later in the report there was no significant additional new funding announced in the Autumn Statement or Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement 2024/25 to address the significant cost pressures facing the Council.

There were still outstanding issues and areas of uncertainty remaining, including various grant allocations and associated grant conditions, which could impact on the final revenue budget. Any significant changes would be reported at the meeting and further updates would be included in the 2024/25 Council Tax report to the next meeting of the Executive.

In opening the discussion, the Chairman proposed that the word “not” be inserted at the beginning of recommendation 2.1.9 which would read:

2.1.9 [That the Executive be recommended to] Not agree the proposed contribution of £247,872 to the London Boroughs Grant Committee.

The Committee, by majority, supported the proposals noting that the conditions imposed ruled out a number of the charities within the Borough from being able to apply.

A number of Members expressed concerns regarding recommendation 2.1.5 – a request to approve a one-off Transformation Fund 2024-2028 earmarked reserve of £1m to resource  ...  view the full minutes text for item 68.

The Portfolio Holder for Resources, Commissioning and Contracts Management, Councillor Christopher Marlow, attended the meeting to respond to questions from the Committee.  Councillor Marlow had previously circulated a written update to the Committee outlining activity across the Portfolio.  The Portfolio Holder then responded to questions, making the following comments:

·  There would not be a large number of furnished empty properties that would be liable if a Second Home Council Tax Premium were to be introduced.  However, long-term empty properties did generate a significant economic cost for the Borough.  There would need to be adequate notification of the introduction of such a scheme.

·  Changes to the Biggin Hill Airport Consultative Committee had been proposed over a year ago and had not been progressed.  Regrettably, the Portfolio Holder did not see any other route for adding more councillor representation to the Consultative Committee.

·  It was going to become increasingly challenging to balance the budget and provide statutory services.  Whilst the PDS Committees were strongly encouraged to forensically review their department budgets and review non-statutory services and non-value adding activities to see where savings could be made, the Council needed to ensure that it was not fined for failure to meet obligations.

·  The financial challenges facing the Council were significant and all PDS Chairman were asked to review all opportunities for savings to be brought forward.

·  The opportunities for Local Authorities to raise revenue were limited and as a result all those which were available would need to be considered and utilised where possible.

The Committee thanked the Portfolio Holder for his update.

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.

Report FSD24003

The report provided information regarding the performance of the Revenues Services provided by Liberata for the period 1 April to 30 November 2023. A letter from Bola Odunsi, Liberata’s Regional Director (London and the Southeast), provided an update on each of the individual services and was attached at Appendix 1 of the report with statistical data relating to the Revenues Service attached at Appendix 2.  

In response to a question, the representative from Liberata confirmed that where mistakes occurred they were reviewed and lessons learnt with the aim of ensuring that mistakes were not repeated.  A Member suggested that it would be helpful for the next report to have a short update covering mistakes that had been made and what had been done to correct the mistakes.

In response to a question about the drop in the rates of collection in respect of Nightly Paid Accommodation Charges, the Liberata representative confirmed that there was little expectation that things would improve in the short term as household budgets were finely balanced and households were having to prioritise their expenditure.

Concerning the reference to “propensity to pay”, representatives from Liberata explained that the tool analysed customers’ ability to pay and would allow the service to initially focus resources to enable a higher return.  The tool would also enable the right intervention or solution at the right time.

RESOLVED: That the Portfolio Holder be recommended to agree a temporary revision to the Council Tax Arrears Incentive Scheme for years 2024/25 and 2025/26 with a review at the beginning of 2026/27.  The details of the proposal are set out in the accompanying Part 2 Appendix.

Report FSD24004

The report provided information regarding the performance of the Benefits Service provided by Liberata for the period 1 April to 30 November 2023. A letter from Bola Odunsi Liberata’s Regional Contract Director (London and Southeast) was attached as Appendix 1 to the report. This communication provided Liberata’s perspective of performance, together with an update on initiatives to be introduced in the coming months. 

In response to a question the Revenues and Benefits Manager confirmed that the decision to reduce Council Tax Support had had a detrimental effect on the collection rates for those customers. People were struggling and there were more claims to the discretionary hardship fund.

In relation to the processing of change of circumstances, the Committee sought assurances that a plan was in place to ensure the target was met.  It was agreed that this element should be brought back to the Committee by the Revenues and Benefits Manager if there was no progress in meeting the target.  Representatives from Liberata confirmed that this was an ongoing issue however following recruitment, performance had improved in December and there was confidence that the target would be met by the end of the year.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

Report FSD24005

The report provided information regarding Liberata’s performance in the provision of Exchequer Services for the period 1^st April 2023 to 30^th September 2023 with an updated position as at 30^th November 2023. A letter from Bola Odunsi, Liberata’s Regional Contract Director, provided an update on each individual service and was attached at Appendix 1 of the report with statistical data relating to the services shown in subsequent appendices.

The Chairman suggested that, where possible, there should be a provision within contracts regarding interest payable on late payments.

A Member suggested that the impact of the cost-of-living crisis was a further risk that should be born in mind as this would affect peoples’ ability to pay.  It was noted that the increase in debts written off was attributed to the impact of Covid and the cost-of-living crisis.  There was more work going into debt recovery but rates remained low.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

Report CSD24006

This report provided information on the performance of the Customer Service Contract provided by Liberata for the period 1st May 2023 to 30th November 2023. A letter from Bola Odunsi Regional Director (London & The Southeast) for Liberata, provided his update on each individual element and was attached at Appendix 1 of the report.

In response to a question concerning the reduction in performance around Blue Badges and Freedom Passes, representatives from Liberata explained that a member of staff had left and there had been delays with automation.  In response, an additional person had been recruited and performance was back on track.

Concerning whether anything could be done to incentivise people to respond to the customer satisfaction survey, the Committee heard that Liberata were looking to use voicebot functionality to encourage customers to provide feedback and it was hoped that this would encourage people to respond.

In relation to the move to Churchill Court, Liberata were working with colleagues in the Council to develop a customer journey and a communications plan.  The two reception areas would be amalgamated, and it was anticipated that everything would be in place by September 2024.  There would also be a review of whether statistics relating to the self-service terminals could be included in future reports.

A Member suggested that there needed to be some joint working to collect measures and data around whether customers actually received the help they needed.  It was noted that measures around whether the original issue was resolved at the first contact would be included in future reports.  The Chairman suggested that it might be helpful if the Committee could be provided with statistics concerning the number of call transfer dropouts.

The Committee noted that the KPIs for call responses had evolved over time, and historically some had been reduced in order to deliver efficiency savings.  The Assistant Director agreed to provide specific details following the meeting.

In respect of statistics relating to the out-of-hours service and trends in the number of calls received the Committee were advised that these areas would require further investigation and analysis.

RESOLVED: That the report 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

The Committee considered the following reports on the Part 2 agenda where the Resources, Contracts and Commissioning Portfolio Holder was recommended to take a decision.

The Committee noted and discussed the Part 2 information.