Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - Town Hall - Maidenhead

Items
No. Item

52.

Apologies

To receive any apologies of absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Rayner and Ilyas.

53.

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 219 KB

To receive any declarations of interest.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest received.

54.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 87 KB

To approve the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 21 June 2018 and 9 July 2018.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Resolved unanimously:  that the Part I minutes of the meetings held on June 21st and July 9th 2018 were both approved as a true and correct record.

55.

Financial Update Report pdf icon PDF 473 KB

To review the latest financial update report.

Minutes:

The Head of Finance informed Members that a total overspend of £1.4million had been forecast in the report. Members were informed that when the annual Budget was set in February, opportunities to offset overspends had been identified with a number of underspends; however over time these opportunities had diminished and budgets had become tighter. £3.6million in mitigation had been found and further work was being done to provide mitigation; however an overspend of £1.4million was still being predicted. Officers were confident however that the Budget for 2019/20 would be on a more solid footing. The Head of Finance indicated the budget pressures were not unique to the Royal Borough, and informed the Panel that the Leader had recently written to the government expressing concerns on finance constraints relating to children’s services.

 

The Head of Finance informed Members that there was no virement to offset budget incomes that were no longer relevant; for example it was noted that there was an unachievable income offset of £90,000 with regards to printing, which had existed for several years even after the Council’s print centre was closed. It was noted that the projected income from increased car parking charges had failed to materialise. The Panel was informed that more work was being done to understand the reasons for this, as the majority of the Council’s car parks had remained busy. The Head of Finance stated his belief this was likely to be an annual performance quirk rather than an accounting one. It was noted that a proposed change to the operational management of car parks had not progressed as planned, and there was an unachievable budget pressure of £625,000 relating to car parking. Members noted that these issues had not been picked up either by the Council’s external and internal audits, and that nothing had been presented to the Audit and Performance Review Panel.

 

The Director of Children’s Services stated that overspends in the children’s services budgets had been offset by underspends elsewhere, and the contracts with Optalis and Achieving for Children had helped with this. Much of the spending related to children in care and this would continue to be so for the foreseeable future. It was hoped that the contract with AfC would enable a larger supply of local provision for children in care. However the Director of Children’s Services advised that this could take some time to come to fruition. Regarding children in care, members were informed that on August 1st 2017 there were 1,112 open cases relating to social care for children. This figure was now 742. The number of children with care plans – which included those who were looked after, or who had a Child Protection Plan – was around 150.

 

Members were informed that it was possible for amendments to be made to the AfC contract and minor changes had been made in the past. There were no plans to change the terms of the contract in relation to placements of children in care, although this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

56.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 56 KB

To note the work programme.

Minutes:

Cllr Evans requested that Members be given an update on the next phase of the proposed operating structure and senior management structure. It was agreed that the Head of Human Resources should be asked to provide an update on the organisational performance at the December meeting.

57.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 - EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC

To consider passing the following resolution:-

 

“That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion takes place on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1-7 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act"

Minutes:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: To approve the motion to exclude the public for the remainder of the meeting.

58.

Minutes

To approve the Part II minutes of the meeting held on 21 June 2018 and 9 July 2018.

59.

Urgent Decision - Purchase of Farm Land off Lower Cookham Road

To note the above report

 

In accordance with Section 100B (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972, the Chairman had agreed to add this report as an urgent item.