To receive any apologies of absence.

Apologies for absence were received by Cllr Bowden, Cllr Carroll, Cllr Rankin, Andy Jeffs and Russel O’Keefe.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest received.  It was noted that all Members had a dispensation regarding the Budget Report.

To approve the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 6 December 2016.

The Part I minutes of the meeting held on 6 December 2016 were approved as a true and correct record. 

Cllr Coppinger informed that he had noted that the resolution for Delivering Differently in Adult Services mentioned that he was not in attendance to present the report. He informed the Panel that he attended Adult Services and Health O&S Panels and would be happy to attend other Panels when invited.

To comment on the Cabinet report.

The Panel considered the latest Cabinet Financial Update report that was projecting a £473,000 underspend on the General Fund which was a further increase of £38,000 since the last reported figure at Cabinet. The Panel were informed that the council remained in a healthy financial position with combined General Fund Reserves of £6.33m, which was above the recommended limit set by Council..

The Adults, Children and Health directorate project an overspend of £192,000, Corporate and Community Services projected an underspend of £64,000 and Operations and Customer Services reported a £596,000 underspent.

(Cllr Saunders joined the meeting)

The Chairman asked if there were any issues on the horizon and was informed that future pressures were dealt with in the Budget report being considered by the Panel.

Resolved unanimously: that the Corporate Services O&S Panel considered the Financial Update Cabinet report and fully endorsed the recommendations.  The Panel were informed that there were no unforeseen budget risks and future pressures were in the Budget report.  The Chairman thanked the Lead Member for attending the meeting.

To comment on the Cabinet / Council  report.

The Panel were addressed by Cllr Saunders, Lead Member for Finance, on the 2017/18 Budget report due to be considered by Cabinet and Council.  Cllr Saunders provided a brief overview of the report and said he was happy to answer any questions.

Cllr Saunders informed that Panel that the proposed budget contained an increase in revenue investment of about £2.5 million to help protect the most vulnerable people in the Borough.  Examples of increased investment included £1 million added for adult social care, £400k for expanding the practical support for homeless residents, £330k for rising home to school transport for special needs pupils requirements and £120k over three years for increasing early years pupil premium spend.

There was also proposed investment in the Planning Department, for tree maintenance and investment for our voluntary organisations providing community needs.  

The proposed council tax increase was 0.95 percent which was lower than the retail price index. There was also a proposal to increase the adult social care precept by three percent.

The Panel were informed that the proposals meant that a band D property would pay £961.46 for their council tax, this figure included the three percent increase for the adult social care precept.

With regards to Fees and Charges the Panel were informed that the majority of charges would see no increase in real terms.  There had been a few increases that brought the borough in line with neighbouring authorities where we had been significantly under charging in the past.

With regards to Capital investment Cllr Saunders informed the Panel that he had already presented to the Audit and Performance Review Panel the need to change the way we funded our major capital projects.

Cllr Saunders informed the Panel that over the last few years the Council had decided to make a number of strategic capital expenditure, such as school expansion and new library.  Historically loans would have been taken to fund these projects however it had been decided that instead of loans the Council would use its reserves to fund capital projects saving about £150k in interest rates.  The Panel were informed that, as demonstrated in the Financial Update reports, this policy was no longer sustainable and thus it had been decided borrow money for capital projects. 

It was proposed that over the next year about £75 million would be spent on capital projects that included a further £12.1 million for the ongoing schools expansion plan, £14.5 million for stage one of the new leisure centre,  £9.4 million for stage one expansion of Broadway Car Park,  £9.2 million enhancing York House, Windsor, £8.3 million for other property and parking improvement, £4.5 million for the consolidation of the St Clouds Way development site and £1.6 million for LED street lighting.

The Panel were also informed that with regards to Business Rates it was proposed that there would be a local newspaper business rate relief of £1,500 per title, all locally controlled rate reliefs maintained, rural rate relief extended and redefined and relief  ...  view the full minutes text for item 117.

To Comment on the Cabinet report.

The Lead Member attended the meeting to present the Cabinet report on the findings of the initial review of the council’s CCTV system.  The Panel were informed that the service costs £540k on an annual basis with line rental and staffing being the largest expenses.  The network was over 20 years old and at an end of its serviceable life and thus the ability to maintain the system was becoming more difficult.

The Panel were informed that the Council had a duty to review its CCTV provision and that other authorities such as West Berkshire had decided to de-commission their cameras.  A review of the system was proposed to see if we could better utilise new technology.  The review would come back to Cabinet in August 2017. Thames Valley Police (TVP) had been fully involved in discussions and were in agreement with proposals.

The Panel were informed that the borough had the largest camera network of any local authority in the Thames Valley and ran it 24 hours 7 days a week.  It was proposed to look at different ways of providing CCTV that was reasonable and effective.

Cllr Burbage asked what could be learnt from the review that was not already known and was informed that the review would be looking at technology, service usage and service options. 

Cllr Burbage also had concerns about having mobile cameras instead of static ones as it could result in incidents being missed.  The Pane were informed that they would be mobile units that could be redeployed as needed however it was expected that they would stay in location for long periods of time.

The Chairman asked that if a village had cameras that the Council wished to de-commission would the parish council have the option to pay to keep the camera in place.  The Panel were informed that this would be an option that could be explored as part of the review.

The Chairman mentioned that it would be important to be able to run the service 24/7 in times of emergency.

Cllr Quick mentioned that Thames Valley Police made use of the system and asked if we knew how many convictions had been made as a result of this.  The Panel were informed that TVP did not provide that level of data.

Cllr Burbage highlighted that TVP made five visits to the CCTV control room per day and asked if we could charge them for reviewing CCTV footage.  The Panel were informed that this was an option but would need to be discussed with TVP as we were also looking at shared services.

Cllr Jones asked if the paper would be brought back to this Panel after the review and it was confirmed that it would.

Resolved unanimously: that the Corporate Services O&S Panel considered the Delivering Differently in Operations and Customer Services – CCTV Cabinet report and fully endorsed the recommendations subject to the Panels points below (and comments made during Part II Private Session) being taken on board  ...  view the full minutes text for item 118.

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"

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: 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 they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1-7 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.

To approve the Part II minutes of the meeting held on 6 December 2016.

To comment on the Cabinet report.