Agenda and minutes

To approve as correct the minutes of the meeting held on 23 January

(Note: If any Member wishes to propose an amendment to the minutes they should submit this in writing to committeeservices@horsham.gov.uk at least 24 hours before the meeting.  Where applicable, the audio recording of the meeting will be checked to ensure the accuracy of the proposed amendment.)

The minutes of the meeting held on 23 January 2023 were approved as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any declarations of interest from Members of the Committee

Minute SO/57 – Councillor Jupp declared that he was a West Sussex County Councillor.

To receive any announcements from the Chairman of the Committee or the Chief Executive

There were no announcements.

To receive the report of the Director of Resources

The Director of Resources introduced the report on the Council’s finance and performance. The report identified performance as at month nine, the revenue position as at month ten and the capital programme as at month eleven.

With regard to the Council’s performance, four performance indicators remained in the red and four had moved from green to red.

Those that remained in the red were:

• Households in temporary accommodation and households in bed and breakfast accommodation: It was reported that both were improving through the Council’s work at Roffey Place and Saxon Weald.
• Number of fly tipping incidents: It was reported that the number of fly tipping incidents had reduced slightly in December.
• Collection of business rates arrears: It was reported that there had been delays with the transition to a new firm of enforcement agents. Additionally, staff resources had been diverted to deliver various government funded schemes including the energy rebate scheme.

Those that had moved from green to red were:

• Collection of Council Tax arrears: It was reported that this had moved to red for the same reasons noted above for the collection of business rates arrears.
• Quality assurance on the local authority error: It was reported that the Council’s external auditor had uncovered some errors with the 2021/22 housing benefit audit, which was in the process of being finalised. Although the value was 0.26 as against a target of 0.4 at month nine, when extrapolated as part of the audit the lower threshold could be crossed resulting in a loss of government subsidy. The Director of Resources advised that this would be reported to the Audit Committee.
• Community triggers: It was reported that this related to five specific instances of anti-social behaviour - as against a target of two - which had occurred in a residential setting. The Director of Resources advised that an increase in community triggers was not necessarily a negative as it could lead to more help being provided to residents.
• Missed bins: 247 bins had been missed during the relevant period as against a target of 210, equating to 26 missed bins per 100,000 collections. The Committee was advised that the actual figure may have been lower due to some software issues experienced over the Christmas period. Crew changes and catch-up rounds may also have led to more bins being missed than usual. Furthermore, the figure had begun to improve.

With regard to the Council’s revenue position as at month eleven, an overspend of £0.2 million was forecasted. This was in the context of high inflation and higher than expected salary increases, although the position had been helped by the rapid increase in interest rates which had not been budgeted for. Departments would be checking whether they had any unspent budget that they hoped to carry forward to the following financial year.

With regard to staff salaries, the Director of Resources informed the Committee of the initial national pay offer that had been made by the government for local authority staff for the 2023/24  ...  view the full minutes text for item SO/57

To receive an update from the Director of Resources.

The Director of Resources gave a verbal update on the Local Authority Housing Fund. The Council would be receiving £2.6 million in government grant funding, to which it would add £3.2 million of its own resources. A report was going to the Cabinet meeting on 23 March and it was proposed that the Council would purchase the properties and lease them to the Council’s housing company. The report recommended that 16 properties be purchased in consultation with the Cabinet member for Housing and Communities and that the shareholders’ agreement be amended to include provision for the lease.

With regard to collection of the rental income, the Head of Finance and Performance, who was also one of the directors of the Council’s housing company, confirmed that the Council would collect the rent on behalf of the housing company.

The Chairman agreed to provide feedback to the next Cabinet meeting on views expressed by the Committee.

To receive the report from the Chairman of the Task & Finish Group on the use of Consultants.

Councillor Skipp, who had been the Chairman of the Task and Finish Group on the use of Consultants, introduced the Group’s final report. The Group, which comprised Councillors Circus, Clarke, Milne and Skipp, had considered the use of consultants within the Council’s Economic Development, Strategic Planning and Development Management teams and had held discussions with Heads of Service in each of those teams. Overall, the Group had been quite impressed with how the departments made use of consultants and were satisfied that it represented value for money. The Group’s recommendations were detailed in the agenda report.

A member of the Task and Finish Group commented that he wished to see officers taking a more positive approach to sharing services with other local authorities, as this could prevent the need for referrals to external consultants.

Some discussion was had as to who would be regarded as the ‘relevant Member(s)’ referred to in the first of the Task and Finish Group’s recommendations. Concern was raised that a Member may assume authority on a matter that should be determined by officers.

RESOLVED

To note the findings of the review and ask the Chief Executive:

(a)  if appointing a consultant following a Motion to Full Council or a decision of a statutory Committee, to instruct the Head of Service to discuss the content of the brief with relevant Member(s) to ensure the brief fully captures the intention of the decision or request; and

(b)  to support the Heads of Service to continue their current good practice in seeking opportunities for:

(i)            joint recruitment of specialists with other authorities with a view to reducing reliance on consultants;

(ii)          joint recruitment between Horsham District Council services that cover similar technical areas;

(iii)         introducing further professional training in key skill areas where the Council currently appoints consultants; and

(iv)         following recommendations (i) and (iii) above, ask the Heads of Service to report to a future meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee within 2 years of the date of this meeting on matters looked into and decisions made.

To review the current work programme.

It was noted that a report on the Council’s financial performance would be received at the meeting on 5 June.

A Member expressed their disappointment that the Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Culture had not been in attendance at the meeting to take questions on Horsham Museum and the District’s leisure centres.

To consider the Cabinet Forward Plan published on 1 March 2023.

The Chairman advised that a report on the draft Climate Action Strategy would be considered at the Cabinet meeting that week. It was suggested by a Committee member and agreed by the Chairman that, as a number of Committee members had not read the report, it would be considered at a future meeting.

The Cabinet item on local listed buildings adoption was noted.

Items not on the agenda which the Chairman of the meeting is of the opinion should be considered as urgent because of the special circumstances

There was no urgent business.