Agenda and minutes

No apologies for absence were received.

RESOLVED:

That Canon Roger Driver be appointed Chair of the Panel for this meeting.

Members and Officers are requested to give notice of any personal or prejudicial interest and the nature of that interest, relating to any item on the agenda in accordance with the relevant Code of Conduct.

No declarations of interest were received.

Minutes of the meeting held on 16 March 2011

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 16 March 2011 be confirmed as a correct record.

Report of the Director of Corporate Commissioning

Further to Minute No. 10 of the meeting held on 16 March 2011, the Panel considered the report of the Head of Governance and Civic Services that provided information to aid the Panel in formulating an objective review of the Members’ Allowance Scheme for 2012/13.

Attached as an appendix to the report was an extract from the Guidance on Regulation for Local Authority Allowances, published by the Government in July 2003, relating to Special Responsibility Allowances (SRA); and information relating to the following was circulated to the Panel at the meeting:

·                 the views of Party Leaders on whether certain Cabinet Member portfolios should attract a higher SRA than others due to additional responsibilities;

·                 issues relating to the Mayoral Allowance;

·                 the views of Members on the Members’ Allowance Scheme;

·                 the Council’s systems for obtaining the best price for rail journeys;

Mrs. J. McMahon, Head of Transformation, updated the Panel on the Council’s current budget position and prioritisation agenda.  She advised that the vast majority of approved savings had been achieved; detailed the ongoing major reviews; that the forecast savings target for 2012/13 was £20 million; and that a further £18 million savings were required in the following two years.  This equated to 21% of the directly controllable budget of £184m.

Mrs. McMahon also detailed that all the more straightforward options had been taken; that no service area was exempt from efficiency savings; that there would be further service reductions and cessation of services; and that the Council was attempting to take a strategic overview of services to

·                 build on the approved prioritisation agenda

·                 find different ways of delivery

·                 provide greater integration of front line services

·                 provide greater flexibility in the workforce.

Mrs. McMahon concluded by detailing the big issues associated with the perception and expectations of residents to the changes; that equality impact assessments must be undertaken prior to service reductions/cessation; that the “You Choose” public options would be known by October; the capacity issues for remaining staff; maintaining performance issues and morale amongst staff; maintaining relationships with partners; and that the size of the challenge facing the Council must not be underestimated.

Panel Members asked questions and commented on reductions to the Members’ Allowance budget; pay freezes for Council staff; and senior officer restructuring.

The Panel were advised that Members’ Basic Allowance had been cut by 5% from 2 September 2010 and 5% cuts to SRA’s were made in 2009/10; that senior officers had not had increments for four years and staff did not receive a pay award last year; that management and support costs had been cut by 20% this year and would be cut by 5% next year; and that the Tier 4 management restructure had now commenced.

Mrs. McMahon was thanked for her presentation.

Panel Members then sought the views of the Group Leaders/representative on the review following which the elected Members left the meeting to enable the Panel Members to undertake their deliberations.

RESOLVED:          That

(1)      the Panel wishes to explore the reduction in the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.