Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from  Deputy Roger Chadwick.

There were no declarations.

To agree the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 7 March 2016.

RESOLVED – That the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 7 March 2016 be agreed as an accurate record.

The Chairman advised Members that he had requested Officers to conduct a review of the Finance Committee’s Sub-Committees to seek to increase the effectiveness of the Sub-Committees, increase the amount of business conducted at Sub-Committees, and accordingly decrease the amount of business conducted at the Grand Committee. He advised that a report would be forthcoming to a meeting of the Grand Committee in advance of the Summer recess.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Sub-Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk which provided updates on actions outstanding from previous minutes. In addition to the report, the Town Clerk advised that a Work Programme for future meetings had been prepared. This was put around the table.

Efficiency Plan

The Chairman requested that the report on proposals to publish an Efficiency Plan were submitted to Members of the Sub-Committee prior to the Resource Allocation Sub-Committee Away Day. The Chamberlain advised that this may not be possible, but the report would certainly be circulated to the Sub-Committee immediately following the Away Day, at a minimum.

Strategic Energy Review

The Sub-Committee noted that a report would be submitted to the Committee’s July meeting regarding the Strategic Energy Review. The Chairman commented that, in the past, many of the energy reports considered by the Sub-Committee had been overly technical, and requested that Officers ensure that this report considered all aspects of the energy use of the Corporation from a more strategic level, including consumption, procurement and energy efficiency. A Member commented that it would be beneficial for any consumption figures to be normalised to provide the most accurate possible assessment of consumption.

Staff Suggestion Scheme

The Sub-Committee considered a report of the Deputy Town Clerk which advised the Sub-Committee of progress with the pilot of the Staff Suggestion Scheme.

The Sub-Committee considered whether this may be a matter which would be appropriately considered by the Establishment Committee. The Deputy Town Clerk advised that the purpose of the Staff Suggestion Scheme was to seek to improve the effectiveness of the Corporation, so most appropriately sat with this Sub-Committee.

Members commented that there were indications that the main problem with the Suggestion Scheme at present was that there was not sufficient investigation of suggestions, particularly in some departments. Members

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Sub-Committee considered a report of the Deputy Town Clerk which provided the latest update in respect of the Service Based Review cross-cutting reviews and key departmental projects in the format of the Service Based Review Roadmap. The report advised there had been no changes in project status since the last meeting.

With regard to the Strategic Asset Management programme, the Chairman asked for clarification regarding whether this programme was rated as Amber due to the risk of not achieving the savings required or due to difficulties in implementing the programme. Members also commented that it may be beneficial for the Sub-Committee to be presented with the full programme risk register and a detailed scorecard for the programme, to allow the Sub-Committee to understand the risks of the project and what it would deliver.

The Deputy Town Clerk explained that she was confident that the savings would be achieved, but the risk with the project was in implementing and delivering the new way of working across all sites. She confirmed that she was confident that the programme had buy-in from all Departments, and explained that the documents requested could be provided to a future meeting. The Deputy Town Clerk advised Members that a Project Manager had been appointed to implement the programme. The City Surveyor commented that the key challenge would be to ensure that Service Departments developed the skills and controls to give them confidence in managing their assets through a third party (the City Surveyor’s Department).

The Chairman reminded the Sub-Committee that it had previously been agreed Members would be informed of any difficulties encountered from the Service departments in the implementation of the review.

The Sub-Committee also noted an appendix to the report, supplied by the Chamberlain, which identified the lessons learnt from the Service Based Review.

A Member commented that the work of this Sub-Committee tended to be of a cross-cutting nature and suggested that it may be beneficial for the Sub-Committee to receive a presentation setting out the overall governance arrangements for the Corporation as a whole. The Member also commented that there had previously been proposals to reduce the number of Committee meetings to achieve savings and noted that it would be interesting to determine whether this had been achieved.

There was no other business.

MOTION - That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

RESOLVED - That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the following paragraphs of Part I of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

Item                            Paragraph(s)

9-13                            3

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 7 March 2016.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 7 March 2016 were agreed as an accurate record.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Sub-Committee noted a report of the Chamberlain which provided an update regarding savings achieved through the Service Based Review on a Departmental basis.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Sub-Committee noted a report of the Chamberlain which advised Members of the progress made in achieving the Service Based Review programme for the Chamberlain’s Department.

There were no questions.

There was no other business.