Agenda and minutes

There were no substitute members.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting of the Resources Overview & Scrutiny Panel held on 23 June 2021 be APPROVED as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

There were no urgent items.

      i.        Disclosable Pecuniary Interests;

     ii.        Other Interests.

Cllr. P Wilkinson declared that he had received a Covid Business Support Grant.

There were no questions.

The Leader opened by congratulating Keith Pointon on his appointment as the new Head of Finance.

The review gave the Council’s position for the period ending 31 March 2021 and was summarised as follows:-

There were 7 significant areas of underspend (over £50,000), in Building Control (£57,821), Customer Services (£57,768), Communities & Cultural (£57,120), Corporate Finance (£1,385,019), Waste (£67,536), Horticulture (£62,290) and Environmental Health (£120,253).

There were 3 significant areas of overspend, in Property (£512,733), Finance Income & Procurement (£138,400) and Leisure (£520,665).

A total of 9,200 Covid Business Grants (£42.6 million) had been paid to local businesses. Most of the grants had now closed but additional restriction grants were to be available imminently. Details regarding eligibility to these grants would be posted on the Council’s website. In addition, Self-Isolation payments of £500 were available to individuals on low income who had to self-isolate due to Covid Track and Trace. Members expressed their thanks to staff for their efforts in administering the payments. Officers provided some clarification to members on aspects of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Any additional items to be added to the Work Programme:-

       i.         Chairman’s items;

     ii.         Members’ items.

Members requested that the following item be added to the Work Programme:-

·       Fly Tipping – Was there a need to re-establish a Working Group?

·       Dementia training and equipment.

The ‘Empty Property Strategy’ item was still showing in the ‘To be confirmed’ section of the programme. A meeting of the Empty Property Working Group was needed as soon as possible.

RESOLVED – That the 2021/22 Work Programme be AGREED, subject to the addition of the above for a future meeting.

The Chair to move:-

“That, pursuant to Section 100A(2) and (4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings whereby it is likely that confidential information as defined in Section 100A (3) of the Act would be disclosed to the public in breach of the obligation of confidence or exempt information as defined in Section 10 I (1) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act would be disclosed to the public by virtue of the Paragraphs indicated.”

RESOLVED:

That, pursuant to Section 100A(2) and (4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings whereby it is likely that confidential information as defined in Section 100A (3) of the Act would be disclosed to the public in breach of the obligation of confidence or exempt information as defined in Section 100 I (1)  of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act would be disclosed to the public by virtue of the Paragraphs indicated.

Members considered a schedule of balances for write-off.