Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Ahmad and Williamson.

There were no items of urgent business received.

With regard to Item 8 (Liberal Democrat Budget Amendment Proposals 2020/21), Councillors Phythian and Stretton declared personal interests in the proposal regarding reduction in the subsidisation of Trade Union support by virtue of trade union membership, and Councillors Al-Hamdani, Byrne and Hulme declared personal interests in the proposal regarding the reversal of a reduction in Parish Council Grant funding by virtue of Parish Council membership.

There were no public questions received.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Performance and

Value For Money Select Committee held on 9^th January 2020 are attached for approval.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Performance and Value for Money Select Committee held on 9^th January 2020 be approved as a correct record.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board held on 26^th November 2019 are attached for noting.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board held on 26^th November 2019 be noted.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority Corporate Issues and Reform Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 19^th November 2019 are attached for noting.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Greater Manchester Corporate Issues and Reform Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 19^th November 2019 be noted.

To consider the Liberal Democrats Budget Amendment Proposals for the 2020/21 Budget.

The Select Committee considered a report of the Head of Corporate Governance which outlined the Liberal Democrats’ suggested amendments to the Administration’s budget proposals for 2020/21.  The report identified additional savings proposals totalling £1.621m in 2020/21 and £0.267m in 2021/22 which could be considered individually or collectively.  There were also initial investments proposed that would be funded from the savings proposals and suggested amendments to the Capital Programme.  The Committee was asked to note that the budget amendments presented could be categorised into three broad themes of tackling health deprivation, combatting climate change, and regeneration, based on Liberal Democrat priorities.

The Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group and Shadow Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Resources, accompanied by the Head of Corporate Governance, presented the proposals and addressed the enquiries of the Select Committee.  It was explained that the Liberal Democrats were aware of the scale of the financial challenge the Council was facing and the difficult choices needing to be made to ensure that a balanced budget could be presented to Council.  The Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group also commended the work of the Finance Team who had provided assistance with the preparation of the budget. 

The Select Committee examined the saving, investment and Capital Programme proposals in detail.  In introducing consideration by the Committee, the Chair acknowledged comments of the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group that some previous Liberal Democrat proposals had been included in later Administration proposals and commented that there may be some proposals here which, while the Select Committee may not feel able to support at this time, might be considered worthy of suggesting that the Cabinet give some consideration to them going forward.  In respect of the Committee’s considerations, the Chair advised that the budget reduction proposals be considered first as these would be required to fund any alternate investment proposals that the Committee might wish to recommend to the Cabinet.

Liberal Democrat Alternative Budget Reduction Proposals

OPP-BR1-201 - Additional Vacancy Management factor to achieve greater efficiency including limiting the present use of agency staff and consultants (£0.500m)

The proposal sought to assist in reducing the number of agency staff and consultants used across the Council further by applying an Additional Vacancy Management factor of 1% to all Council mainstream employee budgets.  It was noted that the Administration had reluctantly applied a 1.5% factor and the ability of Council staff to deliver at the higher vacancy factor was queried.  For that reason the Select Committee was not minded to take forward this proposal.

OPP-BR1-202 - Increase the Flexible use of capital receipts by revising the transformation programme to focus on the Opposition's priority areas (£0.500m)

The proposal noted that the Administration had taken advantage of the allowed flexibilities to fund transformational expenditure through capital receipts and put forward extensions of that flexibility to focus on the priority areas of the main opposition group.  A possible investment in respect of recycling was outlined.  The Select Committee considered that the Administration  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Committee received a report presenting a review of Council performance as at September 2019. 

The presentation of performance commenced with the provision of an ‘Oldham Profile in Numbers’ comprising basic data in respect of population, housing, education, crime, income and benefits, household information, health, and community in the Borough.  Performance against each of the three corporate objectives of an inclusive economy, thriving communities and co-operative services was then reported, it being noted that 28 measures had achieved their target, nine were within tolerance, and 15 were currently outside tolerance.  The performance measures were considered in more detail within Appendices 1 and 2 to the submitted report.

The above performance report meant that the percentage of measures meeting their target at September 2019 had increased to 52%, up from 37% in April 2019.  Action Plans for each performance measure and the risks associated with those actions were considered at Appendices 3 and 4 respectively to the submitted report.  The presentation of performance concluded with a number of potential changes to performance measures and actions within the Corporate Performance Report which were presented at Appendix 5 to the submitted report.

The Committee was advised that, since preparation of the submitted report, the percentage of measures meeting their target had risen to 53% at Quarter 3.  In response to a query suggesting that the Performance Measure Trend presented in the report appeared to show a decline, the Committee was advised that a number of measures were geared to deliver in Quarter 4 and a better view of performance could be gained from the report on that Quarter.  Further to comments by Members as to the upward trend on sickness absence, it was noted that increases in sickness absence appeared to be a general trend and that the Council’s performance remained better than both national and Greater Manchester averages.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

RESOLVED that the Overview and Scrutiny Performance and Value for Money Select Committee Work programme be noted.

The date and time of the next Performance and Value Select Committee will be Thursday, 12^th March 2020 at 6.00 p.m.

RESOLVED that the scheduling of the next meeting of the Committee to be held on Thursday, 12^th March 2020 at 6.00pm be noted.