Issue - meetings

The Board considered the Quarter 2 Finance Monitoring Report.  The Financial Services Manager informed Members that this was broken down into service areas and the Heads of Service were asked to complete the financial commentary section.  The main areas of variance in respect of shortfall in income were Car Parking, Building Control and Waste (which related to trade waste and cesspools).  In respect of treasury management, the Financial Services Manager informed Members that this was due to lower income than expected from investments, which would be reviewed shortly.  The variance within the capital programme was largely due to delays to the Parkside project which would be utilized in 2014.

The Board discussed the following areas in detail:

• The shortfall in car parking income – possible reasons for this and actions being taken to mitigate the loss.
• The loss of income in respect of trade waste and whether this service was a statutory duty of the Council.  Officers informed Members that a review of this service was currently being undertaken in order to promote the service, which would include the feasibility of the collection of trade waste being carried out by outside contractors.
• Members were informed that, as part of the transformation process, efficiencies and route optimisation for household waste were being reviewed and the savings from that work would be picked up in future reports.
• A previous incident of fraud at the depot had been investigated by the Audit Board and the Executive Director, Leisure, Environmental and Community Services confirmed to Members that the investigation report had been endorsed by the Audit Board together with the lessons learnt and all necessary actions had now been taken to ensure such an incident did not happen again.
• The inclusion of any cost for bed and breakfast accommodation within the report – officers to clarify the inclusion of this as a separate item in future reports.
• The reduction in the level of sponsorship – the Financial Services Manager informed Members that further profiling on this element of the budget would be undertaken, which would clarify the position in the Quarter 3 report.
• Members were informed that the current underspend on play areas was due to the majority of scheduled maintenance work being carried out in the autumn/winter months (when use of the areas was at a lower level).
• Members requested confirmation of when the “hardship” fund payments would be made and the criteria that needed to be met in order to receive such a payment.

RESOLVED that the Board receive a report detailing the trade waste review.