Agenda item

Interviews with:

Councillor Chris Garland, Leader of the Council; and

Paul Riley, Head of Finance and Resources.

REPORT ATTACHED

The Committee was to have considered the report of the Head of Finance and Resources setting out details of proposals submitted by Members and Officers for the use of the 2012/13 revenue underspend and the balance of the unused underspend from 2011/12 with a view to making recommendations to the Leader of the Council as to the use of these resources.

Since the disclosure of Other Significant Interests in proposals for the use of the 2012/13 revenue underspend and the balance of the underspend from 2011/12 would result in Members having to leave the room and the meeting being inquorate, the Committee confined its discussion to the reasons for the 2012/13 underspend and the outcome of the proposals for the use of the 2011/12 underspend.

By way of introduction, the Head of Finance and Resources advised the Committee that a revenue underspend of £0.275m had been reported for 2012/13 which combined with the balance unused from 2011/12 (£0.283m) had resulted in £0.558m being available for use whilst leaving an adequate level of balances.  Proposals totalling in excess of £2.3m had been received and these had been evaluated against specific criteria i.e. sustainable projects that support the Council’s priority of a decent place to live.  The response by Members to the request for proposals had been quite substantial.

The 2012/13 underspend represented 3% of the net revenue budget whereas the 2011/12 underspend represented 12%.  The 2011/12 underspend was the result of one off savings that had occurred earlier than expected.  The 2012/13 underspend was due in the main to salary slippage with managers taking a prudential approach to recruitment.

In response to a question by the Chairman as to whether unnecessary reductions were being made given that underspends had occurred over the last two years, the Leader of the Council said that in his view it was very difficult to plan for either an underspend or an overspend.  It was important to adhere to budgets and to deal with an underspend/overspend if one developed taking into account all of the facts.

Having noted the position regarding the underspends, the Committee thanked the Leader of the Council and the Head of Finance and Resources for their attendance.

The Democratic Services Officer undertook to seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer as to whether the way forward would be for the Committee to meet again to consider this matter with Substitute Members, but they too might have interests in proposals for the use of these resources, or for the Members affected to apply for dispensations to enable them to participate.

It was suggested that Members’ concerns regarding the stringency of the ethical standards regime and the need for greater awareness of the requirements of the Member Code of Conduct and, in particular, the disclosure of interests be included in the Committee’s work programme. The Chairman indicated that the suggestion would be taken seriously.

It was resolved that the position with regard to the 2011/12 and 2012/13 underspends be noted at this stage.