Agenda and minutes

          The Minutes of the meeting held on 16 July 2009 were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

          Arising from the discussion, in relation to Minute ES13 it was reported that further discussions had taken place with Members and the matter had been resolved.

          The Sub-Committee considered a report which set out the proposed charges for the hire of the meeting rooms in the newly refurbished Halton Lea Library. Since the refurbishment of the library there had been an increase in the number of meeting rooms that were now available for hire. To take account of the varying sizes of each of these rooms, the current scale of charges need to be revised.

          The proposed pricing structure reflected the size of each of the rooms and was in line with the charges levied for other Council Community facilities.

          RESOLVED: That the charges as proposed be approved.

          the Sub-Committee considered a report which summarised the overall revenue and capital spending position as at 30^th June 2009.

          In overall terms, revenue expenditure was below the budget profile, however, this was only a guide to eventual spending. It was noted that spending on employees was also below the budget profile; this was primarily due to the delay in setting the 2009 pay award. The budget included 2.5% for the pay award and the latest offer was around 1%. However, the arbitration decision regarding the 2008 pay award increased the award by 0.3% to 2.75% in total which was 0.25% higher than budget.

          It was noted that income was currently below budget profile in a number of areas. At this stage it did not appear that shortfalls in income were having an adverse effect upon the Council’s overall net budget, however, this may be due to delays in spending and would need to be kept under close control by Directorates.

          With regard to Capital Spending, it was reported that spending to 30^th June 2009 totalled £3.8m, which was 57% of the planned spending of £6.7m at this stage. However, this only represented 10% of the total capital programme of £36.7m (which assumed a 20% slippage between years).

          Although historically, capital expenditure was significantly higher in the latter part of the financial year, it was important that Project Managers maintained pressure to keep projects and spending on schedule and in particular, to ensure that all external funding was maximised.

          RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

          The Sub-Committee considered a report, which reviewed activities on Treasury Management for the year 2008/09.

          The Annual Report covered:

-         the Council’s current Treasury Position;

-         Performance Management;

-         the Borrowing Strategy for 2008/09;

-         the Borrowing Outturn for 2008/09;

-         Compliance with Treasury limits;

-         Investment Strategy;

-         Investments Outturn for 2008/09;

-         Debt Rescheduling; and

-         Other issues.

          RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

          The Sub-Committee considered a report which updated Members on the activities undertaken on the Money Market as required by the Treasury Management Policy.

          It was noted that all the activities, including prudential indicators, complied with policy guidelines. However it was noted that during the quarter the authority exceeded the limit with the National Westminster Bank by a small amount over a weekend rather than place cash with a counterparty. A list of counterparties and their long term rating was circulated with the agenda.  

          RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

          The Sub-Committee considered a report which outlined a revised fairer charging policy for 2009-10. The Department of Health had published a ‘Fairer Contributions Guidance Calculating an Individual’s Contribution to their Personal Budget’ in July 2009. Within this guidance, all Council’s with Social Services responsibilities were required to introduce a revised Fairer Charging Policy to take into account personalised budgets.

          A personal budget was an upfront allocation of social care resources to a person who is eligible for support. A service user may choose to ask the Council to arrange all the care and support they need, they may choose to receive the whole amount of their personal budget as a direct payment so they can organise their care and support themselves, they may choose to have their personal budget paid to a third party, or they may choose to have mix of the options available.

          With a personal budget, the charging system must compare the amount of a service users personal budget for the financial year with the maximum weekly charge they are assessed as being able to afford. This is a fundamental change as it affects the issue of charging service users for a week when they do not receive service, either through choice or circumstances.

          At present, if a service user has their care commissioned by the Council and does not have service for one week; no charge is made for that week. The essence of this change was to bring services that had been commissioned by the Council into line with direct payments.   This would allow all service users irrespective of how they choose to meet their care needs, to have the ability to bank services, to use at a later point within the financial year, for example to purchase additional services whilst taking a holiday.

          It was noted that the policy had been written with a view to ensuring any service user currently receiving care services would not be required to contribute an increased amount.

          RESOLVED: That the Fairer Charging Policy be approved.

          In approving the pitch charges for the new Traveller transit site on 16^th October 2008, the Sub Committee resolved that a report be submitted after six months to review income against costs. In order to consider the effectiveness of the facility and its financial and operational impact in the widest sense a report was considered by Urban Renewal Policy and Performance Board on 17^th June 2009. The recommendations from that meeting were noted in the report.

          RESOLVED: That the Sub Committee

(1)            note the comments of the Urban Renewal Policy and Performance Board; and

(2)            a further report be submitted to the next Sub Committee meeting on the detailed operation of the site.

MINUTES ISSUED: 21 September 2009

CALL IN:  29 September 2009

Any matter decided by the Executive Board Sub Committee may be called in no later than 29 September 2009.