Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no questions from members of the public or the press.

(The Chairman authorised consideration of the following item in order to process the matter referred to without delay).

An issue was raised with regard to a complaint from a member of the public in relation to weekly charges at local leisure centres and conflicting advice received from staff within Education, Culture and Leisure Services.

The service user had been denied the option to pay weekly at a particular sports facility.

The Cabinet Member, Education, Culture and Leisure Services believed the specific issue was in respect of block bookings which did not allow weekly payments. Such a rule had been applied to avoid users electing not to attend after a teacher had been contracted and paid to take a lesson.  This was not a change to existing policy and the problem now referred to had occurred due to an anomaly in one advertising leaflet aimed at encouraging more young people to participate in regular exercise, an incentive for which had been to offer weekly payment.

The Acting Executive Director explained that the ability to pay on a weekly basis only had applied to one Leisure Centre and one area of gymnastics coaching, which is not in line with existing policy.  The information to service users of this activity was set out very clearly upon application.

One Member was of the view that the ruling on this policy should be scrutinised by this Scrutiny Panel prior to any further resolutions being made by the Cabinet Member, Education, Culture and Leisure Services.

A debate took place on the process for scrutinising this matter.

Resolved:-  (1)  That it is this Panel’s view that the report on Pricing and Access Issues and Proposals for 2005-06, to be considered by the Cabinet Member, Education, Culture and Leisure Services on the 8^th February, 2005 shall not be determined until this Scrutiny Panel has considered the report.

(2)  That the Acting Executive Director look into the anomaly.

(3)  That in the interim period, to note that weekly payments will be accepted upon application.

Consideration was given to a report of Pete Hudson, Strategic Finance Officer, the contents of which advise of the level of School Balances as at the end of March 2004, how the level of balances compares with previous years and how the 63 Rotherham schools with surplus balances in excess of 5% at the end of 2003/2004 intend to use these balances.

The number of schools with surplus balances in excess of 5% has reduced from 86 as at the end of 2002/03 to 63 as at the end of 2003/04.

Overall balances per pupil are as follows:-

The report pointed out that combined balances (delegated budget plus money invested in ‘declared savings’) of £4,643,120 as at the end of 2003/04, reduced by £178,746 (3.7%) from £4,821,866 school balances at the end of 2002/03.

The report explained that Primary school balances had reduced by almost 23% by the end of 2003/04 to a more appropriate level.  Secondary school balances which were considered too low, had increased to a more appropriate level by the end of 2003/04.  Special school balances had increased by the end of 2003/04.

The Strategic Finance Officer reported verbally on the following statistical information:-

Primary Balances Per Pupil

Rotherham                                          £133

This compared to:-

Barnsley                                              £213

East Riding                                          £173

Wakefield                                            £72

Secondary Balances Per Pupil

Rotherham                                          £42

This compared to:-

Barnsley                                              £326

East Riding                                          £94

Wakefield                                            £62

Special Balances Per Pupil

Rotherham                                          £1,060

This compared to:-

Barnsley                                              £1,288

East Riding                                          £700

Wakefield                                            £1,136

Further information had been sought in the case of Aston Fence J & I, Kelford and MaltbyHall InfantsSchools.

A discussion took place on the following issues:-

-                       the need for Governing Bodies to be reminded of the need to use/manage their budget

-                       that most Comprehensive Schools have a reasonable level of reserves

The Scrutiny Panel was assured that generally there is appropriate movement in balances and that work is taking place with all schools.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the levels and planned use of balances be noted.

(2)  That the Schools Finance Team works closely with those schools needing support to develop their financial management skills.

Consideration was given to a budget monitoring report, as at November, 2004, submitted by Pete Hudson, Strategic Finance Officer.

This is the sixth Budget Monitoring Report for the Programme Area in 2004/05, with a current forecast to overspend against budget for the financial year by £397k (0.25%).

This relates to budget pressures in both Culture and Leisure Services (£330k) and Education Services (£67k).

The Culture and Leisure Services overspend primarily relates to continued pressure on sport and recreational facility budgets, as experienced in previous years (£380k).  This is partly offset by a saving on the Library Service budget resulting from a moratorium on procurement spending and slippage in staff recruitment (£50k).

The Education Services forecast overspend relates to the under-recovery of income on the schools’ HR contract with RBT (£70k), Strategic Management costs relating to clarification of ICT support service arrangements (£137k) and increased costs from revised transport contracts (£10k).  This is partly offset by slippage on the implementation of the new Greasborough PRU (£150k) due to difficulties in staff recruitment, and which will now be operational from January, 2005.

The forecast outturn as at November (£397k) is unchanged from the overspend reported in October.

All possible action, as detailed in the report submitted, is being taken with a view to returning the Programme Area budget to a balanced position by the end of the financial year.

Reference was made to slippage on the implementation of the new Greasborough PRU.

It was reported that, although the recruitment process was still underway, a Head and Deputy Head are now in post with the intention that some pupils will access the facility by Easter. 

Whilst a full complement of staff is in post, savings are being achieved.

One member asked whether the budget was realistic in view of the outturn position, and suggested this be borne in mind when setting next year’s budget.

The Acting Executive Director explained that there are certain pressures on the Culture and Leisure Services budget which presently made the position unsustainable.  However, with new pools and new facilities at Herringthorpe Leisure Centre by 2007, this would significantly increase the probability of managing the service within the current budget.

The Cabinet Member, Education, Culture and Leisure Services made the point that revenue is an important part of the budget and that the income from block bookings is part of this.

In response to a further question with regard to staff not required at Sheffield Road or Herringthorpe Leisure Centre, the Acting Executive Director reported that some staff had chosen to leave the Authority whilst others had been re-deployed within the Programme Area.

The Scrutiny Panel was reminded that for this financial year £650k had been removed, being the budgets of those two pools.  What had been granted for one year only in order to maintain a standstill budgetary situation and avoid the need for further closures, was £350k.

The budget for 2005/2006 had yet to be determined. 

Resolved:-  That the report be received and noted.

Resolved:-  That the minutes of this Scrutiny Panel held on 15^th and 20^th December, 2004 be received and accepted as a true record.

20^th December, 2004.

Budget Monitoring Report as at October, 2004

An issue was raised regarding the need for an off road motor cycling officer and the order of priority this had been given within the Programme Area in the current budget exercise.

If this was not on the “A” list of priorities, what was the process for Members looking at this matter?

The Performance and Scrutiny Overview Committee had no agreed procedure for ensuring monies to fund this post could be achieved.

The Acting Executive Director stated that a determination based on information contained within the “A” list had not yet been made.  However, the issue had not been dismissed or forgotten.

Allotments Review Progress Update

An issue was raised regarding the discussion of this item at the previous meeting when negotiations had been ongoing for the past two years with Dalton Parish Council and other parties.

An allotment was given statutory allotment status after thirty years which was a National body of the Allotment Society.

Resolved:-  That the Member concerned discuss this matter with Tim Archer, Green Spaces Officer.

Use of Freeware/Shareware in Libraries

One Member clarified that an issue previously raised at this Scrutiny Panel was why this Authority was not allowing Libraries to issue a hard copy of Freeware/Shareware on disc for people to take away and copy at home. CD’s could be stock items and lent to users on request.

This was legal and was the practice in other libraries.

The report presented to the previous meeting had not addressed this.

The Cabinet Member, Education, Culture and Leisure Services suggested this matter be raised with RBT.

In addition, a question was raised regarding access to the People’s Network for research purposes.

The Libraries, Museums and Arts Manager clarified that, due to potential viruses, service users would not be allowed to load their own CD’s on to the Council’s network system.

This led to a discussion on the need for free-standing computers. 

The point was made that this would not currently be possible due to resource implications.

Resolved:-  That the Libraries, Museums and Arts Manager look into this matter further, as discussed, and report to a future meeting.

Resolved:-  That the minutes of a meeting of the Performance and Scrutiny Overview Committee held on 17^th December, 2004 be received.

Resolved:-  That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 8 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

The Acting Executive Director and the Strategic Finance Officer gave a presentation on the budgetary position within the Programme Area for 2005/06.

The final settlement of the Education FSS Grant had shown a reduction of £11,000 and, although the Council settlement was reasonable, compared with other Local Authorities, Rotherham compared quite poorly in terms of the settlement on Education.  Rotherham had the lowest allocation per child both on schools FSS and Education FSS and the lowest percentage increase.

The situation with regard to the following areas of the budget was reported on:-

-                       Schools Budget - Passporting requirements

-                       Schools funding 2005/06

            -           per pupil guarantee

-                       LSC – Schools Standard Grant – Post 16 allocation

-                       Non-School budget

-                       Central Budgets

-                       Culture & Leisure Budget

The Acting Executive Director gave a presentation on the following aspects, highlighting considerations to be made within the A, B, C and D lists of priorities which had been put forward from the Corporate Management Team:-

·                    Education – Additional Funding Requirements

·                    Education – Possible Budget Reductions

·                    Gershon Savings – efficiency savings

The meeting raised a number of issues in relation to service delivery contained within the priority lists.  In particular these related to:-

Education Service

            -           Youth Service

            -           Schools Music Service

            -           Sickness Records

            -           Library Service

            -           Schools Balances

            -           “Value Added” Factor/Benchmarking/Comparison with other                               Authorities

            -           Strategic Management/Strategic Financial Planning

Culture and Leisure Service

-                       Pay and Price Inflation

-                       Fees increase and reduced levels of subsidy

-                       Urban Park Ranger Scheme

-                       One Stop Shops within Libraries

-                       RBT use of Arts Centre

-                       Off Road Motor-cycling Prevention Officer

-                       Central Establishment

Resolved:-  That the presentation be received and noted and that the Acting Executive Director feed the comments made by this Scrutiny Panel back to the Corporate Management Team during the next stage of the budget-setting process.

(Exempt under Paragraph 8 of the Act – (report contains information on the amount of expenditure proposed to be incurred by the authority for the supply of goods or services).