Agenda and minutes

Consideration was given to the minutes of the previous meeting held on 12^th October, 2009.

Further discussion took place on Minute No. K33 (Third Party Funding Budget) and the potential underspend on the Landfill Tax grant.  It was suggested that all Area Assemblies be informed of the possible funding as matter of urgency.

Phil Howe, Assistant Chief Executive (Human Resources), gave a brief update on consultations held regionally on the Trade Union pay claim for 2010/11.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the minutes of the meeting held on 12^th October, 2009, be approved as a correct record.

(2)  That the Principal Accountant contact the Project Development Officer and discuss making Area Assembly Partnership Managers aware of the potential Landfill Tax grant underspend.

Phil Howe, Assistant Chief Executive (Human Resources), submitted, for information, a report on the above Scheme.

As from 12^th October, 2009, the Independent Safeguarding Authority’s (ISA) responsibilities for barring individuals who posed a known risk from working or volunteering with children and vulnerable adults were further strengthened.  The first phase of the implementation of the Vetting and Barring Scheme had now commenced leading up to its full roll out from July, 2010.  Once full roll out commenced there would be potentially significant financial challenges arising from increased charges associated with individuals registering under the Vetting and Barring Scheme.

It was not considered that the October launch presented any significant changes or difficulties for the Council.  With the launch of the new barred lists, standard CRB checks would no longer reveal information held on the old or new barred lists.  However, a check of the new lists could be made as part of an enhanced CRB check and currently all posts which would fall under the regulated activity banner in the Council were in any event subject to an enhanced CRB check.

The cost of registering was £64 compared with the current CRB application fee of £36 which was currently paid for by the employing service.

Whilst there was an assumption within the new scheme that the employer would pay the fee for existing staff, it was not specified as being the case in respect of newly recruited employees.  A decision would therefore have to be taken on whether to pay the registration fee for those new entrants who were not registered.  A number of surveys had been commissioned by employers’ organisations to get a feel for the views and intentions of employers in this respect but it was still unclear as to what the consensus view would be.

A failure to conform to the new scheme would leave the Council open to prosecution and create the potential to leave vulnerable young people and adults at risk of harm.  If the Council agreed to pay for individual registration costs, there would be significant financial implications yet a failure to do so ran a risk of being uncompetitive within the recruitment market for hard to recruit posts such as Social Workers.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the changes arising from the implementation of the Vetting and Barring Scheme be noted.

(2)  That a report be submitted to the Cabinet due to the potential impact on all Directorates’ budgets by the new Scheme.

Joe Johnson, Principal Accountant, presented briefly the submitted report relating to the above.

The report showed that the Financial Services Directorate was forecasting a break-even position against a net revenue budget of £10.5M by the end of March, 2010.

The report set out the summary year to date and projected outturn position for Financial Services as at the end of September, 2009.

Resolved:- That the latest revenue forecast outturn position for the Financial Services Directorate for 2009/10 be noted.

Joe Johnson, Principal Accountant, presented briefly the submitted report relating to the above.

The report showed that the Chief Executive’s Directorate was forecasting currently an underspend of £5,000 against a net revenue budget of £9M by the end of March, 2010.

Areas highlighted in the report covered:-

-                      Transport

-                      Vacancies and secondments

-                      Rotherham News

-                      Worksmart

The report set out the summary year to date and projected outturn position for the Chief Executive’s Directorate as at the end of July, 2009.

Resolved:- That the latest revenue forecast outturn position for the Chief Executive’s Directorate for 2009/10 be noted.

Mark Gannon, Transformation & Strategic Partnerships Manager, presented the submitted report which summarised RBT’s performance against contractual measures and key service delivery issues for September, 2009, across the areas of Customer Access, Human Resources and Payroll, ICT and Procurement.

Key points for this period included:-

Customer Access

-              All performance targets achieved

-              Work taking place between the Transformation and Strategic Partnerships Team and RBT on a proposed Revenues and Benefits Business Process Review

-              Recruitment to take place for the Welfare Rights and Money Advice Manager post

Human Resources and Payroll

-              All performance targets achieved

-              KPMG to undertake the final authorisation of the teachers’ pension return

-              Millside transfer now implemented from 1^st October 2009

-              Pay award, together with arrears of pay, processed for the October payroll

-              Discussions with a number of schools that had expressed an interest in piloting the RMS system for recruitment

ICT

-              All performance targets achieved

-              Desktop refresh continuing

-              Migration of the RMBC network to Digital region was being planned through regular meetings and workshops with Thales, BT and RBT

Procurement

-              All performance targets achieved

-              Performance Clinic arranged for 10^th November, 2009, to discuss BVP18

Revenues and Benefits

-              Council Tax Collection Rate 55.94% at the end of September, 2009, 0.33% lower than the same point in 2008

-              Still in the upper performance quartile for Metropolitan District Councils

-              Average number of days taken to action a council Tax Change of Circumstance was 15.51 days

-              NNDR collection rate was 61.16% at the end of September, 2009, 0.92% higher than the same point in 2008

-              It should be noted that the current year position was inflated by a number of significant advance payments.  In real terms it was likely that the position remained slightly down compared to the same point in 2008

Central Government had introduced the NNDR Deferral Scheme with effect from 31^st July, 2009, which allowed businesses to defer payment of a small proportion of their 2009/10 NNDR liability.  By the end of September, Rotherham had granted 314 deferral applications, £430,809.69, which businesses would have to repay in the next 2 tax years.  A further 92 applications had been refused, in most cases, due to the business concerned already being the subject to recovery action and, in many instances, had a history of poor payment.  The deferred amount had not yet been factored into the collection rate calculation.

Resolved:-  That RBT’s performance against contractual measures and key service delivery issues for September, 2009, be noted.

- minutes of meeting held on 7^th September, 2009

Consideration was given to the minutes of the Complaints Forum held on 7th September, 2009.

Resolved:-  That the contents of the minutes be noted.

- minutes of meetings held on 16^th September, 2009

Consideration was given to the minutes of the Website Strategy Group held on 16th September, 2009.

Resolved:-  That the contents of the minutes be noted.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the Cabinet Member (or substitute) attend a seminar entitled “The Total Place Pilots” to be held in Bradford on 25^th November, 2009.

(2)  That the LGC seminar “Online Best Practice in the Public Sector” to be held in London on 3^rd December, 2009, be not attended.

(3)  That the LGA Finance conference to be held in London on 3^rd December, 2009, be not attended.