Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Buckley, Keast and Lenaghan.

To confirm the minutes of the Scrutiny Board held on 18 November 2014.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Board held on 18 November 2014 be approved as a correct record.

To consider any matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting.

There were no matters arising from the minutes of the last meeting.

There were no declarations of interest from any of the members present.

There were no matters the Chairman wished to report to the Board.

The Board was given an opportunity to consider and comment upon the proposed Revenue and Capital Budgets 2015/16.

The Leader of the Council, the Cabinet Lead for Environment and Neighbourhood Quality, the Executive Head for Governance and Logistics and the Corporate Accountancy Team Leader were invited to join the meeting and answered members’ questions in connection with the report.

Several questions were submitted before the meeting and these and their related responses are attached to these minutes in Appendix A.

The Board then held a detailed discussion over various aspects of the budget and the following points were raised during the course of the discussion:

·         The hire charge rate for rooms at the Public Service Plaza;

·         Car parking charges throughout the borough;

·         The implementation of new IT systems;

·         An update on the legal services project; and

·         The cost of hiring cricket nets.

Following the discussion it was suggested that after the 2015 elections a training session on Local Government finance be held for Councillors.

At the conclusion of the debate the officers were thanked for all their hard work in preparing a comprehensive budget report.

The Scrutiny Board RECOMMENDED to Cabinet

(1)   The proposed revenue and capital budget for 2015/16, which included a Council Tax rate of £192.78 at Band D (represented a 0% increase);

(2)   The Treasury Management Strategy and Prudential Indicators; and

(3)   The proposed Prices for Services for 2015/16.

The Board was given an opportunity to review progress with regard to the work undertaken by the scrutiny and policy development panels since the last meeting and to identify any additional matters for inclusion in the Board’s work programme.

RESOLVED that the progress to date with regard to the Board’s work programme be noted and that no additional matters be selected for scrutiny/policy review at the present time.