Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence received.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Anna McNair Scott. The conservative substitute Cllr Chris Carter attended in her place. Apologies were also received from Cllr Keith House. The liberal democrat substitute Cllr Mike Thornton attended in his place. 

All Members who believe they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting must declare that interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3 Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore all Members with a Non-Pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at the meeting should consider whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 2 of the Code, consider whether it is appropriate to leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Non-Pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 2 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting

The Minutes of the Policy & Resources Select Committee meeting held on 20 January 2017 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any deputations notified under Standing Order 12.

No deputation requests had been received on this occasion.

To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.

The Chairman paid tribute to Cllr Elaine Still, the previous Chairman of this Select Committee, and gave thanks to the following Members who had served on this Select Committee prior to the election: Cllr Connor, Cllr McIntosh, Cllr Wheale, Cllr Thornber, Cllr Staplehurst and Cllr Moore. Cllr Collett wished to record his thanks to Cllr Still for how she had Chaired the committee. 

The Chairman welcomed new Members on the committee, and invited all Members present to introduce themselves, including their background and experience.

To receive a presentation on scrutiny, and the terms of reference of the Policy and Resources Select Committee.

The Chairman introduced the item by highlighting his understanding of the role of scrutiny, including the ‘four c’s’; compare, consult, compete, challenge. The Committee considered a presentation from officers in Legal and Governance providing an introduction to scrutiny (see Item 6 in the Minute Book).

Members heard that:

·         The approach taken to scrutiny at Hampshire County Council encouraged scrutiny of issues prior to decision making

·         The quorum for this committee for requesting a ‘call in’ was four members

RESOLVED:

The Policy and Resources Select Committee note the content of the presentation.

To consider a report of the Director of Corporate Resources providing a

summary of the County Council’s 2016/17 final accounts, and to consider a report of the Chief Executive regarding the Transformation to 2019 programme. A presentation will be provided to summarise the reports from the Head of Finance. 

The Committee considered reports and a supporting presentation from the Director of Corporate Resources – Corporate Services, regarding the 2016/17 End of Year Financial Report and Transformation to 2019 (see Item 7 in the Minute Book).

Members heard that:

·         The County Council’s good financial position meant funds were available to invest in IT to support the next phase of transformation to deliver savings by 2019. The majority of the funding estimated to be needed was available; a further report would be presented to Cabinet with proposals to meet any gap in funding

·         A business case was required for IT investment to be approved; it was expected that the savings achieved would be greater than the value of the investment

·         It was planned to draw down £70 million from reserves in order to balance the budget in 2018/19

·         The County Council has a limit within which it can borrow funds, and currently Hampshire was under this limit by £250 million. The County already has investments of £513 million, and the investment strategy in place limits the maximum the County invests with any one other party, and ensures the investments are AAA rated (wherever possible) to minimise risk

·         The County Council would no longer receive any Revenue Support Grant by 2020

·         The County would need to absorb the impact of the change in national living wage, as there was no funding due from central government to cover this

·         The financial position for future years included an assumption of a 0.5% increase in council tax base

·         1% on council tax equates to approximately £5.7 million in revenue income

·         Under the transformation to 2019 programme, the same percentage reduction was expected of all departments

·         It was planned to lobby the government for changes to legislation that could help meet the savings target. The Chairman suggested that the relevant Select Committee monitor the situation for the areas identified

·         It was planned to undertake public consultation in July and August regarding the Council’s options to balance the budget in 2019, to feed in to decisions in the autumn of 2017, to enable enough lead time to deliver savings by April 2019. It was planned to close the consultation on 21 August 2017

·         There would be further consultation in future on service specific savings proposals

Cllr Collett proposed a recommendation, seconded by Cllr Westbrook:

That the planned consultation on the budget strategy be extended to cover a longer period outside of school holidays.

This was put to the vote and lost by 4 in favour, 8 against.

Cllr Collett proposed a further recommendation, seconded by Cllr Glen:

That the Policy and Resources Select Committee request that the Cabinet make representations to central government to re-consider the austerity measures impacting on local government finance, due to the challenges the reduction in budget poses for the County Council in continuing to provide public services. 

This was agreed.

The Chairman congratulated the finance team on their management of the county council’s finances, which Cllr Collett supported.

RECOMMENDED:

That the Policy  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To receive a report of the Chief Executive regarding the County Council’s performance during 2016/17 against priorities within the Shaping Hampshire Strategic Plan for 2013-2017, and to receive a report of the Chief Executive setting out the background to, and content of, the proposed revised Strategic Plan: Serving Hampshire – Strategic Plan for 2017-2021. A supporting presentation to be provided by the Head of Insight and Engagement.

The Committee considered reports and a supporting presentation from the Chief Executive regarding the ‘Shaping Hampshire’ 2016/17 Year End Performance Report and the ‘Serving Hampshire’ Strategic Plan for 2017 to 2021 (see Item 8 in the Minute Book).

Members heard that:

·         The revised Strategic Plan for the next four years included four aims, supported by eight ways of working

·         It was proposed that the new Plan replace the existing Corporate Strategy three themes, and the previous four strands of the Shaping Hampshire Plan, and also replace the Sustainable Communities Strategy

·         The performance management framework had been revised and now included greater emphasis on feedback from residents

·         Performance against the previous ‘Shaping Hampshire’ Plan had generally been good in 2016/17

·         There were two areas where performance was a concern; number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads, and delayed transfers of care from hospitals

Following questions Members heard:

·         Members queried whether the measure for deaths and injuries on the road included roads managed by the highways agency, and whether it was only those casualties resident in Hampshire that were counted. It was agreed to check and report back to members after the meeting

·         It was agreed to refer the issue regarding those killed and seriously injured on Hampshire roads to the Economy Transport and Environment Select Committee for further investigation

·         Members queried regarding the data for delayed discharges from hospital in terms of how these delays are attributed. It was agreed to forward further information from the Adults Health and Care Department after the meeting

RECOMMENDED:

That the Policy and Resources Select Committee note the County Council’s key performance outcomes against the Shaping Hampshire plan for 2016/17.

That the Policy and Resources Select Committee endorses the Cabinet’s recommendations to full Council set out in section seven of the ‘Serving Hampshire – Strategic Plan for 2017-2021’ report.

To review the work programme of topics for future consideration by the Policy & Resources Select Committee.

The Committee considered a report from the Director of Transformation and Governance regarding the future work programme for this Select Committee (see Item 9 in the Minute Book).

It was noted that each Select Committee was due to consider outline Transformation to 2019 savings proposals for the areas they scrutinise at the September 2017 meetings. It was expected these reports would include an analysis of the responses to the public consultation taking place in July and August.

The Chairman confirmed that Members were welcome to suggest topics for the future work programme to himself or the Democratic and Member Services Officer supporting the meeting.

RESOLVED:

That the Work Programme is agreed, subject to any amendments made at this meeting.