Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)                 to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)               where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)             the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)              if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

RESOLVED:  To note the attendance of the following duly constituted Reserve Members:

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)               all Members of the Committee;

(b)               all other Members present.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no declarations of interests made by Members.

The Chair welcomed the Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holder for Finance, the Head of Paid Service and the Director of Finance and Assurance to the meeting and explained that any questions which could not be answered at the meeting would receive a written response.

The Leader of the Council gave a brief introduction and confirmed that, whilst agreeing the budget had been a very difficult process, particularly in view of a £25m deficit, his Group had achieved a balanced budget.  Staff and residents had been engaged with through a range of initiatives, including the ‘Take Part’ programme and public consultations on Harrow Libraries and Harrow Museum.  The budget was still a work in progress, and all petitions and suggestions received would be noted before the February Cabinet meeting.  He had been open about the difficult decisions now faced by the Council, and he believed the reductions in services were not as severe as they could have been.  He stressed the importance of consultation with the public in order to ensure that their views were heard and to be mindful that councillors were here to serve the residents of Harrow.

The Head of Paid Service was pleased that a balanced budget had been achieved, despite the scale of reductions, and noted that steps had been taken towards achieving savings in future years.  There was scope for income generation and increasing work with partners.  He was pleased that the ‘Take Part’ programme had given a voice to the community.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance reiterated that the budget process had been difficult this year, given the need to find savings of £75m over 4 years.  Recent revised figures suggested that the total figure could be closer to £82m, which would pose an even greater challenge.

Members asked a series of questions and received responses as follows:

Can you provide a fully costed budget for waste collection, including information on the separate charge for garden waste?  Does the budget fully reflect possible costs in respect of vehicles and operational equipment?

The Portfolio Holder stated that the budget included both savings and income generation.  The income assumed a 40% take up of the garden waste scheme, which was a prudent estimate when benchmarked against other authorities, and he was consulting on discounts for residents on means tested benefits.  The Leader stated that a written answer would be provided to give greater detail on the operational costings.

A number of savings are predicated on increased use of IT for engagement with the Council and services, eg via Access Harrow.  Currently residents can use libraries to avail of IT facilities, but if they close then this option will be lost.

The Portfolio Holder agreed that this was an important point and it was intended to use the welfare contingency fund to provide more staff on telephone services.  The Leader added that some investment in more response resources was already taking place, eg there were 5 extra staff in the Revenues and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65.