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 that there were no Reserve Members in attendance at this meeting.

To receive declarations of personal or prejudicial interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)               all Members of the Sub Committee;

(b)               all other Members present in any part of the room or chamber.

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

To appoint a Vice-Chairman of the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Sub-Committee for the Municipal Year 2011/12.

RESOLVED:  To appoint Councillor Macleod-Cullinane as Vice-Chairman of the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Sub-Committee for the 2011/2012 Municipal Year.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 6 April 2011 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 6 April 2011, be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

To receive questions (if any) from local residents/organisations under the provisions of Committee Procedure Rule 17 (Part 4B of the Constitution).

RESOLVED:  To note that no public questions were put, or petitions or deputations received at this meeting.

To receive any references from Council and/or other Committees or Panels.

None received.

Report of the Divisional Director Partnership Development and Performance

The Sub-Committee received a report that set out issues considered by the Chair since the last meeting of the Performance and Finance Scrutiny Sub?Committee.  Members noted that:

·                    the NI 64 indicator that reported on the duration that looked after children were on the Child Protection Register had increased from 3.64% to 16.67%.  This would be monitored by officers and the Chair and Vice-Chairman would receive an update at their next briefing meeting;

·                    the Best Value (BV) 8 Indicator relating to the payment of invoices on time had fallen over the past three financial years.  An Internal Audit review of invoice processes was underway and the Corporate Strategy Board (CSB) would review current policies and procedures.

In relation to the Community Cohesion Action Plan 2011/12, officers advised that they would investigate and report back on the following matters:

·                    how successful Under One Sky 2011 was in promoting community cohesion;

·                    delivery of the Harrow Youth Parliament programme;

·                    progress on establishing the Tamil Forum;

·                    the progress of promoting universal access to Children’s Centre’s within the Borough”.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

Report of the Interim Director Finance and the Director of Legal & Governance Services.

A report previously considered at the Governance, Audit and Risk Management (GARM) Committee meeting on 28 June 2011 was presented   at the request of the Chair and Vice-Chairman.  An officer reported that:

·                    the investigation into the overspend in the capital programme had made a series of detailed recommendations for implementation across all Directorates that would strengthen existing governance arrangements;

·                    the GARM Committee were responsible for overseeing the implementation of the recommendations with Internal Audit to verify whether actions had been implemented.  The Committee would take a holistic approach by proposing robust governance principles and monitor the progress of implementation and take action where necessary.

An officer reported that:

·                    a number of key actions had been implemented to mitigate all immediate risks to the Council.  These included:

-                      developing a clear and comprehensive approvals process for schemes in the 2011/12 Capital Programme;

-                      enhancing the role of the Capital Forum in relation to compliance / governance.  The Forum robustly considered all business cases presented;

-                      Internal Audit would monitor all decisions to ensure that they were financially viable and in accordance with the governance framework;

-                      the appointment of an Interim Capital Project Manager to oversee and progress the capital monitoring process and implement agreed capital recommendations within Finance;

-                      test checking capital invoices within each Directorate on a monthly basis throughout the year.  Internal Audit were reviewing the test checking process to demonstrate to the External Auditor that robust procedures had been implemented and followed.

The officer advised that a number of actions were being developed, and included:

·                    monitoring of monthly expenditure on all approved capital schemes against the agreed budgets and progress against the project plan by the Capital Forum;

·                    developing a capital strategy for 2012/13 that would provide an objective framework for decision making and robustly manage the delivery of the Council’s capital programme;

·                    introducing a single mandatory process for project management across the Council in the future;

·                    the continued monitoring of the progress of the implementation of the planned actions by Internal Audit.

In response to questions from Members, the officer advised that:

·                    the capital overspend was related to projects in the Children’s Services Directorate.  An Interim School Capital Programme Team Manager had been appointed to manage projects within Children’s Services;

·                    a Quarter 1 budget monitoring report, including capital monitoring information, would be presented at the Cabinet meeting on 8 September 2011.  An update on the progress of recommendations arising from the capital investigation would be provided at future briefing meetings for the Chair and Vice-Chairman of the Sub?Committee;

·                    the Capital Programme was closely monitored.  The Leader of the Council received regular updates on capital programme expenditure and CSB meetings received update reports regularly;

·                    two recommendations that were due for completion, had not been implemented at this stage but, there were no issues relating to control measures going forward.  The Interim Director of Finance undertook to update the committee on the latest progress against these.  The GARM Committee would continue to receive regular updates on the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

Report of the Interim Director Finance

For the sake of the economy, the report which was circulated on the agenda for the 22 June 2011 Cabinet meeting is not being reprinted in this agenda. Members are therefore requested to bring their copy with them to the meeting.

The Sub-Committee considered a report presented at the Cabinet meeting on 22 June 2011 which set out the Council’s revenue and capital outturn position for 2010-11.  The Interim Director of Finance responded to questions relating to the Housing Revenue Account (HRA).  She reported that external redecoration works had been programmed to commence and that she would advise Members of the timetable in due course.  In addition, she agreed to provide Members with details of adjustments that were made and at what stage to result in the revised budgeted deficit of £1.526m against the HRA. 

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

Report of the Corporate Director Place Shaping.

An officer presented a report that provided an update on progress against the Enterprising Harrow strategy. He reported that:

·                    officers had met with Lead Members of Scrutiny to discuss the implementation action plan on economic strategy.  The action plan guided the work of the Council and its partners.  The implementation was monitored by the Enterprising Harrow Steering Group who met every quarter.  The Group included representatives from Harrow Council, Harrow in Business, Jobcentreplus and Harrow College.  One of the main objectives of the group was to monitor progress against the economic development of the place shaping service plan.  The steering group reported progress of the action plan to the Harrow Chief Executives Group;

·                    highlights of the programme included, working to get residents in employment, supporting local businesses and supporting and protecting people in need.  Officers had successfully met the objectives outlined on the 2010/11 action plan, which included publication of the first Local Economic Assessment and the delivery of employment and training initiatives, such as the Xcite project and vocational programmes in some Harrow colleges;

·                    the current percentage of working age people in Harrow that were not in employment was 30%, and 40% of these had children.  Two new programmes to tackle worklessness had been introduced.  A mandatory work programme was introduced for residents over 25 (who had been claiming Job Seekers Allowance for over 12 months) and 18?24 year olds who had been out of work for 9 months or more.  Residents who were out of work would be placed on a work programme or activity or be encouraged to volunteer and possibly become part of a work club;

·                    Harrow Council were seeking to develop strategic links with large project providers (Ingeus, Maximus/CDG and Reed) to integrate some services, such as Housing and Children’s Services, with the work programme.  In addition, an employment focused provision for families with multiple problems had been commissioned by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) with the support of the European Social Fund (ESF).  It was hoped that Harrow would identify families that could benefit from the programme with additional support from the Police, NHS and other services;

·                    business support available at a national and regional level would be affected by the abolition of Regional Development Agencies and the rationalisation of Business Link.  Harrow Council was supporting businesses through a range of initiatives to help them access new markets and facilities and reduce costs.  This included, Gateway Asia which encouraged businesses to access Chinese and Indian markets.  Forty-five Harrow businesses had signed up to this initiative.  Local procurement measures were also introduced to stimulate business growth and create “apprenticeship” opportunities for young people;

·                    officers anticipated that the proposed Intensification Area would address growth in the town centre and worklessness issues.  It was hoped that businesses would be encouraged to invest in the area and create jobs.  There were growth opportunities in Accountancy, Finance and IT at present, and it was hoped growth in the retail and hospitality  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.