Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record and sig n the Minutes of the meeting held on 4 August 2016.

The Minutes (copies of which had been circulated) of the meeting held on 4 August 2016 were approved as a correct record, subject to the deletion in Minute 4 ‘Greater Manchester 2040 Transportation Strategy’ of the following comment attributed to councillors in the pre-amble to the Minute:-

‘The strategy needed to plan for a future where people gave up their cars more easily and used cycling as their primary mode of transport’.

Councillors and Officers to declare any interests which they have in any of the items on the agenda for the meeting.

Councillors and Officers were invited to declare any interests which they had in

any of the agenda items for the meeting.

The following interests were declared:-

Personal Interests

To consider call-in items (if any).

There were no call-in items to consider.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration

The report sets out the process for the Council to formally commence work on a review of existing development plan documents and the consequential need to undertake work on delivering a new Local Plan for the borough.

The Scrutiny Committee is requested to comment on the report, prior to its consideration by the Executive and Council Meeting.

Officer Contact: Emma Curle on 0161 474 3542 or email: emma.curle@stockport.gov.uk

With the agreement of the Committee, this item was deferred until the next meeting.

Members were requested to make any comments on the report to the Executive Councillor (Economy and Regeneration) direct or through their political group.

To consider a report of the Borough Treasurer.

The Medium Term Financial Plan Update provides two reports. The first report proposes a realignment and consolidation of the Council’s reserves and the development of a Reserves Policy which will align the reserves to the Council’s corporate and strategic priorities over the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP). The report also outlines the principles of a summer review of the Council’s MTFP considering the current key assumptions underpinning the financial forecasts and whether these are still appropriate.

The second report outlines the principles that will frame how the Executive engages with residents and businesses to inform how it proposes to address the severe financial challenges being imposed on Stockport by central Government.

The Scrutiny Committee is recommended to comment on and note the reports.

Officer contact: Michael Cullen on 0161 474 4631 or email: michael.cullen@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Borough Treasurer submitted the Medium Term Financial Plan Update) (copies of which had been circulated) which included two reports.  The first of these proposed a realignment and consolidation of the Council’s reserves and the development of a Reserves Policy which would align the reserves to the Council’s corporate and strategic policies over the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP). The report also outlined the principles of a review undertaken in the summer of the Council’s MTFP which considered the key assumptions underpinning the financial forecasts and whether these were still appropriate.

The second report outlined the principles that would frame how the Executive engaged with residents and businesses to inform how it proposed to address the severe financial challenges being imposed on Stockport by Central Government.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

·         Why the Council had taken no action until recently in the light of the fact that the Audit Commission’s ‘Striking the Balance’ Report had been produced in 2012 outlining the increasing level of reserves held by local authorities.

·         With regard to the response to the ‘Striking the Balance’ Report Questionnaire and the section ‘How much does the Council have in its reserves – in cash terms and relative to spending?’, a Member commented that he could not make an assessment on the level of reserves without knowing how much they had increased as a percentage of spending.

·         A Member commented that there was no prescribed methodology in the report and there was a lack of detail as to why the level of reserves were necessary. This needed to go beyond a comparison with the other local authorities in Greater Manchester.

·         Why a proposed reserve of £10m was being held as an Insurance Reserve and what had been the insurance claims against the Council over the last three years.

·         With regard to the proposed Workforce Investment/Change Reserve of £5.5m, what had been the redundancy costs incurred by the Council over the last three years.

·         What the significantly increased pooled budget between the Council and the Clinical Commissioning Group for 2016/17 of approximately £200m had increased from.

·         Whether the budget savings made by the Council were greater than reported if the surplus against non-cash limit budgets was taken into account.

·         A Member felt that what was missing from the report was to how to replace reserves when the Council was forced to use them as a contingency in an emergency situation.

·         With regard to Section 3 of the report, a Member enquired how the priorities were established and what the priority order was.

·         In response to a Member’s question, it was clarified that revenue reserves could be used to finance both revenue and capital expenditure.

·         The reserves held by the Council were utilised by the Treasury Management team to adequately manage the cash position of the Council and also to avoid the need to borrow for capital purposes.

·         A Member requested that the flow chart showing the process be made clearer by the addition of ‘yes’ and ‘no’ arrows.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That the Borough Treasurer be requested to respond to the comments made by the Scrutiny Committee.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration

The Scrutiny Committee is requested to comment on the following options:-

·         the novation of the contract for services and lease agreements from Co-op Funeralcare to Dignity Funerals No. 3 Limited (a subsidiary of Dignity Plc), via Newco (Crematoria) 3 Limited; or

·         continue with the existing arrangements which would see Co-op Funeralcare continue to deliver the services outlined for the remainder of the agreement.

Officer Contact: Ian O’Donnell on 0161 474 4175 or email: ian.odonnell@stockport.gov.uk

The Corporate Director for Place Management and Regeneration submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) advising the Scrutiny Committee that Co-operative Funeralcare, who currently managed Stockport Borough Cemetery, including the crematoria on behalf of the Council as well as providing administrative services for burials, had agreed to sell its crematoria business to Dignity Plc in May 2016 following a strategic review of its business activities. Co-operative Funeralcare had asked if the Council would allow its commitments under the existing agreements to be transferred to Dignity plc for the remainder of those agreements. If the Council did not want to do this, Co-operative Funeralcare would continue with the existing management arrangements until 2023 when the existing agreement expired.

The Scrutiny Committee was advised that Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council had successfully transferred its agreement from Co-operative Funeralcare to Dignity plc and that the legal process by which the Co-operative’s Funeralcare commitments would be transferred to Dignity plc may be different than as stated in the report.

The Executive Councillor (Communities and Housing) (Councillor Sheila Bailey) attended the meeting to respond to Members’ questions.

RESOLVED – That the Executive Meeting be advised that this Scrutiny Committee supports the transfer of the contract for services and lease agreements from Co-op Funeralcare to Dignity Funerals No. 3 Limited (a subsidiary of Dignity Plc), via Newco (Crematoria) 3 Limited, as set out in the report.

To consider a report of the Democratic Services Manager

The report sets out planned agenda items for the Scrutiny Committee’s next meeting and Forward Plan items that fall within the remit of the Scrutiny Committee.

The Scrutiny Committee is invited to consider the information in the report and put forward any agenda items for future meetings of the Committee.

Officer Contact: David Clee on 0161 474 3137 or email: david.clee@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Democratic Services Manager submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) setting out planned agenda items for the Committee’s next meeting and Forward Plan items which fell within the remit of the Scrutiny Committee.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.