Agenda item
Performance and Corporate Revenue Budget Monitoring report 2009-10
To consider and note the contents of the report.
(Time allocated – 30 minutes)
Minutes:
Councillor A. Heslop declared a personal interest in Agenda item 7.1 “Performance and Corporate Revenue Budget Monitoring Report 2009/10 – Performance to 31st December 2009” on the basis that the report contained recommendations regarding the monitoring of the Authority’s performance in relation to housing services, including that of Tower Hamlets Homes and Councillor Heslop was a representative of the Authority on the governing body of Tower Hamlets Homes and a Tower Hamlets Leaseholder.
Councillor Ohid Ahmed, Lead Member Resources and Performance, at the request of the Chair, introduced the report which drew together progress reports in relation to Strategic Plan Indicators, General Fund Revenue Budget and Housing Revenue Budget to the end of December 2009 (Quarter 3), summarising the salient points contained therein and highlighting in particular:
· Of the 85 Strategic Indicators 36 could be reported on in Quarter 3, although in year targets had not been set for 3 of these. 14 of the 33 applicable indicators had met or exceeded performance targets, and were on track to achieve their year-end target. Overall 21 indicators had improved performance measured at the same point in 2008/09.
· 19 of the applicable indicators were off target, although 9 of these had improved performance measured at the same point in 2008/09 and 1 which was off target in October/ November had returned to target by year end. However of the 19 indicators off target over the 3rd Quarter, 11 had been identified as missing their year-end target by over 10 per cent and these were detailed on pages 17 to 19 of the agenda.
· An overspend of £1.7 million was projected for the General Fund Revenue Budget, a decrease of £0.643 million from the position at the end of September 2009 (Quarter 2). An overspend of £2.6 million was projected for the Housing Revenue Account Budget, which was unchanged from the position at the end of September 2009 (Quarter 2).
A discussion followed which focussed on the following points:
· Clarification was sought, with reference to the £1.29million underspend for tenant and leaseholder service charges detailed on page 28 of the agenda, as to whether this resulted from more revenue than expenditure (overcharging) and in particular whether this would result in a refund to leaseholders. Also whether Tower Hamlets Leaseholders had been appraised of this position. Councillor Ahmed undertook to refer the request for clarification to the Corporate Director Development and Renewal to respond in writing.
· Clarification/ assurance was sought, with reference to the reporting that National Indicator 154 Net additional homes provided and National Indicator 155 Number of affordable homes provided were off target and that the latter was projected to miss its year end target, as to reasons for this. It was noted that Councillor Francis, Lead Member Housing and Development, had attended the January meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and given optimistic assurances that performance was on track to meet targets by year end. The downturn in the economy, reported as the cause for missing the year-end target for NI155 had been a known factor in January. Councillor Ahmed undertook to refer the request for clarification to the Corporate Director Development and Renewal to respond in writing.
· Clarification/ assurance was sought and given, with reference to the reporting of a zero projected variance of expenditure against budget for the Chief Executive’s Directorate. It was commented that this was positive news given the projected overspend of £397,000, at the end of September (Quarter 2); however the absence of a commentary as to how costs had been reined in was noted, and clarification was sought as to whether additional funds had been used to mitigate the position. Mr Lutfur Ali, Assistant Chief Executive, responded that the Communications Service had been historically underfunded and advertising revenues for East End Life normally more than offset this. The economic downturn had reduced such revenues and this was reflected in Quarter 2 reporting. However this position had improved in Quarter 3 and budget underspends elsewhere in the Chief Executive’s Directorate had also been used to produce a balanced budget.
· Clarification was sought, with reference to the £450.000 underspend for Adults Homecare detailed on page 22 of the agenda, as to how numbers of referrals and associated costs were to be controlled. Councillor Ahmed undertook to refer the request for clarification to the Corporate Director Adults Health and Wellbeing to respond in writing.
· Clarification/ assurance was sought and given, regarding the £800,000 overspend for Administrative Buildings detailed on page 27 of the agenda and the mitigating actions to contain costs referred to thereat. Mr Chris Naylor, Corporate Director Resources, responded that the overspend had resulted from the Council’s original Accommodation Strategy having been predicated on disposals of administrative buildings which had not taken place. Negotiations were ongoing to mitigate the overspend and this included sub-letting part of Anchorage House in the short term. In the medium term the Council was purusing a course to vacate Anchorage House altogether by 2013. Meantime the 2010/11 Budget process had included the creation of a small contingency to meet projected costs.
· Clarification/ assurance was sought and given, with reference to the reporting that Strategic Indicator 109 Percentage of Hotlines answered and Strategic Indicator 110 Average waiting time for calls to Hotlines to be answered were off target and had deteriorated since the December 2008. This poor performance was considered to be of major concern and an assurance was sought that it was being properly investigated and that the problems with the new telephony system were not so bad as to require a reversion to the previous system, but could instead be mitigated. Mr Chris Naylor, Corporate Director Resources, responded that there were technical failures at the Contact Centre that went beyond the normal teething problems arising from the migration of such a large number of telephone lines to a different platform and the parallel teething problems arising from the introduction of a new Telephony system at Tower Hamlets Homes. The contractual issues were being discussed at the highest levels, and clarity as to whether British Telecom could continue to provide the service was imminent.
· Concern was also expressed that the combined overspends in Children, Schools and Families (CSF) Directorate and Adults Health and Wellbeing (AHWB), when combined amounted to approximately £2million, and the Committee was charged with scrutinising such issues so as to prevent matters getting out of control. It was requested that a written explanation for this and the associated action being taken to contain expenditure within budget be provided to all members of the Committee as a matter of urgency. Mr Chris Naylor, Corporate Director Resources, responded that AHWB expenditure was being contained within the directorate budget. With regard to CSF the main area of overspend had been caused by unprecedented levels of referrals in children’s social care, where there was a statutory obligation to respond. The 2010/11 directorate budget had been set to reflect the expected number of referrals, and a process was underway to redesign service provision to cope with the demand without causing additional cost.
The Chair Moved the recommendations, as contained in the report, and it was:-
Resolved
1. That performance information (Performance against targets for the 3rd Quarter), as set out in the report be noted; and
2. That the actions to be taken in 2009/10 to contain spending within Budget, be noted.
Supporting documents:
- Strategic Plan and Corporate Revenue Budget Monitoring 2009/2010 (Quarter 3), item 7.1 PDF 117 KB
- Strategic Plan and Corporate Revenue Budget Monitoring 2009/2010 (Quarter 3) - Appendix 1, item 7.1 PDF 300 KB
- Strategic Plan and Corporate Revenue Budget Monitoring 2009/2010 (Quarter 3) - Appendix 2, item 7.1 PDF 63 KB
- Strategic Plan and Corporate Revenue Budget Monitoring 2009/2010 (Quarter 3) - Appendix 3, item 7.1 PDF 25 KB
- Strategic Plan and Corporate Revenue Budget Monitoring 2009/2010 (Quarter 3) - Appendix 4, item 7.1 PDF 20 KB
- Strategic Plan and Corporate Revenue Budget Monitoring 2009/2010 (Quarter 3) - Appendix 5, item 7.1 PDF 177 KB
- Strategic Plan and Corporate Revenue Budget Monitoring 2009/2010 (Quarter 3) - Appendix 6, item 7.1 PDF 28 KB
- Strategic Plan and Corporate Revenue Budget Monitoring 2009/2010 (Quarter 3) - Appendix 7, item 7.1 PDF 50 KB