Agenda and minutes
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Contact: Email: governance@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk Scrutiny Officer - Sam Murrell Email: s.murrell@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk
Webcast: View the webcast
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Apologies
To receive any apologies for absence.
Additional documents: Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillors John Hunt, Richard Lees and Andy Milne.
Councillor Loretta Whetlor attended as a substitute for Councillor John Hunt. Councillor John Hassall attended as a substitute for Councillor Richard Lees.
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Minutes of the previous meeting of the Community Scrutiny Committee
To approve the minutes of the previous meeting of the Community Scrutiny Committee held on 28th October 2021 Additional documents: Minutes: It was resolved that an amendment to the minutes of the meeting held on 28th October should be made to note Councillor Stock-Williams' apologies for that meeting.
The Community Scrutiny Committee resolved to approve the minutes of the previous meeting subject to the amendment above.
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Declarations of Interest
To receive and note any declarations of disclosable pecuniary or prejudicial or personal interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.
(The personal interests of Councillors and Clerks of Somerset County Council, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes.)
Additional documents: Minutes: Members present at the meeting declared the following personal interests in their capacity as a Councillor or Clerk of a County, Town or Parish Council or any other Local Authority:-
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Public Participation
The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.
For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.
Temporary measures during the Coronavirus pandemic Due to the temporary legislation (within the Coronavirus Act 2020, which allowed for use of virtual meetings) coming to an end on 6 May 2021, the council’s committee meetings will now take place in the office buildings at the John Meikle Room, Deane House, Belvedere Road, Taunton. Unfortunately due to capacity requirements the Chamber at West Somerset House is not able to be used at this current moment. Following the Government guidance on measures to reduce the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19), the council meeting rooms will have very limited capacity. With this in mind, we will only be allowing those members of the public who have registered to speak to attend the meetings in person at the office buildings, if they wish. (We will still be offering to those members of the public that are not comfortable in attending, for their statements to be read out by a member of the Governance team). Please can we urge all members of the public who are only interested in listening to the debate to view our live webcasts from the safety of their own home to help prevent the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19).
Additional documents: Minutes: There was no public participation. |
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Community Scrutiny Request/Recommendation Trackers
To update the Community Scrutiny Committee on the progress of resolutions and recommendations from previous meetings of the Committee. Additional documents: Minutes: The Chair noted the request/recommendation tracker. |
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Community Scrutiny Forward Plan
To receive items and review the Forward Plan.
Additional documents: Minutes: The Chair noted the Community Scrutiny Forward Plan. |
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Executive and Full Council Forward Plans
To review the Forward Plans of the Executive and Full Council.
Additional documents: Minutes: The Chair noted the Executive and Full Council Forward Plans. |
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2021/22 Housing Revenue Account Financial Monitoring as at Quarter 2 (30 September 2021)
This report is the responsibility of Executive Councillor Francesca Smith, Portfolio Holder for Housing. This report is to be noted as the HRA’s forecast financial performance and projected reserves position for 2021/22 financial year as at 30 September 2021. A request of the Executive is that they approve the return of £175k from earmarked reserves to general reserves.
Additional documents: Minutes: The portfolio holder for Housing introduced the report and raised the below points. · Raised that the report provided an update on the projected financial position of the HRA and was based on information officers received by the end of September 2021. · Raised that the revenue account was under significant pressure. Covid has caused pressures and the revenue account was operating in an environment of economic recovery. · Raised that the costs of delivering core services were increasing due to material increases, staffing, compliance and servicing. The impact of this could also be seen in the wider sector. · Raised that there was confidence reserves will cover new in year pressures and the current forecast outturn headroom position has been reduced. · Raised that the HRA had managed well in the past and seen forecasts change from one quarter to the next. The HRA had a robust business plan and officers were working through options to ensure outturn would be close to or on budget.
The Director for Housing and Communities gave a further introduction to the report and raised the below points. · The HRA was facing a very difficult period. Cost escalation had been significant, and the operating environment was challenging with competing demands and pressures. · An overspend was projected for the current financial year as the report showed but it was anticipated that the overspend could be contained to a reasonable extent in the current year but the future impact of this would be challenging. · The housing service had duties and responsibilities to its tenants and most services were not discretionary so options for cost control were and would continue to be limited. · Raised that some cost pressures had been mitigated through capitalising some works into the capital programme. · Raised that a significant amount of compliance work had been done this year to catch up with compliance works. The requirements for compliance had become more rigorous following the Grenfell tragedy, causing an increased workload. · We have had pressures on staffing as for some compliance activities increased checks are needed, for example to fire doors. · We have had difficulties filling vacancies and the agency market has been challenging due to local factors such as Hinkley as well as national pressures due to the current employment market. · We have planned to regularise some of the earmarked reserves we have in the business. Minimum reserves levels have been maintained, but the margins have become tighter.
The Community Scrutiny Committee debated the report. During the debate the following points were raised: · It was questioned why in one area of the report the budget forecast was an overspend and elsewhere in the report it was an underspend. It was answered by officers that one figure related to the revenue account position and the other related to capital. · It was questioned whether the disruption caused by Covid to revenue works had ... view the full minutes text for item 56. |
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Draft 2022/23 Housing Revenue Account Budget Update
This report is the responsibility of Executive Councillor for Housing, Cllr Francesca Smith.
The purpose of this report is to provide Members with an update on progress of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) regarding Budget Setting for 2022/23, the latest Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) forecasts, the 30-Year Business Plan, and the areas to be finalised.
Additional documents: Minutes: The portfolio holder for Housing introduced the report and raised the below points. · This report provided an update regarding budget setting for 2022/23, the latest MTFP and the 30-year business plan. · The housing sector was experiencing a challenging period and the HRA continued to work with risk. · The budget planning was ongoing and there would be pressures on the budget. · A balanced budget would be put forward in the final budget in the new year.
The Director for Housing and Communities gave a further introduction to the report and raised the below points. · It was raised that the projected gap has come down to £1.1m since the report was written. Balancing the budget remained challenging. Officers continued to work hard on solutions and there would be difficult decisions to make. Being as efficient as possible would be important.
The Community Scrutiny Committee debated the report. During the debate the following points were raised: · It was recognised that balancing the budget would be a significant challenge but was necessary to give certainty to tenants and staff. · It was raised that it was good that the budget gap had reduced since substantially since the report was written. · It was noted that the largest pressure was in repairs and maintenance. · The planned staff growth was questioned. It was responded by officers that this was due to some additional staff needed for compliance work and also the result of some of the salaries of staff not having been in line with national levels so there was a need to increase these salaries to be competitive. Only absolute essential requests for staff capacity had been implemented. · It was questioned what the increase in radon cost was. It was responded by officers that radon was a compliance area. There were some areas where there was a higher risk of radon in some of the Council’s properties. The increased radon cost would be a one-year cost for monitoring of radon levels. If the radon level was above the safe level, then there would then be some remediation work needed to increase ventilation.
Community Scrutiny resolved to note the report.
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