Agenda item

To receive a report from the Director of Finance.  Attending:

Lyn Garner, Director, Place and Sustainability

Phil Harris, Assistant Director, Adults and Housing

The panel noted the budget monitoring report which was presented to Cabinet in September 2012. 

The panel noted that there were a number of budgetary pressures in relation to services covered by the Environment and Housing Scrutiny Panel these included:

§         a £800k spending pressure on the housing repairs budget

§         impact of benefit changes

§         budget pressures from the increasing cost of landfill (tax) and,

§         a projected income shortfall (£200k)derived from parking fees and charges.

Parking fee income

The panel briefly discussed the issue of income from parking further to the work undertaken by Overview & Scrutiny Committee in the last municipal year and teh discussion had at this Committee on 23/7/12.  The main points of this discussion were:

§         An income of £5.8m was forecast for parking fees and charges against an expected total of £6.0m (£200k shortfall);

§         Panel members noted that charges had increased recently and noted claims by local residents and businesses that this was having an impact on local businesses and that greater consideration needs to be paid to the sustainability of local town centres in setting charges;

§         Parking income performance was not uniformly across local town centres, as in  some areas this had increased (Green Lanes, Muswell Hill and Crouch End) though in others it had declined (Wood Green)

§         It was noted that the Council undertook regular assessments of parking pressures in local town centres and evaluated vacancy rates at points throughout the day.

The panel also noted, that at a meeting of Overview & Scrutiny Committee (July 2012), the Leader had agreed that any further scrutiny of parking pay and display charges should be delegated to the Environment & Housing Scrutiny Panel.  The panel noted that although no decisions had been taken, this may be explored further by the panel in the future

          Welfare reforms

The panel noted that there were likely to be significant but as yet uncertain budget pressures on the whole council budget welfare reforms coming in to effect from April 2013 onwards.  It was noted that the introduction of a welfare cap (£26k) and changes to housing benefit rules would have a far reaching impact on local people.  These reforms would present major operational and financial pressures in relation to homelessness and temporary accommodation services.  Initial estimates suggested that together this may result in an additional £5.9m service pressure.

It was noted that the AD for Adults and Housing would be producing a report for Cabinet in November 2012, which would provide further detail of the welfare reforms, the anticipated impact and mitigating actions that the Council might take. The panel felt that it would be useful if Overview & Scrutiny Committee could receive this report at a future meeting.

AGREED:    That the report by the AD for Adults and Housing on the impact of (housing) welfare reforms (due at Cabinet in November) is also sent to a future meeting of Overview & Scrutiny Committee (OSC).

The panel noted that as part of its work programme for 2012/13, Overview & Scrutiny Committee were scoping the impact of welfare reforms to ascertain if there were any benefit of scrutiny involvement.

AGREED:  That the project work relating to welfare reforms undertaken by the Overview & Scrutiny Committee is communicated to members once this has been agreed. (OSC)

Budget Scrutiny Process

The panel discussed the current budget monitoring process (12/13) and the scrutiny of the prospective budget (2013-2015).  It was noted that in the region of £25m of savings would be have to found across the Council within the new budget (2013-2015) and approximately £4m of this would need to be achieved from savings in the Place and Sustainability Directorate.  The departments are currently preparing savings plans how these will be achieved to be published in the new Medium Term Financial Plan (November 2012).

In considering the future budget monitoring process and the dedicated budget scrutiny meeting planned for December 2012, it was suggested that the panel should focus on five key issues within the service areas covered by the E & H SP.  

AGREED:    The panel indicated that the 5 themes on which it may wish to focus at the dedicated budget scrutiny meeting on the 4^th December 2012 would be:

§  Financial impact of the housing welfare reforms

§  Waste costs (landfill and levy) and possible mitigation through increased recycling

§  How projected Council savings of £25m (over 2013/14 and 2014/15) will impact on Environment and Housing budgets

§  Existing budgetary plans (12/13)

§  Other items (e.g. concessionary fares). (OSC/ Corporate Finance)

The panel discussed future budget monitoring and requested that a short summary of financial monitoring information be provided on service areas relevant to the E & H SP.

AGREED:    It was agreed that Corporate Finance would provide a short and simple summary of budget lines for the Environment and Housing Scrutiny Panel (budget, variance, risks) once this data has been seen by relevant Cabinet member(s). (Corporate Finance)