Agenda and minutes

The Cabinet Member for Resources, Councillor Lee Mason apologised for being late for the meeting.

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of members' interests.

The purpose of the report is

(1)         To seek approval to commence a project of improvements to the Council Chamber.

(2)         To seek approval  for the release of funds to meet the cost of said improvements.

RECOMMENDED

(1)  That approval is given to the improvements as outlined within this report expected to be completed by October 2017.

(2)  That approval is given to fund the project as detailed in the Director of Finance's comments

(TAKE IN REPORT)

The Director of Community and Communications, Louise Wilders,  introduced the report which was to seek approval to commence a project of improvements to the Council Chamber and to seek approval for the release of funds to meet the cost of the improvements.

She said that apart from increasing the transparency of the council's decision meetings, there was a possibility that income could be generated once the Chamber had been improved by marketing to the video conferencing sector.

A query was raised about the high cost of professional fees.  Louise Wilders said that the sound system and build needs to be done by an expert provider but that other work such as the project management would be provided in house.

In response to queries, the following clarification was provided:

·         Mod.gov was a document management and publishing system and could be used via an App. 

·         The equipment currently used in the Chamber would be utilised elsewhere to record other meetings.

·         The cost of putting in a new hearing loop was prohibitive and those accessing the existing infra-red system said it worked well.

·         Confirmation was given that the work would take place during the summer recess.

DECISION:

(1)    That approval was given to the improvements (as outlined within the report) expected to be completed by October 2017.

(2)  That approval was given to fund the project as detailed in the

Director of Finance's comments

(Information only)

The purpose of the report is

(1)  To provide information regarding the use of Local Welfare funds during 2016/17.

(2)  To outline the use of funds allocated for Local Welfare during 2017/18.

(TAKE IN INFORMATION ONLY REPORT)

Mark Sage, Acting Tackling Poverty Coordinator, introduced the report which was to provide information regarding the use of Local Welfare funds during 2016/17and to outline the use of funds allocated for Local Welfare during 2017/18.

Paragraph 3 of the report provided details of the money that had been received and where the money had been spent. He advised that there was very little underspend and that efforts were continuing on looking at identifying new sources of income.

In response to a query about how well PCC is co-ordinating with other agencies regarding paragraph 3.13 and the directory referred to,  Mr Sage confirmed that at present this was confined to asking for feedback on how useful the directory was.

Louise Wilders mentioned that VCS (Voluntary and Community Sector) had now moved back into the Community and Communications directorate.  Meetings were taking place with many organisations across the city to identify the available grants, which are being accessed and where there are gaps.  It was important to find out whether the available funding is being evenly distributed or going to the same organisations.  This will enable PCC to commission effectively.  It was likely that an event of some kind would be arranged and the Cabinet Member asked that an update report should be brought to a future meeting of the portfolio.

The Cabinet Member for Resources noted the report.

(Information only)

The purpose of the report is to inform the Cabinet Member and Opposition Spokespersons of:

(1)             The forecast revenue expenditure for the year compared with the cash limited budget.

(2)             The forecast capital expenditure against the revised capital programme for the Resources portfolio.

(TAKE IN INFORMATION ONLY REPORT)

Sue Page, Finance Manager introduced the report which was to inform the Cabinet Member and Opposition Spokespersons of:

(i)            The forecast revenue expenditure for the year compared with the cash limited budget and

(ii)          The forecast capital expenditure against the revised capital programme for the Resources portfolio

She explained that since the report had been written, the overspend in paragraph 4.6 had been reduced and will be shown in the next report.  At the end of the year, any underspending will go into the portfolio reserve.

The Finance Manager said that the capital programme 2016/17 to 2021/22 was approved at the full council meeting on Tuesday 14^th February 2017.  It had been updated to reflect the new schemes, approved amendments, re-phasing of expenditure and the removal of completed schemes and was detailed in Appendix B.

In response to a query, the Finance Manager explained that use of the reserves was reported each time and 5.4 showed the most recent spending.

The Cabinet Member for Resources noted the report.