Policy And Resources Committee - 11/11/2013

At a MEETING of the POLICY AND RESOURCES COMMITTEE held at Dundee on 11th November, 2013.

Present:-

BAILIES

COUNCILLORS

Councillor Willie Sawers, Depute Convener, in the Chair.

The minute of meeting of this Committee of 28th October 2013 was held as read.

Unless marked thus * all items stand delegated.

I DECLARATION OF INTEREST

No declarations of interest were made.

II DUNDEE COMMUNITY REGENERATION FUND 2013/2014

There was submitted Report No 464-2013 by the Chief Executive relative to the above.

The Committee approved the allocations to the Community Regeneration Forum for 2013/2014 and funding proposals contained in Section 5.2 of the report appended hereto (Appendix I).

III REVENUE MONITORING

There was submitted Report No 466-2013 by the Director of Corporate Services providing the Committee with an analysis of the 2013/2014 Projected Revenue Outturn as at 30th September, 2013 monitored against the adjusted 2013/2014 Revenue Budget.

The Committee:-

(i) noted that the overall General Fund 2013/2014 Projected Revenue Outturn as at 30th September, 2013 was projecting a breakeven position against the adjusted 2013/2014 Revenue Budget;

(ii) noted that the Housing Revenue Account as at 30th September, 2013 was projecting a breakeven position against the adjusted HRA 2013/2014 Revenue Budget;

(iii) instructed the Director of Corporate Services to take every reasonable action to ensure that the 2013/2014 revenue expenditure was below or in line with the adjusted Revenue Budget; and

(iv) instructed the Director of Corporate Services, in conjunction with all Chief Officers of the Council, to continue to monitor the Council's 2013/2014 Projected Revenue Outturn.

IV CAPITAL MONITORING

There was submitted Report No 460-2013 by the Director of Corporate Services appraising members of the latest position regarding the Council's Capital Expenditure Programme for 2013/2014.

The Committee noted the contents of the report.

V RELIEF OF RATES - CHARITY RELIEF

There was submitted Report No 455-2013 by the Director of Corporate Services relative to the above.

The Committee approved the recommendations detailed in the report.

VI NEW CHAIR ADULT SUPPORT AND PROTECTION COMMITTEE

There was submitted Agenda Note AN124-2013 relative to the above.

The Committee noted that the current chairperson of the Adult Support and Protection Committee, Professor James Hogg had concluded his term of office and that the Chief Executive had made arrangements to recruit a new Chair. The Committee were advised that Mr Colin McCashey had been recommended to take up the position of Chairperson of the Adult Support and Protection Committee for a period of two years from November, 2013. A representative group of service users and carers were involved in the appointment process and that there was multi-disciplinary involvement on the selection panel.

The Committee approved accordingly.

VII NEW NATIONAL RESILIENCE ARRANGEMENTS

There was submitted Report No 472-2013 by the Director of Corporate Services advising the Committee of new national arrangements for the management of resilience responsibilities in Scotland under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and the Contingency Planning (Scotland) Regulations 2005 which came into effect on 1st November, 2013.

The Committee noted the implementation of the new national arrangements.

VIII CHANGING FOR THE FUTURE PROGRAMME - MONITORING REPORT

There was submitted Report No 475-2013 by the Director of Corporate Services providing a further update on the savings and progress of the Changing for the Future Programme.

The Committee noted:-

(i) the savings totalling 12.545m arising from reports which had previously been approved, as shown in Appendix 1 of the report;

(ii) that 11.278m of the savings shown in Appendix 1 of the report had been reflected in the approved 2013/2014 Revenue Budget and that further savings would be reflected in future years' Revenue Budgets;

(iii) the individual projects within the programme continue to be progressed and were monitored by the Council's Strategic Management Team on a monthly basis; and

(iv) that further update reports would be submitted to future meetings of the Changing for the Future Board and Policy and Resources Committee.

IX CHANGING FOR THE FUTURE PROGRAMME PHASE 3

There was submitted Report No 474-2013 by the Chief Executive providing an overview of the projects that would form Phase 3 of the Changing for the Future Programme.

The Committee approved the programme detailed in the Appendix to the report.

X VOLUNTARY EARLY RETIREMENT/VOLUNTARY REDUNDANCY SCHEME

On a reference to Article IX of the minute of meeting of this Committee of 29th October, 2012, there was submitted Report No 473-2013 advising the Committee of the uptake by employees of the reintroduction of the Council's Voluntary Early Retirement/Voluntary Redundancy Scheme in October, 2012.

The Committee noted the information contained within the report regarding the uptake of the scheme.

XI SUPPLY OF IT EQUIPMENT

There was submitted Report No 447-2013 by the Head of Information Technology relative to the above.

The Committee:-

(i) noted the IT purchases amounting to 549,573 detailed in Appendix 1 of the report for the period 1st April, 2013 to 1st October, 2013; and

(ii) noted ongoing engineering maintenance costs of 23,007 per annum.

XII COUNTER-FRAUD REPORT - AS AT 30TH SEPTEMBER, 2013

There was submitted Report No 458-2013 by the Director of Corporate Services informing elected members on the Revenue Division's Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit counter-fraud activity as at 30th September, 2013.

The Committee approved the report.

XIII COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY 2013/2018

After considering Report No 462-2013 relative to the above, the Committee approved the Collections Development Policy 2013-2018 for Dundee City's collections which were managed, maintained and developed by the Cultural Services Section of Leisure and Culture, Dundee.

XIV SCHEME OF DELEGATION

There was submitted Report No 405-2013 by the Director of City Development making recommendations concerning the form and content of the Council's mandatory Scheme of Delegation to be submitted to Scottish Ministers for approval and to making recommendations concerning the Council's discretionary Scheme of Delegation.

The Committee:-

(i) adopted the Mandatory Scheme of Delegation outlined in Annex A to the report in accordance with the provisions of Section 43A of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 as inserted by of the Planning etc (Scotland) Act 2006 and of the Town and Country Planning (Schemes of Delegation and Local Review Procedures) (Scotland) Regulations 2013;

(ii) adopted the discretionary Scheme of Delegation outlined in Annex B to the report;

(iii) authorised the Director of City Development to submit the mandatory Scheme of Delegation to the Scottish Government for the approval of Scottish Ministers;

(iv) remitted to the Head of Democratic and Legal Services to amend the Council's Scheme of Administration - Delegation of Powers to Officers to give effect to the terms of this report; and

(v) agreed that both the mandatory and discretionary Schemes of Delegation would become operational in respect of applications submitted on or after 1st December, 2013 unless approval was not received from Scottish Ministers for the mandatory scheme in which case they shall become operational once it had been approved.

Willie SAWERS, Depute Convener.

APPENDIX I