Issue - meetings

The Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 22 September  2016 (Minute *13) considered the Report of it’s Task Group (CS/16/28), attached, looking at how the County Council generated income to maximise and safeguard council services and the corresponding need for a strategic approach, to maximise  capital receipts and fully realise the potential of its assets, while remaining conscious of and staying true to its core business and purposes and resolved that ‘the recommendations of the Task Group be endorsed and forwarded to Cabinet for their consideration’.

Recommendation: that the Task Group’s proposals be endorsed and the Cabinet Members for Resources & Asset Management and for Performance & Engagement be asked to take all appropriate action, to ensure the principles outlined therein are embedded in the Council’s policies, practices and actions now and into the future.

(Councillors Greenslade, Gilbert and Westlake attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item).

The Cabinet noted that the Corporate Services Scrutiny Committee had, at its meeting on 22 September  2016 (Minute *13), considered the Report of it’s Task Group (CS/16/28).  That Group had looked, in a constructive manner, at how the County Council generated income to maximise and safeguard council services and the need for a strategic approach going forward, to maximise capital receipts and fully realise the potential of the Council’s assets, while remaining conscious of its core business and purposes. The Scrutiny Committee had resolved that ‘the recommendations of the Task Group be endorsed and forwarded to Cabinet for their consideration’.

It was MOVED by Councillor Clatworthy, SECONDED by Councillor Hart, and unanimously

RESOLVED that the Task Group’s proposals be endorsed and the Cabinet Members for Resources & Asset Management and for Performance & Engagement be asked to take all appropriate action, to ensure the principles outlined therein were embedded in the Council’s policies, practices and actions now and into the future.

Final Report of the Income Generation Scrutiny Task Group (CS/16/28), attached.

The Committee considered the Final Report of the Income Generation Scrutiny Task Group, (CS/16/28), comprising of Councillors Chugg, Colthorpe, Gilbert (Chairman), Greenslade, Hosking and Julian, which investigated how the County Council could generate income, in order to safeguard council services, in light of the impacts of large reductions in central government funding which has forced Councils to make severe budget cuts and review how services were provided, often by either reducing or ceasing to deliver some services altogether.

This joint Task Group looked at how the Council currently generated income such as the ability to charge for non-statutory services, joint venture contracts (for example, Virgin Care, Babcock, Devon Norse and NPS SW), in house services such as ICT and internal audit which were also trading with schools and other local authorities and capital income from the Estates Strategy and the sale of assets.

The Task Group also examined three Council services which were generating income to evaluate the reasons for that success and whether this could be built on, expanded or rolled out wider across the Council. These were ScoMIS ICT Services, Trading Standards and Asset Management. The Task Group also looked at what other Local Authorities were doing and the potential for further income generation ideas such as Solar energy production, Residential Development on County Farms and charging schools to convert to academy status (noting the risks and challenges associated with each of these).

In summary, the Council needed to develop a strategic approach to income generation, taking measured risks, maximising capital receipts and in the long term, fully realising the potential of its assets, while remaining conscious of and staying true to its core business and purpose.

The three recommendations of the task group, with detailed information on how they might be achieved were outlined in full at page two of the report.

The Chairman of the Task Group highlighted that the report did not cover all areas of the Council where income was generated and stated it was good to reflect on some areas where there had been success.

In discussion Members asked the following questions and made the following comments:

·         clarification of the next steps in the process and whether an action plan of the recommendations would be made available;

·         that Members needed to be mindful of the community impact in relation to any sale or release of assets;

·         that the new Council should not lose sight of the Task Group report and should aim to revisit it in the future; and

·         the benefit of an officer group to look at the recommendations in detail, to ascertain what could be progressed immediately and some of the longer term suggestions, that would be subject to separate reviews and business cases, subject to Cabinet approval;

It was MOVED by Councillor Rowe, SECONDED by Councillor Brazil, and

RESOLVED that the recommendations of the Task Group be endorsed and forwarded to Cabinet for their consideration.