Agendas, Meetings and Minutes - Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: County Hall

Contact: Emma James/ Jo Weston  Overview and Scrutiny Officers

Items
No. Item

279.

Apologies and Welcome

Minutes:

Apologies had been received from Cllr Pollock, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Economy and Infrastructure and Cllr Amos, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Highways.

 

Part way through the meeting apologies were also received from Cllr Miller, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Environment.

280.

Declarations of Interest and of any Party Whip

Minutes:

Agenda item 6 (Budget Scrutiny: Reviewing the 2017/18 Budget Position for Economy and Environmental Services) - Cllr Brandon Clayton declared an interest as a member of Worcestershire Regulatory Services Board.

281.

Public Participation

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Head of Legal and Democratic Services in writing or by email indicating the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case 28 November 2017).  Enquiries can be made through the telephone number/email address below.

 

Minutes:

None.

282.

Confirmation of the Minutes of the Previous Meeting

Previously circulated.

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meetings on 15 September 2017 and 3 October 2017 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

283.

Broadband Openreach presentation pdf icon PDF 93 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed to the meeting the representatives from BT (Steve Henderson, Regional Director and Rob Shakespeare, Senior Project Manager)   and from the County Council (Rachel Hill, Strategic Commissioner of Major Projects and Ste Ashton, Senior Project Manager).

 

The Chairman acknowledged the achievements of the Council's Superfast Worcestershire Programme. The discussion today would enable the Panel to look at progress with the programme and contract 2 (to increase the number of premises with access to superfast speeds by September 2017), communications to residents and also value for money.

 

The agenda included an update report and the Panel had also been provided with presentation slides (attached to the Minutes), which gave a summary of Contract 1, Contract 2 and demand stimulation. The Regional Director of BT referred to some key points, including:

 

·         Overall, the Superfast Broadband Project had been hugely successful with an enthusiastic response from residents and businesses

·         Completion of contract 2 had been brought forward from June 2018 to September 2017.  Subsequently an extension had been agreed to December 2018 which would enable the "re-investment" into the programme of up to £3.25m, earlier than anticipated

·         By the end of contract 1, 96% of premises had access to fibre and 90% had access to superfast speeds. By the end of contract 2, more than 94% would be able to access superfast speeds

·         There was an underspend of £4million during the first contract phase of work, enabling further properties to be added to the second contract with BT open reach

·         Under contract 2 there were less premises to be delivered, therefore any operational delays would have greater impact on timescales; areas were harder to reach and had increased operational complications which could be frustrating, for example tree cutting, traffic management and permission from landowners

·         The end of contract 2 would see 16,971 premises having fibre availability, of which 13,356 would be superfast (24Mbps and above)

·         Contract 1 take up of fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) was very high, and a few percent ahead of the national average, at 47%

·         Contract 2 take-up was also outperforming the national average, at 35%

·         Interest from social media was also good and increasing, with 45,936 website hits over a 12 month period.

 

During the Panel's discussion, the following main points were raised:

 

·         Clarity was sought on the timescale for contract 2 and it was explained that as a result of the programme's success there were efficiencies and  BT offered the Council the opportunity to reinvest at an earlier stage.  The Council agreed to progress and extend the superfast programme into new areas and as a result the contract 2 was extended to December 2018

·         The Council's Project Manager advised that as a result of the latest take-up assumptions (50% instead of 20%), the financial models  with BT were amended, resulting in a much increased contribution from BT and a reduced public-sector contribution (of £1.2million), which was positive for Worcestershire. This type of contract was known as a gap funding contract

·         In response to a query  ...  view the full minutes text for item 283.

284.

Budget Scrutiny: Reviewing the 2017/18 Budget Position for Economy and Environmental Services pdf icon PDF 90 KB

Minutes:

As part of the Council's development of the 2018/19 budget, the Economy and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Panel was tasked with reviewing the 2017/18 budget position prior to consideration of the 2018/19 budget at its January meeting.

 

Panel members had also met previously with Finance Managers to look through the detail of the 2017/18 budget position, after which further information had been requested on a number of areas.

 

The Director of Economy and Environment and the Senior Finance Manager gave a presentation, which included the Council's 2017-18 revenue budget, analysis of services for the Directorate, spend, 6 month forecast outturn, commentary on key variances and progress against target savings. The Cabinet Member with Responsibility (CMR) for Communities was also present. The Director highlighted a number of areas, including:

 

·         Productivity had increased significantly over successive recent years, particularly in major capital projects, in spite of reductions in the number of staff from 800 to 400 (approximate fulltime equivalents)

·         Whereas previously, areas for potential savings were apparent, the Directorate was now at 'the thin edge' and the next two years would be particularly difficult although workable

·         There was a commitment to keep highways in good order, and roads were categorised red/amber/green, with the focus on amber, although 'red' roads would also be repaired. This was the approach advocated by an expert witness to a previous scrutiny review of highway maintenance

·         Some of the big projects coming up included Worcester Parkway station, and Carrington Bridge; it was important to enter into contractual arrangements early to show momentum to the Department for Transport.

 

During the course of the discussion, the Panel sought further clarification on the areas identified during the earlier development meeting for panel members, and the following main points were made:

 

·         In setting out the purpose of the meeting, which was to review the current budget position, the Panel queried why the information requested from the earlier development meeting had not been provided? The Director was happy to talk through the areas involved, with the Panel

·         The Panel had requested inclusion of previous years' budget figures and a breakdown of services, to enable comparison and the Chairman pointed out that the omission of the service breakdown hindered more in-depth scrutiny, without using the budget book which was a lengthy spreadsheet document

·         The biggest forecast variance (£1.3m) was from Waste Services, and it was clarified that this was a direct result of the energy from waste plant working more efficiently and producing less process residues and more bottom ash. The Council paid for the difference between waste going in and residual waste coming out

·         Further clarity was sought, since members had understood that waste costs would be less from reduced landfill and there would be income from electricity production

·         It was explained that there were a number of factors behind the variance, including a growth in waste per head, and also the contract arrangements in financing the plant, which was an asset; the mortgage element of the contract was for 25-30 years, however  ...  view the full minutes text for item 284.

285.

Work Plan pdf icon PDF 278 KB

Current version enclosed for consideration

Minutes:

No items were added to the work programme.