Agenda and minutes

None.

Agreed as an accurate record.

To confirm the items of business marked Part I will be considered in public and that the items marked Part II will be considered in private.

It was agreed that all items of business would be considered in public.

The report set out the draft revenue budget and capital programme of Central Services Group for 2012/13, along with indicative projections for the following two years.

Members were informed that the Council was looking to make significant savings of £17.8m across the whole Council, with £1.672m of this from Central Services. The savings proposals contained within the draft budget have been developed through the HIP Business Improvement Delivery Programme (BID), which was the Council’s response to the projected budget savings of around £65m over the next four years.

The Deputy Chief Executive informed Members that the planned savings within Central Services were largely being achieved through service efficiencies without impacting on front line services to residents. The focus had been on re-prioritising activity and identifying areas of duplication and overlap.

Members were informed that the savings proposals for 2012/13 had been ongoing throughout this year, but with many of the savings proposals having already been implemented or were in the process of being so.

Reference was made to Development and Risk Contingency and Service Pressures which currently totalled £620,000 and consisted of the following:

·        £400,000 for the Council’s Liability for uninsured claims – Under the present insurance policy, the Council has agreed to fund the excess values (£100,000)

·        A new provision of £220,000 for the Schools’ Payroll Service – A number of schools had taken the decision to move to alternative payroll providers. A full review of the Payroll and transactional HR services would be taking place which would result in a reduced workforce

Members were informed that there were indicative budget proposals for 2013/14 but there would be a number of issues to factor into budgets; the transfer of public health responsibilities to local authorities and the Local Government Finance Bill.

Members praised officers for the work which had been carried out in the preparation of the budget and the work which had been carried out in relation to efficiency savings which had had a minimal impact on front line services.    

RESOLVED -

1.      That the budget projections and the combined budget proposals put forward by the Central Services Group be noted and officers be congratulated for the work they had carried out in preparation of the budget.

Members were provided with details of the voluntary sector core grants programme for 2012/13 which had been agreed by Cabinet at its meeting on 15 December 2011.

A further report had been prepared for Cabinet on 26 January 2012. The proposals, subject to the agreement of the overall budget in February, were for a significant uplift in the overall core grants budget of £400,000 in 2012/13 to support frontline services in the voluntary sector. Proposals also included increasing support for some of the Borough’s most vulnerable residents including victims of domestic violence, sufferers of dementia and older people. There was also a proposal for a new small grants programme.

Cabinet was also being recommended to agree a stronger approach to performance management of core grants including right of audit, to ensure value for money. A reduction in grant to Hillingdon Association of Voluntary Services was also proposed to enable greater focus on front line services. 

Members congratulated officers on the work which had been carried out in relation to voluntary sector grants and it was noted that the increase in the level of grants showed this Council’s commitment to the voluntary sector, at a time when many local authorities were cutting funding to the voluntary sector.         

RESOLVED -

1. That the information contained within the report and provided in the officer’s update, be noted.

The Head of Audit and Enforcement and the Corporate Fraud Investigations Manager attended the meeting and provided Members with a presentation on the work of the Corporate Fraud Team.

Particular reference was made to the high profile work which had been carried out in relation to Blue Badge Checks and Housing tenancies. In relation to Housing tenancies, Members were informed that the Council had now reclaimed 22 properties from people who had been sub-letting Council property. This work was on-going and would ensure that the Council would save money and provide accommodation to residents and families with a genuine housing need.

Members congratulated officers on the performance of the Team which indicated that the London Borough of Hillingdon was at the forefront of tackling fraud.

RESOLVED -

1. That the information contained within the report and provided in the officer’s presentation, be noted.

Members were provided with a presentation from the ICT Strategist on the background to the Council’s Hillingdon First Card scheme, which was this Committee’s second major review. The aim of the review would be to review the operation and function of the Hillingdon First Card and to look at other possible enhancements / additions to the successful card.

The Committee noted that any proposals which arose out of the review would have to be cost neutral to the Council and involve no extra costs to the administration of the card itself.

Areas covered in the presentation included:

The Purpose of the Card and why was it introduced?

·        Hillingdon First Card offered residents preferential rates at Council parking and leisure facilities, access to libraries and the Council’s waste centre and discounts at participating local businesses (over 335 outlets around the Borough)

·        Cards were available to all Hillingdon Residents who were aged 18 and over, although drivers who were 17 years old could also request a card

·        The Card was the most extensive multi-application local authority smart card in the UK

·        The Card was introduced to give resident’s satisfaction and a sense of belonging with the local community. To give privileged rates to local residents for parking and leisure services. To help promote local businesses during a difficult economic time. To promote ‘well being’ through increases in leisure facility and library usage. To modernise and improve access to Council services 

·        The tag line for the cards was ‘First for residents, first for businesses, first for Hillingdon

How does the scheme operate?

·           The card was a MiFare 4K Classic contact-less multi-application smartcard which had a small chip, segregated into pre-defined sections or ‘applications’. 

·           The card chip contained data in each section that allowed access to a service. For example the parking section application communicates with the parking machine, via the card reader, to authenticate access to the tariff.

·           The cards were encoded to a Local Authority Smartcard Standards e-Organisation profile  which meant it was inter-operable with other Local Authority cards

·           Overall scheme management was carried out using the ONYX Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. This system had an interface with the library system and dedicated card management system.

·           Requests for new cards, replacement cards and to cancel cards were carried out via the CRM. This could be done by residents online themselves, through the contact centre by phone or when visiting a library.

·           There was also a dedicated Card Management System called Smart Connect that issued the card numbers, card history, stored the encoding data and processed the ‘hot-list’ of cards reported lost/stolen.

·           Other systems linked to the Card Management System and involved in the scheme were the leisure management system and the parking management system.

Implementation of the Scheme

·          The merging of Council Tax and Library records created an initial data set of 143,000 residents

·          Advice had been given that the use of the full electoral register would breach the data protection act because most residents had opted not to allow  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

Members would be contacted regarding a date change for the next meeting in February.

Noted.

Noted.