Agenda item

The deadline for questions to be submitted to the Monitoring Officer is 30 October 2023.

Question from Cllr Canavan

 

Could an update be given regarding the situation with Future Places Limited. In particular:

a)    How many of the previous Future Places staff have now transferred to BCP?

b)    Has the previous office that Future Places staff were working from now been vacated?

c)    Are all assets including IT equipment, financial information and intellectual property now in the hands of BCP?#

d)    What steps are being taken to assess the overall cost of engaging, and winding up, this company to the Council Tax payer?

e)    Future Places appears to have operated with limited oversight or scrutiny so what steps are being taken to review any lessons learnt and exactly who knew what and when regarding its operation?

 

Response by Leader of the Council, Councillor Vikki Slade

 

Thank you, Councillor Canavan, I will take each of the queries in turn.

 

1. 13 of the 19 staff that were in FuturePlaces two months ago have transferred.? One of those, the Managing Director, is being consulted with regard to potential future employment and another, the Chief Operating Officer, has resigned.

  

2. Yes, the office was vacated early, on 31 October and a new tenant is moving in, reducing the rent commitment considerably.

 

3. Yes, we believe that we have taken control of all of the IT equipment and information etc. 

 

4. We are assessing the overall cost, but this will not become clear until we have been able to value all of the work in progress and the consulting and strategic planning work that has been completed but not yet charged for.? This is likely to take until December. 

 

3. Internal governance is being reviewed to ensure that we have a robust structure for oversight of development delivery and risk management is in place, which will include an independent advisory board, the terms of reference and membership of which is being finalised.?? We will keep Councillors informed on the progress.

 

Supplementary question from Cllr Canavan

 

I am grateful for the assurance regarding the review of oversight going forward but my question also asked for a review of what happened in the past. It is important to take on board lessons learned. Is there assurance that we will look at what went wrong?

 

Response by Leader of the Council, Councillor Vikki Slade

 

The matter needs review by the Audit and Governance Committee as the most appropriate route for all matters of governance. I hope that Councillor Andrews will be happy to take this on so that we can have it done in public, with the appropriate scrutiny. I am happy to work with the officers required.

 

Question from Cllr Rigby

 

Could the Leader of the Council give an update on the progress with starting a governance review of the current leader and cabinet system and the opportunity to replace it with a committee system. This was promised to commence within six months of the formation of the current administration, and I think we are about there.

 

Response by Leader of the Council, Councillor Vikki Slade

 

Thank you, Councillor Rigby. During the initial negotiations to form an administration, one of the commitments we made to the Green Party Group was to “Commit to A Governance Review within 6 months”. Cllrs will be aware that BCP council was the subject of a Governance Review by DLUHC when we came into office, and it was right to consider the issues in this report as a priority before starting any other internal governance reviews.

 

The A&G Constitutional Working Group had their first meeting at the end of July and I asked them to consider the potential of a Governance Review but they were clear this was beyond their remit and capacity as they were prioritising the following three areas that will be delivered by the end of this civic year:

•         Changes to O&S structure;

•         Introduction of two planning committees (one East, one West);

•         Restarting of Transport Advisory Group.

 

All of which are on track to be delivered by the beginning of the next civic year.

 

Officers in Democratic Services have confirmed that they are at capacity and would be unable to support other work programmes without additional financial input. Other councils have set aside up to £100,000 for such work. We must be mindful of this cost.

 

Members will be aware that we are having to close a budget gap of over £44m and so committing these funds before we have balanced the budget is simply not feasible. Every member of this administration has been shocked by the huge amount of time and effort required by the whole team (officers and members) to try and close the deficit.  I hope that those members who attended the budget workshop on Friday now understand quite how difficult this is.

 

However, the Chief Executive has spoken to other Chief Executives in councils that do have Committee systems (including Sheffield) to gain their insight into the process, risks and costs and I have spent some time in London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames who have a Committee system, where I discussed their experiences and potential issues to consider.  My LGA mentor is also the leader of a council running a committee system and it is a regular discussion point at our meetings.

 

The Three Towns Alliance remains committed to a full governance review but is having to move more slowly on several of its key projects due to the budget pressures, including the implementation of the Residents Card, extension of the 20mph zones and our Climate Plan, and so we hope members will be satisfied that making a number of smaller changes to the way we work, consult, engage and report in the meantime will demonstrate our commitment to this work even if it is having to go more slowly than we had hoped.

 

I can confirm that the next step towards a governance review is an informal consultation with Cllrs on the governance and procedural issues that they would like to see changed while we are considering the more substantive change from cabinet.  

 

Members will shortly receive an invitation to a session in December to consider ways to improve this governance. 

 

Following that, a Task and Finish Working Group, chaired by myself, will be convened to consider the options and bring them back to members early in the New Year so that we can take the process forward formally, hopefully just a few weeks outside of the former plan.

 

(Councillors Bagwell and Butt left the meeting at 21:00)

 

Question from Cllr J Salmon

 

Has the Council any solid evidence there is any cost benefit or other benefit to switching to cashless only provision of Council-run facilities like car parks and kiosks selling ice-cream and whether that outweighs the potential drawbacks such as inaccessibility and so on, that comes with moving to cashless provision?

 

Response from Councillor Mike Cox, Portfolio Holder for Finance

 

Thank you for the question.

 

Switching to cashless payment methods for services such as car parks and seafront facilities offers demonstrable cost savings due to the removal of the need for cash collection, banking costs and associated administration. For cashless parking meters it reduces the maintenance costs incurred as well reducing the likelihood of machine thefts which requires the council to purchase new equipment on top of the income lost. 

 

Any decision to go cashless for services provided by the Council will always consider the wider equalities impact.

 

Supplementary Question from Cllr J Salmon

 

I would like to see evidence and numbers behind the decision.

 

Question from Cllr K Salmon

 

Given the dire state of local government finances across the country, with ever increasing numbers of local authorities known to be nearing financial breaking point due to the spiralling costs of delivering their statutory duties with no additional support from central government (a local example within the last two weeks being Hampshire County Council), what is the level of engagement between BCP Council and our local MPs in terms of their role of representing the communities they serve at Westminster? Do you think they are aware that the Council has responsibilities beyond Christmas lights and blue flags, for example children’s services, housing and adult social care?

 

Response by Leader of the Council, Councillor Vikki Slade:

 

Thank you for raising this important issue. When I became Leader I was quick to engage with all five of the Members of Parliament that cover the BCP Council area. I invited them to meet me on a one-to-one basis every three-four months, and also confirmed I would arrange for them to join me, the Chief Executive and any relevant officers for a face to face meeting at the Civic Centre each quarter. 

 

I can confirm that four of them have had their first one-to-one meeting (Sir Christopher Chope, Sir Robert Syms, Sir Conor Burns and Tobias Ellwood) and that two of them have attended our first group meeting (Sir Christopher Chope and Sir Robert Syms). I also welcomed Tobias Ellwood to the BCP Hospitality Marquee at the Air Festival where he entertained two of his diplomatic contacts. 

 

In addition, I have had two further one to one meetings with Sir Conor Burns and he will be attending the forthcoming Town Centre summit. He also arranged a meeting – which he also attended – with the Roads Minister Richard Holden in Parliament to discuss our request for freedom to increase fines for illegal parking. 

 

For the record, the other MP – Michael Tomlinson – has declined all requests to meet. 

 

During our meetings, I always ask MPs for the issues that they wish to raise, whether they are matters brought up by individual constituents or issues for the Council. At each of the four one-to-ones Future Places, cleaning up the Council’s reputation, planning improvement and the Council’s wider finances have been on the agenda. 

 

There have been some very high profile criticisms of the Council by one particular MP and I have questioned why they did not raise these issues with me direct during our time together and suggested in my public responses that they would be better informed if they had attended the most recent meeting where the main topic of conversation was the financial position of Council, including the Council’s potential eligibility for future bids, SEND funding, business rate reform, social care legislation, and matters relating to the Local Plan and issues of housebuilding and homelessness. 

 

Finally, I do also keep the MPs updated when there are incidents that occur in their constituency, and I am aware that they all receive copies of press releases and consultations from the Council.