Agenda and minutes

Cllrs Hampson and Hawthorne declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 10, the Aspire Trust Annual Performance Monitoring report, as they were trustees on its board.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 31 October 2016.

The minutes of the meeting held on 31^st October 2016 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

There were no questions from members of the public.

To receive any petitions and deputations provided that no such petition or deputation is in relation to:

·         Matters relating to individual Council Officers, or

·         Matters relating to current or pending legal proceedings

There were no petitions or deputations.

To receive the latest version of the Committee’s work programme and to receive the latest version of the Forward Plan.

Members examined the latest version of the Cabinet Forward Plan and the latest version of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee work programme.

The Chair informed the Committee that the next meeting of the Committee would be given over to scrutinising the Council budget for 17/18.

The Chair stated that the Housing Development Company report, was not being scrutinised in the current meeting as the report to Cabinet had been delayed until 11 January 2017. The Chair stated that he would still like the Committee to scrutinise this prior to 11 January.

Councillor Haigh requested that the Committee scrutinise the Public Realm Strategy, prior to Cabinet receiving it on 11 January 2017.

The Chair informed the Committee that he, the Vice Chair and Spokesperson would finalise the agenda for the next meeting of the Committee in their next Lead Members’ meeting.

RESOLVED-

1.    That the Cabinet Forward Plan be noted.

2.    That the Scrutiny Committee Work Programme be finalised by the Lead Members of the Committee.

To receive the report of the Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources which sets out financial monitoring report details including budget variances, year-end forecasts, and progress made against agreed savings targets for the 2nd quarter ended 30th September 2015.

The Chair welcomed Councillor David Norman (Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources), Anne Brinkhoff (Corporate Director) and Andrew Cummings (Management Accountant) to the meeting.

Councillor David Norman shared that the forecasts within the report were best estimates based on the current financial status and that the financial performance was stronger than at the end of Quarter 1.

Councillor David Norman stated that the Cabinet were aware that the Culture and Leisure Portfolio presented some challenges and expressed disappointment that targets were not being met. He stated that the Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure was taking steps to improve the financial performance of the portfolio.

Councillor David Norman concluded his update stating that the Council continued to enjoy a wide range of financial options and opened the topic to the Committee for questions.

Councillor Wilson stated it was an encouraging report with a large breakdown of figures, but that it did not show if there were any overall concerns in specific areas, such as an effect on performance due to financial changes and the resultant changed workloads for Officers. 

Councillor Wilson also raised the matter of the discrepancy between the forecast income and the actual income for the Tourist Information Centre (TIC) and asked if it should be of concern. Councillor David Norman confirmed that the Council should not be complacent regarding any missed target. Andrew Cummings clarified the figures, stating that a significant amount of TIC revenue was due to ticket sales but a large amount of costs were also due to ticket sales, so as sales rose, costs would rise and vice versa. Due to lower sales resulting in lower costs, the TIC was expected to be down by about £20,000 in revenue, rather than £109,000 in the income appendix.

In response to a question from Councillor Wilson regarding the difference between the forecast and actual spend on Housing projects, Andrew Cummings explained it may have been due to lower take up of Disabled Facilities Grants but he would obtain the Councillor further information.

Councillor Hilton expressed disappointment that, with only a few months of the year left, there was no time to address the overspend within the Culture and Leisure Portfolio. Councillor David Norman agreed that it was disappointing that targets had not been met, but that the matter was being addressed in plans for the next financial year. Andrew Cummings stated that the predicted overspend was due to the saving target agreed by Council, and the revenue performance for this portfolio was set to exceed this time last year. Councillor David Norman stated that Cabinet was in the process of drafting the budget for 2017/18 and were aware that the Council was facing financial challenges and would be realistic with their aims. As part of meeting those challenges, Cabinet had received recommendations from the Together Gloucester team on how to make savings.  He stated that 2017/18 will be a financial challenge for the Council, but all portfolios would be scrutinised by Cabinet, and that he would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

To receive the report of the Chief Executive of Marketing Gloucester concerning Marketing Gloucester’s performance

THIS ITEM HAS BEEN MARKED TO FOLLOW AND WILL BE CIRCULATED AS SOON AS IT HAS BECOME AVAILABLE.

The Chair welcomed Councillor Noakes (Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure), Anne Brinkhoff (Corporate Director) and Jason Smith (Chief Exectuive Marketing Gloucester Limited) to the meeting.

Councillor Noakes stated that Marketing Gloucester Limited (MGL) had had a good year and she had been hearing an increased amount of positive talk about Gloucester as a cultural destination. She also highlighted contributions MGL had made towards increased cultural funding for Gloucester.

Jason Smith explained that MGL managed destination tourism and events in Gloucester, alongside promoting and marketing Gloucester and attracting investment. Due to MGLs work there had been a 60% increase in tourists between 2013 and 2015, and 4100 jobs were supported by tourism in the City. Building on this, MGL was looking to introduce a tourist card, similar to the current resident’s card scheme, as well as capitalising on Gloucester’s involvement in the Great Gloucestershire High Street, The Great British Highstreet and its Digital Pathfinder status.

Jason Smith explained that MGL was operating within budget, and was continuing to develop sponsorship models for many events. As part of these sponsorship attempts there was an aim to package multiple events together, as done with SOMAC (Summer of Music and Culture), which allowed for cross promotion of events.

Councillor Haigh wished to ask a question related to the confidential MGL Audit report that was not on the agenda for the meeting, but had been circulated to Members of the Committee at their request. As such, a motion was passed to move into private session and the press and public were removed from the room.

RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the remainder of this item of business on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the press and public are present during consideration of this items there will be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended.

Councillor Haigh asked about MGL funding and whether there were plans to move towards a zero contribution model, similar to that of Aspire. Councillor Noakes advised that Cabinet would be looking at MGL funding as part of the budget and she could not make any commitments at the present time. Councillor Noakes stated that spending on MGL in 16/17 was the same as in previous years, but that it was bringing a lot more revenue in.

Councillor Wilson asked how greater transparency could be ensured, given that the Council provided significant funds to MGL, and what the working relationship between MGL and The Council was like. Councillor Noakes informed the Committee that there was a good working relationship, partly because the Leader of the Council was also the Chair of MGL. She also informed the Committee that performance review meetings were now formalised and that a full report on MGL’s performance would be available in March.

Councillor  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

To resolve:-

“That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the following item of business on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the press and public are present during consideration of this item there will be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended”.

Agenda Item No.               Description of Exempt Information

10                                           Paragraph 3: Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the Authority holding that information).

RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the following item of business on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the press and public are present during consideration of this items there will be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended.

Note:  The Chair allowed a brief adjournment to allow Members to familiarise themselves with the documents relating to the Aspire Annual Performance Monitoring report.

To receive the report of the Chief Executive of Aspire Sports and Cultural Trust providing an update of performance against the plan for the year ending 2015/16 and to note the update to the Business Plan for the period 2016/17 to 2018/19.

This item was discussed in private session.

SUSPENSION OF COUNCIL PROCEDURE RULE 6

On the motion of the Chair, and in accordance with the Constitution, the Committee resolved that the meeting be extended beyond two hours.

After the discussion was completed, the Chair thanked Bernie Jones and Jacquie Douglas and Lise Noakes for their presentation.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Monday 19 December 2016 at 6.30pm

Monday 19 December 2016 18:30 hours.