Minutes

Minutes of the special meeting of the Finance and Resources Committee held on 18 December 2008 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Steve O’Connell (Chair)
• Faith Boardman (Vice-Chairman)
• Reshard Auladin
• Dee Doocey
• Deborah Regal
• Graham Speed
• Richard Tracey

MPA officers

• Catherine Crawford (Chief Executive)
• Ken Hunt (Treasurer)
• John Crompton (Committee Services)
• Peter Tickner (Director of Internal Audit) attended for supplementary agenda item 15

MPS officers

• Jane Bond (Deputy Director, Property Services)
• Henry Cohen (DoI Real Time Communication and SAM/SOD Workstream Manager)
• Alan Croney (Director, Property Services)
• Simon Hart (Acting Director of Finance Services)
• Anne McMeel (Director of Resources)
• Patrick Philips Director of Information)
• Henry Cohen (Director, IT Procurement)

81. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were received from Cindy Butts and Kit Malthouse.

82. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

There were none.

83. Minutes of the meeting held on 20 November 2008

(Agenda item 3)

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of the meeting held on 20 November 2008 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

84 Revenue and capital budget monitoring report 2008/09 – period 7

(Agenda item 4)

This report provided an update on the revenue and capital budget monitoring position for 2008/09 at Period 7 (to the end of October). The revenue budget is forecast to underspend by £22m (approximately 0.7% of budget). The capital programme shows year to date total expenditure of £66.9m. This total represents 31.1% of the revised annual budget of £214.9m. The forecast for the year of £210m is £4.9m below the revised annual budget.

The Acting Director of Finance Services requested that recommendation 2 be amended to reflect the fact that the budget changes were contained in paragraphs 43-47 of the report.

Arising from consideration of this report, Faith Boardman asked to be briefed on the treatment of VAT within the MPS and in particular on the implications for the MPS of the recent temporary reduction in the rate of the tax.

Resolved – That

1. the year to date and forecast position for revenue and capital budgets be noted; and
2. the budget changes as described in paragraphs 43 to 47 be approved.

85. Efficiency plan monitoring

(Agenda item 5)

This report provided an update on the monitoring of the Metropolitan Police Authority /Metropolitan Police Service 2008/09 – 2010/11 efficiency plan. Overall, the forecast indicates an over-achievement against the 2008/09 efficiency target by £2.8m.

The Acting Director of Finance Services undertook to advise members of the reason for the large variation in respect of special constables.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

86. Provisional policing and community funding settlement 2009/10

(Agenda item 6)

The provisional police funding allocations 2009/10 were announced by the Minister of State for Policing, Crime and Security on 26 November. This report provided details of the allocations which were as anticipated following the first three year grant announcement from Ministers last year.

Members requested clarification of the statement concerning Icelandic investments at paragraph 4. The Treasurer explained that full details had not yet been formally published, but it was anticipated that regulations will enable authorities to postpone the impact on budget calculations of the impairments required by accounting practice from the financial year 2008-09 to 2009-10.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

87. Activity Based Costing update

(Agenda item 7)

This report provided an update on the status of Activity Based Costing (ABC) in light of the Home Office Green Paper recommendation that ABC should be replaced with an alternative which costs less, is easier to use and has a greater impact on productivity. The report also outlined the alternative ‘objective analysis’ as indicated within the review by Sir Ronnie Flanagan.

Faith Boardman asked to be briefed on the new objective analysis process. The Chairman also requested that a report on the new process be submitted to a future meeting.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

88. Property Services update paper

(Agenda item 8)

This report provided an update in regard to the responsibilities covered by Property Services and asked members to consider how they wished to receive future updates.

Members confirmed that estate matters were of general interest to members and they would wish to be kept advised of development by means of a regular report. There might be some scope for more detailed points relating to the estate to be reported to the Resources Sub-Committee but there should be an avoidance of duplication.

With regard to the report to be submitted to a future meeting on the proposed new firearms training facility, members requested that the report include details of the operational requirement for the new facility and any linkages with requirements for 2012.

Resolved

1. The report be noted; and
2. Reports to continue to be made to the Committee.

89. Exclusion of press and public

(Agenda item 9)

Resolved - That under section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involved disclosure of exempt information as detailed in paragraphs 3 and 7 of Schedule 12A to the above Act.

Summary of decisions made on exempt items

Minute 90 agenda item 10 – Exempt appendices to Property Services update paper
Information noted. Also noted that the completion of the purchase of New Scotland Yard had taken place earlier in the day.

Minute 91 agenda item 11 – Request to dispose of a property in Westminster
Deferred to the next meeting.

Minute 92 agenda item 12 – Real Time Communications
Approval given to the early implementation of the first tranche of essential telephony replacement in West London starting in 2009/10.

Minute 93 agenda item 13 – Extension to BT global services contract for 999 call routing system
Agreed to extend the contract

Minute 94 agenda item 14 - Exempt minutes of the Finance Committee held on 20 November 2008
Agreed and signed as a correct record.

Additional item

Minute 95 – supplementary item 15 - local early payment initiatives to small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
The Committee considered a report concerning a request that as a temporary measure, payment of agreed invoices to SMEs should be paid within 10 working days. A further report on how this might be achieved to be submitted to the next meeting.

The meeting closed at 4.15 p.m.

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