Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of the Finance and Resources Committee held on 24 March 2011 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Reshard Auladin
• John Biggs
• Valerie Shawcross
• Graham Speed

MPA officers

• Bob Atkins (Treasurer)
• John Crompton (Treasury Team)

MPS officers

• Jane Bond (Director of Property Services)
• Anne McMeel (Director of Resources)
• Nick Rogers (Director of Finance Services)
• Lee Tribe (Director of Procurement Services)
• and Alex Walsh (HR Strategic Director)
• Patrick Collins (Finance Services) attended for consideration of agenda item 8.

154. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Steve O’Connell, Faith Boardman, Dee Doocey and Amanda Sater,

In the absence of the Chair and Vice Chair it was agreed pursuant to Standing Orders that the meeting be chaired by Graham Speed.

155. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

John Biggs declared a possible personal interest in respect of agenda item 12 and took no part in the consideration of this item.

156. Minutes of the meeting held on 17 February 2011 (PART 1)

(Agenda item 3)

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 17 February 2011 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

157. Report from the Sub-committees of the Finance and Resources Committee

(Agenda item 4)

Resolved - That the information be noted.

158. Revenue and capital budget monitoring 2010/11 – period 10

(Agenda item 5)

This report provided an update on the revenue monitoring position for 2010/11 at period 10 (to the end of January). The revenue budget is forecast to under-spend by £3.5m (0.1% of budget).. The capital programme as at the end of period 10 shows year to date total expenditure of £137.2m. This total represents 49.7% of the revised annual budget of £276.3m. The forecast for the year of £206.5m represents an under-spend of £69.8m (25.3% of the revised annual budget).

In reply to a question on the underspend on the capital programme the Director of Finance Services reminded the Committee of the close working which took place at a corporate level with the provisioning departments and other process in place such as the quarterly meetings of the Capital Programme Steering Group to ensure effective oversight of the capital programme. A particular issue which had arisen in the current year was that in the case of very large projects (e.g. those relating to the Olympic Games) it was not always possible to accurately predict in which financial year every item of capital expenditure would occur, in addition there were sometimes factors outside the control of the MPS such as the time taken for partner organisations to go through their own project and funding approval processes. New improved capital programme monitoring systems now in place would further strengthen monitoring.

In reply to a question on the Language Programme ( paragraph 72) the Director of Resources undertook to provide a note following the meeting.

Resolved – That the information be noted.

159. Treasury management 3rd quarter 2010/11 update

(Agenda item 6)

A report was submitted which set out the Treasury Management Strategy and Policy Statements and Investment Strategy recommended for 2011/12. The report had been considered by the Resources and Productivity Sub-Committee at its meeting on 14 March and would be forwarded to the Full Authority meeting on 31 March for decision.
In introducing the report the Treasurer advised the report had been amended since it had been considered by the Resources and Productivity Sub-Committee to included further information concerning the additions to the counterparty list and on treasury bills which members had asked to be included. He apologised for the fact that table 1 had not been amended to reflect the fact that the proposal was for 28 rather than 25 counterparties in 2011/12

Resolved - To recommend to the full Authority that the recommendations be adopted.

160. Police Property Act fund

(Agenda item 7)

A report was submitted providing an update on grants awarded in 2010/11 and
made proposals for the allocation of the 2011/12 grant budget.

In introducing the report the Director of Finance Services advised that some boroughs had submitted their return or an amended following the production of the report.. As a result, there were no boroughs with a nil spend and the balance remaining to be allocated had reduced to approx £40,000.

Members stated that they would be concerned if this meant that the allocation of these monies in the boroughs which had made a late return had only been made at the end of the financial year. Also, as the monies were a “windfall” there should be an expectation that they would be used in full.

Valerie Shawcross expressed surprise that decisions relating to the award of the grants appeared to be carried out by the Borough Commanders personally as the grant making process could be quite time consuming and there was also the question of whether effective monitoring was being carried out. As there were usually grant making bodies in boroughs such as the local council or other local organisations with a good knowledge both of process and local organisations she asked whether the MPS had considered using these bodies to distribute the Police Property Act funds. Other members also spoke of the need for there to be a consistency of approach across the boroughs..

The Director of Resources said she could provide assurance that there were
monitoring mechanisms in place in respect of all grants which were
administered by the MPS.

After discussion it was agreed that a report be submitted to a future meeting on
the MPS partnership strategy and the procedures in place for the award and
monitoring of grants .

Resolved That

1. the current position of grants awarded 2010/11 be noted;
2. the proposals for the allocation of the 2011/12 grant budget be approved;
3. the level of support to MPS centrally supported youth engagement interventions be noted; and
4. A report be submitted to a future meeting on the procedures in place for the award and monitoring of grants.

161. Annual review of the schedule of fees and charges

(Agenda item 8)

A report was submitted which set out information on Metropolitan Police Service fees and charges and also provided details of charges for the special services of police.

The Chair of the meeting said he could not support the recommendation that the charges should no longer be displayed at police stations as this was information which should be readily available to visitors at police stations .

Resolved –That

1. approval be given to the schedule of fees and charges; and
2. notices continue to be posted in police stations setting out the fees and charges.

162. Approval for write offs

(Agenda item 9)

A report was submitted which sought authority to write off two debts as required by the Financial Regulations of the MPA.

Members indicated that the debt owing from Ed-Tel Promotions should be written off as recommended in the report, but they were not satisfied that every possible step had been taken to recover the debt owing by the former police officer and were concerned not to create a precedent. After discussion it was

Resolved –That

1. approval be given to write off the irrecoverable sum from Ed-Tel Promotions Ltd;
2. approval be given to the write off of the sum owing by the former police officer referred to in paragraph 6 of the report subject to the MPS exploring alternatives to recovering the debt such as referring the debt to a debt recovery agency.

163. Efficiency plan monitoring

(Agenda item 10)

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 2010/11 HM Treasury cumulative efficiency target of 10.3% (year 3 of the 3 year plan) by £62.2m.

Resolved –That the cumulative position against the Efficiency Plan target set by HM Treasury as at the end of the third quarter 2010/11 be noted.

164. Estates update

(Agenda item 11)

A report was submitted which provided an update in regard to the estate responsibilities covered by Property Services.

Confirmation was given that the recently approved estate strategy was now on the MPA website and that the previous strategy had been removed.

Resolved – That the report be noted

165. Internal Audit shared services

(Agenda item 12)

The report sought approval for the MPA to enter into an arrangement with the Greater London Authority (GLA) for the MPA to discharge the GLA’s Internal Audit function, and to delegate authority to the Chief Executive of the MPA to approve all necessary actions and documentation to put the arrangements in place.

John Biggs declared that he had a possible conflict of interest in view of his role at the GLA and took no part in the consideration of this item.

Resolved – That

1. Approval be given to the MPA entering into an arrangement with the GLA for the MPA to discharge the GLA’s internal audit function, which will be provided by the MPA Directorate of Audit, Risk and Assurance from the 1 April 2011 under a shared service arrangement; and
2. authority be delegated to the Chief Executive to approve all necessary actions and documentation in order to put the arrangements under s.401A in place between the MPA and the GLA and to execute such documentation on behalf of the MPA.

166. Routine contracts programme

(Agenda item 13)

This report sets out the latest version of the Routine Contracts Programme, which provides members with detail on the contracts above £1m that the MPS wishes to let over the next twelve months on a rolling programme, and the details of those contracts let since the last report.

Resolved

1. the report be noted; and
2. approval be given to the latest version of the Routine Contracts Programme and to the authorisation to place OJEU advertisements where appropriate.

167. Any urgent business

(Agenda item 14)

There were no items of urgent business.

168. Exclusion of press and public

(Agenda item 15)

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 paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A to the above Act.

Summary of decisions made on exempt items

169. Exempt appendices to Routine Contracts Programme

(Agenda item 16)

Information noted.

170. Exempt appendices to Estates update paper

(Agenda item 17)

Information noted.

171. Report from the Olympic and Paralympic Sub-committee

(Agenda item 18)

Business cases relating to the serious and organised crime project and training were agreed.

172. People service update

(Agenda item 19)

Information noted and approval given to a revised budget .

173. Minutes of the meeting held on 17 February 2011 (part 2)

(Agenda item 20)

Agreed and signed as a correct record.

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback