Minutes - draft

Please note these minutes are currently draft and are subject to committee approval.

Minutes of the meeting of the Finance Committee held on 21 July 2005 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Graham Tope (Chair)
• Richard Sumray (Deputy Chair)
• Elizabeth Howlett
• Bob Neill

MPA officers

• Ken Hunt (Treasurer)
• John Crompton (Committee Services)

MPS officers

• No MPS officers were present due to a major security alert. Members were subsequently briefed on a number of points which could not be answered at the meeting and a copy of that note is attached to the file copy of the minutes.

An additional urgent exempt agenda item relating to a property acquisition had been circulated prior to the meeting. The report was not considered and the Committee was advised that the matter would be dealt with at the meeting of the full Authority on 28 July.

1. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were received from Reshard Auladin, Richard Barnes Murad Qureshi and Rachel Whittaker.

2. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

There were none.

3. Minutes of the meeting held on 23 June 2005

(Agenda item 3)

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 23 June 2005 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

4. Chair and Members’ update – oral report

(Agenda item 4)

No reports were given.

5. Finance Committee appointments

(Agenda item 5)

A report was submitted which requested the Committee to make appointments to the budget and police overtime review group.

Resolved –That the budget and police overtime review group be re-appointed with the following membership:

• Graham Tope (Chair)
• Richard Sumray
• Reshard Auladin
• Richard Barnes
• Elizabeth Howlett
• Murad Qureshi
• Rachel Whittaker

6. Finance Committee work programme

(Agenda item 6)

A draft work plan was provided for consideration by members.

Resolved - That the work plan for 2005/06 be approved.

Arising - from points raised by members the MPS was asked to i) write to Elizabeth Howlett with an explanation of why there a charge of £15 is still being made for the keyholder database and ii) consider whether a report will be coming to the Finance Committee on the paper which ACPO has recently issued on fees and charges.

7. Capital outturn 2004/05 and capital programme 2005/06 to 2009/10

(Agenda item 7)

This report provides the outturn position against the capital budget for 2004-05. The outturn for the year at £152.7m is £80.1m below the revised budget figure of £232.8m. The report also sought approval to a carry forward £67.2m of projects to 2005/06 and provides the revised capital programme for that year.

Resolved - That

1. the outturn position against the capital budget 2004/05 be noted;
2. it be noted that the outturn figures may change slightly as the accounts are still subject to audit;
3. the carry forward requests totalling £67.2m from 2004/05 to provide for slippage and re-phasing of certain projects into the 2005/06 programme be approved;
4. the revised capital programme for 2005/06 be approved; and
5. a report be submitted to a future meeting on options for better management of the capital budget– for example, by over-progamming.

8. Revenue and capital budget monitoring 2005/06

(Agenda item 8)

The report provided an update on the revenue and capital monitoring position for 2005/06 to the end of June). The revenue budget is forecast to have a small overspend of £0.14m (0.01% of budget). There is an underlying forecast overspend offset by a forecast underspend on police officer pensions. The spend-to-date for the capital programme as at period 3 (June) is £27.8m, which is 12.86% of the approved original budget of £215.8m.

Members noted that the position reported did not reflect any possible impact following the terrorist attacks in London and were advised that these could potentially be considerable. Members felt it was important that there was certainty at an early stage on the basis for reimbursement from central government and for these payments to be made as soon as possible as it was not appropriate for the Authority’s reserves to be used for this purpose. This matter should be taken up with the APA as it affects several forces.

Members raised several detailed points where it was not possible for an answer to be provided due to the relevant officers not being available and asked to be advised on the following detailed points as soon as possible following the meeting:

• Pensions underspending – (the accuracy of the forecast and what it comprises)
• Territorial policing overspend to include consideration of netting these off and making budget adjustments
• Traffic Wardens underspend – why not delete these from the budget?
• Members identified transport costs, supplies and services and premises as areas where there was a high propensity to overspend and asked to be advised on the kind of controls which could be put in place.

Resolved That the year to date and forecast position for revenue budgets and the spend-to-date position of the capital programme be noted.

9. Medium Term Financial Plan and budget submission

(Agenda item 9)

A report was submitted which summarised the Mayor’s budget guidance and outlined the steps being taken to draw up the budget submission. It was noted that to achieve the Mayor’s guideline 5.5% precept increase in 2006/07 would require £89M in savings (at a 3% grant increase) and £50M savings (at a 5% grant increase) excluding any Step Change Phase III or other growth proposals.

It was noted that an update on progress on the overall budget position would be made to the next meeting of the committee. if necessary, further guidance may be issued at that stage to ensure sufficient savings are identified to meet budget requirements.

A member said it would be useful if in future reports the table at paragraph 19 included the level of savings which would be required at each level of grant.

Members referred to recent media reports that the MPS had been awarded an additional £10M for anti-terrorist work. The Treasurer said no details had yet been made available but it was his understanding that this was likely to be to fund new work. The Committee asked to be supplied with details when the formal notification had been received from the Home Office.

Resolved - That

1. the Mayor’s budget guidance for the period 2006/07 – 2008/09 and the implications for the MPA budget be noted;
2. it be agreed that the budget submission should be drawn up within a precept increase of 5.5% in each of the financial years 2006/07, 2007/08 and 2008/09 exemplified on the basis of a 3% and 5% increase in Government grant;
3. the proposal that the redirection of resources from the Service Review is the basis for identifying the savings necessary to contain the budget within financial constraints subject to ongoing review of progress during the budget development cycle be endorsed; and
4. it be noted that the Step Change Programme will be reviewed and proposals developed for implementation in 2006/07 – 2008/09 including the roll-out of five safer neighbourhood teams per Borough in 2006/07 and a full roll-out of 624 teams by 2008.

10. Routine Contracts programme

(Agenda item 10)

This report set 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 as well as details of those contracts let since the last report.

Bob Neal requested that the officers continue to bear in mind the need to investigate the potential for joint procurement exercises with other members of the GLA family.

Resolved - That The latest version of the Routine Contracts Programme by approved and authority be given to place the OJEU advertisements where appropriate.

11. Exclusion of press and public

(Agenda item 11)

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 8 and 9 of Schedule 12A to the above Act.

Summary of decisions made on exempt items

Minute 12 agenda item 12 exempt Appendix to routine contracts programme
The information was noted.

Minute 13 agenda item 13 Extension of MPS Information Strategy Consultancy call-off contract
Recommendations relating to an extension of this contract were agreed.

Minute 14 agenda item 14 - exempt minutes of the meeting held on 23 June 2005
The minutes were agreed and signed as a correct record.

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback