Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of the Finance Committee held on 19 October 2006 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Graham Tope, (Chair)
• Richard Sumray (Deputy Chair)
• Reshard Auladin
• Elizabeth Howlett
• Rachel Whittaker

MPA officers

• Catherine Crawford (Chief Executive and Clerk)
• Ken Hunt (Treasurer)
• John Crompton (Committee Services)

MPS officers

• Keith Luck (Director of Resources)
• Karim Mahamdallie (Director of Business Support)
• Simon Hart (Director of Business Development)
• Adrian Lovegrove (Head Financial Planning Accountant)
• Andrew Bundle (Commercial Services) attended for consideration of agenda item 8

41. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were received from Bob Neill and Aneeta Prem.

42. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

There were none.

43. Minutes of the meeting and the joint meeting with the Planning, Performance and Review Committee both held on 21 September 2006

(Agenda item 3)

Resolved - That

1. the minutes of the meeting of the Finance Committee held on 21 September 2006 be agreed and signed as a correct record; and
2. the minutes of the joint meeting with the Planning Performance and Review Committee be noted.

44. Revenue and capital budget monitoring 2006/07- period 5

(Agenda item 4)

This report provided the revenue and capital budget forecast position for 2006/07 at period 5 (to the end of August). The revenue budget is forecast to overspend by £40.9m (1.4% of budget), which includes £19.1m of estimated additional costs related to Operation Overt/Overamp. The underlying forecast overspend excluding Operation Overt/Overamp is £21.8m. The capital programme as at period 5 shows year to date total expenditure of £54.8m. The forecast for the year of £221.6m is £23.8m below the revised budget of £245.4m principally due to the rephasing of project expenditure into future years.

Replying to questions the Director of Business Support said he would stress that the information shown relating to Operations Overt and Overamp related to the early stages of the operations and more robust information would be provided in future reports. The Treasurer said that he was satisfied that there had been adequate financial mechanisms in place to respond to these two operations. The Chief Executive commented that given the wide-ranging nature of these types of operations there was clearly a role for the Association of Police Authorities to assist other authorities through exchanging information about best practice etc.

Richard Sumray said it would be useful if a report was submitted which set out more information about the processes surrounding the management of the approval of expenditure for this type of operation.

In reply to a question the Director of Business Support undertook to provide Richard Sumray with details of the numbers of police staff premature retirements.

Resolved – That

1. the year to date and forecast position for revenue and capital budgets be noted; and
2. the budget changes to the capital programme as set out in this report be approved.

45. Revenue budget 2007/08 - 2009/10 - financial envelope

(Agenda item 5)

An update on the financial envelope received by the joint Finance and Planning, Performance & Review Committee on 21 September 2006 indicated an excess of projected expenditure over expected income of £91.3m in 2007/08 and further projected budget shortfalls of £33.7m and £51.5m in 2008/09 and 2009/10 respectively. A report was submitted which updates the position further and shows that the budget shortfall for 2007/08 has been narrowed to £80.3m before savings and other movements arising from business group business plans are taken into account. The funding shortfalls for 2008/09 and 2009/10 have also narrowed to £27.6m and £37.5m respectively.

Referring to paragraph 12, the Treasurer advised that he understood that the Mayor had announced that he had received confirmation that the government would provide £4m in respect of Olympic security costs in 2007/08.

The Director of Resources confirmed that consideration was being given to mounting a challenge to the decision by HM Revenue and Customs to reverse its previous stance that the free rail travel concession for police officers was not taxable. Members requested that work be done to assess the scope for making radical changes in the scheme such as the cost of the taxable benefit being borne directly by the individual officers who availed of the facility.

Resolved - That

1. the latest revenue budget projections for 2007/08 to 2009/10 as set out in Appendix 1 be noted;
2. the preferred options for dealing with the additional costs of Operation Overt and Overamp be approved in the priority order in which they appear; and
3. the MPS be asked to identify whether there are any opportunities emerging for an underspend to offset the costs of Operation Overt and Overamp.

46. Financial Management Strategic Improvement Programme

(Agenda item 6)

This report sets out progress against the Financial Management Strategic Improvement Programme and proposes that further improvements in Financial Management should be incorporated in the Police Use of Resources Action Plan for ease of monitoring by the Finance Committee.

The Director of Business Development said that the Appendix referred to in paragraph 8 did not yet constitute an action plan as work still needed to be done to bring the recommendations and learning from various agencies together into one document.

Resolved –That

1. the reported progress against the Financial Management Strategic Improvement Programme be noted;
2. it be agreed that further improvements in financial management should be incorporated in the Police Use of Resources Action Plan; and
3. progress against the Police Use of Resources Action Plan be reported to and monitored by Finance Committee at future meetings.

47. Treasury Management half year review

(Agenda item 7)

This report provided a review of treasury management for the 6-month period ended 30 September 2006 and reviews current developments in 2006-07.

The Director of Business Development reported that it was intended to submit a report to the January meeting on the Prudential Code Indicators.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

48. Renewal of contract for the provision of a travel booking service

(Agenda item 8)

This report outlined the process for the re-competition of the contract for the provision of a travel booking service for the MPS and seeks approval to commence contract action utilising the Office of Government & Commerce (OGC) Buying Solutions Public Sector Business Travel Framework Agreement.

Rachel Whittaker reported that the general question of overseas travel by MPS personnel was being examined as part of the budget scrutiny process.

Resolved – That approval be given to the use of the OGC Buying Solutions Public Sector Business Travel Framework Agreement to select a travel booking service contract for the MPS.

49. 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.

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback