Tag: Cllr Phil Gilchrist

Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee Wirral Council 27th September 2011 Part 4 Financial Monitoring Statement, Budget Projections 2012/2015

The committee went to Agenda item 2: Financial Monitoring Statement. Ian Coleman, Director of Finance said this had been brought forward from the Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the 15th September. Cllr Phil Gilchrist said it was for background. The report was noted. The committee then considered Budget Projections 2012/2015. Cllr Gilchrist said … Continue reading “Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee Wirral Council 27th September 2011 Part 4 Financial Monitoring Statement, Budget Projections 2012/2015”

The committee went to Agenda item 2: Financial Monitoring Statement. Ian Coleman, Director of Finance said this had been brought forward from the Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the 15th September.

Cllr Phil Gilchrist said it was for background. The report was noted.

The committee then considered Budget Projections 2012/2015. Cllr Gilchrist said there was “nothing to cheer us up”. He asked about the 2011 Census and how significant it was? Would it come in over the timescale of the Budget? Ian Coleman said he had spoken to the Office of National Statistics in 2001 after the poor response rate on Wirral to make sure it was not repeated. The Office of National Statistics had watched authorities that had problems in 2001. He mentioned the Deputy Director of Finance. The Office of National Statistics had commented on the high response rate and had confirmed it was be available in late 2012. It would therefore affect the 2013 grant settlement.

Cllr Gilchrist expressed his relief.
Cllr Tony Cox asked a question about page 13 (Appendix) specifically the Formula Grant line compared to page 5 (Financial Monitoring Statement 2011/2012 Appendix) and the National Non Domestic Rate line. He asked if the National Non Domestic Rate was part of the Formula Grant.

Cllr Gilchrist said he took it for granted [that it was].

Cllr Alan Brighouse said he was “slightly confused”. He asked if the efficiency investment funding was to be increased by an extra £2 million every year? He was slightly confused as he could not see the £3 million revised pension contribution drop out due to the early voluntary redundancies? He also asked about the £1.7 million IT savings which he would expect to see appearing?

Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee Wirral Council 27th September 2011 Declarations of Interest, You Choose Budget simulator Part 1

The Chair, Cllr Phil Gilchrist welcomed those present to the Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee. He asked councillors if they had any declarations of interest.

Cllr Ron Abbey and Cllr Jon Salter declared the same interest in regard to item 7. This was because they are Wirral Council’s representatives on Merseytravel (Merseyside Integrated Transport Authority) which has previously bid for the Pacific Road Theatre and Arts Centre.

The Chair said he was going to vary the order of the agenda, and take item 8 You Choose Budget consultation first. He also pointed out that there were ninety-one pages of explanatory notes.

Peter Molyneux (Chief Accountant – Financial Services) was there to introduce the report.

At this point (6.05pm) the Vice-Chair Cllr Alan Brighouse arrived. Cllr Steve Foulkes (Cabinet Member for Finance & Best Value) also arrived and sat near the door.

Peter Molyneux demonstrated the budget simulator on the display screen. He said they could only raise Council Tax by 3%, if it was above this it would be capped. Consequences of reducing budgets by 10%, 20% and 50% had been entered into the system. The results were available by place and the public could see some information. There had been 1,334 responses so far.

Cllr Gilchrist asked about the timetable and when data was going to emerge. He said it was open until 30th November 2011. Ian Coleman said that there would be a report in December. Cllr Gilchrist asked if there could be an interim report. Ian Coleman said that there would be no report until it was closed down, interim information was available and all information was available.

Employment and Appointments Committee 11th August 2011 Part 2

Cllr Gilchrist said he was puzzled by the equality implications. He asked why they were not required for the Finance restructure but were required for the Education restructure and he asked for an explanation.

Chris Hyams, Head of Human Resources & Organisational Development started to speak but then Jim Wilkie, Chief Executive asked why had there been no Equality Impact Assessment on the IT restructuring but they had done one on the Children and Young People restructuring?

Chris Hyams, Head of Human Resources & Organisational Development said they were not changing the structure. However the Children and Young People restructure had an impact on service delivery, which required an EIA.

Cllr Gilchrist asked comparing the two structures, what posts would be deleted further down?

Ian Coleman said there would be a £500,000 staffing saving.

Cllr Adrian Jones asked if the report was agreed and said yes.

The committee then considered Item 3 – Department of Children and Young People Restructure along with Appendix 1, Appendix 2, Appendix 3, Appendix 4 and Appendix 5.

This report was introduced by Jim Wilkie, Chief Executive. He explained that the Director of the Children and Young People’s Department, David Armstrong was current on his well deserved annual holiday on a cruise ship. Although there were no senior staff here tonight from the Children and Young People’s Department, he had their telephone numbers.

He said he was at a disadvantage over the detail at the briefing. However the restructure was a result of the Early Voluntary Redundancy/Voluntary Severance which had led to over three hundred leaving.

Employment and Appointments Committee 11th August 2011 Part 1

The agenda and reports for this meeting can be viewed here.

The meeting started ten minutes late as Cllr Foulkes, Cllr Davies (Phil) and Cllr Jones (Adrian) who is the Chair and all members of the Labour Party didn’t arrive on time.

Cllr Adrian Jones started the meeting by apologising to the councillors, officers and members of the public present over the meeting started late. He thanked people for waiting and asked for any apologies.

Apologies had been already received from Cllr Jeff Green (who sent Cllr Lesley Rennie to deputise for him) and Cllr Johnston (who sent Cllr Gilchrist to deputise for him).

The Chair asked for any declarations of interest. None were declared.

Item 2 on the agenda was Department of Finance – Staffing of IT services with four appendices which were Appendix 1 – ITS structure (31.12.2010), Appendix 2 – ITS structure (post EVS), Appendix 3 – ITS restructure and Appendix 4 – IT Services Manager Job Description and Person Specification.

This item was introduced by Ian Coleman, the Director of Finance. He said it was to do with the restructure of the management of the IT services. Previous to the EVR there had been a Head of Service and four section heads. This would result in savings of £111,000 out of a total staff saving of half a £million. He said there had been a full and lengthy discussion at the briefing.

Wirral Council – Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee 12th July 2011 Part 3

She continued by referring to the Coaching Programme, Mentoring Programme and Change Management Training. There were also training programs and on-line learning. For employees who did not usually use IT, there was an IT suite for training. The CQC inspection had also led to a training requirement.

There had been a rollout of the Selfserve system the details had been sent to people’s pigeon holes. 90% of employees lived in the Borough which meant Wirral Council had an impact back into their homes. They were supported to be healthy and in work, there had been work on awareness, the people affected by Early Voluntary Redundancy and Voluntary Severance Scheme had been given details of volunteering and how their skills could be transferred to alternative occupations.

The apprenticeships had been increased to a hundred, they had recruited young people and were converting some posts to the apprenticeship framework. The Graduate Programme had recruited a further eight who were in place and there were also work placement opportunities.

Cllr Gilchrist thanked her for her report and said there were two things especially he wanted to ask questions on. He remembered the Trade Union representatives and the staff who had put pressure on councillors. What was the restructuring policy? What is the structure?

Chris replied that the restructuring had taken place but there had not been a consistent approach. This sets out the rules for example the % of a job that was ringfenced and rules regarding slotting in.

Cllr Gilchrist asked about agile working. He said Ian Brand had explained the opportunities, but he wanted to know about progress made.