Agenda and minutes
PDF 85 KBVenue: Town Hall, Eastbourne
Contact: Katie Armstrong on 01323 415023 Email: katie.armstrong@eastbourne.gov.uk
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Minutes of the meeting held on 3 February 2014. Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 3 February 2014 were approved and the Chairman was authorised to sign them as a true and accurate record. |
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Apologies for absence. Minutes: There were none. |
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Hackney Carriage Proprietor Fee Levied. Report of Senior Specialist Advisor, Licensing. Additional documents: Minutes: Members were advised that the setting of hackney carriage and private hire licensing fees was subject to the specific requirements of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976. It was a requirement that such fees are reasonable and imposed ‘with a view to recovering the costs of issue and administration’. The Council’s hackney carriage and private hire licensing function was self-financing. The fees must not be used to raise revenue but instead were set at a level which aims to cover the cost of administering the function within the constraints of regulation.
The power to set fees had not been delegated to officers but rather to Committee. On the 13th January 2014 General Licensing Committee decided to consult on proposals to amend the hackney carriage and private hire licensing fees charged from April 2014, with a view to introducing consistency between the two arms of the trade going forward by setting new fee levels for the first time since 2001. On the 17th March 2014, General Licensing Committee agreed the fee amendment proposed on the 13th January 2014 and thereafter consulted on be adopted with effect from 1st April 2014.
Further, at the meeting of 13th January 2014, the current Chair of Scrutiny Committee suggested General Licensing Committee also refer the historical difference between the Hackney Carriage Proprietor fee and Private Hire Vehicle licence fee to Scrutiny Committee for consideration.
Between 2001 and 2014, each Hackney Carriage Proprietor paid £187 per year for their licence compared to the sum of £95 per year paid by each Private Hire vehicle licence. The difference of £92 was held in reserve each year to reflect the requirement to fund patent unmet demand surveys. Such surveys were required at 3 year intervals in accordance with section 16 of the Transport Act 1985 and subsequent case law in order to support a policy to impose a numerical limit on the number of Hackney Carriage Proprietors within the Borough. However, on 21st April 2009, the numerical limit on the number of taxis ceased following a direction by the General Licensing Committee. The effect of that decision was to render differential fees unnecessary from that point onward.
The situation was rectified by the alignment of the Hackney Carriage Proprietor fee and Private Hire Vehicle licence fees following the decision of 1st April 2014 by the General Licensing Committee. The new fee arrangements (the first such changes since 2001) ensured that the requirement to set the fees at a level to ensure the budget did not fall into deficit and remained self financing was met going forward, as well as removing the differential between the Private Hire Vehicle licence fee and Hackney Carriage Proprietor fee.
While insufficient financial data existed to reach a definitive assessment, it appeared that up until 2011 support charges may have been set too low and as a result the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire budget had effectively been subsidised by the central Council ... view the full minutes text for item 3. |
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Corporate Performance and Provisional Outurn- Quarter 4 2013/14. Report of Deputy Chief Executive. Additional documents:
Minutes: Members considered the report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer updating Members on the Council’s performance against Corporate Plan Priority actions, indicators and milestones for 2013/14
Members were advised that Appendix 1detailed activities and outturns of the performance indicators listed within the Corporate Plan 2013/14.
The first section of Appendix 1 listed all the Corporate Plan priority actions whose in-year milestones had already been fully completed this year.
The second section of Appendix 1 listed the ongoing actions showing all milestones that were scheduled for completion in 2013/4 and any incomplete milestones from earlier in the year along with commentary to explain the context behind them.
Of the 38 Key Performance Indicators reported in the Corporate Plan this quarter, 9 were currently showing as “Red,” 16 were showing as “Green,” 4 were showing as “Amber” and 9 were “data only” or contextual PIs. The off target PIs were;
Members noted the position of the General Fund as of the end of the year showed a net spend on service expenditure of £14.593m. The provision outturn variance of £25,000 showed a movement of £65,000 compared to the December projected variance of £40,000.
Service expenditure for the year was a variance of £(190,000) mainly as a result of:
· Catering Service £182k · Grounds Maintenance settlement of disputed sum £122k · Housing Benefits Administration£77k · Dotto Train £71k · Settlement of Land Charges Claims 48k
These had been offset principally by the following favourable variances:
· Housing Benefit Subsidy and recovery of HB Overpayments (290k) · Refuse Collection Contract (£154k) · Savings and additional income in Bereavement Service (£130k) · Bed and Breakfast (69K) · Downlands income and grant (61k)
The General Fund Summary figures included the transfers to and from reserves as shown in Appendix 3 of the report.
The summary of capital expenditure was shown at Appendix 5 of the report. The revised capital programme for 2013/14 was £16.2m and the outturn £15.6m representing a variance of £597,072 or 3.7%. A detailed reason for the variance against each scheme was shown at appendix 5 of the report.
The report provided an overview of performance against the authority’s priority actions and indicators as at the end of 2013/14. Revenue expenditure was in line with budget monitoring predictions and the outturn variance represented less than 0.14% of net budgeted expenditure.
The council continued to have general balances in excess of the declared minimum which provided flexibility for future investment in corporate plan priorities over the medium term as well as providing funding for invest to save schemes and asset management requirements.
The Housing Revenue Account outturn delivered a surplus representing 1.8% over turnover. ... view the full minutes text for item 4. |