Agenda item

This report presents the latest projections for revenue and capital expenditure for the Neighbourhood Services portfolio and traded accounts, and progress against the directorate plan priorities, including first half year (2007/08) performance against target for the directorate’s key performance indicators.

Advice of the Advisory Panel

That the Executive Member be advised:

(i)           That the financial and performance position of the portfolio be approved;

(ii)     That letters be sent to North Yorkshire Police, the Safer York Partnership and the Night Safe Group thanking them for their work contributing to the reduction in violent crime.

Decision of the Executive Member

RESOLVED:That the advice of the Advisory Panel be accepted and endorsed.

REASON:In accordance with budgetary and performance monitoring procedures.

Members received a report which presented the latest projections for revenue and capital expenditure for the Neighbourhood Services portfolio and traded accounts, and progress against the directorate plan priorities, including first half year (2007/08) performance against target for the directorate’s key performance indicators.

The current general fund revenue budget for the Neighbourhood Services Portfolio was £14.13m, excluding the budget contribution to Safer York Partnership.  Current projections for the general fund portfolio showed expenditure of £14.08m compared to budget, an underspend of £48k which represented a variation of 0.3% on the net expenditure budget.  The original budget surplus target for the traded Neighbourhood Services Portfolio was set at £519k but this was revised to £386k after additional budget was received to contribute to the cost of rates. Overall, the Neighbourhood Services portfolio was currently forecasting an overspend of £484k.

The current budget for capital schemes was £694k and a budget transfer of £250k from City Strategy for the replacement of Parliament Street Toilets had increased the budget to £944k. All schemes, with the exception of the replacement of toilets, were anticipated to be completed on programme within the financial year.

The report showed that in the first half of 2007/08 Neighbourhood Services had:

·        Received encouraging survey results on street cleanliness – with an improvement to 8% of land surveyed which was below acceptable standards.

·        Continued to increase the proportion of waste recycled and composted – to 47.6% during the first half of 2007/08.

·        Maintained a high level of performance against target on street scene services.

·        Reduced the incidence of missed bins below the national target, and seen a recovery in performance on missed bins put right the next day to 99.4% in October 2007.

·        Started to see a reduction in sickness absence, but at a level that remained well above target. 

The Performance Manager reported that, in relation to the second table at paragraph 82 of the report, November’s figure for COLI3 (Number of missed bin collections per 100,000) was 45 and for VW19 (Missed bin collections put right by the end of the next working day) was 99.4%.  He also reported, with regards to the table at paragraph 88 of the report, that the 2007/08 performance forecast for target 4 (Number of incidents of violent crime) was 2,160 based on 8 months of data up to and including November.

Members thanked officers for their work which had contributed to the many areas of high performance and also requested that letters of thanks be sent to North Yorkshire Police, the Safer York Partnership and the Night Safe Group with regards to their contribution the reduction in violent crime.

Members expressed concern regarding the overspend in trading accounts caused by loss of income.  The Director confirmed that Building Maintenance was being reviewed to address some of these issues and advised that the situation in relation to Highway Maintenance may turnaround depending on the winter weather.  Members also expressed concern regarding the rental cost of the new depot.  The Finance Manager advised that this was based on market value and was an internal cost payable to another section of the Council.

Advice of the Advisory Panel

That the Executive Member be advised:

(i)           That the financial and performance position of the portfolio be approved;

(ii)     That letters be sent to North Yorkshire Police, the Safer York Partnership and the Night Safe Group thanking them for their work contributing to the reduction in violent crime.¹

Decision of the Executive Member

RESOLVED:That the advice of the Advisory Panel be accepted and endorsed.

REASON:In accordance with budgetary and performance monitoring procedures.