Agenda item
Committee Work Programme
Purpose:
To provide the Committee with an updated Work Programme for 2020/2021.
Recommendation:
That the Committee notes the work programme and provides comment where needed.
Minutes:
The Chair invited any questions or comments regarding the Committee Work Programme.
The Chair highlighted Item 2 on the Committee Work Programme, the Decarbonisation Scheme at the Carterton Leisure centre which was scheduled to go to Cabinet in September. He asked if the Finance and Management Overview and Scrutiny Committee, (FMOS), would have sight of the report before Cabinet. Elizabeth Griffiths, Chief Finance Officer, agreed that it would be helpful for FMOS to see the report and because of the timing of both meetings agreed the report could be circulated by email. The Chair invited FMOS Committee Members to attend the Cabinet Meeting if they had any comments to make directly.
Councillor Smith asked if the report would be circulated to the Climate and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee as it would be helpful when looking at carbon calculations. The Chief Finance Officer said she would arrange this.
The Chief Finance Officer gave further details on the Carterton Leisure Centre Decarbonisation Scheme. A grant of £1.3m was available to carry out the work but the impact of the new heating system might result in other, significantly higher, costs. Discussions with Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) had shown that between 2019 and 2023 utility costs were expected to increase by £750,000 across the district’s leisure centres. In answer to a question from Councillor Maynard, the Chief Finance Officer confirmed that they were investigating a further solution including a hybrid solution in order to ensure that all outcomes had been optimised. Officers want to see all information to enable them to make an informed decision.
Councillor Coles queried whether users of the leisure centres had returned to pre-pandemic levels. It was confirmed the numbers were still lower. There was considerably more competition now, particularly from gyms which did not have the overheads involved in running swimming pools.
The Chair recognised that the discussion was important. The issue applied to all leisure centres. A report with an in depth business case would follow in September.
The Chair moved onto Task and Finish Group.
The Chair invited the Chief Finance Officer to give an update.
She explained that the Task and Finish group had been set up to look at the Council’s Treasury Management Function. Arlingclose, the Council’s current Treasury advisors, provided high level advice. Unlike the Oxfordshire County Council pension fund which was actively managed, the WODC funds were more passively managed. The finance team had drawn up a set of criteria that would need to be considered as part of the new contract due in December.
The Chair thanked the members of the Task and Finish group for its useful work. The subject now needed to be part of the FMOS Committee work programme rather than being delegated to a working group. He confirmed that the contract with Arlington Close would come to an end and a decision would be made about the future of the contract ahead of that.
The Chair listed concerns regarding the investment portfolio in particular compatibility regarding ambitions on zero carbon neutrality. He confirmed that climate objectives had been a high priority for the Committee for 3 years and that it was now important for climate objectives to be included on the Work Programme.
The Chair concluded that much of the Committees business would flow from Council and Cabinet but that other topics would come forward during the year. The important consideration was whether or not the Committee could add value.
Resolved that the Committee Work Programme be noted.
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