Agenda item

An update from the Cabinet Members on key areas within their portfolios are attached.

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Property & Corporate Services will be in attendance to answer questions from the Committee.

5.1     The Committee received written updates from the Cabinet Member for Finance, Property and Corporate Services and the Cabinet Member for Housing on the key issues within their portfolios. 

5.2     Councillor Tim Mitchell, Cabinet Member for Finance, Property & Corporate Services  informed the committee that the Council had prepared its accounts for 2016-17 and submitted them to the Council’s external auditors, Grant Thornton, for audit on 6 April.  This places Westminster in the top 5% of accounting bodies both in the public and private sector.

5.3     The Cabinet Member informed the committee that the review of the Garden Bridge project undertaken by Dame Margaret Hodge on behalf of the Mayor of London had been published last week.  One of the review’s recommendations to the Mayor is that he should not sign any guarantees until it is confirmed that the private capital and revenue monies have been secured by the Garden Bridge Trust.  The Council is taking measures to protect its position until it has guarantees that sufficient finances are in place for the project to proceed.

5.4     The Cabinet Member then responded to questions on the following issues:

5.4.1   Business Rates - the Cabinet Member was asked for details of the number of public houses in Westminster with a rateable value below £100,000 that may be eligible for the £1000 allowance announced in the March budget.  The Cabinet Member advised that around 300 National Non-domestic Rates accounts potentially affected by the budget announcements were extracted from the annual billing process while the Council awaited further information from the government on the legislative changes.  The Council was writing to each of the 300 ratepayers in the interim.  He believed that there were some Public Houses outside the West End which would meet the criteria.  Phil Black, Head of Revenues and Benefits Contracts, informed members that around 100 Public Houses would potentially be eligible for the allowance.  However this figure would reduce as some of the Public Houses are owned by larger chains which would not be eligible.  Public Houses would need to submit an application for the allowance which would be assessed by Council officers.

5.4.2   Sundry Debtors – The Cabinet Member was asked for an update on the pilot exercise with a third party provider to take further action on a small number of unpaid debts.  The City Treasurer informed members that arrangements were still being finalised.  The focus would not be limited to debts of a particular value but would also consider other factors including the age of the debt and provider. 

5.4.3   City Hall Refurbishment – Members asked for an update on the decant from City Hall.  The Cabinet Member informed the committee that 400 members of staff had moved to Portland House over the previous weekend.  Water damage, following a flood from higher floors, had briefly affected the programme of works preparing the office space for use by the Council. In addition to this, the lifts servicing Portland House had briefly broken down earlier in the day.  He explained that the Council has little control over the building as it is managed by Land Securities.  However the offices at 5 Strand will be managed by the Council.  The chairman suggested that if there were no other major decant issues the City Hall Task Group would conclude its work and provide a written update to the next committee meeting.  The Cabinet Member advised that tenders for the refurbishment of City Hall were received the previous week and he suggested that the Task Group may wish to see these to understand the rationale for a future award which would be made in the next couple of months.

5.4.4   Legal Services - The Committee noted that the Legal Service is seeking to build capacity to undertake more of the outsourced large-scale and complex matters in-house, which will help to further reduce external spend.  The Cabinet Member was asked about the timeframe for this and whether there was sufficient fluidity in the labour market to achieve this.  He advised that identified savings on external legal spend were included in the legal services budget for the current financial year.  Legal Services have been contacting other local authority legal services and were examining alternative business structures to explore opportunities of sharing or trading legal work which would result in benefits from economies of scale.

5.4.5   Bond Street Public Realm Improvement Scheme - The Cabinet Member was asked for details of other public realm improvement schemes that will likely come forward in the West End using the Tax Increment Finance (Tif) package.  Councillor Mitchell explained that each package has its own project team where it would be important to attract partners and work hand-in-hand with local stakeholders.  He suggested that a similar investment around Oxford Street East will be particularly important given the significant additional footfall expected in the area following the opening of Crossrail.

5.4.6   Changes to Tri-Borough Shared Services Arrangements - Members asked about the current senior management arrangements across Tri-Borough and whether the Council had undertaken an analysis of the transition costs to Bi-borough services following the decision by the Council to terminate the s113 agreements for Adult Social Care, Children Services and Public Health.  The Cabinet Member advised in respect of Legal Services, which fell within his portfolio, that the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham had for some time tried to recruit its own borough solicitor.  With regards to transition costs, he advised that the City Treasurer and the finance team were working with service departments to establish the costs of moving to Bi-Borough arrangements.  These details will become clearer over the next 3 to 6 months.

5.5     ACTIONS:

1.              Provide Councillor Roca with details of Westminster's external legal spend.  (Action for: Tasnim Shawkat, Director of Law)

2.              How will the Council identify the skills gap in each directorate to determine how they should spend their 0.5% contribution on apprenticeships?  (Action for: Lee Whitham, Director of People Services)

3.              The committee requested an assessment of the likely impact of the Homelessness Reduction Bill on the Council. (Action for: Barbara Brownlee, Director of Housing & Regeneration)