Policy And Resources Committee - 20/02/2007

At a MEETING of the POLICY AND RESOURCES COMMITTEE held at Dundee on 20th February, 2007.

Present:-

BAILIES

COUNCILLORS

Councillor Jill SHIMI, Convener, in the Chair.

The minute of meeting of this Committee of 12th February, 2007 was held as read.

Unless marked thus * all items stand delegated.

I CAPITAL PLAN 2007/2010 - GENERAL SERVICES

There was submitted Report No 132-2007 by the Head of Finance relative to the above.

The Committee:

(i) approved the Council's General Services Capital Plan for 2007-2010;

(ii) noted the position for the 2006/2007 projected capital expenditure programme, as at 31st March, 2007; and

(iii) approved the Prudential Indicators for the Capital Plan 2007-2010, as shown in Appendix I of the report, and noted that these indicators demonstrated that the Capital Plan 2007-2010 was affordable and prudent.

II REVENUE BUDGET 2007-2010

Reference was made to Article IV of the minute of meeting of this Committee of 15th January, 2007 and to Article I of the minute of meeting of the Education Committee of 19th February, 2007.

The Committee had before them the following:-

(i) PROVISIONAL REVENUE BUDGET VOLUME 2007-2010

(ii) REVIEW OF CHARGES 2007/2008

(iii)                                       REVENUE BUDGET AND COUNCIL TAX 2007/2008

There was submitted Report No 128-2007 by the Head of Finance relative to the above.

The Committee gave consideration to the recommendations in the report as far as its interests were concerned and,

(i) noted the procedure for setting the 2007/2008 Revenue Budget and Council Tax, as previously agreed by the Policy and Resources Committee on 15th January, 2007, and as set out in Appendix A to this report;

(ii) noted the contents of the Provisional 2007-2010 Revenue Budget Volume;

(iii) approved the technical budget adjustment details in paragraph 6.2 of the report, and agreed to amend the Provisional 2007-2010 Revenue Budget accordingly.

(iv) EXTENSION OF LINK NURSERY SCHEME

There was submitted Report No 104-2007 by the Director of Education relative to the above.

The Committee gave consideration to the report and approved the proposal to bringing nursery classes with less than 30 full-time equivalent (FTE) places, namely - Barnhill, Eastern, Macalpine, St Mary's and St Vincent's into the Link Nursery Scheme from August 2007.

(v) TRANSFER OF DUNDEE AIRPORT TO HIGHLAND AND ISLANDS AIRPORTS (HIAL)

There was submitted Report No 111-2007 by the Depute Chief Executive (Finance) relative to the above.

The Committee gave consideration to the report and,

(i) agreed that the operation of Dundee Airport be transferred to HIAL with effect from 1st Se ptember, 2007;

(ii) authorised the Depute Chief Executive (Support Services) to enter into a 175 year lease of Dundee Airport facilities with the Scottish Executive;

(iii) noted that as part of the Dundee Airport transfer, the staff at Dundee Airport would become HIAL employees, under a TUPE transfer. HIAL would also seek to become an admitted body of the Tayside Superannuation Scheme and they would seek admission in the near future. A report on this matter would be considered by the Finance Committee. Trade Unions would be consulted on the proposed transfer under TUPE regulations;

(iv) remitted to the Depute Chief Executive (Support Services) and Director of Economic Development to conclude the arrangements as set out in Paragraph 6.5 of the report;

(v) noted that the arrangements proposed by the Scottish Executive would reduce the amount of net budgeted Revenue Expenditure to be met from the 2007/08 Council Tax by 1.571m and this adjustment would now be reflected in the 2007/08 Revenue Budget and Council Tax.

At this stage of the proceedings the Chief Executive intimated that identical savings had been submitted by the Administration and SNP Group.

Thereafter, the Committee:-

(i) noted the contents of Report No 128-2007 by the Head of Finance, together with the estimates of revenue expenditure for the year from 1st April, 2007 to 31st March, 2008, as contained in the Provisional 2007-2010 Revenue Budget Volume;

(ii) noted the 2007/08 Revenue Budget as detailed in the Budget Volume, subject to the adjustment outlined in paragraphs (iii) and (v) below;

(iii) noted that the budget adjustment detailed in Paragraph 6.2 of Report No 128-2007 by the Head of Finance resulted in a budget reduction in 2007/08 of 388,000;

(iv) noted the 2007/08 Review of Charges as detailed in the Review of Charges document totalling 207,000 which was already included in the Budget Volume;

(v) noted the savings totalling 1,666,000 as shown at items 1 and 2 in Appendix I to this minute and as detailed in Report No 104-2007 by the Director of Education "Extension of Link Nursery Scheme" and Report No 111-2007 by the Depute Chief Executive (Finance) "Transfer of Dundee Airport to Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL)"; and

(vi) referred the above proposals to the Finance Committee for its consideration.

Jill SHIMI, Convener.

APPENDIX I