North Ayrshire Council 29 March 2001 IRVINE, 29 March 2001 - At a Meeting of North Ayrshire Council at 5.00 p.m. Present Jane Gorman, Thomas Barr, John Bell, Jacqueline Browne, Jack Carson, Gordon Clarkson, Ian Clarkson, John Donn, Drew Duncan, David Gallagher, Samuel Gooding, Elliot Gray, Alan Hill, James Jennings, Margaret McDougall, Elizabeth McLardy, Peter McNamara, Elisabethe Marshall, John Moffat, David Munn, Margaret Munn, Alan Munro, David O'Neill, Robert Rae, John Reid, Robert Reilly and Richard Wilkinson. In Attendance B Devine, Chief Executive; B Docherty, Corporate Director (Social Services); T Orr, Corporate Director (Property Services); J Barrett, Assistant Chief Executive (Information Technology); A Herbert, Assistant Chief Executive (Finance); I Mackay, Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Regulatory); M McCormick, Media Relations Officer; and G Lawson, Principal Policy Officer (Chief Executive's). Apologies for Absence John Sillars and Samuel Taylor. 1. Minutes Confirmed The Minutes of the Meetings of the Council held on 15 February 2001, were confirmed. 2. Questions In terms of Standing Order No. 10, submitted to the Leader of the Council, Questions by Councillor Wilkinson in the following terms:- 1. "What has been the net cost to the Council arising from the abolition of Dividend Tax Credits (pensions tax) since 1997 for each of the financial years 1997/78 to 2001/02, and what is the Band D Council Tax equivalent of this sum for each of those years"? In response the Leader of the Council replied in the following terms:- "In the Chancellor's Budget in July 1997, he announced the removal of the ability of pension funds to reclaim the tax credit attached to dividend income, effectively regarded as the abolition of Advanced Corporation Tax (ACT). The implications for pension funds would be a reduction in their income stream which they would require to recover from local authorities and other bodies through increases in the employees' superannuation rates commencing in 1998/99. Page 1 Financial Implications: Additional resources were built into the Council's budget for increases in the employers' superannuation contribution to accommodate the abolition of ACT and changes resulting from actuarial revaluations for 2000/2001 as follows:- £000 1998/1999 742 1999/2000 900 2000/2001 732 2001/2002 251 These overall increases would have increased the Council Tax by around £60 but it has to be recognised that the implications of the abolition of ACT was accepted as an expenditure pressure by the Scottish Executive and additional resources were built into the local government finance settlement for Scotland as follows:- 1999/2000 £27m 2000/2001 £38.5m 2001/2002 £38.5m A pro rata share of 2.7% of the settlement would entitle the Council to potential resources of £729k in 1999/2000 and around £1m in 2000/2001 and beyond. However there is no specific allocation built into the settlement for this and the increased resources are subsumed in the overall figures. Consequently, it can be argued that financial recognition has been built into the budgets to finance the additional costs from 1999/2000 onwards but no specific figures can be identified. In addition, whilst no extra resources were built into the settlement for 1998/1999 the pressure was accepted as part of the capping criteria disregards." 2. "Audit Scotland has announced in its annual report that North Ayrshire Council is among the overall worst performing councils, with a drop of twelve places among the 32 Scottish Councils since last year. Given that Council Tax has risen 25% since 1997 and services are deteriorating under his leadership, what is he going to do about it"? In response the Leader of the Council replied in the following terms:- "Audit Scotland made no such announcement in any annual report. Mr Wilkinson is referring presumably to a press article and a bogus league table composed by a journalist. Audit Scotland has indeed disowned the article. In a letter to the Chief Executive Audit Scotland have confirmed that "the analysis was neither carried out nor endorsed by the Accounts Commission or Audit Scotland. We met Douglas Fraser, the author of the article, in order to reiterate our concerns about his methodology and the need to avoid inappropriate comparison between councils." Page 2 My administration takes seriously its commitment to performance. All managers do view statutory performance indicators as one guide but an important guide to their performance within the context of the full performance assessment jigsaw, the Council's own priorities and policies and the fulfilment of the Scottish Executive's programme incorporated in the Local Government Finance Settlement and the Partnership for Government. Performance reports have been submitted consistently throughout this administration. Most recently the Chief Executive reported on the full panoply of External Scrutiny of Council Performance and public Performance Reporting in June 2000. Reports on these Performance Indicators and Targets for 2000/2001 were submitted to Committee on 8th, 15th, 28th and 29th November 2000. The Educational Services Committee received a further report in this cycle (21/2/01) commenting fully on the Performance Indicators for those services as well as the Improvement Plan 2001/2004. Members were invited to a seminar this week where they received a full explanation of all statutory indicators. I am confident the Chief Executive when endorsing Service Plans for 2001/2002 now being submitted to him by the Corporate Directors and Heads of Service will ensure challenging targets are set for 2001/2002 which should be reflected in any league tables, bogus or otherwise. This will build upon the better performance figures for 2000/2001 which are now coming through." In terms of Standing Order No. 10, submitted Questions by Councillor Rae in the following terms:- 3. "Is it in order for officials to have a vote when part of a councillor/official working group"? In response the Leader of the Council replied in the following terms:- "Member/Officer Working Groups are informal meetings not part of the formal administrative machine of the Council. They produce reports to the formal machinery i.e. to Committees etc. Formal divisions or votes should not arise nor are they encouraged or have arisen to date in North Ayrshire Council. Where there is a division of opinion, which cannot be resolved, the differing opinions are recorded in the report of the Working Party which then goes to a formal meeting. Member/Officer Working Groups are precisely that - Working groups and all those participating have equal status within the limits outlined above - no decision-making powers but only a power to report to a formal committee or sub-committee where proceedings are regulated by Standing Orders." Page 3 4. "Why were the original group of councillors who formed the Sub-Committee to consider the Largs Common Good Fund car park revenues not shown Counsel's Opinion"? In response the Leader of the Council replied in the following terms:- "It is clear from Cunninghame District Council Minutes that there was not a Sub-Committee as referred to by Councillor Rae. There were a number of informal meetings between officers and Members which are referred to in the Minutes or reports. I would refer Councillor Rae to the Minute of the meeting of Cunninghame District Council's Finance and Personnel Committee of 15 November 1993. This discloses that this matter of availability of Counsel's Opinion was discussed at that meeting. The Director of Administration of that Council explained his reasons which are recorded in the Minute. The explanation was not challenged and appears to have been accepted by the Committee. The full Council approved the Minute of that meeting on 23 November 1993." 5. "Why was the status quo as it existed in 1993 and had existed for 70 years not presented as an option by the memorialists to learned Counsel for his opinion"? In response the Leader of the Council replied in the following terms:- "The papers relating to Counsel's Opinions and Consultations with Counsel disclose that questions were put to Counsel regarding the ownership of the car park - the remit of the officers. When the questions were firmly answered by Counsel in the negative, further questions were put regarding a transfer to or deemed transfer to the Common Good. These too were firmly answered in the negative. Finally questions relating to adjustments in the accounts were put to Counsel to satisfy Audit. The question of continuing past practices in the light of the new information on ownership and in the light of the correspondence with the Chief Auditor was a matter for Cunninghame District Council which was addressed by the Chief executive in his report to Council. In effect this recommended the continuation of the "status quo" in so far as possible in the changed circumstances and in a modern local government setting such as in Cunninghame District Council or North Ayrshire Council." 3. Motions In terms of Standing Order No 11, submitted Motions by Councillor Rae and seconded by Councillor Hill, in the following terms:- 1. "North Ayrshire Council accepts that ownership of the profits from the Largs Seafront car park vests in the Largs Common Good fund and has done since its construction in 1925. North Ayrshire Council therefore resolves to return the profits from the car park to the Largs Common Good Fund with immediate effect and instructs the Assistant Chief Page 4 Executive (Finance) to prepare an account of the profits from the car park from 1st April 1995 to date, and to take steps to have these monies credited to the Largs Common Good Fund". Councillor Rae intimated that he wished to withdraw this motion and this was agreed. 2. "The SNP being concerned at the league table published in Herald on Sunday calls on the majority group to instruct the Chief Executive to explain our poor position, and what steps he is taking to effect improvements".