Agenda and minutes

None.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 22 January 2018 were approved as an accurate record.

Finance (Corporate)

Invitees:

-          Meirion Rushworth – Head of Finance

The Head of Finance explained to the Committee that 4 of the 5 local performance indicators were green and one was amber and the position remained the same as at the end of Quarter 2.

The performance indicator FIN/L/014, was on schedule and was £1 million ahead of target. The performance indicator CFH/006 was a 0.70% away from being green.

The Committee asked the following:

·         CFH/006:

-          Members queried who were the outstanding invoices owed to, and if there are any legal timescales imposed against local authorities to settle invoices. Members were advised that the invoices were for all Council suppliers schools. There were no legal timescales however the public sector standard is for 90% of invoices to be paid within 30 days. The Payment Team conduct 2 BACS payment runs a week and endeavour to release payments as fast as possible.

-          There were instances where there were delays in processing invoices due to companies not providing order numbers which was out of the control of the team.

-          It was confirmed that the legal timescales in England were the same as Wales.

-          What improvements were being made to processes? The department was continuing to run morning and afternoon sessions regularly for budget managers to help with the payment process. Work was also being done with suppliers to ensure that purchase order numbers were being included as a matter of course, which would speed up processing. Courses were also being run for employees on payment processing.

-          The Direction of Travel for performance measure CFH/006 changed from Red to Green, but the actual figure had remained at 89.30% from Quarter 2. Members were advised that it maybe because it is a slight improvement, but the Officer confirmed that this would be clarified and reported back to the Committee.

-          Were any Departments not using the order authorisation (PO) system, and what percentage of those invoiced paid over a month would not have an order number. Estimated 12-13%, but the Officer agreed to confirm the exact figure and report back to the Committee.

-          Highlighted the importance of a system being in place to make sure everything has been paid and delivered. Members were advised that receiving the goods was one of two of the actioning points for invoices to be paid. Once the order number had been received and the goods received, the budget manager would then confirm for the invoice to be paid. The customer would be chased up for further details if one of the two actioning points had not been met.

People and Business Change (Corporate)

Invitees:

-          Rhys Cornwall – Head of People and Business Change

-          Cllr David Mayer – Cabinet Member for Communities and Resources

The Head of People and Business Change presented an overview of the performance measures to the Committee, which included 9 Green, 2 Ambers and 1 Red.

With regard to Red Measure: PBC/062, concern was expressed at the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The Overview and Scrutiny Officer presented the report to the Members and outlined the purpose of the report seeking the Committee’s approval for items on its work programme for the next two meetings.

For the meeting on 4 June, it was advised that the Scrutiny Officer would present a draft work programme for the Committee’s consideration.

Actions:

The Committee approved the work programme for the next two meetings on 9 April and 4 June 2018.

The meeting concluded at 18:15.