Issue - meetings

(1)       Mr Shipton presented the regular report to this Committee on the forecast outturn against budget for the Communities portfolio based on the second quarterly monitoring report and subsequent exception report to Cabinet.

(2)       In relation to the overspend on the Coroners’ Service, Mr Bainbridge explained that part of the increase cost was due to our society becoming more litigious, which was having an impact on the decisions made by the service in relation to holding post mortems followed by an inquest.   Mr Bainbridge confirmed that regular meetings were held with colleagues in the Coroners’ Service and suggestions made for looking at practices to take account of the county councils view on the cost of the service.  Mr Hill confirmed that he was discussing this matter with officials in the Ministry.

(3)       In response to a question on the difficulty in recruiting qualified Trading Standards officers, Mr Bainbridge explained that is was a national issue arising from additional funding being given to councils in relation to intellectual property crime, which had increased the demand for qualified staff.  He confirmed that the service had not been compromised by not being able to recruit staff of suitable calibre, but with additional staff more work could be carried out.

(4)       In relation to a question from Mr Birkett on Adult Education, Mr Hill reaffirmed his commitment to retaining a good quality service and acknowledged that in future years it may be necessary to review the policy to keep it cost neutral, in the light of the demise of the Learning & Skills Council.

RESOLVED that the projected outturn figures for the directorate for 2008/09 based on the second quarterly monitoring report to Cabinet be noted.