Hampshire County Council
Councillors:
78
Wards:
76
Committees:
49
Meetings (2025):
165
Meetings (2024):
156
Meeting
Universal Services Select Committee - Hampshire
Meeting Times
Scheduled Time
Start:
Monday, 20th January 2025
10:00 AM
Monday, 20th January 2025
10:00 AM
End:
Monday, 20th January 2025
2:00 PM
Monday, 20th January 2025
2:00 PM
Meeting Status
Status:
Confirmed
Confirmed
Date:
20 Jan 2025
20 Jan 2025
Location:
Ashburton Hall, Elizabeth II Court, The Castle, Winchester
Ashburton Hall, Elizabeth II Court, The Castle, Winchester
Meeting Attendees
Liberal Democrats Spokesperson
Independent Group Spokesperson
Independent Group Deputy
Vacancy
Not required
Committee Member
Councillor Dominic Hiscock
Present, as expected
Agenda
1
Apologies for absence
To receive any apologies for absence.
Minutes
Apologies were noted from Councillor Sarah Pankhurst. The Chairman welcomed Councillor Malcolm Wallace, in attendance as the Substitute Member for the Independent Group.
2
Declarations of interest
All Members who believe they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting must declare that interest and, having regard to Part 3 Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members’ Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore all Members with a Personal Interest in a matter being considered at the meeting should consider, having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 4 of the Code, whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 5 of the Code, consider whether it is appropriate to leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.
Minutes
Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Personal Interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 5 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.
3
Minutes of previous meeting
To confirm the minutes of the previous meetings held during September 2024.
Attachments:
- Document Minutes Public Pack, 10/09/2024 Universal Services Select Committee 10 Jan 2025
- Document Minutes Public Pack, 19/09/2024 Universal Services Select Committee 10 Jan 2025
- Document Minutes Public Pack, 23/09/2024 Universal Services Select Committee 10 Jan 2025
- Document Minutes Public Pack, 26/09/2024 Universal Services Select Committee 10 Jan 2025
Minutes
The minutes of the meetings held on 10, 19, 23 and 26 September were reviewed and agreed.
4
Deputations
To receive any deputations notified under Standing Order 12.
Minutes
There were no deputations for the meeting.
5
Chairman's Announcements
To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.
Minutes
There were no formal announcements.
6
2025/26 Revenue Budget
To pre-scrutinise a report for the Executive Lead Member for Universal Services regarding the proposals for the 2025/26 revenue budget for Universal Services.
Attachments:
- Document 2025-26 Revenue Budget covering report 10 Jan 2025
- Document Main Report 10 Jan 2025
- Document Appendix 4 - Equalities Impact Assessments 10 Jan 2025
- Document 2025-26 US January Select Committee Presentation 10 Jan 2025
Minutes
The Select Committee pre-scrutinised a report for the Executive Lead Member for Universal Services regarding the proposals for the 2025/26 revenue budget for Universal Services.
Members received a presentation from the Director of Universal Services providing an overview of the key features of the proposed Revenue Budget for 2025/26 and the Capital Programme, as presented under items 6 and 7 of the agenda. It was heard that:
A full review of all activity had been undertaken by the County Council, including across the Universal Services directorate, to consider and challenge how the Council was delivering against its core purpose and to identify where any potential savings could be made. The independent review found that the Council had performed well to date and delivered against its previous savings programmes, but no longer had the ability to generate the further savings necessary to balance the budget beyond 2025/26. Whilst the local government settlement had delivered a marginal uplift in funding, of approximately 5.9%, responsibilities such as increases in National Insurance Contributions and inflation would not be fully met by the growth in the settlement. £2.8m in savings would be achieved in Universal Services through the mutually agreed resolution scheme (MARS), with staff leaving organisation from the end of January. It was noted that supporting the welfare and maintaining the motivation of the remaining workforce would be key to support delivery. The capital programme was presented on an expenditure basis, as agreed by Cabinet in December 2024, to enhance transparency in reporting and had been reviewed to ensure that it was delivering against the Council’s core purpose. As a result of an over delivery in the SP25 Phase 1 savings targets, £0.412 m was being contributed to reserves to support delivery of the SP25 Phase 2 savings programme in 2025/26. The directorate had taken innovate and proactive approaches to ensure that best use was made of the Department for Transport (DfT) highways maintenance funding. £13m had been received from central government to deliver the bus service improvement programme, which would help support delivery of a holistic approach to community transport, along with supporting providers to maximise passenger numbers. 48% of the gross budget was attributed to revenue generation and income, which also helped subsidise the statutory services which formed the Council’s core purpose. During 2025/2026 the savings programme was expected to reduce the directorates cash limit by £11.6m. Despite the additional funding from local government, there was a net increase in spend on planned highways structural maintenance, which was in addition to reactive spend on emerging issues such as pothole repairs. Harnessing the use of digital and increasing gain through income would contribute towards meeting this additional spend. Property, transformation and business services had identified a number of efficiencies to reduce expenditure and planned to contribute £1.89m savings during the forthcoming year. Maximising income opportunities in recreation would contribute a further £423,000 of savings, through new income streams and seeking to increase visitor numbers and usage of outdoor centres. It was noted that the “Find my Past” subscription was being removed, but the existing provision of ancestory.com would continue and provide a valuable free resource to residents. Operational efficiencies in waste and environmental services, and the removal of non-statutory services, was expected to deliver £297,000 of savings across 2025/26. Less than 1% of bookings for HWRC were now made by telephone, and at least half of those booking through the service provided an email address to confirm a telephone booking, therefore there was a proposal to remove the telephone service with the availability of a digital booking service. Of the 11 SP25 Phase 2 savings proposals, four were defined as having a neutral impact by the equalities impact assessment and there were no areas identified as medium or high impact.
The Chairman called for questions from Members on both items 6 & 7 of the agenda.
In response to Members questions it was heard that:
· Where applications were accepted under MARS this was with consideration of reduction in workload through the savings programme to bring the Council back to its core purpose and would not see a growth in workload for existing staff in the directorate who were already working at capacity.
· The directorate had developed a new dashboard for Section 106, to reduce any underspend in the use of available resources. It was hoped that by the summer of 2025 a version of the dashboard would be made available to Members for visibility.
· The Council was moving to digital by default and therefore the removal of telephone bookings for HWRC was in accordance with corporate strategy and would be mitigated as far as possible through the provision of the digital booking service. The small percentage of residents who did not have digital access for booking appointments at a HWRC could seek assistance at a local library, as well as from family and friends.
· The council have been through a significant programme of savings programmes since 2010, which has driven a growth in income to maintain services wherever possible.
· Discretionary Services were required to meet their operating costs and make a contribution to overheads.
· The directorate were looking to provide a grant stream for town and parish councils to apply for funding to replace or repair bus shelters.
· The County owned over 10,000 buildings across 1,000 sites and work was being undertaken to look at how unused property and land could be disposed of to make a one off contribution to the capital programme.
· Land owned and managed by the County Council would be reviewed to identify how costs could be reduced or how the land might be better used to increase income.
· An enforcement process was in place to require landowners to maintain their vegetation, and this was used actively by the authority.
· There were no proposed cuts to reactive work on highways, including pot hole repairs.
· The Micheldever road materials recycling facility, which had been operational since 2021, had continued to deliver innovative and cutting-edge recycled products for re-use on the local highway network.
· The reduction in spend on structural maintenance would not necessary lead to an increase to reactionary maintenance costs, however it was acknowledged that winter weather conditions and an increasing frequency of storm events had impacted negatively on the overall condition of the highway network. It was further noted that all highway authorities were facing similar challenges, as a result of austerity and seasonal weather conditions, and whist the rate of decline had increased this was being closely monitored.
· The level of Network North funding for the remaining nine years of the intended programme was expected to be clarified buy the DfT through the spring spending review. £8.454m had been received during the first two years of funding, and was being utilised to fund a defined programme of work as published.
· There had now been clarity from government on the requirements of Simpler Recycling, allowing the council to move forward with the construction of the new twin-stream recycling facility. Subject to the appropriate approvals, Members heard this was expected to be operational by the second half of 2027. Clarity on the governments preferred system for recycling was not provided until in December 2024, and therefore delivery for 2026 was not possible. The cost of the new recycling facility would be shared between the county council and the unitary councils The new facility would increase the types of plastic waste which would be recycled in future years also reduce the volumes of residual waste.
· It was not possible to identify a direct level of cause and effect on the volume of residual waste by the efforts of the waste prevention service, and therefore this was to be removed as it was a non-statutory service. About 30% of residual waste was food waste, and legislation required a doorstep food waste collection service and had increased the conscious awareness of the level of their own food waste by resident.
· £1m had been removed from the capital programme and instead drawn from revenue spend to deliver urgent health and safety work and maintenance at Calshot Activity Centre.
· Hampshire County Council’s responsibility for any coastal defences was through its land ownership interests and public rights of way.
· The County Councils financial exposure for M27 Junction 10 had been mitigated using HIG funding provided by Homes England and s106 contributions from the Welborne developer. An appropriate level of financial mitigation for risk and contingency had also been included in the project funding for the Botley Bypass Scheme, to prevent costs exceeding the amounts budgeted for.
Councillor Kyre declared a personal interest as a local resident of Botley.
The Chairman called for debate, through which it was heard that the reports presented made clear that the council were managing the decline in the road network. Members observed that officers had presented a proposal which had clearly and carefully considered the challenges faced and had sought to maximise provision against the budget available.
The Executive Members thanked the Committee for their robust consideration and questioning of the proposals, which they would consider as part of their forthcoming decisions and highlighted a number of positive approaches and anticipated outcomes from the reports.
RESOLVED:
The Universal Services Select Committee supported the recommendations being proposed to the Executive Lead Member for Universal Services, as noted in the report.
Members received a presentation from the Director of Universal Services providing an overview of the key features of the proposed Revenue Budget for 2025/26 and the Capital Programme, as presented under items 6 and 7 of the agenda. It was heard that:
A full review of all activity had been undertaken by the County Council, including across the Universal Services directorate, to consider and challenge how the Council was delivering against its core purpose and to identify where any potential savings could be made. The independent review found that the Council had performed well to date and delivered against its previous savings programmes, but no longer had the ability to generate the further savings necessary to balance the budget beyond 2025/26. Whilst the local government settlement had delivered a marginal uplift in funding, of approximately 5.9%, responsibilities such as increases in National Insurance Contributions and inflation would not be fully met by the growth in the settlement. £2.8m in savings would be achieved in Universal Services through the mutually agreed resolution scheme (MARS), with staff leaving organisation from the end of January. It was noted that supporting the welfare and maintaining the motivation of the remaining workforce would be key to support delivery. The capital programme was presented on an expenditure basis, as agreed by Cabinet in December 2024, to enhance transparency in reporting and had been reviewed to ensure that it was delivering against the Council’s core purpose. As a result of an over delivery in the SP25 Phase 1 savings targets, £0.412 m was being contributed to reserves to support delivery of the SP25 Phase 2 savings programme in 2025/26. The directorate had taken innovate and proactive approaches to ensure that best use was made of the Department for Transport (DfT) highways maintenance funding. £13m had been received from central government to deliver the bus service improvement programme, which would help support delivery of a holistic approach to community transport, along with supporting providers to maximise passenger numbers. 48% of the gross budget was attributed to revenue generation and income, which also helped subsidise the statutory services which formed the Council’s core purpose. During 2025/2026 the savings programme was expected to reduce the directorates cash limit by £11.6m. Despite the additional funding from local government, there was a net increase in spend on planned highways structural maintenance, which was in addition to reactive spend on emerging issues such as pothole repairs. Harnessing the use of digital and increasing gain through income would contribute towards meeting this additional spend. Property, transformation and business services had identified a number of efficiencies to reduce expenditure and planned to contribute £1.89m savings during the forthcoming year. Maximising income opportunities in recreation would contribute a further £423,000 of savings, through new income streams and seeking to increase visitor numbers and usage of outdoor centres. It was noted that the “Find my Past” subscription was being removed, but the existing provision of ancestory.com would continue and provide a valuable free resource to residents. Operational efficiencies in waste and environmental services, and the removal of non-statutory services, was expected to deliver £297,000 of savings across 2025/26. Less than 1% of bookings for HWRC were now made by telephone, and at least half of those booking through the service provided an email address to confirm a telephone booking, therefore there was a proposal to remove the telephone service with the availability of a digital booking service. Of the 11 SP25 Phase 2 savings proposals, four were defined as having a neutral impact by the equalities impact assessment and there were no areas identified as medium or high impact.
The Chairman called for questions from Members on both items 6 & 7 of the agenda.
In response to Members questions it was heard that:
· Where applications were accepted under MARS this was with consideration of reduction in workload through the savings programme to bring the Council back to its core purpose and would not see a growth in workload for existing staff in the directorate who were already working at capacity.
· The directorate had developed a new dashboard for Section 106, to reduce any underspend in the use of available resources. It was hoped that by the summer of 2025 a version of the dashboard would be made available to Members for visibility.
· The Council was moving to digital by default and therefore the removal of telephone bookings for HWRC was in accordance with corporate strategy and would be mitigated as far as possible through the provision of the digital booking service. The small percentage of residents who did not have digital access for booking appointments at a HWRC could seek assistance at a local library, as well as from family and friends.
· The council have been through a significant programme of savings programmes since 2010, which has driven a growth in income to maintain services wherever possible.
· Discretionary Services were required to meet their operating costs and make a contribution to overheads.
· The directorate were looking to provide a grant stream for town and parish councils to apply for funding to replace or repair bus shelters.
· The County owned over 10,000 buildings across 1,000 sites and work was being undertaken to look at how unused property and land could be disposed of to make a one off contribution to the capital programme.
· Land owned and managed by the County Council would be reviewed to identify how costs could be reduced or how the land might be better used to increase income.
· An enforcement process was in place to require landowners to maintain their vegetation, and this was used actively by the authority.
· There were no proposed cuts to reactive work on highways, including pot hole repairs.
· The Micheldever road materials recycling facility, which had been operational since 2021, had continued to deliver innovative and cutting-edge recycled products for re-use on the local highway network.
· The reduction in spend on structural maintenance would not necessary lead to an increase to reactionary maintenance costs, however it was acknowledged that winter weather conditions and an increasing frequency of storm events had impacted negatively on the overall condition of the highway network. It was further noted that all highway authorities were facing similar challenges, as a result of austerity and seasonal weather conditions, and whist the rate of decline had increased this was being closely monitored.
· The level of Network North funding for the remaining nine years of the intended programme was expected to be clarified buy the DfT through the spring spending review. £8.454m had been received during the first two years of funding, and was being utilised to fund a defined programme of work as published.
· There had now been clarity from government on the requirements of Simpler Recycling, allowing the council to move forward with the construction of the new twin-stream recycling facility. Subject to the appropriate approvals, Members heard this was expected to be operational by the second half of 2027. Clarity on the governments preferred system for recycling was not provided until in December 2024, and therefore delivery for 2026 was not possible. The cost of the new recycling facility would be shared between the county council and the unitary councils The new facility would increase the types of plastic waste which would be recycled in future years also reduce the volumes of residual waste.
· It was not possible to identify a direct level of cause and effect on the volume of residual waste by the efforts of the waste prevention service, and therefore this was to be removed as it was a non-statutory service. About 30% of residual waste was food waste, and legislation required a doorstep food waste collection service and had increased the conscious awareness of the level of their own food waste by resident.
· £1m had been removed from the capital programme and instead drawn from revenue spend to deliver urgent health and safety work and maintenance at Calshot Activity Centre.
· Hampshire County Council’s responsibility for any coastal defences was through its land ownership interests and public rights of way.
· The County Councils financial exposure for M27 Junction 10 had been mitigated using HIG funding provided by Homes England and s106 contributions from the Welborne developer. An appropriate level of financial mitigation for risk and contingency had also been included in the project funding for the Botley Bypass Scheme, to prevent costs exceeding the amounts budgeted for.
Councillor Kyre declared a personal interest as a local resident of Botley.
The Chairman called for debate, through which it was heard that the reports presented made clear that the council were managing the decline in the road network. Members observed that officers had presented a proposal which had clearly and carefully considered the challenges faced and had sought to maximise provision against the budget available.
The Executive Members thanked the Committee for their robust consideration and questioning of the proposals, which they would consider as part of their forthcoming decisions and highlighted a number of positive approaches and anticipated outcomes from the reports.
RESOLVED:
The Universal Services Select Committee supported the recommendations being proposed to the Executive Lead Member for Universal Services, as noted in the report.
7
Capital Programme
To pre-scrutinise a report for the Executive Lead Member for Universal Services outlining the proposals for the Universal Services Capital programme for 2025/26, 2026/27 and 2027/28.
Attachments:
- Document Universal Services Proposed Capital Programme covering report 10 Jan 2025
- Document Main Report 10 Jan 2025
- Document Proposed Capital Programme Appendices 10 Jan 2025
Minutes
The Select Committee pre-scrutinised a report for the Executive Lead Member for Universal Services regarding the proposals for the 2025/26 revenue budget for Universal Services.
RESOLVED:
The Universal Services Select Committee supported the recommendations being proposed to the Executive Lead Member for Universal Services as noted in the report.
RESOLVED:
The Universal Services Select Committee supported the recommendations being proposed to the Executive Lead Member for Universal Services as noted in the report.
8
Working Group Proposal
To consider a report of the Director of Universal Services recommending the initiation of a Task and Finish Working Group to oversee and scrutinise the approach and outcomes of the Stage 2 consultation relating to the Universal Services SP25 phase 2 savings proposals.
Attachments:
- Document SP25 Phase 2 Task and Finish Group Report 10 Jan 2025
- Document SP25 Phase 2 Task and Finish Group proposed Terms of Reference 10 Jan 2025
Minutes
The Committee considered a report of the Director of Universal Services recommending the initiation of a Task and Finish Working Group to oversee and scrutinise the approach and outcomes of the Stage 2 consultation relating to the Universal Services SP25 phase 2 savings proposals.
To enable both the Labour and Independent Groups to nominate a representative for the working group the Chairman proposed a variation to paragraph six of the Terms of Reference to increase the membership of the Working Group from 8 to 9. This recommendation was seconded by Councillor Jacky Tustain and at a vote was agreed unanimously by all Members present.
RESOLVED:
That the Universal Services Select Committee:
a) Set up a Task and Finish Working Group to oversee and scrutinise the approach and outcomes of the Universal Services directorate’s SP25 phase 2 savings proposals, which are subject to Stage 2 consultations.
b) Agree the proposed Terms of Reference for the Task and Finish Working Group, with an increase to the membership from 8 to 9 members.
c) Appoint to and agree membership of the Task and Finish Working Group, from current Members of the Universal Services Select Committee as follows:
Councillors Branson, Broomfield, Curnow-Ford, Groves, Hiscock, Mocatta, Parker, Tustain and Wallace.
d) Appoint the Chairman of Universal Services Select Committee as the Chair of the Task and Finish Working Group.
e) Delegate to the Select Committee Chairman (in consultation with the Director of Universal Services), decisions on the timings for when the Task and Finish working groups will meet.
To enable both the Labour and Independent Groups to nominate a representative for the working group the Chairman proposed a variation to paragraph six of the Terms of Reference to increase the membership of the Working Group from 8 to 9. This recommendation was seconded by Councillor Jacky Tustain and at a vote was agreed unanimously by all Members present.
RESOLVED:
That the Universal Services Select Committee:
a) Set up a Task and Finish Working Group to oversee and scrutinise the approach and outcomes of the Universal Services directorate’s SP25 phase 2 savings proposals, which are subject to Stage 2 consultations.
b) Agree the proposed Terms of Reference for the Task and Finish Working Group, with an increase to the membership from 8 to 9 members.
c) Appoint to and agree membership of the Task and Finish Working Group, from current Members of the Universal Services Select Committee as follows:
Councillors Branson, Broomfield, Curnow-Ford, Groves, Hiscock, Mocatta, Parker, Tustain and Wallace.
d) Appoint the Chairman of Universal Services Select Committee as the Chair of the Task and Finish Working Group.
e) Delegate to the Select Committee Chairman (in consultation with the Director of Universal Services), decisions on the timings for when the Task and Finish working groups will meet.
9
Work Programme
To review the current work programme for the Universal Services Select Committee.
Attachments:
- Document USSC Work Programme 10 Jan 2025
Minutes
The Select Committee considered their forthcoming work programme.
It was agreed that scrutiny of the development of the Materials Recovery Centre at Chickenhall Lane, Eastleigh would be added to the work programme.
Members expressed an interest in scrutinising the contractual arrangements in place with Veola and Milestone, along with their value for money agreements. It was agreed that the suggestion be consideration by the legal team to confirm whether doing so would be within the scope of the Committee
Cllr Kyrle left the meeting at this point.
Members also discussed including land maintenance enforcement and its impact on flooding in rural areas, but suggested this may be more appropriate to take at a Member Briefing session for awareness of all Members.
RESOLVED:
That the Universal Services Select Committee discussed and agreed potential items for the work programme to be prioritised and allocated by the Chairman of the Universal Services Select Committee.
It was agreed that scrutiny of the development of the Materials Recovery Centre at Chickenhall Lane, Eastleigh would be added to the work programme.
Members expressed an interest in scrutinising the contractual arrangements in place with Veola and Milestone, along with their value for money agreements. It was agreed that the suggestion be consideration by the legal team to confirm whether doing so would be within the scope of the Committee
Cllr Kyrle left the meeting at this point.
Members also discussed including land maintenance enforcement and its impact on flooding in rural areas, but suggested this may be more appropriate to take at a Member Briefing session for awareness of all Members.
RESOLVED:
That the Universal Services Select Committee discussed and agreed potential items for the work programme to be prioritised and allocated by the Chairman of the Universal Services Select Committee.
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