Issue - meetings

Reporting Person – Councillor David Bittleston

At its meeting on 13 December 2018, the Executive agreed to withhold funding of £38,000 to Citizens Advice Woking due to concern regarding the working relationship between the Council and Citizens Advice Woking.  The Leader of the Council explained that the organisation had been asked to prepare a business plan and to look at ways to improve communication.  The Leader was pleased to report that the approach had been successful and thanked Lorraine Buchanan from Citizens Advice Woking and Louise Strongitharm, Head of Housing, and her team for creating a much better working relationship.  It was noted that the possibility of holding meetings every three months between Citizens Advice Woking, the Portfolio Holder for Housing and the Head of Housing would be explored.  Following a question regarding the time taken to resolve the issue, the Executive was advised that concerns had originally been raised in July 2018 but had not been addressed.

RESOLVEd

That  (i)    the update be noted; and

          (ii)   the sum of £38,000 ringfenced in the Community Fund for Citizens Advice Woking towards its work during the 2019/20 financial year be released.

Reason:   To further strengthen relationships between Citizens Advice Woking and Woking Borough Council.

Reporting Person – Douglas Spinks

Following consideration of an application for financial assistance from Citizens Advice Woking at the Executive on 13 December 2018, the Executive agreed that Citizens Advice Woking be asked to prepare a Business Plan setting out how it would work more effectively with the Council.  The Leader drew attention to an updated and more detailed action plan which had been tabled at the meeting.

The Leader advised that, given the significant level of support provided by the Council to Citizens Advice Woking, there was a need for oversight in order to ensure that the Council was achieving value for money.  The Leader suggested that such oversight could be achieved by an annual briefing to Members from Citizens Advice Woking or could be undertaken by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  Councillor Barker commented that this would not be appropriate.

In order to allow time for Citizens Advice Woking to work with the Council in a collaborative way, the Leader stated that an update against the Business Plan would be received by the Executive at its meeting on 12 September 2019, and not at the March Executive as originally planned.

RESOLVEd

That the action plan be approved.

Reason:   To further strengthen relationships between Citizens Advice Woking and Woking Borough Council.

The Executive received a report which recommended that a significant level of support be continued for Citizens Advice Woking during the 2019/20 financial year, equating to £225,500, which was stated to be in addition to estimated rent for the office at Provincial House (£34,000), car park spaces (£18,000) and rate relief (£3,500).  Woking Borough Council was stated to provide the highest amount of funding for Citizens Advice in Surrey, with Guildford approving a level equating to around half of Woking’s contribution and Waverley agreeing a third.  The Leader reported that the recommendation represented a reduction of £38,000 due to the user numbers reducing by 30% over the past year and the level of reserves held by the organisation.

Members of the Executive noted the excellent work undertaken by Citizens Advice Woking, along with the ongoing pressure on local authority budgets, the need for identifying savings, and improving its partnership working with the Council.

Councillor Lyons advised the Executive that the Centre was greatly concerned by the reduction proposed and that the resulting effects could include reducing the opening hours of the Town Centre office, including late night opening hours on Tuesdays; and the possible closure of the Guildford County Court Desk Helpdesk, all of which could require the Council to deal with emergency cases whilst the Centre was closed.  Councillor Lyons reported that the funding reduction of £38,000 could require the Centre to lose skilled specialist staff from its payroll and asked for the grant to be approved as applied for.

The Leader summarised the views expressed and stated that Citizens Advice Woking should look to carry out more fundraising, which was undertaken on a larger scale by the other Centres in the County, and develop its working relationship with the Borough Council.  Accordingly, it was agreed that the recommendation as set out in the report should be approved.  The Leader further proposed that Citizens Advice Woking should be asked to prepare a business plan setting out how it would work more effectively with the Council.  The Business Plan was to take into account the comments made by the Executive regarding improved partnership working with the Council and fundraising, and was to be submitted to the Council by Monday, 21 January 2019.  The Business Plan would then be received by the Executive at its meeting on 7 February 2019. 

In addition, the Leader proposed that Citizens Advice Woking should also be requested to submit an update report to the Council setting out its progress against the agreed Business Plan.  The Executive would look to receive the update report at its meeting on 28 March 2018 and determine whether there was justification towards awarding the remaining £38,000 of grant funding.  In order to ensure the Executive would be in a position to do so, it was recommended that the sum of £38,000 should be ringfenced in the Community Fund.

In addition, the Leader stated that a briefing would be arranged for Citizens Advice Woking on the objectives of the Sheerwater Regeneration  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13