Agenda item

Report of the Chief Executive and Head of Resources.

The chief executive presented a report in order to respond to questions raised by Councillor Mace, and agreed by the panel at its meeting on 17 July 2012.

Members were reminded that at its meeting on 17 July 2012 the panel had requested to consider a number of questions from Councillor Mace regarding the Storey Creative Industries Centre (SCIC). It had been agreed that a report be requested and submitted to the panel in relation to these questions.

The panel were advised that questions one to three had been answered by the chief executive, and questions four and five by the head of resources.

The chief executive went through his responses to questions one to three, and members asked questions accordingly. Members asked questions covering the following areas:

·         Whether the sub-tenants were active as a group, or whether they were attending meetings with the council as individuals.

·         The future of the Visitor Information Centre.

·         Potential savings identified by the sub-tenants of the building.

·         The installation of separate electricity meters.

·         Use of the Storey Gallery space.

·         Future management of the building and suggestions from sub-tenants.

·         The potential removal of specific covenants from the building.

·         The payment of insurance and utility bills.

·         The details of the loan provided to the SCIC.

·         The urgent business decision taken by the chief executive on 20 December 2011.

·         Issues regarding the payment of VAT bills.

As the head of resources had sent apologies to the meeting, members agreed to defer consideration of the answers to questions four and five to a future meeting of the panel.

Resolved:

It was proposed by Councillor Mace, seconded by Councillor Sykes and agreed unanimously:

(1)        That the constitutional issues of urgent business decisions normally taken by Cabinet, call-in procedure, issues of urgency and of the waiver of call-in be referred to Council Business Committee for further consideration.

(2)        That the chief executive be requested to make documentation relating to future urgent business decisions available to members of Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and Budget and Performance Panel at the same time that it is provided to Cabinet members.

(3)        That it be requested that the chief executive enquire as to whether the exempt urgent business report from 20 December 2011 regarding the Storey Creative Industries Centre can now be made available to the public.

(4)        That a report be prepared for the next meeting of the panel to provide answers to the following questions relating to question two in the report:

• Why was the building's VAT status not changed at that time (as a similar precaution)?

• (The VAT status change has now been done) Please tell us more about the purpose of the change and the circumstances in which the change would have significant impact. How long did it take to make this VAT change and for it to become effective?

• How much of the £90k loan is being claimed against the assets of the company in the liquidation?

• Why was the £90k support to the company given by way of loan instead of by way of pure grant or some mix of grant and loan?

• Was it anticipated at the time of the loan being made that it was likely to be recovered in full by means of the agreed scheme of repayments?

• Was a deadline specified by the company for the granting of a loan, and if so what was it and why?

(5)        That information be provided to the panel regarding whether there is any liability of any kind of the directors and former directors of the company in relation to the loan, or other liabilities of the company.       

(6)        That Councillor Bryning be invited to attend the meeting of Budget and Performance Panel scheduled for 23 October 2012 in his capacity as Cabinet member with responsibility for finance, in order to answer questions relating to the SCIC.

(7)        That it be noted that the panel had deferred consideration of answers to questions four and five as set out in the report, to enable the head of resources to attend the meeting to be held on 23 October 2012.