Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations at this meeting.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 16 December 2016 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

Joint report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Families and Communities (Staffordshire County Council) and Chief Operating Officer – Resources Director (Stoke-on-Trent City Council)

The Committee considered a joint report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Families and Communities (Staffordshire County Council) and Chief Operating Officer – Resources Director (Stoke-on-Trent City Council) detailing the predicted outturn performance against the targets set out in the Joint Service’s Annual Service Plan (schedule 1 to the signed minutes).

The Service Plan set out the annual targets for the performance of the Joint Archive Service. Performance against these targets contributed towards overall achievement against the service’s three year objectives which were set out in the Forward Plan 2015-2025 which had been approved by the Committee at their meeting on 26 March 2015.

Members noted the key achievements for the year included (i) successful stage 1 Heritage Lottery Fund Bid for the Staffordshire History Centre; (ii) successful bids for grant funding for cataloguing collections; (iii) further success in obtaining funding to catalogue and conserve the Minton and Doulton Archive; (iv) the launch of the Heritage Lottery Funded project Staffordshire Appeals launched in June 2016; (v) representation on the new Archives West Midlands charitable organisation launched in June 2016; (vi) increased use in the on-line service; (vii) strengthened partnerships with new partnerships being formed and (viii) retention of existing volunteers with new projects being started.

However, areas on concern during the year had included (i) focus on the Staffordshire History Project having delayed work on achieving Archive Accreditation; (iii) only 82% of collections being stored in correct conditions and (iv) approaches for new collections had remained static.

The report highlighted that performance had remained consistent over the year with four out of five performance indicators in the Plan likely to exceed their targets. Members then paid tribute to the work of officers in helping to achieve this positive performance. In particular, the Member representative of the County Council congratulated the Archive Service for achieving an overall satisfaction level of 100%.

RESOLVED – (a) That the report be received and the progress made towards achieving the various targets set out in the Joint Service’ Forward Plan 2015-2025 be noted.

Joint report of the Director of Finance and Resources (Staffordshire County Council) and the Chief Operating Officer – Resources Director (Stoke-on-Trent City Council)  

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Finance and Resources (Staffordshire County Council and Chief Operating Officer – Resources Director (Stoke-on-Trent City Council) informing them of the predicted outturn for 2016/17 and the proposed net revenue budget for 2017/18.

The predicted outturn for 2016/17 was £719,752 against an approved budget of £717,760 which produced a relatively small overspend of £1,992 which would be funded from the General Reserve. Members noted that this overspend had arisen owing to expected managed savings on (i) staff; (ii) training; (iii) transport; (iv) supplies and services only partially offsetting an under-recovery of income (predominantly fee and charges).

The General Reserve currently held a balance of £28,233 (net of Heritage Lottery Funding commitments already made and the forecast overspend set out above) and the Archive Acquisition Reserve a balance of £57,542.

The proposed net revenue budget for 2017/18 of £746,500 had been increased by 4% when compared to the net revenue budget for the previous (current) year. Under the Joint Archives Agreement the percentage charge between the two Authorities was 77.41% to the County Council and 22.59% to the City Council. This apportionment was based on population levels across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. Therefore, for 2017/18 the County Council was responsible for £577,900 and the City Council £168,600 and both Authorities had confirmed that they had sufficient budgetary provision to meet these costs.

The report referred to future plans to increase income from on-line services. In addition the income targets set out in the annual budget would be re-aligned to better reflect actual receipts, going-forward. Reference was also made to the relatively small reserve for acquisitions which was augmented from time to time by gifts from Friends of the Archive Service and grants from third parties.

RESOLVED – (a) That the report be received and noted.

(b) That the 2017/18 net revenue budget for the Joint Archive Service be approved.   

RESOLVED – That the date time and venue of the next meeting be noted.