Councillor Annette Ireland and Councillor Andrew Morrison (East Renfrewshire Council) and Councillor Kevin Montgomery (Renfrewshire Council).

 

There were no declarations of interest or transparency statements intimated prior to the commencement of the meeting.

 

There was submitted the Minute of the meeting of this Joint Board held on 13 September 2024.  

DECIDED: That the Minute be approved.

There was submitted a revenue budget monitoring report by the Treasurer in respect of the Joint Board for the period 1 April to 11 October 2024.

The report intimated that at the end of period 7, the Joint Board had a year-to-date underspend position of £153,000 and was projected to underspend by £271,000 against budget by the end of the financial year, as detailed in section 4 of the report.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

Under reference to item 4 of the Minute of the meeting of this Joint Board held on 13 September 2024, there was submitted a report by the Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer providing an update on work undertaken within electoral registration, legislation and electoral events.

The report provided updates since the last meeting of the Joint Board in relation to the 2024 Canvass; the UK Parliamentary General Election; the Local Government by-election for Inverclyde Ward 5 (Inverclyde West); the next scheduled election being the Scottish Parliamentary Election in May 2026; and the Scottish Elections (Representation and Reform) Bill. 

On behalf of Inverclyde Council, Councillor Cassidy thanked Joint Board staff for delivering a successful by-election for Inverclyde Ward 5 (Inverclyde West) on 7 November 2024.

DECIDED: That the contents of the report be noted.

 

 

 

Under reference to item 6 of the Minute of the meeting of this Joint Board held on 13 September 2024, there was submitted a report by the Assistant Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer providing an update to the reporting performance for the first six months of the rating year.

The report detailed the performance in Council Tax and Non-domestic Valuation against set targets. In relation to Council Tax valuation, it was noted that the addition of new houses to the Valuation List and the deletion of demolished houses remained a priority with the time taken to enter new houses into the Valuation (Council Tax) List narrowly missing the target of 95% within three months and meeting the target of 97% within six months, by achieving 94.26% and 97.92% respectively. 

The report advised that the average number of days taken to add a house in each constituent authority area in the period 1 April to 30 September 2024 was 33.91 days, exceeding the target of 38 days, and detailed the deletions from the Valuation (Council Tax) List between 1 April and 30 September during 2023 and 2024. 

The report set out the time taken to make statutory amendments to the Valuation Roll, excluding appeal settlements and amendments to the prescribed entries, between 1 April and 30 September 2024 by constituent authority area, which exceeded both the target of 60% to be actioned within three months and 75% to be actioned within six months, by achieving 82.19% and 93.61% respectively.  

DECIDED: That the contents of the report be noted.

Under reference to item 10 of the Minute of the meeting of this Joint Board held on 13 September 2024, there was submitted a report by the Assistant Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer relative to progress on the disposal of 2017 Revaluation and Running Roll proposals and the 2023 Revaluation and Running Roll proposals and appeals.

The report provided detail in relation to the 2023 Revaluation Proposals; the disposal of 2017 Revaluation Appeals; Running Roll Proposals/Appeals; the disposal of 2017 Revaluation Running Roll Appeals; and disposal of other outstanding Appeals. 

DECIDED: That the contents of the report be noted.

Under reference to item 11 of the Minute of the meeting of this Joint Board held on 13 September 2024, there was submitted a report by the Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer relative to developments and expenditure arising from the Barclay Review.

In relation to staffing, the report advised that, as previously reported, recruitment of valuation staff had been extremely difficult and together with the changes to the proposal / appeals system along with the delivery of three-yearly revaluations, the current staffing structure was not sustainable with four qualified valuer vacancies. It was noted that the Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer sought approval from the Joint Board to use his delegated powers to restructure. This work would be undertaken in consultation with both the Clerk and the Treasurer to the Joint Board and the Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer would ensure that this work would be within budget, the job evaluation scheme and would obtain union approval as appropriate.

The report provided detail in relation to the 2023 non-domestic revaluation; changes to the appeals system; information gathering powers; the 2026 revaluation; the duty on the Joint Board to report to the Scottish Parliament and the IT valuation system.

DECIDED: 

(a) That the report be noted; and

(b) That it be noted that the Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer intended to use delegated powers to restructure.

Under reference to item 7 of the Minute of the meeting of this Joint Board held on 13 September 2024, there was submitted a report by the Assessor & Electoral Registration Officer relative to the Joint Board’s offices at the Robertson Centre, Glasgow Road, Paisley.

Following discussion, the meeting adjourned to allow members to consider the information provided by their respective Finance Directors. The meeting was reconvened. 

The Convener proposed that consideration of this report be continued to a meeting of the Joint Board to be held at 9.00 am on 22 November 2024 to enable all Joint Board members to be provided with information from the Treasurer and their respective Finance Directors. This was agreed unanimously.

DECIDED: That consideration of this matter be continued to a meeting of the Joint Board to be held at 4.00 pm on 21 November 2024.

Under reference to item 13 of the Minute of the meeting of this Joint Committee held on 13 September 2024, there was submitted a report by the Clerk to allow consideration to be given to the start time of future Joint Board meetings.

The report intimated that at the meeting of the Joint Board held on 13 September 2024, a member requested that consideration be given be given to the start time of future Joint Board meetings. 

DECIDED: 

(a) That consideration of this matter be continued and that members be requested to advise the Clerk of their preferred start time for future Joint Board meetings; and

(b) That the Clerk submit a report detailing members preferences to the next meeting of the Joint Board to be held on 21 February 2025. 

DECIDED: 

(a) That it be noted that the next meeting of the Joint Board would be held at 4.00 pm on 21 November 2024; and

(b) That it be noted that the next scheduled meeting of the Joint Board would be held at 2.00 pm on 21 February 2025 in the offices of Renfrewshire Council.