Agenda, decisions and minutes

Decision: The minutes of the Executive Cabinet meeting held on 30 June 2016 were confirmed as a correct record for signing by the Deputy Executive Leader.

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any pecuniary interest in respect of matters contained in this agenda.

If you have a pecuniary interest you must withdraw from the meeting. Normally you should leave the room before the business starts to be discussed. You do, however, have the same right to speak as a member of the public and may remain in the room to enable you to exercise that right and then leave immediately. In either case you must not seek to improperly influence a decision on the matter.

There were no declarations of any interests.

Members of the public who have requested the opportunity to ask a question(s) on an item(s) on the agenda will have three minutes to put their question(s) to the respective Executive Member(s).  Each member of the public will be allowed to ask one short supplementary question. 

There were no questions received from any member of the public.

Report of the Director of Policy and Governance (enclosed)

That the report be noted.

The report of the Director of Policy and Governance was presented by the Deputy Leader and Executive Member (Resources). The monitoring report set out the Council’s performance against the delivery of the Corporate Strategy and key performance indicators during the first quarter of 2016/17, 1 April to 30 June 2016.

Overall performance of the 2015/16 key projects was good, with 88% on track or complete. Only two projects (12%) are currently rated as off track, the delivery of the Friday Street Health Centre is rated red due to external factors outside of the Council’s control and the Delivery of the Community action Plans, currently rated amber following a review of scope. Actions to address the issues have been identified in both cases and were being implemented.

Members discussed the merits and disadvantages of the Community Action Plan pilot scheme that had been recently undertaken and the Cabinet agreed that lessons had been learnt throughout the process. A full review of all of the Community Action Plans would be undertaken over the next few months.

It was also reported that the Botany Bay Masterplan was progressing well and that the Council would continue to work with all relevant stakeholders including nearby residents on the proposals. It was anticipated that the Masterplan would be brought to a future Council meeting to agree a broad direction of travel before undertaking a more formal consultation. A planning application was expected to be considered early in 2017.

Performance of the Corporate Strategy indicators and key service delivery measures was also good with 80% of the Corporate Strategy indicators and 86% of key service measures performing above target or within the 5% tolerance. Only two indicators were performing below target, the percentage of 16-18 year olds who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) and percentage of customer’s dissatisfied with the service they had received from the Council.   Action plans had been developed to improve performance and recent results were already showing improvement.

Decision:

That the report be noted.

Reason for recommendation(s)

To facilitate the on-going analysis and management of the Council’s performance in delivering the Corporate Strategy

Alternative options considered and rejected.

None

Report of the Chief Executive (enclosed)

1.    That the full year forecast position for the 2016/17 revenue budget and capital investment programme be noted.

2.    That the forecast position on the Council’s reserves be noted.

3.    Approval of the use of £67,000 from in-year revenue underspends to invest in the Retail Grants Programme

4.    Approval of the use of £15,000 revenue savings against the Meals on Wheels budget to contribute towards the additional Christmas Lighting costs in 2016 and make this a permanent budget virement for future years.

5.    Approval of the use of £25,000 from in-year revenue underspends to finance the review that will be undertaken to identify empty homes brought back into use and increase the subsequent increase in the New Homes Bonus grant.

6.    That the changes to the Capital Programme to reflect delivery in 2016/17 be noted.

The report of the Chief Executive was presented by the Deputy Leader and Executive Member (Resources). The report set out the provisional revenue end capital outturn figures for the Council as compared against the budgets and efficiency savings targets set for the financial year 2016/17.

The projected revenue outturn showed a forecast underspend of £245,000 against budget, however no action was required at this stage of the year. The latest forecast excluded any variation to projected expenditure on investment items added to the budget in 2016/17 and any remaining balances at year end would be transferred into specific reserves and matched to expenditure in future years.

In the 2016/17 budget the expected net income from Market walk after deducting financial costs was £0.942m with the latest projection showing a forecast return of £1.002m. The overall forecast of capital expenditure in 2016/17 is £14.006m.

The Council is expected to make an overall target saving of £150k in 2016/17 from management of the establishment, with savings of £100k already having been achieved for the year.

The Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy proposes that working balances will reach £4.0m over the three year life span of the MTFS to 2018/19 due to the financial risks facing the Council.  A budgeted contribution into General Balances of £500k is contained within the new investment package for 2016/17 with the current forecast to the end of June showing that the General Fund balance could be around £3.430m by the end of the financial year. Following approval of the recommendations in the report, the forecast balance would reduce to £3.363m and be on target to achieve £4.0m by 2018/19.

Decision:

1.    That the full year forecast position for the 2016/17 revenue budget and capital investment programme be noted.

2.    That the forecast position on the Council’s reserves be noted.

3.    Approval of the use of £67,000 from in-year revenue underspends to invest in the Retail Grants Programme

4.    Approval of the use of £15,000 revenue savings against the Meals on Wheels budget to contribute towards the additional Christmas Lighting costs in 2016 and make this a permanent budget virement for future years.

5.    Approval of the use of £25,000 from in-year revenue underspends to finance the review that will be undertaken to identify empty homes brought back into use and increase the subsequent increase in the New Homes Bonus grant.

6.    That the changes to the Capital Programme to reflect delivery in 2016/17 be noted.

Reasons for recommendation(s)

To ensure the Council’s budgetary targets are achieved.

Alternative options considered and rejected.

None.

To consider the exclusion of the press and public for the following items of business on the ground that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

By Virtue of Paragraph 3: Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

Condition:

Information is not exempt if it is required to be registered under-

The Companies Act 1985

The Friendly Societies Act 1974

The Friendly Societies Act 1992

The Industrial and Provident Societies Acts 1965 to 1978

The Building Societies Act 1986 (recorded in the public file of any building society, within the meaning of the Act)

The Charities Act 1993

Information is exempt to the extent that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Information is not exempt if it relates to proposed development for which the local planning authority may grant itself planning permission pursuant to Regulation 3 of the Town & Country Planning General Regulations 1992(a).

Approval that the press and public be excluded for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclose of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

Approval that the press and public be excluded for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclose of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

Report of the Director of Early Intervention and Support (enclosed)

Recommendations approved.

The report of the Direct of Early Intervention and Support was presented by the Deputy Leader and Executive Member (Resources). The report outlined the outcome of the consultation and subsequent amendments to the Select Move Allocations Policy.

Following approval by the Executive Cabinet to consult upon the amendments to the Select Move allocations policy, a consultation programme had been undertaken and involved gathering input from customers, stakeholders and partner agencies. A summary of the consultation comments were provided in appendix one of the report and were in the main, minor changes.

It was explained that once all the partners within the Select Move partnership had obtained final sign off from their respective boards and Elected Members, an implementation plan would be established, that would also involve working with the software provider Abritas to make the necessary changes to the system in order to maintain the policy changes.

Decision:

1.    Adoption of the amendments to the Select Move common allocations policy to be implemented in accordance with the plan developed by the Select Move Partnership.

2.    Approval to extend the pilot to allocate 25% outside the allocations policy for another 12 months.

Reasons for recommendation(s)

To adopt the Select Move changes to the common allocations policy and continue to implement in accordance with the plan developed by the Select Move partnership.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

To refuse to accept the proposed changes cold likely result in the Registered Providers giving notice to withdraw from Select Move and the Council has no powers to prevent this and Chorley Council would operate on and asses  households using a different policy. The demise of Select Move would result in the need for the Council to revert back to the old nominations system, whereby the Registered Providers provide the Council with a proportion of their voids as nominations on some of their stock. To operate a different policy from Registered Providers and our neighbouring authorities within the Select Move scheme would not only be confusing for the applicant but could prove to be a disadvantage for Chorley applicants in obtaining permanent housing.

Report of the Director of Early Intervention and Support (enclosed)

Recommendations approved.

The report of the Director of Early Intervention and support was presented by the Deputy Executive Leader and Executive Member (Resources). The report provided details of the procurement exercise being undertaken to renew the contract for the delivery of the concierge service for Cotswold Supported Housing, including the evaluations criteria which would be used to award the contract.

Decision:

1.    Approval of the contract award procedure, evaluation criteria and weightings which will be used to award a new contract for the provision of night caretaking and concierge service at Cotswold Supported Housing.

2.    Delegated authority granted to the Executive Member (Resources) to award the contract to the successful bidder.

Reasons for recommendation(s)

In accordance with the Councils contract procedure rules, approval of the contract award procedure and evaluation criteria to be used is required from the relevant Executive Member portfolio.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

1.    The option to extend the current contract with Sector would not comply with the Council’s procurement rules.

2.    The option to tender for a concierge service for another one or three of more years contract was considered. However, another one year contract was felt to be too short and more continuity of service is required, whilst more than a two year contract was felt to be too restrictive for a changing and improving service.