Agenda, decisions and minutes

Decision: The meeting of the Executive Cabinet meeting held on 19 January 2017 were confirmed as a correct record for signing by the 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 public questions.

Report of the Overview and Scrutiny Task Group (enclosed)

The report of the Overview and Scrutiny Task Group was received and accepted for consideration, with a view to the Executive Cabinet’s recommended response to the recommendations being reported to a future meeting.

The Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Councillor John Walker, presented the report.

The Task Group were encouraged by the work already undertaken by the council to raise awareness of this type of child abuse. However, it was felt that the council could play a bigger role in raising awareness with elected members, officers of the council, other organisations, and individuals.

The review had identified a set of recommendations that Members felt would keep CSE awareness at the forefront of people’s minds and that the checks and balances suggested would ensure that the council does not become complacent about its responsibilities and role in the community.

Councillor Walker thanked the Chair, Councillor Roy Lees and members of the Task Group and officers involved with the inquiry.

Decision: Approval granted that the report of the Overview and Scrutiny Task Group be received and accepted for consideration.  The Executive Cabinet’s response to the recommendations would be reported to a future meeting.

Report of Director of Policy and Governance (enclosed)

That the report be noted.

The Executive Member (Resources) presented the report of the Director of Policy and Governance that set out the performance against the delivery of the Corporate Strategy, and key performance indicators during the third quarter of 2016/17. 1 October – 31 December 2017.

Overall performance of the 2015/16 key projects was good, with 81% of the projects either on track or complete. Only two projects (13%) were rated amber and actions plans for each of the projects were contained within the report.  Only one (6%) was rated red, the delivery of the Friday Street Health Centre, due to a long standing issue regarding access to funding and although the project had undergone further consideration a part of a review by the Clinical Commissioning Group, clarification was still being sought on how this was progressing.

It was reported that this would be the final time that the 2015/16 Corporate Strategy projects would be reported to Executive Cabinet. Those projects, not yet completed, would either be carried over for delivery through the 2016/17 Corporate Strategy, were due to be completed in quarter four or alternatively would continue to be delivered through business as usual activity. Further details were appended to the report.

Performance of the Corporate Strategy indicators and key service delivery measures also remained good with 100% of the indicators and 80% of the key service measures performing well above target or within the 5% tolerance.

Two key service delivery measures that were performing below target were time taken to process all new claims and change events for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit and the number of missed collections per 100,000 collections of household waste. Action plans for these indicators had been developed to improve performance in these areas.

In response to members, it was explained that the target for processing all new and change events for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit within 6 days had been an ambitious one and had been changed from a previous target of 10 days to reflect the Council’s ambitions in service delivery.

A 12 month training programme was currently underway in the Single Front Office which would mean increased resources being available to process benefit claims that would in turn improve on this indicator. It was however stressed, that each claim was dealt with individually and due to the sometimes sensitive nature of the service being provided, a review of the target maybe needed to ensure good customer care is maintained.

Decision:

That the report be noted.

Reasons for recommendation(s)

To facilitate the ongoing 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.     To request Full Council to grant approval for the contribution of £150,000 from in-year revenue underspends to the Change Management Reserve to finance one-off redundancy and pension strain costs arising from transformation and shared services strategies.

4.     To request Full Council to grant approval venue underspends to the Change Management Reserve to the Buildings Maintenance Reserve to finance one-off costs relating to office utilisation and transformational change.

5.     To request Full Council to grant approval of the following increases and additions to the capital programme:

a.     £20k increase in the CCTV capital budget to complete the installation of CCTV equipment to be funded from underspends on the CCTV revenue maintenance budget.

b.     £27k budget increase for Ranglett’s recreation project for woks to the surrounding roads to meet LCC requirements for a crossing.

c.      £100k increase in the Astley 2020 budget to increase the Council’s match funding for a HLF grant bid from £100k to £200K to secure a £2m HLF grant that is necessary to meet the scope of works required to fully renovate the Hall.

d.     £2.947m for the purchase of HCA employment land to be funded through the sale of Council residential land and prudential borrowing.

e.     £2.2m for the Bank Hall project of which the Council will act as the accountable body for receiving requests for HLF grant. The grant money will be paid to the Council and the Council will then pay monies over to the claimants.

6.            To request Full Council to note the changes to the capitalprogramme to reflect delivery in 2016/17 and 2017/18

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

The latest net revenue budget was £18.960m which had been amended to include approved slippage from 2015/16 and any other transfers from reserves. A full schedule of the investment budgets carried forward from 2015/16 and the new (non-recurrent) investment budgets introduced in the 2016/17 budget was appended to the report together with expenditure to date against these projects. The Council’s approved revenue budget for 2016/17 included target savings of £150,000 from management of the staffing establishment which had already been achieved.

Following the recommendations made in September 2016 budget monitoring report, in year revenue underspends had been set aside to fund the Retail Grants Programme, Local Development Framework costs anticipated in 2017/18 and investment in the Public Realm works capital scheme.

The provisional outturn position for the Council based upon actual spend in the first nine months of the financial year was appended to the report and adjusted for future spend based upon assumptions regarding vacancies and service delivery.  The latest forecast of capital expenditure in 2016/17 is £14.563m

The projected revenue outturn was currently showing a forecasted underspend of £298,000 against budget although no action was required at this stage.

In the 2016/17 budget, the expected net income for Market Walk after deducting financing costs is £1.002m, with the latest projection also showing a forecast outturn of £1.002m.

The Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy proposed that working balances would reach £4.0m over the three year lifespan of the MTFS to 20118/19 due to financial risks facing the Council. A budgeted contribution of £500k was contained within the new investment package for 2016/17. The current forecast to the end of December showed that the General Fund closing balance could be around £3.483m by the end of the financial year and following approval of the recommendations in the report, the forecast balance would be £3.283m and in line to achieve the target of £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.     To request Full Council to grant approval for the contribution of £150,000 from in-year revenue underspends to the Change Management Reserve to finance one-off redundancy and pension strain costs arising from transformation and shared services strategies.

4.     To request Full Council to grant approval venue underspends to the Change Management Reserve to the Buildings Maintenance Reserve to finance one-off costs relating to office utilisation and transformational change.

5.     To request Full Council to grant approval of the following increases and additions to the capital programme:

a.     £20k increase in the CCTV capital budget to complete the installation of CCTV equipment to be funded from underspends on the CCTV revenue maintenance budget.

b.     £27k budget  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.EC.63

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 1: Information relating to any individual.

Condition:

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).

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 Paragraphs 1 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government act 1972.

Report of the Director of Business, Economic and Growth (enclosed)

1.     That the contract strategy recommendation to enter into a pre-construction services agreement to enable greater certainty to be obtained on the final construction contract, whilst maintaining the momentum of the programme and for the site enabling works be noted.

2.     That the recommendation to use a JCT (D&B) 2016 form of contract for the construction contract be noted.

3.     Approval granted for the Council to enter into a Pre-Construction Services Agreement Contract (PCSA) under the Lancashire Regeneration Property Partnership to enable the site preparation works to commence, including the demolition of the HSS Hire and St John Ambulance buildings.

4.            The proposal to change the tenure mix of the scheme to 100% affordable rent was noted.

5.            Executive Cabinet noted the strong possibility that additional HCA grant funding of approximately £300k will be secured which will ensure all capital costs are fully funded.

6.            Executive Cabinet noted that the uplift in HCA grant requires the Council to commit a start on site before 31 March 2017. The PCSA satisfies this because it is with the same contractor and is our main development contractor. This will mean that the Council will have entered into the HCA contract and will enable the first tranche of the grant (75% of the total) to be drawn.

7.            Executive Cabinet also noted that officers will explore options to reduce the annual operational costs of the retirement village model. This will include the benchmarking of running costs against similar developments, a review of staffing and concierge services. It was also noted that officers will explore developing alternative models of generating income. This will include modelling income from the commercial aspects of the scheme and working with health colleagues around a step down/re-enablement for a block number of units.

The Executive Member (Customer and Advice Services) presented the report of the Director for Business, Economic and Growth that provided and update on the Primrose Gardens project and sought approval for entering into a contract with Eric Wright Construction to progress the first stage of site enabling works.

The main advantage of this approach is so that the Council can progress the site preparation whilst investing sufficient time for overall scheme costs to be refined and value engineered. It would also reduce the risk to the Council and will ensure that the final contract price is fully market tested.

An addendum report was also presented that provided an update on the work being undertaken to ensure that Primrose Gardens is viable for both capital and revenue financing.

Decision:

1.     That the contract strategy be noted.

2.     That the recommendation to use a JCT (D&B) 2016 form of contract for the construction contract be noted.

3.     Approval granted for the Council to enter into a Pre-Construction Services Agreement Contract (PCSA) under the Lancashire Regeneration Property Partnership to enable the site preparation works to commence, including the demolition of the HSS Hire and St John Ambulance buildings.

4.     The proposal to change the tenure mix of the scheme to 100% affordable rent was noted.

5.     Executive Cabinet noted the strong possibility that additional HCA grant funding of approximately £300k will be secured which will ensure all capital costs are fully funded.

6.     Executive Cabinet noted that the uplift in HCA grant requires the Council to commit a start on site before 31 March 2017. The PCSA satisfies this because it is with the same contractor and is our main development contractor. This will mean that the Council will have entered into the HCA contract and will enable the first tranche of the grant (75% of the total) to be drawn.

7.     Executive Cabinet also noted that officers will explore options to reduce the annual operational costs of the retirement village model. This will include the benchmarking of running costs against similar developments, a review of staffing and concierge services. It was also noted that officers will explore developing alternative models of generating income. This will include modelling income from the commercial aspects of the scheme and working with health colleagues around a step down/re-enablement for a block number of units.

Reasons for recommendation(s)

To ensure the project remains on track and deliverable and that the site enabling works are commenced whilst the full construction contract is prepared. This provides time for further risk control and contingency work to be undertaken without jeopardising the overall project.

Alternative options considered and rejected

Entering into the final construction contract immediately - This was rejected because of the levels of risk and because more detailed design work and cost engineering was required.

Delay the site preparation works pending the outcome of the two risk control measures. This was rejected because the overall project will slip and the HCA deadline will be missed therefore putting the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.EC.65

Report of the Director of Customer and Digital Services (enclosed)

1.     Approval of the proposed structure for consultation.

2.     Delegated authority granted to the Executive Member (Streetscene) to approve the final structure, subject to there being no major changes following the consultation period.

3.     Approval of the ERVS requests contained within the report.

The Executive Member (Streetscene) presented the report of the Director of Customer and Digital that sought approval for a new proposed structure in the Waste and Streetscene team for consultation.

Following the management restructure in April 2016 and approval of the Streetscene Modernisation Strategy a review of the structure was thought necessary to ensure the service is able to deliver the priority areas of work over the next few years. The review would also drive improvements in health and safety, productivity and quality of work delivered by the teams on site.

Decision:

1.     Approval of the proposed structure for consultation.

2.     Delegated authority granted to the Executive Member (Streetscene) to approve the final structure, subject to there being no major changes following the consultation period.

3.     Approval of the ERVS requests contained within the report.

Reasons for recommendation(s)

It is necessary to look at changing the structure of the team to make sure it is best positioned to deliver the priorities of the council.

Alternative options considered and rejected

To continue with the current structure – This was rejected because the structure and capacity in the team would not deliver the priorities identified in the Streetscene Modernisation Strategy.