Minutes for Cabinet meeting, Feb 9 2010, 6.00PM official page

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 12 January 2010 (previously circulated).

The minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 12 January 2010 were confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

To receive the Organisational Assessment for the Council – to be presented by Rob Hathaway, Audit Commission

The Cabinet received the Organisational Assessment for the Council issued December 2009, which was presented by Rob Hathaway of the Audit Commission.

The Assessment summary indicated that the Council performs adequately, has clear ambitions and works well with partners to achieve them.  The Council has consulted widely and is tackling issues that local people say are priorities.  The Council has limited money but saves where it can and uses it to deliver its priorities.

The Assessment included a formal score across a number of specific areas, and the Council scored two out of four in each (ie. meets only minimum requirements – performs adequately).  The five areas scored were:

• Managing performance
• Use of resources
• Managing finances
• Governing the business
• Managing resources

Although the overall score was two (nearly one in two Districts scored the same) it was emphasised that the Council was on a trajectory of improvement.  The Organisational Assessment went on to describe other features of the Council’s overall performance and set out a brief profile of the District.  The Council had met its own performance targets in 72% of its performance measures and improved or stayed the same in 76% of its measures.  For the majority of services there had been an improvement during 2008/09 and key targets had been met. 

The Assessment concluded with a review of the Council’s performance against each of its five key aims.  Particular comment was made of the following positive points:

• Sustainable and clean environment – good work had commenced on reducing the Council’s own carbon footprint as well as promoting energy saving initiatives in the community.
• Thriving economy – the response to changes in the community as a result of the recession and a new project to target empty homes were highlighted.
• Safe Communities – very encouraging results had been achieved in conjunction with the Bucks Strategic Partnership on the reduction in serious acquisitive crime, although this was an ongoing priority to focus on.
• Improve health and well-being for all – partnership programmes to encourage participation in sport and improve the health of young people were highlighted.
• A cohesive community – working well with other agencies to improve community cohesion and using innovative methods to consult with hard to reach groups were mentioned.

The Cabinet commented on a number of points raised in the Organisational Assessment and expressed some disappointment that the overall score was not a better reflection of the good performance and progress made by the Council.

RESOLVED that the Organisational Assessment 2009 be received and noted.

The Forward Plan of Executive Decisions was presented for consideration.  The Plan contained all key decisions to be taken in the next four months together with other significant decisions anticipated to be taken within the next twelve months.

RESOLVED that the Forward Plan be noted and approved.

The Cabinet considered a report of the Leader bringing together information affecting the Council’s revenue budget for 2010/11 in order for the Cabinet to make recommendations to the Council on 23 February regarding the Council’s Budget and Council Tax for 2010/11.

The report was divided into a number of sections covering the various elements that needed to be considered when setting the Budget and Council Tax for the District.  Section A set out the base budget position, where there had been a number of changes since the report to the last Cabinet.  Approximately £134k had been added to the budget to cover an additional contribution to the Concessionary Fares Scheme for 2010/11, additional Verdant contract costs and final revisions to a number of income and grant budgets.  Against this an amendment to savings had been made of £50k to reflect the ending of the Pathfinder Support Services project.  As a result, the revised build-up of the net service budget now totalled £9,639,000.

Section B of the report dealt with the investment income and grants position.  The Council’s Treasury Management Strategy, recommended for approval, set out how the planned investment income for 2010/11 of £1.05m will be achieved.  Taking account of the estimated Buckinghamshire Area Based Grant of £22k and anticipated LABGI grant of £30K, the budget requirement before the use of reserves was £8,537k.

Section C of the report dealt with the Council Tax issues from which it was noted that the Council’s financial strategy this year included working towards a lower ceiling for the annual increase in the District’s Council Tax.  At the January meeting, the Cabinet had agreed to aim for a South Bucks Council Tax increase of around 2%.  To achieve this, the Council would need to apply reserves of £935k, of which £115k would come from the LDD earmarked reserve, with the remaining £820k from the general reserves.  This would leave an estimated level of general fund reserve at 31 March 2011 of £680k. 

The Council’s medium term financial strategy set out in Section D showed how the Council’s corporate aims could be progressed within the likely level of resources available.  A key aim of the strategy was to match expenditure and income, which gave rise to the major strategic risk facing the Council of undertaking changes in response to significantly reduced resources and maintaining front line services and performance.  Specific financial risks in the coming year revolve around failure to achieve the investment income target as a result of interest rates not starting to rise by the beginning of 2011 and the possible cost of planning inquiries and enforcement actions.  The report also made clear that after the this budget had been set, it is unlikely there will be great scope to use reserves as part of the financial strategy, and in fact reserves may have to be built up to some extent.

The report also contained the detailed advice of the Director of Resources (Section E and Appendix C) as the authority’s Statutory Financial  ...  view the full minutes text for item 84.

The Cabinet considered a report of the Resources Portfolio Holder regarding the award of a contract for the provision of insurance services for the Council and Farnham Park Charitable Trust for the period to 31 March 2015.

Having first checked that no neighbouring authority wished to be included, the Council carried out a tendering exercise under European Procurement Rules, for the provision of insurance services for a five year period, with options for the Council to extend for a further two years.  Of the interested parties expressing an interest, only two returned a satisfactory Pre-Qualification Questionnaire: Risk Management Partners (RMP) and Zurich Municipal.

Tenders were invited on both the current excess levels (mainly £5,000) and on a nil excess, with separate figures sought for the Farnham Park Trust element.  Full details of the tenders received were set out in a report in Part II of the agenda.  Both tenders were non-compliant in that they did not meet all of the Council’s standard conditions of contract set out in the tender document, which mainly centred on the ability of the Council to terminate the contract on notice.

The current contract with Zurich Municipal, at an annual cost of £104,000 was due to expire on 31 March 2010.  Analysis of the tender figures indicated Zurich Municipal as the favoured company, with by far the lowest tender, which also met budget requirements.  However, there were some outstanding contract issues to be resolved which may involve the Council agreeing to accept some alternative contract terms and conditions.

Having considered the resource and other implications, and the analysis of the tenders in the Part II report, it was

RESOLVED that the contract for insurance services for the period 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2015, with the option to extend for a further period of no more than two years, be awarded to Zurich Municipal, subject to:

(a) a delegation to the Resources Portfolio Holder, in consultation with the Director of Resources, to approve the final conditions of the contract; and

(b) RMP being given a reasonable opportunity to submit a revised tender following notification of the changes agreed to the conditions of contract.

It was further

RECOMMENDED that the contract for insurance services for the Farnham Charitable Trust for the period 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2015, with the option to extend for a further period of no more than two years, be awarded to Zurich Municipal.

[A decision is required to be made by members acting both as members of SBDC and as corporate trustee in accordance with the charity objectives of Farnham Park Charitable Trust].

The Cabinet considered a Notice of Decisions of the Resources Portfolio Holder issued on 5 February following a meeting of the Resources Policy Advisory Group held on 2 February 2010.  The Cabinet noted decisions in relation to the refusal two applications for Discretionary Rate Relief which were outside the Council’s agreed guidelines.

The following were the subject of recommendations from the Portfolio Holder:

Treasury Management Strategy 2010/11

A report had been considered on the Treasury Management Strategy and Annual Investment Strategy for the Council for 2010/11.  The report also covered the economic and interest rate projections, various technical issues the authority was required to determine as part of its treasury management activity, and proposals from the Fund Managers for the year ahead.

RESOLVED that:

(1)               the Treasury Management Strategy 2010/2011, be approved including;

(i)                 the revised policy statements and CIPFA Code, as set out in Appendix A of the report;

(ii)               subject to the minor amendments made to para 4.13 of the revised Counterparty proposals, as set out in paras 4.12 to 4.14 of the Strategy;

(2)                the Annual Investment Strategy, as set out in Appendix B of the report, be approved;

(3)              an authorised borrowing limit of £3.5 million and an operational borrowing limit of £3 million, together with other prudential indicators as set out in Appendix F of the report be approved;

(4)              the Capital Financing Requirement (CFR) method is adopted in the Council’s annual policy on making MRP (Minimum Revenue Provision) for 2010/11, as set out in Option 2 Appendix G of the report;

(5)              the £8m funds held by Investec Asset Management Ltd., be returned to the Council in order to be managed in-house; and

(6)               Members be provided with access to the relevant Treasury Management training in conjunction with Sector, the Council’s Treasury Management advisers, which would be open to all members of the Council to attend. This was to ensure that any Members charged with governance of Treasury Management had a basic understanding of the topic.

ICT FM Contract 2010

A report had been considered on the current status of the ICT Managed Services contract with Steria and proposing options for the future provision of ICT support.  The Cabinet also received the full report made to the Policy Advisory Group setting out the financial, legal implications and risks of the options put forward, with particular reference those which did not comply with the Council’s statutory duty under the Public Contracts Regulations to go out to tender.

After consideration of the advice and risks involved, it was

RECOMMENDED that:

(1)         the existing ICT FM contract with negotiated changes be used as the basis of a one year contract with the current supplier and that such an arrangement be outside of normal Contracts Procedure Rules;

(2)         an exemption from Contracts Procedure Rules be authorised to allow officers to appoint Steria as the sole supplier, subject to negotiation, without having to obtain other quotations;

(3)         delegated authority be given to the Director of Resources to approve  ...  view the full minutes text for item 86.

(Note: Copies of the Proposed Submission Core Strategy (as amended) and recommended for approval will be available in the Members’ Room).

The Cabinet considered the minutes of a meeting of the Local Development Framework (LDF) Panel held on 28 January 2010, containing recommendations regarding the approval of the Proposed Submission Core Strategy.

The Sustainable Development Portfolio Holder reminded the Cabinet of detailed and lengthy preparation of the Core Strategy to the current stage.  Since December there had been further consultation with key stakeholders on the proposed wording of Core Policies and supporting text, which had brought forward a number of helpful comments.  Also, a further meeting with Counsel had taken place which had resulted in a number of suggestions to strengthen Core Policies and ensure consistency.

In addition further progress had been made on finalising the evidence base for the Core Strategy and the results of new or updated studies had been used to refine draft text.  Reference was made to the main changes included in the Core Strategy now recommended for approval.

The Sustainable Development Portfolio Holder summarised the key principles that had been embodied in the Core Strategy:

·        to strongly protect the Green Belt (no changes to Green Belt boundaries were included)

·        to focus most new development on previously built land, with more of a concentration in the principal settlements of Beaconsfield, Gerrards Cross and Burnham

·        to seek to protect townscape and secure high quality design of new development

·        to introduce an affordable housing requirement of 40% of across the District (on all schemes of 5 units or above or on sites of 0.16 hectares or above)

·        to seek to introduce a Community Infrastructure Levy as a further source of funding for improvements in local infrastructure

·        to seek to address traffic problems Beaconsfield, Iver and Richings Park, with further consideration to options for relief roads later in the plan period

Cabinet Members received answers to questions and commented on a number of detailed points.  In conclusion, thanks and congratulations were extended to the Sustainable Development team that had worked on preparation of the Core Strategy.

RECOMMENDED that the Proposed Submission Core Strategy (as amended) be approved, subject to a delegation to the Sustainable Development Portfolio Holder / LDF Lead Member to agree any late or final amendments, before publication of the document in March 2010.

The Sustainable Development Portfolio Holder also presented recommendations from the LDF Panel about the programme for a revised Local Development Scheme, including options for future LDF documents.

The Council was required to produce its Core Strategy and other Development Plan Documents (DPDs) in accordance with the timetable set out in the Local Development Scheme (LDS).  The current LDS was published in March 2007, since when there had been much progress on the Core Strategy and other LDF documents, though not necessarily to the timescale envisaged in 2007.  The Council has been advised that it is essential the LDS should be updated and republished prior to the Core Strategy being submitted for examination (expected July 2010) in order that the Inspector appointed can check that it  ...  view the full minutes text for item 87.

The Cabinet considered a Notice of Decisions issued on 8 February by the Environment Portfolio Holder, following a meeting of the Environment Policy Advisory Group held on 4 February 2010.

The Cabinet noted that consideration had been given to the results of the recent Beaconsfield Common Land parking survey, a report of discussions between the Council (Managers of the common land), Hall Barn Estates (owners of most of the common land) and Bucks County Council (owners of part of the common land and Highway Authority), and options for future action.  Recognising the difficulties of reconciling the different interests of users of the common land and the uncertainty over the future direction of civil parking enforcement, the Portfolio Holder has decided to request the officers to explore further the possibilities for introducing byelaws which could control parking on the common land. 

The following was the subject of a recommendation from the Portfolio Holder:

Pay and display car parks

Having previously decided not to consider a general increase in car park charges at the present time, the Portfolio Holder had consulted on possible changes to the charges at the Packhorse Road car park in Gerrards Cross.  Taking account of the responses received, it was

RECOMMENDED that changes to the charges be limited to the Packhorse Road, Gerrards Cross car park (with effect from April 2010) as follows:

(1)         to continue with issue of the limited number of season tickets, with an increased charge of £280 for 3 months and £520 for 6 months;

(2)         there be no increase in the charge for short term parking (each tariff band up to 2 hours);

(3)    the up to 3 hours and up to 24 hours tariff be increased to £3.30 and £6.40 respectively, with longer term parkers to be advised of the cheaper tariff at the Station Road car park.

The Cabinet considered a Notice of Decisions of the Health and Housing Portfolio Holder issued on 1 February 2010, following a meeting of the Health and Housing Policy Advisory Group held on 27 January 2010.  Arising from the recommendations of the Portfolio Holder:

Buckinghamshire County Fuel Poverty Strategy

A report had been considered putting forward a draft ‘Buckinghamshire County Fuel Poverty Strategy’ for discussion and adoption.

Reducing the numbers of people living in a cold home is seen locally as a priority and has become part of the Local Area Agreement (LAA) delivery plan in Bucks.  The four Bucks Districts, working with other partners including the United Sustainable Energy Agency (USEA), had engaged an Affordable Warmth Co-ordinator to help achieve the LAA target.  USEA have developed a Fuel Poverty Strategy (fuel poverty is defined as a household where 10% or more of its income is spent on fuel to heat the home adequately) which contained a broad range of measures aimed at eradicating fuel poverty and achieving affordable warmth in the County.

RESOLVED that the Buckinghamshire County Fuel Poverty Strategy 2009 – 2014 be adopted.

Updated Environmental Health Strategy

A report had been considered presenting an updated Environmental Health Strategy for discussion and approval.

The Strategy had been updated to include reference to national policy changes and developments which had occurred since the original document was published in April 2008.  It set out the policy for the Council’s Environmental Health service over the next five years and the mechanisms by which this would be implemented.  The Strategy contained a description of the Environmental Health services covered and the key aims of the service; a resume of community and customer needs; the Council’s priorities set in the context of the national agenda and policy; and an action plan with milestones and desired outcomes.

RESOLVED that the draft Environmental Health Strategy 2010 – 2015 be adopted, and the Health and Housing Portfolio Holder, in consultation with the Head of Environment, be authorised to approve any minor amendments.

Options for the Introduction of On-Line Food Safety Scores for South Bucks

A report had been considered about the introduction of a system to publish food hygiene scores for certain food premises by making them available via the SBDC website.

As many local authorities had introduced a local scheme for food hygiene scores, the Food Standards Agency had outlined a draft for a National Scheme to bring some uniformity, together an option for authorities to apply for a share of a national fund to support its introduction.  The report set out the options available for implementing a scheme, together with the implications, costs and grant funding available.

RESOLVED to:

(1)         approve in principle the introduction of a web based scheme to  publish food hygiene scores for launch on the National Platform as soon as it becomes available (making use of grant funding available from the Food Standards Agency), if necessary launching a local scheme as an interim measure; and

(2)    authorise the Health and Housing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 89.

The Cabinet received a presentation on ACORN (A Classification of Residential Neighbourhoods) data being used as part of a Bucks Strategic Partnership project on Tackling Disadvantage.  The project was being led by Bucks Fire and Rescue Service and South Bucks was carrying out a pilot to map areas of deprivation.  Other sources of data being used in the project were the 2007 Index of Multiple Deprivation published by Communities and Local Government and the Vulnerable Localities Index developed by Bucks Fire and Rescue.

The presentation illustrated how the information could be used to increase the knowledge of residents in the District, to better understand the kinds of households in a given area, to assist with service planning and delivery.  The mapping capability enabled measurement of information down to small area level.  Examples shown of the data mapped across South Bucks included:

• overall deprivation rankings
• income deprivation
• Bucks 10 ACORN data groups
• analysis of Council Tax claimants

The information produced as part of the project was being made available in the KnowledgeSource area on the intranet.  The Cabinet expressed its thanks for the interesting presentation, received answers to a number of questions and raised some queries on detail for further investigation.

The Cabinet considered a report of the Chief Executive proposing amendments to the Corporate Plan for 2010 – 2020.

Corporate Plan aims, priorities and objectives were reviewed each year and updated to reflect the changing needs of the locality and the community.  This year the aims had been updated to link with the recently approved South Bucks Sustainable Community Strategy 2009 - 2026.  The Strategy was based on extensive consultation with residents, local community groups and partner organisation.  The new aims are:-

Aim 1: Thriving economy – lifelong enterprise, the entrepreneurial heart of Britain

Aim 2: Sustainable and clean environment – protecting our heritage, protecting our future

Aim 3: Safe communities – being safe, feeling safe

Aim 4: Health and wellbeing – healthier, happier and longer lives

Aim 5: Cohesive and strong communities – strong, confident and active communities

Within these aims, staff focussed on six key drivers throughout the work that they carried out.  The key drivers are:

• Customer needs and customer involvement
• Value for money and a lean organisation
• Recognising diversity and hearing the silent needy and hard to hear
• Supporting a cohesive and caring community
• Sustainable quality of life
• Knowing the locality and our communities, use of KnowledgeSource to guide our work

Appendices to the report set out each of the corporate aims with the priorities for each.  Improvement objectives were categorised into those of one year short-term, two to three year medium term objectives and four to ten year long term objectives.  A sustainability impact assessment and an equalities impact assessment had been undertaken against the Corporate Plan, which were attached to the report as appendices.

The Cabinet made the following suggestions for amendments to the Corporate Plan:

• Page 2 – in Aim 4 use new title “NHS Buckinghamshire”
• Page 4 – change implement civil parking enforcement procedures to review civil parking enforcement procedures
• Page 6 – change address the impact of any further expansion of Heathrow to minimise the impact of any further expansion of Heathrow
• Page 7 – amend wording of aim to “Review provision of hospital bus service”, deleting reference to Dial-A-Ride
• Page 8 – add “Simply Walk” to the healthy living initiatives in the 2-3 year medium term objectives
• Page 10 – consider alternative wording for “Recognising diversity and hearing the silent needy and hard to hear”

RESOLVED that the 2010 – 2020 Corporate Plan, as amended, be approved.

The Cabinet considered a report of the Chief Executive showing the performance of Council services against national and local indicators and against service objectives during the period April – December 2009. 

Appendix A to the report showed the monthly priority performance indicator figures in detail.  In summary this showed:-

Areas where priority performance indicators are achieving targets

·        Percentage of Council Tax collected

·        Percentage of Non-Domestic Rates collected

·        The number of domestic burglaries per 1,000 households

·        The number of robberies per 1,000 of the population

·        Theft of vehicle incidents per 1,000 of the population

·        The processing of “other” planning applications (not major or minor)

Areas where performance targets are not being achieved

·        Number of serious acquisitive crimes per 1,000 of the population

·        Number of households where homelessness is prevented

·        Number of households living in temporary accommodation

·        Average number of working days lost due to sickness

·        The speed of processing new Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit claims

Comments were made about a number of these results.  Although the number of serious acquisitive crimes was just off target, it still showed a significant reduction on the previous year.  With regard to the number of families in temporary accommodation, as noted before this was due to a hold up in the availability of ‘move on’ accommodation.  This had now been addressed.  Although the speed of processing new housing benefit and council tax benefit claims was off target, the continued improvement being shown should bring this within target by the year end.

The report also contained an update on the economic activity indicators monitored and a commentary on the performance against the key service objectives across the Council within each Portfolio. 

The final section of the report discussed key operational risks put forward by Management Team, indicating the likelihood of risk occurring, the level of threat posed and actions carried out during the quarter to mitigate risk.

RESOLVED that the performance for the second quarter of the year against national and local indicators and against service objectives be noted. 

The Leader to move the following resolution:-

“that under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act”.

Insurance Contract

(Paragraph 3 – because of information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person)

Planning Enforcement and Appeals – Resources

(Paragraph 5 – because of information in respect of which a claim to legal privilege could be maintained)

RESOLVED that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act.

Insurance Contract

(Paragraph 3 – because of information relating to the financial or business affairs of a particular person).

The Cabinet considered a report containing details of the tenders received for the insurance services contract and a financial analysis of them.

Planning Enforcement and Appeals – Resources

(Paragraph 5 – because of information in respect of which a claim to legal privilege could be maintained).

The Cabinet received a report containing a resume of recent decisions relating to planning enforcement and appeals and the resource implications of each.

To consider report from the Resources Portfolio Holder.

To consider report of the Director of Resources.