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Town Hall, St. Helens, Merseyside, WA10 1HP Telephone: 01744 673219 (Joanne Griffiths) CABINET Public Meeting Agenda Date: Wednesday, 22 February 2012 Time: 4.00 pm Venue : Room 10 Membership Councillors : Rim mer (Chairman), Bacon, Bowden, Grunewald, Murphy, Pearson, Quinn and Smith Item Title Page 1. Apologies for Absence 2. Minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2012 1 3. Declarations of Interest from Members 4. Issues Arising from Overview and Scrutiny 1) Scrutiny Review of Allotments 5 2) Scrutiny Review of 5 Borough Trust’s Later Life Memory Services 25 and Relocation of Stewart Assessment Ward 5. Budget Performance Monitoring Report December 2011 37 6. Revenue and Capital Budget 2012/13 97 * 7. The Sutton Academy - Approval of Final Business Case 205 * Key Decision which is within the Forward Plan of Key Decisions This page is intentionally left blank 2 CABINET At a meeting of the Cabinet held on 25 January 2012 (Present) Councillor Rimmer (Chairman) Councillors Bacon, Bowden, Murphy, Pearson, Quinn and Smith (Not Present) Councillor Grunewald --------- 111 APOLOGY FOR ABSENCE An apology for absence was received from Councillor Grunewald. 112 MINUTES *** Resolved that the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 4 January 2012 be approved and signed. 113 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST FROM MEMBERS No Declarations of Interest were made. 114 ISSUES ARISING FROM OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY i) Overview and Scrutiny Commission – Budget Scrutiny Review 2012/13 A report was submitted which informed Cabinet that the Budget Scrutiny review process for 2012/13 had been undertaken in the following stages: • Initial consideration of the Draft Portfolio Spending Plans at the Commission meeting held on 22 September 2011. • Individual Scrutiny Panels invited Portfolio Holders and appropriate Chief Officers to attend their meetings and together examined and discussed the Draft Portfolio Spending Plans. Members were given the opportunity to submit questions prior to the meetings. For those Portfolio Holders who were unable to attend the Panel meetings, separate meetings were arranged to which Scrutiny members were invited. • All scrutiny members were issued with the findings from the Panel meetings and given an opportunity to consider and raise anything further. A progress update was reported at the Overview and Scrutiny Commission meetings held on 3 November and 15 December 2011 respectively. • The Budget Report was presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Commission on 12 January 2012 and Members were invited to raise any additional questions prior to the finalisation of the Budget Scrutiny report. The Overview and Scrutiny Commission recognised the difficult financial climate against which the spending plans had been developed and acknowledged the detailed work that had been undertaken in order to review all aspects of spending and to identify scope for savings and efficiencies. The Overview and Scrutiny Commission had welcomed the opportunity to discuss these spending 1 2 CABINET plans with Portfolio Holders and Chief Officers and to understand their implications for departments and for service delivery. *** Resolved that the outcome of the 2012/13 Budget Scrutiny review undertaken by the Overview and Scrutiny Commission as part of the Council’s budget setting process for 2012/13 be noted. Following this item, the Chairman, on behalf of Cabinet, thanked Jane Brighouse, Assistant Treasurer (Regulation and Compliance) who had presented the report from Overview and Scrutiny and paid tribute to her professionalism and competency in all the functions which she had carried out for the Council. Jane was leaving the Local Authority on 31 January 2012 and would be leaving with Cabinet’s best wishes for the future. 115 SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY A report was submitted which informed Cabinet of a social media policy which it was proposed should be adopted. Social media presents the Council with new opportunities to understand, engage and communicate with their residents. The potential of social media as a business tool was almost limitless, however if misused it had the potential to cause considerable damage to the Council, and to those they sought to engage with. The purpose of the policy was to ensure that where the Council used social media, it did so in a controlled manner that enabled them to engage safely and effectively with residents and other parties. The policy sought to ensure that the reputation of the Council was not adversely affected through their use of social media, and that the Council was not exposed to legal and governance risks that could be very significant. * Resolved that the Social Media Policy be approved. 116 BUDGET AND PERFORMANCE MONITORING REPORT NOVEMBER 2011 A report was submitted which informed Cabinet of the Budget and Performance Monitoring Report November 2011. In November new data was available for 85 key performance indicators and of this number 51 (60%) were on or better than target. The impact the new data had overall was to see performance decrease by 4% from 70% of all PIs on or better than target last month to 66% this month. * Resolved that (1) the financial position of the Portfolios be noted; (2) the performance as at November 2011 as set out in the report be noted; and 2 2 CABINET (3) officers be encouraged to take appropriate remedial action where there was currently under performance against target. 117 EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC Resolved that the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items for the reason stated: Minutes Reason (under the Local Government Act 1972) 118-119 Exempt information relating to an individual (Para 1 of Schedule 12A) of the Local Government Act 1972). 118 THE FINDINGS OF A SERIOUS CASE REVIEW RELATING TO MR A A report was submitted which informed Cabinet of the findings of a Serious Case Review relating to Mr A. The purpose of the report was to confirm the completion of the Action Plan arising from the Serious Case Review (SCR) conducted into the death of Mr A, an Adult Social Care service user. * Resolved that the Safeguarding Adults Board Action Plan associated with the Serious Case Review relating to Mr A, previously considered by Cabinet on 22 June 2011 be noted. 119 RESPONSE TO THE CONSULTATION IN RELATION TO MOSS BANK SUPPORT CENTRE AND PROPOSALS FOR THE FUTURE OF THE CENTRE A report was submitted which informed Cabinet of the response to the consultation in relation to Moss Bank Support Centre and proposals for the future of the Centre. On 1 June 2011 Cabinet resolved that the consultation process in relation the future of Moss Bank Support Centre should commence. The report informed Cabinet of the outcome of the consultation process completed between 25 July 2011 and 25 November 2011 and provided details and responses to the consultation. The report also outlined further issues for Cabinet to consider alongside the responses to the consultation in order to assist in moving to the next stage i.e. making a decision about the future of the Centre and those services presently provided at the Centre. * Resolved that: (1) the responses to the consultation in relation to the future of Moss Bank Support Centre be noted; and (2) in light of the consultation and other considerations outlined in the report to agree that existing residential, respite and day services be re-provided in alternative locations appropriate to the needs of individuals and to close Moss Bank Support Centre. -oOo- 3 This page is intentionally left blank 4 4 Environment and Safer Communities Scrutiny Panel Review of Allotments January 2012 5 4 Table of contents Page Chair’s foreword and acknowledgements 3 Introduction and Terms of Reference 4 Method of Investigation 4-5 Background 5-6 Findings 6-11 Site Visits to Allotments 12-15 Rental Income Arrangements/Financial Position 16 Conclusions 16-18 Recommendations 18-19 6 4 Chair’s Foreword and Acknowledgements Councillor Wally Ashcroft Chairman of the Environment and Safer Communities Scrutiny Panel This year the Environment and Safer Communities Scrutiny Panel agreed to look at the provision of Allotments in St Helens. St Helens currently has 569 allotments in 17 sites. The last few years has seen a marked increased nationally in the demand for allotments and St Helens is no exception to this trend. This is due to a number of factors including increased food prices and a desire for fresh organic food. Television programmes have promoted the virtues of ‘growing your own’ and the benefits to having an allotment and this has contributed to the growth in waiting lists in many parts of the borough. Allotments provide a source of cheap food as well as giving allotments holders the opportunity to be healthy, take time out from every day life, gain a sense of achievement and be part of a community all at the same time. They are of particular significance to the elderly population. We were pleased to find that overall, the provision of allotments in St Helens is good, however that being said the condition of the allotment plots is variable. There are some differences in the quality of the sites and the size of the plots offered. The waiting list currently stands at approximately 622. We know that the demand for allotments peaks and troughs however many of the Council’s policies are still based on an assumption of a decline in demand. We believe that these need to reform, to be fit for purpose in an era of growth and as a result need to ask more of our plot holders. We acknowledge that they will need to pay higher rents to cover more of the costs of running the service and we also want them to help cut costs by taking greater responsibility for management of their sites. The enthusiasm and commitment to allotments was demonstrated throughout the evidence gathering for the review and on behalf of the Panel I would like to thank Terry Deveney the Council’s Principal and Open Spaces Manager, Alan Hull Chairman of the North West Counties Allotment Association and the North West mentor of the Allotment Regeneration Initiative and Reg Massey the Treasurer from Ashton’s Green in supporting members to carry out the review and in particular those allotment holders who gave up their time to talk to us.

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