Corporate Management Committee Thursday 21 September 2017 at 7.30pm

Council Chamber Runnymede Civic Centre, Addlestone

Members of the Committee

Councillors N H Prescot (Chairman), Miss M N Heath (Vice-Chairman), A Alderson, Mrs L M Gillham, Mrs J Gracey, Mrs G M Kingerley, D W Parr, Ms C M Simmons, M L Willingale and J J Wilson.

AGENDA

Notes:

1) Any report on the Agenda involving confidential information (as defined by section 100A(3) of the Local Government Act 1972) must be discussed in private. Any report involving exempt information (as defined by section 100I of the Local Government Act 1972), whether it appears in Part 1 or Part 2 below, may be discussed in private but only if the Committee so resolves.

2) The relevant 'background papers' are listed after each report in Part 1. Enquiries about any of the Agenda reports and background papers should be directed in the first instance to Mr J Gurmin, Democratic Services Section, Law and Governance Business Centre, Runnymede Civic Centre, Station Road, Addlestone (Tel: Direct Line: 01932 425624). (Email: [email protected]).

3) Agendas and Minutes are available on a subscription basis. For details, please ring Mr B A Fleckney on 01932 425620. Agendas and Minutes for all the Council's Committees may also be viewed on www.runnymede.gov.uk. ‘see overleaf’

- 1 - 4) In the unlikely event of an alarm sounding, members of the public should leave the building immediately, either using the staircase leading from the public gallery or following other instructions as appropriate.

5) Filming, Audio-Recording, Photography, Tweeting and Blogging of Meetings

Members of the public are permitted to film, audio record, take photographs or make use of social media (tweet/blog) at Council and Committee meetings provided that this does not disturb the business of the meeting. If you wish to film a particular meeting, please liaise with the Council Officer listed on the front of the Agenda prior to the start of the meeting so that the Chairman is aware and those attending the meeting can be made aware of any filming taking place.

Filming should be limited to the formal meeting area and not extend to those in the public seating area.

The Chairman will make the final decision on all matters of dispute in regard to the use of social media, audio-recording, photography and filming in the Committee meeting.

- 2 - LIST OF MATTERS FOR CONSIDERATION PART I

Matters in respect of which reports have been made available for public inspection Page

1. FIRE PRECAUTIONS 4

2. NOTIFICATION OF CHANGES TO COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP 4

3. MINUTES 4

4. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE 4

5. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST 4

6. EXTERNAL AUDIT ISA 260 REPORT 4

7. STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS 2016/17 5

8. BUDGET MONITORING REPORT – APRIL 2017 TO JUNE 2017 6

9. CORPORATE KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS – QUARTER 1 2017/18 14 RESULTS

10. DISCRETIONARY RATE RELIEF POLICIES 18

11. CORPORATE PROJECTS UPDATE 21

12. CORPORATE ACTION PLAN 2017/18 – QUARTER 1 PROGRESS 29

13. GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION – APPOINTMENT OF 31 COUNCIL DATA PROTECTION OFFICER

14. URGENT ACTION – STANDING ORDER 42 33

15. EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC 34

PART II

Matters involving Exempt or Confidential Information in respect of which reports have not been made available for public inspection.

a) Exempt Information

16. SAINSBURY’S CAR PARK – HERIOT ROAD, CHERTSEY – LEASE 35 17. WAITROSE AND TRAVELODGE CAR PARK, EGHAM 38 18. REFERENCE FROM HOUSING COMMITTEE – ST. GEORGE’S ROAD, 49 ADDLESTONE – DEVELOPMENT PROJECT – CAPITAL ESTIMATE

19. ADDLESTONE ONE DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT UPDATE 51 20. WRITE OFFS 60 21. URGENT ACTION – STANDING ORDER 42 61

b) Confidential Information

(No reports to be considered under this heading) - 3 - 1. FIRE PRECAUTIONS

The Chairman will read the Fire Precautions which set out the procedures to be followed in the event of fire or other emergency.

2. NOTIFICATION OF CHANGES TO COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP

3. MINUTES

To confirm and sign the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 27 July 2017 (at Appendix ‘A’).

4. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

5. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

If Members have an interest in an item, please record the interest on the form circulated with this Agenda and hand it to the Legal Representative or Committee Administrator at the start of the meeting. A supply of the form will also be available from the Committee Administrator at meetings.

Members are advised to contact the Council’s Legal section prior to the meeting if they wish to seek advice on a potential interest.

Members who have previously declared interests which are recorded in the Minutes to be considered at this meeting need not repeat the declaration when attending the meeting. Members need take no further action unless the item in which they have an interest becomes the subject of debate, in which event the Member must leave the room if the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or if the interest could reasonably be regarded as so significant as to prejudice the Member’s judgement of the public interest.

Background papers

None stated

6. EXTERNAL AUDIT ISA 260 REPORT (RESOURCES)

Synopsis of report:

To note the report by the Council's External Auditor on any matters arising from the audit of the 2016/17 Statement of Accounts.

Recommendation:

For information.

1. Context of report

1.1 A report requesting approval of the Statement of Accounts appears elsewhere on this Agenda.

1.2 The External Auditor has concluded his examination of the Council's accounts for the 2016/17 financial year and has issued an International Standard of Auditing (ISA) 260 report. International Standards on Auditing are issued by the International

- 4 - Auditing and Assuring Standards Board (IAASB) and contain principals and procedures with which External Auditors are required to comply when carrying out an audit of financial statements. ISA 260 deals with the communication of audit matters by the External Auditor to those charged with governance in an audited body. The report allows the Council to consider the main issues arising from the audit of accounts before the External Auditor finalises his opinion and certifies the 2016/17 financial statement.

1.3 The Council's appointed External Auditor will be presenting the ISA 260 report to the meeting of the Standards and Audit Committee on 19 September 2017. Any comments that the Standards and Audit Committee wish to make will be reported verbally to this meeting by the Corporate Director Head of Resources.

2. Report

2.1 The External Auditor's report will follow.

(For information)

Background papers

None

7. STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS 2016/17 (RESOURCES)

Synopsis of report:

The purpose of this report is to approve the Statement of Accounts for the 2016/17 financial year.

Recommendation:

The Statement of Accounts for the financial year 2016/17 be approved and the Chairman of the Committee signs the Statement of Accounts.

1. Context of report

1.1 A report on the Statement of Accounts for 2016/17 was presented to this Committee on 29 June 2017. The Statement of Accounts reports on the Council’s financial results in the form required by statute and recommended accounting practice.

1.2 It is at this stage that the Statement of Accounts is to be signed by the Chairman to signify formally the completion of the Council’s approval process of the accounts.

2. The Statement of Accounts

2.1 The full Statement of Accounts is available on the Council's website and a copy of the full Statement of Accounts is in the Members' Room.

Audit Considerations

2.2 The Code of Audit Practice 2008 (issued by the Audit Commission) requires the auditor to issue two reports about the audit of the Statement. First, a report to those charged with governance summarising the conclusions of the auditor (the “ISA 260” report). Second, a value for money conclusion on whether the Council has put in

- 5 - place proper arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources.

Annual Governance Statement

2.3 At its meeting on 6 June 2017, the Standards and Audit Committee considered the Annual Governance Statement (AGS) for prior to its submission to the Corporate Management Committee on 29 June 2017 and did not make any amendments to it. At its meeting on 29 June 2017, this Committee approved the AGS. The AGS is included in the Statement of Accounts.

3. Legal implications

3.1 The basic requirement for the audit of accounts is contained in section 3 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.

3.2 The Accounts and Audit (England) Regulations 2015 (the Regulations) require the responsible financial officer to sign the accounts and certify that they present a true and fair view no later than 30 June.

3.3 The Regulations require that no later than 30 September, the accounts be submitted for approval by the appropriate Committee and that the Member presiding at the meeting sign and date the Statement of Accounts to indicate the Committee’s approval. The responsible financial officer must also re-sign the accounts before the Committee approve them.

3.4 Authorities are required to publish the Statement of Accounts as soon as reasonably possible after the audit is concluded. In any event the Statement for 2016/17 must be published by 30 September 2017, even if the audit has not been concluded.

3.5 The Regulations require authorities to advertise that the audit has been concluded and that the Statement of Accounts is available for inspection by electors. No objections were received during the inspection period.

(To resolve)

Background papers

Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom 2015/16 (CIPFA)

8. BUDGET MONITORING REPORT – APRIL 2017 TO JUNE 2017 (RESOURCES)

Synopsis of report:

To report the latest financial projections for the 2017/18 financial year for General Fund, Housing Revenue Account and Capital Programme.

Recommendation:

For information

1 Context of report 1.1 The Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS), the Capital Programme and the detailed General Fund budgets for 2017/18 were approved by the Corporate Management Committee on 27 January 2017 and subsequently by Full Council on 9 February 2017.

- 6 - 1.2 The detailed HRA budget for 2017/18 was approved by the Housing Committee on 11 January 2017 and subsequently by Full Council in February 2017.

1.3 Starting in July, all budget managers are provided with a monthly budgetary control statement showing total budget, profiled budget and spend to date (including commitments). A full salary listing is also provided on an ad-hoc basis to chief officers. Budget managers are expected to work with the accountancy team to report any variations and project likely spend to 31 March.

1.4 Budget managers should constantly monitor their budgets and are accountable for their budget and service performance. The projected outturns shown in this report are manager’s best estimates as at 30 June 2017.

2 General Fund Revenue Budget

2.1 The detailed General Fund budget for 2017/18 was approved in February 2017 along with the MTFS. Since then various changes have occurred and a summary of the current projected use of balances for the General Fund can be seen in table 1 below:

Table 1 – Projected use of General Fund balances Original Forecast Budget Outturn £’000 £’000 4,946 Paragraph 2.3 Net Expenditure on Services 3,153 below Transfers and accounting adjustments (1,871) (1,871) 7,989 Paragraph 2.9 Treasury and financing 8,020 below (1,605) Paragraph 2.13 Government grants (1,601) below (6,999) Paragraph 2.14 Business rates and Council Tax collection (6,999) below Projected use of balances in 2016/17 702 2,460

An updated General Fund Summary (in the Budget Book format) setting out these changes is set out at Appendix ‘B’ and is explored in more detail in the following paragraphs.

2.2 Assuming the predictions for the forecast outturn shown in table 1 materialise at the year end, this will reduce the General Fund working balance by £2.460m taking it from £6.536m at the start of the year to £4,076m at 31 March 2018.

Net Expenditure on Services

2.3 The General Fund Summary set out in Appendix ‘B’ sets out the net expenditure for each service area against the forecast outturn as at 30 June 2017. The forecast outturn is made up of the original budget amended for any anticipated changes. A summary of the more significant changes (over £5,000) at the Net Expenditure on Services level is set out in table 2 below:

Table 2 – Changes in Net Expenditure on Services ( ) = reduced expend or increased income 2017/18 £’000

Original Net Expenditure on Services: 3,153

- 7 - Housing Committee • Housing options additional temporary staff, budget no longer (11) required in 2017/18 as provision fully utilised in 2016/17. • Housing Advice staff – Additional staff (1.5fte) approved by CMC March 2017. (Net of HRA contribution) 42 • Magna Carta Lettings – P/U Repayment of Bond guarantees not required in 2016/17 24 • Magna Carta Lettings – Enhancement of scheme approved by Housing Committee & CMC in March 2017 32 • Homelessness – Increased demand on Bed & Breakfast accommodation since the spring will result in estimated increased 100 net costs. • Benefits – The annual reduction in the administrative grant was less than estimated in the current budgets (13)

Community Services Committee • Meals on Wheels service – Regrading of staff wages (CMC – June 2017) 14 • Day Centres – Increased Business Rates following Age Concern’s vacation of the Orchard Day centre. 6 • Day Centres – New income from letting of premises to SCAS (net of expenses incurred in 2017) – Community Services Committee – June 2017 (24) • Safer Runnymede – Increase in sickness and overtime provisions 15 • Safer Runnymede – Net loss of income following loss of contracts 103 • Grant Aid – Increase in Community First budget (CMC – Jan 2017) 5

Environment and Sustainability Committee • Green waste – P/U – communications and computing 5 • Green waste – increased costs of interface 5 • Trade waste – income lower than anticipated 10 • Refuse – new income from school collections (8) • Street cleansing – In cab technology not previously budgeted for 10 • Flood mitigation – P/U - maintenance 5 • Car parks – P/U – Pay & Display machines 5 • Car parks – P&D income higher than anticipated (10) • Car parks – P&D income in Egham reinstated (23)

Planning Services • Planning General - Garden Village Grant (received in 17/18 c/fwd as P/U) 229 • Planning Policy - Local Plan Infrastructure Need Assessments (CMC 30/3/17) 20 • Planning Policy - Playing Pitch Strategy (SO42 31/3/17) 15 • Planning Policy – P/U Local Plan 50 • Adas Farm – Potential costs recognised to date 25

Corporate Management Committee - Corporate Management • Corporate - P/U – Economic Development Strategy 9 • Corporate – P/U - Runnymede Pleasure Ground 5 • Public Accountability – P/U - Enterprise Zone 19

- 8 - Corporate Management Committee - Other

• Elections – extension of temporary staffing (CMC March 2017) 27 • Civic Centre – increased Business Rates 103 • Depot – P/U – strategic maintenance and fuel pump renewal 8 • Depot – building maintenance provision required 12 • Salaries – Apprenticeship costs (CMC June 2017) 49 • Financial services - P/U - VAT review delayed due to staff vacancies 16 • Runnymede web – computer maintenance support not previously budgeted for in current year 6 • Customer services – reorganisational restructure 276 • Customer services – additional provisions required (CMC July 2017) 33 • Law & governance – additional staffing (SO42 Dec 2016) 46 Sub Total – General Fund net growth (Excluding Commercial Property) 1,240

Corporate Management Committee – Commercial Property related • Commercial Services staffing savings (CMC Dec 2016) over estimated 107 • Property Development – P/U – from schemes carried forward 254 • Property Development – 168 High Street costs to be capitalised (100) • Property Development – TVHA costs capitalised in previous year 15 • Property Holdings - staffing temporary valuers extended a further year (CMC Feb 2017) 153 • Rental income – Floor repairs 43 • Rental income – MSCP income over estimated 40 • Rental income – Rent reduction as part of development 41 Sub Total – Commercial Property 553

Forecast Net Expenditure on Services 4,946

Note: P/U = 2016/17 Planned Underspend. Budget carried forward to be spent in the current year (with corresponding saving shown in the 2016/17 financial year).

2.4 Table 2 above shows that net expenditure on services is forecast to be £4.946m, an increase of £1.793m on the original budget as seen at Appendix ‘B’. This increase can be broken down as follows:

Table 3 – Analysis of budget increases £’000

Planned underspends carried forward from 2016/17 465 Planned underspends carried forward from 2016/17 (Garden village 229 grant) Approved supplementary estimates 467 Other growth pressures 632

2.5 Employee costs are by far the major cost item in the Council’s overall budget. This budget is controlled centrally and quarterly Salary Control reports are distributed to the Corporate Leadership Team for them to monitor their staffing budgets.

2.6 The 2017/18 budget included a staff turnover/vacancy savings target of £247,000. The turnover/vacancy savings target was set against the salary budget for all officers with the exception of some frontline services where filling vacancies with agency or temporary staff is imperative in order to keep the service running (e.g. refuse collection, street cleansing,

- 9 - day centre transport etc.). These targets have been built into the Current Budget column in table 4 below, which monitors the current staffing spend against the expected budget spend for the period to date. This shows that as at the 30 June, the salary budget is overspent by £59,000.

Table 4– Current salary budget performance Current Profiled Actual Variation Budget Budget to Date to date £000 £000 £000 £’000 Corporate Services 921 218 238 20 Law & Governance 743 184 178 (6) Resources – Customer Services 312 66 141 75 Resources - Other 2,091 538 529 (9) Planning 1,523 358 354 (4) Environmental Services 1,483 366 361 (5) Housing 1,368 331 329 (2) Community Development 1,738 430 420 (10) Total 10,179 2,491 2,550 59

2.7 A majority of this overspend comes from the non-achievement of the in-built savings target for Customer Services. It is now anticipated that, for a host of reasons, the anticipated outturn will now be £276,000 greater than anticipated (mainly through the transfer of staff to the back office areas rather than making savings). This figure has been included in table 2 above.

2.8 The table set out below shows the performance of the Council’s key income drivers (excluding property). Where these are anticipated to vary significantly from the budget, an estimate of the year end effect has been included in table 2 above accordingly.

Table 5 - Performance of key income drivers 2017/18 Original Profiled Actual Budget Budget to Date £000 £000 £000 Halls income 145 46 45 Cemetery income 209 37 52 Community meals (Day Centre) 169 40 36 Community meals (Meals at Home) 157 27 41 Trade waste income 480 326 304 Off street parking P&D income 485 111 121 Planning fees 700 175 133 Local land charge search fees 235 60 61 TOTALS 2,580 822 793

Treasury and Financing

2.9 The 2017/18 Treasury Management Strategy report was presented to this Committee at the end of February 2017.

2.10 During 2016/17 Officers managed to delay much of the planned external borrowing by utilising positive cashflows (creditors, receipts in advance etc) and borrowing internally (collection fund balances etc). This has meant that the level of money available for future investment has reduced significantly as surplus cash has been used to finance capital projects in the short term. However, whilst this will further reduce the level of investment income to the Council, this should be offset by lower borrowing costs.

- 10 - 2.11 One major factor affecting the treasury operations of the Council is the need to borrow to fund property acquisitions and development schemes. Borrowing is undertaken at the most opportune time where it can be planned in advance, however to a certain extent the Council is constrained by the timing of when suitable properties come to the market. As an example, a £20m property purchase at the start of the year will ensure more rental income for the current year but will also vary the borrowing costs based on the timing of the transaction and the interest rates applicable at that time. A summary of the effects of this based on information at the end of June is set out in paragraphs 2.15 to 2.17 below.

2.12 A full report on all treasury activity during the first six months of the year will be reported to this Committee in October.

Government Grants

2.13 Government Grants encompass the Revenue Support Grant, New Homes Bonus Grant and any other non-service specific grants that the government release during the year. At the current time there is no change to the original estimate for these grants other than a small increase in the New Homes Bonus in the current year for unused grant recycled to authorities.

Business Rates and Council Tax Collection

2.14 A significant income stream for the Council is the income from taxation. Collection rates for both business rates and council tax are monitored on a weekly basis by the Corporate Director of Resources. Collection rates for the period (as at 30 June) were as follows:

Table 6 – Collection rates Council Business Tax Rates £’000 £’000 Collectable debit for the year 57,219 54,317 Cash received for period 17,995 17,317

% of cash received to date – Target 31.45% 31.31% % of cash received to date – Actual 31.45% 31.31%

% of cash received for the year – Target 99.00% 99.00%

% of collectable debit written off 0.00% 0.00%

Property Investment Strategy

2.15 One of the biggest areas of the Council’s income and expenditure relates to investments in property and regeneration schemes. The budgets for the Property Investment Strategy were set at the start of the calendar year based on new investments being purchased half way through the year which generate a gross yield of 5% at an average borrowing rate of 3% (2% net yield). Property purchased purely for strategic purposes could be purchased at a lower yield.

2.16 Property investment is highly reliant on suitable properties coming onto the market and the timing differences can skew the Council’s bottom line figures quite significantly, as can the interest rates applicable at the time of purchase. The following table sets out the original property related budgets against the revised figures based on purchases to date and assumed future purchases (using 1 October as the purchase date):

- 11 - Table 7 – Property investment 2017/18 Original Revised Budget Budget £000 £000 Rental income from all commercial property (12,201) (12,108) Borrowing costs (Interest) 6,577 6,577 Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) 1,916 1,916 Net income (3,708) (3,615)

2.17 The original rental income figure included a £5m income target from new investments in 2017/18. It is assumed in the above figures that sufficient properties will be purchased to cover this figure. The drop in rental income highlighted in table 7 above stems principally from some of the lost income from the properties highlighted at the bottom of table 2 above.

3. Housing Revenue Account (HRA)

3.1 The detailed Housing Revenue Account budget for 2017/18 approved in January 2017 predicted a surplus for the year of £4.358m. The projected year-end surplus for the HRA is now expected to be £4.324m, a reduction of £34,000. The more significant variances are listed in table 8 below:

Table 8 – Predicted HRA surplus for 2017/18 2017/18 £’000 Original (Surplus) / Deficit in the year: (4,358)

General Management • Planned underspends brought forward from 2016/17 23 • Additional Housing Options staff -20% (Hsg Ctte 3/17) 10 • New Estate caretakers van, annual Capital charge (Hsg Ctte 1 3/17)

Projected (surplus) / Deficit in the year: (4,324)

3.2 Taking into account the better than expected increase in working balances during 2016/17 of £1.155m, and large reductions in the Housing Capital programme (slippage and developing plans) during 2017/18 it is estimated assuming the predictions for the projected outturn shown in table 8 materialise at the year end, this will result in a probable increase in the HRA revenue balances from the original estimate of £15.77m at 31 March 2018 to £20.70m. However it should be noted that the likely costs in 2018/19 will increase by around £2.0m as a consequence of the deferral of the provision of new houses.

4. Capital Expenditure and Receipts

Capital expenditure

4.1 The detailed Capital budget for 2017/18 was approved in February 2017. It is important to remember that the timing of capital expenditure can sometimes be difficult to predict and can be spread over several financial years.

4.2 Exempt Appendix ‘1’ (exempt under paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A to Part I of the Local Government Act 1972) summarises the current capital programme to the end of June 2017 updated for predicted movements in payment profiles and forecast under/overspends on the schemes as a whole. Of the £11.5m increase in the programme shown in Exempt

- 12 - Appendix ‘1’, £9m relates to budgets that have been carried forward from 2017/18 where schemes and or payments were delayed.

Capital receipts

4.3 The Council started the year with £14.281m in available capital receipts which can be used to fund future acquisition of assets. However, some of these receipts have been generated from the sale of dwellings under right-to-buy legislation or sales of land and legislation requires this is set aside for specific purposes. In Runnymede’s case this is principally:

• Future funding of new affordable housing • Repayment of housing debt over the next 30 years

4.4 Table 9 sets out the anticipated capital receipts position as at the 31 March 2018 based on the current forecast outturn in capital spend and receipts as set out in Exempt Appendix ‘1’:

Table 9 – Capital receipts Debt Housing General Total Repayment Replacement Use Receipts £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 Total Capital Receipts at 2,142 3,178 8,961 14,281 1 April 2017 Capital Receipts generated 394 910 48,840 50,144 in the Year Use of Receipts in year 0 (390) (48,169) (48,559)

Projected Receipts at 2,536 3,698 9,632 15,866 31 March 2018

5. Legal Implications

5.1 Section 28 of the Local Government Act 2003 requires authorities to monitor their income and expenditure against their budget, and be ready to take action if overspends or shortfalls in income emerge. If monitoring establishes that the budgetary situation has deteriorated, authorities are required to take such action as they consider necessary. This might include, for instance, action to reduce spending in the rest of the year, or to increase income, or the authority might decide to take no action but to finance the shortfall from reserves.

6. Conclusion

6.1 The projected use of General Fund balances shown in Table 1 of the report shows an increase of £1.758m to over £2.460m based on information at 30 June 2017. This includes £694,000 of unused budgets carried forward from 2016/17 where a corresponding saving was registered in the accounts. This leaves £1.099m of additional cost pressures that have been identified since the budget was approved in January 2017.

6.2 The Chief Executive and Corporate Director of Resources have a number of concerns leading up to Members considering the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for 2018/19 to 2020/21 in the autumn. These include:

a) A number of the cost pressures identified for 2017/18 will carry on into 2018/19 and beyond.

b) Surrey County Council are instigating a number of initiatives to reduce their budget. One of these is to reduce refuse disposal costs by £4million over the next three years. This will increase costs to the Surrey Districts and Boroughs.

- 13 - c) The MTFS does not anticipate any further reductions to Government funding other than those already announced. However the long term funding provided by Business Rates retention and New Homes Bonus is far from certain.

d) The MTFS currently relies on new additional income of £10million by 2021. To generate this income the Council has earmarked over £500million to be spent on regeneration and place shaping schemes within the Borough over the life of the Capital Programme. This strategy relies both on the Council identifying suitable assets that meet its stringent criteria and also no future Government intervention in such schemes.

6.3 The above risks will be quantified as far as possible for Members’ consideration in November when the draft MTFS is to be considered by this Committee.

(For information)

Background Papers None stated

9. CORPORATE KEY PERFORMANCE/ACTIVITY INDICATORS – QUARTER 1 2017/18 RESULTS (CORPORATE SERVICES)

Synopsis of report:

This report provides Members with a snapshot of performance/activity across key areas of business in order to aid the decision making process.

Three indicator results were not available at the last reporting period and are therefore being reported now.

For the Quarter 1 Corporate Key Performance Indicator results, 16 indicators have a green status, three indicators have an amber status, two have a red status, and one is just reported for monitoring purposes.

After reviewing the results, Officers have planned a number of follow up actions as described in the report.

Recommendation :

For information

1. Context of report

1.1 The Corporate Key Performance/Activity Indicator set has been established to provide Officers and Members with a regular snapshot of performance/activity across key areas of business in order to aid the decision making process and act as a general ‘health check’.

2. Report

2.1 Q4 and annual results 2016/17

2.1.1 The following indicator results were not available at the last reporting period:

- 14 - Targets Actuals Q4 Q4 Annual Annual Indicator (Jan- (Jan- Status Trend Comment target result Mar) Mar) ES1: Residual Household waste household 115 460 98 382 GREEN → ← remained under the waste per annual target. household (kg) Q4 saw an increase in waste collected both in refuse and street cleansing ES2: which had an Percentage impact on our last of household quarter recycling waste sent 47% 47% 40.2% 45.4% AMBER → ← percentage. For for re-use, 2017-18 work will recycling and continue to not only composting increase recycling tonnages but also to reduce recycling contamination. The increase was mainly due to: an increase in gas consumption to Civic Centre, Chertsey Hall and DSO following colder than previous winter ES7: Carbon temperatures, an emissions 4.24% increase in reduction increase headcount to the from local 3.5% on Civic Centre authority N/A N/A RED ↓ reduction 1474.9 utilising hot water, operations tonnes an increase in fuel (measured in CO2e consumption tonnes of through waste and CO2e) recycling collections at DSO and through our grey fleet mileage and an increase in the number of events booked at Chertsey Hall requiring additional heating.

2.2 Q1 results 2017/18

2.2.1 Appendix ‘C’ shows the Quarter 1 (Apr-June) 2017/18 results for the Corporate Key Performance/Activity Indicators. As can be seen from this table, the majority of the

- 15 - indicators, 16 out of 21, have a green status and are therefore expected to meet their annual targets.

2.2.2 Indicators with an amber status

2.2.2.1 There is some concern the following indicators will miss their annual target:

Indicator Q1 Q1 Comments/actions target actual Despite keeping the overall level of arrears low an increasing number of households are struggling with the new benefit regime. The Tenancy Management section H5: Percentage of is being restructured to focus tenants with more than 7 2.6% 3.34% increased resources on rent collection. As households are weeks rent arrears transferred to Universal Credit and payments are made in arrears to the tenant rather than a weekly HB direct payment it will be very difficult to meet this target.

Q1 figures are consistent with ES3: Number of missed past performance. There is an bin collection complaints ongoing review of operations (includes refuse, 500 637 in the DSO will include a recycling and food and revision to this KPI utilising the excludes trade and better data capture from the green waste) new ‘Bartec’ in-cab technology. As highlighted at Community Services Committee, it has recently been identified that results reported by the previous head of service (who left three years ago) combined both meals delivered plus cancelled meals. The targets set for this indicator in the last 9,061 two years were based on a meals judgement against these CD2: Number of delivered previous results, without community meals 10,000 + 741 knowing they included delivered. tea cancelled meals too. Over the packs last two financial years the delivered results have solely been reported as the number of meals delivered. To give the overall context of service performance compared to previous reporting, there has been an additional 1,265 meals cancelled in Q1, which is typical, and if included would have meant the target would - 16 - have been exceeded.

2.3 Indicators with a red status

2.3.1 There is a serious concern that the following indicators will not meet their annual target: Indicator Q1 Q1 Comments/actions target actual H3: Number of households Due to a rising number of in B&B accommodation for complex cases which are still 9 19 more than 2 weeks being managed, the result has exceeded the target. Work is ongoing to promote the trade service and new customers have been acquired as well as existing customers increasing their contracts. As part of ongoing reviews the ES6: Number of trade 540 464 possibility of promoting the refuse customers services outside of Runnymede's boundary is being considered. Spelthorne has no internal trade service and the DSO are keen to explore the market in this area.

2.4 Follow up action

2.4.1 Managers are aware of the Corporate Key Performance/Activity Indicators under their responsibility and understand that it is part of their role to regularly review their performance and make changes as appropriate (within their authority).

2.4.2 For the H5 indicator: ‘Percentage of tenants with more than 7 weeks rent arrears’, the Tenancy Management section is being restructured to focus increased resources on rent collection.

2.4.3 For the ES3 indicator: ‘Number of missed bin collection complaints’ and ES6: ‘Number of trade refuse customers’, there is an ongoing review of operations in the DSO will include a revision to these KPI targets after utilising the better data capture from the new ‘Bartec’ in-cab technology.

2.4.4 For the ES6 indicator: ‘Number of trade refuse customers’, the possibility of promoting the services outside of Runnymede's boundary is being considered as Spelthorne has no internal trade service and the DSO are keen to explore the market in this area.

2.4.5 For the CD1 indicator: ‘Number of Community Transport trips’, Officers are looking to devise a system so that South Central Ambulance Service data can be included in the future results figure so that the number of trips provided for the non-emergency patient transport service can be integrated into the results.

3. Policy framework implications

3.1 The quarterly reporting of Corporate Key Performance Indicators forms part of Runnymede Borough Council’s Performance Management Framework.

- 17 - 4. Resource implications

4.1 No additional budgets are requested to support the follow up actions at this time.

5. Conclusions

5.1 The Quarter 1 Corporate Key Performance Indicator results for 2017/18 show that 16 indicators have a green status, three indicators have an amber status, two have a red status, and one is just reported for monitoring purposes.

5.2 After reviewing the results, Officers have planned follow up actions as described in paragraphs 2.4.1 to 2.4.5 of this report.

(For information)

Background Papers None stated

10. DISCRETIONARY RATE RELIEF POLICIES (RESOURCES)

Synopsis of report:

This report sets out how Runnymede Borough Council will provide additional financial assistance to ratepayers following the 2017 revaluation and announcements made by the Chancellor in the Spring Budget. In addition, this report reviews how Runnymede administer other discretionary rate reliefs within Section 47 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988.These policies set out how the Council will administer the various discretionary rate relief schemes to assist the business community over the next three years whilst making sure Runnymede Borough Council has a clear and concise process in place to protect the interests of the local Council Taxpayers.

Recommendations:

That the Committee approves: • the Discretionary Rate Relief Policy (Spring Budget 2017) (at Appendix ‘D’) • the Business Rates Charity Relief Policy (at Appendix ‘E’) • the Business Rates Relief Policy (Other Discretionary Reliefs) (at Appendix ‘F’)

1. Context of report

1.1 The Local Government Finance Act 1988 and subsequent legislation requires local authorities to grant mandatory relief for premises occupied by charities and similar organisations that own or occupy them wholly or mainly for charitable purposes.

1.2 Whilst the Council is obliged to grant relief to premises that fall within the mandatory category, the Council also has powers under the Local Government Finance Act 1988 to grant discretionary relief to ratepayers subject to certain criteria being met.

- 18 - 1.3 The powers relating to the granting of mandatory and discretionary relief are given to local authorities under sections 43, 45, 47 and 48 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988, respectively.

1.4 Powers have also been granted under the Localism Act 2011, which allow for the granting of discretionary relief to any premises where the authority feels the granting of such relief would be of benefit to the local community.

1.5 The provisions are designed to give authorities flexibility in granting relief where it is felt that to do so would be of benefit generally to the area and be reasonable given the financial effect to Council Taxpayers. The interests of the individual ratepayer will be balanced against the wider interest of the taxpayers and the potential impact on the local community. The ‘interests’ of Council Taxpayers in an area go wider than direct financial interests. For example, where the employment prospects in the area would be worsened by a company going out of business, or the amenities of an area might be reduced by, for instance, the only provider of a service in the area.

1.6 At the Budget on 8 March 2017, the Chancellor announced that the Government would make available a discretionary fund of £300 million over four years from 2017/18 to support those businesses that face the steepest increases in their business rates bills as a result of the revaluation. The Chancellor stated that local government is best placed to determine how this fund should be targeted and administered to support those businesses and locations within their area that are in the greatest need.

1.7 The Head of Customer Services, Revenues and Benefits has taken the opportunity of reviewing all discretionary rate reliefs to create a set of documents which support the business community whilst maintaining a transparent and consistent approach in the decision making process.

2. Discretionary Rate Relief Policies

2.1 The aim of the policies are to ensure Runnymede Borough Council has a clear and concise process in place to support businesses whilst protecting the interests of local Council Taxpayers.

2.2 The Council is committed to supporting small businesses and this relief will help those ratepayers, who as a result of the change in rateable value are losing some or all of their business or rural rate relief and as a result are facing large increases in their bills.

2.3 Following the Government’s recommendations, the Council will also be providing support to those ratepayers who are facing significant increases in their bills following revaluation.

2.4 The Council will also be implementing a £1,000 discount for pubs with a rateable value of less than £100,000 for one year from the 1 April 2017 in line with the Government’s proposals.

2.5 The Council’s policy on Discretionary Charity relief has also been reviewed to ensure Runnymede supports charitable organisations whilst protecting the interests of local Council Taxpayers and ensuring organisations do not use charities for business rates avoidance.

2.6 Finally, the remaining rate reliefs (rural, part occupied and hardship) have also been reviewed to support the business community but reduce rate avoidance.

3. Policy framework implications - 19 - 3.1 The policy links to the Council’s Corporate Business Plan.

4. Resource implications

4.1 The funding for the Spring budget reliefs will be spread over four years and paid through a Section 31 grant from the Government.

4.2 The cost of the other reliefs will be split as follows: • 50% is paid by central government • 40% is paid by Runnymede Borough Council • 10% is paid by Surrey County Council

5. Legal implications

5.1 Section 69 of the Localism Act 2011 allows a local authority to grant discretionary relief in any circumstances where it feels fit having regard to the effect on the Council Tax payers of its area.

5.2 Whilst there is no statutory right of appeal regarding to exercise of a local authorities discretion to award such relief, the said Polices proposed an internal appeal mechanism that should limit the Council facing Judicial Review claims as the only way of challenging any such decision made.

5.3 All relief under the 3 Policies before this Committee is subject to State Aid consideration. State Aid is the means by which the European Union regulates state funded support to businesses. Providing discretionary relief to ratepayers is likely to amount to State Aid. However the support for ratepayers will be State Aid compliant where it is provided in accordance with the De Minimis Regulations (1407/2013).

5.4 The De Minimis Regulations allow an undertaking to receive up to €200,000 of De Minimis aid over a rolling three year period (consisting of the current financial year and the two previous financial years).

5.5 To administer De Minimis it is necessary for the Council to establish that the award of aid will not result in the undertaking having received more than €200,000 of De Minimis aid within the said three year rolling period.

5.6 Any future changes in legislation for Business Rates will need to be reflected in the relevant policies for the period it is in operation.

6. Equality implications

6.1 While the Council would be performing a public function as defined by Section 150 of the Equality Act 2010, the exercise of that function does not appear to give rise to any direct or indirect discrimination that would impact upon any of the Protected Characteristics, being age, disability, race/ethnicity, pregnancy and maternity, religion, sexual orientation, sex, gender reassighment and marriage/civil partnership. The Council will continue to monitor the implementation of this policy in relation to its Public Sector Equality Duty.

7. Other implications

7.1 If relief is not given in a fair and transparent way, many of these organisations may not be able to continue operating in the current economic climate and residents of the Borough may not be able to enjoy the facilities these charities, non-profit groups and other organisations provide.

- 20 - 8. Conclusions

It is recommended that the Committee approves:

• the Discretionary Rate Relief Policy (Spring Budget 2017) (at Appendix ‘D’) • the Business Rates Charity Relief Policy (at Appendix ‘E’) • the Business Rates Relief Policy (Other Discretionary Reliefs) (at Appendix ‘F’)

Background papers

None

11. CORPORATE PROJECTS UPDATE (CORPORATE SERVICES)

Synopsis of report:

A number of Corporate Programmes/Projects are reported to CLT and Members on a quarterly basis to ensure there is organisational focus on key Council priorities.

The majority of the statuses for the Corporate Projects are green. There are concerns regarding the current funding gap for the River Thames Scheme (the Environment Agency are managing the funding strategy) which questions whether the project will be deliverable as currently planned, and the Local Plan has a potential schedule issue due to a staffing shortage.

Recommendations:

i) Members are asked to note the project/programme updates related to the Enterprise Zone Preparation/Feasibility, River Thames Scheme, and Customer Services Development.

ii) Members are asked to note the project update for the Local Plan and approve the associated change request with the additional budget spend for the next two financial years to be covered by funding from DCLG, Planning Performance Agreements and increased Planning Fees.

iii) Members are asked to approve the Responsive Website PID at Appendix ‘G’.

1. Context of report

1.1 The Corporate Programmes/Projects are reported to CLT and Members to ensure there is organisational focus on key Council priorities.

2. Report

2.1 In May 2017, Members approved two new Corporate Projects being added to the quarterly reporting cycle (the regeneration projects are reported bi-monthly). The Corporate Projects that are now being reported quarterly are therefore: • Enterprise Zone Preparation/Feasibility • River Thames Scheme • Local Plan • Customer Services Development (technically a programme rather than - 21 - project) • Responsive Website

2.2 An update on each of the above projects can be found below.

2.3 Enterprise Zone Preparation/Feasibility

Project Enterprise Zone Preparation/Feasibility Project Manager and Project Sponsor: Rachel Raynaud and Sarah Walsh Status: RED, AMBER or GREEN Project status Schedule (since last agreed) N/A (still tbd) Budget position (since last GREEN agreed) Benefits (since last agreed) N/A (still tbd) Risks/issues (since last agreed) N/A (still tbd) Progress • On 23 June, Crest Nicholson hosted a Runnymede and Weybridge Breakfast Forum event at Longcross to raise awareness of the Enterprise Zone and Garden Village to the business community. Rt Hon. Philip Hammond also attended the event and he gave a speech highlighting the benefits of the Enterprise Zone. • There was an official launch of the EZ³ Enterprise Zone, covering the three sites, in Basingstoke’s Belvedere House on 7 July. 85 people attended the event including a mixture of councillors, media, property agents, and partners. • The EM3 LEP, on behalf of the partnership, has applied for funding from DCLG to create a video which showcases an ‘augmented reality landscape’ of the three sites in order to aid promotion of the zone. Due a delay in hearing if we have been successful, the tender process for the film has already commenced via Hampshire County Council. • Hampshire County Council has agreed to cover £250k in 2017/18 and £250k in 2018/19 towards EZ resource costs upfront on the condition they are paid back by having first call on future Business Rates growth income. This funding will cover staffing costs, technical support, marketing, a business support programme, and a Skill Development Strategy in 2017/18. • A Project Support Officer post has been advertised. Interviews are expected at the end of August. • A draft Longcross Garden Village Infrastructure and Viability Assessment report has been received from AECOM. Although it is primarily related to Garden Village principles, if some of the infrastructure concepts considered were implemented they may also be relevant to the EZ. • Our Economic Development Manager instigated a meeting with Andrew Lambert (LEP Board Members who also sits on the China Britain Business Council) and Crest Nicholson to discuss promotion of Longcross to the Chinese business market through his network. • Meeting held in June with LEP, Crest Nicholson, and Sarah Lee (area contact at First Group) to lobby for more frequent trains at Longcross to serve the site. • In partnership with Woking BC and Surrey Heath BC, our - 22 - Planning department has commissioned feasibility work looking at the options for the A320 from J11 M25 to Woking. Next steps • To consider funding bids put forward by Crest Nicholson and Aviva in collaboration with the EM3 LEP in order to support the development of the site (the other two sites are also putting forward bids). • Project Support Officer is expected to be in post and should have commenced supporting the Programme Director with project monitoring documentation. • A decision from DCLG on whether we have been successful with our funding bid for the promotional video is expected at the end of September. Budget Amount Original agreed Project Budget Up to £34k in 2016/17, £17k in 2017/18, and £9k in 2018/19. Current agreed Project Budget As above. Total expenditure to date £15,054 Total income to date (if £0 applicable) Net expenditure to date £15,054 New changes None within tolerance to schedule/budget/ benefits/risks Change requests None (needing approval)

2.4 River Thames Scheme

Project River Thames Scheme Project Manager and Project Sponsor: Ian Maguire and Paul Turrell Status: RED, AMBER or GREEN Project status Schedule (since last agreed) GREEN Budget position (since last AMBER agreed) Benefits (since last agreed) GREEN Risks/issues (since last agreed) AMBER Progress • Strategic Outline Business Case (OBC) has been approved by HMT with a June checkpoint passed • Finalisation of the flood channel outline design works progressed and initial assessment works for the CRM completed • Delivery of OBC remains within the current budget approval of £34m, with current outturn spend forecast of £31.8m (based upon OBC approval by July 2018). Next steps • Collation of information necessary for Autumn HMT checkpoint/review • Focus on funding strategy • EIA and Planning tenders received with recommendations intended by end of August 2017 - 23 - Budget Amount Original agreed Project Budget £420,000 (£84,000 pa) Current agreed Project Budget As above Total expenditure to date £84,000 Total income to date (if £0 applicable) Net expenditure to date £84,000 New changes Description Planned remedy (if applicable) within tolerance to Concerns regarding scheme N/A currently - Environment schedule/budget/ funding are increasing which Agency are managing the funding benefits/risks questions whether the scheme strategy will be deliverable as planned. Change requests None (needing approval)

2.5 Local Plan

2.5.1 Update table Project Local Plan Project Manager and Project Sponsor: Richard Ford and Ian Maguire Status: RED, AMBER or GREEN Project status Schedule (since last agreed) GREEN Budget position (since last GREEN agreed) Benefits (since last agreed) GREEN Risks/issues (since last agreed) AMBER Progress • The key activity during the last quarter has been the preparation and execution of the Council’s second round of public consultation on the Local Plan under regulation 18 of the Town and Country (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012, as amended. Since the close of this consultation on 23rd June, Officers have been registering, reading, summarising and responding to the 1000 representations received. • Officers have been moving forward the final tranche of evidence required to underpin the Local Plan before its Regulation 19 consultation (draft plan stage). • Officers have been producing the draft content for the regulation 19 version of the Local Plan and sharing the policies with Development Management and Members for comment. • The Council has employed the services of a barrister to peer review the work undertaken by the Council to date and provide advice to the Council as required during the remaining stages of Local Plan preparation. Next steps • Duty to Cooperate Review-at the end of the regulation 18 stage of the Local Plan. This review will take stock on what has been achieved through the Council’s Duty to Cooperate work to date during the preparation of the Local Plan, reporting on what key outcomes have been achieved and to highlight where there has been less success and where a change in approach may be required. This review will also

- 24 - make recommendations for how the Council could hone its approach to the Duty to Cooperate to make the Council’s efforts more precise, focussed and effective for the remainder of the Plan preparation. • Officers will complete the reading, summarising and responding to the representations received during the last round of consultation on the Local Plan and make amendments to the Local Plan where necessary on the basis of these comments. • During the next reporting period, much of the remaining Local Plan evidence will be completed or will be nearing completion. This includes the Strategic Highway Assessment Report, the Council’s Infrastructure evidence, the Strategic Land Availability Assessment, the A320 feasibility study (a tri-borough study with Surrey Heath and Woking and the involvement of Surrey County Council), the update of the Runnymede-Spelthorne SHMA, the Water Cycle Study, the necessary work to underpin the Longcross Garden Village allocation and the Travellers Accommodation Assessment. • Officers are commencing work on Housing and Green Belt technical papers which will accompany the Council’s regulation 19 consultation and which will summarise the Council’s approach to its housing strategy and also its exceptional circumstances for proposing Green Belt boundary amendments. Budget Amount Original agreed Project Budget £55,200 Current agreed Project Budget £199,895 Total expenditure to date £184,102 Total income to date (if n/a applicable) Net expenditure to date £184,102 New changes Description Planned remedy within tolerance to The Local Plan timetable could The vacant post within the team schedule/budget/ be delayed due to staffing will be advertised and filled as benefits/risks shortages following the soon as is possible following the departure of the Planning and necessary authorisations. Strategy Manager at the end of September. There is likely to be a gap of at least 2 months before the vacancy within the team can be filled. Change requests Description Budget required (needing approval) Additional budgetary provision is £135,280 (see breakdown table required to fund the remainder below) of the consultant led evidence required to underpin the Local Plan. The required funding has been identified through an external grant from DCLG, Planning Performance Agreements and increased Planning Fees over a two year period.

- 25 - 2.5.2 The above change request to spend £135,280, which will be covered by an external grant from DCLG, Planning Performance Agreements and increased Planning Fees over a two year period, is broken down as follows:

Anticipated expenditure Consultancy 2017/18 Garden Village infrastructure consultancy (viability, Infrastructure Needs Assessment, Infrastructure Delivery 36,197 Plan)

Garden Village - A320 feasibility study 40,000

Supplementary review of SCC Strategic Highway 39,000 Assessment (£11,700 first invoice)

Traveller Accommodation Consultancy 13,400

Flood Modelling and Water Cycle Study 10,000

SHMA update consultancy 10,000

Additional highway model to respond to A320 project 5,000

Counsel Fees for peer review 5,000

Habitats Regulations Assessment for Local Plan 6,300 Sustainability Appraisal for Local Plan 11,470

Viability Work for Local Plan 13,868

Review of Additional Sites and Options reps re Green Belt 9,953

Remainder of the consultancy budget in 17/18 -64,908 Total 135,280

2.6 Responsive Website

2.6.1 A Project Initiation Document (PID) for the Responsive Website project can be found at Appendix ‘G’.

Project Responsive Website Project Manager and Project Sponsor: Mike Russell and Sarah Walsh Status: RED, AMBER or GREEN Project status Schedule (since last agreed) N/A – at PID stage Budget position (since last N/A – at PID stage agreed)

- 26 - Benefits (since last agreed) N/A – at PID stage Risks/issues (since last agreed) N/A – at PID stage Progress • ‘Classic’ template selected with observations on look and feel supplied to GOSS, the supplier. • Request for template to include ‘pay for it, apply for it, report it’ as a top task across all pages. (template only incorporates this on the homepage) • Cost confirmed (see below) • Project Plan completed – see PID. Next steps • PID to be approved by Corporate Management Committee. • Specification to be provided (GOSS). • Specification to be approved (Runnymede). • Content migration plan to be developed. • Content migration to have commenced. Budget Amount Original agreed Project Budget £9,775 Current agreed Project Budget As above Total expenditure to date £0 Total income to date (if £0 applicable) Net expenditure to date £0 New changes N/A- at PID stage within tolerance to schedule/budget/ benefits/risks Change requests Although this is not technically a change as the PID is yet to be (needing approval) approved, Members should note that since the project was discussed at the Business Sytems and Communications Member Working Group, the Project Plan has had to be revised. The new expected completion date is 1 March 2018. This is because there has been a delay with GOSS providing the detailed supplier specification to commence the project as well as the Communications Team being reduced to 1.2 FTE until at least October, which has unfortunately been unavoidable.

2.7 Customer Services Development

Programme Customer Services Development Project Manager and Project Sponsor: Linda Norman and Paul Turrell Status: RED, AMBER or GREEN Project status Schedule (since strategy agreed) GREEN Budget position (since strategy GREEN agreed) Benefits (since strategy agreed) GREEN Risks/issues (since strategy agreed) GREEN Progress • See separate Customer Services Highlight Report at Appendix ‘H’. Next steps • See separate Customer Services Highlight Report at Appendix ‘H’. Budget Amount Original agreed Project Budget N/A

- 27 - Current agreed Project Budget N/A Total expenditure to date N/A Total income to date (if applicable) N/A Net expenditure to date N/A New changes N/A within tolerance to schedule/budget/ benefits/risks Change requests Resources restructure report alters the capital and revenue (needing approval) budgets.

3. Policy framework implications

3.1 All the above Corporate Projects support one or more of the proposed Corporate Business Plan 2016-2020 themes:

- Supporting Local People - Enhancing Our Environment - Improving Our Economy - Organisational Development

3.2 The projects also support the achievement of the following Corporate Priorities in the Corporate Business Plan 2016-2020:

- To support the development of the Borough’s Enterprise Zone at Longcross Park. - To collaboratively work with Local Enterprise Partnerships, Chambers of Commerce, Runnymede Business Partnership, and other local authorities to maximise resources. - To facilitate additional business support for local businesses. - To continue lobbying for Runnymede’s economic interests. - To take opportunities to make the local environment more sustainable. - To proactively seek opportunities for regeneration in the Borough to assist with place shaping and the enhancement of the built environment. - To lobby for funding for the River Thames Scheme to assist in flood alleviation. - To continue developing our customer service across the Council. - To continue developing our systems and processes to assist our channel shift strategy. - To continue developing our website for communicating and transacting with residents, businesses and other stakeholders.

4. Resource implications

4.1 All project costs are currently within the Council’s approved budgets other than the Local Plan which has a request to spend £135,280 (as detailed in paragraph 2.5.2), which will be covered by an external grant from DCLG, Planning Performance Agreements and increased Planning Fees over a two year period.

5. Conclusions

5.1 The majority of the project statuses are currently green. The River Thames Scheme has an amber status against both the budget and risks/issues due to an increasing concern about the funding for the entire project (the Environment Agency rather than RBC are managing the funding strategy) which then increases the risk that the project may not be deliverable as currently planned. The Local Plan has an amber status for risk/issues as there is a potential issue with its submission date due to staff

- 28 - shortage, following the departure of the Planning and Strategy Manager at the end of September.

(To resolve)

Background Papers

None stated

12. CORPORATE ACTION PLAN 2017/18 – QUARTER 1 PROGRESS (CORPORATE SERVICES)

Synopsis of report:

This report provides Members with an update on the Council’s performance against the Corporate Action Plan 2017/18.

For Quarter 1 (May-July for the Corporate Action Plan), of the 52 objectives relevant to this reporting period, 46 objectives have a green status, six objectives have an amber status, and no objectives have a red status. The Corporate Action Plan 2017/18 is therefore progressing well.

Recommendation:

For information

1. Context of report

1.1 In July 2016, Corporate Management Committee approved the Council’s Corporate Business Plan 2016-2020. The Plan outlined our position in 2016, where we want to be, and how we plan to get there through four new themes: Supporting Local People, Enhancing Our Environment, Improving Our Economy, and Organisational Development. Each theme has a number of Corporate Priorities which the Council will aim to achieve over the period of the Plan. In order to meet these Corporate Priorities, each year a Corporate Action Plan is produced which has a number of objectives which aid progress towards the achievement of the Corporate Priorities.

1.2 The purpose of this report is to provide Members with an update on the Council’s performance against the Corporate Action Plan 2017/18. This report covers objectives that were either due to be completed by the end of Quarter1 or are ongoing. Progress against all the other objectives will be reported at the end of the quarter to which the objective’s deadline matches.

2. Report

2.1 Q1 (May-July) progress

2.1.1 Appendix ‘I’ shows the full table showing the status and associated comment for all objectives with an end of Quarter 1 deadline plus all the objectives that are ongoing. In total, of the 52 objectives relevant to this reporting period, 46 have a green status which means they have either been completed in full or are on track to the level expected (if ongoing).

2.1.2 Objectives with an amber status

2.1.2.1 The following objectives have made some progress, but less than expected.

- 29 - Objective Comments/actions

To continue to identify DW: Work in progress. Increasing uptake in the opportunities to expand existing services has been the immediate priority, the Meals at Home however other opportunities to promote the service are to be considered. Feedback on the new offering. service offering has been positive from both new and existing customers. To continue operating DW: Trials of lunch clubs have been undertaken lunch clubs within the with mixed success. However, it is the intention to five Independent revisit this idea in the autumn/winter when perhaps hot meal provision in such a setting would be better Retirement Living received. schemes to provide opportunities for social interaction and participation amongst residents.

To implement telephony LN: Call recording installed May 17 and review of improvements including IVR undertaken with switchboard functionality review of IVR and call decommissioned June 17. New software, IVR routing and staff training to be delivered by end of recording . Q2. To support the voluntary SS and CH: Standards and Audit Committee sector as resources recommended in June that the leases for the third allow. sector organisations for which we are a landlord should be reviewed. There will likely be some winners and losers as a result. Core Grant Aid to voluntary organisations was reduced by £47,000 for 2017/18 to in the region of £160,000 pa for the next 3 years. However, an extra £25,000 was given to the CAB to re-provide the older people’s home visiting service after the closure of Age UK Runnymede and Spelthorne, and £1,000 has been provided from the Community Partnership Budget to improve chairman’s management of their charitable boards and decision making, plus the dissemination of grants by Democratic Services. To continue delivering a CK: New corporate priority investigation for major transparent and timely breaches within the Green Belt and associated investigation of potential ongoing legal actions have diverted resources away from other investigations. While these high breaches of planning priority cases have been successfully actioned or control. resolved other long standing cases have been delayed. To introduce a formal KD: Waiting on necessary faculty from Guildford inspection of cemetery Diocese before inspections can begin. Although memorials. agreed in principle, amendments to risk assessments need to be finalised.

3. Policy framework implications

- 30 - 3.1 The Corporate Action Plan identifies the objectives for the current year which will help achieve the Corporate Priorities as identified in the Council’s Corporate Business Plan.

4. Resource implications

4.1 No additional budgets are requested to support the follow up actions at this time.

5. Conclusions

5.1 Given that 46 out of 52 objectives have a green status, six objectives have an amber status, and no objectives have a red status, it can be concluded that the Corporate Action Plan 2017/18 is currently progressing well.

(For information)

Background Papers

None stated

13. GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION - APPOINTMENT OF COUNCIL DATA PROTECTION OFFICER (LAW AND GOVERNANCE)

Synopsis of report:

The General Data Protection Regulation requires all public authorities to appoint a Data Protection Officer. This report outlines the duties for the post and invites Members to recommend to Full Council that the Corporate Head of Law and Governance be appointed to that post.

Recommendation:

The Corporate Head of Law and Governance be appointed as the Council’s Data Protection Officer in order to comply with requirements imposed by the General Data Protection Regulation.

1. Context of report

1.1 The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the new data protection framework for the EU and will apply in the UK from 25 May 2018. It replaces all current data protection legislation, including the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), although the data protection principles within the GDPR are similar to those in the DPA.

1.2 On 25 May 2017 this Committee received a report setting out information concerning the implementation of the GDPR. Included in that report was a reference to the fact that organisations subject to its requirements are required to appoint what is termed a Data Protection Officer (DPO).

2. Report

2.1 The GDPR requires all public authorities to appoint a DPO. The DPO’s minimum tasks are defined in Article 39 of the GDPR and these are:

- 31 - • To inform and advise the organisation and its employees about their obligations to comply with the GDPR and other data protection laws; • To monitor compliance with the GDPR and other data protection laws, including managing internal data protection activities, advise on data protection impact assessments; train staff and conduct internal audits; • To be the first point of contact for supervisory authorities and for individuals whose data is processed (employees, customers etc.).

2.2 An extract from the GDPR is at Appendix ‘J’, which provides more detail about the post and its responsibilities. Significantly, the DPO enjoys the same protections against dismissal as the other main statutory officers within the Council, and the post-holder is required to report to the highest management level in the Council.

2.3 Separate guidance issued by Article 29 Data Protection Working Party advises that the officer performing the DPO role must avoid any conflict of interest. The effect of this is that other statutory positions in the Council (e.g. Head of Paid Service or Section 151 Officer) are ruled out from taking up the DPO role, or for that matter those at management level with responsibility for looking after data sets comprising personal data.

2.4 For serious breaches the ICO can issue a monetary penalty notice of up to £500,000. Under GDPR this could be up to 20 million euros or 4% of turnover, whichever is the greater sum.

2.5 The GDPR will introduce a duty on the DPO to report certain types of data breach to the relevant supervisory authority, and in some cases, to the individuals affected. Also, under GDPR a breach is more than just the loss of data; inappropriate access to personal data due to the lack of internal controls is also deemed to be a breach.

2.6 The GDPR creates some new rights for individuals and strengthens some of the rights that currently exist under the DPA. These are:

• The right to be informed • The right of access • The right to rectification • The right to erasure • The right to restrict processing • The right to data portability • The right to object • Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling.

2.7 The GDPR also requires organisations to have comprehensive governance measures in place, which have previously only been considered as best practice e.g. privacy impact assessments are now a legal requirement. Also, running through the heart of the new legislation will be a principle of accountability; meaning that all data controllers must maintain records to show how they are complying with the GDPR. Also, data controllers may be required to demonstrate to ICO that they are complying with the GDPR when processing personal data.

2.8 The Council must by law appoint a DPO to ensure compliance with the GDPR. Also to ensure full compliance by May 2018 it is important that the DPO is in post at the earliest opportunity to carry out a gap analysis and develop an action plan to address any issues arising.

2.9 The Council’s Corporate Head of Law and Governance has dealt with data protection matters since his arrival at the Council and is the point of contact with the ICO in relation to such matters. The officer also holds the post of Senior Risk - 32 - Information Officer (SIRO) for the Council and has led on the preparation of its Information Governance Strategy and Policy which was adopted in July 2017.

2.10 As indicated above there are restrictions on those posts which can discharge this function and thus possible candidates for this post are limited. Given the experience and knowledge of the Corporate Head of Law and Governance in this area it is felt that he would be the most appropriate officer to appoint to discharge this function on behalf of the Council. His senior position in the Council means that he reports to the highest management level in the Council and thus already has access which should be provided to the DPO.

3. Policy framework implications

3.1 The Council collects personal data in a variety of ways to discharge its functions and is therefore subject to the requirements of the GDPR and in turn has to comply with the GDPR requirement to appoint a DPO.

4. Resource implications

4.1 The Corporate Head of Law and Governance is an existing Officer of the Council and will discharge this function in addition to the other duties allocated to that post.

5. Legal implications

5.1 Articles 38 and 39 of the GDPR set out the requirement to appoint a DPO and details the requirements of the role. The guidance issued by the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party clarifies that the post-holder must avoid potential conflicts in performing the role, which rules out certain officers in the Council from performing the role.

5.2 The Council must appoint a DPO to include the duties required by Articles 38 and 39 of the GDPR. If this appointment was not made the Council would be in breach of the law and would expose itself to sanctions from the ICO.

6. Equality implications

6.1 There are no equality implications arising from this report.

7. Conclusions

7.1 The DPO role joins the ranks of the other important officer roles within local authorities such as the Head of Paid Service and the Section 151 Officer. Significantly, the role is afforded the same statutory protections as these other roles too. As such, this demonstrates the importance of the position and indeed the importance of the need for compliance with data protection legislation, which will be supported by the increase in the potential level of fines that will become available to the ICO where breaches of the GDPR are found to have occurred.

(To recommend)

Background papers

None stated

14. URGENT ACTION – STANDING ORDER 42

A copy of proforma 895 detailing action taken after consultation with the Chairman of the Committee under Standing Order 42 is at Appendix ‘K‘. - 33 - (For information)

Background Papers

None

15. EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC

OFFICERS' RECOMMENDATION that –

the press and public be excluded from the meeting during discussion of the following reports under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that the reports in question would be likely to involve disclosure of exempt information of the description specified in paragraphs 1 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

(To resolve)

PART II

Matters involving Exempt or Confidential information in respect of which reports have not been made available for public inspection a) Exempt Information Para

16. SAINSBURY’S CAR PARK – HERIOT ROAD, CHERTSEY - LEASE 3 17. WAITROSE AND TRAVELODGE CAR PARK, EGHAM 3 18. REFERENCE FROM HOUSING COMMITTEE – ST. GEORGE’S ROAD, 3 ADDLESTONE – DEVELOPMENT PROJECT – CAPITAL ESTIMATE

19. ADDLESTONE ONE DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT UPDATE 3 20. WRITE OFFS 1 and 3 21. URGENT ACTION – STANDING ORDER 42 1 and 3

b) Confidential Information

(No reports to be considered under this heading)

- 34 - CORPORATE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

21 SEPTEMBER 2017

APPENDICES

APPENDIX REPORT PAGE NO

A MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 27 JULY 2017 1

B GENERAL FUND FINANCIAL MONITORING STATEMENT – 10 APRIL 2017 TO JUNE 2017

C CORPORATE KEY PERFORMANCE/ACTIVITY INDICATORS – 11 QUARTER 1 2017/18 - RESULTS

D DISCRETIONARY RATE RELIEF POLICY 2017 – SPRING 12 BUDGET 2017

E BUSINESS RATES CHARITY RELIEF POLICY 2017/2020 18

F BUSINESS RATES RELIEF POLICY (OTHER DISCRETIONARY 29 RELIEFS) 2017/2020

G RESPONSIVE WEBSITE – PROJECT INITIATION DOCUMENT 37

H CUSTOMER SERVICES – PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHT REPORT 46

I 2017/18 CORPORATE ACTION PLAN MONITORING – 52 OBJECTIVES WHICH ARE PLANNED TO BE ACHIEVED BY QUARTER 1 (JULY 2017) OR ARE ONGOING

J EXTRACT FROM GDPR – DATA PROTECTION OFFICER 61

K URGENT ACTION – STANDING ORDER 42 63

Wpcmast/agendas/corporate management committee/2019/09/appendices APPENDIX 'A'

RBC CM 27.07.17

Runnymede Borough Council

CORPORATE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

27 July 2017 at 7.30.p.m. Members of the Committee present: Councillors N H Prescot (Chairman), Miss M N Heath (Vice-Chairman), A Alderson, Mrs L M Gillham, Mrs G M Kingerley, S A Lewis, D W Parr and Mrs G Warner.

Members of the Committee absent: Councillors Mrs J Gracey and M L Willingale.

161 FIRE PRECAUTIONS

The Chairman read out the Fire Precautions.

162 NOTIFICATION OF CHANGES TO COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP

The Group mentioned below had notified the Chief Executive of their wish that the changes listed below be made to the membership of the Committee. The changes were for a fixed period ending on the day after the meeting and thereafter the Councillors removed would be reappointed.

Group Remove From Membership Appoint Instead Conservative Councillor Ms C M Simmons Councillor S A Lewis Conservative Councillor J J Wilson Councillor Mrs G Warner

The Chief Executive had given effect to this request in accordance with Section 16(2) of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.

163 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meetings of the Committee held on 29 June 2017 and 10 July 2017 were confirmed and signed as correct records.

164 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Mrs J Gracey.

165 CUSTOMER SERVICES STRATEGY

The Committee considered a report setting out the vision for Customer Services over the next three years to ensure that the service met its objectives for the future and a Customer Services Strategy 2017/2020 ‘Enhancing The Customer Experience’.

The Customer Services function had been relaunched in March 2017 as part of the Council’s transformation programme. The recruitment process for the last of the vacancies had finished and the team would be fully staffed from August 2017. Substantial savings had been made as 10 temporary staff had now left the Council and the three remaining agency contracts would be terminated from 1 September 2017 following training of the new recruits. The structure had been reduced from 27.8 full time equivalents to 19 full time equivalents (excluding 6.8 staff that had transferred to back office areas).

Customer Services aimed to provide a commitment to excellence whether the Council’s customers visited in person or contacted the Council by telephone or by e-mail. The service would enable customers to use the internet to “self serve” as much as possible, where they - 1 - RBC CM 27.07.17 were willing and able (this was known as “channel shift”.) However, more traditional methods of customer service would continue. As many customer enquiries as possible would be answered at first point of contact whilst ensuring customers with complex needs were referred to professional Officers as soon as possible. Customer Services staff would be trained in more than one area of Council business and be able to be part of a multi- disciplinary team. The Committee noted the roadmap to improvement and a diagram on enhancing the customer experience which were contained within the Customer Services Strategy.

The new Head of Customer Services, Revenues and Benefits had devised a Customer Services Strategy for the next three years to drive the service forward, delivering a modern cost effective service which met customer and corporate needs through the development and use of appropriate technologies whilst maintaining customer care and statutory responsibilities. Customer Services was aiming to achieve excellent status by April 2019. There were six strands to the Strategy, staff training and development, telephony improvements, the single view of the customer and improved system integrations, transactional and process enhancements to systems including the Council’s website, social media and channel shift (a citizen portal and mobile apps were included within channel shift). The Strategy supported a number of Corporate Priorities as identified in the Corporate Business Plan 2016-2020.

In order to meet the aims of the service, implementing the Customer Service Strategy would require a capital investment of approximately £200,000 and a revenue investment of approximately £90,000 over a three year period, the breakdown of which was contained within the budget implications section of the Strategy document at Exempt Appendix ‘1’ to the agenda. There were currently no budgets available to meet these new requirements and so supplementary estimates would be required in order to progress the strategy. These additional costs would be offset over time through the elimination of waste, improved efficiencies, increased use of emerging technologies and cheaper communication channels.

The Committee noted the comments of UNISON on the Strategy and the response of the Head of Customer Services Revenues and Benefits (HCSRB) to those comments. UNISON expressed the view that the Strategy was very technology driven and seemed to focus on computer literate customers and that a significant number of the Council’s customers preferred a more personal approach. The least expensive method of service delivery (i.e. on-line) was not always suitable as the Council had a large number of vulnerable customers and services that could not be provided on-line without any interaction with staff. The HCSRB had responded by stating that the Strategy sought to give customers a choice about how they engaged with the Council through a greater range of access channels. The Council would introduce more modern cost effective channels to meet the expectations of those customers that preferred to engage with the Council on-line, but without removing other methods of contacting the Council.

UNISON believed that Customer Services was understaffed currently and that Customer Services staff needed more time away from the job to be trained. UNISON also suggested that Customer Services should consider ways of managing customer expectations. In response the HCSRB had stated that the current structure for Customer Services had been approved by the Committee based on an external consultant’s report. Training plans had been developed and staff were given time away from the service to attend courses and receive specific training to meet particular service needs. The final vacant posts had been filled recently and it was expected that when all staff were fully trained, they would be able to manage workloads as expected, particularly as some customers would choose to move to an on-line form of contact.

UNISON did not think that the use of social media as a communications channel by the Council was necessarily an appropriate measure and questioned whether staff would have time to check whether a service request had been made by social media and was - 2 - RBC CM 27.07.17

concerned that staff might be criticised on social media and possibly have no means of defence. The HCSRB had responded by stating that social media was only one strand of the Strategy and the public expected to receive a response through social media if they used that communication tool. Officers were developing a process for staff to deal with enquiries via social media.

UNISON considered that the views of Council staff on how services could be provided to the Council’s customers should be taken into account as in the view of UNISON, Council staff were best placed to understand the services provided and to suggest improvements. UNISON considered that most Council staff endeavoured to answer customer queries themselves if possible and only passed issues on to other Officers if necessary. UNISON also understood that the Council was developing a “tell us once” policy, i.e. where all the information about a Council customer was available in one place (this was also known as “a single view of a customer”). In reply, the HCSRB had advised that the Strategy sought to empower staff to deal with enquiries at first point of contact if possible but back office staff would deal with the more complex customer enquiries. The HCSRB also advised that the Council needed to have regard to the new General Data Protection Regulation that would come into force in 2018 in relation to the information that it held. In order to move towards the single view of the customer, new and existing systems would have a privacy impact assessment undertaken as appropriate but this was not expected to lead to a large increase in workload.

UNISON indicated that it would like to have seen a clearer commitment to equalities in the strategy. The Committee noted an Equality Screening form. The Strategy did not need a Full Equality Impact Assessment as it was about making the Council more accessible to those who wanted to engage with it in a digital way without removing any of the more traditional methods of communication. The implementation of the Strategy would be reviewed and if any impact on the nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 was identified this would be addressed at that point. UNISON had stated its aim to meet the HCSRB and other relevant managers on a regular basis in order to support staff in the front and back office as the strategy developed. It was noted that the HCSRB was happy to meet UNISON to discuss any staff concerns.

The Committee noted that if more customers were able to “self serve” then this would reduce the costs to the Council. The Committee approved the Strategy and associated action plan and considered that the Council should be seeking to move away from legacy systems and where possible, implement cloud based agile systems. Runnymede had the advantage of a “blank canvas” in that it had not already implemented Customer Services systems that required amendment but was instead able to install new systems. The estimate for switchboard removal in the strategy included hardware and software costs. It was noted that an important part of the training for Customer Services and Revenues and Benefits was in the area of “soft skills” (e.g. how to respond to customers who had been recently bereaved and how to collect debt in an empathetic manner) and to deal with vulnerable people and customers who might be aggressive or distressed. Staff were trained to “signpost” customers, i.e. to provide advice on where the public could go to for help.

RESOLVED that-

the Customer Services Strategy and associated action plan be approved.

166 DISCRETIONARY HOUSING PAYMENT POLICY

The Committee considered a Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) Policy 2017/20 setting out how Runnymede Borough Council would provide additional financial assistance to customers who were in receipt of Housing Benefit (HB) or the Housing cost element of Universal Credit (UC). The new Head of Customer Services, Revenues and Benefits had - 3 - RBC CM 27.07.17

devised an updated DHP policy in collaboration with the Corporate Director of Resources, Corporate Director of Housing and Community Development and other senior Housing and Housing Benefit staff. The Policy, which would appear on the Council’s website, set out how the Council would administer the scheme over the next three years to protect vulnerable residents, sustain tenancies where possible and prevent homelessness.

The Council was committed to assisting claimants in long term financial planning and would signpost those claimants to appropriate external agencies for budgeting advice and assistance. A DHP panel consisting of senior staff from Housing and Housing Benefits would meet on a regular basis to discuss individual applications as appropriate to ensure the Council’s Homelessness Strategy was taken into account. The DHP Policy linked to the Council’s Corporate Business Plan and the Homelessness Strategy. The resource implications of the Policy were noted. Members would be updated on spending at Housing Committee and the regular budget monitoring reports to the Corporate Management Committee. An Equality Screening form was noted by the Committee. The Policy was relevant to equality and had been referred to the Council’s Equality Group for review.

It was noted that this item would normally be considered by the Housing Committee. However, as the Housing Committee’s next meeting was not until 6 September 2017 and Officers wished to commence assessment of claimants and implement the software, the Committee agreed to approve the Policy. A report on the Policy would be submitted to the Housing Committee on 6 September 2017. Assistance would be made available to residents in filling out applications.

RESOLVED that-

the Discretionary Housing Payment policy as set out at Appendix ‘F’ to the Agenda be approved.

167 WORKFORCE PROFILE

At a recent meeting of the Human Resources (HR) Member Working Group it had been suggested that the Corporate Management Committee might be interested in receiving a report on the Council’s workforce profile. Accordingly, the Committee considered a report containing an overview of how the profile of the workforce at Runnymede had altered since 2015 and providing a statistical overview of the current workforce. The comments of UNISON on the report were noted.

The Committee noted a set of statistical profiles of the Council’s workforce which were provided in a Workplace Monitoring Report for the period 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2017. The Committee noted the reduction of 29 full time equivalents in the size of the workforce since 1 April 2015. The gender profile of the Council had also altered. In 2016/17 there had been a slight increase in the number of men employed compared to 2015/16. However, women still constituted the majority of the workforce (56.66%). There had been a marginal drop in 2016/17 in the number of part-time staff since 2015/16. Over 80% of part-time staff were female.

68.04% of the workforce was over 45 years of age and 18.4% of the workforce was over the age of 60. The average age of the workforce was 48 years. However, in 2015/16, 70.33% of the workforce was over 45 years of age. There had been a marginal increase in the number of staff who were under 30, or between 30 and 44. The Committee noted that there had been an increase in labour turnover rate and difficulty in filling some posts leading to a need to re-advertise in a number of cases. It was clear that the Council needed to pay attention to succession planning and try to attract more staff in younger age groups. As part of this, the Committee recently approved an apprenticeship programme targeted towards areas of skills gaps (involving nine apprenticeships). UNISON sought confirmation of the Council work areas in which apprentices would be engaged in the next three years. - 4 - RBC CM 27.07.17

Human Resources (HR) had recommended to the Council’s Corporate Leadership Team that a corporate workforce plan was produced and that each Business Centre, with the assistance of the Head of HR, prepared a departmental workforce plan for the next 2 years to anticipate and plan for its workforce needs rather than react to them as staff left or retired and that section heads should be required to consider future staffing implications as part of their business planning. UNISON had requested consultation on the creation of departmental workforce plans with themselves and the Equalities Group and staff. If workforce planning was adopted this would require an investment of management and HR time.

In terms of the diversity of the Council’s workforce there had been little change in 2016/17 compared to 2015/16. The number of Black Minority Ethnic (BME) staff within the Council had remained steady. The Council’s diversity within the workforce was not reflective of the population within the borough as only 4.36% of the Council’s staff were BME although at the date of the last census in 2011, the percentage of the population which was BME was 10.6%. There were no further updates available on the level of BME population in the borough. A Member suggested that Royal Holloway University of London students, a number of which were transient, might affect the overall borough BME statistics as the student population was not typical of the Borough’s population as a whole. The percentage of the workforce with a disability had reduced from 4.31% to 3.87%. However, it was not uncommon for adjustments to be made to working patterns or work stations to enable staff to remain in employment within the authority after the onset of various medical conditions, so it was quite possible that there was a level of non-recording of disability within the organisation.

The Equality Act and Public Sector Equality Duty placed responsibilities on the Council to promote equalities and ensure there was no discrimination against groups with protected characteristics (e.g. ethnicity, disability, gender or sexual orientation etc.). The statistical information in the Workforce Monitoring Report had led HR to conclude that the Council needed to do more to address under-representation of the community in terms of the proportion of staff from ethnic minorities and those with disabilities in its workforce. UNISON had sought information on how the Council planned to address this and it was noted that the Council’s Equality Group were currently being consulted on any recommendations they might have on improving the Council’s performance on the diversity of its workforce in terms of the numbers of disabled and BME staff employed.

The Council was a significant employer of women with child-caring responsibilities. However, as also mentioned by UNISON, increasingly, staff of both genders were facing caring responsibilities. HR had been requested by UNISON to prepare a Carers’ Policy in response to this reality. UNISON had suggested that a Carers’ Policy should cover all forms of caring and contain flexibility in relation to changes of hours. In relation to the progress of women on the grading structure, there was little change from 2015/16 to 2016/17. However there were 1.43% more women on the top grades (SMA and above) than in 2015/16. New legislation required Councils to publish their gender pay gap. The Council’s gender pay gap was currently being calculated and this would be reported separately to a future Committee meeting. UNISON looked forward to receiving the report on the gender pay gap and also understood that an equal pay audit was being undertaken and sought confirmation on whether this would be brought forward and what involvement UNISON might have in the audit.

Since the introduction of the Sickness Strategy, new Sickness Management Policy and training for all managers on sickness in the spring of 2016, sickness within the organisation had reduced by 2.2 days per fte (from 12.82 days per fte to 10.6 days per fte). This had also been assisted by the procurement of BUPA as new Occupational Health provider in July 2016. The target was to achieve only 9 days per fte and it was noted therefore that the level of sickness was moving in the right direction. New employee counsellors had also - 5 - RBC CM 27.07.17 been sourced to assist staff with anxiety, depression or welfare issues. Long-term absence compared to all absence and the overall number of sickness days had reduced in 2016/17 compared to 2015/16. The top three reasons for long term absence in 2016/17 were hospital operations, Anxiety/Stress/ Depression and other psychiatric illnesses and musculoskeletal problems. Although Anxiety/Stress/Depression and other psychiatric illnesses represented the most consistent cause of long term absence, the number of cases of long term absence for these reasons had reduced from 15 in 2015/16 to 8 in 2016/17. A series of Conflict Management training courses had been run for front-line staff and ‘Handling Difficult Conversations’ training had been provided for managers. Training sessions on Stress Awareness were currently under way for managers at all levels and there would also be briefing sessions for staff on handling stress and anxiety. Efforts would continue to be made to improve attendance levels within the organisation. As part of this, a number of well-being events were being held over the summer to encourage healthier lifestyles. Absence reduction was best approached in a multi-stranded way – one element was absence management but just as important was encouraging staff well-being and improving management competencies. A new management competency framework was due to be produced in the autumn with a view to using this in the recruitment of future managers and as a basis of identifying training needs in existing managers.

UNISON sought evidence of the role played by the Sickness Strategy and Sickness Management Policy in reducing staff sickness at Runnymede and was concerned that Anxiety/Stress/Depression and other psychiatric illnesses were causes of long term absence and suggested that a breakdown of causes for long term sickness absences be provided, if that was possible, without identifying individual members of staff. UNISON was pleased to note the training for staff that had been provided. UNISON had concluded that the Workforce Monitoring Report information suggested that mental health awareness training for staff was also required. UNISON understood that the sessions on Stress Awareness had been poorly attended and had suggested that steps should be taken to increase attendance. (Managers had in fact received encouragement and reminders on attendance).

Runnymede was unusual as a district council in having the majority of the training budget run by departments independently with only a small centralised training budget. Last year the short course training budget within departments was significantly underspent (by 51%) although HR considered that there was a clear need for developmental and management training within the organisation. This had led the Head of HR to recommend to the Council’s Corporate Leadership Team that the full training budget be managed centrally by HR to ensure it was fully utilised. This was currently being considered by Corporate Directors and Corporate Heads.

UNISON welcomed the detailed breakdown of the profile of the Council’s staff. Although the average age of Runnymede’s workforce was high, UNISON considered that this did produce benefits as older workers contributed much to the authority through their knowledge and experience and could continue providing valuable service for a longer time than previously following the removal of a compulsory retirement age. The Committee noted the need to attract more staff to the Council in younger age groups but was concerned that if older staff left the Council’s employment there should be a transfer to the staff that remained of the knowledge that those more experienced staff had accumulated. HR considered that the Council’s staff needed to be upskilled in more modern working methods and that there was a need to recruit some more junior staff who would receive training in order to take up roles in the future rather than the Council always employing a “finished product” to take up a post. A Member also suggested that there might be a need to review and update some of the Council’s Human Resources IT systems.

- 6 - RBC CM 27.07.17

168 ACHIEVE LIFESTYLE TRUST – APPOINTMENT OF REPLACEMENT TRUSTEE

Following Councillor Mrs Warner’s recent resignation as a Council appointed Trustee of Achieve Lifestyle Trust, the Committee considered the appointment of a replacement Trustee for the remainder of Councillor Mrs Warner’s term of office expiring in May 2020. It was noted that Councillor Tuley was the Council’s other appointed Trustee and that his term of office also expired in May 2020.

RESOLVED that-

Councillor N M King be appointed to the Achieve Lifestyle Trust for the term of office expiring in May 2020.

169 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM) SYSTEM

By resolution of the Committee, the press and public were excluded from the meeting during the consideration of this matter under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that the discussion would be likely to involve the disclosure of exempt information of the description specified in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A to Part 1 of the Act.

The Committee considered a business case for a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System and on-line customer portal to enable staff to have a single view of the customer irrespective of service area and improve the ability of staff to deal with customers at first point of contact. In addition, it would enable the Council to incrementally increase the number of self-service opportunities for the customer on one platform including a personalised online account and content making the online experience, relevant, fast and convenient. The Customer Services Strategy provided customers with the information they required at first point of contact wherever possible, in such a way that it met their needs yet still was affordable to the Council. There were six strands to the Customer Services Strategy and the areas covered by CRM were the single view of the customer and improved systems integration and the transactional and process enhancements to systems including the Council’s website. A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system together with an on-line customer portal would improve the customer experience, deliver savings and efficiencies, eliminate duplication and enable staff to have a single view of the customer so they would be able to deal with multiple enquiries without the need to refer on to other services.

The Head of Customer Services, Revenues and Benefits would lead the project team and implement the software on an incremental basis to ensure return on investment and deliver efficiencies whilst maintaining customer care and statutory responsibilities. This included e- billing for Revenues and Benefits including moves, applying for discounts and signing up for Direct Debit, a customer portal to bring personalised relevant information to one area for ease of use and intelligent e-forms for customers to report issues, register for services and book events online. It also included Content Management (i.e. workflows and customer tracking information so that customers could follow the progress of their enquiry) and a Contact Relationship Management system so Customer Service Advisors could have a single view of the customer and proactive promotions to inform customers of local events linked to their postcodes and highlight issues to reduce telephone calls into the Council. Other elements were the development of a self-service scanning solution to reduce pressure on Front of House staff to scan and verify personal documents and assisted ‘screen sharing’ which would enhance customer support over the phone and subsequently lead to increased “channel shift” in the future.

A privacy impact assessment would need to be undertaken to ensure adherence to the new General Data Protection Regulation that would come into effect in 2018. The Committee noted an Equality Screening form to ensure that customers with individual needs were taken into account when implementing the customer portal. The project did not require a - 7 - RBC CM 27.07.17 full Equalities Impact Assessment as it was about making the Council more accessible to those who wished to engage with it in a digital way without removing any of the more traditional methods of communication. It was acknowledged that there was a gap in information regarding the impact of the CRM system on the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. The implementation and operation of the system would be reviewed to address the gap in information and to see if there were any opportunities to promote equality and enhance access to the Council’s services.

Various CRM and on-line portal systems were being evaluated by Officers. Each solution would be assessed based on price, functionality and usability. Details of the exercise were contained within the detailed business case at Exempt Appendix ‘2’ to the Agenda which set out the resource implications and the capital and revenue implications, including the on-line customer portal. These figures included a sum for a contingency. The CRM would be rolled out using a phased approach. The CRM would be compatible with and be able to “talk to” other Council systems and would integrate with back office systems. A full specification together with a high level project plan would be developed and scrutinised by the Business Systems and Communications Member Working Group. Procurement of the software would be through a relevant framework agreement to ensure delivery of the e- billing solution in time for the Council’s annual billing exercise. The strategy supported a number of the Council’s Corporate Priorities as identified in the Corporate Business Plan 2016-2020.

The supplementary capital estimate required for the CRM system and on-line portal would normally be referred to Full Council for consideration. The Council was required in 2018 to offer electronic billing of Council Tax and Business Rates notifications and did not have a current provider. There was a need to procure the system without delay in order to have sufficient lead in time to implement the software for the Council’s annual billing exercise in February 2018. As Full Council did not meet again until 19 October 2017, therefore the Committee agreed resolutions i) to v) as set out below.

RESOLVED that – i) a supplementary capital estimate be approved for 2017/18 in the sum set out in paragraph 5.2 of Exempt Appendix ‘2’ to the agenda for a Customer Relationship Management System; ii) a supplementary revenue estimate be approved for 2017/18 in the sum set out in paragraph 5.2 of Exempt Appendix ‘2’ to the agenda for the system; iii) annual provision be made for the system in revenue budgets from 2018/19 onwards in the sum set out in paragraph 5.2 of Exempt Appendix ‘2’ to the agenda; iv) the Business Systems and Communications Member Working Group considers the business case for the system and makes a recommendation on the supplier to the Chief Executive and the decision on the supplier of the system be made by the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader of the Council; and v) in view of the need to procure the system without delay in order to implement the software for the Council’s annual billing exercise in February 2018, recommendations i) to iv) above be approved by the Committee under paragraph 1.3 of Committee Responsibilities in the Council’s Constitution.

- 8 - RBC CM 27.07.17

170 URGENT ACTION – STANDING ORDER 42

By resolution of the Committee, the press and public were excluded from the meeting during the consideration of this matter under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that the discussion would be likely to involve the disclosure of exempt information of the description specified in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A to Part 1 of the Act.

The Committee noted the following urgent action approved by the Chairman of the Committee under Standing Order 42.

Officer Action Central Index No

Director of Commercial Services Appointment of a construction 891 contractor to undertake works.

A copy of proforma 891 detailing this approved action was noted as set out at Exempt Appendix ‘3’ of the Agenda. The Committee noted that not all of the action approved in this urgent action would be implemented.

Chairman (The meeting ended at 8.23.p.m)

- 9 -

APPENDIX 'C'

Corporate Key Performance/Activity Indicators 2016/17 Key Performance/activity is still on track to meet annual target There is some concern that the annual There is a serious concern that the annual Current status: Green = Amber = Red = (generally +/- 10% of target in target will not be met target will not be met. early periods)

Actual similar to last Actual has significantly improved Actual has significantly worsened since Trend: → ← = measurement (within a 10% ↑ = since last measurement (greater than a ↓ = last measurement (greater than a 10% relative difference) 10% relative difference) relative difference)

2016/2017 2017/2018 2017/18 Target Actual Target Actual

Officer(s) Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Annual target / Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Trend (compared to Indicator Whole year Annual result Status Comment responsible (Apr-Jun) (Jul-Sept) (Oct-Dec) (Jan-Mar) estimation (Apr-Jun) (Jul-Sept) (Oct-Dec) (Jan-Mar) last quarter)

RESOURCES

R1: Average number of days taken to process new benefit claims or changes (the result for the PM via LN 7 5.6 (16,451) 7 7 7 7 7 6.1 GREEN → ← Within target days is cumulative as is the total number processed in brackets)

R2: Percentage of invoices paid in 30 PM via CB 98% 98% 98% 98% 98% 97.4% (2324) GREEN days (with total 97.5 (8,977) 98% → ← April was 98.87%, May was 97.53% and June fell to 95.98% number in brackets) LAW & GOVERNANCE LG1: Percentage of FOI requests processed in statutory deadline ML via CHo 99% 97% (643) 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 98% (170) GREEN → ← Marginally below target. (with total number of requests in brackets)

LG2: Number of decisions investigated by the ombudsman ML via CP 0 0 5% 5% 5% 5% 5% 0% GREEN → ← Optimal performance requiring a remedy (including minor injustices) HOUSING H1: Average number Excellent result. The majority of properties are now frequently tenanted of days to re-let JM via MW 30 24 30 30 30 30 30 21 GREEN ↑ within one or two days of any necessary, routine void works being dwellings completed.

H2: Repairs Satisfaction Survey result. "Were you satisfied with the JM via MW GREEN overall service 98.5% 96.9% (1,385) 95% 95% 95% 95% 95% 97.3% (185) → ← This result meets the new, more realistic target. received?" (cumulative number in brackets)

H3: Number of households in B&B Due to a rising number of complex cases which are still being managed, the JM via MW 36 49 9 9 9 9 36 19 RED accommodation for ↓ result has exceeded the target. more than 2 weeks

H4: Rent arrears of current tenants as a percentage of annual JM via MW 1.39% 1.55% 1.6% 1.6% 1.6% 1.6% 1.6% 1.58% GREEN → ← Good result in challenging circumstances. rent debit (cumulative)

Despite keeping the overall level of arrears low an increasing number of H5: Percentage of households are struggling with the new benefit regime. The Tenancy tenants with more Management section is being restructured to focus increased resources on rent JM via MW 2.6% 2.95% 2.6% 2.6% 2.6% 2.6% 2.6% 3.34% AMBER than 7 weeks rent ↓ collection. As households are transferred to Universal Credit and payments are arrears made in arrears to the tenant rather than a weekly HB direct payment it will be very difficult to meet this target.

PLANNING P1: Percentage of major planning applications processed to deadline (with the IM 60% 95% (22) 60% 60% 60% 60% 60% 100%(3) GREEN → ← Optimal performance total number of applications in brackets for the actuals) P2: Percentage of minor planning applications processed to deadline (with the IM 80% 92% (230) 80% 80% 80% 80% 80% 83.3%(54) GREEN ↓ total number of applications in brackets for the actuals) Good performance P3: Percentage of other planning applications processed to deadline (with the IM 85% 95% (659) 85% 85% 85% 85% 85% 97.6%(171) GREEN → ← total number of applications in brackets for the actuals)

P4: Percentage of appeals determined in accordance with Q1 one appeal upheld against the Council's decision as the Inspector disagreed that the loss of a residential unit and its change of use to a clinic the Council's IM 80% 75% (16) 80% 80% 80% 80% 80% 75%(4) GREEN ↓ decision (with the would not harmfully impact on the amenities of neighbours from additional total number of traffic. appeals in brackets).

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

ES1: Residual Again this target has been met. There should be a word of caution that household waste per IM via CK 460 382 115 115 115 115 460 87 GREEN hopefully this target will not be affected due to changes in Surrey County household (kg) Council's Recycling Centres with planned reduction of opening hours/days.

ES2: Percentage of household waste Work is ongoing with educating our residents on the recycling services we sent for re-use, IM via CK 47% 45.4% 47% 47% 47% 47% 47% 48% GREEN provide alongside gentle enforcement. recycling and composting

ES3: Number of missed bin collection complaints (includes Q1 figures are consistent with past performance. There is an ongoing refuse, recycling and IM via CK 2000 2376 500 500 500 500 2000 637 AMBER ↑ review of operations in the DSO will include a revision to this KPI utilising food and excludes the better data capture from the new ‘Bartec’ in-cab technology. trade and green waste)

ES4: Number of street cleansing reports (overflowing A surprisingly low figure for Quarter 1 with no tangeable explaination as to litterbins, overflowing IM via CK 600 994 150 150 150 150 600 73 GREEN ↑ why this figure is so low. dog bins, and general litter/detritus)

ES5: Number of parking Penalty IM via LN 8000 7033 2000 2000 2000 2000 8000 1288 N/A N/A Provided for monitoring purposes only. Charge Notices issued

Work is ongoing to promote the trade service and new customers have ES6: Number of been acquired as well as existing customers increasing their contracts. As trade refuse IM via CK 570 489 540 550 560 570 570 464 RED part of ongoing reviews the possibility of promoting the services outside of customers Runnymede's boundary is being considered. Spelthorne has no internal trade service and the DSO are keen to explore the market in this area.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Although the result is currently slightly below target, consideration needs to CD1: Number of be given to the fact that the number does not include passengers on the individual trips with new non emergency patient transport service. This is because the bookings JM via DW 54,750 50,117 14,000 14,000 13,000 14,000 55,000 13,176 GREEN Community → ← are coordinated by South Central Ambulance Service. However, Officers Transport Service are looking to devise a system so that this data can be included in the future.

As highlighted at Community Services Committee, it has recently been identified that results reported by the previous head of service (who left three years ago) combined both meals delivered plus cancelled meals. The 9,061meals targets set for this indicator in the last two years were based on a CD2: Number of delivered + 741 judgement against these previous results, without knowing they included community meals JM via DW 43,000 36,787 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 40,000 tea packs delivered AMBER → ← cancelled meals too. Over the last two financial years the results have delivered Total of 9,802 solely been reported as the number of meals delivered. To give the overall products delivered context of service performance compared to previous reporting, there has been an additional 1,265 meals cancelled in Q1, which is typical, and if included would have meant the target would have been exceeded.

CD3: Percentage of Almost optimal performance. Please note: The industry standard and the Careline calls external audit KPI is <60sec @97.5%. Also, we have taken an additional answered within 60 900 alarms from SHBC with less staff (-1.5FTE) to answer calls. LB will seconds (with total LB 98.5% 99.96% (30,519) 99% 99% 99% 99% 99% 99.2% (7299) GREEN → ← monitor. number of calls in brackets for the actuals)

11 APPENDIX 'D' Discretionary Rate Relief Policy 2017 Spring Budget 2017 July 2017

Runnymede Borough Council Runnymede Civic Centre Station Road Addlestone Surrey KT15 2AH www.runnymede.gov.uk 12 Discretionary Rate Relief Policy Spring Budget 2017 Discretionary RaDiscretionary Rate Relief Policy 2017te Relief Policy Spring Budget 2017

Contents

Content Page

Introduction 14

Supporting Small Businesses 15

Revaluation Support 15

Supporting pubs 16

State Aid 17

Managing the process 17

13 Discretionary Rate Relief Policy Spring Budget 2017 Discretionary Rate Relief Policy Spring Budget 2017

Introduction

Section 69 of the Localism Act 2011, allows a local authority to grant discretionary relief in any circumstances where it feels fit having regard to the effect on the Council Taxpayers of its area.

The provisions are designed to give authorities flexibility in granting relief where it is felt that to do so would be of benefit generally to the area and be reasonable given the financial effect to Council Taxpayers.

At the Budget on 8 March 2017, the Chancellor announced that the Government would make available a discretionary fund of £300 million over four years from 2017/18 to support those businesses that face the steepest increases in their business rates bills as a result of the revaluation. The Chancellor stated that local government is best placed to determine how this fund should be targeted and administered to support those businesses and locations within their area that are in the greatest need.

The Government’s intention is that every billing authority in England will be provided with a share of the £300 million to support their local businesses. This will be administered through the Council’s discretionary relief powers under section 47 of the Local Government Act 1988.

The Government believes that local authorities are best placed to judge the particular circumstances of local ratepayers and direct the funding where it is most needed to support local economies. The Government has allocated the available funding to each billing authority area based on assumptions about how authorities will target their relief scheme.

In addition, the Government also announced a new relief scheme for pubs that have a rateable value below £100,000. Under the scheme, eligible pubs will receive a £1000 discount on their bill. The relief will have effect for 2017/18 year.

Funding The funding for the scheme is spread over four years. In Runnymede the total funding available has been confirmed as:

Amount of discretionary pot award (£000s) LA 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 Total Runnymede 415 201 83 12 711

The Council’s proposed local scheme is to compare a property’s 2016/17 bill based on the rateable value in force on 31 March 2017, with the property’s 2017/18 bill (before all reliefs) based on the rateable value in force on 1 April 2017.

This is the same comparison used to determine the Government’s transitional relief scheme and ensures any change is purely as a result of the 2017 revaluation.

14 Discretionary Rate Relief Policy Spring Budget 2017 Discretionary Rate Relief Policy Spring Budget 2017

Supporting Small Businesses

In line with the Government’s recommendations, the Council will provide support for those ratepayers that are facing large increases as a result of the loss of small business or rural rate relief. The Supporting Small Businesses relief will help those ratepayers who as a result of the change in their rateable value at revaluation are losing some or all of their business or rural rate relief and as a result, are facing large increases in their bills.

To support these ratepayers, the relief will ensure that the increase per year in the bills is limited to the greater of:

• a percentage increase p.a. of 5%, 7.5%, 10%, 15% and 15% 2017/18 to 2021/22 plus inflation • a cash value of £600 per year (£50 a month)

This means all ratepayers losing some or all of their small business rate relief or rural rate relief will see the increase capped at £600. The cash minimum increase is £600 per year thereafter.

Those businesses whose rateable values are £51,000 or more will not be liable to pay the supplement (1.3p) to fund small business rate relief while they are eligible for the Supporting Small Businesses relief scheme.

Ratepayers remain in the Supporting Small Businesses relief scheme for either five years or until they reach the bill they would have paid without the scheme. A change of ratepayers will not affect the eligibility for the Supporting Small Businesses relief scheme but eligibility will be lost if the property falls vacant or becomes occupied by a charity or Community Amateur Sports Club. Revaluation Support

In line with the Government’s recommendations, the council will provide support only to those ratepayers who are facing an increase in their bills following revaluation (this is a condition of the grant). The council’s principles will consider that more support will be provided to:

• ratepayers or localities that face the most significant increases in bills; and

• ratepayers occupying lower value properties

Taking into account the Government’s principles and assumptions in relation to the distribution of the funding the qualifying criteria for consideration is:

• the rateable property has a rateable value for 2017/18 that is less than £200,000;

• the increase in the rateable property’s 2017/18 bill is more than 12.5% compared to its 2016/17 bill (before reliefs).

15 Discretionary Rate Relief Policy Spring Budget 2017 Discretionary Rate Relief Policy Spring Budget 2017

In determining the amount of funding to each Council, the Government used formula that only considered cases where the property’s 2017/18 bill (before all reliefs) had increased by more than 12.5% and excluded properties with rateable values of £200,000 and over.

Runnymede proposes to apply both these elements to our scheme and hence only consider awards where the property’s 2017/18 bill (before all reliefs) has increased by more than 12.5% and the rateable value is less than £200,000.

In considering relief to remaining ratepayers, Runnymede propose to also exclude relief to:

• National companies and/or companies with a number of premises. The relief is designed to be applied locally and nationally revaluation is neutral, meaning national chains may have seen rate reductions in other parts of the country offsetting increases elsewhere.

• Empty Properties. The Council wants to encourage properties being brought back into use.

• Charities. Charities receive 80% mandatory relief under a separate statutory scheme.

• New ratepayers becoming liable on or after 1 April 2017. New ratepayers would not have seen an increase in their rate bills at the property.

• Council owned properties. As the billing authority, we are barred from making any discretionary awards to ourselves.

The remaining ratepayer accounts will be awarded discretionary relief as a % of their 2017/18 chargeable bill (i.e. after all over reliefs and entitlements).

As financial support drops dramatically across the four years that the Government is funding, the intention is that any business will be self-sustaining by 2018/19 and any business applying will have to demonstrate that still require support beyond 2017/18 for the relief to continue.

All relief will be for a set period expiring on 31 March 2018. The amount of relief may go up or down (retrospective or otherwise) in line with any change to the daily chargeable amount. Supporting Pubs

The Government recognises the important role that pubs play in urban and rural communities. The Chancellor announced a £1000 business rates discount for public house with a rateable value of up to £100,000 for one year from 1 April 2017.

The scheme will be available to eligible occupied properties with a rateable value of less than £100,000. Where pubs are part of a chain, relief will be available for each eligible property in the chain subject to State Aid requirements.

16 Discretionary Rate Relief Policy Spring Budget 2017 Discretionary Rate Relief Policy Spring Budget 2017

For pubs to be eligible for relief, they should: • be open to the general public • allow free entry other than when occasional entertainment is provided • allow drinking without requiring food to be consumed • permit drinks to be purchased at a bar

As such, the following establishments are excluded: • restaurants • cafes • nightclubs • hotels • snack bars • guest houses • boarding houses • sporting venues • music venues • festival sites • theatres • museums • exhibition halls • cinemas • concert halls • casinos

Pubs within Enterprise Zones should not be provided with Pub Relief Scheme as this will be funded under the rates retention scheme.

State Aid

All relief under this local scheme is subject to State Aid consideration. State Aid law is the means by which the European Union regulates state funded support to businesses. Providing discretionary relief to ratepayers is likely to amount to State Aid. However the support for ratepayers will be State Aid compliant where it is provided in accordance with the De Minimis Regulations (1407/2013)2.

The De Minimis Regulations allow an undertaking to receive up to €200,000 of De Minimis aid in a three year period (consisting of the current financial year and the two previous financial years).

To administer De Minimis it is necessary for the council to establish that the award of aid will not result in the undertaking having received more than €200,000 of De Minimis aid.

Managing the process

A simple application will be required to ensure relief is administered in a transparent way taking into account State Aid and there must be some evidence that the increase in business rate liability will cause financial hardship.

17 APPENDIX 'E'

Business Rates Charity Relief Policy 2017/2020 July 2017

Runnymede Borough Council Runnymede Civic Centre Station Road Addlestone Surrey KT15 2AH www.runnymede.gov.uk 18 Charity Relief Policy 2017 Charity Relief Policy 2017

Contents

Content Page

Introduction 20

Mandatory Charity Relief 20

Discretionary Charity Relief 21

Administering the scheme 22 Mandatory relief Administering the scheme 23 Discretionary relief State aid 26

Managing the process 26

Cost of scheme 28

19 Charity Relief Policy 2017 Charity Relief Policy 2017

Introduction

The Local Government Finance Act 1988 and subsequent legislation requires local authorities to grant mandatory relief for premises occupied by charities and similar organisations that own or occupy them wholly or mainly for charitable purposes.

Whilst the Council is obliged to grant relief to premises that fall within the mandatory category, the Council also has powers under the Local Government Finance Act 1988 to grant discretionary relief to ratepayers subject to certain criteria being met.

The powers relating to the granting of mandatory and discretionary relief are given to local authorities under sections 43, 45, 47 and 48 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988, respectively

Powers have also been granted under the Localism Act 2011, which allow for the granting of discretionary relief to any premises where the authority feels the granting of such relief would be of benefit to the local community.

The provisions are designed to give authorities flexibility in granting relief where it is felt that to do so would be of benefit generally to the area and be reasonable given the financial effect to Council Taxpayers.

The Council will not consider applications for discretionary rate relief from national or regional offices of a charitable organisation unless they can demonstrate that they are providing services wholly or predominantly for the community of Runnymede nor will relief be granted to voluntary aided, voluntary controlled or grant-aided schools.

Mandatory Charity Relief

Charities and Trustees for Charities are only liable to 20% of the Business Rates that would otherwise be payable where property is occupied and used wholly or mainly for charitable purposes. This amounts to mandatory relief of 80%. For the purposes of the Act, a charity is an organisation or trust established for charitable purposes, whether or not it is registered with the Charity Commission.

Section 43 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 allows mandatory relief (80%) to be granted on premises if the ratepayer is a charity or trustees for a charity and the premises are wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes. From 1st April 2008 Section 45A of the Local Government Finance Act 1988, as amended, allows for no charge to be made in respect of unoccupied premises where it appears that when next in use it will be wholly or mainly used for those purposes.

The legislation was amended by the Local Government Act 2003 to include Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASC) registered with HMRC as a CASC.

Charities are defined by s.67 (10) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 as being an institution or other organisation established for charitable purposes only or by persons administering a trust established for charitable purposes only.

The question as to whether an organisation is a charity may be resolved in the majority of cases by reference to the register of charities maintained by the Charity Commission under s.4 of the Charities Act 1960. Entry in the register is conclusive evidence. By definition, under the non-domestic rating legislation, there is no actual need for an organisation to be a registered charity to receive the relief.

2020 Charity Relief Policy 2017 Charity Relief Policy 2017

However, in all cases, the organisation must fall within the following categories:

• trusts for the relief of poverty; • trusts for the advancement of religion; • trusts for the advancement of education; and • trusts for other purposes beneficial to the community, but not falling under any of the preceding categories.

Certain organisations are exempted from registration generally and are not required to make formal application to the Charity Commissioners. These are:

• the Church Commissioners and any institution administered by them; • any registered society within the meaning of the Friendly Societies Acts of 1896 and 1974; • units of the Boy Scouts Association and Girl Guides Association; and • voluntary schools within the meaning of the Education Acts of 1944 and 1980.

The Council will consider charitable organisations, registered or not, for mandatory relief. However, the Council will only the grant mandatory relief to charity shops, not any discretionary element, so that they are not given an unfair advantage against other shops. Discretionary Charity Relief

Local authorities have discretion to grant relief of up to a further 20% for these cases under the discretionary provisions.

The original purpose of discretionary relief was to provide assistance where the property does not qualify for mandatory relief or to “top up” cases where ratepayers already receive mandatory relief.

Under s.69 of the Localism Act 2011, with effect from 1st April 2012 the discretionary relief provisions have been amended and added to by central government to allow authorities to provide assistance to businesses and organisations including:

• to be targeted to certain business ratepayers; • to encourage the building of business premises even though the developer may not be able to sell or let the premises immediately; • to alleviate the effects of the recession; • to encourage the use of retail premises which have been unoccupied for a period of time.

The range of bodies that are eligible for discretionary relief is wide and not all of the criteria laid down by the legislation will be applicable in each case.

Unlike mandatory relief, ratepayers will be obliged to make a written application to the Council for which forms are provided.

The Council has a duty to carefully consider every application on its merits, taking into account the contribution that the organisation makes to the amenities of the area. There is no statutory appeal process against any decision made by the Council. However, as with any decision of a public authority, decisions can be challenged by Judicial Review. 2021 Charity Relief Policy 2017 Charity Relief Policy 2017

Granting of discretionary relief falls broadly into the following categories:

• Charities that already receive mandatory relief. • Premises occupied by organisations not established or conducted for profit whose main objects are charitable or are otherwise philanthropic or religious or concerned with education, social welfare, science, literature or the fine arts. • Premises occupied by organisations not established or conducted for profit and wholly or mainly used for purposes of recreation. • Granted under s.69 of the Localism Act 2011.

Administering the scheme Mandatory relief

Use of premises – wholly or mainly

Irrespective of whether an organisation is registered as a charity or not, the premises must be wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes. This is essential if any relief (either mandatory or discretionary) is to be granted. In most cases this can be readily seen by inspection but, on occasion, the Revenues service may have to question the actual use of the premises.

Guidance from the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has stated that in the case of “mainly”, at least 51% must be used for charitable purposes whether of that charity or of that and other charities.

For the purposes of any of the reliefs in this policy, the Council defines wholly or mainly as the entire premises being used for 51% or more of the time or 51% or more of the premises being used all of the time or some combination of both that amounts to 51% or more in total.

In May 2013, three councils successfully defended appeals by the Public Safety Charitable Trust in a hearing heard by Justice Sales in the High Court of Justice in London regarding “wholly or mainly”. Justice Sales said ”it is reasonable to infer that parliament intended that substantial mandatory exemption from rules for a charity in occupation of a building should depend upon the charity actually making extensive use of the premises for charitable purposes (i.e. use of the building which is substantially and in real terms for the public benefit, so as to justify exemption from ordinary tax in the form of non-domestic rates) rather than leaving them mainly unused”. This is an important judgement that helps councils defend decisions that premises are not being wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes.

The above judgement prompted the Charity Commission to issue a warning to charities.

Offices, administration and similar premises

Premises used for administration of the Charity include:

• Offices • Meeting Rooms • Conference Rooms

2022 Charity Relief Policy 2017 Charity Relief Policy 2017

Charity shops

Charity shops are required to meet additional legislative criteria if they are to receive mandatory relief. Section 64(10) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 provides that a property is to be treated as being wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes at any time if, at the time, it is wholly or mainly used for the sale of goods donated to a charity and the proceeds of the sale of the goods (after any deduction of expenses) are applied for the purposes of the charity.

In order to ascertain whether an organisation meets these requirements, inspections may be made when an application is received.

However, the Council will only the grant mandatory relief to charity shops, not any discretionary element, so that they are not given an unfair advantage against other shops. Discretionary relief

Section 47 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 allows the authority to grant discretionary relief where the property is not an excepted one (see below) and all or part of it is occupied for the purposes of one or more institutions or other organisations, none of which is established or conducted for profit and each of whose main objects are charitable or are otherwise philanthropic or religious or concerned with education, social welfare, science, literature or the fine arts.

A number of issues arise from the term ‘not established or conducted for profit’. This requires the authority to make enquiries as to the overall purpose of the organisation although if surpluses and such amounts are directed towards the furtherance or achievement of the objects of the organisation then it does not necessarily mean that the organisation was established or conducted for profit.

Relief cannot be granted to excepted properties, i.e. one where all or part of it is occupied by any of the following:

• a billing authority, such as Runnymede Borough Council, or • a precepting authority (County & Parish councils or a Police and Crime Commissioner), other than charter trustees, or • a functional body within the meaning of the Greater London Authority Act 1999

Charities must meet the following criteria to qualify for 20% discretionary relief:

• The hereditament must be used wholly or mainly for the purpose of the charity. • There must be evidence in the Constitution or Articles of Association that the organisation is non-profit making. • Membership or access is open to all sections of the community. Membership fees should be set so as to be accessible to people on low incomes. • The facilities are made available to other sections of the community, e.g. schools. • The organisation provides training/education or coaching to its members and/or the local community.

2023 Charity Relief Policy 2017 Charity Relief Policy 2017

• There is suitable evidence of safeguarding and equality measures in place for its members or those using the facilities, e.g. for safeguarding children or vulnerable adults and an inclusion policy. • Consideration will be given to the income and expenditure accounts for as many financial years as deemed necessary and must be provided on request or the application will be refused. • Consideration will be given to all sources of income. • If the organisation operates a bar, it will need to prove that its profits are used solely for the benefit of the organisation and its members. • The organisation must be a local organisation. National charities, or charities that are affiliated to national charities, will not be considered for discretionary relief. Evidence will be required of any affiliations. • Consideration will be given to the impact of the organisation on other local businesses. • Consideration will be given to the use of the property and if it appears to be proportionate to the size of the property.

Evidence should be provided to support each criterion in the application. If the organisation is unable to meet any of the criteria it should clearly explain why.

The above criteria will be used to establish the level of discretionary relief awarded.

The following will also be taken into account:

• The existence of a licensed bar will not prevent the award of relief. However, the nature of the organisation and its aims will be taken into account. • The organisation must directly benefit Runnymede residents.

Charity shops/offices/premises

Applications from charities for shop premises or offices and from national or regional or administrative offices of national charities will not normally be considered for discretionary relief unless there is a direct benefit to Runnymede residents.

Leisure and sporting (recreation) clubs

Section 64 of the Local Government Act 2003 permits non-profit making leisure and sporting (recreation) clubs to apply to HMRC for Community Amateur Sporting Club (CASC) status, which would automatically entitle them to 80% relief. They will not normally be considered for any discretionary rate relief.

Alternatively, they can apply to the Charity Commissioners for registration as a Charity (thereby falling under the mandatory provisions for 80% relief) where they meet the following conditions:

• the promotion of community participation in healthy recreation and by the provision of facilities for the playing of particular sports; and • the advancement of the physical education of young people not undergoing formal education.

Where leisure and sporting clubs do not meet the CASC requirement, and are not registered charities, discretionary relief will be considered, on its merits, for up to 50 % provided: 2024 Charity Relief Policy 2017 Charity Relief Policy 2017

a) the property is not an excepted one; b) the premises are wholly or mainly used for the purposes of recreation and all or part of it is occupied for the purpose of the club; c) its activities enhance or supplement the Council’s own services; and d) it mainly serves the local area.

Other organisations

Organisations already in receipt of mandatory relief (80%) will not normally be considered for any discretionary relief with the following exceptions:

• Official Scout and Guide organisations shall be granted discretionary rate relief provided they can demonstrate that their premises are used solely or mainly by them, or them and any other non-profit making service, for the benefit of the Community. This would be subject to certification at each renewal of the relief or upon request by the Council’s authorised officer, whichever shall be the sooner. • Community Associations. • Village Halls. • Day Centres for the elderly and other groups (together with their administrative offices where remote from the operational centre).

These organisations shall be granted discretionary relief from the remaining 20% rate liability.

Organisations already in receipt of grant aid from the Council will not generally be eligible for discretionary relief.

Localism Act 2011

Section 69 of the Localism Act 2011 allows a local authority to grant discretionary relief in any circumstances where it feels fit having regard to the effect on the Council Tax payers of its area.

The provisions are designed to give authorities flexibility in granting relief where it is felt that to do so would be of benefit generally to the area and be reasonable given the financial effect to Council Tax payers.

Any ratepayer applying for discretionary rate relief under these provisions and who does not meet the criteria for existing relief (charities, not for profit making organisations or rural premises) must meet all of the following criteria and the amount of relief granted will be dependent on the following key factors:

• The ratepayer must not be entitled to mandatory rate relief (Charity or Rural Rate Relief); • The ratepayer must not be an organisation that could receive relief as a non-profit making organisation or as a sports club or similar; • The ratepayer must occupy the premises (no discretionary rate relief will be granted for unoccupied premises); • The premises and organisation must be of significant benefit to residents of the borough; • The premises and organisation must relieve the Council of providing similar facilities.

2025 Charity Relief Policy 2017 Charity Relief Policy 2017

The ratepayer must also;

• Provide facilities to certain priority groups such as elderly, disabled, minority groups, disadvantaged groups; or • Provide significant employment or employment opportunities to residents of the borough; or • Provide the residents of the borough with such services, opportunities or facilities that cannot be obtained locally or are not provided locally by another organisation; • The ratepayer must demonstrate that assistance (provided by the discretionary rate relief) will be for a short time only and that any business/operation is financially viable in the medium and long term; and • The ratepayer must show that the activities of the organisation are consistent with the Council's priorities.

Where a ratepayer can demonstrate that all of the above criteria are met, the period of relief granted will be solely at the discretion of the Council and will generally only be for up to one year.

A formal application from the ratepayer will be required in each case and any relief will be granted in line with State Aid requirements.

State Aid

All relief under this local scheme is subject to State Aid consideration. State Aid law is the means by which the European Union regulates state funded support to businesses. Providing discretionary relief to ratepayers is likely to amount to State Aid. However the support for ratepayers will be State Aid compliant where it is provided in accordance with the De Minimis Regulations (1407/2013)2.

The De Minimis Regulations allow an undertaking to receive up to €200,000 of De Minimis aid in a three year period (consisting of the current financial year and the two previous financial years).

To administer De Minimis it is necessary for the council to establish that the award of aid will not result in the undertaking having received more than €200,000 of De Minimis aid.

Managing the process

Organisations are required to provide a completed application form (as applicable) plus any such evidence, documents, accounts, financial statements etc. necessary to allow the Council to make a decision. Where insufficient information is provided, despite reminders, then no relief will be granted.

In all cases, the Council will notify the ratepayer of decisions made.

Where an application is successful, the following will be notified to them in writing:

• the amount of relief granted and the date from which it has been granted; • the date on which any relief granted will end; • the new chargeable amount; • the details of any planned review dates and the notice that will be given in advance of a change to the level of relief granted; and • a requirement that the applicant should notify the authority of any change in circumstances that may affect entitlement to relief. 2026 Charity Relief Policy 2017 Charity Relief Policy 2017

Where relief is not granted then the following information will be provided, again in writing:

• an explanation of the decision within the context of the authority’s statutory duty; and • an explanation of the appeal rights (see below).

Relief is to be granted from the beginning of the financial year in which the decision is made. Since 1997 decisions can be made up to 6 months after the end of the financial year for which the application was made. Where the relief is only available for a limited period as defined by Central Government then it will only be granted for that period.

Discretionary relief shall be granted for the period until the end of the current rating list or until there is a material change in the organisation’s circumstances or the use of the premises, whichever is the soonest.

Variations in any decision will be notified to ratepayers as soon as practicable and will take effect as follows:

• where the amount is to be increased due to a change in rate charge – from the date of the increase in rate charge; • where the amount is to increase for any other reason (other than a general termination of relief under Central Government guidelines)– takes effect at the expiry of a financial year, and so that at least one year’s notice is given; • where the amount is to be reduced due to a reduction in the rate charge – • from the date of the decrease in rate charge; • where the amount is to be reduced for any other reason (other than a general termination of relief under Central Government guidelines) takes effect at the expiry of a financial year, and so that at least one year’s notice is given

A decision may be revoked and the change will take effect at the expiry of a financial year (other than a general termination of relief under Central Government guidelines).

Appeal rights

Whilst there is no formal right of appeal except by judicial review, in the interests of natural justice applicants may seek a review of the decision from the Council.

A simple application will be required to ensure relief is administered in a transparent way taking into account State Aid and there must be some evidence that the increase in business rate liability will cause financial hardship.

Powers given to the authority f or the granting, varying, reviewing and revocation of discretionary relief under the Local Government Finance Act 1988, the Local Government and Rating Act 1997, the Local Government Act 2003 and the Localism Act 2011 shall be delegated to the Revenues Manager or Business Rates Manager within Revenues Services.

The method of administration shall be that laid down within this policy document. The level of the discretionary relief shall be calculated in accordance with guidance given within this policy and determined by the Revenues Manager or Business Rates Manager.

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The policy for granting relief will be reviewed where there is a substantial change to the legislation or funding rules. At such time a revised policy will be brought before the relevant committee of the Council.

The amount of funding to be provided by the Council in respect of discretionary relief granted shall be determined by the Corporate Head of Resources and approved by Council in the normal budgeting process.

The Revenues Manager may, at his/her discretion, make a determination to revoke the relief in accordance with s.47 (6) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 if, during a period for which an organisation is in receipt of relief:

• there is a material change in an organisation’s circumstance; or • there is a material change in the use of the premises; or • the organisation fails to provide relevant information regarding its current status.

Where the authority receives a request from the ratepayer for a review of the decision regarding the granting or refusal of discretionary relief or an amount of any discretionary relief or to revoke relief, the case will be reviewed by the Head of Customer Services, Revenues & Benefits. Where the original decision is not revised, the ratepayer may then appeal to the Corporate Director of Resources whose decision will be final.

In exceptional circumstances, the Corporate Director of Resources may refer the case to the Corporate Management Committee if it is believed that the case merits further consideration. The ratepayer shall be informed of the final outcome.

Cost of Mandatory and Discretionary Reliefs

With effect from 1st April 2013 funding for both mandatory and discretionary rate relief changed. The Business Rates pool operated by the Government largely paid for 80% of the cost prior to that date. Since then, 50% of the cost of relief under these provisions is now borne entirely by local Council Taxpayers and Business Rates payers.

• 50% is paid by central government, • 40% is paid by Runnymede Borough Council, and • 10% is paid by Surrey County Council

Except for mandatory relief, relief is not a matter of right. The Council is entitled through its policy to determine different levels of discretionary relief according to the nature and circumstances of individual organisations.

The Council will consider each case in accordance with the eligibility criteria set out in these guidelines. These guidelines are not restrictive and nothing in them shall be taken as restricting the Council’s ability to depart from its general policy as to the granting of relief if it sees fit to do so and/or as circumstances dictate.

It should be noted that the Council’s ability to grant rate relief may be limited by other factors, notably the budget available.

2028 APPENDIX 'F' Business Rates Relief Policy Other Discretionary reliefs 2017/2020 July 2017

Runnymede Borough Council Runnymede Civic Centre Station Road Addlestone Surrey KT15 2AH www.runnymede.gov.uk 29 Other Discretionary Reliefs Other Discretionary Reliefs

Contents

Content Page

Introduction 31

Rural Relief 31

Section 44a Relief 32

Hardship relief 33

State aid 33

Managing the process 34

Cost of scheme 36

30 Other Discretionary Reliefs Other Discretionary Reliefs

Introduction

The Local Government Finance Act 1988 and subsequent legislation requires local authorities to grant mandatory relief for premises occupied by charities and similar organisations that own or occupy them wholly or mainly for charitable purposes.

Whilst the Council is obliged to grant relief to premises that fall within the mandatory category, the Council also has powers under the Local Government Finance Act 1988 to grant discretionary relief to ratepayers subject to certain criteria being met.

The powers relating to the granting of mandatory and discretionary relief are given to local authorities under sections 43, 45, 47 and 48 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988, respectively

Powers have also been granted under the Localism Act 2011, which allow for the granting of discretionary relief to any premises where the authority feels the granting of such relief would be of benefit to the local community.

The provisions are designed to give authorities flexibility in granting relief where it is felt that to do so would be of benefit generally to the area and be reasonable given the financial effect to Council Taxpayers.

Other discretionary reliefs are as follows:

• Rural rate relief • Section 44a relief • Hardship relief

The Council will not consider applications for discretionary rate relief from national or regional offices of a charitable organisation unless they can demonstrate that they are providing services wholly or predominantly for the community of Runnymede nor will relief be granted to voluntary aided, voluntary controlled or grant-aided schools. Rural Relief The qualifying criteria for a “rural settlement” as defined by Schedule 1 of the Local Government & Rating Act 1997 and the Non-Domestic Rating (Rural Settlements) (England) Order 1998 is one which meets the following criteria:

• that it is wholly or partly within the authority’s area; • that it appears to the authority to have had a population of not more than 3,000 on the last 31st December before the beginning of the chargeable financial year in question; and • that in that financial year it is wholly or partly within an area designated by the Department for Communities and Local Government as a “rural area” for the purposes of this scheme.

In respect of criterion (c) above, the Secretary of State has designated that all Green Belt land in the Borough of Runnymede shall be regarded as rural for the purposes of these provisions. Within the designated areas five qualifying rural settlements (3,000 people or less) have been identified. They are:

Settlement Population (i) Lyne 1,096 (ii) Thorpe 1,098 (iii) Stroude Road 620 (iv) Penton Park 518 (v) Hamm Court 229 Figures taken from 2011 Census. 31 Other Discretionary Reliefs Other Discretionary Reliefs

Eligibility for relief

Mandatory – the Local Government Finance Act 1997 introduced 50% mandatory relief and up to 50% discretionary rural rate relief with effect from 1st April 1998 for certain rural business. The Act provides that, to qualify for 50% mandatory relief, the rated hereditament must be within the boundaries of a qualifying rural settlement and the only hereditament in each of the following categories in the settlement;

Qualifying hereditaments The Rateable Value must be not be greater than Post Offices £8,500 after 1 April 2010 General Stores £8,500 after 1 April 2010 Rural food shops £8,500 after 1 April 2010 Public Houses £12,500 after 1 April 2010 Petrol Filling Stations £12,500 after 1 April 2010

Section 47 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 provides that an authority may, if it so wishes, grant up to 100% relief to any general store and/or post office that qualifies for mandatory relief. The authority may also grant up to 100% to any rural business, provided that:

• it is within the boundaries of a qualifying settlement; • it has a rateable value of not more than £16,500 after 1 April 2010; • it is used for purposes that are of benefit to the local community; and • it is reasonable for the authority to make such a decision having regard to the interests of local Council tax payers.

At its meeting on 4 February 1998, the Council’s Policy and Resources Committee decided that for a business to be considered for discretionary rate relief under these provisions, the hereditament in question should:

• be used, in whole or part, as a general store or a post office, or both; and • be either the only general store or the only post office in the settlement.

If the 2017 revaluation means a ratepayer is no longer entitled to rural rate relief, they can apply for Supporting Small Business relief which means their bill will not increase by more than £50 a month from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018.

Section 44a – partly occupied premises

Premises that are partly occupied for a short time only can receive discretionary relief under Section 44A of the Local Government Finance Act 1988. This is a process where, if the local authority approves an application for relief under s.44A, the Valuation Office will be asked to apportion the rateable value of the property so that the occupier may benefit from any exemption for the unoccupied area and pay the full charge only for the occupied apportionment. An application will be considered on its own merits and must meet the following criteria:

• The property must be partly occupied. Detailed plans must be provided to indicate the whole property and which part is occupied. • The intended part occupation period will be for a “short time only”. A “short time only” is not defined in legislation. However, for the purposes of these guidelines, the Council considers this to mean a period of up to three months. Therefore, the nature of the business activity will be taken into account along with the estimated planned period of time and future intentions.

32 Other Discretionary Reliefs Other Discretionary Reliefs

In all cases an award will cease at the end of the financial year (although the Council can use its discretion to request a further certificate if the circumstances permit). Details should be provided of timescales. The part occupation must not be as a result of maintenance, renewal, reorganisation, repairs or seasonal shutdowns/holidays. In the main, s.44A relief should be for the phased occupation or vacating of premises. Details of the reason for part occupation must be provided.

The properties will be inspected by the Council. Consideration will be given to other evidence that the business may provide to support its application. Applications must be made in a timely manner. They will not be accepted for retrospective periods as the premises cannot be inspected to verify the validity of the application.

This is a discretionary provision and full rates will remain payable on a partly occupied property if the Council chooses not to exercise its power in this respect.

Hardship relief

Where a ratepayer is suffering hardship or severe difficulties in paying their rates liability then relief can be granted under the provisions as laid down by Section 49 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 if it is reasonable to do so having regard to the interests of the local Council Tax payers.

The business must be of importance and value to the local community and be suffering genuine hardship. The business should provide a statement of the business type, the impact on the local community if it were to close and evidence of local trade and support.

The business must provide local employment mainly to people who live in Runnymede. It should provide evidence of the number of employees, how many reside in Runnymede and the number of people affected and possible effect of relief being refused.

The nature of the hardship should be stated:

• The cause. • The expected duration. • Measures taken to alleviate/remedy the situation. • That the cause is not due to poor management, business planning or illegal activities. • Details of help sought from other sources. • Amount of additional alterative help already provided or reasons why refused.

The business must provide all documents and evidence, including copies of the most recent audited accounts and older, as required, and demonstrate genuine hardship.

Any award will be up to 100% and may be limited in duration. Each case will be considered on its own merits. A formal application from the ratepayer will be required in each case and any relief will be granted in line with State Aid requirements.

State Aid

All relief under this local scheme is subject to State Aid consideration. State Aid law is the means by which the European Union regulates state funded support to businesses. Providing discretionary relief to ratepayers is likely to amount to State Aid. However the support for ratepayers will be State Aid compliant where it is provided in accordance with the De Minimis Regulations (1407/2013)2. 33 Other Discretionary Reliefs Other Discretionary Reliefs

The De Minimis Regulations allow an undertaking to receive up to €200,000 of De Minimis aid in a three year period (consisting of the current financial year and the two previous financial years).

To administer De Minimis it is necessary for the council to establish that the award of aid will not result in the undertaking having received more than €200,000 of De Minimis aid.

Managing the process

Organisations are required to provide a completed application form (as applicable) plus any such evidence, documents, accounts, financial statements etc. necessary to allow the Council to make a decision. Where insufficient information is provided, despite reminders, then no relief will be granted.

In all cases, the Council will notify the ratepayer of decisions made.

Where an application is successful, the following will be notified to them in writing:

• the amount of relief granted and the date from which it has been granted; • the date on which any relief granted will end; • the new chargeable amount; • the details of any planned review dates and the notice that will be given in advance of a change to the level of relief granted; and • a requirement that the applicant should notify the authority of any change in circumstances that may affect entitlement to relief.

Where relief is not granted then the following information will be provided, again in writing: • an explanation of the decision within the context of the authority’s statutory duty; and • an explanation of the appeal rights (see below).

Relief is to be granted from the beginning of the financial year in which the decision is made. Since 1997 decisions can be made up to 6 months after the end of the financial year for which the application was made. Where the relief is only available for a limited period as defined by Central Government then it will only be granted for that period.

Discretionary relief shall be granted for the period until the end of the current rating list or until there is a material change in the organisation’s circumstances or the use of the premises, whichever is the soonest.

Variations in any decision will be notified to ratepayers as soon as practicable and will take effect as follows:

• where the amount is to be increased due to a change in rate charge – from the date of the increase in rate charge; • where the amount is to increase for any other reason (other than a general termination of relief under Central Government guidelines)– takes effect at the expiry of a financial year, and so that at least one year’s notice is given; • where the amount is to be reduced due to a reduction in the rate charge – • from the date of the decrease in rate charge; • where the amount is to be reduced for any other reason (other than a general termination of relief under Central Government guidelines) takes effect at the expiry of a financial year, and so that at least one year’s notice is given

34 Other Discretionary Reliefs Other Discretionary Reliefs

A decision may be revoked and the change will take effect at the expiry of a financial year (other than a general termination of relief under Central Government guidelines).

Appeal rights

Whilst there is no formal right of appeal except by judicial review, in the interests of natural justice applicants may seek a review of the decision from the Council.

A simple application will be required to ensure relief is administered in a transparent way taking into account State Aid and there must be some evidence that the increase in business rate liability will cause financial hardship.

Powers given to the authority f or the granting, varying, reviewing and revocation of discretionary relief under the Local Government Finance Act 1988, the Local Government and Rating Act 1997, the Local Government Act 2003 and the Localism Act 2011 shall be delegated to the Revenues Manager or Business Rates Manager within Revenues Services.

The method of administration shall be that laid down within this policy document. The level of the discretionary relief shall be calculated in accordance with guidance given within this policy and determined by the Revenues Manager or Business Rates Manager.

The policy for granting relief will be reviewed where there is a substantial change to the legislation or funding rules. At such time a revised policy will be brought before the relevant committee of the Council.

The amount of funding to be provided by the Council in respect of discretionary relief granted shall be determined by the Corporate Head of Resources and approved by Council in the normal budgeting process.

The Revenues Manager may, at his/her discretion, make a determination to revoke the relief in accordance with s.47 (6) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 if, during a period for which an organisation is in receipt of relief:

• there is a material change in an organisation’s circumstance; or • there is a material change in the use of the premises; or • the organisation fails to provide relevant information regarding its current status.

Where the authority receives a request from the ratepayer for a review of the decision regarding the granting or refusal of discretionary relief or an amount of any discretionary relief or to revoke relief, the case will be reviewed by the Head of Customer Services, Revenues & Benefits. Where the original decision is not revised, the ratepayer may then appeal to the Corporate Director of Resources whose decision will be final.

In exceptional circumstances, the Corporate Director of Resources may refer the case to the Corporate Management Committee if it is believed that the case merits further consideration. The ratepayer shall be informed of the final outcome.

35 Other Discretionary Reliefs Other Discretionary Reliefs

Cost of Mandatory and Discretionary Reliefs

With effect from 1st April 2013 funding for both mandatory and discretionary rate relief changed. The Business Rates pool operated by the Government largely paid for 80% of the cost prior to that date. Since then, 50% of the cost of relief under these provisions is now borne entirely by local Council Taxpayers and Business Rates payers.

• 50% is paid by central government, • 40% is paid by Runnymede Borough Council, and • 10% is paid by Surrey County Council

Except for mandatory relief, relief is not a matter of right. The Council is entitled through its policy to determine different levels of discretionary relief according to the nature and circumstances of individual organisations.

The Council will consider each case in accordance with the eligibility criteria set out in these guidelines. These guidelines are not restrictive and nothing in them shall be taken as restricting the Council’s ability to depart from its general policy as to the granting of relief if it sees fit to do so and/or as circumstances dictate.

It should be noted that the Council’s ability to grant rate relief may be limited by other factors, notably the budget available.

36 APPENDIX 'G' Date printed Wednesday, 16 August 2017

Project Initiation Document

Programme: N/A Project: Responsive Website Project Sponsor: Sarah Walsh Project Manager: Mike Russell

Document details Document author: Sarah Walsh/Mike Russell Document date: 15 August 2017 Document version: 1

Document history Version number Date Summary of changes updated

Page 1 of 9

- 37 - Date printed Wednesday, 16 August 2017

Purpose of this document The purpose of this document is to define the programme/project, to form the basis for its management and the assessment of overall success. This document considers and includes the following:  That there is correct representation and alignment with corporate priorities which is/are both viable and achievable and which is/are in line with Corporate Business Plan.  That the programme/project organisation structure is complete with all roles considered, resources identified and supported.  That clear control, reporting and direction regime is defined, appropriate and achievable to the scale, business risk and business importance of the programme and/or project.  That relationships and lines of authority are clear.

Page 2 of 9

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Contents

1. Background ...... 4 2. Project definition...... 4 3. Project objectives and business benefits ...... 4 4. Project deliverables...... 5 5. Constraints ...... 5 6. Project Organisation ...... 6 7. Initial project plan ...... 6 8. Preliminary risk assessment...... 8 9. Acceptance criteria...... 9 10. Project costs...... 9

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1. Background

The Council currently has two versions of the Council’s website; a desktop version and a mobile version. The current arrangement means that when significant updates are made to the website, the changes need to be updated and tested in both versions before going live. The appearance of the site also looks very different in both versions.

An alternative approach is a responsive website. Responsive web design has become increasingly important as more and more people are now accessing the website through the mobile version and so we need to make sure this experience is as easy as possible.

The Council’s Corporate Leadership Team and Marketing and Communications Member Working Group (now Business Systems and Communications Member Working Group) previously recommended for the Communications Team to proceed with implementing a new responsive website using existing budgets.

2. Project definition

To deliver a new responsive website which will adapt to the screen size of the device it is being viewed on, whether mobile, tablet or desktop.

3. Business benefits and limitations

Project benefits

i) It supports the following Corporate Priorities in the Corporate Business Plan:

- To continue developing our website for communicating and transacting with residents, businesses and other stakeholders. - To continue developing our systems and processes to assist our channel shift strategy. - To continue developing our customer service across the Council.

ii) External customers will have the same user journey on the Council’s website regardless of the device they are viewing it on. The look and feel of the website will meet customer expectations now and in the future as the split between desktop and mobile views grows ever closer to 50:50 (it’s currently around 65:35 in favour of desktop). iii) Support costs will be marginally reduced (around £200 a year) with incidents requiring support likely to be less and resolved more quickly when they do occur. This is because the templates developed by the website supplier have already been rolled out to other organisations so there is a significant support knowledge base. iv) The new templates will resolve outstanding development related accessibility issues with the current site which should see Runnymede reach A, and potentially AA, Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) compliance. v) It will minimise the testing time for staff as only one version will need to be updated.

Page 4 of 9 - 40 - Date printed Wednesday, 16 August 2017

Limitations of the chosen option

None

4. Project deliverables

 Detailed specification from supplier  Content Migration Plan  Functional testing  Bug fixing  Phase 1 Quality Checks  Round 1 User Acceptance Testing  Round 2 User Acceptance Testing  Phase 2 Quality Checks  Final issue resolution pre go live  User Testing

5. Constraints Since the Corporate Leadership Team and Marketing and Communications Member Working Group (now Business Systems and Communications Member Working Group) recommended the project, the Communications Team staffing numbers have been significantly reduced. The Communications Team posts in the establishment are:

Post FTE Status Communications and Marketing 1 In post Manager Web and Communications 1 Will become vacant on 23 August 2017. Officer The recruitment process for a replacement is underway. Even if a suitable candidate is identified from the recruitment process, it is unlikely there will be anybody in post till October. Digital Communications Officer 1 The current postholder is on maternity leave. Recruitment attempts to find suitable cover for the period have been unsuccessful. The postholder has recently requested to return to work in December, but on reduced hours of 2 days a week. A job share post will therefore be advertised in October of this year. User Support Officer (based in 0.2 In post IT team)

Following a review of business needs across the Council in June 2017 it was agreed by Corporate management Committee that an apprentice post should be added to the Communications Team. The recruitment process has commenced and therefore there may be additional support as follows, but this unlikely to be before October.

Page 5 of 9 - 41 - Date printed Wednesday, 16 August 2017

Post FTE Status Digital Marketing Apprentice 1 Not yet in post.

1) Internal staffing constraints: Considering the above, this means that as of 24 August 2017, the Communications Team will only have 1.2 FTE, instead of 4.2 FTE, and this will remain to be the case until at least October 2017. The elements of the project that the Council are responsible to deliver (there is a split between what the Council and website supplier delivers for this project) will therefore take longer than if there was a full team in place. Given the team also has to manage other communications priorities at the same time, some of which need to be reactive and therefore cannot be planned, there is a strong possibility that the schedule may have to slip due to the staffing constraints.

2) External constraints: As stated above, there is a split between which elements the Council delivers for this project and which elements the website supplier delivers. Although there is an agreed original schedule with the supplier and the project manager will regularly monitor their progress, there could be scheduling issues particularly if we cannot deliver the Council elements on time given the above constraint. This may then mean the supplier’s available resource could potentially be affected, resulting in further delay.

3) Budget: The allocated budget for the project is £9,775.

6. Project organisation

Post Role Corporate Head of Strategy Project Sponsor Communications and Marketing Manager Project Manager User Support Officer Project Team Member

When in post: Web and Communications Officer Project Team Member Digital Marketing Apprentice Project Team Member

Governance

Quarterly project reports will first go to the Corporate Leadership Team, followed by Corporate Management Committee. Change requests will be via Corporate Management Committee wherever timescales allow.

7. Project Plan

The Project Plan can be found below.

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8. Preliminary risk assessment

Impact area Probabi Probabilit Impact ** Life and limb lity ** y *** Impact *** (With no Rating Reputational (With no Risk Control (Post (Post Issue Consequences control (Post Owner Financial control Rating Measure(s) control control measures control) Legal measur measures measures) ) Other es) ) Staff shortages Schedule may slip Reputational Recruit for vacancies at 4 2 8 the earliest 3 2 6 MR opportunity

Project also Schedule may Reputational Project dependent on slip, particularly if Manager to external we cannot regularly resources – internally review website complete our progress supplier actions on time 4 2 8 and report to 3 2 6 MR due to staff Project shortages and Sponsor/ competing CLT/ CMC priorities

Existing Schedule may slip Reputational Initial content content doesn’t fit the migration new site 3 3 9 test as soon 3 2 6 MR templates and as requires re- specification working agreed. Supplier API Schedule may slip Reputational API testing changes may / Financial to be the affect bespoke 2 3 6 first action in 2 3 6 MR integrations UAT round 1

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9. Acceptance criteria

i) Successful migration of all the existing content from the site. ii) Satisfactory completion of two rounds of UAT testing with all known issues resolved before go live. iii) Average user testing task satisfaction scores of at least 8/10.

10.Project costs

Description Cost Implementation of Classic templates £8,500 Incorporation of Apply, Pay and Report £1,275 across the website Total £9,775

Page 9 of 9 - 45 - APPENDIX 'H'

Programme Highlight Report

Programme Title: ‘Enhancing the Customer Experience’

Report Date: 30.08.17 Project Classification: Corporate

1. Project Status

Overall Status (this period) Green

Status Progress Benefits Risks & Budget Stakeholder Resources Summary against identified Issues Engagement milestone & anticipated delivery on target Green Amber Green Green Green Green

2. General Information

Project Manager Linda Norman Project Start Date May 2017

Project Sponsor Paul Turrell Anticipated Project March 2019 Peter McKenzie completed date

3. Programme Update:

Summary of position as at: August 2017

• Telephony Improvements  Call recording implemented  Switchboard functionality removed  CS internal directory created  Softphones ordered  Process map of new IVR created

• Staff Training & Development  All vacant posts filled  Business Centre plan agreed  KPI’s set  Training plans developed  Soft skills training delivered  Conflict management training delivered  Procedures being developed  Cross skills training commenced

Runnymede Borough Council, Civic Centre, Station Road, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 2AH Tel: 01932 838383 Fax: 01932 838384 DX 46350 Addlestone www.runnymede.gov.uk - 46 - Programme Highlight Report

• Social Media  Social Media workflow developed

• Single View of Customer  Customer Services Strategy approved  CRM and Online Citizen Portal Business case approved  Evaluation of software suppliers completed  Preferred supplier identified and agreed

• Customer Portal (Revs and Bens)  Specification for e-billing agreed  Evaluation of software suppliers completed  High level project plan developed

• Transactional Enhancements  Process map for halls booking developed  Site visit to Epsom to view system set up in live environment

4. Project Activities:

Planned before next report: November 2017

• Telephony Improvements  Softphone training for staff  UAT for changes in IVR  Roll out of new IVR  Review Business continuity arrangements  Call analysis to be developed and monitored

• Staff Training & Development  Establish Service Champions  Sign off redeployment/probation  Implement staff performance management system  Arrange legislative training on Council Tax and Housing  Complete and distribute staff procedure manuals

• Social Media  Website training for CS Team Manager (Communities)  Start collating trends in calls and promote top 5 areas

• Single View of Customer  Procure software through G-Cloud Framework agreement  Software supplier to build tactical data base based on specification

• Customer Portal (Revs and Bens)  Review existing print software for publishing through portal  Investigate integration between Information @ Work and print file output

Runnymede Borough Council, Civic Centre, Station Road, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 2AH Tel: 01932 838383 Fax: 01932 838384 DX 46350 Addlestone www.runnymede.gov.uk - 47 - Programme Highlight Report

• Transactional Enhancements  Set up meeting with supplier to discuss ‘Epsom model’  Build test system to mirror process map requirements

5. Key Milestones

Key Milestones Planned Revised Status Completion Date Completion date Telephony Call recording 31.05.17 n/a Completed IVR reviewed 30.06.17 n/a Completed Switchboard 30.06.17 n/a Completed functionality removed New IVR 30.06.17 30.09.17 In progress implemented Staff Vacancies filled 30.03.17 10.08.17 Completed Business centre 30.09.17 30.06.17 Completed plan agreed KPI’s set 30.06.17 n/a Completed Soft skills training 31.05.17 n/a Completed Social Media Work flow 30.04.17 n/a Completed developed Single View of CS strategy 27.07.17 n/a Completed Customer agreed Budget approved 27.07.17 n/a Completed Software 30.06.17 10.08.17 Completed evaluated Supplier agreed 31.08.17 06.09.17 In progress Customer Specification 31.05.17 n/a Completed Portal developed Software 30.06.17 10.08.17 Completed evaluated Supplier agreed 31.08.17 06.09.17 In progress

Transactional Process map of ‘to 30.06.17 n/a completed Enhancements be’ developed Additional 30.06.17 31.07.17 completed payment date for Council Tax Direct debits

Runnymede Borough Council, Civic Centre, Station Road, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 2AH Tel: 01932 838383 Fax: 01932 838384 DX 46350 Addlestone www.runnymede.gov.uk - 48 - Programme Highlight Report

6. Key Issues & Risks

Description Action/Remedy Escalate?

Software suppliers cannot Visual given, specification N deliver new IVR improvements agreed and software to be tested Staff refuse to use softphones Staff have tested and chosen N relevant headsets and awaiting training Staff fail or refuse One to one’s conducted, job N redeployment descriptions reviewed and HR advice taken CRM software does not deliver High level spec developed and N requirements robust evaluation of solutions CRM software costs exceeds Procurement through N budgets framework agreement where costs are transparent and linked to high level specification Northgate output does not lend Previously managed through a N itself to publishing through different supplier and website investigations currently being undertaken with current print provider Software not delivered in time Built into project plan and N for annual billing contract agreement Staff resources unable to Built into project plan and staff N provide proper testing of made aware of time constraints software Hall booking system does not £12k contingency to allow for N meet requirements changes in specification

7. Budget position

Baseline Amount (17/18) Agreed original programme budget £197,000

Agreed changes to budget

Total available budget £197,000

Planned spend to date £12,000

Actual spend to date £15,830

Runnymede Borough Council, Civic Centre, Station Road, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 2AH Tel: 01932 838383 Fax: 01932 838384 DX 46350 Addlestone www.runnymede.gov.uk - 49 - Programme Highlight Report 8. Stakeholder Engagement

Stakeholders Influence Communication Officer methods responsible Corporate High Highlight reports Linda Norman Management Committee Business Systems and High Highlight reports Linda Norman Communications member working group CLT High Highlight reports Linda Norman

Communications High Project team Linda Norman

ICT High Project team Linda Norman

Customer Services High Team meetings Linda Norman

Unison High Quarterly meetings Linda Norman

Service areas High CS Blog CS team

Software supplier High Project Team Linda Norman

Ward Councillors Medium Briefing notes Linda Norman

Residents Medium Website Communications

9. Resources

Type Resource Requirement Anticipated date required Specialist staff Software Supplier Project Team Duration of CRM project Customer Services Head of CS Project Team Duration of CRM CS Managers Project Team project CS Staff UAT ICT Deputy ICT Manager Project Team Duration of CRM Northgate DBA As required project Finance Head of Finance Set budget June 2017 Accountant Monitor budget spend Monthly Legal Procurement Officer Assist in procurement July – September Contract Officer Review contract Aug - September HR Senior HR staff Assist in redeployment Mar - September process

Runnymede Borough Council, Civic Centre, Station Road, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 2AH Tel: 01932 838383 Fax: 01932 838384 DX 46350 Addlestone www.runnymede.gov.uk - 50 - Programme Highlight Report

Communications Communications Project Team Duration of CRM Manager project Revenues and Ctax Manager Project Team E-billing and landlord Benefits Hben Manager access Communities Halls Manager Project Team UAT testing

Depot Admin staff As required UAT testing

10. Change Requests

Change Requests Agreed? Date Cost implemented y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n y/n

Runnymede Borough Council, Civic Centre, Station Road, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 2AH Tel: 01932 838383 Fax: 01932 838384 DX 46350 Addlestone www.runnymede.gov.uk - 51 - APPENDIX 'I'

2017/18 Corporate Action Plan monitoring: objectives which were planned to be achieved by the end of Quarter 1 (July 2017) or are ongoing The Corporate Business Plan 2016-2020 has Corporate Priorities and key objectives classified under our four Corporate Themes: Supporting Local People, Enhancing Our Environment, Improving Our Economy, and Organisational Development. The table below shows the key objectives we planned to achieve either by the end of Q1 (July 2017) or which are ongoing, in order to continue our progress against the identified Corporate Priorities. It should be noted that a number of the objectives support the progress of more than one Corporate Priority/Corporate Theme. Supporting Local People Corporate Priority Key associated Deadline Status Lead Officer and comment

objective(s) GREEN = Completed in full or on track to the level expected (if ongoing)

AMBER = Some progress but less than expected, or slight drop in performance (if ongoing)

RED = Still outstanding or a significant drop in performance (if ongoing) To develop governance i)To successfully deliver the In Q1 ML: Successfully delivered both elections. arrangements and SCC election and RBC by- effectively represent election. Runnymede’s interests with any evolving ii) To support Members with any Ongoing SW: There has been a ‘strategic pause’ with the ‘devolution’ and ‘double decision making regarding 3SC devolution bid and so there has been no need devolution’ discussions. Devolution developments. to provide Members with any decision making support during this time period.

- 52 - To continue managing and i) To procure properties in the Ongoing JH: Since the launch of Magna Carta Lettings in developing the Council’s Private Rented Sector for April 2016 18 private sector properties have been housing stock effectively in homeless households and those taken into full management, 13 Direct Lettings have light of government policy threatened with homelessness been negotiated with landlords and 23 tenancies and legislative reform. as opportunities allow. have been arranged through estate agents.

ii)To continue implementing the Ongoing MW: A number of developments are underway and Housing Development Strategy others are being appraised. 12 homes on Garage as opportunities allow. Sites in Englefield Green under construction. Farm Close redevelopment of flooded bungalows, demolition in progress and 4 flats to be subsequently constructed. Planning Application submitted for 9 two bed flats in Addlestone to replace a pair of semidetached houses. Work is ongoing for two other large schemes in Egham and New Haw, both are at the preapplication stage. To continue working with i)To continue implementing the Ongoing MW: Policy adhered to. the private sector to Private Rented Sector Policy. provide improved and ii) To continue supporting Ongoing MW: Last full meeting held on 22 March and an additional housing, Runnymede Housing Affordability sub group looking at common issues including affordable and Development Partnership. and nominations took place on 21 June. key worker. To expand our i) To work collaboratively with St By the end of DW: Funding for the Homesafe project has been care/prevention services in Peter’s Hospital to secure Q1 confirmed for North West Surrey for 2017/2018, order to help relieve funding from health partners to with the hope being that more long term funding pressures on the NHS as deliver the Homesafe service to can be secured from 18/19 onwards. The project well as create additional support the discharge of patients has extended and Surrey Heath now also operate income streams for the from hospital. HomeSafe, with Safer Runnymede providing the Council. monitoring service for this. ii) To continue the delivery of the Ongoing DW: The contract is ongoing with no issues of note non-emergency patient transport to date. in Surrey through the Community Transport service. iii) To continue to identify Ongoing DW: Work in progress. Increasing uptake in the opportunities to expand the existing services has been the immediate priority, Meals at Home offering. however other opportunities to promote the service are to be considered. Feedback on the new service offering has been positive from both new and existing customers.

- 53 - To continue supporting and i) To have an approved Older By the end of DW: Strategy has been approved by Community improving the quality of Peoples Strategy. Q1 Services Committee June 2017. lives of our vulnerable/deprived ii) To have an approved 17/18 By the end of CH: Project list approved June 2017. individuals. project list for the Community Q1 First initiative.

To continue to support the i) To continue operating lunch Ongoing DW: Trials of lunch clubs have been undertaken improvement of local clubs within the five Independent with mixed success. However, it is the intention to leisure activities. Retirement Living schemes to revisit this idea in the autumn/winter when perhaps provide opportunities for social hot meal provision in such a setting would be better interaction and participation received. amongst residents. To take opportunities for i)To maintain a Citizens Panel. Ongoing SW: There are currently 66 people on our Citizens expanding our consultation Panel mailing list who are aged between 33-83, programme with local covering all the main towns and villages in the people as resources allow. Borough. We consult with younger people separately as required.

ii) To undertake additional Ongoing The Council has consulted on the Additional Sites consultation as resources allow. and Options for the Local Plan, and the Charity Collections Policy in the first quarter, as well as raised awareness of others partners’ key consultations with local interest; the Heathrow Airport-related consultations and Surrey CC’s Recycling Centre. To continue developing our i)To continue progress with the Ongoing MR: The website has achieved the maximum rating website for communicating current Web Improvement Plan. of 4 stars following the latest Socitm review, putting and transacting with this council in the top 9% of local authorities residents, businesses and nationally. Implementation of the responsive other stakeholders. website project commences in August. To continue developing our i) To implement telephony By the end of LN: Call recording installed May 17 and review of customer service across improvements including review Q1 IVR undertaken with switchboard functionality the Council. of IVR and call recording . decommissioned June 17. New software, IVR routing and staff training to be delivered by end of Q2 To take opportunities for i)To identify opportunities to Ongoing LB: We have recently converted 9 x fibre CCTV improving the safety of our develop and expand the existing circuits to RBC wireless using s106 funds. This has residents and visitors. CCTV system. resulted in a c£20k annual revenue saving.

- 54 - ii)To fulfil our Prevent duties. Ongoing SS: The annual training has been delivered to relevant staff, and the Members who wished to voluntarily receive training.

iii) To continue implementing the Ongoing HJ: Scheme continues to be implemented. The National Food Hygiene Rating focus over the next six months will be to continue Scheme. reducing and preventing the recurrence of level 0, 1 and 2 rated premises. This will be improved as we are now charging £150 for FHRS revisits. Therefore as payment is made, it is expected that ownership for maintaining standards following routine inspection will be seen and long-term standards improved. To develop our i)To maintain our good Ongoing SS and CH: A Strengthening the Voluntary Sector collaborative work with the relationships with the voluntary Task Group has been set up with Voluntary voluntary sector and sector. Services North Surrey and Runnymede & provide more funding as Spelthorne Borough Councils. resources allow. ii)To support the voluntary Ongoing SS and CH: In June, Standards and Audit sector as resources allow. Committee recommended that the leases for the third sector organisations for which we are a landlord should be reviewed. There will likely be some winners and losers as a result. Core Grant Aid to voluntary organisations was reduced by £47,000 for 2017/18 to in the region of £160,000 pa for the next 3 years. However, an extra £25,000 was given to the CAB to re-provide the older people’s home visiting service after the closure of Age UK Runnymede and Spelthorne, and £1,000 has been provided from the Community Partnership Budget to improve chairman’s management of their charitable boards and decision making, plus the dissemination of grants by Democratic Services. To continue in our i)To provide good quality timely Ongoing CK: Pre-application service has been reviewed, and endeavours to support the responses to pre-application officers have recommended greater opportunities ambitions of residents and enquiries. for cost recovery have been identified, allowing businesses where it serves further services offers due to commence in the greater good of the September 2017. community. ii)To meet or exceed the Ongoing CK: All Q1 planning performance indicator targets planning application timescale have been exceeded. targets.

- 55 - iii) To meet or exceed Ongoing DJ: 100% of Building Regulation applications determining applications for determined within statutory time period, 86% of building regulation approval applications determined within 10 working days – within the timescale target. target 80%. Enhancing Our Environment Corporate Priority Key associated Deadline Status Lead Officer and comment objective(s) To take opportunities to i) To deliver the Yellow Bus Ongoing JS: Following the re-tendering process, a 3 year make the local Scheme. contract was awarded to First Group (3/4/17) to environment more continue to provide the service to 4 secondary sustainable. schools in the Borough. To proactively seek i)To investigate new Ongoing JNR: The Council has agreed to fund the opportunities for opportunities for service delivery Addlestone ONE Town Centre Regeneration and regeneration in the (by the Council) to newly through the Runnymede Regeneration partnership Borough to assist with acquired corporate property in with Places for People is now committed to the place shaping and the order to generate additional construction of a new £19M leisure centre. Other enhancement of the built income. regeneration projects under development in environment. accordance with the Business Plan are Egham Gateway West; Egham Gateway East; Ashdene; Addlestone Two and potentially regeneration projects on Housing land. All regeneration developments follow commercial practice to secure a return from the investment both in terms of income generation, benefits to the local economy and place shaping gains. To maintain and increase i) To acquire sound new Ongoing JNR: The Property Investment Strategy has to date our asset portfolio. investments that are within spent £170M on the acquisition of new assets and budget for the purpose of created £9.3M of new income, a blended gross ongoing income generation. yield of 5.514%. But in addition with the assets under construction and agreed purchases, a further £85M has been allocated that will create a further £4.5M of income. So the total new income is £13.88M, a blended gross yield of 5.383%, well above the target 5% and within the £600M allocated capital budget. Property acquisitions are therefore progressing in line with the strategy and also the sound due diligence methods agreed with Members.

- 56 - To continue developing our i)To maintain relationships with Ongoing AB: Applied Resilience has been working with community resilience to the existing members of the partner to focus on the existing groups in the area effectively assist in an Community Resilience Network. so that the plans they have in place can be emergency. developed further. This will include holding a Severe Weather Forum in late Autumn 2017 for groups to come along and test their plans against a scenario.

ii) To develop the Community Ongoing AB: Applied Resilience and RBC Engineering have Resilience Network to assist an been supporting a new group in Thorpe Lea/ emergency response. Egham Hythe as part of a multi-agency forum. Applied Resilience have also been working with the Environment Agency to embed new plans in areas such as Eastworth Road in Chertsey, Simmonds Place in Staines and Blackett Close on Chertsey Lane. To lobby for funding for the i)To visit the nine agreed By the end of RR: Completed all visits to raise awareness. River Thames Scheme to businesses to have initial Q1 assist in flood alleviation. discussions about sponsorship for the scheme. To review and support the i)To support the delivery of the Ongoing RR: We’ve inputted into a consultation process for delivery of the county and county Infrastructure Strategy. a review of County Infrastructure Strategy. There regional Infrastructure will be ongoing consultation with various transport Strategies. stakeholders.

ii)To support the delivery of the Ongoing RR: A meeting was held in June which Cllr. David regional Infrastructure Strategy. Hodge attended, where the group agreed to consider establishing Transport for the South East (TfSE) as a Sub-national Transport Body. The body requires approval from Government and a Statutory Instrument must also be agreed by Parliament. If approved the body will develop a regional transport strategy. To review our enforcement i)To commence on-street By the end of PB: Commenced 7 June. Over 400 FPNs served up work, and manage enforcement for litter and dog Q1 to end of July 2017. planning breaches, fly fouling. tipping and other ii)To continue delivering a Ongoing CK: New corporate priority investigation for major environmental crimes transparent and timely breaches within the Green Belt and associated robustly and proactively. investigation of potential ongoing legal actions have diverted resources away breaches of planning control. from other investigations. While these high priority cases have been successfully actioned or resolved other long standing cases have been delayed.

- 57 - iii) To continue undertaking Ongoing DJ: All relevant unauthorised works located during timely investigation of the previous quarter have submitted Building unauthorised works and Regulation appications. potential breaches of building regulations. To continue maintaining i) To introduce a formal By the end of KD: Waiting on necessary faculty from Guildford the services in our well inspection of cemetery Q1 Diocese before inspections can begin. Although regarded open spaces. memorials. agreed in principle, amendments to risk assessments need to be finalised.

ii) To continue progressing the Ongoing CB+PS: 5-6 communal areas have been surveyed, digital mapping of the Council’s average of 1 per week; GIS team have created the trees. new layer on rMaps and uploaded the first sets of data. Improving Our Economy Corporate Priority Key associated Deadline Status Lead Officer and comment objective(s) To collaboratively work i)To continue liaising with the Ongoing RR: Joint Runnymede/Spelthorne/Elmbridge with Local Enterprise business community, including business event being organised for September and Partnerships, Chambers of Runnymede Business sponsored by DIT. Proposed business seminars Commerce, Runnymede Partnership, Surrey County being planned for November to be delivered by Business Partnership, and Council’s Economy Team, EM3 ICAEW. other local authorities to Local Enterprise Partnership maximise resources. and UKTI to obtain funding for Runnymede. To facilitate additional i)To continue supporting and Ongoing RR: Instigated alliance between EM3 LEP Growth business support for local promoting the regional Growth Hub and Regus centres to provide business clinics businesses. Hub. at Regus centres in Runnymede. Discussions held with Growth Hub over future financing of business support in the Borough to complement and build on support planned for EZ.

To support projects which i)To continue liaising with the Ongoing RR: Initial contact made with Jane Lee at First improve the integration of business community, including Group to discuss rail improvements in the Borough road and rail to reduce Runnymede Business and specifically new proposed service for congestion. Partnership, Surrey County Longcross. Council’s Economy Team, EM3 Local Enterprise Partnership, the Growth Hub, and UKTI to apply for relevant funding.

- 58 - ii) To complete relevant Ongoing RR/JD: M25 Accessibility and Integration Study transport consultations in order response submitted. Network Rail consultation on to lobby for Runnymede’s Wessex Route delivery has commenced and we will interests. provide a response by 1 September. To continue supporting the i)To continue ongoing liaison Ongoing RR: We have been liaising with them for promotion Surrey Growth Narrative with Surrey Growth Narrative at MIPIM 2017. project in promoting the staff. area to attract new businesses as well as retain existing businesses. To reduce the retail and i)To continue administrative Ongoing RR: Still ongoing. leisure expenditure support for the Egham Town leakage from Runnymede Team. into the surrounding area ii)To support the delivery of Ongoing RR: We have helped communicate implementation through the provision of SCC/LEP lead Runnymede of works to large businesses in immediate area. regeneration schemes in Roundabout and Egham Also working with Business Rates Manager to try the Borough’s main centres Sustainability Package projects. and coordinate communication with VOA and which enhance their retail companies in the area affected by works. and leisure offer. To encourage enjoyment of i)To work more closely with Visit Ongoing CH: Visit Surrey links are good and attending the historic environment as Surrey to promote the tourism regular Borough & District meetings part of the Council’s leisure offer of the Borough. and tourism offer. To support the i)To consider investment options Ongoing SW: We are awaiting the first bids to come through development of the for the Enterprise Zone. from Crest Nicholson and Aviva for the Local Borough’s Enterprise Zone Enterprise Partnership and the Council to consider at Longcross Park. for funding. To take opportunities for i)To review apprenticeship By the end of FS: In June 2017 Corporate Management additional apprenticeships needs for the Council. Q1 Committee approved nine apprenticeships to be in the Borough. delivered in 2017/18 after a review of the business needs by the Corporate Leadership Team. i) To utilise the apprenticeship Ongoing FS: Recruitment has commenced for the approved funding via the national apprentices. Apprentice Levy process to help fill identified apprenticeship gaps. To continue lobbying for i)To continue working with Ongoing The Council continues to work with other local Runnymede’s economic partners as a collective voice for authority partners on cross-boundary impact interests, particularly in local government. projects such as River Thames Scheme, Heathrow negotiating the best deal Airport, and Local Plan. for retaining Business Rates, New Homes

- 59 - Bonuses, infrastructure ii) To actively take opportunities Ongoing The Director of Commercial Services is a founding improvements, skills to lobby Central Government for Member of the Local Government Association’s support, and the outcome the benefit of Runnymede. Advanced Commercial Group and through this regarding a possible group the voice of the LGA is informed when additional runway at dealing with the development of local government’s Heathrow commercial strategies, creating local government companies, place shaping acquisitions, etc. Organisational Development Corporate Priority Key associated Deadline Status Lead Officer and comment objective(s) To proactively manage and i)To work with service managers Ongoing MR: Highlights have included working with develop the Council’s to plan proactive good news Environmental Health to promote litter and dog reputation. stories/campaigns. fouling enforcement; EH again on fly tipping clampdown; Community Services to promote services via dedicated campaigns; Community Development with the Green Fingers competition.

ii)To maintain good working Ongoing MR: Good working relationships continue. This has relationships with the media. assisted coverage of the new housing development to take place in Englefield Green, the opening of Waitrose in Addlestone ONE; new defibrilators in Runnymede parks; awarding of freedom of the borough.

- 60 - APPENDIX 'J'

Article 38

Position of the data protection officer

1. The controller and the processor shall ensure that the data protection officer is involved, properly and in a timely manner, in all issues which relate to the protection of personal data.

2. The controller and processor shall support the data protection officer in performing the tasks referred to in Article 39 by providing resources necessary to carry out those tasks and access to personal data and processing operations, and to maintain his or her expert knowledge.

3.The controller and processor shall ensure that the data protection officer does not receive any instructions regarding the exercise of those tasks. He or she shall not be dismissed or penalised by the controller or the processor for performing his tasks. The data protection officer shall directly report to the highest management level of the controller or the processor.

4.Data subjects may contact the data protection officer with regard to all issues related to processing of their personal data and to the exercise of their rights under this Regulation.

5.The data protection officer shall be bound by secrecy or confidentiality concerning the performance of his or her tasks, in accordance with Union or Member State law.

6.The data protection officer may fulfil other tasks and duties. The controller or processor shall ensure that any such tasks and duties do not result in a conflict of interests.

Article 39

Tasks of the data protection officer

1.The data protection officer shall have at least the following tasks:

(a) to inform and advise the controller or the processor and the employees who carry out processing of their obligations pursuant to this Regulation and to other Union or Member State data protection provisions;

(b) to monitor compliance with this Regulation, with other Union or Member State data protection provisions and with the policies of the controller or processor in relation to the protection of personal data, including the assignment of responsibilities, awareness-raising and training of staff involved in processing operations, and the related audits;

(c) to provide advice where requested as regards the data protection impact assessment and monitor its performance pursuant to Article 35;

- 61 - (d) to cooperate with the supervisory authority;

(e) to act as the contact point for the supervisory authority on issues relating to processing, including the prior consultation referred to in Article 36, and to consult, where appropriate, with regard to any other matter.

2.The data protection officer shall in the performance of his or her tasks have due regard to the risk associated with processing operations, taking into account the nature, scope, context and purposes of processing.

- 62 - APPENDIX 'K'