Rother District Council CABINET 3 October 2016 Minutes of the Cabinet meeting held at the Town Hall, Bexhill-on-Sea on Monday 3 October 2016 at 11:00am. Cabinet Members present: Councillors C.R. Maynard (Leader), Lord Ampthill, A.E. Ganly, I.R. Hollidge, Mrs J.M. Hughes, G.P. Johnson, J.M. Johnson, M.J. Kenward (Deputy Leader) and Mrs E.M. Kirby-Green. Other Members present: Councillors J.J. Carroll, T.W. Graham, I.G.F. Jenkins, B. Kentfield and M.R. Watson. Advisory Officers present: Executive Director of Resources, Executive Director of Business Operations, Service Manager – Finance and Welfare, Service Manager – Community and Economy, Service Manager – Environmental Services and Licensing, Economic Development Manager, Neighbourhood Services Manager and Democratic Services Manager. Also Present: Madeleine Gorman, Waste Partnership Manager (in part). Publication Date: 5 October 2016 The decisions made under PART II will come into force on 13 October 2016 unless they have been subject to the call-in procedure. CB16/28. MINUTES The Chairman was authorised to sign the minutes of the meeting held on 5 September as a correct record of the proceedings. CB16/29. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Apologies for absence were received from Executive Member Councillor Mrs S. Hart and Councillor Mrs B.A. George. CB16/30. EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC RESOLVED: That the press and public be excluded whilst matters containing exempt information, as prescribed by Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended and relating to Minutes CB16/32 and CB16/38 were under consideration. The reports submitted in connection with these items and which contain information exempt from publication by virtue of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act shall remain confidential if and so long as, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. 1 PART I – RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL – not subject to call-in procedure under Rule 16 of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules. CB16/31. HOUSING ASSISTANCE POLICY 2016/17 TO 2019/20 (6.3) Members received and considered Minute OSC16/21 arising from a recent meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) that had considered a report on the revised Housing Assistance Policy 2016/17 to 2019/20. The Council was required under the Regulatory Reform (Housing Assistance) England and Wales Order 2002 to adopt a Housing Renewal Assistance Policy (HRAP). The HRAP sets out the financial tools available to the Council for providing housing renewal help to households in the Rother district. Members welcomed the initiative and were fully supportive of the new HRAP and agreed that delegated authority be granted to the Executive Director of Resources in consultation with the Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Housing to introduce and develop new types of assistance that enabled existing and new sources of funding to be targeted at eligible clients. RECOMMENDED: That: 1) the Housing Assistance Policy 2016/17 to 2019/20 be approved and adopted; and 2) delegated authority be granted to the Executive Director of Resources in consultation with the Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Housing, to introduce and develop new types of assistance that enables existing and new sources of funding to be targeted at eligible clients. CB16/32. JOINT WASTE CONTRACT (6.3) Consideration was given to the confidential report of the Executive Director of Business Operations concerning the Joint Waste Contract. The Joint Waste Partnership Manager outlined the recent history and current position of the Waste Collection, Recycling, Street & Beach Cleaning and Associated Services Contract. The importance of maintaining the confidentiality of this matter was reiterated to Members. In early September the Joint Waste Committee had considered the outcome of confidential negotiations with the Contractor and had been presented with two options that had been identified to secure the Contract. After carefully considering the options that had different levels of financial, service performance and associated risks, the Joint Waste Committee had agreed that Option B be forwarded to each Partner Council for approval. Option B eliminated financial risks and ensured financial benefits were maintained. Cabinet concurred that Option B provided the best solution and recommended its approval to full Council. 2 RECOMMENDED: That Option B be approved and the Executive Director of Business Operations, as Lead Director for the Partnership, be authorised to conclude without prejudice negotiations and finalise legal terms with the Contractor. (This matter was considered exempt from publication by virtue of paragraphs 3 and 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended). (When it first became apparent, Councillor Maynard declared a personal interest in this matter as East Sussex County Council’s representative on the Joint Waste Partnership and in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct remained in the room during the consideration thereof). PART II – EXECUTIVE DECISIONS – subject to the call-in procedure under Rule 16 of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules by no later than 4:00pm on 12 October 2016. CB16/33. ROTHER DISTRICT COUNCIL CORPORATE PROGRAMME (6.1) UPDATE Members received and considered Minute OSC16/17 arising from a recent meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) that had considered a report on the Council’s Corporate Programme Update and had raised a specific request regarding the current position with regard to Corporate Project CA2.08, Superfast Broadband Rollout. Whilst the OSC had received an initial update in April this year, via a presentation from the East Sussex County Council officer lead, Members felt that more regular updates, particularly on the rural areas across the district, were required. The Leader of the Council undertook to assist in the provision of regular updates, as far as he was able. RESOLVED: That progress against the Corporate Programme be noted and Cabinet request East Sussex County Council to provide an update on progress of the roll-out of superfast broadband across the district. CB16/34. PERFORMANCE PROGRESS REPORT: FIRST QUARTER 2016/17 (6.2) Members received and considered Minute OSC16/21 arising from a recent meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) that had considered a performance progress report on the first quarter 2016/17. The Committee had been advised that out of the 28 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), 14 met or exceeded target, 9 were not yet due to be reported as data was not currently available and 5 were currently not on target. These were ‘My Alerts’: webpage links viewed; Community Infrastructure Levy: total receipts; Percentage change to all crime; Cases of homelessness prevention; and Recycling household waste. The OSC had recommended to Cabinet that the target for the conversion rate for ‘My Alerts’ be revised and set at 115,000. This 3 measured the conversions from the ‘My Alerts’ email to subsequent website hits. Quarter target was 66,310, result was 29,353 (higher was better). 26,611 or 6 in every 10 Rother households subscribed to the service (an increase of 1,920 people from quarter four in 2015/16). Members were advised that the current annual target had been miscalculated and a revised target of 115,000 website hits would be more realistic to achieve; Cabinet agreed to amend the target accordingly. Cabinet was concerned that there were too many KPIs; it was considered that a more focussed set of KPIs that were under the direct control of the Council would be preferable to those which the Council had no direct influence over, such as percentage change in all recorded crime. The chairman of the OSC would take these comments back to the Committee when selecting KPIs for 2017/18. RESOLVED: That the target for the conversion rate for ‘My Alerts’ be changed from 265,240 to 115,000. CB16/35. IRRECOVERABLE DEBTS (7.1) Consideration was given to the report of the Executive Director of Resources on irrecoverable debts. Debts in excess of £4,000 could only be written out of the Council’s accounts with the consent of the Cabinet. Where it was apparent that the debts would not be recovered, it was financially prudent for these to be excluded from the accounts; this did not mean that the Council could not take action in the future if information was received indicating the debt could then be recovered. Cabinet was asked to write off two cases relating to business rates totalling £12,707.89. The liable persons’ whereabouts in one case was currently unknown and in the second case the company had been dissolved in February this year. The Council’s debt recovery work was undertaken in accordance with current Council policy and the Council’s work around debt recovery performed very well; it was noted that there was no known time limit on recovering the debt should the whereabouts of liable persons come to light in the future. It was noted that the Government were currently being encouraged to look at ways to improve local authorities’ ability to collect debts and any assistance in this area would be welcomed. RESOLVED: That the debts totalling £12,707.89 be approved for writing out of the accounts. CB16/36. SUSTAINABILITY AND EFFICIENCY PLAN 2016/17 TO 2019/20 (7.2) Cabinet considered the report of the Executive Director of Resources which detailed the Council’s draft Sustainability and Efficiency Plan 2016/17 to 2019/20. From April 2016, as part of the 2016/17 local government settlement, the Government made an offer of a guaranteed minimum grant, paid to councils for a 4-year period which covered Revenue Support Grants 4 (RSG), transitional funding and Rural Services Delivery Grants. A requirement of applying for the funding was for the Council to submit an efficiency plan to the Department of Communities and Local Government by 14 October 2016.