Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on  09 February 2016 (circulated separately to Cabinet members).

The minutes of the meeting held on 09 February 2016 were agreed by the members present and signed by the Chairman.

The minutes of the meeting held on 09 February 2016 were agreed by the members present and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any apologies for absence.

An apology was received from Councillor Harden.

An apology was received from Councillor Harden.

To receive any declarations of interest

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered -

(i)            must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent

and, if the interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest, or a personal interest which is also prejudicial

(ii)            may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter (and must withdraw to the public seating area) unless they have been granted a dispensation.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Members’ Register of Interests, or is not the subject of a pending notification, must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal and prejudicial interests are defined in Part 2 of the Code of Conduct for Members

[If a member is in any doubt as to whether they have an interest which should be declared they should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer before the start of the meeting]

None received

None received

An opportunity for members of the public to make statements and ask questions in accordance with the rules as to Public Participation.

None received

None received

There were no referrals to Cabinet

None received

None received

That the Cabinet Forward Plan be noted, subject to the following additions:

The Enterprise Zone to be removed from the March agenda and a future date to be confirmed.

That the Cabinet Forward Plan be noted, subject to the following additions:

The Enterprise Zone to be removed from the March agenda and a future date to be confirmed.

Resolved to recommend:

l) reduce dwelling rents for non-sheltered housing units by 1%, and increase rents for sheltered housing units by CPI plus 1%, resulting in an average rent of £105.52 per week (based on 52 weeks)

m) the updated HRA estimate for 2016/17 as shown in Supplementary Appendix F to the Extraordinary Cabinet budget report.

Resolved to recommend:

l) reduce dwelling rents for non-sheltered housing units by 1%, and increase rents for sheltered housing units by CPI plus 1%, resulting in an average rent of £105.52 per week (based on 52 weeks)

m) the updated HRA estimate for 2016/17 as shown in Supplementary Appendix F to the Extraordinary Cabinet budget report.

Reason for Urgent Cabinet

Following updated information on the progress of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill through Parliament, the above updated recommendations are recommended to Cabinet. Each recommendation listed above supersedes the recommendations of the same letter within the original Cabinet Report (9 February 2016, Agenda Item 13).

Advice

The Leader of the Council was aware that the legislation to reduce housing rent by 1% was not yet law, however councillors needed to adhere to it. It was noted that sheltered housing was not included.

The Portfolio Holder for Housing noted that they had not received clarification yet if this was CPI or RPI and therefore asked if the council could revert back to the previous target rate approach next year.

The Corporate Director of Finance & Operations explained that the council could revert back to previous ways of calculating the rate, however it would prove to be very expensive for the council to do this during the financial year and therefore any change could be postponed until the next financial year.

Voting

None.