Agenda, decisions and minutes

Cabinet - Tuesday, 12th November, 2019 7.30 pm

Venue: Conference Room 2 - The Forum. View directions

Contact: Corporate and Democratic Support  01442 228209

Items
No. Item

CA/99/19

Minutes pdf icon PDF 106 KB

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on  15 October 2019.

 

Decision:

Minutes of the meeting held on 15 October 2019 were agreed by Members present and signed by the Chair.

 

Minutes:

Minutes of the meeting held on 15 October 2019 were agreed by Members present and signed by the Chair.

 

CA/100/19

Apologies for Absence

 

To receive any apologies for absence.

 

Decision:

There were no apologies for absence.

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence.

CA/101/19

Declarations of Interest

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]

 

Decision:

There were no declarations of interest.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

CA/102/19

Public Participation

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

 

 

Decision:

There was no public participation. 

Minutes:

There was no public participation. 

CA/103/19

Referrals to Cabinet

There were no referrals to Cabinet

Decision:

There were no referrals to Cabinet.

 

Minutes:

There were no referrals to Cabinet.

 

CA/104/19

Cabinet Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 70 KB

Decision:

The forward plan was noted with the following changes:

·         Move the Strategic Sites Design Guidance Supplementary Planning Document to February

 

Minutes:

The forward plan was noted with the following changes:

·         Move the Strategic Sites Design Guidance Supplementary Planning Document to February

 

CA/105/19

Quarter 2 Budget Monitoring Report pdf icon PDF 303 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

1.    Consider the budget monitoring position for each of the above accounts;

 

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND:

 

2. The approval of the revised capital programme to move £3.1m slippage identified at Quarter 2 into financial year 2020/21 as detailed in Appendix C;

 

3. the approval of a supplementary revenue budget funded from reserves:

 

·         Supplementary budget of £30k in the Garage service, funded from the Invest to Save reserve, to fund a specialist project manager to lead on improvements to the garage letting process

 

4. the approval of supplementary capital budgets required to deliver several service changes as set out below:

 

·         A capital budget of £25k to fund payment kiosks in the Customer Services Unit.

 

 

·         Additional capital budget of £400k to deliver the Bunkers Farm project.

 

·         Supplementary budget of £161k in the HRA capital budget Strategic Acquisitions, to fund buy-back of a leasehold property.

 

5. Approve capital virements to reallocate budget from existing leisure budgets to fund Berkhamsted Leisure Centre Improvements Works:

 

·         Create a budget of £276k for Berkhamsted Leisure Centre Improvements Works by reallocating budget from:

a) Hemel Sports Centre roof £100k

b) Berkhamsted Sports Centre Building Management System £150k

c) Replace

 

Minutes:

1.    Consider the budget monitoring position for each of the above accounts;

 

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND:

 

2. The approval of the revised capital programme to move £3.1m slippage identified at Quarter 2 into financial year 2020/21 as detailed in Appendix C;

 

3. the approval of a supplementary revenue budget funded from reserves:

 

·         Supplementary budget of £30k in the Garage service, funded from the Invest to Save reserve, to fund a specialist project manager to lead on improvements to the garage letting process

 

4. the approval of supplementary capital budgets required to deliver several service changes as set out below:

 

·         A capital budget of £25k to fund payment kiosks in the Customer Services Unit.

 

 

·         Additional capital budget of £400k to deliver the Bunkers Farm project.

 

·         Supplementary budget of £161k in the HRA capital budget Strategic Acquisitions, to fund buy-back of a leasehold property.

 

5. Approve capital virements to reallocate budget from existing leisure budgets to fund Berkhamsted Leisure Centre Improvements Works:

 

·         Create a budget of £276k for Berkhamsted Leisure Centre Improvements Works by reallocating budget from:

a) Hemel Sports Centre roof £100k

b) Berkhamsted Sports Centre Building Management System £150k

c) Replace

 

Corporate objectives

 

Delivering an efficient and modern council

 

Deputy Section 151 Officer

Comments included within the body of this report.

Monitoring Officer

No comments to add to the report.

 

 

Advice

 

Councillor Elliot introduced the item which highlights the council’s current financial position. The report includes the recruitment of a specialist project manager for improvements to the garage lettings project. There is also a list of virements for transfers between budgets.

 

J Deane added that overall the end of year forecast is a pressure of £120k. This is a relatively healthy figure and efforts will continue to bring this in line by the end of the financial year.

 

Councillor Birnie referred to page 18, paragraph 5.2 and asked when the garage project report could be expected.

 

Councillor Williams said it would be presented at the joint budget meeting in February.

 

Recommendations agreed.

 

CA/106/19

Council Tax Support Scheme pdf icon PDF 80 KB

Decision:

Minutes:

Decision

 

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND:

 

To not revise or replace the current Council Tax Support scheme for 2020/21.

 

Corporate objectives

 

Effective management of the Council’s finances supports the Council’s vision and all five of its corporate objectives.

 

Monitoring Officer

 

No comments to add to the report.

 

Deputy S.151 Officer

 

Deputy S151 officer report, comments included in the body of the report.

 

Advice

Councillor Elliot introduced the report and said this was introduced in 2013 under the Localism Act. The scheme helps those in need with their council tax. The proposal is to keep the scheme as it is.

Councillor Williams added that this scheme had worked well for the last six years.

Councillor Anderson said he understood that scheme would be phased out over ten years.

C Baker said there were no timescales for this scheme.

J Deane said Councillor Anderson may be thinking of the link with parish funding.

Recommendations agreed.

 

CA/107/19

Discretionary Business Rate Relief pdf icon PDF 69 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

1)    That the adoption of the updated discretionary rate relief policy (annex A) be approved.

2)    That the adoption of the revised Enterprise Zone rate relief policy (annex B) be approved.

 

Minutes:

Decision

1)     That the adoption of the updated discretionary rate relief policy (annex A) be approved.

2)     That the adoption of the revised Enterprise Zone rate relief policy (annex B) be approved.

Corporate objectives

These reliefs will support the corporate objectives of ensuring economic growth and prosperity and building strong and vibrant communities.

Monitoring Officer

No comments to add to the report.

Deputy S.151 Officer

This is a deputy S151 officer report and hence the comments are included in the body of the report.

Advice

Councillor Elliot introduced the report.

Recommendations agreed.

 

CA/108/19

Brownfield Land Register pdf icon PDF 87 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

Thatthe sites listed in Parts 1 of the Brownfield Land Register (BLR) as drafted in Appendix 1 be approved and delegate authority to the Assistant Director (Planning, Development and Regeneration) to finalise the site specific information before publication and note that no sites are recommended for inclusion in Part 2.

 

Minutes:

Decision

 

Thatthe sites listed in Parts 1 of the Brownfield Land Register (BLR) as drafted in Appendix 1 be approved and delegate authority to the Assistant Director (Planning, Development and Regeneration) to finalise the site specific information before publication and note that no sites are recommended for inclusion in Part 2.

 

Corporate objectives

Aclean, safe and enjoyable environment, Building strong and vibrant communities; Ensuring economic growth and prosperity; Providing good quality affordable homes; Delivering an efficient and modern council;

The Brownfield Register will assist in more housing led sites becoming available for development This will provide more local housing, improved communities and economic growth.

 

Monitoring Officer

 

This report considers the Council’s statutory requirement to review its Brownfield Land Register at least once every year.  It is noted that no sites are recommended for approval in Part 2 of the register and therefore approval of Part 1 remains an Executive decision to be made by the Council’s Cabinet.

 

Deputy S.151 Officer

 

No further comments to add to this report.

 

Advice

Councillor G Sutton introduced the report. It is a statutory requirement for councils to produce this report. Appendix A has not transposed correctly onto the agenda so a version has been emailed around to members and will be attached to the minutes.

Councillor Anderson said this was a good piece of work and should help to answer questions from campaign groups that suggest the council haven’t properly research the brownfield land options.

Recommendations agreed.

 

 

CA/109/19

Review of Commissioning and Procurement Standing Orders and Strategy pdf icon PDF 128 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND

 

To agree the Commissioning & Procurement Strategy (appendix 1) and the revised Commissioning and Procurement Standing Orders (appendix 3)

 

Minutes:

Decision

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND

To agree the Commissioning & Procurement Strategy (appendix 1) and the revised Commissioning and Procurement Standing Orders (appendix 3)

Corporate objectives

Dacorum Delivers: The proposed changes will ensure that all commissioning and procurement activities of the Council will align with the vision and priorities as stated in the Corporate Plan and national best practice.

Monitoring Officer

 

The Strategy and Standing Orders help to regulate the Council’s procurement and commissioning activities and ensure that the Council complies with relevant procurement legislation and guidance and internal constitutional procedures.  They also aim to deliver value for money and deliver other ‘social value’ objectives which benefit the borough as a whole.

 

Deputy S.151 Officer

 

The Commissioning and procurement standing orders support the financial regulations to ensure that, financial stewardship and financial authorisation related to procurement is maintained. The Council’s finance systems and processes support the Procurement standing orders.

 

Advice

Councillor Williams introduced the report and said this had been discussed at Overview and Scrutiny. He asked for one amendment to the report on page 80, the title of the portfolio holder needs to be changed.

B Hosier said there was a healthy discussion at OSC and the points raised at that meeting have now been answered. The Local Government National Procurement Strategy was developed when the climate emergency was not declared so this a shortfall they are working on.

Councillor Griffiths said it was difficult to strike the balance by doing everything by committee but ensuring the democratic process has taken place but felt this did strike that balance.

Recommendations agreed.

 

CA/110/19

New Normal Technology Pilot Projects pdf icon PDF 255 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

That the principle of running pilot projects in the Council in Business Process Reengineering and Robotic Process Automation and agree to appoint the suppliers noted in the Part II report be agreed.

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND

The approval to release £93,495 from the Management of Change reserve to fund this work.

 

 

Minutes:

Decision

That the principle of running pilot projects in the Council in Business Process Reengineering and Robotic Process Automation and agree to appoint the suppliers noted in the Part II report be agreed.

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND

The approval to release £93,495 from the Management of Change reserve to fund this work.

Corporate objectives

Delivering an efficient and modern Council

The use of the techniques delivered in the pilot projects will enable the identification of process inefficiencies in the Council. This will enable remediation to be identified, planned and executed to deliver savings. These may or may not make use of robotic process automation software.

 

Monitoring Officer

 

Officers must ensure that the preferred suppliers agree to an appropriate service contract or terms and conditions prior to commencement of the contract.

 

Deputy S.151 Officer

 

The contracts have been procured following the standard DBC procurement process and the evaluation criteria included a value for money assessment.

 

Advice

 

Councillor Williams introduced the report which was to take pilot projects forward to judge its effectiveness.

 

L Roberts said this approach has been taken to minimise the risk to the council and work in partnership with these companies to make sure it works in the long run.

 

Councillor Griffiths said she was pleased to see the council trying something new.

 

Recommendations agreed.

 

CA/111/19

Exclusion of the Public

To consider passing a resolution in the following terms:

 

That, under s.100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 Schedule 12A Part 1 as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006 the public be excluded during the items in Part 2 of the Agenda for this meeting, because it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that, if members of the public were present during those items, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information relating to the financial and business affairs of the Council and third party companies/organisations.

 

Local Government Act 1972, Schedule 12A, Part 1, paragraph 3.

 

Decision:

That, under s.100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 Schedule 12A Part 1 as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006 the public be excluded during the items in Part 2 of the Agenda for this meeting, because it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that, if members of the public were present during those items, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information relating to the financial and business affairs of the Council and third party companies/organisations.

 

Local Government Act 1972, Schedule 12A, Part 1, paragraph 3

Minutes:

That, under s.100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 Schedule 12A Part 1 as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006 the public be excluded during the items in Part 2 of the Agenda for this meeting, because it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that, if members of the public were present during those items, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information relating to the financial and business affairs of the Council and third party companies/organisations.

 

Local Government Act 1972, Schedule 12A, Part 1, paragraph 3

CA/112/19

Osborne Five Year Review

Decision:

Full details in part 2 decision sheet

Minutes:

Full details in part 2 minutes.