Decisions

Use the below search options at the bottom of the page to find information regarding recent decisions that have been taken by the council’s decision making bodies.

Alternatively you can visit the officer decisions page for information on officer delegated decisions that have been taken by council officers.

Decisions published

21/01/2025 - To approve an award to Bloom to carry out a Further Competition exercise via the NEPRO framework for legal support for the Hemel Garden Communities programme. ref: 2347    Recommendations Approved

Legal support is required to support Hemel Garden Communities (HGC) with wide-ranging legal expertise to secure Garden Town/Communities development growth and infrastructure expectations for the HGC Programme Area including the delivery and planning application delivery stages (pre application and application stages).

Decision Maker: Assistant Director - Place, Communities and Enterprise

Decision published: 04/02/2025

Effective from: 21/01/2025

Decision:

To approve an award to Bloom to carry out a Further Competition exercise via the NEPRO framework for legal support for the Hemel Garden Communities programme.

Lead officer: Vanessa Cooper


28/01/2025 - Council Tax Declaration Sub Committee Proposal 2025 ref: 2364    Recommendations Approved

Decision Maker: Cabinet

Made at meeting: 28/01/2025 - Cabinet

Decision published: 04/02/2025

Effective from: 12/02/2025

Decision:

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND

 

1. Cabinet recommended that Council agree the creation of a Council Tax Setting Committee.

 

2. Cabinet recommended that Council agree to the terms of reference for the Committee as set out in section 2 of the report and delegates authority to the Monitoring Officer to make the required changes to the Constitution to incorporate the Committee

 


28/01/2025 - Climate and Ecological Emergency Spending Proposal ref: 2362    Recommendations Approved

Decision Maker: Cabinet

Made at meeting: 28/01/2025 - Cabinet

Decision published: 04/02/2025

Effective from: 12/02/2025

Decision:

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND

 

Cabinet recommended that Council approve the release of £1.16m of New Homes Bonus, currently held in reserve, for spend on sustainability projects as detailed in the report.

 


28/01/2025 - Commissioning & Procurement Standing Orders Review & Update (Procurement Act 2023) ref: 2363    Recommendations Approved

Decision Maker: Cabinet

Made at meeting: 28/01/2025 - Cabinet

Decision published: 04/02/2025

Effective from: 12/02/2025

Decision:

RESOVLED TO RECOMMEND

 

That Cabinet Recommends to Full Council the following:

 

1. To the updates to the Commissioning & Procurement Standing Orders (CPSOs) as set out below

 

a) That the content of the proposed CPSOs is separated out so that the principles, objectives, and ambitions remain, but the technical guidance is removed.

 

b) That the CPSOs are redrafted to simplify and improve the strategic governance and operational effectiveness as set out in section 2.3.2 of the main report.

 

c) That the ‘Supplementary Instructions’ attributed to the CPSOs, that set out the technical aspects of the commissioning and procurement activities for officer compliance, are drafted as separate documents as set out in section 2.3.3 of the main report.

 

d) That any future amendments to the CPSOs will be subject to the amendment protocol as set out in section 2.3.4 of the main report.

 

e) That the content of the CPSOs shall be based upon the procurement principles, objectives, and ambitions as set out in section 2.3.5 of the main report.

 

2. That the Constitution will be updated to ensure that the Financial Regulations align with the financial thresholds stated on the CPSOs as set out below

 

a) Part 8 – Annex 1 Financial Regulations (Annex D Schemes of Delegation) increase value for Head of Service for contract letting from £75k to £99,999 and for Team Leaders from £25k to £29,999, and to increase approvals on Unit 4 for Team Leaders from £25k to £29,999.

 

b) Section 5: The acquisition of assets (Regulation E.5) increase value for Head of Service for total asset purchase price from £75k to £99,999 and for Team Leaders from £25k to £29,999

 

3. That the Constitution will be updated as set out below:

 

a) Part 8 – Annex 2 Procurement Standing Orders replace the existing CPSOs with the new updated version that incorporates the changes brought about by the implementation of the PA23.

 

4. Cabinet recommended that Council delegated authority to the Monitoring Officer to make any consequential amendments to the Constitution to give

 


28/01/2025 - Shopmobility Contract Service Review 2024 ref: 2361    Recommendations Approved

Decision Maker: Cabinet

Made at meeting: 28/01/2025 - Cabinet

Decision published: 04/02/2025

Effective from: 12/02/2025

Decision:

Cabinet agreed a new 2 year Service Level Agreement to Community Action Dacorum for the Shop Mobility Service on the terms set out in the report.

 

Cllr Allen did not part take in the discussion or vote on this item.


28/01/2025 - Scrutiny: Recommendations following the Review of Scrutiny by the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny ref: 2360    Recommendations Approved

Decision Maker: Cabinet

Made at meeting: 28/01/2025 - Cabinet

Decision published: 04/02/2025

Effective from: 12/02/2025

Decision:

RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND

(1) Recommended that Council consider and agree the action plan supporting each recommendation in the report.

(2) Recommended that Council agree the proposed revised committee timetable (Appendix 3)


28/01/2025 - Supported Housing Strategy ref: 2359    Recommendations Approved

Decision Maker: Cabinet

Made at meeting: 28/01/2025 - Cabinet

Decision published: 04/02/2025

Effective from: 12/02/2025

Decision:

Cabinet members reviewed and approved the Supported Housing Strategy and associated appendices.

 


28/01/2025 - Cabinet Forward Plan ref: 2358    Recommendations Approved

Decision Maker: Cabinet

Made at meeting: 28/01/2025 - Cabinet

Decision published: 04/02/2025

Effective from: 28/01/2025

Decision:

M Brookes confirmed that there were 2 items to come off of next month’s agenda.

 

The forward plan was noted


28/01/2025 - Referrals to Cabinet ref: 2357    Recommendations Approved

Decision Maker: Cabinet

Made at meeting: 28/01/2025 - Cabinet

Decision published: 04/02/2025

Effective from: 28/01/2025

Decision:

There were no referrals to Cabinet


28/01/2025 - Public Participation ref: 2356    Recommendations Approved

Decision Maker: Cabinet

Made at meeting: 28/01/2025 - Cabinet

Decision published: 04/02/2025

Effective from: 28/01/2025

Decision:

There was no public participation.


28/01/2025 - Declarations of Interest ref: 2355    Recommendations Approved

Decision Maker: Cabinet

Made at meeting: 28/01/2025 - Cabinet

Decision published: 04/02/2025

Effective from: 28/01/2025

Decision:

Cllr Allen declared he was a trustee of Community Action Dacorum.


28/01/2025 - Apologies for absence ref: 2354    Recommendations Approved

Decision Maker: Cabinet

Made at meeting: 28/01/2025 - Cabinet

Decision published: 04/02/2025

Effective from: 28/01/2025

Decision:

There were no apologies for absence


28/01/2025 - Minutes ref: 2353    Recommendations Approved

Decision Maker: Cabinet

Made at meeting: 28/01/2025 - Cabinet

Decision published: 04/02/2025

Effective from: 28/01/2025

Decision:

Cabinet Agreed the minutes of the previous meeting.


27/01/2025 - To approve a Framework Agreement with Bloom to issue a Direct Award to Perki Productions ref: 2351    Recommendations Approved

Perki Productions has provided specialised consultancy support to Hemel Garden Communities and the Local Plan teams over the last 24 months via a Direct Award with DBC.
Ceri Perkins of Perki Productions is self-employed and provides specialist communications and engagement support related to engagement activities for senior/chief officers and Members. Ceri also has a wealth of experience supporting Garden Towns and specialist knowledge to support the engagement process for stewardship policies and strategies; these are required to support the emerging Local Plans for Dacorum and St Albans which recognises community stewardship as a priority.
Ceri will be involved in the drafting and consultation of the emerging Stewardship and Placemaking Supplementary Planning Document which will provide the policy guidance and delivery processes for those bringing forward planning applications within the HGC Growth Areas.

Decision Maker: Assistant Director - Place, Communities and Enterprise

Decision published: 04/02/2025

Effective from: 27/01/2025

Decision:

To approve a Framework Agreement with Bloom to issue a Direct Award to Perki Productions

Lead officer: Vanessa Cooper


14/01/2025 - 27-1 Officer Decision - Ricoh Contract Extension ref: 2352    Recommendations Approved

Background: The current contract for the supply and maintenance of MFDs expired on 31 June 2024. Since then the Council have been procuring MFD maintenance on an ad-hoc basis each year. This has led to the expenditure becoming non-compliant as the expenditure has not been aggregated and the CPSOs have not been followed.
The Digital Service have confirmed that a significant amount of work has been completed this year to build a digital transformation programme that will shift customers off paper based manual processes on to fully automated digital services. This work, already concluded in parts of the Revenue Service, has shown that we can significantly reduce the number of PDF forms printed off.
We are currently building several new modules with planned go live dates early next year which will automatically alert customers through an online portal of any changes to their accounts. This will result in a significant reduction in the numbers of letters printed and sent out.
In the new year, once our customer portal goes live, we will be designing a campaign to promote a paperless service with the council which we anticipate will reduce the number of high-volume printing such as annual billing (council tax) and rent & leaseholder billing (Housing).
Reason: Extending to 2026 will enable us to assess our entire Unified Comms estate and then go out to market with the whole of our infrastructure contracts to ensure the best deal for Dacorum.

Decision Maker: Strategic Director (People and Transformation)

Decision published: 29/01/2025

Effective from: 14/01/2025

Decision:

Extend current Ricoh MFD contract to April 2026

Lead officer: Gary Osler


27/01/2025 - Customer Service Training ref: 2350    Recommendations Approved

This is for Customer Service Training which is being delivered by MGI - this was requested as part of our embedding of our Customer Promise across the organisation with those front line staff who deliver a service to our customers.

Decision Maker: Assistant Director - People

Decision published: 27/01/2025

Effective from: 27/01/2025

Decision:

Proceed with MGI to deliver the Customer Service Training across our organisation.

Lead officer: Aidan Wilkie


14/01/2025 - 23-1 Officer Decision - Mobile Phone Contract Extension (1) ref: 2349    Recommendations Approved

The current contract for mobile phone communications expired on 30 January 2023. Since then the Council have been procuring mobile phones on an ad-hoc basis each year. This has led to the expenditure becoming non-compliant as the expenditure has not been aggregated and the CPSOs have not been followed
Decision: Extend current contract to April 2026 to co-term with our other communications contracts.
Reason: Extending to 2026 will enable us to assess our entire Unified Comms estate and then go out to market with the whole of our infrastructure contracts to ensure the best deal for Dacorum.

Decision Maker: Strategic Director (People and Transformation)

Decision published: 24/01/2025

Effective from: 14/01/2025

Decision:

Decision: Extend current contract to April 2026 to co-term with our other communications contracts.

Lead officer: Gary Osler


18/12/2024 - Approval to direct award a three-year SaaS contract to Unit4 ref: 2348    Recommendations Approved

The council has been using Unit4 as its Finance system since 2004. Last year Unit4 publicly announced that they were moving all customers to their SaaS (Cloud) solution. Any on-premise solutions would no longer be supported.
Considering the high-risk implications of being unsupported by Unit4 for a significant period whilst we move to an alternative cloud solution, a decision has been made to move to Unit4 full SaaS by December 2026. This requires the council to sign up to a three-year contract by 31 December 2024.

Decision Maker: Strategic Director (People and Transformation)

Decision published: 24/01/2025

Effective from: 18/12/2024

Decision:

Move to Unit4 full SaaS by December 2026

Lead officer: Gary Osler