Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Mark Allison.

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 15 August 2016 are agreed as an accurate record.

RESOLVED That Cabinet:

1.         Agree, in principle, to join a London Regional Adoption Agency, as supported by London Councils and the Association of London Directors of Children’s Services; and

2.         Authorise the Director of Children’s Services, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, to progress arrangements relating to the development of the Agency model.

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services introduced the report and noted the benefits of working in partnership with boroughs across London to develop the London Regional Adoption Agency. 

RESOLVED:  That Cabinet

1.         Agree, in principle, to join a London Regional Adoption Agency, as supported by London Councils and the Association of London Directors of Children’s Services; and

2.         Authorise the Director of Children’s Services, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, to progress arrangements relating to the development of the Agency model.

RESOLVED That Cabinet:

1.         Agrees the 3-year strategic aims for the service.
 

2.         Notes the progress made with the commissioning of adult education services and the new arrangements.

The Cabinet Member for Community and Culture introduced this report which outlined the three year strategic aims for adult learning in Merton. He highlighted the progress made so far and thanked officers for their hard work on this project.  The Cabinet Member noted that Lot 3 (provision for learners with learning difficulties and / or disabilities) will continue to be provided in-house, and reassured Cabinet that the quality of service would not suffer as a result.

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services asked if the KPI will include employability and apprenticeships.  In response, the Head of Library and Heritage Services reassured Cabinet that an annual report on apprenticeships and employability will continue to be brought to the Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel.  The Director of Community & Housing also confirmed that engagement with London’s Local Enterprise Partnership is ongoing.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet

1.         Agree the 3-year strategic aims for the service.

2.         Note the progress made with the commissioning of adult education services and the new arrangements.

The Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Environment and Housing introduced this report which sought authority for range of planning matters.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet

1.         Endorse the approach to neighbourhood CIL governance and authorise public consultation on project themes

2.         Delegate authority to the Director of Environment and Regeneration in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Environment and Housing to approve an updated planning application validation checklist for public consultation

RESOLVED That Cabinet:

1.         Note the contents of this report.

2.         Agree a two-year extension to the current Highway Works and Services Term Contract with FM Conway, as the most economically advantageous option to continue to deliver planned and reactive highway works from 1 September 2017 to 31 August 2019.

The Cabinet Member for Environment, Regeneration and Housing introduced this report, which sought agreement to extend the current Highway Works and Services contract with FM Conway, a contract which has run for 37 years to date.  The Director of Environment and Regeneration noted that pre-decision scrutiny had taken place and the Panel were supportive of an extension of the contract.

RESOLVED:  That Cabinet

1.         Note the contents of this report.

2.         Agree a two-year extension to the current Highway Works and Services Term Contract with FM Conway, as the most economically advantageous option to continue to deliver planned and reactive highway works from 1 September 2017 to 31 August 2019.

RESOVED That Cabinet:

1.         Note the financial reporting data relating to revenue budgetary control, showing a forecast net overspend at year end of £2.7million, 0.5% of the gross budget.

2.         Note the proposed adjustments to the Capital Programme detailed in appendix 5b and approve the two items in the Table below:

* to note that this expenditure will be required regardless of whether or not the Phase C of the Waste Partnership is progressed.

** This investment will significantly contribute towards the estimated £2 million of annual revenue savings (allowing for the debt charges of the scheme)

3.         Endorse the addition of the £5.702 million SWLP Scheme above and that this is sent to Council on 23 November 2016 for its approval.

4.         Note the virement of £109k from the corporate contingency to Children, Schools and Families for the first quarter costs of additional social worker capacity and the virement from Corporate Services to Community and Housing for the housing benefit cost for temporary accommodation

At the request of the Cabinet, the Director of Corporate Services introduced this report and item 9 (Financial Monitoring July 2016) at the same time.  She highlighted that between June and July there was an increased overspend and actions being taken to address the overspend will be reported back to Cabinet in October

RESOLVED:  That Cabinet:

1.         Note the financial reporting data relating to revenue budgetary control, showing a forecast net overspend at year end of £2.7million, 0.5% of the gross budget.

2.         Note the proposed adjustments to the Capital Programme detailed in appendix 5b and approve the two items in the table below:

* to note that this expenditure will be required regardless of whether or not the Phase C of the Waste Partnership is progressed.

** This investment will significantly contribute towards the estimated £2 million of annual revenue savings (allowing for the debt charges of the scheme)

3.         Endorse the addition of the £5.702 million SWLP Scheme above and that this is sent to Council on 23 November 2016 for its approval.

4.         Note the virement of £109k from the corporate contingency to Children, Schools and Families for the first quarter costs of additional social worker capacity and the virement from Corporate Services to Community and Housing for the housing benefit cost for temporary accommodation

RESOLVED: That Cabinet

A.        Note the financial reporting data relating to revenue budgetary control, showing a forecast net overspend at year end of £5.356million, 1.0% of the gross budget.

B.        Ask officers to report back next month after reviewing their budgets and estimated outturn, with the actions necessary to reduce the overspend for 2016/17 and mitigate any on-going overspends in future years.

C.        Note the adjustments made to the Capital Programme in Appendix 5b and approves the following:

D.        Endorse the revised SLWP Contract figure for progression to Council in November 2016 for approval

E.        Agree the virement of £25k between E&R and CSF in relation to a notional rent agreement for Pollards Hill Youth Centre.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet

A.        Note the financial reporting data relating to revenue budgetary control, showing a forecast net overspend at year end of £5.356million, 1.0% of the gross budget.

B.        Ask officers to report back next month after reviewing their budgets and estimated outturn, with the actions necessary to reduce the overspend for 2016/17 and mitigate any on-going overspends in future years.

C.        Note the adjustments made to the Capital Programme in Appendix 5b and approves the following:

D.        Endorse the revised SLWP Contract figure for progression to Council in November 2016 for approval

E.        Agree the virement of £25k between E&R and CSF in relation to a notional rent agreement for Pollards Hill Youth Centre.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet

1.         Note the rolled forward MTFS for 2017 - 21.

2.         Confirm the latest position with regards to savings already in the MTFS.

3.         Agree the approach to setting a balanced budget using weighted controllable expenditure for each department as the basis for the setting of targets.

4.         Agree the proposed departmental targets to be met from savings and income.

5.         Review the targets and the MTFS at the next meeting in light of the actions identified in response to the monitoring report recommendations set out elsewhere on this agenda.

6.       Agree the timetable for the Business Plan 2017-21 including the revenue budget 2017/18, the MTFS 2017-21 and the Capital Programme for 2017-21.

7.       Note the process for the Service Plan 2017-21 and the progress made so far.

8.         Consider and review the draft Efficiency Plan at Appendix 3 and request officers to submit a final version to the DCLG by the deadline of 14 October 2016 in order to qualify for the four year funding offer.

This report was introduced by the Director of Corporate Services.  She highlighted the Medium Term Financial Strategy 2017-21 as detailed in the report and also noted the deadline for the submission of the draft Efficient Plan to the DCLG in order to qualify for the four year funding offer.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet

1.         Note the rolled forward MTFS for 2017 - 21.

2.         Confirm the latest position with regards to savings already in the MTFS.

3.         Agree the approach to setting a balanced budget using weighted controllable expenditure for each department as the basis for the setting of targets.

4.         Agree the proposed departmental targets to be met from savings and income.

5.         Review the targets and the MTFS at the next meeting in light of the actions identified in response to the monitoring report recommendations set out elsewhere on this agenda.

6.       Agree the timetable for the Business Plan 2017-21 including the revenue budget 2017/18, the MTFS 2017-21 and the Capital Programme for 2017-21.

7.       Note the process for the Service Plan 2017-21 and the progress made so far.

8.         Consider and review the draft Efficiency Plan at Appendix 3 and request officers to submit a final version to the DCLG by the deadline of 14 October 2016 in order to qualify for the four year funding offer.

RESOLVED That Cabinet agrees the extension of the contract with the existing provider for a further 12 months from 9th December 2016

The Director of Corporate Services introduced this report.

RESOLVED:  That Cabinet agree the extension of the contract with the existing provider for a further 12 months from 9th December 2016.

RESOLVED:  To award the contract for main phase expansion works to the contractor detailed in the exempt appendix.

The Cabinet Member for Education introduced the report, which sought approval to award the contract for the main phase expansion works for Harris Academy Merton to Lakehouse Construction Ltd.   In doing so, she briefly described the benefits of expansion for children in the East of the borough. 

The Director of Children, Schools and Families (CSF) noted that the contract sum is almost £300K below the pre-tender estimate and advised that the surplus will be put back into the capital programme budget.

In response to questions from the Leader, the Director of CSF confirmed that the expansion will ease pressure on school places and will retain more pupils in the East, thereby reducing  movement across the borough.

RESOLVED:  To award the contract for main phase expansion works to Lakehouse Construction Ltd.