No apologies were received. Councillors Akyigyina, Fraser, Irons, Pritchard and Skeete attended remotely.

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 October 2021 are agreed as an accurate record.

To receive any reference(s) from Scrutiny Panels if applicable.

RESOLVED :

That the Cabinet noted the reference of the The Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel set out in paragraphs 2.7 to 2.12 below.

2.7. The Panel RESOLVED (five votes for, two against, one abstention) to send the following recommendations to Cabinet;

2.8. Amend the Stock Transfer Agreement between Clarion and Merton Council for the principles of:

2.9. Suspending the council’s clawback until the programme reaches breakeven; publishing, through the performance management item of the Sustainable Communities Panel, the status of profitability;

2.10. Requiring Clarion to commit to delivering Decent Homes if Clarion fails to reach deadlines for delivering regeneration, while agreeing category 1 faults without fail and category 2 faults as per health and safety assessments are repaired;

2.11. Agreeing monthly business plan and risk management monitoring, open book approach and reporting back to the Sustainable Communities Panel at every meeting as part of performance monitoring. Clarion to fund all. Metrics to be agreed between Chair and Council Officers before calendar year end 2021.

2.12. Council will continue with 100% nomination rights to true voids as per the 2010 Nomination Rights Deed.

At the invitation of the Chair, Councillor Aidan Mundy, Chair of the Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel spoke on the item and gave an overview of the ongoing work of the Panel working with Clarion Housing and of the panel’s reference.

The Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and the Climate Emergency thanked Councillor Mundy and the Panel for their work. Councillor Whelton noted this was a complex regeneration scheme and that this would continue to be scrutinised.

The Assistant Director for Sustainable Communities noted that work was ongoing on the reporting matrix and once further clarification had been obtained between the Council and Clarion this would be fed back in due course.

RESOLVED :

That the Cabinet noted the reference of the The Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel set out in paragraphs 2.7 to 2.12 below.

2.7. The Panel RESOLVED (five votes for, two against, one abstention) to send the following recommendations to Cabinet;

2.8. Amend the Stock Transfer Agreement between Clarion and Merton Council for the principles of:

2.9. Suspending the council’s clawback until the programme reaches breakeven; publishing, through the performance management item of the Sustainable Communities Panel, the status of profitability;

2.10. Requiring Clarion to commit to delivering Decent Homes if Clarion fails to reach deadlines for delivering regeneration, while agreeing category 1 faults without fail and category 2 faults as per health and safety assessments are repaired;

2.11. Agreeing monthly business plan and risk management monitoring, open book approach and reporting back to the Sustainable Communities Panel at every meeting as part of performance monitoring. Clarion to fund all. Metrics to be agreed between Chair and Council Officers before calendar year end 2021.

2.12. Council will continue with 100% nomination rights to true voids as per the 2010 Nomination Rights Deed.

RESOLVED:

1.    That Cabinet considered and agreed the draft Capital Programme 2022-2031 and referred it to the Overview and Scrutiny panels and Commission in January 2022 for consideration and comment.

2.    That the Cabinet noted the details set out in the Government’s Autumn Budget 2021 and Spending Review 2021.

The Chair announced that items 5 and 10 would be taken together at this stage of the meeting. For the purposes of the minutes these are minuted separately and in the order of the published agenda.

The Cabinet Member for Finance presented the report, thanking officers for their work. The Business Plan had been brought to the three scrutiny panels and was due to be taken to the Overview and Scrutiny Commission during the upcoming week along with the draft Capital programme if approved by Cabinet, with the next substantive update on the Business Plan due at the December meeting of Cabinet which would include savings proposals.

It was noted that the final settlement from Central Government would not be known until mid-December 2021, however the Council had already been advised that it would be able to levy a 1% Adult Social Care precept and it was expected that the Council Tax threshold would remain at 2%.

RESOLVED:

1.    That Cabinet considered and agreed the draft Capital Programme 2022-2031 and referred it to the Overview and Scrutiny panels and Commission in January 2022 for consideration and comment.

2.    That the Cabinet noted the details set out in the Government’s Autumn Budget 2021 and Spending Review 2021.

RESOLVED:

1. That the uprating revisions for the 2022/23 council tax support scheme detailed in the report were agreed, in order to maintain low council tax charges for those on lower incomes and other vulnerable residents

2. That Cabinet recommended to Council that it adopts the proposed revisions to the 2022/23 scheme.

The Cabinet Member for Finance presented the report and thanked officers for their work. The annual report recommended that the scheme be retained and uprated to keep it in line with Government provided scheme and if agreed would proceed to Full Council for a decision later in November.

RESOLVED:

1. That the uprating revisions for the 2022/23 council tax support scheme detailed in the report were agreed, in order to maintain low council tax charges for those on lower incomes and other vulnerable residents

2. That Cabinet recommended to Council that it adopts the proposed revisions to the 2022/23 scheme.

RESOLVED:

A. That Cabinet agreed to commence a consultation as outlined in the paper to consider changes to the council’s Home to School/College Travel Assistance policy for providing travel support from September 2022, and particularly the discretionary policy.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Education presented the report, thanking officers for their work. The consultation would seek to discuss whether the existing policy was appropriate and cost efficient and whether any changes could be made to benefit young people and to become more efficient, with a range of suggested options provided for discussion.

RESOLVED:

A. That Cabinet agreed to commence a consultation as outlined in the paper to consider changes to the council’s Home to School/College Travel Assistance policy for providing travel support from September 2022, and particularly the discretionary policy.

RESOLVED:

A. That Cabinet agreed to award to Bidder A (as detailed in the Confidential Appendix to this report) a contract for provision of the school meals catering service at Merton PFI secondary schools for a period of 3 years from 1 January 2022, with an option to extend for up to two further years at the discretion of the Council.

B. In accordance with Contract Standing Orders (CSO 24.3) that authority was delegated to the Director of Children, Schools and Families to exercise, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Children and Education, the council’s option to grant one or more extensions of the contract term for any period up to two further years beyond the expiry of the initial contract term on 31 December 2025.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Education presented the report, thanking officers for their work. The report followed a previous Cabinet decision to remove catering from the PFI contract which covered a number of schools and therefore this report sought to award a contract for the provision of school meals catering to these schools following a bidding process to identify a supplier.  

RESOLVED:

A. That Cabinet agreed to award to Bidder A (as detailed in the Confidential Appendix to this report) a contract for provision of the school meals catering service at Merton PFI secondary schools for a period of 3 years from 1 January 2022, with an option to extend for up to two further years at the discretion of the Council.

B. In accordance with Contract Standing Orders (CSO 24.3) that authority was delegated to the Director of Children, Schools and Families to exercise, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Children and Education, the council’s option to grant one or more extensions of the contract term for any period up to two further years beyond the expiry of the initial contract term on 31 December 2025.

RESOLVED:

1. That Cabinet agreed to allocate CIL Neighbourhood Fund money to individual projects received through the 2021 Neighbourhood Fund consultation in line with Merton Council’s approved Neighbourhood Fund criteria as set out in Appendix A

2. That delegated authority was granted to the Director of Environment and Regeneration in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and the Climate Emergency and Transport to make any amendments to funding bid amounts received through the recent Neighbourhood Fund consultation, in line with Cabinet’s agreed Neighbourhood Fund criteria

The Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and the Climate Emergency presented the report, thanking officers for their work.

Following a consultation earlier in the year, project bids totalling £1.78m had been received and the Cabinet Member thanked all those who had submitted a bid to the fund. The report proposed the approval of £1.275m covering 22 of the projects and 2 top-ups of previously successful bids, based on criteria previously agreed by Cabinet.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Education spoke on the number and breadth of bids that had been approved that would benefit children and young people.

The Cabinet Member for Local Environment and Green Spaces spoke on bids which improve the local environment.

RESOLVED:

1. That Cabinet agreed to allocate CIL Neighbourhood Fund money to individual projects received through the 2021 Neighbourhood Fund consultation in line with Merton Council’s approved Neighbourhood Fund criteria as set out in Appendix A

2. That delegated authority was granted to the Director of Environment and Regeneration in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and the Climate Emergency and Transport to make any amendments to funding bid amounts received through the recent Neighbourhood Fund consultation, in line with Cabinet’s agreed Neighbourhood Fund criteria

RESOLVED:

A. That Cabinet noted the financial reporting data for month 6, September 2021, relating to revenue budgetary control, showing a forecast net adverse variance at year end on net service expenditure of £6.197m, increasing to £7.687m when corporate and funding items are included.

B. That Cabinet approved a draw down of £250k from the Your Merton reserve to E&R revenue budgets to fund a series of street and parks improvement projects within the department.

C. That Cabinet noted the contents of Section 5 and Appendix 5b of the report and approve the adjustments to the Capital Programme in the Table below:

D. That Cabinet approved the Revenue NCIL Bids below as contained in Appendix 5d – these are summarised below:  ...  view the full decision text for item 10.

The Cabinet Member for Finance presented the report, thanking officers for their work, noting that the forecast net variance had increased from the previous report, with the cost of Covid remaining the primary factor for this.

In regards to the Dedicated Schools Grant, the Council continued in discussions with the Department for Education but was unlikely to have any resolution on those discussions until early 2022.

The Director of Corporate Services advised that the report would be discussed by the Financial Monitoring Task Group at their next meeting and noted that an invoice recently paid by the CCG had improved the position.

The Chair thanked the officers for their work and it was RESOLVED:

A. That Cabinet noted the financial reporting data for month 6, September 2021, relating to revenue budgetary control, showing a forecast net adverse variance at year end on net service expenditure of £6.197m, increasing to £7.687m when corporate and funding items are included.

B. That Cabinet approved a draw down of £250k from the Your Merton reserve to E&R revenue budgets to fund a series of street and parks improvement projects within the department.

C. That Cabinet noted the contents of Section 5 and Appendix 5b of the report and approve the adjustments to the Capital Programme in the Table below:

To RESOLVE that the public are excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following report(s) on the grounds that it is (they are) exempt from disclosure for the reasons stated in the report(s).

The Cabinet agreed not to refer to the exempt information contained in Item 8 during consideration of the items and therefore the meeting remained in public.