Apologies were received from Councillor Maxi Martin and Edith McCauley.

Councillor Draper asked that it be recorded for openness and transparency purposes that his son was disabled and had special care needs and could be affected by changes to adult social care funding.  However it was not a pecuniary interest for Councillor Draper.

The minutes of the meeting held on 18 January 2016 were agreed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet

1)      notes the financial reporting data relating to revenue budgetary control, showing a forecast net overspend at year end of £2.6million, 0.5% of the gross budget.

2)      approves the virement of £223k from the corporate contingency to Children, Schools and Families for the third and fourth quarter costs of additional social worker capacity.

3)      notes the adjustment to the Capital Programme contained in Appendix 5b to the report.

The Cabinet Member for Finance presented the report which provided the regular monthly financial monitoring update for December 2015, in respect of the 2015/2016 financial year. It was noted that the net overspend expected at the year-end was £2.6million, under 0.5% of the gross budget, which had decreased by approximately £400k since the previous month’s report. It was noted that the report would be scrutinised by the financial monitoring task group as it was also the end of Quarter 3 report.  

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet

1)      notes the financial reporting data relating to revenue budgetary control, showing a forecast net overspend at year end of £2.6million, 0.5% of the gross budget.

2)      approves the virement of £223k from the corporate contingency to Children, Schools and Families for the third and fourth quarter costs of additional social worker capacity.

3)      notes the adjustment to the Capital Programme contained in the Appendix to the minutes.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet

1)      considered and agrees to response to the Overview and Scrutiny Commission;

2)      resolved that, having considered all of the information in this report and noted the positive assurance statement given by the Director of Corporate Services based on the proposed strategy, the Council Tax in 2016/17, equating to a Band D Council Tax of £1,102.25 be approved and recommended to Council for approval. This represents a Council Tax freeze.

3)      considered all of the latest information and the comments from the scrutiny process, and makes recommendations to Council as appropriate

4)      resolved that the Business Plan 2016-20 including the General Fund Budget and Council Tax Strategy for 2016/17, and the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for 2016-2020 as submitted, along with the Equality Assessments (EAs), be approved and recommended to Council for approval subject to any proposed amendments agreed at this meeting;

5)      resolved that, having considered all of the latest information and the comments from the scrutiny process, the Capital Investment Programme (as detailed in Annex 1 to the Capital Strategy); the Treasury Management Strategy (Section 5), including the detailed recommendations in that Section, incorporating the Prudential Indicators and the Capital Strategy (Section 4) as submitted and reported upon be approved and recommended to Council for approval, subject to any proposed amendments agreed at this meeting;

6)      notes that the GLA precept will not be agreed by the London Assembly until the 22 February 2016, but the provisional figure has been incorporated into the draft MTFS

7)      requests officers to review the savings proposals agreed and where possible bring them forward to the earliest possible implementation date

8)      notes that there may be minor amendments to figures in this report as a result of new information being received after the deadline for dispatch and that this will be amended for the report to Council in March

9)      approves the Risk Management Strategy

10)    in response to concerns raised at Scrutiny, review the current level of service being provided by Crossroads if they were to continue into 2016/17, with any shortfall being met from non-recurring savings and work with them to enable them to re-focus their service from 2017  in line with the needs of carers and in particular in order to offer a competitive and quality service to carers with personal budgets who want to choose the respite package that suits their needs best.

11)    in response to concerns raised at Scrutiny that the reduction in government funding is causing pressures in adult social care in particular, that a new “Savings Mitigation Fund” reserve of £1.3m is established by applying the additional New Homes Bonus to reduce the impact  in 2016/17 on our most vulnerable residents, to update the MTFS accordingly and that officers are asked to seek to identify if similar significant funding is available in future years.

The Leader addressed the Cabinet and stated he intended to take item 5 Business Plan 2016-20, item 6 Reference from the Overview and Scrutiny Commission – pre decision scrutiny of the Business Plan 2016-20 and also item 8 ASC savings and consultation report together because the three items were intertwined. The Cabinet supported that approach as it would ensure that all the issues on these items would be heard, discussed and assessed in context.

The Cabinet Member of Finance, addressed the Cabinet and thanked the officers for producing such detailed documentation to allow the Cabinet to look at the budget and its implications in such an in-depth level of detail. He noted that the Council’s approach was business-like in using the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) to set a balanced budget not just for the year ahead but also for future years. This approach also allows residents to feel a sense of financial security going forward, including on council tax levels.

He assured Cabinet that the public’s views on the budget had been listened to, with a large amount of consultation and at least two rounds of scrutiny. The Scrutiny process, as every year, had been interesting and challenging and Cabinet would do its best to take scrutiny recommendations on board. He noted that a significant amount of cuts and savings are required this year to achieve a balanced budget and that Cabinet would continue to abide by the ‘July Principles’ which were established by cross party agreement in 2011, to help it to focus on the core values of the council and to ensure that the savings were achieved in the fairest way possible. For example, the ratio of savings coming from important core services such as adult social care and children services are lower than for other services.  

He said that scrutiny had largely supported the proposed savings. The exception was the Healthier Communities and Older People Overview and Scrutiny Panel which had flagged concerns in respect of proposals relating to adult social care savings including that for the Crossroads service for carers. The Overview and Scrutiny Commission had endorsed those areas of concern. 

The Cabinet Member of Finance said the Cabinet has taken notice of those comments and looked for ways to mitigate these concerns. It was proposed to continue funding the Crossroad service for another year, whilst working with them to look exactly at what they provide and how it could be done more efficiently. In relation to general concerns about adult social care it is proposed that a fund be established, using the surplus from the New Homes Bonus, of approximately £1.3million that could be drawn upon to help out when there was significant pressure on adult social care. 

He said that the proposed approach would not require Council to raise the level of council tax, thereby addressing concerns that residents had expressed about this.

Councillor Peter Southgate, the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission, was then invited to address the Cabinet to feedback  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet, in taking decisions relating to the Business Plan 2016-20, acknowledges the comments and recommendations made the Overview and Scrutiny Commission and the outcomes of consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Panels, as detailed in paragraphs 2.5 to 2.12 and in Appendix 1 of the report.

The detailed discussion on this item was held along with item 8, Adult Social Care (ASC) 2016/17 budget savings under item 5 Business Plan 2016-20. The Leader and his Cabinet felt the three items were intertwined in their nature. It was agreed that this approach would ensure that all the issues on these items would be heard, discussed and assessed in context.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet, in taking decisions relating to the Business Plan 2016-20, acknowledges the comments and recommendations made the Overview and Scrutiny Commission and the outcomes of consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Panels, as detailed in paragraphs 2.5 to 2.12 and in Appendix 1 of the report.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet agrees to consider the recommendations of the Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel when reviewing the findings and recommendations resulting from the wheeled bins pilot.

The Cabinet Member for Environmental Cleanliness and Parking presented the reference from Scrutiny on the results of the wheeled bins pilot. The Cabinet Member commented she was pleased generally with how the pilot went and what they had learnt from it. She thanked the Scrutiny Members for their response to the pilot especially the four key areas that they identified for further consideration. It was confirmed that in the update report on the pilot that would be put before Cabinet at its meeting on 7^th March those four areas would be addressed.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet agrees to consider the recommendations of the Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel when reviewing the findings and recommendations resulting from the wheeled bins pilot.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet

1)     finalise the recommended budget for Adult Social Care (ASC) in 2016/17 (£74.845m gross and £51.481m net) for Full Council, including required savings, taking into account the outcome of the consultation exercise and taking into account any recommendations from the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Panel and Commission.

2)     authorise the Director of Community and Housing, within the council’s Constitution, to take the action necessary to achieve these savings.

The detailed discussion on this item was held along with item 6, Reference from the Overview and Scrutiny Commission – pre decision scrutiny of the Business Plan 2016-20 under item 5 Business Plan 2016-20. The Leader and his Cabinet felt the three items were intertwined in their nature. It was agreed that this approach would ensure that all the issues on these items would be heard, discussed and assessed in context.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet

1)     finalise the recommended budget for Adult Social Care (ASC) in 2016/17 (£74.845m gross and £51.481m net) for Full Council, including required savings, taking into account the outcome of the consultation exercise and taking into account any recommendations from the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Panel and Commission.

2)     authorise the Director of Community and Housing, within the council’s Constitution, to take the action necessary to achieve these savings.

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).

RESOLVED

That the public were excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following reports on the grounds that they were exempt from disclosure for the reasons stated in the reports.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet

1)     notes the progress made so far in moving to a commissioning model for adult education and specifically the procurement process.

2)     agrees to proceeding with Contract Awards on the basis set out in paragraph 2.4 and detailed in Appendix 1 of the report.

3)     agrees to proceeding with remaining services in the way proposed.

The Cabinet Member for Education presented the report which provided an update on the commissioning model for adult education and sought approval for the awarding of contracts for specific lots following a procurement process. It was emphasised that the procurement had followed the agreed commissioning principles.

In discussing the report it was acknowledged that it had not been possible to award Lot 3, - Learners with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities (LLDD). However further work on procuring Lot 3 was had started including a number of discussions with a number of potential providers for this services and it was expected that it would be possible to source a provider for Lot 3 by July.

The Cabinet Member informed Members that following the recent OFSTEAD inspection of the current adult education, they rated the service as ‘requires improvement.’ Also OFSTEAD confirmed that the Council’s decision to go out and seek commissioning for the service was the right decision.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet

1)     notes the progress made so far in moving to a commissioning model for adult education and specifically the procurement process.

2)     agrees to proceeding with Contract Awards on the basis set out in paragraph 2.4 and detailed in Appendix 1 of the report.

3)     agrees to proceeding with remaining services in the way proposed.