No apologies for absence were received.

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 18 January 2021 are agreed as an accurate record.

Before moving to the items of business, the Chair thanked all the Council and NHS staff involved in the enhanced testing exercise in Pollards Hill following the late notification of a case of the South African variant in Merton. He thanked residents for their efforts in reducing the number of cases by complying with the Government’s rules and encouraged residents in Pollards Hill to get a test.  He advised that he had called on the Government to ensure that isolation payments to those being required to self-isolate are automatic in these cases; and to address the miscommunication over the specific area which had been affected.  He placed on record his thanks to all involved for their efforts in the cold weather, demonstrating an amazing community spirit.

At the invitation of the Chair, the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health echoed the tribute to the staff and residents in the Pollards Hill area for their efforts in the enhanced testing exercise.

The Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and the Climate Emergency and Pollards Hill ward Member thanked all involved, but particularly paid tribute to the Commonside Trust and the New Horizon Centre.

The Chair thanked all the ward Members for their community leadership.

The Chief Executive echoed the comments already made and extended his thanks to the MP for Mitcham and Morden, Bob Whitehead from the Metropolitan Police, Dr Mohan Sekeram, Naomi Martin of the Commonside Trust and Suzanne Hudson of the Citizens’ Advice in Merton.

RESOLVED:

1.     Thatthefinancialreportingdatafor month 9, December 2020,relatingto revenuebudgetarycontrol,showinga forecastnet adverse varianceat year-endof £4.3m be noted.

2.     That the contents of Section 4 and Appendix 5b of the report be noted and the amendments to the Programme contained in the Table below be approved:

The Cabinet Member for Finance presented the report which set out the financial position of the Council for December 2020. He thanked the officers for their work on the report and budget monitoring.  He highlighted the increased adverse variance from the previous month, in part due to the impact of the current lockdown on Environmental and Regeneration budgets. He drew the Cabinet’s attention to page 17 of the report which set out the Covid-19 cost summary which clearly showed that the Council was over £9m worse off as a result of the work done to support communities in the pandemic which had not been properly funded by the Government.

The Director of Corporate Services advised that there was further income to come and would be calculated for the April return; there were some adjustments to the capital programme proposed and a decrease in Community Infrastructure Levy monies being received and therefore a review of how those monies were collected would be undertaken to address.

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member and the Director for their contributions.

RESOLVED:

1.     Thatthefinancialreportingdatafor month 9, December 2020,relatingto revenuebudgetarycontrol,showinga forecastnet adverse varianceat year-endof £4.3m be noted.

2.     That the contents of Section 4 and Appendix 5b of the report be noted and the amendments to the Programme contained in the Table below be approved:

RESOLVED:

1.    That the award of the main contract for Merton Adult Learning services be awarded to Supplier E, on an initial 3 year term from 1 August 2021, with extension provision of up to a further 2 years. The identities of the preferred and unsuccessful bidders are set out in Appendix A. The contract values for the proposed term are set out in Appendix B.

2.    That the authority to exercise the extension provision is delegated to the Director of Community & Housing, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Skills, and subject to continued funding and satisfactory supplier performance.

The Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Skills presented the report and thanked the officers involved for their work.  She outlined the purpose of the report and gave an overview of the contract to provide adult learning services in the borough, which would be important in reskilling residents as part of the pandemic recovery.

The Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and the Climate Emergency welcomed the report and the improvements to the important service following the move to a commissioned model.

The Joint Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Performance, Recovery and the Local Economy also thanked the officers involved and the external funding received from the GLA and the ESFA; and welcomed the report which was important and timely for the pandemic recovery.

The Chair thanked all involved, including the Joint Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children and Education and welcomed the report.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the award of the main contract for Merton Adult Learning services be awarded to Supplier E, on an initial 3 year term from 1 August 2021, with extension provision of up to a further 2 years. The identities of the preferred and unsuccessful bidders are set out in Appendix A. The contract values for the proposed term are set out in Appendix B.

2.    That the authority to exercise the extension provision is delegated to the Director of Community & Housing, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Skills, and subject to continued funding and satisfactory supplier performance.

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

Cabinet noted the information in the exempt appendix at item 7 and did not refer to it during the consideration of item 5 and therefore the meeting remained open.

Cabinet noted the information in the exempt appendix at item 7 and did not refer to it during the consideration of item 5 and therefore the meeting remained open.

Cabinet noted the information in the exempt appendix at item 7 and did not refer to it during the consideration of item 5.  The decision is set out under item 5 above.

Cabinet noted the information in the exempt appendix at item 7 and did not refer to it during the consideration of item 5.  The decision is set out under item 5 above.