Agenda and minutes

To approve the record of the meeting held on 23 January 2014.

The record of the meeting held on 23 January 2014 was agreed and signed by the Mayor as correct.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Igwe, Mackinlay, Mackness and Murray. 

A member need only disclose at any meeting the existence of a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) in a matter to be considered at that meeting if that DPI has not been entered on the disclosable pecuniary interests register maintained by the Monitoring Officer.

A member disclosing a DPI at a meeting must thereafter notify the Monitoring Officer in writing of that interest within 28 days from the date of disclosure at the meeting.

A member may not participate in a discussion of or vote on any matter in which he or she has a DPI (both those already registered and those disclosed at the meeting) and must withdraw from the room during such discussion/vote.

Members may choose to voluntarily disclose a DPI at a meeting even if it is registered on the council’s register of disclosable pecuniary interests but there is no legal requirement to do so.

Members should also ensure they disclose any other interests which may give rise to a conflict under the council’s code of conduct.

In line with the training provided to members by the Monitoring Officer members will also need to consider bias and pre-determination in certain circumstances and whether they have a conflict of interest or should otherwise leave the room for Code reasons.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other interests

On advice from the Monitoring Officer, it was agreed that a personal and potentially financial interest be recorded in the minutes on behalf of any officers present affected by the proposals set out in agenda item 6 (Capital and Revenue Budgets 2014/2015).

The Mayor proposed to suspend Council Rule 11 (Rules of Debate) in respect of time limits on speeches in relation to agenda item 6 (Capital and Revenue Budgets 2013/2014) only, to allow one Member from each group to speak on the budget item for an unlimited time.  The normal time limits would then apply. This was agreed.

The Mayor reminded Members that a written copy of amendments to any proposals must be provided to the Head of Democratic Services and that copies should be brought up to the top table first.

There were none. 

This report sets out the final proposals for the approval of the capital and revenue budgets, rent increases and council tax for 2014/2015 as proposed by Cabinet.

Discussion:

This report presented proposals for the capital and revenue budgets and the housing revenue account (HRA) for 2014/2015.

The Cabinet had considered initial budget proposals on 26 November 2013, which had been developed in accordance with the principles set out in the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) 2013/2016. In accordance with the budget and policy framework rules within the Constitution the Overview and Scrutiny Committees had then considered the Cabinet’s proposals prior to Cabinet’s consideration of the draft budget on 11 February 2014. It was noted that the report had incorporated the implications of the Final Settlement, which had been announced on 5 February 2014.

The report set out the Council’s requirements under equality legislation and a Diversity Impact Assessment, that aggregated the impact for each of the services affected by the proposed budget changes, was attached at Appendix 9 to the report. This overarching form identified five services where there may be a potential adverse impact on some protected characteristic groups and Diversity Impact Assessments for these services were attached at Appendices 9A to 9C of the report. It was noted that to mitigate against any unintentional and unidentified impact, monitoring would continue and if necessary be reported through quarterly monitoring.

A revised Appendix 7 to the report had been circulated to Members in Supplementary Agenda No.1, which set out a corrected figure at 3 (a) of the appendix. An addendum report had been tabled at the meeting in Supplementary Agenda No.2 which provided details of the views and recommendations of the Employment Matters Committee, which considered a pay claim from the trade unions on 18February 2014.

Councillor Jarrett, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Deputy Leader, supported by Councillor Rodney Chambers, Leader of the Council, proposed the recommendations as set out in the main report, with the exception of recommendations 23.1, 23.2, 23.3 and 23.9 which were revised to reflect the following additions/variations:

i)          That the Council approve the recommendation of Employment Matters Committee on 6 February 2014 to adopt option 4 of the revised Pay and Grade structures, subject to the pause on the implementation of the pay progression element, as agreed by the Employment Matters Committee on 18 February 2014. That the Council agree that the pay claim as submitted by the Trade Unions be rejected on the basis that it represented £4 million recurring cost that the Council did not have.

ii)         the following measures to remove the £81,000 deficit, as set out in Table 10 of the report:

iii)            Additions to the Capital programme funded from prudential borrowing and additional revenue identified as:

·        New Homes Bonus Returned grant £120,000;

·        Additional business rates income £450,000; and

·        2013/2014 Collection Fund Surplus of £800,000.

*Expenditure on this will be in consultation with the relevant Portfolio Holder.

iv)                the following  ...  view the full minutes text for item 868.

This report sets out refreshed Council Plan indicators for Council approval. These indicators have been reviewed to ensure that the delivery of the Council Plan is assessed using a focused, informative and stream lined set of indicators to cover the period 2014-2015 that take account of recent financial and service developments.

Discussion:

This report set out details of the review undertaken and adjustments proposed to the current set of indicators used to assess the delivery of the Council Plan 2013-2015.

It was noted that that the Council Plan was the organisation’s overarching business plan, setting out the Council’s commitments to achieving certain outcomes during the life of the Plan. The purpose of this review had been to ensure that the delivery of the Council Plan during 2014-2015 was assessed using a focused, informative and streamlined set of indicators that took account of recent financial and service developments.

This report had been considered by the Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 4 February 2014 and Cabinet on 11 February 2014 and their comments were set out in the report.

A Diversity Impact Assessment of the refreshed Council Plan indicators had been prepared with the report, in line with the Council’s established procedure for new strategic documents. The screening form was attached as Appendix 4 to the report and it was noted that this had not identified any adverse impact on residents with protected characteristics based on the proposed changes to Council Plans key projects and indicator suite.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Deputy Leader, Councillor Jarrett, supported by the Leader of the Council, Councillor Rodney Chambers, proposed the recommendations set out in the report.

Decisions:

(a)        The Council agreed the revised Council Plan 2014-2015 Indicators (Appendix 1 to the report) and the Target Profile document (Appendix 2 to the report).

(b)        The Council agreed to delegate to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Deputy Leader who is portfolio holder for performance and business planning, authority to deal with any necessary changes to align the Plan to the agreed budget. 

This report seeks approval to the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy for the 2014/2015 financial year.  The Treasury Management Strategy incorporates within it the Treasury Management Policy Statement, Annual Investment Strategy and Minimum Revenue Provision policy.

Discussion:

This report sought approval to the Council’s Treasury Management Strategy for the 2014/2015 financial year.  The Treasury Management Strategy incorporated within it the Treasury Management Policy Statement, Annual Investment Strategy and Minimum Revenue Provision policy.

It was noted that the annual presentation of a Treasury Management Strategy was a requirement under the CIPFA Code of Practice on Treasury Management. It covered the various aspects of the treasury management function and was based on the treasury officers’ views on interest rates, supplemented with leading market forecasts provided by the Council’s treasury adviser, Capita Asset Services.

The Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered this report on 4 February 2014 and its views were set out in paragraph 17 of the report. The Cabinet considered this report on 11 February 2014 and its recommendation to Council was set out in paragraph 22 of the report.

A Diversity Impact Assessment screening had been undertaken and was set out in Appendix 9 to the report. It was not necessary to proceed to a full impact assessment. It was noted that the Treasury Management Strategy did not directly impact on members of the public as it dealt with the management of the local authority’s investments and cash flows, its banking, money market and capital market transactions; the effective control of the risks associated with those activities; and the pursuit of optimum performance consistent with those risks.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Deputy Leader, Councillor Jarrett, supported by the Leader of the Council, Councillor Rodney Chambers, proposed the recommendations set out in the report.

Decisions:

(a)       The Council agreed the Treasury Management Strategy and associated policies and strategy statements as attached in Appendices 1-6 to the report.

(b)       The Council agreed the revisions to the Constitution, as set out in Appendix 8 to the report, which would transfer responsibility for scrutinising the treasury management function to the Audit Committee.

This report seeks approval to the Pay Policy Statement 2014/15, in accordance with the Localism Act 2011.

Discussion:

This report provided details of the Pay Policy Statement, as required under section 38(1) of the Localism Act 2011. The statement covered the remuneration of the Chief Executive, Directors, Monitoring Officer, Section 151 Officer and Assistant Directors, the remuneration of lowest paid officers, the relationship between the two, and the Council’s pay policies.

A Diversity Impact Assessment screening had been undertaken and was set out in Appendix 2 to the report. The screening process did not highlight any significant adverse impact to any of the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 other than “age” which the council was already taking positive action to remedy.

The Employment Matters Committee considered this report on 6 February 2014 and its views were set out in the report.

Councillor Wicks, Chairman of the Employment Matters Committee, supported by Councillor Turpin, proposed the recommendations as set out in the report.

Decision:

(a)               The Council agreed the Pay Policy Statement 2014/2015 as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

(b)               The Council agreed to delegate authority to the Assistant Director, Organisational Services, in consultation with the Chairman of the Employment Matters Committee, to update the Pay Policy Statement 2014/2015 to reflect the final outcome of the Pay and Grade Review.