Agenda and minutes
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Contact: Michael Turner, Democratic Services Officer
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Apologies for absence Minutes: An apology for absence was received from Councillor Carr. |
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To approve the record of the meeting held on 3 December 2015. Minutes: The record of the meeting held on 3 December 2015 was agreed and signed by the Chairman as correct.
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Urgent matters by reason of special circumstances The Chairman will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he/she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report. Minutes: The Chairman reported that he had agreed to accept the report regarding the Council Plan (agenda item no 7) as urgent because the next meeting of this Committee would not take place until 14 April and the Committee were being asked to comment on the report before consideration by Cabinet on 9 February. In addition, it had not been possible to include this report in the main agenda due to the need to conclude further internal discussions before the report could be finalised and, due to timing issues, these discussions could not be completed before the main agenda was despatched.
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Declarations of interests and whipping (A) Disclosable pecuniary interests and other interests
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.
(B) Whipping
The Council’s constitution also requires any Member of the Committee who is subject to a party whip (ie agreeing to vote in line with the majority view of a private party group meeting) to declare the existence of the whip. Minutes: Disclosable pecuniary interests
There were none.
Other interests
Councillor Griffiths declared an interest as a Non-Executive Director, Medway Community Healthcare in relation to agenda items 8 and 9 (Draft Capital and Revenue Budgets 2016/17) and commented that if any discussion specifically related to Medway Community Healthcare he intended to leave the meeting. |
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Attendance of the Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Housing and Community Services This report sets out activities and progress on work areas within the Housing and Community Services Portfolio, which fall within the remit of this Committee. Minutes: Discussion:
Members received an overview of progress on the area within the terms of reference of this Committee covered by Councillor Howard Doe, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Housing and Community Services, i.e.
· Adult Learning · Disabled adaptations to housing · Homelessness and housing options · Housing management and allocations · Housing strategy · Private sector housing · Housing Landlord Services · Development of the Council’s housing stock
Councillor Doe responded to Members’ questions and comments as follows:
Housing
A Member stated that one of her constituents had had a poor experience when visiting Kingsley House to seek advice and help from the Council about eviction. Councillor Doe responded he could not comment on the specifics of one case but what was described did not mirror his experience. He felt Kingsley House offered a good service and the staff there had a difficult and often stressful job. Given the limited resources and limited availability of housing the question of how long a person had to wait for housing to become available was always going to be a difficult one.
A Member acknowledged the improvements to the Council’s housing service in recent years. Referring to the increasing unaffordability of housing he asked what the Council was doing to prepare for increases in the costs of temporary accommodation and the need for extra resources in environmental health. He also commented that it might be helpful for the Housing Task Group to visit Kingsley House to help Members with their review. Finally, he asked for Councillor Doe’s views, given that the Member felt that not enough homes were being built, on the potential for the Council to use prudential borrowing to build, in partnership, market rent homes which would then give a return to the Council to make the scheme viable. In addition to providing much needed and good quality housing this approach would also offer security of tenure and a good landlord service.
Councillor Doe replied that it was very difficult to forecast temporary accommodation costs as there were so many variables involved. However, costs were being managed. With regard to borrowing to build new homes, Councillor Doe commented that he would discuss this with MHS Homes and the Chief Finance Officer and, if it had potential, he would look at it but at the moment he remained sceptical about the viability of such schemes. Councillor Doe welcomed the proposed visit to Kingsley House, as long as the privacy of customers was not affected.
A Member referred to the current legislation regarding serving S21 notices (i.e. notice to quit) on tenants. This led to tenants being subject to the same legal process and also receiving the same advice from the Council regardless of their circumstances. Councillor Doe replied that he had some sympathy with this point and he would look into it. If there was a case he would make representations to the Department for Communities and Local Government asking for the legislation regarding S21 notices to be changed.
A Member made the point that new legislation effectively ... view the full minutes text for item 722. |
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Attendance of the Portfolio Holder for Business Management This report sets out activities and progress on work areas within the Business Management Portfolio, which fall within the remit of this Committee. Minutes: Members received an overview of progress on the area within the terms of reference of this Committee covered by Councillor Rupert Turpin, Portfolio Holder for Business Management, i.e.
· Bereavement and registration services
Councillor Turpin responded to Members’ queries and comments as follows:
Bereavement and registration services
A Member referred to the fact that the specialist cremator supplier had entered into voluntary administration in 2013, leaving the installation of functioning cremators and abatement incomplete. He asked what deficiencies had been identified in this procurement exercise and also the extent of the Council’s financial exposure. Councillor Turpin replied that the furnaces were still operating but action was needed to improve them. If the Council was unsuccessful in the legal case then the exposure could be significant, but that could not be quantified at this stage. In terms of the procurement process, only one company was able to install the furnaces according to the Council’s specifications and Budget. There had been many factors in favour of the preferred company and the standard procurement processes had been followed. There were lessons to be learned and while there had been good reasons at the time for the decisions taken, in retrospect a different course of action might have been preferable. A Member asked if the lessons learned report could be brought to the Committee. Councillor Turpin agreed to the request.
Another Member commented that one of the reasons the works at the Crematorium were so impressive was due to early cross party Member involvement in the improvement programme and suggested this should be replicated when other proposals were being drawn up. He referred to the new crematorium in Gravesham and asked if there were any concerns this would impact on income for the Council. He also asked whether, both from an equalities perspective and a source of income generation, the Council would consider making representations to local MPs about allowing heterosexual couples to enter into civil partnerships. On the new Gravesham crematorium, Councillor Turpin replied that this would have an effect on the Council, but given the increasing population and the fact that Medway would be significantly cheaper with a good reputation, he was confident about the future. Concerning civil partnerships he was not sure he saw the point of two different forms of ceremony and would not be making representations on that point.
A Member asked what the contingency plans were, should the furnaces break down. The Committee was advised that robust contingency plans were in place including reducing services, reciprocal agreements with other crematoria and staff working extra hours.
In response to a question about whether changes to marriage law were a risk or an opportunity, Councillor Turpin commented that there was a risk due to demands from secular groups to be allowed to carry out civil ceremonies, meaning potentially anyone could become a registrar. This could affect income to the Council but it was also an opportunity as new registrars would need ... view the full minutes text for item 723. |
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Council Plan 2016/17 - 2020/21 Minutes: Discussion:
The Committee agreed to note the Council Plan for 2016/17-2020/21 and its Indicators and Key projects, acknowledging that the new 3 key priorities (Medway: a place to be proud of; Maximise regeneration and economic growth and Supporting Medway’s people to realise their potential) had been devised to reflect the Council’s transformation agenda and were not intended to reflect the whole range of Council services. |
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Draft Capital and Revenue Budgets 2016/2017 This report provides an update on progress towards setting the Council’s draft capital and revenue budgets for 2016/17. Additional documents: Minutes: Discussion:
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This report presents for consideration the comments of all Overview and Scrutiny Committees on the provisional draft budget for 2016/17 proposed by Cabinet on 24 November 2015.
Minutes:
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Housing Revenue Account - Revenue and Capital Budgets 2016/17 This report presents the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) capital and revenue budgets for 2016/17 and also provides details of proposed rent and service charges levels for 2016/17. Minutes: Discussion:
The Head of Housing Management introduced this report which presented the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) capital and revenue budgets for 2016/17 and also provided details of proposed rent and service charges levels for 2016/17.
Members were referred to paragraph 3.1 of the report which stated that the impact of new rent setting measures introduced by the Government for social housing landlords to reduce weekly rent by 1% in 2016/17 and for the following three years, meant a reduction of income of approximately £6.7m. The Head of Housing Management advised that further evaluation had led to a revised reduction of income of approximately £5.4m, an improvement of some £1.3m. This still presented challenges for the Business Plan which currently assumed annual rent increases. A Member commented that this Government policy would have a detrimental impact on all housing authorities’ HRA business plans and ran counter to the principles of localism and devolution.
During the discussion the following points were made:
· given that Universal Credit would be paid monthly, whether anything could be done to help tenants on those occasions where the rent cycle entailed 5 weeks in a month - in order to avoid them being chased for arrears unnecessarily · It was queried why non council tenants had to pay VAT on garage rents while council tenants did not.
The Head of Housing Management replied that, with regard to the first point, officers were looking at this issue before Universal Credit was fully introduced. He undertook to provide clarification on the second point.
Decision:
The Committee agreed to recommend to Cabinet:
a) that the rent cycle move from a 50 week rent payment year to a 52 week rent payment year for both the housing stock and garages.
b) a proposed rent decrease of 1% for the housing stock as set out in Appendix A to the report (based upon 52 collection weeks).
c) a rent increase of 2% for garages.
d) that the service charges and increases as set out in Appendix B of the report for 2016/17 be approved.
e) that the revenue budget for the HRA Service for 2016/17 as per Appendix C of the report be approved.
f) that the provision for the repayment debt continues to be based on a minimum revenue payment of 2% on the 2016/17 HRA opening outstanding debt.
g) to increase the 2016/17 HRA housing building development programme amount by the available RTB 1-4-1 capital receipts and remaining from 2015/16 MRP payment as set out in paragraph 9.5 of the report.
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6 Month Review of Welfare Reform Task Group Review
This report provides Members with the third bi-annual update on progress made with the Committee’s recommendations from the Welfare Reform in-depth review, which were agreed by the Cabinet on 2 September 2014. Minutes:
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This item advises Members of the current work programme and allows the Committee to adjust it in the light of latest priorities, issues and circumstances. It gives Members the opportunity to shape and direct the Committee’s activities over the year. Additional documents: Minutes:
Discussion:
Members considered a report advising the Committee of the current work programme. The report gave details of the items listed on the Cabinet Forward Plan that fell within the remit of this Committee and Appendix 2 to the report set out the work programmes of the other three Overview and Scrutiny Committees.
With regard to the current pattern of receiving 6 month reviews of welfare reform task group it was agreed that 6 monthly reports on welfare reform would continue, including the initial recommendations from the Task Group for Members to reflect back on.
Decision:
The Committee agreed to:
(a) note the work programme (set out in appendix 1 to the report).
(b) agree the proposed changes to the current work programme set out in paragraph 3 and
(c) note the work programmes of all overview and scrutiny committees (set out in appendix 2 to the report).
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