Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies received.

There were no interests declared.

There were no questions received.

RESOLVED THAT:

By reason of special circumstance in that an additional item of business needs to be considered before the next meeting of the Cabinet, the item entitled "Award of Temporary Agency Staffing Contract" be considered at this meeting as a matter of urgency in accordance with Section 100B(4)(B) of the Local Government Act 1972.

Reason for decision: To enable the consideration of urgent business.

Minutes of the meeting held on 14 January 2014.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 14 January 2014.

It was moved by Councillor R Blunt, seconded by Councillor A Smith and

RESOLVED THAT:

The minutes of the meeting held on 14 January 2014 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Reason for decision: To comply with the Constitution.

Report of the Head of Finance

Presented by the Corporate Portfolio Holder

The Corporate Portfolio Holder presented the report to Members.

He advised Members that the Council’s financial position had improved, as the savings that had been needed, had been reduced from £1.5m to nearer £700k. This was through increased efficiency, additional income generated locally and by national policy changes, and that this in turn meant that the Council Tax could be frozen for the fifth year running and a number of savings proposals considered in December including charging for Green Waste collections and increases in car parking charges would not go ahead, and that the existing concessions for people on means-tested benefits would be retained.

He also informed Members that the report contained details of the projected outturn for 2013/14 and that there was a forecast underspend of £876k. He advised Members that these resources would provide a fund to further the Council’s priorities.

The Members expressed their thanks to the Chief Executive and her team for all their hard work in enabling the Council to achieve the position.

It was moved by Councillor N J Rushton, seconded by Councillor R Blunt and

RESOLVED THAT:

1.The level of reserves and assurance statement by the Section 151 Officer in   section 7 of the report be noted.

2. Council be recommended:

a.    To approve the transfer of the surplus income over expenditure in 2014/15 to the General Fund Reserve at 31 March 2015.

b.    To approve the implementation of the budget savings for 2014/15 set out in appendix 2.

c.    To approve the General Fund Budget for 2014/15.

d.    To approve the Coalville Special Expenses Budget for 2014/15.

e.    To approve the other Special Expenses Precepts for 2014/15.

Reason for decision: To enable the Council to set a balanced budget for 2014/15 as required by statute.

Report of the Head of Finance

Presented by the Corporate Portfolio Holder and Housing Portfolio Holder

The Housing Portfolio Holder presented the report to Members.

He advised that there was a small reduction in the forecast surplus of £131k, which was mainly due to a reduction in expected rental income, due to an increase in empty properties and increased sales through Right to Buy.

He informed Members that it was proposed to increase rents again in line with the rent convergence policy, increase rents for garages and it was recommended to increase ground rents at Appleby Magna Caravan Site.

It was moved by Councillor R D Bayliss, seconded by Councillor N J Rushton and

RESOLVED THAT:

1) The Assurance Statement by the S151 Officer in section 8 be noted,

2) The Council be recommended to:

a)    Approve the increase of 3.2% (average increase 19 pence) in garage rents for 2014/15.

b)    Approve the average increase of 1.02% (2 pence per week) in the weekly service charge for 2014/15.

c)    Approve the ground rent increase at Appleby Magna Caravan Site of 3.2% (74 pence per week) on the anniversary of each individual rent agreement in 2014/15.

d)    Approve the Lifeline charges increase of 3.2% (Between 6 pence and 10 pence per week) from 1 July 2014.

e)    Approve that Council House Rents in 2014/15 be increased in accordance with the Government’s Rent Restructuring Policy by an average of 5.78% (average increase £4.30 per week).

f)     Approve the Housing Revenue Account budget for 2014/15 attached as appendix A to the report.

Reason for decision: To enable the Council to set a balanced Housing Revenue Account Budget for 2014/15.

Report of the Head of Finance

Presented by the Corporate Portfolio Holder

The Corporate Portfolio Holder presented the report to Members and drew their attention to the addendum that was included in the additional papers.

He advised Members that the report contained the projected outturn for the current financial year and that there were sufficient resources available to finance the schemes as detailed within the report.

The Housing Portfolio Holder updated Members on the H.R.A Capital Programme.

He informed Members that following recent surveys, the volume of work indicated was higher than that in the HRA Business Plan and that to complete the whole year’s programme it was estimated that approximately £1.9m extra would be needed.

He advised Members that the Council was in the process of conducting a Value For Money assessment and that a full report would be brought back to Cabinet to consider in March.

The Chairman stated that the Authority wanted to ensure all homes were decent by 2015 following the decision to keep the housing stock. He also took the opportunity to thank, on behalf of the Cabinet, the Head of Housing, the Housing Management Team Manager and their team for the sensitive way in which they were handling the Fire Risk Scheme at the Caravan Site at Appleby Magna.

It was moved by Councillor N J Rushton, seconded by Councillor R D Bayliss and

RESOLVED THAT:

1)    The estimated General Fund, Coalville Special Expenses and H.R.A. Capital Outturn for 2013/14 and Planned Financing be noted.

2)    Council be recommended to approve expenditure in 2014/15 as per:

·         appendix “A” General Fund  and Special Expenses Capital Schemes

·         appendix “B” for HRA Capital Schemes and in 2015/16 these schemes only:

·         £617,000 for the vehicle replacement programme, as highlighted * in appendix “A”

3)    Cabinet notes the proposed procurement routes and delegates the authority to award the contracts, as detailed in section 7 (procurement options) of this report and waive contract procedure rule 5.14 in respect of the car park resurfacing to be undertaken in the 2014-2015 year.

4)    Cabinet notes the two issues relating to the available budget for the 2014/15 Decent Homes Improvement Programme, and the recently identified additional number of non decent homes, and agrees to receive a further report detailing the implications for the 2014/15 Capital Programme at the Cabinet meeting on 4 March 2014.

Reason for decision:To enable projects included in the Programmes to proceed.

Report of the Head of Finance

Presented by the Corporate Portfolio Holder

The Corporate Portfolio Holder presented the report to Members.

He informed Members that this was an annual report, which Cabinet needed to consider in order to make recommendations to Council and that the Statement, as proposed complies with statutory, regulatory and professional requirements.

He advised Members that it outlines the expected treasury operations for the forthcoming financial year and it fulfils the four key requirements of the Local Government Act 2003, and then highlighted to Members key points of each section of the Strategy.

He thanked the Head of Finance and his team for the work that had been put into the Statement.

It was moved by Councillor N J Rushton, seconded by R D Bayliss and

RESOLVED THAT:

Cabinet

1)    Re-adopt the CIPFA Treasury Management in Public Services: Code of Practice;

And

2)    Recommend the Treasury Management Strategy Statement 2014/15, Prudential Indicators -revised 2013/14 and 2014/15 to 2016/17, and the Annual Minimum Revenue Provision Statement, for approval by Full Council.

Reason for decision: These are statutory requirements.

Report of the Director of Services

Presented by the Community Services Portfolio Holder

The Community Services Portfolio Holder presented the report to Members.

She updated Members on some of the projects that had benefited from the Coalville Special Expenses and advised that she had attended the Events Task and Finish Group where discussions had taken place around closer working with the Coalville Town Team on events in Coalville.

The Chairman expressed his thanks to the Members of the Coalville Special Expenses Working Party for the hard work that they had done.

It was moved by Councillor A V Smith, seconded by Councillor R Blunt and

RESOLVED THAT:

Cabinet approve the recommendations made by the Coalville Special Expenses Working Party as detailed within the minutes attached at appendix 1 of the report.

Reason for decision:To progress Coalville Special Expenses projects and programmes.

The officers consider that the press and public should be excluded during consideration of the following items in accordance with Section 100(a) of the Local Government Act 1972 as publicity would be likely to result in disclosure of exempt or confidential information.

RESOLVED THAT:

In pursuance of Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting on the grounds that the business to be transacted involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act and that the public interest in maintaining this exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Reason for decision: To enable the consideration of exempt information.

Report of the Head of Finance

Presented by the Corporate Portfolio Holder

The Corporate Portfolio Holder presented the report to Members.

It was moved by Councillor N J Rushton, seconded by Councillor R Blunt and

RESOLVED THAT:

Cabinet awards the Council’s Temporary Agency Staff Contract to Comensura via the ESPO MSTAR Framework.

Reason for decision: To ensure a continued delivery of the service provision and move to a contract which provides greater value for money.