During the meeting the Mayor agreed to vary the order of business. To aid clarity, the minutes are presented in the order the items originally appeared on the agenda. At the meeting the Mayor considered Agenda Item 10.2 (Welfare Reform Research Findings and Next Steps) straight after Agenda Item 5 (Overview and Scrutiny). All other reports were then considered in the order they appear on the agenda.

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Robin Beattie, Service Head Strategy and Resources, Communities, Localities and Culture).

None were declared.

The unrestricted minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday, 3 September 2014 are presented for information.

The unrestricted minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 3 September 2014 were noted.

To receive any petitions.

Petition on the Public Consultation on Savings Proposals

The petitioners addressed the Cabinet meeting, the Cabinet discussed the issues raised and Councillor Alibor Choudhury the Cabinet Member for Resources responded to the points raised in the petition. He explained that ideally the administration would not be making these savings and that they wanted to protect services for vulnerable residents as much as possible. They considered that the consultation was extremely important and that no decisions on the savings proposals had yet been made.

Following discussion and in light of the concerns raised on the reach of the consultation process the Mayor agreed that the consultation exercise should be extended for a further two weeks and that officers should ensure that they liaise with Ward Councillors on any meetings that were arranged.

RESOLVED

1.    That the petition be referred to the Corporate Director, Resources, for a written response on any outstanding matters within 28 days.

Pre-Scrutiny Questions in relation to Agenda Item 8.1 ‘Safeguarding Children’s Board Annual Report’

Councillor Joshua Peck, Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC), tabled a number of pre-scrutiny questions in relation to the Safeguarding Children’s Board Annual Report. The Corporate Director, Education, Social Care and Wellbeing responded to the questions during consideration of the main report later on the agenda.

Councillor Joshua Peck also provided an update on the OSC’s meeting of the previous evening. In addition to the pre-scrutiny questions above there had been a number of issues considered at the meeting. In particular he highlighted an item on the Council’s Strategic Performance and Budget Monitoring. He reported that a focus had been on cost pressures in adult social care and concerns as to whether there was any ‘cost-shunting’ happening from the NHS. The OSC had asked to be kept informed of future developments on this issue.

The Mayor thanked Councillor Joshua Peck for his update.

During discussion of this item, concerns were raised over issues that had arisen in the preparation of the minutes of the OSC meeting held on 22 July 2014. The Mayor noted the concerns over the accuracy of the minutes and requested the Head of Paid Service to investigate and report back to them.

Nil items.

It was requested that a Lead Member Foreword be added to the report to follow on from the Mayor’s Foreword.

DECISION

1.      To approve the Local Biodiversity Action Plan 2014-19 as attached in Appendix 1.

Action by:

CORPORATE DIRECTOR, DEVELOPMENT AND RENEWAL (A. DALVI)

(Service Head for Strategy, Regeneration and Sustainability (J. Odunoye)

Councillor Shahed Ali, Cabinet Member for Clean and Green, introduced the report. He highlighted the importance of biodiversity in creating a pleasant Borough for residents and welcomed the continuing support for the issue.

During discussion, it was requested that a Lead Member Foreword be added to the report to follow on from the Mayor’s Foreword.

The Mayor agreed the above request and agreed the recommendation as set out in the report.

RESOLVED

1.      To approve the Local Biodiversity Action Plan 2014-19 as attached in Appendix 1.

Nil items.

Nil items.

DECISION

1. To note the content of the Safeguarding Children Board’s Annual Report and the appointment (3-year contract) of an Independent LSCB Chair by the Head of Paid Service.

Action by:

CORPORATE DIRECTOR, EDUCATION, SOCIAL CARE AND WELLBEING (R. McCULLOCH-GRAHAM)

Councillor Gulam Robbani, Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services introduced the report. He explained that the annual report of the independent board provided an update on the work of the board and especially looked to identify strengths and weaknesses, for example from serious case reviews. He also highlighted safeguarding training available to Members the following evening and hoped that as many as possible would attend.

Robert McCulloch-Graham, Corporate Director, Education, Social Care and Wellbeing, responded to the questions tabled by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. In particular he highlighted that:

·         The serious case review mentioned had been published appropriately,  was well-known to relevant officers in other councils and had been shared with organisations involved so lessons could be learnt.

·         There were multiple issues in the child’s life but the foster care was good.

·         The Mayor, Lead Member and Councillors were informed in respect of their statutory duties.

·         The Corporate Parenting Steering Group was not an appropriate forum to discuss these matters but officers were working to set up a Member panel for this purpose.

·         As Corporate Director he would write to Members setting out the lessons learnt and actions taken.

The report was discussed and the implications considered. During discussion it was also requested that the Independent Chair of the Board attend a future meeting with Members to discuss the work of the Board. Members and officers also highlighted the importance of learning the lessons from the recent Rotherham abuse cases and that this was a priority for the Council.

The Mayor highlighted that these issues were taken extremely seriously by the Council and that protecting the most vulnerable was a priority for all. He emphasised that he would continue to take a proactive interest and he agreed the recommendation as set out in the report.

RESOLVED

1. To note the content of the Safeguarding Children Board’s Annual Report and the appointment (3-year contract) of an Independent LSCB Chair by the Head of Paid Service.

Nil items.

Nil items.

DECISION

1.    To note the Council’s financial performance compared to budget for 2014/15 as detailed in Sections 3 to 7 and Appendices 1-4 of this report.

2.    To review and note the 2014/15 quarter 1 performance for strategic measures in Appendix 5.

Action by:

ACTING CORPORATE DIRECTOR, RESOURCES (C. HOLME)

(Chief Accountant (K. Miles)

(Service Head, Corporate Strategy and Equality (L. Russell)

Chris Holme, Acting Corporate Director, Resources, introduced the report. He highlighted that the report had been extensively reviewed by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee the night before and that a particular issue that had been examined related to cost pressures in adult social care and that a financial recovery group was investigating. He noted that, overall, spend across the Council was in line with budgets.

The report was discussed and areas of high performance and also areas of risk were noted.

Following the discussion the Mayor agreed the recommendations as set out in the report.

RESOLVED

1.    To note the Council’s financial performance compared to budget for 2014/15 as detailed in Sections 3 to 7 and Appendices 1-4 of this report.

2.    To review and note the 2014/15 quarter 1 performance for strategic measures in Appendix 5.

DECISION

1.            To note the update on the impact of welfare reform in the borough in section 4.

2.            To note the action taken to support residents through welfare reform, including the provision of financial support (section 5).

3.            To note the CESI report and recommendations (section 7)

4.            To agree the development of the approaches outlined (section 8)

Action by:

CORPORATE DIRECTOR, DEVELOPMENT AND RENEWAL (A. DALVI)

ACTING CORPORATE DIRECTOR, RESOURCES (C. HOLME)

(Service Head for Corporate Strategy and Equality (L. Russell)

Councillor Rabina Khan, Cabinet Member for Housing and Development, introduced the report. She highlighted the work that had been undertaken over the last 3-4 years and noted the actions proposed. In particular she highlighted concerns around homelessness and housing options.

During discussion, Members noted the very serious situation that was developing and the real suffering residents were experiencing. Concern was also expressed to ensure that partner agencies were providing residents with the best advice.

The Mayor agreed with the concerns expressed and emphasised the importance of trying to ensure as far as possible that residents were not forced to move long distances to find housing. He also asked officers and the Lead Member to liaise with partner agencies to ensure the best advice was available. He then agreed the recommendations as set out in the report.

RESOLVED

1.            To note the update on the impact of welfare reform in the borough in section 4.

2.            To note the action taken to support residents through welfare reform, including the provision of financial support (section 5).

3.            To note the CESI report and recommendations (section 7)

4.            To agree the development of the approaches outlined (section 8)

Nil items.

DECISION

1.    To note the exercise of Corporate Directors’ discretions as set out in Appendix 1.

Action by:

ACTING CORPORATE DIRECTOR, RESOURCES (C. HOLME)

(Accountant, Financial Planning (A. Kadir)

(Deputy Financial Planning Manager (R. Ebaretonbofa-Morah)

The Mayor considered the report and agreed the recommendation as set out in the report.

RESOLVED

1.    To note the exercise of Corporate Directors’ discretions as set out in Appendix 1.

No motion to exclude the press or public was passed.

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