Agenda item

Report of the Leader of the Council, attached.

The report of the Leader of the Council was submitted, setting out the details of the business undertaken by the Executive (copy of report circulated with agenda and appended to signed minutes).

 

The Leader and the Cabinet made statements and responded to Questions.

 

The following questions were then submitted in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.1:-

 

1. Sea City Museum

Question from Councillor Keogh to Councillor Payne

 

What is the predicted payback period for the SeaCity Museum and does the recent good attendance for its first year suggest it is generating net revenue to repay the debt required to support its building?

 

Answer

The first year’s visitor numbers have been very encouraging. The aim is for SeaCity to cover its operational costs. It is not anticipated that surplus funds will be generated to accelerate the payback of borrowing.

 

2. St Mark’s School

Question from Councillor Moulton to Councillor Bogle

 

Can the Cabinet Member provide an update on Council efforts to resolve the damage caused by flooding at St Mark’s school last year?

 

Answer

  The works to the roof at St. Marks have been phased as follows:

·  The Authority was first notified of lead theft at the school in September 2012. The work to rectify this problem was completed in October 2012;

·  The Authority was notified of further lead theft in October 2012. These issues were rectified in November 2012;

·  The Authority took the decision to prevent the potential for further lead theft by replacing all vulnerable areas of lead on the school roof with an ubiflex solution (which has no resale value). It is anticipated that this work will be completed this month (May).

Repair of internal damage resulting from the water ingress into the property, together with the rectification of any remaining leaks (which classify as minor repairs) are the responsibility of the school, as set out in the Council’s Scheme for financing Schools.

 

3. Education Costs

Question from Councillor Moulton to Councillor Bogle

 

How much does the Cabinet Member think is an adequate sum to educate a child in a Southampton School?

 

Answer

The factors in the formula and the data for each school are defined by the Department for Education. 

Each Primary and Secondary school and Academy's budget share is calculated according to the Southampton funding formula. 

The funding unit value assigned to each factor is agreed locally by the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services following consultation with the Schools Forum.  Southampton’s formula is made up of ten factors

Group	Factor	Primary Unit Value	Secondary Unit Value
1) Age Weighted Pupil Unit (AWPU)	AWPU	£2,662.49	£4,131.42
2) Deprivation	Free School Meals	£470.55	£679.12
	IDACI (1)	£0.00	£0.00
	IDACI (2)	£0.00	£0.00
	IDACI (3)	£500.00	£500.00
	IDACI (4)	£800.00	£800.00
	IDACI (5)	£1,200.00	£1,200.00
	IDACI (6)	£1,500.00	£1,500.00
3) Looked After Children	LAC	£679.12	£679.12
4) Low cost, high incidence SEN	Low Attainment	£847.33	£2342.52
5) English as an Additional Language	EAL	£702.91	£702.91
6) Mobility	Mobility	£679.12	£679.12
7) Lump Sum	Lump Sum	£114,200.00	£114,200.00
8) Split Sites	Split Sites	£28,452.00	£28,452.00
9) Rates	Rates	Actual Cost	Actual Cost
10) PFI funding	PFI funding	£0.00	£450,000 allocated to 3 PFI schools

Pupils will attract a different amount of funding depending on their age, attainment, FSM, where they live (IDACI) etc.   

 

Further to this, the Schools Forum has agreed that a small proportion of the funding is held centrally by the local authority for a number areas and contingencies, one of which is in-year growth in numbers.

 

The DfE has produced benchmarking data comparing all authority funding formulas and Southampton is certainly in line with the most common amounts funded through each factor

 

4. 20mph limits

 

Question from Councillor Moulton to Councillor Thorpe

 

Many constituents in Freemantle Ward would like 20mph limits introduced in their road. How much longer will they have to wait before the Council introduces such speed limits?

 

Answer

The Council is examining the feasibility and value of introducing 20mph speed limits, as opposed to 20mph ‘Zones’ with traffic calming, across residential areas of the City.

Consultation on a pilot 20mph speed limit, with signs and markings only, will be taking place in the next few weeks, in an area in the north-west of the City

The scheme, if supported, will be introduced by the end of the summer.

Officers will then monitor the outcomes in terms of accidents, vehicle speeds, travel trends and residents’ perceptions.

Where similar projects have been introduced in other areas of the country without comprehensive before and after monitoring, it has been difficult to demonstrate the effectiveness of these measures.

It is expected that the monitoring of the pilot scheme will be completed early next year, around 6 months after scheme introduction.

If the pilot scheme is found to be successful against its objectives, the Council may decide to allocate an element of future Local Transport Plan funding towards a roll-out of 20mph limits in other residential areas across the City.

 

5. Question withdrawn by the Councillor

 

6.  Policies

Question from Councillor Smith to the Leader

 

Can the Leader explain how their policies will differ from the last Leader?

 

Answer

Key priorities for the City would be thinking creatively to resolve

·  Economy – Self Employed businesses were significantly lower in Southampton than surrounding areas; these would be encouraged to take forward to promote economy growth and wellbeing.

·  Wages in the City – Were lower than neighbouring regions, engagement would take place with partners to encourage higher paid jobs to the City. 

·  City Deal – Engagement with investors would take place to encourage them to come to Southampton.

·  Raising Living Standards – Engagement with Health colleagues to promote the raising of living standards.  It was noted that statistics indicated that life expectancy could vary by 10yrs depending on which part of the City residents lived due to high levels of deprivation in parts. There would also be encouragement to “get people working”.

·  Public Engagement – Ways to engage the public in identifying priorities and decision making to be developed.

·  Referendums – Opportunities to be explored balanced with budget constraints.

·  Budget – Change Programme will see the implementation of new structures which would contribute to a future balanced budget.

·  Generate Income – Opportunities to be explored.

 

7. Monitoring Officer Report / Investigation

Question from Councillor Smith to the Leader

 

Can the Leader explain what their involvement was in the 'Councillor Morrell affair'?

 

Answer

This item was debated in full at the March Council meeting, the report was a fair summary of the facts and there was nothing more to add.

 

8. Cared-for Children

Question from Councillor Les Harris to Councillor Bogle

 

Can the Cabinet Member, please tell us how many children there are in Council care, how many of those are in foster care, and how many were adopted or in the process of adoption last year?

 

Answer

There are currently 474 children looked after by the Council. 408 of those children are placed with foster carers. Of those 408, 320 are placed with Southampton foster carers and 88 are placed Independent Fostering Agencies. In financial year (2012/13) 31children were linked with prospective adopters. 27 children were adopted.

 

9. HIV Funding

Question from Councillor Parnell to Councillor Letts

 

Why has the funding for Groundswell been reduced for their work with aids/ HIV when the Government has given Southampton City Council £154,000 earmarked as a grant expressly to help address the specific and complex social care needs of people living with HIV in Southampton?

 

Answer

 

The funding for HIV/AIDS services is not ring-fenced and is part of the total grant settlement for Southampton from central government. As such, the funding identified is only nominally set against this spending.

Since the ring-fence for this grant was withdrawn in 2009/10, Southampton has not used the full grant on HIV/AIDS services. Instead, a smaller amount has been allocated. This reflects the city’s priorities and the fact that services are not statutorily required, although there is recognition of their positive impact.

The reduction in funding from 2013 follows the ending of current contracts, and a retendering process being undertaken. In addition, in light of the budget situation and priorities for expenditure the full Council made the decision to reduce the funding for HIV/AIDS services in the city to £33k from 2013/14. Agency comments were available following the consultation process from November 2012 to February 2013.

 

10. Youth Services

Question from Councillor Thomas to Councillor Bogle

 

Can the Cabinet Member confirm that the undertaking given at the February Council meeting to maintain all youth service sessions until December is being honoured, and tell us what plan is in place to maintain them after December?

 

Answer

The strategy for youth and play in this financial year is to maintain targeted work at:

·  Woolston

·  Newtown

·  Millbrook

·  Zoe Braithwaite Play Centre

·  Newtown Adventure Playground

·  Thornhill Adventure Playground

 

And universal services at:

·  Northam,

·  Swaythling,

·  Woodlands

·  Sholing

 

Throughout 2013/14 strategic partnerships with faith, community and voluntary sectors are developing to continue provision post 2013/14.

 

Location	Activity per week	Time commitment
Woolston	X1	March 14
Newtown	X4	March 14
Millbrook	X2	March 14
ZBPC	X5	March 14
NAP	X5	March 14
TAP	X5	March 14
Northam	X1	December 13
Swaythling	X1	December 13
Woodlands	X1	December 13
Sholing	X1	December 13

 

 

11. Youth Services

Question from Councillor Turner to Councillor Bogle

 

Does the Cabinet Member consider that to hold reserves of up to £2m while abandoning youth work accords with good governance of the City?

 

Answer

A number of groups and activities as well as funding for various buildings to host such activities have been continued this year, as a result of changes to the budget agreed in February.  A series of options for the future are now being explored, within the context of a redesign of Children’s Services as part of the People Directorate changes. 

Some difficult decisions were taken in the 2013/14 budget, and putting some funds into reserves makes sense in a financial climate where similar levels of savings will need to be found in the 2014/15 budget round.

In the medium term the level of balances set aside by the Council will be the minimum level assessed by the Chief Financial Officer as being required based on an analysis of the risks the Council faces.

 

12.  Cultural City

Question from Councillor Norris to Councillor Payne

 

With the advent of the competition to join with Portsmouth as the Cultural City of the South, what do you perceive will be the impact on Southampton's credibility following the reduction in opening hours for the City Art Gallery, along with the reduction in staff in the Archaeology Department and the proposed reduction of the Events Team?

 

Answer

 

Whilst the public sector, including local government and key cultural organisations such as the Arts Council, experiences significant funding reductions, there are inevitably some difficult decisions to be made about revenue funding.

Southampton has a vibrant cultural economy and for a sustainable future, we need to encourage less reliance on the public sector. The UK City of Culture bid seeks to raise aspirations and provide a platform to help all sectors of both Cities cultural offer, to grow and develop. Taking opportunities such as this to raise the profile of the City and promote its cultural offer will help us face the challenges that many other Cities are also inevitably facing.

 

13.  Nolan Principles

Question from Councillor Vinson to the Leader of the Council

 

Does the Leader regard the Nolan Principles as optional or obligatory?

 

Answer

All members were aware of the Nolan Principles and were encouraged to abide by them.  Any concerns of breaches should be taken up with the Monitoring Officer

 

14. Surveillance

Question from Councillor Vinson to the Leader of the Council

 

Has the Council made use of private investigators during the past two years, and if so for what purposes?

 

Answer

The Council has not made use of private investigators during the past two years.

 

15. Proceeds of Crime

Question from Councillor Vinson to the Leader of the Council

 

On how many occasions has the Council made use of the 2002 Proceeds of Crime Act during the past five years to recoup fraudulent claims?

 

Answer

Regulatory Services has arrangements in place to carry out financial investigations to pursue POCA action in relevant cases, however, no funding has been recovered to date over the last five years.

 

16. Confidentiality Clauses

Question from Councillor Vinson to the Leader of the Council

 

Has the Council made use of confidentiality clauses in any staff compromise agreement during the past two years? If so, were ex gratia payments involved?

 

Answer

The Council has made use of confidentiality clauses in some staff compromise agreements over the last two years. Of these some would have included ex gratia payments.

 

17. Council Tenants’ Spare Rooms

Question from Councillor Vinson to Councillor Payne

 

Has the Council issued any advice to its tenants regarding the letting of spare rooms to offset the so-called ‘bedroom tax’?

 

Answer

There has been a range of advice given to council tenants about how to manage the impact of the reduction in housing benefits due to under occupying their home. This includes looking for work, seeking an increase in hours of work, moving via mutual exchange and considering taking in a lodger to help meet the shortfall in rent. The Money tree magazine was delivered to every tenant household where these options are detailed. The welfare benefit reform pages of the city council’s website provides more detail on how to go about taking in a lodger and what a tenant needs to do if they wish to take up this option. There is also on the housing website, a page to promote “rent a room scheme” where links to external websites for searching for a lodger are given.

In addition all affected SCC tenants have been contacted by Housing staff over the past few months. A summary advice sheet was produced for staff to use when explaining the new rules and this includes advice about taking in a lodger. Housing benefit letters also include this advice.

 

18. Buy-to-let

Question from Councillor Vinson to Councillor Payne

 

Is the Cabinet Member aware that, according to statistics published by HSBC, Southampton heads the list of towns and cities with the highest buy-to-let rental yields?

 

Answer

Yes – this was in The Times four weeks ago. The research revealed that comparatively low property prices for the region coupled with strong rental demand in Southampton led to the City topping the list of locations with the highest average rental payback at 7.82 per cent per year. The average Southampton property for rental costs £138,311, while the average rent is £901 per month. About 24% of properties in the City are privately rented, which is twice the national average.

 

19. Newly Built Homes

Question from Councillor Baillie to Councillor Payne

 

What is your policy regarding setting the rent levels of newly built homes?

 

Answer

The Council is complying with Government policy for providing new affordable housing (as set out in the last comprehensive spending review) that Affordable Rent - up to 80 per cent of market rate - should be charged.

 

20.  Labour Manifesto

Question from Councillor Baillie to the Leader of the Council

 

Now that your manifesto from last year has been independently and systematically rubbished, and with you no doubt wishing to set an example of honesty, what other promises from that manifesto will you now tell the people of Southampton you are going to ditch?

 

Answer

There would be a review which would be reflected in the Council Plan and submitted to the July meeting for debate.