Agenda and minutes

To deal with any executive appointments, as required.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Housing and Sustainability seeking approval for expenditure on various housing projects across the City, attached.

DECISION MADE: (Ref: CAB 14/15 12881)

On consideration of the report of the Cabinet Member for Housing and Sustainability, Cabinet agreed the following:

To approve in accordance with Financial Procedure Rules expenditure of £4,472,000 phased

£1,921,000 in 2014-15; and

£2,551,000 in 2015-16

on replacement windows, structural works, Disabled Adaptations, Programme Management Fees and Supported Housing Asset Programme (SHAP), provision for which exists within the Safe, Wind and Weather Tight, Modern Facilities and Well-Maintained Communal facilities sections of the HRA Capital Programme as detailed in the table below:

DECISION MADE: (Ref: CAB 14/15 12976 )

On consideration of the report of the Director of Corporate Services, Cabinet agreed the following:

(i)  That the creation of a limited liability partnership (LLP) between the Council and Public Sector Plc Facilitating  Limited (PSPF) be approved;

(ii)  That the final terms of the necessary agreements be agreed by the Director of Corporate Services, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Resources, provided that all the due diligence checks have been carried out successfully;

(iii)  That it be noted that the LLP arrangement requires the establishment of an LLP Members board with equal Council and private sector representation, supported by an Operations board for officers;

(iv)  That the Council representation on these boards be agreed by the Director of Corporate Services following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Resources once the format of these boards is established as part of the final terms of the agreement; and that the Council representation on the LLP board will be from members of the Cabinet;

(v)  That it be noted that the LLP will be an additional option for the Council to use to deal with its property portfolio; and

(vi)  That it be noted that further reports will be submitted to Cabinet in respect of relevant proposals to pursue a property related project through the LLP.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Education and Change, seeking approval to expand Springwell School by 16 places from 1 September 2014, attached.

DECISION MADE: (Ref: CAB 14/15 12960 )

On consideration of the report of the Cabinet Member for Education and Change, Cabinet agreed the following:

(i)  To note the outcome of statutory consultation as set out in this report.

(ii)  To authorise the increase in pupil numbers at Springwell School (Community Special School) from the 1 September 2014 by the addition of 16 places.

(iii)  To delegate authority to the People Director, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Education & Change, to do anything necessary to give effect to the recommendations in this report.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport seeking approval of the Article 4 Direction for Rockstone Lane, removing Permitted Development Rights for the properties in Rockstone Lane.

DECISION MADE: (Ref: CAB 14/15 12817 )

On consideration of the report of the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, Cabinet agreed that having considered the objections to the proposals, to confirm the Article 4 Direction for Rockstone Lane, removing Permitted Development Rights for the properties set out in Appendix 1.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Resources and Leisure on the winding up of ‘ASAP’ (the Accommodation Strategy Action Programme) and Vacation of Marland House project, seeking approval to combine the remaining budget from these schemes into a new project to cover the next phase of the Accommodation Strategy, attached.

DECISION MADE: (RefCAB 14/15 12981)

On consideration of the report of the Cabinet Member for Resources and Leisure, Cabinet agreed the following:

(i)  To approve the next phase of the Accommodation Strategy to enable the potential vacation of One Guildhall Square, followed by Service Properties through the implementation of further accommodation changes to in order to generate ongoing revenue savings.

(ii)  Subject to the conclusion of successful negotiations with a third party, to approve the grant of a lease of the Council’s office space within OGS and delegate authority to the Head of Property, Procurement and Health & Safety and the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to finalise the detailed terms and complete the lease.

(iii)  To add in accordance with Financial Procedure Rules a sum of £1,837,000 to the Resources Portfolio Capital programme in 2014/15 to enable the next phase of the accommodation strategy to be implemented.

(iv)  To vire in accordance with Financial Procedure Rules a sum of £742,000 from the Accommodation Strategy Action Programme (ASAP) and £1,095,000 from the Vacation of Marland House schemes within the Resources Portfolio Capital programme to the newly created scheme for the next phase of the accommodation strategy

(v)  To note the revenue under spend of £425,000 as set out in the report and approve the extended scope of this remaining budget to now include spend to support the next phase of the accommodation strategy.

(vi)  To note that the existing authority delegated to the Director of Corporate Services will continue to be applied, to allocate premises related resources (revenue and capital) to enable any works necessary to be delivered to ensure the implementation of this next phase of the Accommodation Strategy.

Report of the Leader of the Council seeking approval of the Council's contribution towards the implementation of the City Strategy 2014-2025, attached.

DECISION MADE: (Ref: CAB 14/15 12996)

On consideration of the report of the Leader of the Council, Cabinet agreed to endorse the draft Southampton City Strategy 2014 - 2025 prepared by Southampton Connect and to recommend its approval to Council on 16^th July 2014.

Report of the Leader of the Council to agree the Council Strategy 2014 – 2017, attached.

DECISION MADE: (Ref: CAB 14/15 13000)

On consideration of the report of the Leader of the Council, Cabinet agreed the following:

(i)  To note the recommendations made by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee, as reported verbally at the meeting, which, if approved by Council, will be reflected in the final version of the Council Strategy.

(ii)  To recommend the draft Council Strategy 2014-2017, including the Council priorities attached as Appendix 1, to Council for approval.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Education and Change on the next phase of the Council's transformation programme, attached.

DECISION MADE (Ref: CAB 14/15 13001)

On consideration of the report of the Leader of the Council  Cabinet made the following decision:

(i)  Note and endorse the work that has been completed and the work currently planned or underway as the part of the implementation of the One Council Transformation Programme, as detailed in this report.

(ii)  Approve the establishment of a single approach to the customer model for the Council.

(iii)  Approve, as part of the customer model, the establishment of a single ‘front door’ for customers of services within the People Directorate (adults, housing and children) as set out in this report.

(iv)  Delegate authority to the Chief Executive following consultation with the Cabinet Members for Resources & Leisure and Education & Change to agree and implement the final option for the single ‘front door’ and the associated investment needed to deliver it.

(v)  Approve the proposal for a new model for business support as set out in paragraphs 87 – 93 of this report.

(vi)  Authorise the Assistant Chief Executive to implement further phases of the Business Support Project as detailed in paragraph 94.

(vii)  Note and endorse the governance arrangements as set out in paragraphs 97 – 101 of this report.

(viii)  Note that further reports on the transformation programme will be brought forward to Cabinet and Council over the next six months.

(ix)  Authorise the Chief Executive, following consultation with the Cabinet Members for Resources & Leisure and Education & Change to take any further action necessary to give effect to the content of this report.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care seeking approval to commence consultation on transformation of a number of SCC Adult Social Care provider services and some commissioned day care provision, attached.

DECISION MADE: (Ref: CAB 14/15 13004)

On consideration of the report of the Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care, Cabinet agreed the following:

(i)  To authorise the Director of People to initiate a process of consultation regarding proposals to re-provide and redesign the care services for adults specified in Section 11 of this report.

(ii)  To note the indicative savings to be realised as shown in Section 17 of this report should proposals for re-provision and re-design be subsequently taken forward.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Resources and Leisure, detailing proposed changes to the General Fund Revenue Budget for consultation, attached.

DECISION MADE: (Ref: CAB 14/15 13020)

On consideration of the report of the Cabinet Member for Resources and Leisure, Cabinet agreed the following:

(i)  To add £1.3M to the Environment & Transport Capital Programme for a new scheme ‘Unclassified Roads – Carriageway Resurfacing’ to be funded from the following sources:-

(a)  A grant of £233,000 awarded from the Department for Transport’s Pothole Repair Fund 2014/15;

(b)  Local Transport Plan grant for Highways Maintenance of £425,000 available from scheme under spends in 2013/14;

(c)  Local Transport Plan grant for Integrated Transport of £295,000 available from the deletion of the ‘Improved Safety 2014/15 – Engineering’ project.

(d)  Direct Revenue Financing available from the Highways Strategic Partnership Third Party Income surplus for 2013/14 (£126,000) and a one-off contribution from the On Street Car Parking Surplus Account (£221,000) following a favourable outturn position in 2013/14 mainly due to staff savings. 

(ii)  To approve, in accordance with Financial Procedure Rules, capital expenditure of £1.3M in 2014/15 on the ‘Unclassified Roads – Carriageway Resurfacing’ scheme within the Environment & Transport Capital Programme to help improve the condition of the roads network.

(iii)  Notes the high level revenue forecast for the General Fund for 2015/16 as detailed in paragraph 13.

(iv)  Note the Executive’s proposals for savings as set out in the Appendix to this report and approve their release for consultation, where appropriate.

(v)  Note that formal consultation on the relevant proposals as set out in Appendix 1 will now commence with trades unions, affected staff and any people or organisations affected by the proposals to ensure all options have been considered.

(vi)  Note the spending pressure for Pay and Allowances as set out in paragraph 10.

(vii)  Note the spending initiative to support the Council’s approach to Customer Services as set out in paragraph 12.

(viii)  Note the change to the Council’s minimum revenue provision as outlined in paragraphs 27 – 30 which released £4.5M of revenue in year benefit in 2013/14 and £0.6M in future years.

(ix)  Delegate authority to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Resources and Leisure to do anything necessary to give effect to the recommendations in this report.

(x)  To instruct officers to implement savings at the earliest date to secure benefits in 2014/15

Report of the Cabinet Member for Resources and Leisure seeking approval to the revised terms of the property sales set out in this report, attached.

DECISION MADE: (Ref: CAB 14/15 12972 )

On consideration of the report of the Cabinet Member for Resources and Leisure, Cabinet agreed the following:

(i)  To delegate authority to the Head of Property, Procurement and Health and Safety to negotiate and agree the terms of the sale following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Resources, and the Leader in respect of Marland House, and Culture and carry out all ancillary matters to dispose of the site on the basis of the terms set out in the confidential appendix.

(ii)  To note the estimated value of the capital receipt from these disposals has already been built into the funding of the capital programme, apart from the new receipt for 22 - 28 Above Bar. Any receipts that differ from the estimates will need to be considered corporately as part of any future prioritisation of resources as the intention is to use any additional capital receipts from disposals over and above those which are funding the current programme to repay long-term council borrowing.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care seeking approval to re-commission advocacy services for adults, inclusive of all elements of dedicated advocacy currently provided across the City, attached.

NOTE: This item is being presented in line with Paragraph 15 of the Council’s Access to Information Procedure Rules.

DECISION MADE: (Ref: CAB 14/15 12761)

On consideration of the report of the Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care, Cabinet having complied with paragraph 15 of the Council’s Access to Information Procedure Rules agreed the following:

(i)  To approve the re-commissioning, through a tender process, of advocacy services for all adults, inclusive of all elements of specialist and dedicated advocacy currently provided across the City.

(ii)  Following a procurement process to delegate authority to the Director of People to select a provider(s) and after consultation with the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to enter into a contract with a service provider(s), for a maximum period of 5 years, for the provision of advocacy services and take all ancillary action to give effect to this decision