Agenda and minutes

The Leader’s appointment to the LGA, City Regions Board was approved by Cabinet. 

Report of the Cabinet Member for Finance summarising the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account revenue financial position for the Authority for the 3 months to the end of June 2015, attached.

Cabinet agreed to:

i)  note the current General Fund revenue position for 2015/16 as at Qtr 1, which is a forecast over spend at year end of £9.43Magainst the budget approved by Council on 11 February 2015, as outlined in paragraph 4; 

ii)  note that the forecast over spend for portfolios is £9.66M as outlined in paragraph 5;

iii)  agree the actions being put in place to address the overspend position as described in paragraphs 9 and 10;

iv)  note the performance to date with regard to the delivery of the agreed savings proposals approved for 2015/16 as detailed in Appendix 3.

v)  note the performance against the financial health indicators detailed in Appendix 4.

vi)  note the performance outlined in the Quarterly Treasury Management Report attached as Appendix 5.

vii)  note the performance outlined in the Quarterly Collection Fund Report attached as Appendix 7.

viii)  note the current HRA budget monitoring position for 2015/16, as at Qtr 1. There is a forecast overspend at year end of £0.95M against the budget approved by Council on 11 February 2015, as outlined in paragraphs 29 and 30 and in Appendix 6.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Communities, Culture and Leisure outlining the results of the consultation relating to the future transformation of the Southampton Library Service and a proposal for the way forward, attached.

DECISION MADE: (Ref: 15/16 15193)

On consideration of the report of the Cabinet Member for Communities, Culture and Leisure having considered and addressed recommendations made by Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee at the meeting held on 13^th August and having received representations from Members of the Council, Friends of Libraries representatives, local residents and interested parties, Cabinet agreed the following:

(i)  To approve the five key areas of Future Focus of the Library Service following consideration of the consultation feedback as outlined in Appendix 3  to include:

·  Developing a lifelong love of reading

·  Getting the City confidently online

·  Helping to meet the information needs of the City

·  Delivering in partnership

·  Developing the 24/7 virtual (web based) online library

(ii)  To approve Option D for implementation as outlined in the consultation process and in this report at paragraph 36.

(iii)To cease to provide a Council managed Library Service from Cobbett Road Library, Burgess Road Library, Millbrook Library, Thornhill Library, Weston Library and the Mobile Library by March 31^st 2016 and seek to encourage community led library initiatives in these buildings.

(iv)To delegate authority to the Director of Place to devise and implement the necessary processes and documentation required to establish, where appropriate, community led initiatives in the libraries that the City Council ceases to provide a service from, subject to meeting the assessment criteria set out in this report.

(v)  To delegate authority to the Director of Place, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Communities, Culture and Leisure and the Head of Property, to lease Burgess Road Library, Cobbett Road Library and the new unit at Weston at less than Best Consideration (where appropriate) following the application process, referred to above, subject to meeting the required legal tests and duties. 

(vi)To approve the implementation of formal staff consultation on the changes that result from the decisions in this report and devise and implement a staffing structure accordingly.

(vii)  To delegate authority to the Director of Place, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Communities, Culture and Leisure and the Head of Property to do anything necessary to give effect to the recommendations contained in this report.

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

DECISION MADE: (Ref: 15/16 15193)

On consideration of the report of the Cabinet Member for Finance having received representations from a member of the public, Cabinet agreed the following:

(i)  To note the 2015/16 spending pressures for the General Fund as detailed in paragraph 9 of the report.

(ii)  To note the in-year actions to address the spending pressures as per paragraph 15 of the report.

(iii)  To note the potential in-year reduction in funding for Public Health as set out in paragraphs 16 to 22 of the report.

(iv)  To note the Medium Term Financial Forecast as set out in paragraphs 23 to 38 of the report, including the specific impact on the HRA arising from the recent announcements on Social Housing Rents.

(v)  To note the Revenue Support Grant scenario modelling as set out in paragraphs 26 to 28 and Appendix 1 of the report.

(vi)  To approve the savings proposals, as set out in Appendix 2 to this report and paragraphs 39 to 46 of the report, for consultation.

(vii)  Subject to approval of the recommendations contained within the “Future of Southampton Library Service” report elsewhere on the agenda, to agree the additional saving set out in paragraph 47 of the report.

(viii)  To note the remaining budget shortfall for 2016/17 to 2019/20 as set out in paragraphs 48 to 49 of the report.

(ix)  To consult on the proposed changes to the HR ’Organisational Change Policy’ and the ‘Redeployment Policy’ for compulsory redundancy so that they are brought in line with the contractual notice period. This will lead to a reduction in both the discretionary notice period and the redeployment period from 4 months to a maximum of 3 months (subject to grade and length of service) as set out in paragraph 55 of the report.

(x)  To delegate authority to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance to do anything necessary to give effect to the recommendations in this report.

(xi)  To instruct officers to implement savings at the earliest date to secure benefits in 2015/16.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care seeking approval to consult on two interlinked proposals for an Integrated Service for crisis response, rehabilitation, reablement and hospital discharge, attached.

DECISION MADE: (Ref: 15/16 15107)

On consideration of the report of the Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care and having received representations from a Member of the Council, Cabinet agreed the following:

(i)  To approve that within the consultations the preferred Option is Option 4 which will deliver an integrated service.

(ii)  To approve a formal consultation with relevant staff in the City Council and Solent NHS Trust on Phase One.

(iii)  To delegate authority to the Acting Director of Adult Social Care and Head of Legal and Democratic Services, following consultation with the lead Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care to do anything necessary to give effect to the Phase One proposals incorporating any changes resulting from the staff consultation.

(iv)  Subsequent to consultation, and as a part of the actions in (iii) to facilitate integrated working between Health and Social Care, to approve establishing a Section 113/Section 75 agreement under the National Health Service Act 2006 as appropriate.

(v)  To approve a formal consultation with relevant staff (City Council and Solent NHS Trust), with stakeholders and with service users, carers and family members on proposals for Phase Two, including the potential preferred Option - a reconfiguration of rehab and reablement beds to achieve the most appropriate balance of bed based and domiciliary care to support the integrated service model.

(vi)  To note that there is an indicative net saving in the region of £210,000 to £825,380 to be realised by 2020 if Phase Two of the re-design of services is taken forward. This saving is associated with a predicted reduction in hospital admissions and permanent admissions to residential and nursing homes by investing more into reablement and domiciliary care, and is predicated on re-investment of some of the resources freed up by Phase Two.

(vii)  To note, subsequent to consultation, the final recommended proposal in respect of Phase Two, will be brought back to a Cabinet meeting in 2016 for approval and agreement to implement.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and the Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Social Care to note the decision taken by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services under delegated powers, attached.

This report is submitted for consideration as a general exception under paragraph 15 of the Access to Information procedure Rules in Part 4 of the Council’s Constitution, notice having been given to the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee and the public.

The matter requires a decision and cannot be deferred for inclusion in the next Forward Plan for decision following 28 clear days notice.

DECISION MADE: (Ref: 15/16 15288)

On consideration of the report of the Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Social Care, and having complied with paragraph 15 of the Council’s Access to Information Procedure Rules, Cabinet agreed the recommendations as set out in the confidential report.