Agenda and draft minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest.

At its meeting on 27 February 2013, the council established a Revenue Investment Fund of £100,000 as part of the overall budget proposals.  Depending upon the council’s future budget position, further contributions to the fund may be made in the following years.

The council also approved the use of the Budget Support Fund to initially finance “Invest to Save” projects.  It was agreed that viable proposals could be financed from the Budget Support Fund with the fund being “repaid” out of the revenue budget as resulting savings arose.  Once the fund had been repaid the full amount it had originally financed in respect of a particular proposal, the savings would be retained within the revenue budget, thereby providing an ongoing benefit.

Recognising the need to establish a responsive, efficient and accountable mechanism for considering proposals for funding from the Revenue Investment Fund and Budget Support Fund, the Cabinet favoured an inclusive approach with the establishment of a cross-party Cabinet panel.

At its meeting on 6 March, therefore, the Cabinet established this panel to make recommendations to it in respect of the Revenue Investment Fund and the Budget Support Fund.  The panel consists of seven members with places being allocated in accordance with the political proportionality of the council (4 Labour, 2 Conservative, 1 Liberal Democrat), and is chaired by the Cabinet member for Finance and Resources.  The Conservative Group has not made nominations to its places on the panel.

The panel was reminded of its terms of reference as determined by the Cabinet at its meeting on 6 March 2013.

A report was submitted to enable the panel to select projects from the ten initial bids for funding from the Revenue Investment Fund, to enable detailed business cases to be compiled.

Resolved:

(1)               That Bid 2 (External Funding Officer (£20,000)) be recommended for approval;

(2)               That detailed presentations be sought in respect of:-

(a)   The LAPS (£5,000), Health Promotion (£10,000) and Community Pride (£5,000) elements of Bid 1 (Continuation of Safer and Stronger Communities Work following reductions in funding);

(b)   Bid 6 (Electronic Document and Records Management System (£40,000)); and

(c)   Bid 9 (British Cycling Sky Ride (£7,000)); and

(3)               That further information be sought in respect of:-

(a)   Bid 5 (Mobile Working Systems for Inspections (Environmental Health) (£33,550));

(b)   Bid 7 (Mobile Working Systems for Inspections (Street Scene)/Vehicle Monitoring System (£8,000/£28,000)); and

(c)   Bid 8 (Sport Drop-in Sessions (£14,020)).

A report was submitted to enable the panel to select projects from the 13 initial bids for Invest to Save Schemes to be funded from the Budget Support Fund, to enable detailed business cases to be compiled.

Resolved:

(1)               That the decision taken by Cabinet in respect of Bid 3 (Telephony and Wide Area Network Investment (£25,000)) be noted;

(2)               That the decision taken in consultation with the portfolio holder in respect of Bid 9 (Mayoral Vehicle (£9,984)) be noted;

(3)               That agreement be given in principle to recommend a pilot trial scheme involving six to eight members in respect of Bid 5 (Digital Member Services (£40,800)); and

(4)               That consideration of the remaining schemes be deferred.

In order to allow adequate time for the consideration of the deferred business and to provide an opportunity for the further information requested above to be presented, the panel considered an adjournment of the meeting to a date and time to be confirmed.

Resolved:     That the meeting be adjourned to a date and time to be confirmed, to enable the additional information requested to be placed before it and the consideration of the business deferred from this part of the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 7.12 pm on Thursday, 27 June 2013 and reconvened at 7.00 pm on Wednesday, 31 July 2013, when the following members were present:-

An apology for absence for this part of the meeting was submitted on behalf of Councillor Joan Winfield.

Further to minute 4(2)(c), (b) and (a) above, the committee received presentations on the British Cycling Sky Ride bid (from Rob Foster), the Electronic Document and Records Management System bid (from Jeanette Hilton) and elements of the Continuation of Safer and Stronger Communities Work bid (from Mark Bailey).

In addition, Rob Foster provided further information in relation to the Sport Drop-in Sessions bid (minute 4(3)(c)) and it was reported that arrangements were in hand to obtain more detail in relation to the Mobile Working Systems for Inspections bids (minute 4(3)(a) and (b)).

After the presenting officers had left, the panel went on to discuss the bids in detail.

Resolved:

(1)               That further consideration of the LAPS element of Bid 1 be deferred until the second half of the financial year following the LAPS Review;

(2)               That it be recommended that £5,000 be contributed to the Health Promotion element of Bid 1 at this time, in recognition of the part the borough council has to play, whilst monitoring the new arrangements as they develop across the county;

(3)               That it be recommended that £2,500 be contributed to the Community Pride/Wellbeing element of Bid 1 at this time as seed money, while monitoring the new Public Health arrangements as they develop;

(4)               That it be recommended that £2,000 be contributed in respect of the Financial Inclusion element of Bid 1;

(5)               That it be recommended that £20,000 be contributed to the Electronic Document and Records Management System bid at this time, with the potential to contribute a further £20,000 next financial year, each representing half the cost of the initial set-up work;

(6)               That the service be challenged to identify other resources for the back-scanning element of the project with the acknowledgement that this would need to take place over a longer timescale than that originally envisaged; and

(7)               That it be recommended that contributions to the British Cycling Sky Ride and Sport Drop-in Session bids be declined at this time on the basis that excellent work is already being undertaken in these fields in the absence of the additional funding.

Further to minute 5 above, the remaining schemes were reviewed with a view to deferring their consideration to the next meeting of the panel, to ensure sufficient time would be available to consider them in appropriate detail.

Resolved:     That consideration of the remaining Invest to Save schemes be deferred to the next meeting of the panel.

It was noted that not all the political groups had taken up membership of their allocated places on the panel, and the question had been raised as to whether there was a mechanism by which panel members could indicate that they were not in favour of a decision reached by the panel.

It was reported that Council Rule of Procedure 15.4 provided that:-

“A member may require, after a vote is completed, that the minutes of the meeting record how he/she voted or abstained.”

Committees and Sub-Committees Rule of Procedure 3.1 applied this rule to meetings of committees and sub-committees.  In the absence of a set of rules specific to Cabinet panels, it was under the rules for committees and sub-committees that the business of the panel was conducted.

Resolved:     That the position be noted and brought to the attention of all groups of the council.