Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Gibson, Carter, Woolf and Pepper, the Assistant Director – Regulatory and the Assistant Director – Corporate.

To sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 14 February 2023 (copy enclosed). 

The minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 14 February 2023 were agreed and signed by the Leader.

(Where a Councillor has a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest the Councillor must declare the interest to the meeting and leave the room without participating in any discussion or making a statement on the item, except where a Councillor is permitted to remain as a result of a grant of dispensation.)

Councillor Grocock declared an interest in agenda item 14, as he was a Director on the Board of PSPS Ltd, and left the meeting during discussion of this item.

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To recommend that a drawdown of up to £10,000 be made from Spalding Special Expenses Reserve, to be used toward an event for Spalding residents to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III (report of the Spalding Town Forum enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Spalding Town Forum which requested a drawdown of up to £10,000 be made from Spalding Special Expenses Reserve, to be used toward an event for Spalding residents to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III.

The Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services, and Chairman of the Spalding Town Forum, presented the report.  He advised that the Vice Chairman of Spalding Town Forum, Councillor Gibson, was coordinating arrangements.  These arrangements would be combined with the market being held on the day.

In addition to the £10,000 detailed within the report, the Cabinet was also requested to consider a further contingency of £1,000 be made available, should it be required.

The following points were raised:

·       Coronation events were also being arranged at Ayscoughfee – were the Communities Team being liaised with to ensure the success of both events?

o   It was confirmed that the events at Aysoughfee were taking place on the Sunday.  The Communities Team were working with other community groups.  There was also liaison regarding the events on both days.  The work being undertaken by the Communities Team was acknowledged.

DECISION:

1)    That a drawdown for an amount of up to £10,000 from Spalding Special Expenses Reserves be agreed, to fund an event for the residents of Spalding to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III; and

2)    That an additional £1,000 contingency amount be agreed, to be made available if required.

(Other options considered:

·       Do Nothing – a drawdown from Spalding Special Expenses reserves would not be made and an alternative funding source would need to be found to fund an event for the residents of Spalding;

·       A lesser amount be drawn down from Spalding Special Expenses reserves;

Reasons for decision:

To enable an event to be held to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III, as Spalding does not have its own Parish/Town Council).

To provide an update on how the Council is performing for the period 1 October 2022 to 31 December 2022 (report of the Assistant Director – Corporate enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Corporate which provided an update on how the Council was performing for the period 1 October 2022 to 31 December 2022.

The Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Communications presented the report.  Performance was illustrated within the graphs and charts included as part of the report, with further detailed information in Appendix A.

The following points were highlighted:

·       It was acknowledged that performance around Customer Services still remained slightly below target due to the increase in demand of the continued roll-out of various government schemes, and the processing around these that was required.  Work was being undertaken with the Customer Services Team to address performance.

·       An Action Plan was in place to look at the KPIs relating to the Homelessness Service.

·       Response times around FOI requests had improved due to the temporary sharing of resources from Boston Council.  It was also important to acknowledge the work undertaken by the Business Intelligence and Change Manager.

DECISION:

That the contents of the report be noted.

(Other options considered:

·       Not to monitor performance – this was not recommended;

Reasons for decision:

To ensure Council performance is properly scrutinised).

To bring forward a shared Digital Strategy and ICT Roadmap for the South & East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership that provides direction of travel for future Digital/ICT developments (report of the Assistant Director – Corporate enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Corporate, which brought forward a shared Digital Strategy and ICT Roadmap for the South and East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership, that provided direction of travel for future Digital/ICT developments.

The Portfolio Holder – Corporate and Communications presented the report.

The following points were raised:

·       Although increased use of ICT and digital methods was welcome and inevitable, members commented that this should not disadvantage residents who could not or did not want to access the Authority in this way.

o   It was confirmed that there were no plans to remove non-digital contact methods.  Digital access would improve and move forward however, it was also important to retain a choice of contact methods. 

DECISION:

1)    That the South and East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership Digital Strategy and ICT Roadmap at Appendix A be approved; and

2)    That the findings of the Joint Scrutiny Task Group and PMP/PDP Joint Meeting (Appendices B and C) be noted.

(Other options considered:

·       Do nothing – each Council continuing to have its own approach to Digital/ICT was possible but would not be in line with the approved Partnership Business Case.  Digital/ICT was a key ‘enabler’ to achieve much of the ambition set out in the Business Case and was identified as an action in both the Work Programme and Annual Delivery Plan (both of which had been approved by Council);

Reasons for decision:

For the Councils to maximise the benefits of Digital/ICT in driving efficiency and better serving residents, a shared Digital Strategy for the Partnership, supported by an ICT Roadmap, was required to set out the approach to be taken to future system alignment, investment and development.  The Partnership was in a fortunate position in that Public Sector Partnership Services (PSPS) was the Digital/ICT provider to each of the three Councils.  A shared Strategy for the Partnership (and PSPS) would benefit PSPS by enabling the company to better plan and deploy resources to focus on common Digital/ICT priorities that supported the Partnership’s ambition rather than there being competing priorities from individual Councils).

To consider the adoption of the Lincolnshire Districts Health & Wellbeing Strategy and associated action plan as a framework for improving health and wellbeing across the County and to commit to working closely with partners in the public, private and voluntary sector to implement the strategy and positively impact on health outcomes for residents of Lincolnshire (report of the Assistant Director – Wellbeing and Community Leadership enclosed)

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Wellbeing and Community Leadership which requested that Cabinet consider the adoption of the Lincolnshire Districts Health and Wellbeing Strategy and associated action plan as a framework for improving health and wellbeing across the County, and to commit to working closely with partners in the public, private and voluntary sectors to implement the strategy and positively impact on health outcomes for residents of Lincolnshire.

The Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing, Conservation and Heritage presented the report.

The following points were raised:

·       Members acknowledged what they considered to be an exciting and ambitious strategy, which would involve partnerships between many different agencies.  There were clear health and wellbeing links to the proposed future development of a new leisure centre in Spalding, and the Council’s policy to develop its woodland spaces. 

DECISION:

That the Lincolnshire Districts Health and Wellbeing Strategy be adopted as a document which provided the Council with the framework for improving health and wellbeing in the South and East Lincolnshire Partnership Sub-Region, and that full engagement in both the further development of this strategy and the delivery of the actions outlined be committed to.

(Other options considered:

·       Not to adopt the strategy – not recommended);

Reasons for decision:

·       The Strategy was an overarching document, developed through engagement with agencies across Lincolnshire within the health system.  It gave a solid strategic framework and high-level objectives to use to further develop the Healthy Living Action Plan for the South and East Lincolnshire Partnership to drive local delivery in addressing health inequalities.

It demonstrated a clear commitment to shared objectives to improving the health and wellbeing of residents through district action).

To adopt the updated Housing Tenancy Management Policy (report of the Assistant Director – Housing enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Housing which requested adoption of the updated Housing Tenancy Management Policy.

The Portfolio Holder for HRA and Private Sector Housing presented the report.

DECISION:

1)    To adopt the Housing Tenancy Management Policy; and

2)    To delegate minor operational amendments to the Housing Tenancy Management Policy to the Assistant Director – Housing in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for HRA and Private Sector Housing.

(Other options considered:

·       Do nothing – The Cabinet could decide not to adopt the updated policy and continue to use the original policy.  This option was not recommended as it was good practice to update policies on a regular basis);

Reasons for decision:

To ensure that the Council met the latest requirements of the Regulator of Social Housing, referenced the most recent legislation and reflected the current operational practice).

To ask Cabinet to endorse the draft South and East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership Asset Management Strategy 2023 – 2028 and recommend it to Council for adoption (report of the Assistant Director – General Fund Assets enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – General Fund Assets which requested endorsement of the draft South and East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership Asset Management Strategy 2023 – 2028, and that it be recommended to Council for adoption.

The Portfolio Holder for Assets and Planning presented the report.

Members commented that the strategy was well laid out with clear priorities and timelines for their achievement.

DECISION:

1)    That the draft South and East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership Asset Management Strategy 2023 – 2028, attached at Appendix 1, be endorsed; and

RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL:

2)    That the adoption of the South and East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership Asset Management Strategy 2023 – 2028 be recommended to Council.

(Other options considered:

·       Not to endorse the South and East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership Asset Management Strategy 2023 – 2028, and not to recommend it for adoption to Council);

Reasons for decision:

Developing and adopting a partnership wide Asset Strategy was a key action prescribed in the Partnership’s 2022/23 work plan.  The draft at Appendix 1 was considered by the Council’s Policy Development Panel on 13 December 2022 and included the additions it recommended; the Panel determined to refer the draft with its comments for adoption).

To agree the revision to the Industrial Units Lettings Policy (report of the Assistant Director – General Fund Assets enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – General Fund Assets, which requested agreement to the revision to the Industrial Units Letting Policy.

The Portfolio Holder for Assets and Planning presented the report

The following points were raised:

·       In the past, some units had not been used for their required purposes - how would the use of the industrial units be monitored going forward?

o   Members were advised that usage would be monitored closely by the Assets Team.  Quarterly inspection reports and visits were undertaken to ensure that tenants were conforming to current legislation and to monitor any change of use.

DECISION:

That the revised Industrial Units Letting Policy attached at Appendix A to the report be approved.

(Other options considered:

·       Not to review the Policy- not reviewing the Policy itself would be acting in contravention of the Council’s policy review model – not recommended

·       Not seek to effect the revisions recommended – to retain the existing policy approach would mean the Council would limit its flexibility in managing this part of its estate and would limit its ability to better support local businesses and local employment opportunities – not recommended;

Reasons for decision:

The Policy had been reviewed by officers in accordance with the Council’s policy review framework and had been scrutinised by the Council’s Policy Development Panel to ensure that it remained fit for  purpose in all aspects).

To consider an alternative option for the future delivery of procurement and contract services across the Partnership (report of the Assistant Director – Finance enclosed).

(Please note that the appendix to this report is not for publication by virtue of Paragraph 3 (Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)) in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, and is therefore attached to this agenda as item 17).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Finance which requested consideration to an alternative option for the future delivery of procurement and contract services across the Partnership.

The Portfolio Holder – Finance, Commercialisation and Partnership presented the report

Members advised that there was no requirement for discussion of the information within the exempt appendix, and there was therefore no need for the meeting to go into private session for discussion of this item.

The following points were raised:

·       Members questioned whether moving to a centralised procurement solution would result in specific requirements of departments wishing to procure goods or services not being met?

o   It was clarified that the Procurement and Contract function would not operate in isolation.  They would work very closely with all departments to ensure that it was clear what was required.  Portfolio Holders and Senior Managers would not be divorced from the process.

·       It was felt that PSPS was a suitable vehicle to provide this function, and that providing the Procurement and Contract function across all three councils within the Partnership would result in savings through economies of scale/purchasing larger quantities at a better price.  It was important to achieve the correct balance between value for money/purchasing the correct product or service/planning ahead for the purchase of products or services/buying better across the three authorities.    

DECISION:

1)    That the transfer of procurement and contract services to PSPS Ltd be approved, as set out in the business case at Appendix A; and

2)    That the ability to approve the necessary deed of variation (which supported changes to the Joint Venture Agreement) and amend any contract documentation resulting from the inclusion of Procurement into PSPS Ltd be delegated to the Deputy Chief Executive (S151 Officer) in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Finance, Commercialisation and Partnerships.

(Other options considered:

·       To do nothing, which would result in the partnership having 3 different solutions for procurement and contract work);

Reasons for decision:

The business case set out a clear proposal for the future provision of procurement and contract services across the three Councils, as well as being a financially positive proposition).

Note:         (i)      No other business is permitted unless by reason of special circumstances, which shall be specified in the Minutes, the Leader is of the opinion that the item(s) should be considered as a matter of urgency. 

(ii)     Any urgent item of business that is a key decision must be dealt with in accordance with the Constitution’s Access to Information Procedure Rules.

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That the Press and Public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business.  The information in the item below has been furnished to the Council by a Government department upon terms which forbid the disclosure of the information to the public.

DECISION:

Under section 100A (2 & 3A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business.  The information within this item has been furnished to the Council by a Government department upon terms which forbid the disclosure of the information to the public.

(Confidential report of the Climate Change and Environment Manager enclosed).

Consideration was given to the Confidential report of the Climate Change and Environment Manager which provided information on the next phase of Sustainable Warmth Funding.

DECISION:

That the recommendations, as detailed in the confidential report be agreed.

(Other options considered:

·       As detailed within the confidential report;

Reasons for decision:

·       As detailed within the confidential report).