Agenda and draft minutes

To sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 4 June 2024 (copy enclosed). 

The minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 4 June 2024 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.)

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To provide Cabinet with an update on progress made towards delivering the outcomes of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, including revised consumer standards (report of the Assistant Director – Housing enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director - Housing, which provided the Cabinet with an update on progress made towards delivering the outcomes of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023, including revised consumer standards.

The Portfolio Holder for Strategic and Operational Housing presented the report, which highlighted the large amount of important work that had been undertaken to date.

The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 delivered a number of key changes, including allowing the Regulator of Social Housing additional powers.  These changes:

·       Strengthened the regulator’s enforcement powers, making it easier for them to intervene where they believed that landlord services were failing tenants;

·       Placed the relationship between the regulator and the Housing Ombudsman’s Service on a statutory footing;

·       Extended the regulator’s powers, paving the way for the introduction of revised consumer standards, covering all aspects of landlord service;

·       Introduced a pro-active regime of inspections, inspecting all landlords with other 1,000 units a minimum of once every four years.

In order to ensure that the outcomes of the consumer standards were delivered, the Portfolio Holder for Strategic and Operational Housing had ensured that steps were in place to allow her to scrutinse the service regularly by chairing monthly compliance meetings and quarterly governance meetings, as well as chairing the Transformation Board.  She was satisfied that she was fully aware of the progress in delivering the Consumer Standards .  However, it was also important that Cabinet and Scrutiny were kept informed on the current position of the service.

The report set out an updated position on the following areas:

·       Consumer standards

·       Rent standard

·       Tenant Satisfaction Measures

·       Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code

·       Competence and Conduct Standard

Further reports providing updates on the position would be provided on a quarterly basis.

The following points were raised:

·       There was much work to be done in this area, however good progress was being made.  Tenant involvement was key to progression.

·       Was there the capacity and time available within the department for the appropriate staff training to be undertaken?

·       Some tenants had indicated dissatisfaction when responding to the TSM (Tenant Satisfaction Measures) survey - what actions were being undertaken to ascertain the reasons for their dissatisfaction?

To seek approval for a new South & East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership Environment Policy to underpin the Sub-Regional Strategy (report of the Assistant Director – Regulatory enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Regulatory which sought approval for a new South & East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership Environment Policy to underpin the Sub-Regional Strategy.

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

The Environment Policy was a new policy for South Holland District Council and was a commitment made in the Alignment and Delivery Plan in 2024/25 and followed on from the adoption of the Climate Change and Environment Strategy in 2023/24.  Environment policies had been in place at East Lindsey District Council and Boston Borough Council since 2022 however, these had been reviewed and were now aligned to a single Partnership Environment Policy.  All three councils were being asked to adopt the revised policy through their executive arrangements.  Scrutiny had already been undertaken by the Policy Development Panel at SHDC, and the policy had been recommended for adoption by it.

The Environment Policy set out four key themes:

·       Protecting and recovering our natural environment;

·       Mitigating and adapting to climate change;

·       Protecting and enhancing our built environment; and

·       Ensuring a sustainable approach to waste and resource management

DECISION:

That the Environment Policy be adopted.

(Other options considered:

·       Not to adopt the Environment Policy.

Reasons for decision:

·       To provide the mandate for delivery of the new Environment priority contained within the Sub-Regional Strategy.)

To seek Cabinet’s approval for the proposed ICT Policies for Officers and Members (report of the Assistant Director – Corporate enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Corporate which sought Cabinet’s approval for the proposed ICT Policies for Officers and Members.

In the absence of the Portfolio Holder – Corporate and Communications, the Leader presented the report.

SHDC’s ICT Policies were due for refresh.  The policies were last refreshed in 2022 and since that time the ICT landscape had changed, meaning the policies needed to be updated to reflect the latest technological advances, user requirements and security threats.

The key changes to each policy were detailed within the report.

DECISION:

That the policies set out in the report be approved.

(Other options considered:

·       None – the existing ICT policy set required review.

Reasons for decision:

·       To ensure that the Council had robust and effective ICT policies in place.)

To provide an update on how the Council is performing for the period 1 January 2024 to 31 March 2024 (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 January 2024 to 31 March 2024.

In the absence of the Portfolio Holder – Corporate and Communications, the Leader presented the report.

It was noted that:

·       29.69% of the Council’s performance metrics presented a positive position against targets;

·       17.19% were below or slightly below target;

·       50% were data only metrics, and therefore used primarily to monitor trends

The Q4 Performance Report revealed areas of both improvement and decline since Q3.  Key highlights included:

·       Homelessness Prevention

·       Customer service

·       South Holland Centre

·       Assets

·       End of year collection rates for Council Tax and Business Rates

The following points were raised:

·       There were continued concerns around Fly Tipping however, it was encouraging to note the increase in performance in this area in Q4.  The number of Fixed Penalty Notices issued for littering continued to remain consistent.

·       Members queried whether the information relating to gym membership in Q4 was correct – officers felt that the figures were too low and this would be clarified.

·       It was likely that the move by Spalding Gentleman’s Society to Ayscoughfee Hall could only increase attendance there in the future.

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 that Council performance was properly scrutinised.)

To detail the 2023/24 outturn position and the summary outturn position for 2022/23 and provide an update on the overall financial reporting and audit position (report of the Deputy Chief Executive – Corporate (S151) enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Deputy Chief Executive – Corporate (S151) which detailed the 2023/24 outturn position and the summary outturn position for 2022/23 and provided an update on the overall financial reporting and audit position.

The Portfolio Holder – Finance presented the report.

The Financial outturn reporting was on track with all backlogs addressed.  The 2022/23 and 2023/24 Statement of Accounts were to be published imminently. It was to be noted that the ‘backstop’ proposals (detailed in Appendix C), to clear the backlog of 2022/23 local authority audits in England by 30 September 2024, awaited a decision to be made by the new Government. The outturn report and reserves position in 2023/24 were deemed positive due to the excellent work of the finance teams and which continued in 2024/2025 with the close monitoring of budgets, savings and efficiency targets.

In respect of 2023/2024 outturn at Appendix A:

General Fund revenue outturn

As at 31 March 2024, the General Fund outturn position was an underspend of £116,000 against an overspend of £340,000 at Q3, with the detail set out at Appendix A. The largest changes since the Q3 forecast were as follows:

·       Planning & Strategic Infrastructure improved £114,000 from Q3 due to vacancy savings and forecasted agency costs not materialising;

·       Wellbeing & Community Leadership position improved £118,000 from Q3 forecast due to proactive management of demand in the Homelessness Service and additional income for Private Sector Housing;

·       A Minimum Revenue Provision £75,000 higher than Q3 had resulted from the refinancing of 2022-23 capital financing.

Treasury management return on investment continued to perform well, with the General Fund having received £327,000 interest in excess of the full year budget.

The 2023/24 budget included an efficiency target of £877,000 of which £695,000 was achieved, representing 79% against the target. This was considered a good achievement.

A release from reserves of £300,000 of the New Homes Bonus received in Q2 was included in the outturn provision.

Housing Revenue Account (HRA) revenue outturn

As at 31 March 2024, the HRA showed a surplus of £701,000 compared to the budgeted surplus of £2m. Significant contributing factors in the variance from budget included: the inflationary environment, demand for services, new and more demanding statutory responsibilities and depreciation. The HRA outturn position was detailed at Table 3 of Appendix A.

Capital

Table 5 detailed the General Fund capital outturn position with spend of £7m against a revised budget of £9.2m (representing 76% of planned spend).  Table 7 detailed the revised 2024/25 budget with the inclusion of the slippage from 2023/24 which formed one of the recommendations to Full Council.

The HRA capital outturn, detailed at Table 8, showed that £16.5m had been spent against the approved budget of £23.9m (representing 69%) as at 31 March. Table 10 illustrated the revised 2024/25 budget with the inclusion of slippage, which was a further recommendation to Full Council.

In respect of the 2022/23 outturn position at Appendix B:

Members were asked to note that this was an abbreviated report  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

To seek approval for the write off of uncollectable debt (report of the Deputy Chief Executive – Corporate Development (S151) enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Deputy Chief Executive – Corporate Development (S151) which sought approval for the write off of uncollectable debt.

The Portfolio Holder – Finance presented the report.

Members agreed that only the principles of the report would be discussed and there was therefore no need for the meeting to go into private session.

DECISION:

That the amounts identified in the report, as detailed below, be approved for write off:

(Other options considered:

·       Not to approve the amounts for write off, however this would leave uncollectable debt showing on the Council’s records.

Reasons for decision:

·       All recovery methods have been considered and where appropriate pursued, before making the decision to write off.  Debts will be written off against provisions in the Council’s accounts.

·       Officer time can be maximized on greatest returns, at the same time as ensuring robust procedures for debt management are in place across all revenue streams.

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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