Agenda and minutes

Councillor Gemma McCracken made a personal, non-prejudicial declaration of interest in respect of agenda item 5 “Consideration of Cabinet decisions”, on the grounds that her husband is a tenant of a commercial unit in the Town Centre. 

Mr Brian Cockbill, a local resident, submitted questions about public transport in Swindon. Mr Cockbill was not in attendance. The Chair asked for the written response, available at the meeting, be sent to Mr Cockbill. 

To receive the minutes of the meetings held on 1^st February and 13^th February 2017.

Resolved – That the minutes of the meetings held on 1^st and 13^th February 2017, be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

The Director of Law and Democratic Services submitted a report introducing decisions arising from the Cabinet meeting held on 15^th March 2017.

105.    Budget Management 2016/17

Councillor Russell Holland, Deputy Leader of the Council, Vice Chair of the Cabinet and Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services, responded to questions put by Councillors Mark Dempsey and Chris Watts on the following matters:

• Representations made to Central Government in regard to the Council’s financial settlement and the settlement received by other Councils.
• The Council’s plans for meeting overspends during 2016/17.
• Swindon Borough Council’s position with regard to reforms of the Dedicated Schools Grant.

Resolved – That Minute 105 of the Cabinet be noted.

106.    Capital Monitoring Quarter 3 2016/17

Councillor Russell Holland, Deputy Leader of the Council, Vice Chair of the Cabinet and Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services, responded to questions put by the Chair and Councillors Gemma McCracken, Cathy Martyn and Chris Watts on the following matters:

• The potential to obtain sponsorship from local businesses to offset the purchase price of a replacement incident command vehicle.
• Funding for the developments at 1-3 Farringdon Road and the Mechanics Institute.
• Recovery of costs for the scaffolding used at the Mechanics Institute.
• The location and storage costs of museum artefacts.
• Overspends on Junction 16 improvements linked to the Wichelstowe development.
• The current status of the Tabernacle stones.

Resolved – That Minute 106 of the Cabinet be noted.

107.    A Sustainable Future for Lydiard House and Park

Councillor Garry Perkins, Cabinet Member for the Economy, Regeneration and Skills, responded to questions put by the Chair and Councillors Emma Bushell and Chris Watts on the following matters:

• The process undertaken in assessing the bids received for Lydiard House and Park.
• Contingency plans should the preferred bidder experience financial difficulties.
• Monitoring and scrutiny of the preferred bidder’s performance in operating Lydiard House and Park.

Resolved – That Minute 107 of the Cabinet be noted.

108.    Barnfield Solar farm Scheme

Councillor David Renard, Leader of the Council and Chair of the Cabinet, responded to questions put by the Chair and Councillor Mark Dempsey on the following matters:

• Latest position with regard to the Councils application for European Regional Development funding for Solar Farm projects and the M4 scheme at Wichelstowe
• The future of Solar Farm Schemes.

Resolved – That Minute 108 of the Cabinet be noted.

109.    Private Sector Housing Renewal Assistance policy

Councillor David Renard, Leader of the Council and Chair of the Cabinet, responded to questions put by the Chair and Councillor Gemma McCracken on the following matters:

• The target audience of the Council’s Private Sector Housing Renewal Assistance Policy.
• Abbreviations used throughout the Policy and potential for a plain English version of the Policy.

Resolved – That Minute 109 of the Cabinet be noted.

110.    Changes to Household Waste recycling Centre Opening Times

Councillor David Renard, Leader of the Council and Chair of the Cabinet, responded to questions put by the Chair and Councillors Mark Dempsey, Claire Ellis, Emma Faramarzi, Gemma  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74.

Councillor Russell Holland, Deputy Leader of the Council, Vice Chair of the Cabinet and Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services, was in attendance and presented to the Committee a detailed report summarising progress and performance in respect of each of the following service areas within his portfolio of responsibility:

·         Financial Management overview

·         Medium Term Resourcing Plan and future budget planning

·         Procurement

·         HR, Personnel and Trade Union Relations

·         Schools HR

·         Council’s Transformation Programme

·         Corporate Performance Management

·         Risk Management

·         Customer Services

·         Health and Safety

·         Operational Buildings and Property

·         Revenue and Benefits Policy

·         Member Development

·         Commercial Investment Fund

At the request of the Chair, Councillor Holland, in his presentation of the report, commented specifically on those elements within his portfolio which he felt had been most successful, those where a different approach might have produced better results and the lessons that might have been learned as a consequence, and the challenges he expected to be faced by the Council in relation to these service areas in the coming year and beyond, particularly in relation to on-going budgetary constraints.

Councillor Holland responded to the following observations and questions from the Chair and Councillors Emma Bushell, Mark Dempsey, Gemma McCracken, Kevin Parry, Emma Bushell, Chris Watts and Steve Weisinger:

·        The current financial position of the Council, the reasons for the current debt position and future strategies to tackle debt.

·        Housing Revenue Account debt.

·        Specialism gaps within the Health and Safety Team.

·        Staff satisfaction survey and the morale of staff.

·        The role of the newly appointed Absence Officers.

·        Introduction of leadership development programmes and their impact on the organisation.

·        Staff absence and main causes.

·        The collaboration between People Development and Health and Safety Teams.

·        Targets for the reduction in absences.

·        Measuring staff absences with the Bradford Formula.

·        The Council sites where absences occur more frequently.

·        Staff questionnaire and questions about the working environment.

·        Securing a sustainable future for the Highworth Recreation Centre by transferring the operation to a new provider.

·        The changes being made to Empty Council Tax properties for 2017/18.

·        Impact on residents and the Council of the reduced Benefits Cap and the Universal Credit system.

            Resolved – (1) That Councillor Holland be thanked for attending the meeting to present his performance report and for his full and open responses to members’ questions and observations on the issues raised.

(2) That information requested by members during the course of the Committee’s consideration of this item be forwarded to them via the Committee Clerk.

Councillor Fionuala Foley, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, was in attendance and presented to the Committee a detailed report summarising progress and performance in respect of each of the following service areas within her portfolio of responsibility:

·         Children and Family Services including Early Help, Youth Offending Team, Young Person Substance Misuse team, Targeted Mental Health, Education Welfare, Educational Psychology, Youth Engagement, Services for Disabled Children  and the Troubled Families programme.

·         Children’s Social Work Services including the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), fostering and adoption services and the Corporate Parenting Board, Opal Team (Child sexual exploitation service).

·         Community Health Services including Health Visitors, School Nurses and Family Nurse Partnership, Paediatric Therapy Services, Speech and Language and Portage and Public Health services for children.

·         Local Safeguarding Children’s Board (LSCB).

·         Education Services including, Provision for Early Years, LA Maintained Schools, Provision for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, Education Other Than At School, Tuition Service, Championing Excellence and Promoting High Standards. This includes the Education Strategy Board; Schools’ Forum, the Music Service, Plas Pencelli Outdoor Education Centre, Governor Support services and Traded services to schools.

·         The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services is also responsible for delivering some aspects of Priority Two (Pledges 15 and 17), and Priority Four (Pledges 28 and 29) of Swindon’s vision for 2016-2020.

At the request of the Chair, Councillor Foley, in her presentation of the report, commented specifically on those elements within her portfolio which she felt had been most successful, those where a different approach might have produced better results and the lessons that might have been learned as a consequence, and the challenges she expected to be faced by the Council in relation to these service areas in the coming year and beyond, particularly in relation to on-going budgetary constraints.

Following her introduction of the report, Councillor Foley responded to the following observations and questions from the Chair and Councillors Emma Bushell, Claire Ellis, Mark Dempsey, Gemma McCracken, Cathy Martyn, Chris Watts and Steve Weisinger:

·        The work being undertaken in Swindon to combat Child Sexual exploitation.

·        Swindon Challenge and its involvement in raising education standards and the retention of teaching staff.

·        The challenges facing primary and secondary education in Swindon.

·        Concern regarding the performance of the UTC.

·        The importance of building partnerships between the UTC and local industry.

·        Publicising the work of the Council and Swindon Challenge to parents.

·        The remit of Swindon Challenge.

·        The role of private fostering and the challenges currently being faced within fostering.

·        Retention of foster carers.

·        Domestic violence and issues with compulsive behaviours.

·        Healthy Schools programme and voluntary immunisations.

·        Reductions in the youth engagement programme.

            Resolved – (1) That Councillor Foley be thanked for attending the meeting to present her performance report and for her full and open responses to members’ questions and observations on the issues raised.

(2) That the information requested by Members during the course of the Committee’s consideration of this item be forwarded to them via the Committee Officer.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Law and Democratic Services setting out the topics for inclusion in the 2016/17 Scrutiny Work Programme as agreed by the Committee at its meeting on 20th June 2016.

            Resolved – That the work programme 2016/17 be noted.

The Committee received an updated report advising on the status of outstanding issues and member requests for information.

            Resolved – That the report on the status of outstanding issues and member requests for information be noted.