Agenda and minutes

On behalf of the Cabinet, the Leader of the Council welcomed Tom Whiting to his first Cabinet meeting as Interim Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service).

None received.

RESOLVED:  To note that the following interest was declared:

Agenda Item 10 – Extension of the Lease of the Cedars Youth and Community Centre

Councillor Simon Brown, a member of Cabinet, declared a non-pecuniary interest in that he was a season ticket holder of Watford Football Club.  He would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

To receive any public questions received in accordance with paragraph 16 of the Executive Procedure Rules.

Questions will be asked in the order in which they were received.  There will be a time limit of 15 minutes for the asking and answering of public questions.

[The deadline for receipt of public questions is 3.00 pm, 15 January 2018. 

Questions should be sent to publicquestions@harrow.gov.uk  

No person may submit more than one question].

Public and Councillor questions taken were responded to and any recording placed on the Council’s website.

RESOLVED:  That the Key Decision Schedule be noted.

For consideration.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

Report of the Corporate Director of Community.

Upon a ‘statement’ by the Leader of the Council, as set out in the published tabled document, a revised recommendation – tabled document refers – was  moved, duly seconded and it was

RESOLVED:  That the Corporate Director of  Community, following consultation with the Portfolio Holders for Community, Culture and Resident Engagement and Finance and Commercialisation, and the Director of Finance, be delegated authority to take all necessary steps to manage the liquidation process and, in particular, authority to:

a)            consider bringing the Library Services in house or to provide the Library Services through other service delivery models;

b)            novate the existing contract to a suitable alternative service provider;

c)            vary or terminate the existing contract as necessary;

d)            conduct a procurement process and award a new contract to a suitable alternative service provider;

a)            enter into any necessary negotiations and agreements to give effect to a) – d) above and the liquidation process.

Reason for Decision:  To enable the securing of the most efficient and high quality Library Services in the future following the notification that Carillion Integrated Services Ltd (CIS) had gone into compulsory liquidation. 

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:  As set out in the report.

Conflict of Interest relating to the matter declared by Cabinet Member/Dispensation Granted:  None.

Report of the Corporate Director of People.

Having considered the confidential appendix, it was

RESOLVED:  That, following consultation with the Portfolio Holders for Children, Young People and Schools and Finance and Commercialisation,

(1)          a waiver for a direct award as per the Contract Procedure Rules (CPR) be approved;

(2)          approve the award of a five year contract until 2023 with the option to extend for a further two years to 2025 for the provision of placement accommodation for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) who were in the Council’s care be awarded; the annual value of the contract being £317,467 and the total contract value for the potential seven year term being £2,222,269, not including any inflationary increase.

Reasons for Decision:  The service provided essential accommodation for UASC, for which the Council had a statutory duty to provide.  To secure placement stability for a large number of very vulnerable young people. 

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:  As set out in the report.

Conflict of Interest relating to the matter declared by Cabinet Member/Dispensation Granted:  None.

Joint Report of the Corporate Directors of People and Community.

RESOLVED:  That 

(1)          support for the further development of Cedars Youth and Community Centre in partnership with Watford Football Club Community Sports and Education Trust be confirmed;

(2)          the Corporate Director of People, following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Schools, be authorised to enter into a revised Management Agreement with Watford Football Club Community Sports and Education Trust;

(3)          the Corporate Director of Community, following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Business, Planning and Regeneration, be authorised to:

i.              enter into a Licence for Alterations for the extension works;

ii.            enter into a reversionary lease agreement and / or variation of the existing lease with Watford FC Community and Sports Education Trust for Cedars Youth and Community Centre to extend the lease to a 25 year term at a nil rent and to effect any other minor changes to the existing lease terms as were considered necessary to accommodate the proposals.

Reason for Decision:  To secure further capital investment, operational capacity and capability for early support, youth and community services at Cedars Youth and Community Centre.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:  As set out in the report.

Conflict of Interest relating to the matter declared by Cabinet Member/Dispensation Granted:  None.

Joint report of the Corporate Director of People and Director of Finance.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Commercialisation moved an amendment to the recommendation set out in the report to reflect the amendment to the policy, appendix 1 to the report refers, to include care leavers up to age 25.  The amendment was duly seconded and, having considered the confidential appendix, it was

RESOLVED:  That the Council exercise its discretion under Section 13A (1)(c) (Local Government Finance Act 1992) to apply a new Care Leavers Discount Scheme (CLDS), as set out in appendix 1 to the report, with an amendment to permit applications by care leavers up to 25 years. 

Reasons for Decision:  The underlying principle of Corporate Parenting, a statutory function of the Council, was that every local authority would seek the same outcomes for children and young people in care that every good parent would want for their own children.

Research by the Children’s Society had found that Council Tax debt collection was harming care leavers as they were a particularly vulnerable group for Council Tax debt.  It often found that when care leavers moved into independent accommodation, they began to manage their own budget fully for the first time – this could be a challenging time for care leavers, particularly if they were falling behind on their Council Tax payments.

Creating a Care Leavers Discount Scheme would help to ensure that care leavers were eligible for Council Tax discounts.  This would help to relieve some of the initial pressure and would sit alongside a number of other financial support arrangements available to care leavers.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:  As set out in the report.

Conflict of Interest relating to the matter declared by Cabinet Member/Dispensation Granted:  None.

Report of the Divisional Director of Regeneration and Planning.

The Leader of the Council reported that he recognised that this was an interim report and that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 27 February 2018 would be considering the final element of this Scrutiny Review.  On the basis that the March 2018 Cabinet would be the last Cabinet of this Council term, he indicated that Cabinet would allow the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Scrutiny Review Group to present the final part of their recommendations at that meeting in March 2018 rather than the usual protocol of presenting at the Cabinet meeting where a response to the report was presented, which was normally 8 weeks later.  The Leader added that he was proposing this as a way forward to enhance the role and impact of Scrutiny, and in the spirit of cross-party co-operation which all Councillors were committed to.  He added that the Officer Response Report to the recommendations of the Review would be presented to the incoming Administration after the local election in May 2018 and that this involved a waiver of the relevant Committee Procedure Rules.  He sought Cabinet approval.

The Cabinet also received representations from the Chair of the Scrutiny Review Group in line with the Cabinet/Scrutiny Protocol, who also supported the proposed presentation of the final element of the Scrutiny Review at March 2018 Cabinet, and it was

RESOLVED:  That

(1)          the recommendations of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee be noted, including the actions undertaken in response to the recommendations as set out in the report;

(2)          the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Scrutiny Review Group present the final part of their recommendations at the Cabinet meeting in March 2018 and that the Officer Response Report to the recommendations be presented to the incoming Administration after the local election in May 2018.

Reason for Decision:  To respond to the recommendations of the Scrutiny Review.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:  As set out in the report.

Conflict of Interest relating to the matter declared by Cabinet Member/Dispensation Granted:  None.

[Call-in does not apply as the decision was noted.]

Report of the Director of Finance.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)          the Fees and Charges be implemented from April 2018, appendices 2?5 refer, except those fees and charges marked ‘statutory prescribed’ or ‘for noting only’;

(2)          the Director of Finance and relevant Corporate Directors, following consultation with the relevant Portfolio Holders, be authorised to amend fees and charges in year and agree new fees and charges.

Reason for Decision:  To set fees and charges for 2018/19. 

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:  As set out in the report.

Conflict of Interest relating to the matter declared by Cabinet Member/Dispensation Granted:  None.  

Report of the Director of Finance.

Having considered the confidential appendix, it was

RESOLVED:  That contracts for the provision of motor insurance, commercial property insurance, crime insurance, personal accident/business travel insurance and engineering inspections be awarded from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2023, as specified and set out in the exempt Appendix 2 to the report.

Reasons for Decision:  The Council was committed to the procurement of its major external insurance contracts through the Insurance London Consortium (ILC) under the terms of an agreement made in accordance with Section 101 of the Local Government Act 1972 (the ‘Section 101 Agreement’) which had been effective since 2010.

An open tender process was conducted in accordance with the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

A pre-defined evaluation model was constructed to fairly evaluate each tender against a set of criteria established by the ILC and their appointed insurance brokers.  The bidders detailed in Appendix 2 (Part II report) achieved the highest total scores in the evaluation process.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:  As set out in the report.

Conflict of Interest relating to the matter declared by Cabinet Member/Dispensation Granted:  None.

Report of the Director of Customer Services and Business Transformation.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)          the progress to date on MyHarrow Account replacement be noted;

(2)          the procurement process be commenced;

(3)          the Director of Commercial, Contracts and Procurement, following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Performance, Corporate Resources and Customer Services, be authorisedto determine the most appropriate method of procurement;

(4)          the Interim Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service), following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Performance, Corporate Resources and Customer Services, be authorised to award a contract to the successful tenderer following the procurement exercise.

Reasons for Decision:  The Council had delivered significant savings in the past 5 years through channel migration and digitalisation.  The MyHarrow Account had been an integral element of this work, and currently over 40,000 people logged-in each month.

In order to ensure that the savings achieved to date could be maintained, and that residents’ expectations of digital Council services were met, there was a need to commence the procurement of a replacement for the MyHarrow Account.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:  As set out in the report.

Conflict of Interest relating to the matter declared by Cabinet Member/Dispensation Granted:  None.

Report of the Divisional Director of Strategic Commissioning.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted and the Portfolio Holders continue working with officers to achieve improvement against identified key challenges.

Reason for Decision:  To be availed of performance against key measures and to identify and assign corrective action where necessary.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:  None.

Conflict of Interest relating to the matter declared by Cabinet Member/Dispensation Granted:  None.

[Call-in does not apply as the decision was noted.]

Report of the Director of Legal and Governance.

The Leader of the Council reported that due to a Holocaust Memorial event on 28 January 2019, the Corporate Parenting Panel in January 2019 needed to be moved.

RESOLVED:  That the Calendar of Meetings for the Municipal Year 2018/19 be approved, subject to the Corporate Parenting Panel meeting being moved from 28 January 2019 to 31 January 2019.

Reasons for Decision:  To facilitate the planning and forward commitments of both Members and officers.  To allow the room booking arrangements to be put in place at the earliest opportunity.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:  As set out in the report.

Conflict of Interest relating to the matter declared by Cabinet Member/Dispensation Granted:  None.

Appendix 1 to the report of the Corporate Director of People at item 9.

See Minute 654.

Appendix 2 to the report of the Director of Finance at item 14.

See Minute 659.