Decisions

To seek agreement for the award of the Pan London Community Equipment Services Contract following procurement led by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Having noted the confidential appendix to the officer report, Cabinet

RESOLVED:  That

(1)            the award of the London Community Equipment Consortium Framework Agreement to NRS Healthcare for a period of 5 years with a 2-year extension option with effect from 1 April 2023 or any later date if mobilisation was delayed, be agreed;

(2)            the Corporate Director of People Services, following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Adult Services and Public Health, the Portfolio Holder for Finance & Human Resources, the Director of Finance, and the Director of Legal & Governance Services, be authorised to agree an extension of the existing framework contract to enable the mobilisation of the new contract if required, and, subject to further consideration of risk, to place call-off contracts under the new framework contract with NRS Healthcare.

Reason for Decision:  To ensure that Harrow Council met its statutory duty (under the Care Act 2014 and Children & Families Act 2014) to make arrangements for the provision of disability aids and “community equipment” to meet the assessed eligible needs of individuals who were resident in their area.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)            the Consultation Standards set out in paragraph 3.17 of the officer report be approved, noting that all Portfolio Holders and Directors would ensure that consultations in their respective areas met these standards before they go into the public domain, with the Head of Communications having corporate oversight of consultations and standards;

(2)            the governance approach for the management of consultations outlined in section 3 of the officer report be endorsed; and

(3)            the Portfolio Holders for Performance, Communications and Customer Experience and Community and Culture be informed and able to comment ahead of all major consultations across the Council.

Reason for Decision:  The report set out an approach to improve the quality and consistency of Council consultations so that residents feel they can have greater influence over what happens in their local area and supports the vision of Putting Pride Back in Harrow.

[No conflict of interests were declared or dispensations granted in relation to the above items.]

RESOLVED:  That

(1)            the Planning Policy Advisory Panel’s consideration of the assessment (Appendix 1 to the officer report) and comments / recommendation (Appendix 2 to the officer report), be noted;

(2)            the proposed consultation arrangements (section 5 of the officer report) be noted;

(3)            consultation be undertaken on the proposed conservation area designation, with the outcomes of this process to be reported back to the Planning Policy Advisory Panel and Cabinet.

Reason for Decision:  Consideration of the proposed area as possible conservation area fulfilled the Council’s obligations under section 69 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) to determine whether any parts of their area should be designated as conservation areas and if so, designate these as conservation areas.  Whilst not a statutory requirement, the proposed consultation represented good practice.

To agree the delegation of authority to the relevant Portfolio Holder and Director to procure and contract the implementation of a replacement parking management IT system.

Having noted the confidential appendix to the officer report, Cabinet

RESOLVED:  That

(1)            the process to procure a replacement parking management IT system via the ESPO Parking Management Solution Framework, 509_19, Lot 4, be commenced;

(2)            the Director of Finance, following consultation with the Portfolio Holders for Environment & Community Safety, Finance and Human Resources and the Corporate Director of Place, be authorised to award the new contract to the successful bidder.

Reason for Decision:  The parking management IT system supported the issuing, payment and challenging of penalty charge notices for traffic offences in the borough.  The current IT system was end of life and its replacement was required to ensure the Council was able to continue to provide this service in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

To agree the Fees & Charges to be implemented from April 2023 for the 2023/24 Financial year.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)            the Fees & Charges to be implemented from April 2023 (Appendices 2 to 4 to the officer report) be agreed, except those fees and charges marked ‘Statutory prescribed’ or ‘for noting only – non-Cabinet approval’.

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

Reason for Decision:  To ensure the Council set a schedule of fees and charges for 2023/24.

To seek Cabinet approval to join the Pan London Commissioning Vehicle.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)            approval, in principle, that Harrow Council becomes a member of a not-for-profit company, limited by guarantee, provisionally to be known as the Pan London Vehicle (PLV), be given in order to:

(a)    develop and then oversee the running of London’s secure children’s home (SCH) provision for a five-year period from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2028, with a break-point after three years once the refreshed business case had been developed as well as the service pricing structure, commissioning approach, operating model, practice model and the SCH’s location was confirmed, noting that once the provision had launched, membership would be at a fixed annual cost of £20K (subject to inflation adjustment), unless an alternative model for funding the PLV, that did not require annual subscription, was agreed by Members during the development phase and

(b)    collaborate with other PLV members on future joint commissioning programmes;

(2)            commitment in principle to joint oversight and risk/benefit sharing of the secure children’s home provision, through the PLV, for a five-year period to 31 March 2028 (with three-year break point),that included the build, service development and service commissioning phases, subject to ratification after the revision of the SCH business case, and renewable on a ten yearly cycle thereafter, with break-point after five years, be agreed;

(3)            the decision to appoint directors to the company and make any appointments to an external Joint Committee (should it be required), be subject to Full Council’s approval;

(4)            the Director of Children Services, following consultation with the Portfolio Holders for Children’s Services, Finance & Human Resources, the Director of Finance and the Monitoring Officer, be authorised to:

(a)    finalise the legal documents required to set up, join and run the PLV and

(b)    make the final determination on the Council’s membership of the PLV, following completion of the revised SCH business case and, if appropriate, enter into all the legal agreements, contracts and other documents on behalf of the Council required to implement and run any aspect of the PLV arrangements.

Reason for Decision:  To ensure that that Harrow had access to secure children’s home provision and was a member of the PVL that would commission the provision and overtime expand their commissioning functions to improve the outcome for vulnerable children and young people.

To approve the Council’s Business Rates Retention amount for 2023-24.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)             the approach and assumptions for the calculation of the Council’s business rates yield as set out in the officer report, be noted;

(2)             in accordance with the Non-Domestic Rating (Rates Retention) Regulations 2013, the amount calculated by the London Borough of Harrow as its business rates yield for the year 2023-2024 shall be £12.768m as shown in the table below:

(3)            the Director of Finance (Section 151 officer), following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Human Resources, be authorised to submit the notification of the calculation of the estimated Non-Domestic Rates income to the Secretary of State and the Greater London Authority (GLA) by 31 January 2023 or other date as may be prescribed;

(4)             the Director of Finance (Section 151 officer), following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Human Resources, be authorised to submit revised figures (from those above) to the Secretary of State and GLA, if further clarification was received from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC) on the financial impact of the proposed changes to the authority and how this was to be calculated;

(5)            the Director of Finance (Section 151 officer), following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Human Resources, be authorised to implement the announced Autumn Budget business rates measures, namely a new retail relief for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties, a Transitional Relief (TR) scheme for small and medium sized businesses, and a Supporting Small Business scheme (SSBS), once the detail was known, for the financial year 2023/24 and beyond (this would also involve the Director of Finance exercising discretion under s47 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988, (as amended) in order to introduce / operate the scheme).

Reason for Decision:  To fulfil the Council’s statutory obligation to provide estimates and calculations in relation to NDR for 2023-2024.

To seek approval for a Project Adjustment with the Department of Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC) for the Future High Streets Fund (FHSF) Grant Agreement in  order to stop the project to build a pedestrian bridge providing a link between Harrow View East development and Wealdstone District Centre and instead to deliver a project in Harrow Metropolitan Town Centre.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)            the Corporate Director of Place, following consultation with the Portfolio Holders for Environment and Community Safety, Planning and Regeneration and Finance and Human Resources, be authorised to agree a Project Adjustment to the Grant Agreement with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to stop the Future High Streets project to deliver a footbridge connecting Harrow View East to Wealdstone District Centre and instead to deliver a project in Harrow Metropolitan Town Centre;

(2)            a further report, seeking approval for the adjusted projected, be submitted to Cabinet;

(3)            consultation on the design of the adjusted project in Harrow Metropolitan Town Centre and a separate consultation on alternate pedestrian access from Harrow View East to Wealdstone District Centre, be undertaken.

Reason for Decision:  The project to build a pedestrian bridge connecting the Harrow View East development over the railway line to Wealdstone District Centre would not be delivered in time to meet the Grant Agreement conditions with DLUHC for the Future High Street Programme. DLUHC will agree to an adjusted project in a different location with the same objectives and outcomes and outputs.  The issue of pedestrian access to Wealdstone District Centre from Harrow View East still needed to be addressed. Cabinet agreed to a revised adjustment rather than return the funding to DLUHC and that consultation be undertaken to determine how to improve walking from Harrow View East to Wealdstone District Centre.

To agree the revised Housing Asset Management Strategy and authorise the procurement of a Capital Programme within the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) for a 3-year period to 2024/25 valued at £31m. This will include any individual projects to commence within that time period to a value of £500,000.

RESOLVED:  That the Asset Management Strategy (at Appendix 1 to the officer report), be agreed.

Reason for Decision:  To enable the Council to meet statutory deadlines concerning the planned maintenance of stock in line with its Asset Management Strategy, to move towards a more planned approach towards asset management, to procure and plan works more efficiently across the 3-year period and to improve homes and customer experience for residents, ensuring effective investment in its assets.