Decisions

RESOLVED:  That the membership and terms of reference of the Cabinet Panels and Consultative Forum and the Chairs and Nominated Members of the Panels and Consultative Forum as set out in Appendix A to the officer report be confirmed and agreed.

Reason for Decision:  To confirm the appointments and allow the Panels and Forum to be constituted.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)            the appointment of the identified Portfolio Holder Assistants and responsibilities be approved as set out in the table below, noting that these superseded previous appointments; and

(2)            the payment of Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) to the Portfolio Holder Assistants be made with effect from 25 May 2023.

Reason for Decision:   To enable the support to Cabinet Members in terms of information provision and management, to contribute to and ensure an effective decision-making framework as part of the democratic process.

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

RESOLVED: That

(1)            the new Council logo, as set out in the officer report, be adopted; and

(2)            the Council be formally referred to as “The London Borough of Harrow”.

Reason for Decision:  To enable the adoption and roll out of a new Council logo, supporting the Council’s aim to restore pride in Harrow.

To seek authority for the procurement of Harrow’s delivery partner following the successful Harrow Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund grant bid to enable the delivery of energy efficiency measures and authorise Harrow’s 2-year capital contribution to the programme.

Having agreed to note the confidential appendices to the officer report, Cabinet

RESOLVED:  That

(1)            the Department for Energy Security and Net-Zero (DESNZ) 2-year spend profile as set out in Appendix 2 to the officer report, which had been submitted to central government together with the Grant Funding Agreement, be approved, noting that the spend profile outlined how the Council would deliver the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) programme to March 2025 across a minimum of 226 homes, incorporating the required approval request to add the £2.147m additional Grant received into the HRA capital programme, specified by DESNZ as £917k in 2023/24 and £1.230m in 2024/25;

(2)            the DESNZ specified procurement requirement for the Harrow SHDF programme which incorporated the required delegated authority for the DESNZ mandatory process approval and identification of the Council’s delivery partner, completing SHDF milestone 1 of the programme, be approved, noting that direct appointment will be made to the highest-ranked contractor on LOT 1 of the pre-evaluated framework on the specialist Fusion 21 decarbonisation framework; and

(3)            the Corporate Director of Place, following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Human Resources and the Director of Finance, be authorised to finalise the award of contract.

Reason for Decision:  To enable the Council to:

·                 Meet critical Harrow climate emergency directives and central government energy efficiency targets contributing to the roadmap to Net Zero, by achieving a minimum EPC rating of C using a fabric-first approach across all homes on the SHDF wave 2.1 programme.

·                 Meet all statutory delivery milestones set by DESNZ for the specified delivery window for implementation, as set out in Table 9 of the bid.

·                 Meet the spend profile requirement as set out by DESNZ – in Annex 6 of the Grant Funding Agreement (GFA) which stipulated 42.7% of the Grant Funding it received in the 2023-24 Financial Year and 57.3% in 2024/25. 

[Note:  Councillor David Perry left the room for the discussion and vote on this item].

To seek Cabinet approval to re-procure the two contracts via the National Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Frameworks, approve the tender documents and award the contracts.

Having agreed to note the confidential appendix to the officer report, Cabinet

RESOLVED:  That

(1)            the proposed arrangements for procuring two contracts - Pension Fund Actuarial Advice Services and Pension Fund Investment Consultancy Services - be approved;

(2)            the commencement of the re-procurement of the two contracts via the National Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Frameworks, be approved; and

(3)            the Director of Finance and Assurance (Section151 Officer), following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Human Resources be authorised to approve the tender documents and award the contracts once tenders had been received and evaluated.

Reason for Decision:  To facilitate a compliant procurement and ensure that the Council continued to have contracts in place to enable it to obtain the appropriate expertise and advice so as to meet its statutory obligations as the administering authority for the London Borough of Harrow Pension Fund.

To seek Cabinet approval of the policy for Household Support Fund 4 and the Delivery Plan options for allocating the funding made available through the Household Support Fund.

RESOLVED:  That

(1)            the allocation of the fourth extension of the Household Support Fund as set out in the officer report, be approved;

(2)            the purchase of select codes vouchers from Blackhawk Network to a value of £578,000 for the low-income proactive awards and £62,000 for the application-based scheme (total £640,000), be approved;

(3)            the transfer of approximately £1,612,000 to schools for the provision of free school meals (FSM) vouchers to approximately 6,500-7,000 households with children during the school holidays, be approved;

(4)            the transfer of approximately £440,000 to Help Harrow to provide food aid across the borough, be approved;

(5)            the policy for the application-based scheme and the proposed administering process by Citizens Advice Harrow, be approved;

(6)            the Council’s Hardship Fund be redirected to the Household Support Fund application-based scheme for 2023/24 and;

(7)            the Director of Corporate Resources and Transformation/Head of Paid Service (Managing Director), following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Performance, Communications and Customer Experience, be authorised to make technical scheme amendments to ensure that the scheme met the criteria set by the Government and the Council and remained within the indicative grant level, including decisions on individual expenditure areas that exceeded the £500,000 threshold, if required; and

(8)            the Director of Corporate Resources and Transformation/ Head of Paid Service (Managing Director), following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Performance, Communications and Customer Experience, be authorised to best determine the expenditure of any underspend, to be repurposed in the following areas:

a.     to top up the application-based scheme; or

b.     to provide winter warmth packs or other resources to Warm Hubs in Harrow; or

c.     to rent arrears, or

d.     to any area of eligible spend where extra resources were needed at that time.

Reason for Decision:  The recommendations in the report met the essential criteria for the grant as set out by the Department for Work and Pensions.  The Council had considered where best to target the funding and the proposals provided a balance of support, mindful that the funding was not spread too thinly.

To seek Cabinet authority to procure 2-year programmes for kitchen and bathroom refurbishments and windows and doors renewals as part of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Capital Programme.

Having agreed to note the confidential appendices to the officer report, Cabinet

RESOLVED:  That

(1)            the procurement processes for the selection of two contractors to deliver Kitchens and Bathrooms refurbishments and Windows and Doors renewals for 2 years on the 2023/24 and  2024/25 Housing Capital Programmes be agreed with the option to extend for a further year for both Lots, noting that the combined value of the Kitchens and Bathrooms Programmes was £2.613M and Windows and Doors Programmes was £1,848M funded from Housing Revenue Account (HRA) capital resources in financial years 2023/24 and 2024/25;

(2)            the commencement of procurement processes to identify suitable providers to deliver both programmes via an open tender process be approved;

(3)            the Corporate Director for Place, following consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Housing, be authorised to make any changes required to the tender documents following approval.

(4)            the tender documents be approved; and

(5)            the Corporate Director of Place, following consultation with the Portfolio Holders for Housing and Portfolio Holder for Finance and Human Resources and the Director of Finance, be authorised to award the contracts, appoint contractors to both procurements and arrange the execution of contracts with the successful tenderers.

Reason for Decision:  To comply with the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules and Financial Regulations, due to the aggregate estimated value of the potential contracts.