Agenda, decisions and minutes

At this point, Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interest they may have in the business on this agenda.

Members were invited to declare at this point in the meeting any personal or prejudicial interests they might have in the business on the agenda.

Cllr Moore declared a personal and prejudicial interest in agenda item 7 (Provision of the Breathing Space Scheme), as his sister might be making an application under the scheme.

To consider the exclusion of the press and public from the meeting during consideration of the following:

Annex 6 to Agenda Item 6 (“More for York – Blueprints”) on the grounds that it contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).  This information is classed as exempt under paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A to Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as revised by The Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006).

RESOLVED: That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of Annex 6 to agenda item 6 (More for York – Blueprints), on the grounds that it contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of particular persons, which is classed as exempt under paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as revised by The Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006).

To approve and sign the minutes of the Executive meeting held on 6 October 2009.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Executive meeting held on 6 October 2009 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting, members of the public who have registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or a matter within the Executive’s remit can do so.  The deadline for registering is 5:00 pm on Monday 19 October 2009.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

With the consent of the Chair, Heather McKenzie, of UNISON, addressed the meeting in relation to agenda item 5 (More For York – Blueprints).  She noted that UNISON had not been involved in the blueprinting work so had had little opportunity to consult its members.  At this stage, she wished to highlight some general concerns about various aspects of the proposals, including the potential threat to jobs, the lack of Employment Impact Assessments, the effect upon low paid staff of the proposed transfers to monthly pay, and the contractual arrangements with NKA.  With regard to the latter, she drew attention to the problems experienced by a number of other local authorities as a result of similar contractual arrangements with consultants and urged that safeguarding measures be implemented to ensure this did not happen in York.

To receive details of those items that are listed on the Forward Plan for the next two Executive meetings.

Members received and noted details of those items that were currently listed on the Forward Plan for the next two Executive meetings.

This report sets out the outcomes of the recent blueprinting exercise undertaken by the More for York  programme (including the efficiency partners Northgate Kendric Ash) to identify a range of service  improvements and efficiencies.  The report also sets out a series of decisions to be made in order to initiate work on delivering the benefits of the programme.

(Please note:  Annex 1 to this report is available on-line)

RESOLVED: (i)         That the decisions set out in Annex 5 to the report be approved, subject to Executive Members’ comments at the meeting, as set out in the annex to these minutes (and reproduced in full below on this Decision List).

See also under Part B Minutes

Members considered a report which informed them of the outcomes of the recent blueprinting exercise undertaken as part of the More for York improvements and efficiencies programme (involving efficiency partners Northgate Kendric Ash) and proposed a series of decisions required to initiate work on delivering the programme benefits.

On 7 July, the Executive had received a review report on the programme and had approved further work to complete detailed business cases, or ‘blueprints’, for ten work streams.  Since then, intensive work had been carried out on nine of the work streams to baseline costs and performance, explore options and develop firm proposals to deliver efficiencies.  The results of this work were summarised in paragraph 22.  Full details of the blueprints had been made available on the Council’s website as Annex 1 to the report.  With regard to the Adult Social Care stream, work was still ongoing to finalise the reviews of Home Care and Elderly People’s Homes, the results of which would be reported to the Executive in November 2009 and January 2010.  Details of the Organisational review stream, which would incorporate the outcomes of the other nine work streams, would be reported to the Executive in the next few months.

The gross savings predicted from each work stream were summarised at paragraph 31 of the report.  The capital and revenue investments required to deliver the programme efficiencies were set out in Annexes 2 and 3 respectively.  Annex 4 detailed savings and investments made in the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), while Annex 5 presented for Members’ approval a log of decisions arising from the blueprinting exercise.

In response to questions from Members, Officers agreed to provide further information on the process for all decisions associated with the proposals, including those that did not require Executive approval.¹  With regard to the advice of the Shadow Executive and the points raised by the UNISON representative under Public Participation / Other Speakers, Officers confirmed that:

• There would be over 100 collection points across the City where residents could pay by cash if they wished
• Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) had been carried out on every work stream and the process of consulting on and ‘embedding’ this work was ongoing.

RESOLVED: (i)         That the decisions set out in Annex 5 to the report be approved, subject to Executive Members’ comments at the meeting, as set out in the annex to these minutes. ²

                        (ii)        That authority be delegated to the Director of Resources to agree any eventual redundancy and pension costs and to report these costs, which will be funded from savings arising from the programme, through the quarterly budget monitoring process. ³

                        (iii)       That the Director of Resources be requested to inform the Executive Member for Resources and the Executive Leader of the redundancy and pension costs on a monthly basis throughout the process. ⁴

(iv)              That a full Equality Impact Assessment be undertaken. ⁵

                        (v)        That a Sustainability Review be undertaken of how the changes will  ...  view the full minutes text for item 97.

This report asks the Executive to approve Council’s participation in a Regional Mortgage Assistance Loan Scheme called Breathing Space.  The Breathing Space Loan is an interest free secured loan to assist homeowners in difficulty with their mortgage or secured loan repayments.

RESOLVED: (i)         That Option 1 be approved and that Wakefield Metropolitan District Council be nominated to act as the administrative body and banker for the scheme.

                        (ii)        That the draft policy at Annex 1 to the report be approved.

                        (iii)       That Wakefield Metropolitan District Council be allowed to discharge the following functions for City of York under the provisions of the Local Government Act 2000 and the Local Authorities (Arrangement for the Discharge of Functions) (England) Regulations 2000, in accordance with the authority’s well-being powers under Section 2 of the Local Government Act 200:

·        Offering loans to the owners of properties who are in mortgage difficulties

·        Agreeing regional arrangements for deciding whether the amount of the loan to be paid on redemption of the mortgage should be deferred or repaid in instalments, or waived in whole or in part.

                        (iv)       That the policy to provide loan support to cover the costs of setting up the loan be approved.

REASON:      To enable the Council to participate in a regional scheme which will assist homeowners in difficulty with their mortgage or secured loan repayment and will provide another option for the Council in tackling house repossession and, ultimately, homelessness.

Note: Cllr Moore, having declared a prejudicial interest in the above item, left the meeting during consideration of the item and took no part in the discussion or decision thereon.

Members considered a report which sought approval for the City of York Council’s participation in a Regional Mortgage Assistance Loan Scheme called ‘Breathing Space’.

The Breathing Space loan was an interest-free secured loan to assist homeowners in difficulty with their mortgage or secured loan repayments.  Wakefield Council would be the Accountable Body for the scheme, which would work in a similar way to the existing regional home improvement loans scheme administered by Sheffield Council on behalf of Yorkshire and Humberside local authorities. 

To enable Wakefield to act as the Accountable Body, participating authorities were required to delegate certain functions to Wakefield Council.  Members were invited to decide whether to approve the policy to provide the Breathing Space scheme and allow Wakefield to discharge these functions (Option A) or not (Option B).  Option A was recommended, on the basis that it would add another, more flexible option to the Council’s tool box in tackling re-possession and, ultimately, homelessness.  A draft policy for the scheme was attached as Annex 1 to the report.

Officers confirmed at the meeting that the Wakefield Scheme (on which the Breathing Space scheme was based) had already helped about 28 households in its first year, as compared to a total of 7 York households assisted to date by the Golden Triangle Mortgage Rescue Scheme and the Government’s National Mortgage Rescue Scheme

Having noted the comments of the Shadow Executive on this item, it was

RESOLVED: (i)         That Option 1 be approved and that Wakefield Metropolitan District Council be nominated to act as the administrative body and banker for the scheme.

                        (ii)        That the draft policy at Annex 1 to the report be approved. ¹

                        (iii)       That Wakefield Metropolitan District Council be allowed to discharge the following functions for City of York under the provisions of the Local Government Act 2000 and the Local Authorities (Arrangement for the Discharge of Functions) (England) Regulations 2000, in accordance with the authority’s well-being powers under Section 2 of the Local Government Act 200: ²

·        Offering loans to the owners of properties who are in mortgage difficulties

·        Agreeing regional arrangements for deciding whether the amount of the loan to be paid on redemption of the mortgage should be deferred or repaid in instalments, or waived in whole or in part.

                        (iv)       That the policy to provide loan support to cover the costs of setting up the loan be approved. ³

REASON:      To enable the Council to participate in a regional scheme which will assist homeowners in difficulty with their mortgage or secured loan repayment and will provide another option for the Council in tackling house repossession and, ultimately, homelessness.

Note: Cllr Moore, having declared a prejudicial interest in the above item, left the meeting during consideration of the item and took no part in the discussion or decision thereon.

RECOMMENDED:(i) That Council agree a capital investment budget of £700k (£475k in 2009/10, £200k in 2010/11) to deliver the efficiencies, to be financed through prudential borrowing, with associated revenue implications being funded from savings arising from the programme, as set out in Annex 2 to the report.

                                    (ii)        That Council agree to a one-off revenue spend of £215k (£15k in 2009/10, £200k in 2010/11) and ongoing revenue investments of £410k (£128k in 2009/10, £82k in 2010/11, £200k in 2011/12), as set out in Annex 3 to the report, to be funded from savings arising from the programme.

REASON:                  To enable the Council to commence work on the delivery of this strategic objective to be an Effective Organisation, to deliver service improvements and create efficiency savings of £15m over the next three years.

[See also under Part A minutes]

Members considered a report which informed them of the outcomes of the recent blueprinting exercise undertaken as part of the More for York improvements and efficiencies programme (involving efficiency partners Northgate Kendric Ash) and proposed a series of decisions required to initiate work on delivering the programme benefits.

On 7 July, the Executive had received a review report on the programme and had approved further work to complete detailed business cases, or ‘blueprints’, for ten work streams.  Since then, intensive work had been carried out on nine of the work streams to baseline costs and performance, explore options and develop firm proposals to deliver efficiencies.  The results of this work were summarised in paragraph 22.  Full details of the blueprints had been made available on the Council’s website as Annex 1 to the report.  With regard to the Adult Social Care stream, work was still ongoing to finalise the reviews of Home Care and Elderly People’s Homes, the results of which would be reported to the Executive in November 2009 and January 2010.  Details of the Organisational review stream, which would incorporate the outcomes of the other nine work streams, would be reported to the Executive in the next few months.

The gross savings predicted from each work stream were summarised at paragraph 31 of the report.  The capital and revenue investments required to deliver the programme efficiencies were set out in Annexes 2 and 3 respectively.  Annex 4 detailed savings and investments made in the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), while Annex 5 presented for Members’ approval a log of decisions arising from the blueprinting exercise.

Having noted the comments of the Shadow Executive on this item, it was

RECOMMENDED:(i) That Council agree a capital investment budget of £700k (£475k in 2009/10, £200k in 2010/11) to deliver the efficiencies, to be financed through prudential borrowing, with associated revenue implications being funded from savings arising from the programme, as set out in Annex 2 to the report.

                                    (ii)        That Council agree to a one-off revenue spend of £215k (£15k in 2009/10, £200k in 2010/11) and ongoing revenue investments of £410k (£128k in 2009/10, £82k in 2010/11, £200k in 2011/12), as set out in Annex 3 to the report, to be funded from savings arising from the programme.

REASON:                  To enable the Council to commence work on the delivery of this strategic objective to be an Effective Organisation, to deliver service improvements and create efficiency savings of £15m over the next three years.