Agenda, decisions and minutes

At this point Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests 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.

No interests were declared.

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

Annex B to Agenda Item 8 (Capital Programme – Monitor One) 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 the following:

Annex B to Agenda Item 8 (Capital Programme – Monitor One) (minute 72 refers) on the grounds that it contained information relating to  the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).  This information was 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).

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 25 September 2007.

RESOLVED:That the minutes of the Executive meeting held on 25 September 2007 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting, members of the public who registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Executive’s remit can do so.  The deadline for registering is 5:00 pm on Monday 8 October 2007.

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

Councillor Scott made representations regarding agenda item 10 (Waste Management Strategy 2007/2008 – 2013/2014) (minute 74 refers), as Children and Young People’s Champion, in support of promoting recycling in schools as part of the educative process and providing free recycling for schools.  He also circulated details of the costs of providing recycling for schools.

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

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

This report advises the Executive of progress made within the Supporting People (SP) Programme in York, the key priorities for the Programme and the implications of these for the Council, as requested at the meeting of the Executive Members for Housing & Adult Social Services on 16 July 2007.

RESOLVED:That the report be noted.

REASON:To allow a wider strategic understanding of the programme, which extends beyond the usual remit of Housing and Adult Social Services.

Members received a report which advised them of progress made within the Supporting People (SP) Programme in York, the key priorities for the Programme and the implications of these for the Council, as requested at the meeting of the Executive Members for Housing & Adult Social Services on 16 July 2007.

Members highlighted that real progress had been made since 2004 and supported an annual report being brought to the Executive.

Having considered the advice of the Shadow Executive, it was

RESOLVED:That the report be noted.

REASON:To allow a wider strategic understanding of the programme, which extends beyond the usual remit of Housing and Adult Social Services.

This report provides details of the headline performance issues from the performance monitor session on the 26^th September 2007. It also builds on this to present the latest projection of the Council’s revenue income and expenditure for the current year.

RESOLVED:(i) That the performance issues identified in the report be noted;

(ii)               That the applications for supplementary estimate requests of £200k be granted to City Strategy to deal with shortfalls in planning and land charge income,  to be funded from the contingency fund, but that consideration of the request in respect of concessionary fares be deferred until central government has responded to the Council’s representations for an increase in grant entitlement to offset the additional costs;

(iii)             That the virements over £250k, set out in paragraph 57 of the report, be approved;

(iv)              That the transfer between general fund and the traded activities profit from Neighbourhood Services of £152k, as set out in paragraph 58 of the report, be approved;

(v)                That the applications for supplementary estimate requests of £480.5k to be funded from general fund reserves, as set out in paragraph 60 of the report, be approved;

(vi)              That the transfer of the additional Local Area Business Growth Incentive (LABGI) grant (£537k) straight to general reserves (as set out in paragraph 54 of the report) be authorised, with the exception of £20k to be earmarked for erecting the Christmas 2007 lighting scheme;

(vii)            That departments be instructed to continue to look for savings within their own budgets rather than request supplementary estimates for additional expenditure pressures;

(viii)          That the action currently being taken by departments to manage the overspend identified be endorsed.

REASON:(i) So that corrective action on these performance issues can be addressed by Directorates and Executive Members & Advisory Panels (EMAPs);

(ii)               In accordance with the Executive’s constitutional powers to make decisions on the level and granting of supplementary estimates;

(iii)             In accordance with the Executive’s constitutional powers to make decisions on virements over £250k;

(iv)              The virement request is within the budget areas where the Executive is the responsible body;

(v)                In accordance with the Executive’s constitutional powers to make decisions on the level and granting of supplementary estimates;

(vi)              The additional income is within the budget areas where the Executive is the responsible body;

(vii)            To ensure that all practicable action is taken in departments prior to seeking additional funding from the Executive;

(viii)          To enable the Executive to continue to monitor the budget.

Members received a report which provided details of the headline performance issues from the performance monitor session on the 26^th September 2007. It also built on this to present the latest projection of the Council’s revenue income and expenditure for the current year.

Overall, service performance across directorates showed fairly good improvement, particularly in waste recycling, the cleanliness of our streets and open spaces, brownfield site development, benefits processing and early educational attainments results. The most significant improvement had occurred with community safety, with significant reductions in anti-social crime and a predicted 35% decline in crime since the crime reduction strategy started.  There were a number of service delivery areas however, which either needed to be watched closely between now and monitor 2, or where corrective action needed to be taken to turn performance around before 31^st March 2008. These included staff sickness, secondary school pupil exclusions and the need to achieve a score of 3 for Use of Resources (CPA).

If the current action taken by the Directors continued to be successful, then it was projected that the Council would overspend by £12k.  However, this was due to savings on investment decisions and opportunities of £750k, slippage on IT schemes of almost £400k and other one-off savings identified by Directorates.  Any recurring overspends would need to be funded in future budget processes and would reduce the opportunity to redirect resources to other areas.  The overspends needed to continue to be fully monitored as any overspend resulted in reduced balances.  The Medium Term Financial Forecast had already indicated that the next budget process would be extremely difficult.  As much scope as possible would be needed to reduce the impact of service cuts and Council Tax increases.  There had been a lot of work undertaken within departments to manage expenditure and bring budgets in on target.  There were, however, some underlying pressures where the overspends looked set to continue.  These would clearly need to be addressed as a high priority in future monitoring reports.

Officers reported a correction to the table on staff turnover at paragraph 13 of the report to swap the column headings on turnover levels for April-June 2007 and 2006/07 outturn.

Members expressed concern that central government had not fully funded the cost of providing “free” pensioners’ bus passes and supported the representations made to the minister on this issue, calling for fair treatment of local government.  They highlighted the outstanding improvements in the Safe City indicators and also thanked officers for their hard work managing their budgets.

Members had previously noted the additional business rates income won through the law courts and which was worth over £500k to the City. In recognition of the contribution made by business in the City, and taking into account that it was not possible to make any budget allocation for erecting the cross street Christmas lights in this year’s budget, the Leader announced that an allocation of £20,000 from this rebate would now be directed into the lighting activity.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71.

This report informs Members of the likely outturn position of 2007/08 Capital Programme based on the spend profile and information to August 2007, reflecting the capital monitor one reports taken to Executive Member and Advisory Panel (EMAP) meetings for each portfolio.  It also informs the Executive of any under or overspends and seeks approval for any resulting changes to the programme, informs them of any slippage and seeks approval for the associated funding to be slipped to or from the financial years to reflect this, and informs them of the funding position of the Capital Programme, taking account of the current capital receipts forecasts for the four year Capital Programme.

RESOLVED:(i) That the £117k of adjustments made under delegated authority to the 2007/08 approved capital programme, as illustrated in Table 1, be noted;

(ii)               That the inclusion of £2.732m of additional funding to the 2007/08 to 2010/11 Capital Programme, as illustrated in paragraph 7 of the report, be approved;

(iii)             That the reprofiling of £2.360m from 2007/08 to future years, as summarised in paragraph 7 of the report, be approved;

(iv)              That the restated Capital Programme, summarised in Table 10 and as set out in details in Annex A of the report, be approved;

(v)                That the capital receipt projects for 2007/08 to 2010/11, as summarised in exempt Annex B, be noted.

REASON:      To enable the effective management and monitoring of the Council’s Capital Programme.

Members received a report which informed them of the likely outturn position of the 2007/08 Capital Programme based on the spend profile and information to August 2007, reflecting the capital monitor one reports taken to Executive Member and Advisory Panel (EMAP) meetings for each portfolio.  It also informed them of any under or overspends and sought approval for any resulting changes to the programme, informed them of any slippage and sought approval for the associated funding to be slipped to or from the financial years to reflect this, and informed them of the funding position of the Capital Programme, taking account of the current capital receipts forecasts for the four year Capital Programme.

There was an increase of £25.7m in the 2008/09 Capital Programme, mainly because of the Council’s successful Building Schools for the Future pilot programme funding bid, which provided for a brand new replacement school at Joseph Rowntree Secondary School.  This increased the 2008/09 programme to £73.6m, 40% more than this year’s anticipated outturn.  In year capital receipts, were forecast to be down against the target by £3.6m, although this was mainly because of timing issues with the majority of the slippage expected early in 2008/09.  The impact of these delays was reduced by there being corresponding slippage on capital receipt funded schemes of £2.2m.  The Council had £5.4m of capital receipt funding carried forward from the £27m raised in 2006/07.  Therefore, despite the small anticipated delay in receipts the Council remained in a strong capital funding position.  Against the current approved budget of £52.143m, there was a predicted outturn of £52.525m, a net increase of £0.382m made up of:

·  Additional schemes costing £2.742m of which £2.363m was fully externally funded;

·  The reprofiling of budgets from 2007/08 to future years of £2.360m of which capital receipts made up £2.25m.

To the end of August there was £11.9 m of capital spend representing 23% of the approved budget, compared to 26% for the same period in 2006/07.

Having considered the advice of the Shadow Executive, it was

RESOLVED:(i) That the £117k of adjustments made under delegated authority to the 2007/08 approved capital programme, as illustrated in Table 1, be noted;

(ii)               That the inclusion of £2.732m of additional funding to the 2007/08 to 2010/11 Capital Programme, as illustrated in paragraph 7 of the report, be approved;

(iii)             That the reprofiling of £2.360m from 2007/08 to future years, as summarised in paragraph 7 of the report, be approved;

(iv)              That the restated Capital Programme, summarised in Table 10 and as set out in details in Annex A of the report, be approved;

(v)                That the capital receipt projects for 2007/08 to 2010/11, as summarised in exempt Annex B, be noted.

REASON:      To enable the effective management and monitoring of the Council’s Capital Programme.

This report provides information on the key risks identified through deployment of the risk management strategy and details progress made in embedding risk management arrangements across the Council. 

RESOLVED:(i) That the contents of the report and progress to date be noted;

(ii)               That the key corporate risks, as set out in Annex A of the report, and additional risks identified by senior officers, as set out in Annex B, be noted;

(iii)             That the list of key corporate risks be approved;

(iv)              That the new arrangements at Corporate Management Team and Audit & Governance Committee to ensure regular monitoring and review of key corporate risks be noted as improving, developing and strengthening overall governance arrangements at the Council.

REASON:      (i) To raise awareness of the progress made to date in respect of risk management arrangements at the Council and to advise Members of the further work now needed to support the effective development of the Council’s approach in the future;

(ii)               To ensure Executive validation of the key strategic risks identified by senior officers;

(iii)             To provide a clear corporate focus with regards to the Council’s key strategic risks and jeopardies;

(iv)              To make the Executive aware of the management and monitoring arrangements for risk management at the Council.

Members received a report which provided information on the key risks identified through deployment of the risk management strategy and detailed progress made in embedding risk management arrangements across the Council. 

The key corporate risks were set out in Annex A of the report, with deleted and suggested risks from Corporate Leadership Group (CLG) at Annex B and a summary of the Corporate Risk Register at Annex C.

Having considered the advice of the Shadow Executive, it was

RESOLVED:(i) That the contents of the report and progress to date be noted;

(ii)               That the key corporate risks, as set out in Annex A of the report, and additional risks identified by senior officers, as set out in Annex B, be noted;

(iii)             That the list of key corporate risks be approved;

(iv)              That the new arrangements at Corporate Management Team and Audit & Governance Committee to ensure regular monitoring and review of key corporate risks be noted as improving, developing and strengthening overall governance arrangements at the Council.

REASON:      (i) To raise awareness of the progress made to date in respect of risk management arrangements at the Council and to advise Members of the further work now needed to support the effective development of the Council’s approach in the future;

(ii)               To ensure Executive validation of the key strategic risks identified by senior officers;

(iii)             To provide a clear corporate focus with regards to the Council’s key strategic risks and jeopardies;

(iv)              To make the Executive aware of the management and monitoring arrangements for risk management at the Council.

This report considers what actions need to be taken during the period from 2007/2008 to 2013/2014 to help meet challenges relating to waste management prior to the Waste Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract becoming operational. It asks Members to consider a range of recommendations and initiatives that have been identified to reduce the risk of the Council incurring fines through the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS) by operating within our allowances.

RESOLVED:(i) That it be agreed for £50k to be included in the Council’s budget each year to allow waste minimisation work to continue and subject to the usual value review as part of the annual budget build process;

(ii)That it be agreed for a pilot recycling scheme to be implemented in the Groves area commencing April 2008 at a cost of £160k in a full year, with consultation starting during 2007/2008 and being managed within the existing budget, and a full implementation plan being shared with Members following a full survey of the area;

(iii)That it be agreed for a delivery plan for the pilot area to be presented to the Neighbourhood Services Executive Member & Advisory Panel (EMAP) to inform Members of how this will be implemented and to receive feedback;

(iv)That the full rollout of recycling in terraced areas as from April 2009 be agreed in principle at an annual cost of £241k per annum, subject to the usual value review as part of the budget build process;

(v)That it be agreed for an annual budget of £30k to be included in the Council’s budget each year to help improve participation levels in kerbside recycling, subject to the usual value review as part of the budget build process;

(vi)That the proposed changes to the Commercial Waste section, that will allow the Council to provide recycling to schools and commercial organisations and which will be cost neutral to implement, be agreed;

(vii)That authority be given for the designated LATS trading officer to sell surplus LATS permits in line with the Council’s Waste Strategy;

(viii)That it be agreed to ask officers to provide further reports on the items considered in the Strategy which will contribute to the mitigation of the Council’s LATS targets.

REASON:      To assist the Council to meet its LATS targets and to minimise the amount of waste going to landfill.

Members received a report which considered what actions needed to be taken during the period from 2007/2008 to 2013/2014 to help meet challenges relating to waste management prior to the Waste Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract becoming operational. It asked them to consider a range of recommendations and initiatives that had been identified to reduce the risk of the Council incurring fines through the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS) by operating within its allowances.

The report presented the following initiatives for consideration:

·  Item 1 - To help control waste arising through delivery of an annual waste minimisation plan through to 2013/2014.

·  Item 2 - To meet the requirements of the Household Waste Recycling Act 2003 by providing a kerbside recycling service to all households for at least 2 materials.  This initiative was linked to moving all 22,800 properties on weekly residual waste collection to an alternate weekly service.

·  Item 3 - This was Item 2 plus the collection of kitchen waste from 22,800 households.  This item aimed to provide an element of consistency in service provision across the city.  The kitchen waste collection could be viewed as an equivalent service to that of green waste which was collected at the majority of other households.  This option assumed fortnightly collection but the Council would also need to consider the issue of weekly collection of kitchen waste.

·  Item 4 - To collect kitchen waste from 61,440 households that currently received the full alternate weekly collection service.  This option assumed fortnightly collection but the Council would also need to consider the issue of weekly collection of kitchen waste.

·  Item 5 - Increasing the kerbside recycling participation level and capture rate. 

·  Item 6 - To develop a commercial waste collection service (including recycling for businesses and schools) that passed full LATS costs back to businesses.  This also needed to include commercial waste delivered to Hazel Court household waste recycling centre.

·  Item 7 – To identify a waste treatment process to effectively deal with the balance of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) that still needed to be diverted from landfill after implementation of other recycling and composting schemes.  Either as part of the York and North Yorkshire County Council partnership or a stand alone solution for York.

·  Item 8 - Specific policies for acceptance of waste from non-York residents at household waste recycling centres, limiting the amount of waste taken to household waste recycling centres by residents (permits system), etc.

·  Item 9 - To develop a LATS trading strategy to deal with selling and purchasing of permits.

·  Item 10 – To review the provision of household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) in terms of number and location. It was intended to provide a separate report for the Executive to consider before the end of this calendar year regarding this matter.

Members thanked officers and members of the public for their contribution to the significant progress which had been made during recent years, especially with the roll out of alternate weekly collections.  

Officers provided an update on work  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74.

This report summarises the outcome of a review of parking services, outlines the results of an in depth review of the enforcement, administration and management of parking services and recommends opportunities for improvements.  It includes consideration of and recommendations on a number of parking issues from the Policy Prospectus.

[Note: Appendices J-M of this report are available for inspection in the Members’ Library and at Guildhall Reception or online at www.york.gov.uk]

RESOLVED:(i) That the recommendations in respect of the financial and functional review be adopted, as set out in paragraph 22 and Appendix C of the report;

(ii)The revised parking policy, as suggested in paragraph 24 of the report, be adopted;

(iii)That consultation be undertaken with the trade unions and staff on the local agreement to improve performance and flexibility;

(iv)That Appendix D of the report be noted with respect to Pay on Exit and it also be noted that at the present time it is not possible to fund a change over to Pay on Exit at surface level car parks;

            (v) That officers be requested to implement a marketing programme aimed at promoting the “pay by phone” option;

(vi)That no change be made, at this time, to the permit discount scheme for environmentally friendly vehicles both for on and off street parking but that further efforts be made to market this option;

(vii)That no change be made in the charge for a household parking permit in accordance with current policy;

(viii)That no change be made in the current level of car parking charges but that this be considered through the annual budget process;

(ix)That an Annual Parking Report be published as proposed in Appendix J of the report;

(x)That the draft protocols for enforcement, set out in Appendix K of the report, and administration, set out in Appendix L of the report, be adopted;

(xi)That the Service Levels for Parking Services, set out in Appendix M of the report, be adopted.

REASON:      For the more efficient and effective management of Parking Services.

Members received a report which summarised the outcome of a review of parking services, outlined the results of an in depth review of the enforcement, administration and management of parking services and recommended opportunities for improvements. 

The report also included consideration of and recommendations on a number of parking issues from the Policy Prospectus:

·  The adoption of a new parking policy that met the existing objectives but linked parking with the Council’s strategy on transport, the economy and environment;

·  A proposal to review alternative options for delivery of the enforcement service;

·  A proposal to carry out a trial on the pay on exit method of payment in car parks;

·  A review of the possibility of introducing a permit scheme for environmentally friendly vehicles;

·  A review of the car park charges.

Members highlighted that most car parking charges had reduced in relative terms in the City over the last 4 years, that low emission vehicles enjoyed a 50% discount on ResPark permit costs and that parking income remained buoyant.  They also expressed some concern about sickness levels and inflexible working practices in the parking team, and confirmed that they did not wish to put the service out to the private sector, owing to the ambassadorial role wardens played in the City, compared to the negative image of some private security firms.

Plans to introduce a discount for “pay by phone” customers and to provide facilities to help customers with the initial set up stage for this payment method were announced at the meeting, for implementation during the pre-Christmas period.

Having considered the advice of the Shadow Executive, it was

RESOLVED:(i) That the recommendations in respect of the financial and functional review be adopted, as set out in paragraph 22 and Appendix C of the report;

(ii)The revised parking policy, as suggested in paragraph 24 of the report, be adopted;

(iii)That consultation be undertaken with the trade unions and staff on the local agreement to improve performance and flexibility;

(iv)That Appendix D of the report be noted with respect to Pay on Exit and it also be noted that at the present time it is not possible to fund a change over to Pay on Exit at surface level car parks;

            (v) That officers be requested to implement a marketing programme aimed at promoting the “pay by phone” option;

(vi)That no change be made, at this time, to the permit discount scheme for environmentally friendly vehicles both for on and off street parking but that further efforts be made to market this option;

(vii)That no change be made in the charge for a household parking permit in accordance with current policy;

(viii)That no change be made in the current level of car parking charges but that this be considered through the annual budget process;

(ix)That an Annual Parking Report be published as proposed in Appendix J of the report;

(x)That the draft protocols for enforcement, set out in Appendix K of the report,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 75.