Meeting documents

• (Attachment: 1)Minutes

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 25 June 2015 be approved as a correct record and signed.

Executive Members: Councillors G.J. Knight and T. Schofield

Non-Executive Members: Councillors B.A. Stead and C. Stevens.
 

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• (Attachment: 2)Annual Report on Treasury Management Activity for 2014-15 (232K/bytes)
• | (Attachment: 3)Background Papers: Treasury Management Strategy 2015-16 (158K/bytes)

Councillor V.W. Broad, Leader of the Council, introduced to the Executive a report that set out an annual report on Treasury management activity. The report was required by the CIPFA Code of Practice on Treasury Management and gave a summary for the year ending 31 March 2015.

It was noted that the prudential indicators showed that the Council had not exceeded any of its limits during the year and that the investment and borrowing activity had resulted in an under-recovery of income against the budget of £22,000. This was offset by lower borrowing costs and earnings from surplus cash flow.

RESOLVED that the 2014/15 performance and prudential indicators be noted.

Reasons for decision: To comply with the Council’s reporting requirements in relation to Treasury Management activity.
 

Alternative options: To receive the report and ask Officers to provide more detail on some specific issues.
 

• (Attachment: 4)Corporate Plan 2011/15 - Final Report (326K/bytes)
• | (Attachment: 5)Background Papers: Corporate Plan 2011/15 - 2012 Refresh (604K/bytes)

Councillor V.W. Broad, Leader of the Council presented to the Executive a summary of the significant achievements that had been delivered against the 2011-15 Corporate Plan.

The report included a summary of the progress against each of the priorities within the plan with more detail set out in action plans.

It was noted that the plan had been developed in response to the recession which included a focus on supporting vulnerable people and encouraging economic growth. This theme continued in the 5 Year Plan 2015 - 2020.

RESOLVED that the significant achievements delivered under the Corporate Plan 2011-15 be noted.

Reasons for decision: To provide a final report against the 2011-15 plan, which had been succeeded by the new 5 Year Plan 2015-20.

Alternative options: Request further reports / information on any aspect of the report and Corporate Plan achievements.
 

• (Attachment: 6)Development of Commercial Services Report (179K/bytes)

The Leader of the Council, Councillor V.W. Broad updated the Executive on the progress that was being made to develop commercial services for the Council which had the objective of generating additional income streams.

The initiative was, in part, to progress the 5 Year Plan (2015-2020) and the Medium Term Financial Plan objectives of developing a more commercial approach that would ensure a more sustainable financial stability for delivering Council services. The Executive noted that the working assumptions included the anticipated ending of Government grant funding by 2020 and the limited ability to raise Council Tax and many of the fees and charges.

In this context the report set out some of the Council’s plans for developing commercial offers in Legal Services, Building Control, Environmental Health and Revenues & Benefits to expand existing arrangements and offer services to new markets. The proposals additionally supported improvements in service quality and resilience.

Following a Member query the Leader of the Council assured the Executive that the full business cases, to be developed for each of the services, would be considered very seriously by Members before a decision was made by the Executive.

RESOLVED that:

(i) the anticipated benefits of wider partnership projects for Building Control, Environmental Health, Revenues and Benefits and Legal Services be noted;

(ii) the Council’s commitment to a Shared Legal Services partnership with other Surrey districts be endorsed in principle;
 

(iii) the Council’s commitment to a Shared Building Control partnership with the other East Surrey district councils be endorsed in principle;

(iv) the Council’s commitment to the development of a commercial trading model in Environmental Health Services be endorsed in principle;

(v) the Council’s commitment to the development of a traded service in Revenues and Benefits be endorsed in principle;

(vi) the Chief Executive be delegated authority to progress the commercial and partnership proposals to a more detailed business case stage; and

(vii) the full business cases be provided to the Executive at a future date when further details were available.

Reasons for decision: To consider an extension of the current partnership proposals in relation to Legal Services; Building Control; Environmental Health and Revenues and Benefits to move them towards a commercial partnership arrangement with other local authorities.

Alternative options: No alternative options were provided.
 

• (Attachment: 7)Enforcement Matters Report (156K/bytes)
• | (Attachment: 8)Background Papers: Improving the Safety of the Borough (354K/bytes)

Councillor J. Durrant, Executive Member for Licensing and Enforcement introduced a report to the Executive on a number of Enforcement matters. In doing so he referred to the good record of safety that existed in Reigate and Banstead with 90% of residents stating that safe places was the most important thing to them. This was why the Council had identified community safety as one of the main priorities in the five year plan.

The pilot Joint Enforcement Team (JET) was launched in June with two main aims to:
 

• test how an integrated team made up of police and council officers could work better together sharing information and jointly tasking resources; and

• improve the Council and Surrey Police’s performance with regard to the perception that working together had on tackling anti-social behaviour.

It was noted that good progress had been made but it was acknowledged that there was still significant improvement to be made.

Some of the successes identified included:

• full co-location with the Police

• Officers trained and accredited with the Community Safety Accreditation

• new vehicles with a distinctive and recognisable brand

• numerous joint exercises

The Portfolio Holder indicated that the next steps proposed would be to take JET to the next level by ensuring that the team used all of the powers available to them and to work in a more targeted manner. It was noted that this would include working with Officers from Surrey County Council.

Alongside the work with the JET a review of CCTV had been undertaken. This had been in response to the Council’s responsibility and obligations to ensure that all of the cameras were deployed in areas where they were needed, and were compliant with codes of practice. It was noted that currently they did not meet these requirements. This, coupled with the age of the CCTV network made some cameras unviable and therefore, following a thorough and quantitative review, it was proposed to remove some of the network as detailed in the report.

Following Member questions and debate it was

RESOLVED that:

(i) the progress of the work of the Joint Enforcement Team be noted and its continued working in this manner for the remaining life of the current 5 year plan be agreed;

(ii) the expanded role of the team to incorporate out of hours working and adopting a more robust approach to enforcement rather than an ambassadorial role be approved;

(iii) the Head of Environmental and Community Regulation be authorised, in consultation with the Executive Member for Licensing and Enforcement (following appropriate consultation with Ward Members) to introduce the reduction in the CCTV network as set out in the report, to ensure that the Council’s CCTV cameras were compliant with the Code of Practice; and

(iv) the proposal to combine the JET and Community Safety Teams be noted.

Reasons for decision: To note the success of the Joint Enforcement Pilot and to recognise that further improvements can be made. The proposals would ensure robust enforcement including evenings and weekends.

To make significant improvements to the service and to ensure that the CCTV network was fit for purpose and compliant with the Code of Practice and guidance.

Alternative options: To not support the recommendations.
 

• (Attachment: 9)Q4 Performance Report 2014-15 (296K/bytes)

A report was submitted which presented the headline issues in relation to the Council's overall performance for Quarter 4 of 2014/15.

The Leader of the Council confirmed that all of the Council’s 11 key service indicators were on target or within agreed tolerances which included the latest recycling performance figures (not available at the time of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee).

The report also contained the Strategic risks and Operational risks for 2015/16.

The report had been considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the 17th June 2015. The Committee had not made any comments or observations on the report for consideration by the Executive.

The Leader concluded that the Council had had a very successful year and thanked all staff involved in maintaining its high standards of service delivery.

RESOLVED that the performance outlined in the report and the comments made by the Overview & Scrutiny Committee be noted.

Reasons for decision: To consider the performance for the final quarter of the financial year 2014/15.

Alternative options: No alternative options were provided.
 

• (Attachment: 10)Raven Appointments 2015 Report (177K/bytes)

The Executive Member for Housing and Welfare, Councillor Mrs R. Renton reported that the Council nominated three non-executive Directors to serve on the board of Raven Housing Trust. Each representative served for a rolling programme of three years with an appointment being made on an annual basis.

It was noted that the Council also appointed a Member and a Substitute on Raven’s General Committee on an annual basis.

All Councillors had been invited to be considered for nomination.

RECOMMENDED that Council nominate:

(i) Councillor Mrs J. Bray to serve on the Board of Raven Housing Trust for a period of three Municipal years (2015/16 - 2017/18); and

(ii) Councillor Mrs R. Renton and Councillor Mrs N.J. Bramhall to serve as Member/Substitute on Raven Housing Trust’s General Committee for 2015/16.

Reasons for decision: To nominate a Board Member to the Board of Raven and a Member/Substitute on Raven’s General Committee.

Alternative options: To make no recommendation for these appointments.
 

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