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Cabinet - Monday, 24th June, 2024 7.00 pm
June 24, 2024 View on council website Watch video of meetingTranscript
uh... details and false report you presented well under the previous administration i know if there was a lot of what i would describe a scandal during uh... claims that we were on the first of issue section one four notice uh... and declare bankruptcy uh... can ask with the accounts according to charge finances will there be less emotive language used in relation to finance a more sound governments governance that we can look forward to thank you can submit at my training is in finance insurance and governments and i'm not going to talk to me and excitement so no i will be very cool thank you pick counts the sets of things i think you need to i think you very much customers for the report and i just want you to uh... say that under my portfolio to see this no respect of uh... one point eight million uh... but this in a lot of it will be will be statutory anyway and uh... the uh... because of the cost of living and everything uh... private prices have increased uh... the other thing is that some of the measures that will be put forward will be preventative ones and maybe the overspend will come down we hoping thank you i come back on that yes uh... clearly we we are in a situation of still transition it's very important transformation as well there's no doubt about it that the paper i'm presenting here shows that although we've uh... made a loss uh... reserve of one point eight nine million pounds that's done that's bounced off by a very good husbandry as i said of the finances and the money that we invest so the registries the the services that we have to provide council says the issue right and that was a ten million pound overspend we need to be constantly on top of that and it will be our job as cabinet to do that support of the officers there to my left we will make sure we do that councilor jones the leader please picture uh... just to say that the housing pipeline uh... inflation is is is very very welcomed and uh... i can assume assure you that once we go through the uh... cabinet cycle to the next paper coming forward next next month uh... some of the ideas uh... of the team of ourselves will be uh... detailed and will be hopefully welcomed by council uh... with the plans around pipeline and acquisition so you know i've got a whole i've got to keep the powder dry a bit here but you know it's it's it's you know that's a priority that we wanted to deliver on so thank you for that welcome information thank you uh... councilor hight please and leader i just is is a good report thank i thank the portfolio holder uh... is for interest i looked uh... at the more portfolio section and the two bits i'd like to highlight the cabinet firstly on four point twelve point two uh... we see that we've actually managed to uh... reduce some of the overspend in the uh... the area of waste because of uh... performance payments and i think that's really important because uh... although we are going through a phase of waste contract change it is important that we uphold our performance on the current contracts i'm pleased to see that we have recovered that where performance has not been acceptable i'd also highlight the item below uh... four point twelve point three on the tree tree maintenance that we haven't recovered this cost here personally i think this is a good thing i think that previous administration was incorrect in in trying to reduce too heavily on the tree tree maintenance budget it's something that residents regularly inform us they'd like to uh... see improved and it's something that since taking up this brief uh... i'm looking for some immediate tree maintenance work so I'm pleased that that has not been dropped so far thank you thank you Councillor, Councillor Burton please thank you um... leader I'd like to speak to my portfolio area so obviously we've still got the pressure in children's social care often with the very um... expensive placements for children young people with very challenging needs uh... Michael and Lisa and the team are working really hard to see whether there's any people that the young people we can step down uh... those expensive placements so it's often a real challenge I'm pleased that the foster care offer that I implemented last time as portfolio holder is still um... doing well and that means that more young people can be cared for by in-house foster carers that uh... more likely they can be cared for locally than have to go further afield which would be great for them I also want to take this opportunity to thank my previous portfolio holder, Councillor Helen Boyd who was also my ward colleague for six years and whilst we don't um... obviously agree politically with different parties I do think there's a lot of good work that she did in the role and I'm now looking forward to picking back up so just to put on record my thanks for that, thanks thank you Councillor Burton Councillor Terry thank you leader so yeah I was very here pleased to read the document it's very complicated and uh... detailed uh... a long read uh... but I was very pleased to hear that portfolio holder Councillor Collins say that uh... he will be cutting down on hyperbole uh... I think it was reputationally damaging to constantly say that our city's going bankrupt and because that undermines confidence and investment but it's one thing I wanted to look at which I've now lost and I've found it again I want to refer to specifically in appendix four the productivity plan uh... in item two it refers to uh... one of the challenges being the election cycle local government association corporate peer challenge reported the council's current model of elections by thirds can hinder strategic decision making we've made a decision now prior to this being after this being printed so I just wanted to read something from uh... a legal expert uh... which talks about perder unlike for ministers and civil servants there is no clear guidance to advise local authorities on how they should act during the pre-election period due to this lack of clarity local authorities can often align themselves with guidance for central government uh... as we go through transformation because the portfolio holder mentioned transformation for me it's something that's a driving force uh... we do need to look at how we discharge the taxpayers' purse efficiently now that we've made the decision to remain with third elections uh... we need to make sure that perder doesn't get in the way of our productivity which is the title of this sheet so I'll be driven by that and making sure that we we run things as efficiently as possible for our resident taxpayers thank you Councillor Terry I think I echo a lot of the comments that have been made and I really thank the officers for uh... their work and effort going into this as just a comment to the or question really to the portfolio holder uh... I'm sure he's aware that the budget last year was revised by some six million pounds in year and we also had uh... better than expected returns of interest uh... of up to five million pounds so whilst we have a positive position better than many local authorities thanks to the hard work of of our officers and uh... changing rates of interest by the Bank of England we have benefited from things or previous administration would you agree it benefited from things largely outside of their control to the tune of about eleven million pounds and we could have inherited a much worse position if not for the hard work of our officers thank you leader and yes that's why I highlighted it in that paper I asked colleagues to look at and how the final out term paper shows for the individual responsible areas for the portfolio holders yes the financing of this authority through its good ownership of money and the way it looks at investments has undoubtedly helped us interest rates yes has undoubtedly helped us so that's been a positive thing for us to take advantage of uh... without it we would have had a situation to deal with we won't always be able to rely on that that's something that's going to diminish over the next year I would imagine so we need to be very careful so as the portfolio holder here I would be making sure cabinet's aware of what we can afford and what we can't afford and how we're going to make sure it works for us as Councillor Terry's talked about transformation I think that's important as part of the journey that this council is on as all councils are so we're not unique in that but undoubtedly it will not be as so profitable for income in the next couple of years because interest rates won't be quite as high but we do have good schemes also and that will be in another paper we'll talk about later on we've got in the next paper the annual treasury management report so we'll be discussing it in more detail there but yes you're right the previous administration has been fortunate in that regard that it has good offices here in this authority which I'm very pleased to support and work with thank you any final comments do we agree the recommendations? excellent agenda item 7 is the annual treasury report and we are back to Councillor Paul Collins Councillor Collins would you like to introduce this report? with pleasure leader yes again this is another annual report for the cabinet to consider and to agree I hope this one is for the annual treasury management report for the period to the end of 31st of March 2024 and the out-term prudential indicators for 23/24 as well this paper contains notes regarding the capital expenditure of the year of 50.066 million pounds which has been funded in accordance with the schedule set out within table 1 of section 4 this paper also notes that the capital financing and treasury management were carried out in accordance with statutory requirements good practice and in compliance with CIPFA prudential code between 23/24 notes that the following respect and return of investment in borrowing and investment portfolios were actively managed to minimise cost, maximise interest earned whilst maintaining a low level of risk clearly the paper shows 6.319 million pounds of interest in income distributions for all the investments were earned during this period to the end of 31st of March 24 at an average rate of 4.59% the level of borrowing from public works board remained remained at 347.3 million that's important to note, leader, because that means we have not borrowed any money in the last year or in fact years previous to that, and there's no intention in my role under this cabinet to do that again, we will not be borrowing anything further, we do not need to so we need to work on the monies we have the paper sets out the prudential outcome of the paper, it shows the defined detail of all the investments we have for the cabinet to look at the capital budget is very interesting because it says we spent 50.066 million the capital challenges, leader, will carry on from this point forward, we've got meetings in July being framed up meetings in October, meetings at the end of this year and beginning of January 2025 to review all capital projects, to make sure they're on track, they are viable and if neither of those two, then they will be changed either to be pushed back to succeeding years or withdrawn altogether we also are receiving in grants as well, as it shows in this paper, so the capital side is always moving around with government giving out grants to authorities to do certain tasks so we'll be managing those as well but the paper's very clear, and I'm very pleased to report this to you, leader, that this is a positive paper showing good practice, good governance, and a good outcome for us Thank you, thank you Councillor Collins are there any questions, comments? Councillor S Lockwood Again, thank you to the chair and thank you to the council for this comprehensive report and also to the officers for their hard work I was interested in the funding for Invest to Save schemes where we're actually taking out interest-free loans to fund from the Department of Energy and Climate and that's a very good project, I think, and at least we're trying to keep carbon neutral and also at the same time making money from it but could you explain a little bit more about it? Thank you, Councillor Sastre This is actually coming to an end, and we're looking at 6.10, 6.11 Yeah, this is something that Councillor Terry was involved with back in 2014 where the street lighting across the city was made into LEDs, converted to LED but also within that there was other projects that we did and we took interest-free loans as it sets out here for those particular items Those projects have finished and been done Beechcroft, Art Gallery has been done, the replacement lighting in the south and piers have been done and we're now just finishing off paying those interest-free loans, which is 6.11 and in the next two years would you say it will be over? Two or three years Within three years then we will have paid it all back but there's no new projects here, it's actually just something that we concluded that was started by Councillor Terry back in 2014 Okay, I'll take it there are no more Councillor Terry Yes, I just wanted to slightly expand on Councillor Sastre's question and to remind the town really that when people talk about financial competence that we took out an interest-free loan to install LED lighting which saved 85% of our energy costs for lighting and at the same time massively reduced our carbon footprint which was really important and the lanterns on those columns generally last about 25 years so not only did we save a huge amount of money on energy we also saved a load of money on maintenance too so all round it's a win-win and I too would like to jump on the bandwagon actually and take the opportunity to thank our officers for all the hard work they do in our Fireman's Department I think it's really important given the previous period we've had that my full confidence is behind our officers in this regard Thank you Thank you, Councillor Terry Councillor Hyde please Thank you, Lady This isn't a completely new question it's something that I've raised before I joined the Cabinet but regards to our property fund investments our long-term property fund investments with Pat Strivia, Hanover and Loughborough Property Trust I notice here that for Pat Strivia we've seen that investment return drop by 4% and for Loughborough Property Trust drop by 12.69% for those that are looking it's on page 146 we have seen a continued decline in these long-term property investments I know that there were some issues with us being locked into one could the portfolio holder give me a summary as to where we are with these property investments do we foresee further drops and what are our options if we did want to withdraw from them Thank you Thank you, Councillor Hyde The paper is very clear about the fund that is actually being subsumed into UBS and we're following that these investments are as much for income as they are for actual value themselves the paper shows here that actually over a long period of years we've had these funds they've earned us more than the then current interest rate that the Bank of England was giving to the marketplace so they've been very worthwhile to do and they still continue to give us good income the fund that we are now locked into as you described because that is being moved into UBS because they're purchasing out that fund we're going to follow that and take on those funds the valuation, and I can give more detail after this meeting if Councillor Hyde wants but we have actually earned more than we could have done through other means we always come on a branch of these funds and they are for the long term which means you do stick with the rough times or the poorer times as well as the good times I do talk to Joe Chesterton the 1.1 officer and also to Caroline Fozard and we will continue to do that, so we will look at this on a regular basis and it will be reported quarterly but we'll talk about it with those colleagues in demeaning times and we'll monitor them but I have confidence that they've earned us a lot of money and continue to do earn us a good amount of income and the value themselves, yes, I don't see the reason coming out of them at this stage One further question on that, I appreciate it obviously gives us an income and time to time the money we get back however when we first invested it across these two funds we invested 48.2 million pounds I believe and now the total worth of those is 30 million so we've dropped 20 million in total wealth obviously I've raised before going back for the reports 2018, 2019 and looking at those total values and particularly over the last two years the Loughborough Trust is reduced from 18 million and the Pat's Trivia one is reduced from 28 million pounds within the last three years so I do think that we need to look at the actual total investment and how much that is dropping regardless of how much we're getting as regular payments from it Thank you You've said 48 million pounds I can see that the funds, one of them, the Pat's Trivia is 19 million pounds at the start yes, I mean the point is made and I'm sure other institutions, not just this council is looking at it in the same way and what is their pinch point before they start thinking about moving money elsewhere you sometimes have to take a view of these that they're long term and whilst they're giving us a good return, better than we could have got elsewhere I'm not inclined to at this point take out, remove them but they are on constant review, I can assure you that and this is a conversation that myself and my profile officer will always be having I support his decision taking at this moment is that we stay where we are Thank you, Councillor Cook. Councillor Jones, please Thank you, Chair. I just wanted to say, you know, I mean I'm going to say to Jo, this Treasury management report is always an interesting read but I just have to say that there was a great deal of positivity within this report and we are coming into periods of uncertainty so I just wanted to say thank you to the team and to be, you know, for the position that the council is in but the position that they're in as the people that do the work on the ground and work with auditors, etc because, you know, when there is changes in administration, possible changes in national administration it's a challenging time because what comes next is not always a certainty and we have to have belief in the people that we work with here that that will not impact on the people that we serve and I would like to thank them for giving me the confidence that that is the case so, you know, just to say we are expecting great things still, of course, no matter what happens next week but we have confidence that this city is in a good place. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Jones. Would you like to wrap up? Yes, thank you, Liz. I will. Yeah, the property market is interesting, isn't it? and I'm not an expert on that at all, the property side but I am aware of how investments work and how government changes can make major changes and how people see things and how people suddenly take investments in a different light so we will see what happens after next week to see if that has a move if there's some big burst of home building, property building and investment into that area by the new government, whatever colour it may be so that will have an impact on these funds, no doubt about it We will keep monitoring them. I'm very confident with our senior officers that I deal with who do the right thing, but they also get my challenge as well, leader I can assure you of that, and they know it so we will be discussing this on a regular basis but I am very happy to present this paper to you for agreement by cabinet Thank you, Councillor Collins. Do we agree the recommendations? Agreed Excellent. Agenda item 8, Licensing Act 2003, Review of Statement of Licensing Policy This one is for Councillor Ian Gilbert, would you like to introduce the report please? Thank you, Chair, and apologies for being a few minutes late this evening This, unfortunately, I wasn't at pre-cabinet scrutiny when this item came there I was at my sister's wedding, so if Councillor Jones, who I think represented us on that occasion has anything to add, then obviously that would be welcome but this is a, the Council has a statutory duty to review its statement of policy every five years and publish a revised policy before the beginning of 2025 This is seeking, this is not the final document, this is seeking cabinet's permission to commence a statutory public consultation This will involve statutory authorities, members of the trade and the public and a full list of consultees is at 3.3 in the report The main changes proposed within this policy are updating the language in terms of Terrorism Protection of Premises Act stronger guidance to applicants on control measures a new section giving advice on minimising waste in licensed premises additional guidance on child safeguarding and new appendices designed to give applicants and licensees licensing guidance in one place that's Appendices C2E So the updates reflect changes to the law and assist applicants and licensees to access information without the need to formally request it from the Council Once consultation is complete, we'll undertake a final review taking appropriate responses into account and return to cabinet for consideration of the final document Thank you Councillor Gilbert Councillor Jones you had something to add as the member at pre-scrutiny Thank you Chair, and if I may, I think it was a very, it was quite a lively meeting You know when you think that it might be, oh let's just go to consultation I think members across the piece had a great deal to put in You know, and it was generally well received You know, and contemporary matters particularly around spiking and stuff like that and current behaviours, as you say, around the terrorism shows that we do need to review policies very regularly and members sort of like feel very strongly about this in our own geographical context so hopefully there'll be a really strong response from the consultation from members from licensing committee, etc. and differentiating between alcohol free zones and public space protection orders is really important for us to understand it's really important for the authorities to understand and it's also important to know how far we can go with what we say to licensed premises you know, we're in the business of encouraging business as well, but in a safe manner so really look forward to how this comes back through the consultation and Councillor Gilbert it was my pleasure to step in for you because you very rarely take time off and it was a special occasion Thank you Thank you Councillor Jones. Councillor Martin Terry Thank you leader Yeah, this very much in a way cuts across the bowels of my portfolio which is of course community safety and there are some really good strengthening additions to this and I mention this in the sense that we only recently had a it actually happened to somebody in my family we occasionally get spiking incidents and there's strengthening in 10.2 drugs misuse and drugs dealing it does mention terrorism there but more importantly in 10.3 the use of drug safe where appropriate well that caused quite a bit of enquiry and consternation why would you want a safe for drugs? because it was made clear it's where drugs are taken away from someone and they need to be stored for collection by the police but one thing I particularly liked reading about was the fact that it refers to the Ask Angela campaign which is very much about if you're in a bar or anywhere and you feel unsafe then you say to a member of staff Ask Angela and that is a pathway to help and of course it was also a new addition regular attendance by a premises manager at trade authority meetings such as pump watch and membership of the night time economy and purple flag groups these are all really good strengthening parts which I hope my role is community safety is that we want people to come out in the south end we want people to enjoy themselves but we want them to be safe also thank you Thank you Councillor, Councillor Lydia High please Thank you leader firstly I've welcomed number 12.7 talk about the minimising of waste and particularly draw your attention to this idea that members of the public would be able to refill their water bottles free of charge to reduce the plastic bottle waste and I think that's a really positive step that I really hope that these establishments can really take on board my brief comment is I'd just like to commend my ward colleague Councillor Faulkner-Hatt who I believe raised at the meeting on this about the fact that spiking doesn't always mean spiking of alcohol drinks and within days of her saying those comments we saw a spiking incident in the city which was not put into an alcoholic drink it was alternatively given to that person and the unfortunate fallout of that I just wanted to acknowledge her foresight in doing so and reflecting that spiking can be much broader as she mentioned there thank you Thank you Councillor, would you like to wrap up Ian? Thank you chair thank members for the comments I think there's been some constructive feedback and of course as we go through consultation if there are any further measures that we can put in to strengthen this particularly around spiking and women's safety issues I know that we'll be very open to considering what more can be done there but thank cabinet for their comments and hope we can send this out to the public for consultation Thank you Does cabinet agree the recommendation in the report? Great Excellent Excellent Agenda item 9 review of the council statement of gambling policy we're back to Councillor Gilbert to introduce the report Thank you chair yes much like the previous item this is a statutory responsibility we have a responsibility to review this policy every three years again and publish a revised policy before the beginning of 2025 the government are currently consulting on a review of the gambling act 2005 which obviously could involve necessitating changes to our policy however given the uncertainty of the general election a potential change in government and when a new government may come back to this I think it's right that we proceed now and ensure that we have a compliant policy in place I think it's fair to say that within gambling policy we are heavily constrained by statute in terms of what we can and can't put in to the policy again I wasn't at pre-cabinet scrutiny so again if Councillor Jones has anything to add that will be gratefully received but yeah I hope the members can agree and allow us to commence the consultation Thank you Councillor Gilbert questions and comments and I believe we have Councillor Martin Terry yes I have a, thank you leader I have a very large tongue in my cheek but it's quite ironic that in this very period the government is reviewing its own gambling policy I won't say any more but perhaps they'll just look at home Thank you Councillor Terry a little bit of light relief I can't see any more questions or comments I don't know if you wanted to say anything to wrap up I think there's only the one comment to say anything about Ian Yeah I don't think there's any need to say any more I hope members will support this and we can commence the consultation Thank you Does cabinet agree the recommendation in the report? Great Excellent So we move on to our final agenda item which is the corporate debt management position as at the 31st of March 2024 It's back to Councillor Paul Collins would you like to introduce this report please? Thank you leader, with pleasure yes This is a quarterly paper that this cabinet will see This is the one at the end of 31st of March 2024 The purpose of this report is to update cabinet of the following that this is the clinical position of all outstanding debt owed to the City Council as at 31st of March 2024 This paper also sets out debts that have been written off or are recommended for write-off for the financial year to 31st of March 2024 to seek approval for write-off of irrecoverable debts that are over £25,000 in accordance with the Council's constitution Please note that this paper notes the new service reporting arrangements to the Director of Financial Services and discusses in appendices those individual items that we've just mentioned 2.2, 2.3 Background information for cabinet which is of interest because the way that this paper will run forward is that the way the structure of the section 151 officer submits regular reports to cabinet as I've just disclosed but what we are doing is that the Director of Financial Services is actually taking control over certain areas of this Council to look at the bad debt situation and debt situation overall and some of this paperwork shows that We also want to report under 3.1 that the September paper will include an update on the performance of integration of services that now come under that person, the Director of Financial Services which is important because we believe a consistent way of looking at debts and how it's organised in this Council will be for our advantage Where we are with debt collection is very good If I can draw Council's attention to 4.1 particularly 4.4 We are strong performance in collection of Council tax 97.6% collected which is very good and under 4.4 actually that equates to a monetary value of 1.9 million pounds above the median collection rate of other authorities in England and 2.2 million when compared to other collection rates of other median and smaller local authorities in other words our performance has a monetary value and that's demonstrated there and just same point item number 5 on page 253 of the pack similarly on business rates we are collecting a rate of 98.9% which is very good and under 5.4 the equation of what that is valued to us it's valued to us of 621 million pounds above the median collection rate in England and 0.781 million pounds compared to collection rate achieved by the median of small, similar local authorities so our collection rate is good we have good systems in this authority and it's very pleasing to see so it's a pleasure to produce this report to you leader and I hope that the Cabinet will accept the paper as presented and also open to questions Thank you Councillor Collins Councillor Satsa Thank you leader Just a declaration of interest that I volunteer for King's Money Advice Centre which is a debt counselling service Thank you Councillor Jones Thank you Chair At 4.8 the council holds currently X amount of uncollected debt for prior financial years and the work that's going to be going on it says that the work will commence in the third or fourth quarter where will that work be coming back to and at what point in the financial year or will it drift over a tad Thank you I'm advised by the one fund officer that it's an ongoing work I will report back to Cabinet in a quarter three months time to see how we're progressing we'd like to collect it as soon as we possibly can I do think it's not going to be within one financial year I'm sure some of this debt is much older than this shows here so we will actually report to you as the time progresses and I'll be challenging officers to make sure that debt is reduced to zero as close as we can, as soon as we can Okay, any further comments or questions? Did you want to wrap up or did that cover everything? Thank you very much indeed I'm pleased that the director of financial services is taking control over some parts of the way the organisation is run it will be very important to us and I think that will help us with our future organisation to make sure we don't have any provision for bad debts that we've had to do in the past so I'm looking forward to the September meeting where we're going to progress on how that integration is working across the Council and how beneficial that is for us and I will be looking forward to reporting to Cabinet on that basis other than that, no, I just would like approval for this paper Thank you, Councillor Collins Does Cabinet agree the recommendation? Great, excellent, well that concludes the business of Cabinet this evening Thank you all for coming
Transcript
and also to welcome our officers who are supporting us to deliver on our priorities. So thank you all for being here tonight. I just wanted to start by saying that when I appointed this cabinet, I did remark at Council that it's a cabinet that I believe is bursting with talent, optimism, competence and aspiration that would support and value Council staff to improve Council's communication, policy development, public engagement and financial management so we can better deliver on the priorities of our residents. And looking around the committee room this evening, that's precisely what I see. And whilst the items on tonight's agenda are not necessarily items that we have introduced as part of our joint administration agreement, I am certain that we will see a lot more coming through in future cabinet meetings. We know we've inherited a difficult financial situation with compounded staffing issues from budget cuts and redundancies in the last municipal year that has led to difficulties around things like grass cutting. And whilst it's not on this agenda, I do want to thank our new portfolio holder for climate, environment and waste, Councillor Lydia Hyde and all of our officers for working so hard to get on top of the situation and putting in the additional resources required to help us up, catch up with the schedule. So, I know that Councillor Hyde will have some updates soon on the progress she's making, and will ensure that is properly communicated through the appropriate channels. So, on to the business in front of us tonight. Do we have any apologies for absence? Whilst I believe he intends to attend, Councillor Gilbert has said he's running a bit late because his ankle is still injured. Thank you. Okay, any declarations of interest? Okay. The minutes of the meetings of the previous cabinet comprising March 4th, March 14th and April 29th, 2024, are the new cabinet content for me to sign these as a true record of those meetings? Okay. Agenda item 6, I believe, is the Pre-Provisional Revenue and Capital Outterm, 2023-24. This item has been published in both my name and that of Councillor Collins, but is primarily in his area. So, I will ask Councillor Collins to introduce the report, please. Thank you, Leader. A pleasure to do so. This is the first of three papers tonight that I'm producing on annual turn out of the financial situation of the Council. This paper is for the provisional revenue and capital outturn at the end of March 2023-24 for the year 2023-24. The purpose of this paper is to update you on that revenue outturn for that period, 2023-24, and also indicate the level of revenue balances going into 2024-25. This paper also advises cabinet of the implications of provisional revenue outturn for 2023-24, and to provide an update on the financial resilience and future financial sustainability of the Council. It's pertinent in this paper is framed in the language that we see here of the amount of stress across local government bodies throughout the United Kingdom, and this paper demonstrates the robustness of this authority carrying on from previous years, and that although we've, as I'll describe in a minute, we've had a loss on what we budget for our revenue, it is minor compared to certainly a lot of our authorities in the country. This paper also informs cabinet about the capital investment program outturn for 2023-24, and to seek approval in this paper for the relevant budget carry-fords and accelerated delivery requests that are embedded in this paper. It also seeks approval in the year amendments for the current approved capital investment program for 2024-25 to 2028-29, five year cycle. It also, in this paper, contains the carry-forward of the Commuter Infrastructure Levy, the CIL main fund, received from 2023-24, and previous financial years, and to delegate authority to agree how the CIL ward neighbourhood allocations are to be spent. And finally, 1.16 to consider and provide endorsement of the submission of the Council's new productivity plan to the Department of Levelling Up Housing and Communities as requested by that body, which is in this paper as well. The key parts of this paper, Leader, is that the budget outturn for revenue is a deficit of £1.89 million, which is, whilst regrettable, is nothing like the figures that were mentioned at the beginning of this process around the £14-15 million projected loss, nothing like it at all. There is reasons for that, which I'll demonstrate to Cabinet as we go through this paper. The budget carry-forward on the capital side is of interest to Cabinet as well. I would ask their portfolios to look carefully at those papers and make sure they're agreeing those transfers, and maybe they wish to speak to them as well. The HRA account is showing a surplus in this paper, which is very pleasing to see, and that will be carry-forward for capital investments inside the programme of our HRA stock, which is to be welcomed. The paper contains - bear with me one moment - the key piece, Leader, is on page 31 of the PDF pack, provisional outturn 23/24. It shows the movement between period 8, the last time this paper was presented to Cabinet, to the financial year end 31 March 24, and demonstrates that we have a £1.9 million loss deficit at the bottom of this paper. But the key part, Leader, is that the services actually overspent by £10 million, and due to the good husbandry of the papers and finances and the corporate budgets, financing costs, interests, etc., which did very well in this period, enables that £10 million overspend to be shrunk down to £1.8. It is proposed in this paper to take that £1.9 million out of the earmarked reserves for children's services, and move money from the transitional reserve to cover it as well. It's a good paper, and one that we can build on, Leader, going forward. It gives us the structure for us to understand what we need to do to make this city better. Colleagues will see inside their own areas how the last four months have moved, and it's up to them to decide how they wish to present that, if they wish. But there is a lot of good things here, and we obviously have a deficit looking forward for the next five years, but that is manageable. And I'm very encouraged by this paper that we have got through the worst of Covid, other items that have hit us, the cost of fuel, etc., and we now look forward with positiveness of how we can make this work for us. I'm open to questions from colleagues around the table if they wish to look at any particular part of this report, but I do recommend it to Cabinet for approval. Thank you, Councillor Collins. Are there any questions or comments from members of Cabinet? Thank you, Councillor Collins. It's a very detailed and fulsome report, and you presented it well. Under the previous administration, I know that there was a lot of what I would describe as scaremongering claims that we were on the verge of issuing a section 104 notice and declaring bankruptcy. Can I ask, with Councillor Collins in charge of the finances, will there be less emotive language used in relation to the finance and more sound governance that we can look forward to? Thank you, Councillor Dent. My training is in finance, insurance and governance, and I'm not given to hyperbole and excitement, so no, I will be very calm. Thank you. Councillor Sancer, please. Thank you, Leader. Thank you very much, Councillor Collins, for the report. I just wanted to say that under my portfolio, obviously, there's an overspend of 1.8 million, but a lot of it is statutory anyway, and because of the cost of living and everything, the prices have increased. But the other thing is that some of the measures that are being put forward will be preventative ones, and maybe the overspend will come down, we're hoping. Thank you. I may come back on that. Yes, clearly we are in a situation of still transition. It's very important, and transformation as well. There's no doubt about it that the paper I'm presenting here shows that although we've made a loss of reserve of 1.89 million pounds, that's balanced off by a very good husbandry, as I said, of the finances and the money that we invest. So the regulatory, the services that we have to provide, Councillor Sancer, yes you're right, and that was a 10 million pound overspend. We need to be constantly on top of that, and it will be our job as cabinet to do that, with good support of the officers there to my left. We will make sure we do that. Councillor Jones, Dr Leader, please. Thank you, Chair. Just to say that the housing pipeline information is very, very welcomed and I can assure you that once we go through the cabinet cycle to the next paper coming forward next month, some of the ideas of the team, of ourselves, will be detailed and will be hopefully welcomed by Council with the plans around pipeline and acquisitions. So, you know, I've got to keep my powder dry a bit here, but you know, that's a priority that we wanted to deliver on. So thank you for that welcome information. Thank you. Councillor Hyde, please. Thanks, Leader. I just, it's a good report. I thank the portfolio holder. It was with interest I looked at my portfolio section, and there's two bits I'd like to highlight the cabinet. Firstly on 4.12.2, we see that we've actually managed to reduce some of the overspend in the area of waste because of performance payments. And I think that's really important because although we are going through a phase of waste contract change, it is important that we uphold our performance on the current contracts. I'm pleased to see that we have recovered that where performance has not been acceptable. I'd also highlight the item below 4.12.3 on the tree maintenance. We haven't recovered this cost here, but personally, I think this is a good thing. I think that the previous administration was incorrect in trying to reduce too heavily on the tree maintenance budget. It's something that residents regularly inform us they'd like to see improved. And it's something that since taking up this brief, I'm looking for some immediate tree maintenance work. So I'm pleased that that has not been dropped so far. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Hyde. Councillor Burton, please. Thank you, Leader. I'd like to speak to my portfolio area. So obviously, we've still got the pressure in children's social care, often with the very expensive placements for children, young people with very challenging needs. But Michael and Lissa and the team are working really hard to see whether there's any people, young people we can step down at those expensive placements. So it's often a real challenge. I'm pleased that the foster care offer that I implemented last time was portfolio holder is still doing well. And that means that more young people can be cared for by in-house foster carers that more likely they can be cared for locally than have to go further afield, which would be great for them. I also want to take the opportunity to thank my previous portfolio holder, Councillor Helen Boyd, who was my ward colleague for six years. And whilst we don't obviously agree politically with different parties, I do think there's a lot of good work that she did in the role. And I'm now looking forward to picking back up. So just put on record my thanks for that. Thanks. Thank you, Councillor. Councillor Terry. Thank you, Leader. So, yeah, I was very pleased to read the document. It's very complicated and detailed, a long read, but I was very pleased to hear the portfolio holder, Councillor Collins, say that he will be cutting down on hyperbole. I think it was reputationally damaging to constantly say that our city is going bankrupt and because that undermines confidence and investment. But it's one thing I wanted to look at, which I've now lost and I found it again. I want to refer to specifically in appendix for the productivity plan in item two. It refers to one of the challenges being the election cycle, local government association, corporate peer challenge, reported the council's current model of elections by thirds can hinder strategic decision making. We've made a decision now prior to this being after this being printed. So I just want to read something from a legal expert which talks about perder. Unlike for ministers and civil servants, there is no clear guidance to advise local authorities on how they should act during the pre-election period. Due to this lack of clarity, local authorities can often align themselves with guidance for central government. As we go through transformation, because the portfolio holder mentioned transformation, for me it's something that's a driving force. We do need to look at how we discharge the taxpayer's purse efficiently. Now that we've made the decision to remain with third elections, we need to make sure that perder doesn't get in the way of our productivity, which is the title of this sheet. So I'll be driven by that and making sure that we run things as efficiently as possible for our resident taxpayers. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Terry. So I think I echo a lot of the comments that have been made and I really thank the officers for their work and effort going into this. As just a comment to the, or question really, to the portfolio holder, I'm sure he's aware that the budget last year was revised by some £6 million in year and we also had better than expected returns of interest of up to £5 million. So whilst we have a positive position, better than many local authorities, thanks to the hard work of our officers and changing rates of interest by the Bank of England, we have benefited from things, or the previous administration, would you agree it benefited from things largely outside of their control to the tune of about £11 million and we could have inherited a much worse position if not for the hard work of our officers? Thank you, leader. Yes, that's why I highlighted it in that paper I asked colleagues to look at, how the final out-of-turn paper shows for each individual responsible areas for the portfolio holders. Yes, the financing of this authority through its good ownership of money and the way it looks at investments has undoubtedly helped us. Interest rates, yes, has undoubtedly helped us. So that's been a positive thing for us to take advantage of. Without it we would have had a situation to deal with. We won't always be able to rely on that. That is something that's going to diminish over the next year, I would imagine. So we need to be very careful, so as the portfolio holder here, I would be making sure cabinet's aware of what we can afford and what we can't afford and how we're going to make sure it works for us. As Councillor Terry's talked about transformation, I think that's important. It's part of the journey that this council is on, as all councils are, so we're not unique in that. But undoubtedly it will not be so profitable for income in the next couple of years because interest rates won't be quite as high. But we do have good schemes also and that will be in another paper we'll talk about later on. We've got in the next paper the annual treasury management report so we'll be discussing it in more detail there. But yes, you're right, the previous administration has been fortunate in that regard that it has good offices here in this authority, which I'm very pleased to support and work with. Thank you. Any final comments? OK. Do we agree the recommendations? Agreed. Excellent. Agenda item 7 is the annual treasury report and we are back to Councillor Paul Collins. Councillor Collins, would you like to introduce this report? With pleasure, leader, yes. Again, this is another annual report for the cabinet to consider and to agree, I hope. This one is for the annual treasury management report for the period to the end of 31 March 2024 and the out-term prudential indicators for 23/24 as well. This paper contains notes regarding the capital expenditure of the year of £50.066 million which has been funded in accordance with the schedule set out within table 1 of section 4. This paper also notes that the capital financing and treasury management were carried out in accordance with statutory requirements, good practice and in compliance with CIPFA prudential code between 23/24. Notes that the following respect and return of investment in borrowing, loan and investment portfolios were actively managed to minimise cost, maximise interest earned whilst maintaining a low level of risk. Clearly, the paper shows £6.319 million of interest in income distributions for all investments were earned during this period to the end of 31 March 2024 at an average rate of 4.59%. The level of borrowing from Public Works Board remained at 347.3 million. That's important to note, leader, because that means we have not borrowed any money in the last year or in fact years previous to that and there's no intention in my role under this cabinet to do that again. We will not be borrowing anything further. We do not need to, so we need to work on the monies we have. The paper sets out the prudential outcome of the paper. It shows to fine detail all the investments we have for cabinet to look at. The capital budget is very interesting because they say we spent 50.066 million. The capital challenges, leader, will carry on from this point forward. We've got meetings in July being framed up, meetings in October, meetings at the end of this year and beginning of January 2025 to review all capital projects to make sure they're on track, they are viable and if neither of those two, then they will be changed either to be pushed back to succeeding years or withdrawn altogether. We also are receiving grants as well, as it shows in this paper, so the capital side is always moving around with government giving out grants to authorities to do certain tasks, so we'll be managing those as well. But the paper is very clear and I'm very pleased to report this to you, leader, that this is a positive paper showing good practice, good governance and a good outcome for us. Thank you, Councillor Collins. Are there any questions, comments? Councillor Sancer. Again, thank you, Chair and thank you to the Council for this comprehensive report and also to the officers for their hard work. I was interested in the funding for Invest to Save schemes where we're actually taking out interest-free loans to fund from the Department of Energy and Climate and that's a very good project, I think, and at least we're trying to keep carbon neutral and also at the same time making money from it. But could you explain a little bit more about it? Thank you, Councillor Sancer. This is actually coming to an end and we're looking at 6.10, 6.11. Yeah, this is something that Councillor Terry was involved with back in 2014 where the street lighting across the city was made into LEDs, converted to LED. But also within that there was other projects that we did and we took interest-free loans as it sets out here for those particular items. Those projects have finished and been done, Beechcroft Art Gallery has been done, replacement lighting in the South and Piers has been done and we're now just finishing off paying those interest-free loans, which is 6.11 and within the next two years will you say it will be over? Two or three years. Within three years then we will have paid it all back but there's no new projects here. It's actually just something that's been concluded that was started by Councillor Terry back in 2014. Okay. I'll take it there are no more. Councillor Terry? Yes, I just wanted to slightly expand on Councillor Saster's question and to remind the town really that when people talk about financial competence that we took out an interest-free loan to install LED lighting, which saved 85% of our energy costs for lighting and at the same time massively reduced our carbon footprint, which was really important and the lanterns on those columns generally last about 25 years. So not only did we save a huge amount of money on energy, we also saved a load of money on maintenance too. So all round it's a win-win and I too would like to jump on the bandwagon actually and take the opportunity to thank our officers for all the hard work they do in our finance department. I think it's really important given the previous period we've had that my full confidence is behind our officers in this regard. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Terry. Councillor Hyde, please. Thank you, Lydia. This isn't a completely new question. It's something that I've raised before I joined the cabinet, but regards to our property fund investments, our long-term property fund investments with Pat's Trivia, Hanover and Loughborough Property Trust. I notice here that for Pat's Trivia we've seen that investment return drop by 4% and for Loughborough Property Trust dropped by 12.69% for those that are looking, it's on page 146. We have seen a continued decline in these long-term property investments. I know that there were some issues with us being locked into one. Could the portfolio holder give me a summary as to where we are with these property investments? Do we foresee further drops and what are our options if we did want to withdraw from them? Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Hyde. The paper is very clear about the fund that is actually being subsumed into UBS and we're following that. These investments are as much for income as they are for actual value themselves. The paper shows here that actually over a long period of years we've had these funds. They've earned us more than the then current interest rate that the Bank of England was giving to the marketplace. So they've been very worthwhile to do and they still continue to give us good income. The fund that we are now locked into, as you described, because that is being moved into UBS because they're purchasing out that fund, we're going to follow that and take on those funds. The valuation, and I can give more detail after this meeting if Councillor Hyde wants, but we have actually earned more than we could have done through other means. We always monitor these funds and they are for the long term, which means you do stick with the rough times or the poorer times as well as the good times. I do talk to Joe Chesterton, the 1.1 officer, and also to Caroline Fozard, and we will continue to do that. So we will look at this on a regular basis and it will be reported quarterly, but we'll talk about it with those colleagues in demeaning times and we'll monitor them. But I have confidence that they've earned us a lot of money and continue to do earn us a good amount of income. And the value themselves, yes, I don't see the reason coming out of them at this stage. One further question on that, I appreciate it obviously gives us an income and time to time the money we get back. However, when we first originally invested across these two funds, we invested £48.2 million, I believe, and now the total worth of those is £30 million. So we've dropped £20 million in total wealth. Obviously, I've raised before going back for the reports 2018, 2019 and looking at those total values and particularly over the last two years, the Loughborough Trust is reduced from £18 million and the Pat's Trivia one is reduced from £28 million within the last three years. So I do think that we need to look at the actual total investment and how much that is dropping, regardless of how much we're getting as regular payments from it. Thank you. You've said £48 million. I can see that the funds, one of them, the Pat's Trivia is £19 million at the start. Yes, I mean, the point is made and I'm sure other institutions, not just this council is looking at it in the same way and what is their pinch point before they start thinking about moving money elsewhere. You sometimes have to take a view of these, that they're long term and whilst they're giving us a good return, better than we could have got elsewhere, I'm not inclined to, at this point, take out, remove them, but they are on constant review, I can assure you that, and this is a conversation that myself and my 5-1 officer will always be having. I support his decision taking at this moment is that we stay where we are. Thank you, Councillor Cook. Councillor Jones, please. Thank you, Chair. I just wanted to say, you know, I mean, I can say to Joe, this Treasury Management Report is always an interesting rate, you know, but I just have to say that there was a great deal of positivity within this report and we are coming into periods of uncertainty. So I just wanted to say thank you to the team and to be, you know, for the position that the council is in, but the position that they're in as the people that do the work on the ground and work with auditors, etc. Because, you know, when there is, you know, changes in administration, possible changes in national administration, it's a challenging time because what comes next is not always a certainty. And we have to have belief in the people that we work with here that that will not impact on the people that we serve. And I would like to thank them for giving me the confidence that that is the case. So, you know, so just just just to say we are expecting great things still, of course, no matter what happens next week. But we we have we have confidence that this city is in a good place. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Jones. Would you like to wrap up? Yes, thank you. I will. Yeah, the poverty market is interesting, isn't it? And I'm not an expert on that at all, the property side, but I am aware of how investments work and how government changes can make major changes and how people see things and how people suddenly take investments in a different light. So we will see what happens after next week to see if that has a move, if there's some big burst of home building, property building and investment into that area by the new government, whatever colour it may be. So that will have an impact on these funds, no doubt about it. We will keep monitoring them. I'm very confident with our senior officers that I deal with will do the right thing, but they also get my challenge as well. I can assure you that they know it. So we will be discussing this on a regular basis, but I'm very happy to present this paper to you for agreement by cabinet. Thank you, Councillor Collins. Do we agree the recommendations? Great. Excellent. Agenda Item 8 Licensing Act 2003 Review of Statement of Licensing Policy. This one is for Councillor Ian Gilbert. Would you like to introduce the report, please? Thank you, Chair, and apologies for being a few minutes late this evening. This, unfortunately, I wasn't at pre-cabinet scrutiny when this item came there. I was at my sister's wedding. So if Councillor Jones, who I think represented us on that occasion, has anything to add, then obviously that would be welcome. But this is a, the Council has a statutory duty to review its statement of policy every five years and publish a revised policy before the beginning of 2025. This is seeking, it's not the final document, this is seeking cabinet's permission to commence a statutory public consultation. This will involve statutory authorities, members of the trade and the public, and a full list of consultees is at 3.3 in the report. The main changes proposed within this policy are updating the language in terms of Terrorism Protection of Premises Act, stronger guidance to applicants on control measures, a new section giving advice on minimising waste in licensed premises, additional guidance on child safeguarding, and new appendices designed to give applicants and licensees licensing guidance in one place. That's Appendices C2E. So the updates reflect changes to the law and assist applicants and licensees to access information without the need to formally request it from the Council. Once consultation is complete, we'll undertake a final review, taking appropriate responses into account, and return to cabinet for consideration of the final document. Thank you, Councillor Gilbert. Councillor Jones, you had something to add as the Member at Pre-Scrutiny. Thank you, Chair. And if I may, I think sort of it was a very, it was quite a lively meeting. You know, when you think that it might be, oh, let's just go to consultation, I think members across the piece had a great deal to put in. You know, and it was it was generally well received. You know, and contemporary matters, particularly around spiking and stuff like that, and current behaviours, as you say, around the terrorism shows that we do need to review policies very regularly. And members sort of like feel very strongly about this in our own geographical context. So hopefully there'll be a really strong response from the consultation, from members, from licensing committee, et cetera, and differentiating between alcohol free zones and public space protection orders is really important for us to understand. It's really important for the authorities to understand. And it's also important to know how far we can go with what we say to license premises. You know, we're in the business of encouraging business as well, but in a safe manner. So really look forward to how this comes back through the consultation. And Councillor Gilbert, it was my pleasure to step in for you because you very rarely take time off. And it was a special occasion. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Councillor Jones. Councillor Martin Terry. Thank you, leader. Yeah, this very much, you know, in a way, cuts across the bowels of my portfolio, which is community safety, and there are some really good strengthening additions to this. And I mentioned this in the sense that we only recently had a actually happened to somebody in my family. We occasionally get spiking incidents and there's strengthening in 10.2, drugs misuse and drugs dealing, it does mention terrorism there, but more importantly, in 10.3, the use of drug safe where appropriate. Well, that caused quite a bit of inquiry and consternation. Why would you want a safe for drugs? Because it's where it was made clear it's where drugs are taken away from someone and they need to be stored for collection by the police. But one thing I particularly liked reading about was the fact that it refers to the Ask Angela campaign, which is very much about, you know, if you're in a bar or anywhere and you feel unsafe, then just you say to a member of staff, Ask Angela. And that is a pathway to help. And of course, it was a new addition, regular attendance by a premises manager at trade authority meetings such as Pub Watch and membership of the Nighttime Economy and Purple Flag groups. These are all really good strengthening parts, which I hope my role as community safety is that we want people to come out in South End. We want people to enjoy themselves, but we want them to be safe also. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor. Councillor Lidehi, please. Thank you, Leader. Firstly, I've welcomed number 12.7, talk about the minimising of waste and particularly draw your attention to this idea that members of the public would be able to refill their water bottles free of charge to reduce the plastic bottle waste. And I think that's a really positive step that I really hope that these establishments can really take on board. My brief comment is, I would just like to commend my ward colleague, Councillor Faulkner-Hatt, who I believe raised at the meeting on this about the fact that spiking doesn't always mean spiking of alcohol drinks. And within days of her saying those comments, we saw a spiking incident in the city which was not put into an alcoholic drink. It was alternatively given to that person and the unfortunate fallout of that. I just wanted to acknowledge her foresight in doing so and reflecting that spiking can be much broader, as she mentioned there. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Lidehi, would you like to wrap up, Ian? Thank you, Chair. I thank members for the comments. I think there's been some constructive feedback. And of course, as we go through consultation, if there are any further measures that we can put in to strengthen this, particularly around spiking and women's safety issues, I know that we'll be very open to considering what more can be done there. But thank the Cabinet for their comments and hope we can send this out to the public for consultation. Thank you. Does the Cabinet agree the recommendation in the report? Yes. Excellent. Agenda item 9, review of the Council Statement of Gambling Policy. We're back to Councillor Gilbert to introduce the report. Thank you, Chair. Yes, much like the previous item, this is a statutory responsibility. We have a responsibility to review this policy every three years again and publish a revised policy before the beginning of 2025. The government are currently consulting on a review of the Gambling Act 2005, which obviously could involve necessitating changes to our policy. However, given the uncertainty of the general election, a potential change in government, and when a new government may come back to this, I think it's right that we proceed now and ensure that we have a compliant policy in place. I think it's fair to say that within Gambling Policy, we are heavily constrained by statute in terms of what we can and can't put into the policy. Again, I wasn't at pre-Cabinet scrutiny, so again, if Councillor Jones has anything to add, that will be gratefully received. But yeah, I hope the members can agree and allow us to commence the consultation. Thank you, Councillor Gilbert. I'll open it up to questions and comments, and I believe we have Councillor Martin Terry. Yes, I have a... thank you, leader. I have a very large tongue in my cheek, but it's quite ironic that in this very period the government is reviewing its own Gambling Policy. I won't say any more, but perhaps they ought to look at home. Thank you, Councillor Terry. A little bit of light relief. I can't see any more questions or comments. I don't know if you wanted to say anything to wrap up. I think there's only the one comment to say anything about, Ian. Yeah, I don't think there's any need to say any more. I hope members will support this and we can commence the consultation. Thank you. Does Cabinet agree the recommendation in the report? Excellent. So we move on to our final agenda item, which is the Corporate Debt Management position as at the 31st March 2024. It's back to Councillor Paul Collins. Would you like to introduce this report, please? Thank you, leader. With pleasure, yes. This is a quarterly paper that this cabinet will see. This is the one at the end of 31st March 2024. The purpose of this report is to update cabinet of the following, that this is the current position of all outstanding debt owed to the City Council as at 31st March 2024. This paper also sets out debts that have been written off or are recommended for write off for the financial year to 31st March 2024. To seek approval for write off of irrecoverable debts that are over £25,000 in accordance with the Council's constitution. Please note that this paper notes the new service reporting arrangements to the Director of Financial Services. And discusses in appendices those individual items that we've just mentioned, 2.2, 2.3. Background information for cabinet, which is of interest because the way that this paper will run forward is that the way the structure of the Section 151 Officer submits regular reports to cabinet, as I've just disclosed. But what we are doing is that the Director of Financial Services is actually taking control over certain areas of this Council to look at the bad debt situation and debt situation overall. And some of this paperwork shows that. We also want to report under 3.1 that the September paper will include an update on the performance of integration of services that now come under that person, the Director of Financial Services. Which is important because we believe a consistent way of looking at debts and how it's organised in this Council will be for our advantage. Where we are with debt collection is very good. If I can draw Council's attention to 4, 4.1, particularly 4.4. We are strong performers in collection of Council tax. 97.6% collected, which is very good. And under 4.4, actually that equates to a monetary value of £1.9 million above the median collection rate of other authorities in England. And £2.2 million when compared to other collection rates of other median and smaller local authorities. In other words, our performance has a monetary value and that's demonstrated there. And just the same point, item number 5 on page 253 of the pack. Similarly, on business rates, we are collecting a rate of 98.9%, which is very good. And under 5.4, the equation of what that is valued to us, it's valued to us of £621 million above the median collection rate in England. And £0.781 million compared to collection rate achieved by the median of small, similar local authorities. So our collection rate is good. We have good systems in this authority and it's very pleasing to see. So it's a pleasure to produce this report to you, Leader. And I hope that the Cabinet will accept the paper as presented and also open to questions. Thank you, Councillor Collins. Councillor Satsa. Thank you, Leader. Just a declaration of interest that I volunteer for King's Money Advice Centre, which is a debt counselling service. Thank you. Councillor Jones. Thank you, Chair. At 4.8, the Council holds currently X amount of uncollected debt for prior financial years and the work that's going to be going on. It says that the work will commence in the third or fourth quarter. Where will that work be coming back to? And at what point in the financial year, or will it sort of, will it drift over a tad? Thank you. I'm advised by the one point officer that it's an ongoing work. I will report back to Cabinet in a quarter, three months time, to see how we're progressing. We'd like to collect it as soon as we possibly can. I do think it's not going to be within one financial year. I'm sure some of this debt is much older than this shows here. So we will actually report to you as the time progresses. And I'll be challenging officers to make sure that debt is reduced to zero as close as we can, as soon as we can. OK, any further comments or questions? Did you want to wrap up or did that cover everything? Thank you very much indeed. I'm pleased that the director of financial services is taking control over some parts of the way the organisation is run. It'll be very important to us. I think that will help us with our future organisation to make sure we don't have any provision for bad debts that we've had to do in the past. So I'm looking forward to the September meeting where we're going to progress on how that integration is working across the Council and how beneficial that is for us. And I will be looking forward to reporting to Cabinet on that basis. Other than that, no. I just would like approval for this paper. Thank you, Councillor Conlon. Does Cabinet agree? Recommendation? Agreed. Excellent. Well, that concludes the business of Cabinet this evening. Thank you all for coming. I think if you could turn off the web...
Summary
The Cabinet of Southend-on-Sea Council met on Monday, 24 June 2024, to discuss various financial and policy matters. Key decisions were made regarding the council's financial management, housing pipeline, waste management, children's social care, and licensing policies.
Financial Management and Budget Overspend
The Cabinet reviewed the Provisional Revenue and Capital Outturn for 2023/24. Despite an overall deficit of £1.89 million, it was noted that this was significantly lower than the initially projected £14-15 million. The overspend in services amounted to £10 million, which was mitigated by effective financial management and investment returns. The deficit will be covered by earmarked reserves for children's services and the transitional reserve.
Housing Pipeline
Councillor Jones highlighted the importance of the housing pipeline and assured that detailed plans would be presented in the next Cabinet cycle. The focus will be on pipeline and acquisitions to address housing needs.
Waste Management and Tree Maintenance
Councillor Hyde reported on the reduction of overspend in waste management due to performance payments. The Cabinet also discussed the importance of maintaining the tree maintenance budget, which had been a point of contention with the previous administration.
Children's Social Care
Councillor Burton discussed the ongoing pressures in children's social care, particularly the high costs of placements for children with challenging needs. Efforts are being made to step down expensive placements and increase the use of in-house foster carers.
Licensing Policies
The Cabinet approved the commencement of a statutory public consultation on the Draft Licensing Policy 2025. The updated policy includes stronger guidance on control measures, waste minimisation, and child safeguarding. Councillor Martin Terry emphasized the importance of community safety measures, including the Ask Angela
campaign for individuals feeling unsafe in licensed premises.
Gambling Policy
A similar consultation process was approved for the Gambling Licensing Policy Statement 2025. The policy will be reviewed to ensure compliance with statutory requirements, despite ongoing national consultations on the Gambling Act 2005.
Debt Management
The Cabinet reviewed the Corporate Debt Management Position as of 31 March 2024. The report highlighted strong performance in the collection of council tax and business rates, with collection rates of 97.6% and 98.9%, respectively. The Director of Financial Services will oversee the integration of services to improve debt management further.
Treasury Management
The Annual Treasury Management Report was presented, noting that £6.319 million of interest and income distributions were earned during the period, with no new borrowing undertaken. The report emphasized the importance of managing investments and borrowing to maintain financial stability.
The meeting concluded with the approval of all recommendations and a commitment to continue monitoring and improving the council's financial and operational performance.
Attendees
- Anne Jones
- Daniel Cowan
- Ian Gilbert
- Laurie Burton
- Lydia Hyde
- Martin Terry
- Matt Dent
- Maxine Sadza
- Paul Collins
- Alan Richards
- Claire Shuter
- Colin Ansell
- Colin Gamble
- Dorothy Simon
- Joanne Stowell
- Joe Chesterton
- Mark Harvey
- Michael Barnes
- Michael Marks
- Susan Zeiss
- Suzanne Newman
Documents
- Appendix 3 - Infrastructure Funding Statement for 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024
- Appendix 4 - Southend-on-Sea City Council Productivity Plan 2024
- Report of Exec Director Finance and Resources
- Report of Executive Director Envt and Place
- Appendix - Draft Licensing Policy 2025
- Appendix A - Debt Management Position 31.03.2024
- Report of Exec Director Envt and Place
- Appendix - Gambling Licensing Policy Statement 2025
- Report of Exec Director Finance and Resources
- Appendix B - Write Offs 31.03.2024
- Public reports pack 24th-Jun-2024 19.00 Cabinet reports pack
- Minutes Public Pack 04032024 Cabinet minutes
- Agenda frontsheet 24th-Jun-2024 19.00 Cabinet agenda
- Minutes Public Pack 29042024 Cabinet minutes
- Appendix 1 - Requested Changes to the Capital Investment Programme
- Minutes Public Pack 14032024 Cabinet minutes
- Report of Exec Director Finance and Resources
- Appendix 2 - Amended Capital Investment Programme