Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Harry Phibbs.

If a Councillor has any prejudicial or personal interest in a particular report he/she should declare the existence and nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of the item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

At meetings where members of the public are allowed to be in attendance and speak, any Councillor with a prejudicial interest may also make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter. The Councillor must then withdraw immediately from the meeting before the matter is discussed and any vote taken, unless a dispensation has been obtained from the Standards Committee.

Where members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance, then the Councillor with a prejudicial interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration, unless the disability has been removed by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

Cabinet considered a paper which worked up the proposals considered in February by this Authority, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) and Westminster City Council (WCC) in the report, 'Bold Ideas for Challenging Times’.  It was noted that the paper was not available for circulation five clear days before the meeting as officers did not have all the information required in order to be in a position to report on progress made since the meetings in February.

Councillor Cowan expressed concern regarding the following issues:- the ability of senior management to prioritise their time for our Council’s issues during a crisis, a lack of exit strategy in the event of the parties wanting to pull out of the arrangements, and the exclusion of the Opposition from the Tri-borough decision making process.  He asked if any of the Councils faced a Baby P type crisis how would the Council ensure that all the resources were not diverted to the crisis faced authority.  He was of the view that Westminster City Council had some issues with its budget and was nervous with the pace of the report. 

The Leader noted that the progress report was not a binding document.  The previous report had outlined issues around democratic accountability, sovereignty guarantee and exit strategy.  The proposals set out a robust and sensible way to remove significant overheads without affecting frontline service delivery.  Dedicated child protection resources will be provided at borough level.  He noted that the Administration would accept written submissions from the opposition on its ideas to develop the proposals as part of the consultation process. 

Andrew Christie, Director of Children’s Services, stated that each Borough will have designated officers for Child Protection and Children in Care.  The new proposals will provide more capacity, greater strength and depth to cope with any peaks and troughs.  Both the Royal Borough Kensington and Chelsea and the Council have experience of dealing with major child protection issues.  Both organisations provided Haringey Council with support during the Baby P case.

The Leader reassured the meeting that each Council was responsible for setting it own budget and there will not be any cost shunting between Boroughs.  Robust debates were taking place on a transparent and sensible approach to the distribution of costs and savings.

Jane West, Director of Finance and Corporate Services, stated that budget setting, Medium Term Financial Strategy, closing of accounts and setting of council tax will all be done locally.  The Council will only be responsible for costs attributed to its activity.  The Leader moved the recommendations contained in the report.

RESOLVED:

That the recommendations set out in section 3 of the report as outlined below be approved:

Cabinet endorse the report in full and, in particular:

(i)        note the positive public response to the proposals;

(ii)       note the draft business cases highlight continued confidence in achieving £35m savings target;

Adult Social Care

(iii)      mandate continued negotiations with Central London Community Health around integrated health and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The Forward Plan was noted.

The summary was noted.

The summary was noted.