Agenda and minutes

The Leader welcomed the supporters of the Save Sullivan School Campaign to the meeting.  He explained that legally Cabinet could not consider their proposed deputation request as the issue was not part of the published agenda.  However, standing orders will be suspended and the meeting adjourned, for Cabinet to hear the Campaigners’ case.  He noted that the consultation was open until 8^th October 2013.

Ms Donna Fine, spokesperson for the Group, addressed the meeting.  She highlighted the following issues:-

·              expressed concern about the timing of the consultation during the summer holidays which had prevented parents and teachers from participating in the exercise,

·              the Council did not consider the damaging impact the closure would have on the children and the stress it placed on the families in the area,

·              full consideration had not been given to the welfare of the children in light of the proposed new residential developments near New Kings School,

·              the number of classroom places stated in the consultation document was incorrect as New Kings and Sulivan schools were currently full.  Parents will experience great difficulty in finding places for their children.

Finally, she asked for an extension of the consultation period to allow more responses submitted.

The Leader thanked Ms Fine for stating the Save Sulivan School case.  He noted that it would be inappropriate to debate the issues highlighted as the consultation was still open but he would ask the Cabinet Member for Education to respond to the issue of the timing of the consultation.

Councillor Cooney noted that the consultation commenced at the end of the summer term for 12 weeks instead of the statutory 6 weeks period.  The decision to double the consultation period was to take into account the summer holidays.  A further 6 weeks of consultation would become available if the decision to close the school was taken.  However, no decision had been made yet.

In response to a question from the audience regarding the timing of the consultation, the Leader noted that over 300 responses had already been received and urged the campaigners to take advantage of the ongoing consultation to submit their objections or concerns about the proposed closure.  He noted that there were still 5 more weeks left for people to participate in the exercise.

Councillor Cowan was of the view that the teachers should be concentrating on settling the children into their new classes rather than trying to save the school.  He asked Cabinet to extend the consultation period to allow the teachers focus on the children’s education as well as present their case against closure.  A member of the audience stated that DFEE guidelines discouraged consultation during the summer holidays.  Rosie Wait,  Chair of Governors, also noted that the end and beginning of an academic year was the busiest for staff.  Consultation during this period was a distraction to both the teachers and children.  Finally, Peter Gray, a campaign supporter, noted that a 800 place boys school website was up and running before the consultation had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

That the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 22 July 2013 be confirmed and signed as an accurate record of the proceedings, and that the outstanding actions be noted.

Apologies for Absence were received from Councillor Greg Smith.

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that 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 disclosable pecuniary interest or other significant 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.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Audit, Pensions and Standards Committee. 

There were no declarations of interest.

1.1    That approval be given to the budget virements of £4.3m as outlined in Appendix 1 of the report.

1.2    That bad debts of £0.627 million be written off and that retrospective approval be given to writing off the £0.100 million Park Royal debt already written off in 2012-3.

Cabinet noted that in accordance with the Council’s debt reduction strategy, all year-end surplus general fund receipts have been directed towards debt reduction.  As a result of this strategy, the closing debt position for the General Fund as measured by the Capital Financing Requirement (CFR) for 2012/13 at quarter 4 was is£78.4m.  The Leader welcomed this huge transformation in the balance sheet.

RESOLVED

That the content of the report complies with financial standards, be noted.

1.1       That the Council has not undertaken any borrowing for the period 1^st April 2012 to 31^st March 2013, be noted.

1.2      That the investment activity for the period 1^st April 2012 to 31^st March 2013, be noted.

On the advice of Legal Services, an addendum was circulated to Cabinet with amended recommendations for consideration.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1.1       That the Framework Agreement for  delivery of property services to the Council and the Participating Boroughs be  awarded to the contractors listed below, commencing on 1 October 2013 for a period of 4 years:

For Lot 1:    GVA Grimley

For Lot 2[1]: Lambert Smith Hampton Group Ltd (all of Lot 2), BNP Paribas Real Estate Advisory & Property Management UK Limited (Lot 2 excluding Lot 2.5 and 2.6 – Housing Work) and Savills (UK) Ltd (Lot 2 excluding Lot 2.5 and 2.6 – Housing Work)

For Lot 3:  Wilks Head & Eve LLP

For Lot 4:  Lambert Smith Hampton Group Ltd, Bruton Knowles, Carter Jonas LLP, GL Hearn Limited, GVA Grimley

For Lot 5:  Savills (UK) Ltd, Andrew Scott Robertson, Allsop LLP

For Lot 6:  Pellings LLP

For Lot 7:  Wildstone Property Ltd

            For Lot 8A:  Savills (UK) Ltd, Horton & Garton Ltd and Chris Kerr Property Services

For Lot 8B: Savills (UK) Ltd, Horton & Garton Ltd and Chris Kerr Property Services

For Lot 8C: Savills (UK) Ltd and Knight Frank LLP

For Lot 8D: Savills (UK) Ltd and Knight Frank LLP

For Lot 8E: Savills (UK) Ltd, Horton & Garton Ltd and Chris Kerr Property Services

1.2     That approval be given to the Council entering call-off contracts for each of Lots 2 to 8, noting that the identity of the contractors who are awarded particular call-off contracts for particular work will be determined in accordance with the call-off procedures set out in the Framework Agreement.

1.3       That for Lot 1 – Property Management – the decision for the Council to call off a contract is deferred pending further clarification on the cost benefit of outsourcing this service to the external provider on the Framework Agreement, be noted.

1.4       To note that the deferment of a decision by the Council in respect of Lot 1 will not prevent one of the Participating Boroughs calling off a contract for  itself from the Framework for Lot 1 services should it choose to do so. 

Councillor Cartwright expressed his dissatisfaction of the procurement process.  He was of the view that the procurement process was flawed as it did not go through a proper tender route. The Executive Director of Finance and Governance stated that the most appropriate procurement route via a framework agreement had been selected for this project.   The framework procurement process was open to scrutiny, efficiency and the most cost effective method of procurement for the proposal.  The Executive Director of Housing and Regeneration agreed to brief Councillor Cartwright on the on-going work regarding Mitie which was separate from this project.

The Leader noted that the Administration was proud to refurbish the Library and maintain the Archive services when other local authorities were closing similar services across London.

RESOLVED

1.1    That the “Scape” framework as the procurement route for this project, be approved.

1.2    That the authorisation of the award of the future contracts resulting from the framework, to a value that falls within the overall approved budget for the scheme, be delegated to Cabinet Member for Residents Services in conjunction with the Executive Director for Environment, Leisure and  Residents Services and the Executive Director of Finance and Corporate Governance, be approved.

1.1.     That the requirement of the Council’s Contract Standing Orders to seek competitive tenders be waived in accordance with CSO 3.1, and that negotiations with Greenwich Leisure Limited for a new interim contract for the management of public leisure facilities at Phoenix High School, in accordance with Contracts Standing Order 9.11, be approved.

1.2.     That the duration of this interim contract with GLL be aligned with the ending of the school academic year in July 2015, be approved.

1.3.     That the interim contract with GLL continues, and for no more than the existing contract price of £388,000 per annum, be approved.

1.4.     That the award of the final form of contract, following negotiations with GLL, be delegated to the Cabinet Member for Residents Services in consultation with the Executive Director of Environment, Leisure and Residents Services, be approved.

1.5.     That a Prior Information Notice be posted to gauge future market interest and aid pre-procurement dialogue between interested organisations, Phoenix High School and H&F on what shape a future (2015-2019) contract should take to optimise value for money.

That an invest to save funding of £330,000 from the Efficiency Projects Reserve as set out in paragraphs 10.6 and 10.10 of the report, be approved.

That a contribution of up to £71,696 from the Efficiency Projects reserve (Invest to Save), towards the year one, one-off project costs for the provision of Frameworki, Electronic Social Care Case Management and Finance System, be approved, with all other one off and on-going costs being met from within existing budgets, be approved.

1.1.     That approval be given to offer the following menu of interest free payment options for resident leaseholders and non-resident leaseholders who own a single property:

1.2.     That interest bearing instalment plans be offered to non-resident leaseholders who may own more than one leasehold property based on the same number of instalments as set out above, be approved.

1.3.     That authority be delegated to the Executive Director of Housing and Regeneration, acting through the Head of Leasehold Services, to consider any applications on the grounds of hardship from leaseholders to allow additional instalments.

The Forward Plan was noted.

The Cabinet is invited to resolve, under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, that the public and press be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following items of business, on the grounds that they contain the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in paragraph 3of Schedule 12A of the said Act, and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption currently outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

That under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the remaining items of business on the grounds that they contain information relating to the financial or business affairs of a person (including the authority)] as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption currently outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

[The following is a public summary of the exempt information under S.100C (2) of the Local Government Act 1972.  Exempt minutes exist as a separate document.]

That the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 22 July 2013 be confirmed and signed as an accurate record of the proceedings, and that the outstanding actions be noted.

That the attached Appendix 4 of the report be noted.

On the advice of Legal Services, an amended report was circulated to the Committee consideration.

That the report be noted.

That the recommendations contained in the exempt report, be agreed