Agenda, decisions and minutes

The Leader welcomed all to the Cabinet meeting. He stressed that Covid-19 cases were on the rise and urged everyone to get their vaccine promptly as it was the singular best way to be protected from the virus.

That the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 10 October 2022 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 Rebecca Harvey and Councillor Alex Sanderson attended virtually and did not vote.

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 Standards Committee.

1.            To note the General Fund forecast overspend of £4.666m.

2.            To note that the forecast draw down from the Housing Revenue Account general balance will be £5.216m. This is £1.166m more than budgeted.

3.            To note the in-year Dedicated Schools Grant High Needs Block forecasted surplus of (£0.599m), reducing the cumulative deficit.

4.            To approve General Fund virements totalling £1.852m as detailed in appendix 10.

Councillor Rowan Ree introduced the report which described the revenue expenditure forecast for July. The monitoring reports ensured that the Council was being ruthlessly financially efficient in spending their capital within agreed budgets.

AGREED UNANIMOUSLY BY THE CABINET MEMBERS:

1.            To note the General Fund forecast overspend of £4.666m.

2.            To note that the forecast draw down from the Housing Revenue Account general balance will be £5.216m. This is £1.166m more than budgeted.

3.            To note the in-year Dedicated Schools Grant High Needs Block forecasted surplus of (£0.599m), reducing the cumulative deficit.

4.            To approve General Fund virements totalling £1.852m as detailed in appendix 10.

This report has two appendices which contain information exempt within the meaning of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 and are not for publication. The appendices have therefore been circulated to Cabinet Members only.

Any discussions on the contents of an exempt appendix will require Cabinet to pass the proposed resolution identified at the end of the agenda to exclude members of the public and the press the proceedings for that discussion.

That Cabinet

1.    Notes Appendix A and Appendix B are not for publication on the basis that they contain information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) as set out in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

2.    Approves the strategy for a hybrid managed modern desktop service (option 3) which continues to support the council’s strategy to invest in its workforce. The indicative costs are contained in exempt Appendix A.

3.   Approves one-off investment of £4,410,000 for the Tech-tonic 2 rollout (option B) including replacement devices to be funded from a combination of HRA contributions, reserves held for corporate IT and capital funding. The indicative costs are contained in exempt Appendix B.

The Leader reported that over the last few years the Council had successfully greatly reduced the cost of the  desktop service and improved the quality of the service provided. The new proposed service would advance productivity and increase efficiency.

Councillor Rowan Ree stated that the report recommended the adoption of a new hybrid managed modern desktop service to improve efficiency while delivering increased benefits to the workforce, and deliver a modern, flexible, cost-efficient desktop service to the Council. It also recommended provision of future devices and the upcoming Tech-tonic 2.0 device refresh.

AGREED UNANIMOUSLY BY THE CABINET MEMBERS:

That Cabinet

1.    Notes Appendix A and Appendix B are not for publication on the basis that they contain information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) as set out in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

2.    Approves the strategy for a hybrid managed modern desktop service (option 3) which continues to support the council’s strategy to invest in its workforce. The indicative costs are contained in exempt Appendix A.

3.   Approves one-off investment of £4,410,000 for the Tech-tonic 2 rollout (option B) including replacement devices to be funded from a combination of HRA contributions, reserves held for corporate IT and capital funding. The indicative costs are contained in exempt Appendix B.

The Key Decision List was noted.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 - ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Proposed resolution:

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 3 of Schedule 12A of the said Act, and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption currently outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.       

There was no discussion of exempt elements.