Agenda and minutes
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Contact: Ben Caulfield, Policy and Scrutiny Officer
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Apologies for absence, Substitutions, Declarations of Interest and Dispensations Minutes: There were apologies from Councillor Mike Booth. Councillor Noordad Aziz substituted. There were also apologies from Doug Hayes, Co-optee.
Stacy Walsh, Co-optee stated that in the interests of transparency, she wanted to Committee to be aware that Hyndburn Food Pantry had been previously awarded a grant from Hyndburn Leisure.
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Call-In Procedure Note To advise the Committee of the procedure to be followed at the meeting in relation to Call-Ins. Attention is drawn to Point 8 of the Procedure.
Recommended – That the Procedure be noted and applied to the undermentioned call-in.
Minutes: The Chair invited the Scrutiny and Policy Officer to speak on this item. The Officer explained that this meeting had been called to consider the call in of a Cabinet decision, which was item 3 on the agenda. This item outlined the Council’s procedure for consideration of items called in. Members were hopefully familiar with the process. The Officer drew attention to point 8, which outlined the options available to the committee.
Resolved - The procedure for consideration of items called in be noted.
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Call-In of Cabinet Decision - Hyndburn Leisure Request for Financial Support At its meeting on 6th December 2023, Agenda item 5 Minute number 219 Hyndburn Leisure Request for Financial Support, Cabinet resolved:
That Cabinet:
(1) Notes the request from Hyndburn Leisure for financial support of up to £700,000, as set out in the letter provided as an Appendix to the report.
(2) Approves a grant to Hyndburn Leisure of £490,000 in respect of the financial year 2023/2024 and notes that this qualifies as Service of Public Economic Interest (SPEI) Assistance pursuant to section 38 of the Subsidy Control Act 2022 as detailed in section 7 of the report.
(2) Approves the payment of the £490,000 support to be funded from within the Council’s forecast revenue underspend in year for 2023/2024.
(3) Notes that further financial support may be required by Hyndburn Leisure in the current and future years and notes that the Council will be required to consider whether the provision of such support is consistent with the subsidy control principles before any decision is made in respect of the same.
(5) Supports a proposal for the inclusion of a ‘one-off’ budget allocation in the 2024/2025 revenue budget in respect of any further financial support that may be needed by the Leisure Trust.
(6) Approves the commissioning of a report on the most advantageous delivery model for the provision of quality leisure services in Hyndburn, with regard to achieving value for money.
In accordance with the Call-In Procedure for Cabinet Decisions, the procedure has been activated. The following documents are included:
Call-In Form (Note an additional Microsoft Word Version has been included for clarity) Copy of Cabinet Report from 6th December – Hyndburn Leisure Request for Financial Support Copy of appendix to above Cabinet report – Request for Support Extract from Minutes of Cabinet 6th December 2023 – Minute Number 219
Recommended – That the Committee does ONE of the following:
· To release the Cabinet decision in full for implementation; or
· To release the Cabinet decision in part for implementation, and refer the outstanding part of the decision back to the decision making body for reconsideration, setting out in writing the nature of its concerns; or
· To refer the decision back to the decision making person or body for reconsideration, setting out in writing the nature of its concerns. The decision maker shall then reconsider amending the decision or not, before adopting a final decision.
Additional documents:
Minutes: The Chair informed the Committee that at its meeting on 6th December 2023, Agenda item 5 Minute number 219 Hyndburn Leisure Request for Financial Support, Cabinet resolved:
(1) Notes the request from Hyndburn Leisure for financial support of up to £700,000, as set out in the letter provided as an Appendix to the report.
(2) Approves a grant to Hyndburn Leisure of £490,000 in respect of the financial year 2023/2024 and notes that this qualifies as Service of Public Economic Interest (SPEI) Assistance pursuant to section 38 of the Subsidy Control Act 2022 as detailed in section 7 of the report.
(2) Approves the payment of the £490,000 support to be funded from within the Council’s forecast revenue underspend in year for 2023/2024.
(3) Notes that further financial support may be required by Hyndburn Leisure in the current and future years and notes that the Council will be required to consider whether the provision of such support is consistent with the subsidy control principles before any decision is made in respect of the same.
(5) Supports a proposal for the inclusion of a ‘one-off’ budget allocation in the 2024/2025 revenue budget in respect of any further financial support that may be needed by the Leisure Trust.
(6) Approves the commissioning of a report on the most advantageous delivery model for the provision of quality leisure services in Hyndburn, with regard to achieving value for money.
In accordance with the Call-In Procedure for Cabinet Decisions, the procedure has been activated. The following documents are included in the agenda for the convenience of members:
- Call-In Form - Copy of Cabinet Report from 6th December – Hyndburn Leisure Request for Financial Support - Copy of appendix to above Cabinet report – Request for Support - Extract from Minutes of Cabinet 6th December 2023 – Minute Number 219 - Following the call-in procedure, the Chair invited Councillor Scott Brerton, Sponsor of the Call-in to explain his reasons for the call-in.
Councillor Brerton thanked the Chair and expanded on the reasoning behind the call-in, which was included as part of the agenda pack.
Councillor Brerton said that, after the recent Cabinet decision to provide £12million of capital funding to build a new leisure centre that his group were surprised by the urgent need for financial support by Hyndburn Leisure. He said that calling in the decision was the right thing to do, as use of public money should be open to scrutiny. Hyndburn Borough Council faces many upcoming financial pressures, which this money may be required for. Finally, Councillor Brerton added that recent reports to Scrutiny and other bodies seemed to indicate that Hyndburn Leisure finances were ok, therefore it was difficult to understand how this urgent need for funding had arisen.
The Chair thanked Councillor Brerton and invited the Portfolio Holder for Resources, Cllr Peter Britcliffe to outline the reasons for the original decision.
Cllr Britcliffe reported that the decision had been taken due to the unprecedented additional costs facing ... view the full minutes text for item 258. |