Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest or dispensations.

To approve the Minutes of the last meeting of Cabinet held on 30^th August 2017.

The Minutes of the meeting of Cabinet held on 30^th August 2017 were submitted for approval as a correct record.

Resolved                               -   That the Minutes be received and approved as a correct record.

To receive the Minutes of the meeting of the Regeneration and Housing Panel held on 24^th July 2017.

PART B:  PORTFOLIO ITEMS

The Minutes of the meeting of the Regeneration and Housing Panel held on 24^th July 2017 were submitted.

Resolved                               -   That the Minutes be received and noted.

To receive reports from Cabinet Members.

Portfolio Holder for Resources (Councillor Gareth Molineux)

There were no reports.

Report attached.

The Portfolio Holder for Resources (Councillor Gareth Molineux) submitted a report relating to the General Data Protection Regulations that were due to come into force in May 2018 and outlining the steps the Council would need to take to ensure compliance.  The Regulations imposed stricter requirements on the Council in respect of data protection and imposed much greater penalties in respect of data protection breaches.  Many of the “day-to-day” protection rules would stay the same or similar, although the Regulations made a number of key changes and imposed much greater emphasis on governance and documented compliance arrangements.  The requirements of the Regulations were summarised in Appendix 1 to the report and the proposed Action Plan for the Council was attached as Appendix 2.  Approval of the report was not deemed a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

1)         The Regulations would take effect on 25^th May 2018 and were EU regulations that would apply in the UK without the need for national legislation.  The implementation of the Regulations would not be affected by Brexit.

2)         The aim of the Regulations was to increase individuals’ rights to data privacy.  Guidance on the Regulations was emerging on a piecemeal basis and the Information Commission’s website indicated that further guidance would be produced on various aspects of the Regulations, and hopefully some of that would be more sector specific.  The Government had also announced that it intended to produce new, national legislation to replace the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Council would have to keep up to date with that guidance and new legislation as it emerged and respond accordingly.

Alternative Options Considered and Reasons for Rejection

The Council was required by law to comply with the Regulations once they came into force and given the significant penalties for non-compliance, the Council had no option but to start to prepare for implementation of the Regulations.

Resolved                           (1)   That the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulations, as summarised in Appendix 1 to the report, be noted;

                                (2)   That the proposed Action Plan attached as Appendix 2 to the report be endorsed and the Executive Director (Legal and Democratic Services) be authorised to take the steps necessary to implement the same;

                                (3)   That the Executive Director (Legal and Democratic Services) be appointed as Data Protection Officer for the Council;  and,

                                (4)   That the Head of Internal Audit be appointed to deputise for the Data Protection Officer in her absence.

Report attached.

The Portfolio Holder for Resources submitted a report relating to changes to the Council’s current Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy following a recent review and consultation exercise.  There were increasing calls nationally for CCTV to be required in licensed vehicles and in view of issues that would need to be addressed, considerations on the requirement were ongoing and a further report on CCTV would be presented to Cabinet in due course.  The draft policy proposals were set out in the report and details of the consultation responses, the Convictions Policy and the Intended Use Policy were attached as Appendices 1 to 3 respectively.  Approval of the report was not deemed a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

1)         In March 2010 the Department for Transport issued best practice guidance for taxi and private hire licensing.  Although the guidance was not statutory, it was intended to assist Licensing Authorities and Paragraph 4 of the guidance stated that “it was for individual licensing authorities to reach their own decision both on overall policies and on individual licensing matters, in the light of their own views of the relevant considerations”.

2)         The Council had responsibility for licensing hackney carriage and private hire vehicles, drivers and operators within the Borough of Hyndburn and in 2013 had brought all its various hackney carriage and private hire policies and procedures together in one comprehensive policy document.  At that time, the policy was extensively updated and a number of key changes had been made.  Those changes were summarised in Paragraph 3.1 of report.

3)         In August 2016, the Council had received a petition from some of the taxi trade asking for a review of the following aspects of the Council’s current policy:-

·         The ban on the licensing of Category C and D vehicles;  and,

·         The requirement for licensed vehicles to meet Euro 5 from September 2017

The petition claimed that drivers were struggling financially due to a lack of trade and the cost of replacement vehicles.  Members and officers had met with trade representatives in response to the petition and it had been agreed that those issues would be considered as part of a wider policy review.

4)         The draft proposals set out in the report had been advertised in the local press and on the Council’s website and letters about the consultation had been sent to the taxi trade.  A public notice and information about the policy and consultation had been placed in all of Hyndburn’s public libraries.  The consultation had also been published via the local newspaper.  

Alternative Options Considered and Reasons for Rejection

The Council did not need to update its taxi policy and could continue as it was for the time being, however, that was not recommended.  It was good practice to keep the policy under review and to make improvements where possible to raise standards and reflect changing circumstances.  Cabinet could also choose to agree some of the proposals but not others.

Resolved                           (1)   That the current Hackney Carriage and Private  ...  view the full minutes text for item 187.

Report attached.

The Portfolio Holder for Resources submitted a report on the three year projections of income and spending for the Council ahead of commencing its Budget preparation for 2018/19.  The Medium Term Financial Strategy was attached to the report and set out the way in which the Council went about its financial planning processes, especially in relation to the corporate budget planning cycle, which was subject to the Budget and Policy Framework Procedure Rules.  The Strategy also set out an updated action plan for the process and arrangements for reporting on progress to date in formulating and updating future year’s budgets.  Specifically the report updated the Medium Term Financial Strategy presented to Cabinet in February 2017.  Appendix 1 to the report set out the background to the current budget predictions in figures to give an idea of commitments, funding and potential Council Tax levels.  It indicated that for 2018/19 the Council would see a reduction in its Government Grant of £450,000 (18%) and that it faced other budgetary pressures around its delivery of services of over £1.3m.  Those combined to produce a savings target of £1.7m for 2018/19 which was almost 16% of the Council’s current spend levels.   In the following year, the Council faced less serious budget challenges with a target saving of £946,000 or 9% of its current budget.  The pressure however increased substantially once again in 2020/21 with the predicted ending of Revenue Support Grant which would see £1.5m of revenue lost to the Council and an overall savings target for the year of £1.9m or 18% of its current budget.  Appendices 2 and 3 to the report outlined two further scenarios of the potential range of values over the coming period.  The figures in Appendix 1 however remained the Council’s current best estimate of the likely financial position over the next three years.  Approval of the report was not deemed a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

Cabinet required an update on its medium term financial outlook ahead of setting the Budget for 2018/19 and determining the level of Council Tax.  The report also ensured those decisions were taken with a view to the overall position of the Council going forward and were not limited to a narrow one year perspective. 

There were no alternative options for consideration or reasons for rejection.

Resolved                               -   That the report and accompanying Medium Term Financial Strategy be approved.

The following item was submitted as urgent business with the Chair’s agreement in accordance with Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the reason being to ensure the latest up to date information was included in the report.

Report attached.

The Portfolio Holder for Resources submitted a report on the financial spending of the Council up to the end of August 2017 and the financial forecast outturn position for the Accounting Year 2017/18.  The financial detail of the report was shown as a table at the end of the report.  The spend for the first five months of the financial year was £4,285.046 compared to a Budget of £4,449,440 giving a positive variance of £214,000.  The current forecast spend to the end of the financial year in March 2018 was £10,958,000 compared to a Budget of £11,197,000.  That forecast produced a positive variance of £239,000.  The main areas of financial pressure were Parks and Cemeteries, Planning and Transportation and Regeneration and Property Services.  Approval of the report was not deemed a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

To inform Cabinet of the financial spending of the Council at the end of August 2017 and the prediction of the outturn position to the end of the financial year in March 2018.

There were no alternative options for consideration or reasons for rejection.

Resolved                               -   That the report be noted and Corporate Management Team be asked to look to reduce costs and increase income over the remainder of the year to improve the Council’s overall financial position.