Agenda and minutes
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Apologies for Absence Minutes: Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillor Kimberley Whitehead.
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Declarations of Interest and Dispensations Minutes: There were no reported declarations of interest or dispensations granted.
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To approve the Minutes of the last meeting of Cabinet held on 11th June 2024 Minutes: The minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 11th June 2024 were submitted for approval as a correct record.
Resolved - That the Minutes be received and approved as a correct record.
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Urgent Decisions Taken In accordance with Executive Procedure Rule B16(c), to receive a report on decisions taken under urgency procedures. The following decisions are attached:
Additional documents:
Minutes: In accordance with Executive Procedure Rule B16(c), Members considered a report on the following decisions taken under the urgency procedure:
The Leader of the Council reported that the decision at (a) above was to develop policies in relation to HMOs and children’s care homes. This was progressing, however, the initial decision had envisaged a procurement exercise for consultants to carry out the work. Subsequently, officers had been asked to undertake this project in-house. The results were expected by March 2025.
The decision at (b) above had been to carry out urgent stonework and roof repairs at the crematorium. It was understood that the work had now been completed.
Resolved - To note the report on urgent decisions taken.
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Reports of Cabinet Members To receive verbal reports from each of the Portfolio Holders, as appropriate. Minutes: Leader of the Council Councillor Munsif Dad BEM JP, Leader of the Council, reported on the following:
Community Funds In recent years the Council had set aside funds to enable the Leader to address community need. In 2024/25, £20k had been identified from the revenue Budget for this purpose and it was anticipated that this budgetary provision would be continued in future years. The funding would be available across all wards and would be used to support the following priorities:
· Key services or facilities under pressure; · Civic functions and events; and · Services that enhanced the street scene.
Local Government Boundary Review Members had heard at the last Council meeting that a boundary review would take place in Hyndburn. The review would provide an opportunity to consider whether the Borough currently had too many councillors or too few, given the changing demands on councillors since the last review had been carried out.
The Council could look at things like changes to the population, changes to its services, changes to its statutory responsibilities and the demands of its political management arrangements, such as how many councillors were needed to enable the Cabinet and various Committees to operate effectively and to ensure that councillor workloads were manageable.
Following initial meetings with the Boundary Commission, an outline timetable had been provided as follows:
Lancashire Combined County Authority Following the recent change of Government, Lancashire (non-unitary) district council leaders had met to discuss an approach to the new Government to seek a review the current Lancashire Combined County Authority (LCCA) proposals. The leaders group would also write to the Deputy Prime Minister, Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP, in her role as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. The consensus of the group was that the proposed deal was not fit for purpose and lacked aspiration. District councils were concerned that they had not been adequately consulted or involved in the development of the proposals. In particular, there was a view that UK Shared Prosperity Funding should remain within the control of the districts. Local authority leaders would also consider whether a Mayoral model deal, such as those in Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City region, could be supported. The Council was committed to working with all Lancashire districts and MPs for a better deal.
Portfolio Holder for Sustainability and Families
Councillor Kate Walsh, Portfolio Holder for Sustainability and Families, reported on the following:
Warm Homes Early discussions were taking pace about the possibility of establishing a Retro-fitting Hub in Accrington town centre. The Council would be invited to support the proposed scheme, which could see Hyndburn become a pilot area for this type of ... view the full minutes text for item 99. |
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Appointment of Cabinet Committees and Cabinet Groups 2024/25 At its meeting on 11th June 2024 the Cabinet appointed a number of Committees and Working Groups and approved the controlling group’s nominations to those bodies. At that time the Opposition had not finalised its nominations. These have now been received and, accordingly, the Cabinet is being asked to approve the names shown in bold italics below:-
Minutes: The Leader reminded Members that, at its meeting on 11th June 2024, the Cabinet had appointed a number of Committees and Working Groups and had approved the controlling group’s nominations to those bodies. However, at that time the Opposition had not finalised its nominations. These had now been received and, accordingly, the Cabinet was being asked to approve the names shown in bold italics below:-
Resolved - That Cabinet agrees to the Opposition appointments to the Cabinet Committees and Cabinet Working Groups, as set out in bold italics in the above table.
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Revenue Budget 2024/2025 Monitoring - Quarter 1 to end of June 2024 Report attached. Minutes: Members considered a joint report of Councillors Noordad Aziz, Joint Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Transformation, Education and Skills and Vanessa Alexander, Portfolio Holder for Resources and Operations. The report informed Cabinet of the financial spending of the Council up to the end of the June 2024 for the financial year 2024/25 and the forecast impact on the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy for 2024/25 to 2026/27.
Councillor Aziz introduced the report and highlighted the potential pressures and risks in year set out at Paragraph 5 of the report. He also noted that interest rates remained high and this had had a positive effect on the Council’s Budget, due to monies invested from the Levelling Up Fund and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which had not yet been spent. There had, however, been some increased service costs around legal, projects and advice, which would have a negative impact on the Budget. Overall, an underspend of £184k was predicted at year end.
Approval of the report was not considered to be a key decision.
Reasons for Decision
At the Full Council meeting on 27th February 2024, Council had agreed the General Fund Revenue Budget for 2024/25. This set a budget for the Council’s total spend in 2024/25 of £16.122M.
The current forecast spend to the end of the financial year in March 2025 was £15.938M. That brought the forecast underspend for the year against the budget to £0.184M.
Table 1: Actual Performance Against Budgets
Details of the most significant changes in the forecast variance were as shown in the table below.
Table 2: Main Changes in Forecast Variance Section 4 of the report included further tables (Nos 3 to 11) on Variance by Service, which provided more detailed information on the areas identified in Table 1 above.
Reserves The Council was currently forecasting a reduction of £15.295M in its usable reserves during the year, bringing them to £10.809M at the end of the year. Movements in reserves were shown in Table 12 of the report, which is reproduced below.
Table 12: Forecast Movements in Reserves 2024/25 As shown in the table above, the most significant movements in reserves were the forecast spending on the capital programme.
Potential Pressures and Risks in Year Although the forecast underspend at Quarter 1 stood at £0.184M, there were some real pressures and risks that needed to be considered that were not currently built into any financial forecasts.
The main pressures/risks related to the following items.
· Waste Disposal Site/Transfer Station · Oswaldtwistle Civic Theatre · Crematorium/Cremators · Food Waste Collections · Hyndburn Leisure
A more comprehensive description of issues raised above was set out in the report. These pressures/risks might need to be considered over the course of the Medium Term Financial Strategy against the forecast underspend for the year.
In addition, a pay award offer had been put forward by the National Employers. This was a flat ... view the full minutes text for item 101. |
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Capital Programme Monitoring 2024/25 - Quarter 1 Update to 30th June 2024 Report attached. Additional documents: Minutes: The Cabinet considered a joint report of Councillors Noordad Aziz, Joint Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Transformation, Education and Skills and Vanessa Alexander, Portfolio Holder for Resources and Operations. The report provided an update for Cabinet of the Council’s Capital Programme Monitoring. It set out the latest phasing of the programme including the latest estimate of available resources and any additions or changes in forecast outturn since the last current position had been presented to the Council Meeting on 13th February 2024.
Councillor Aziz highlighted the current approved total for the Capital Programme, which was £45.3m. He indicated that the new controlling group had reviewed the existing projects to ensure that they would provide added value to the Borough. In a number of cases, it would not have been prudent to terminate the projects at this stage. The new political administration would continue to seek more capital investment for the Borough through the new Labour Government.
Approval of the report was not considered to be a key decision.
Reasons for Decision
2024/2025 Capital Programme The Council had authorised new additions to the capital programme of £4.404m at its meeting on the 13th February 2024.
Since the Council meeting in February 2024 new schemes totalling £0.160m had been approved and added to the programme. The additional expenditure approved was to be fully funded by external grants and receipts that had been awarded and or / received.
In addition, the capital spend outturn from 2023/2024 had slipped £40.656m into 2024/2025, of which £37.769m related to the Levelling Up scheme for Accrington Town Centre, the Leisure Estate Investment and Housing Schemes including Disabled Facilities Grants.
The total approved Capital Programme now totalled £45.315m and was shown in the table below:
The financing of the programme in 2024/2025 was set out in a pie chart within the report. This demonstrated that the majority of funding was provided from external grants and contributions (64%), earmarked reserves (25%) and capital receipts (11%), with a very small percentage financed by other sources including revenue, s106 monies and commuted sums.
The current programme of £45.315m would not be capable of being delivered in the current financial year and it was proposed to rephase the programme into the years in which it was now expected to be spent. The new phasing of the programme was as summarised below.
Summary of the Scheme Profiles over the Medium-Term Financial Strategy.
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Report attached. Minutes: Members considered a joint report of Councillor Noordad Aziz, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Transformation, Education and Skills, and Councillor Vanessa Alexander, Portfolio Holder for Resources and Council Operations, updating Cabinet on Treasury Management activities since the start of this financial year.
Councillor Alexander provided a brief introduction to the report, which set out progress to date and predicted performance against the indicators set at the Council meeting held on 27th February 2024. The Council had remained within the prudential indicators set. As interest rates had remained high, the Council had benefited from prudent investments. The Council had also remained within its borrowing and lending limits.
Councillor Aziz commented that the Council had previously been relatively risk averse regarding its investment strategy. However, as its experience had grown the Council had started to take a more innovative approach to investment, so as to maximise its ability to deliver services to its residents.
Approval of the report was not considered to be a key decision.
Reasons for Decision The Prudential Code for Capital Finance in Local Authorities required the Council to set Prudential Indicators annually for the forthcoming three years to demonstrate that the Council’s capital investment plans were affordable, prudent, and sustainable. The Council had adopted its prudential indicators for 2024/2025 at its meeting in February 2024.
The Prudential Code required the Council, having agreed at least a minimum number of mandatory prudential indicators (including limits and statements), to monitor them - in a locally determined format on a quarterly basis.
The indicators were purely for internal use and not designed to be used as comparators between authorities. If it should be necessary to revise any of the indicators during the year, the Executive Director (Resources) would report and advise the Council further.
‘Treasury Management’ related to the borrowing, investing and cash activities of the authority, and the effective management of any associated risks. In February 2024, in the same report referred above, the Council had also set out and then approved its current Treasury Management Strategy. This had been in accordance with the CIPFA (Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy) code of practice on treasury management in public services, the Council having previously adopted, via Cabinet, the then revised code of practice. Associated treasury management Prudential Indicators had been included in the February 2024 report.
Prudential Indicators Monitoring Appendix 1 of the report set out the monitoring information for each of the prudential indicators and limits. They related to:
· External debt overall limits; · Affordability (e.g. implications for Council Tax); · Prudence and sustainability (e.g. implications for external borrowing); · Capital expenditure; and · Other indicators for Treasury Management.
Treasury Management Update The forecast balance sheet position at 30th June 2024 for treasury management activities was shown in the table below.
Forecast Treasury Balance Sheet Position 2024/25
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Update on Energy Saving Improvements Works at Hyndburn Leisure Centre Report attached. Minutes: The Cabinet considered a report of Councillor Noordad Aziz, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Transformation, Education and Skills, updating Cabinet on the successful Swimming Pool Support Fund bid and the additional complimentary works to be undertaken to provide energy saving improvements at Hyndburn Leisure Centre, along with approval to undertake procurement through the use of the UK Leisure Framework.
Councillor Aziz introduced the report and added that the controlling group was championing sustainable projects towards net zero carbon emissions. The project had already attracted interest from two firms working in the energy efficiency sector. However, the Council would use the UK Leisure Framework to procure a development management provider and to deliver a clear schedule of works.
The Council had been partly successful in its Round 2 bid to the Swimming Pool Support Fund for capital funding for this work, although its Round 1 revenue application had been unsuccessful due to the large number of bids submitted.
When completed, the scheme could reduce energy consumption by up to 98,000KwH.
Approval of the report was not considered to be a key decision.
Reasons for Decision Hyndburn Leisure Centre (HLC) had been identified as the Council’s highest emitter of CO2 due to defunct fossil-fuelled plant. Since then, working in partnership with the Leisure Trust, the Council had significantly reduced the CO2 emissions by 70%, which on an annual basis was around 390 tonnes. This was the biggest single contribution to the Council’s pledge for net zero carbon activities by 2030.
This was achieved when the Council had received £1,988,324 Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) funding to remove the gas supply and deliver a new electric powered sub-station, air source heat pumps, solar panels, a battery store and new heating controls. Further investment of £375122 had been needed by the Council to cover non-grant eligible costs including re-covering and strengthening the Sports Hall roof to accommodate the solar panels.
The PSDS funding however did not allow for the wholesale replacement of the plant and, as such, there was still equipment working alongside the new, which was inefficient and beyond its life expectancy thus contributing to energy inefficiencies and high running costs of HLC, exacerbated by worldwide energy market conditions. As such more work and funding would be required to replace this aged equipment, if energy costs and CO2 emissions were to be reduced further.
With the increase in energy costs over recent years, the Government had announced the Swimming Pool Support Fund (SPSF) a year ago with the intention of both helping keep pools open in the face of financial challenges, as well as funding longer-term projects to help reduce future energy bills
The SPSF provided a total of £80 million to local authorities in England as a support package for public leisure facilities with swimming pools and had been split into two phases.
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Report attached. Additional documents: Minutes: Members considered a report of Councillor Vanessa Alexander, Portfolio Holder for Resources and Council Operations, to propose the Council’s Productivity Plan.
Councillor Alexander briefly introduced the report. The need for a Productivity Plan had been established under the previous Government and was intended to create a means of monitoring spend and efficiencies against productivity.
It was as yet uncertain how this would be taken forward following the change of Government and the requirements could change moving forward. In the meantime, the Council was still required to produce the plan. The main document was included as an Appendix to the report and set out a large number of indicators.
Approval of the report was not considered to be a key decision.
Reasons for Decision The concept of productivity plans had been introduced by the previous UK Government as part of the recent Local Government Finance Settlement. The requirement to submit and publish a Productivity Plan was currently still a requirement the Council would have to adhere to notwithstanding the change in Government. The stated aim was for plans to improve service performance, reduce wasteful expenditure, and ensure efficient resource utilisation in local authorities. The former Minister for Local Government, Simon Hoare, had said that the Office for Local Government and the Local Government Association would "consider the themes emerging from the plans, the implications for future national policy design, the role of Government in supporting further change and the role of the sector in going further".
The Minister had acknowledged that local government had already done a huge amount in recent years to improve productivity and efficiency and stated that the new plans would help UK Government to understand what was already working well across the whole country, what the common themes were, whether there were any gaps and what more it needed to do to unlock future opportunities.
The Hyndburn Context This plan highlighted the actions that the Council was taking - or would take - to ensure it was operating productively and delivering quality services for residents. Over the last 14 years, Hyndburn had faced major funding challenges, in particular because of significant reductions in Revenue Support Grant from the government and the transfer of the risk of non-collection of business rates to local government. These changes had signalled a period of significant decline in the overall resources available to the Council. In response, the Council had successfully delivered efficiency savings, allowing all its key services to continue being delivered despite a reduction of nearly £6m in Central Government funding (based on 2010/2011 figures, adjusted for inflation).
The Council had always been forward thinking and innovative in achieving productivity, and had a strong record of sound financial management. However, there was always more that it could do and the authority welcomed the opportunity to highlight the potential barriers to further productivity gains, including those that could be addressed by central Government.
Key Components of the Plan · Adaptive Organisational Design - The plan set out the mechanisms and ... view the full minutes text for item 105. |
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Member Learning and Development Update Report attached. Minutes: Members considered a report of Councillor Vanessa Alexander, Portfolio Holder for Resources and Council Operations, updating Cabinet on elected member learning and development this financial year to date.
Councillor Alexander provided a short introduction to the report, which outlined the training provided to councillors, attendance levels and a way forward to develop and improve access to the learning experience. The latter might involve more closely aligning training dates and times of day to members’ availability and matching preferences for virtual or in-person training. The work would be led by the Learning and Development Panel.
Councillor Alexander stated that, as a newly elected member, she had found the training she had attended very useful. Councillor Dad added that induction training was important for all new councillors to help them acclimatise to their role and that decision-making training was essential for all members serving on quasi-judicial committees.
Approval of the report was not considered to be a key decision.
Reasons for Decision A report presented to Cabinet on 13th March 2024 had included a new Member Development Strategy.
A meeting of the Member Learning and Development Panel would be arranged in the coming weeks to progress the Council’s aspiration to achieve level 1 of the Member Development Charter.
New member induction sessions had been arranged following the local elections, as follows:
In addition, all new councillors had been signposted to a programme of free induction sessions entitled ‘Life as a Councillor’ offered by North West Employers, due to take place in June and July. Take up of this programme was not currently known.
The following table showed how many people had attended the sessions arranged in this financial year to date. The early weeks of the year had been in the pre-election period, and some sessions had been rearranged following the announcement of the general election. Therefore the sessions listed had all fallen in June.
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