Agenda, decisions and minutes

Members are asked to declare any interest and the nature of that interest which they may have in any of the items under consideration at this meeting.

There were none.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of Cabinet held on 11 April 2023.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as an accurate record.

The minutes of Cabinet on Tuesday 11 April 2023 were agreed as an accurate record.

To receive communications from the Chair.

There were none.

There were no reports from Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

RESOLVED: that Cabinet noted the content of the appendix covering the final quarter of 2022-23.

REASONS RESOLVED:

·         This report was for information purposes and discussion only, there were no direct decisions to be made following the report.

·         The council is required as part of Local Government Act 1972 to report performance of the council to members.

ALTERNATIVE ACTIONS:

This is a report for information and discussion and therefore there are no alternative actions.

The Chair presented the report and summarised the salient points.  The end of year provided an opportunity for a refresh, so some new indicators would be added and others, such as Covid related indicators, removed.

Cabinet members made the following comments:

Councillor Longley advised that there had been a £302k overspend.  Despite pressures, the budget had effectively been balanced.

Councillor Brown noted that visitors to leisure centres exceeded targets.  Library visits were well above target and museums exceeded targets by 1%.  Housing delivery was below target, although this was being addressed by the new Chief Executive at NPH.  Affordable homes continued to exceed the target.

Councillor Larratt reported that the Queen’s Green Canopy had delivered a good result.  Trees planted on WNC land were up 277 in Q4 and there were 150 more trees planted than lost over the whole year.

Councillor Baker highlighted that the figures for the Children’s Trust were for the whole county, not just West Northants.  Work was ongoing to provide figures for West Northants, which would be expected by Ofsted.

Councillor Golby advised that the CQC inspection format would commence in August and KPIs might change to align with that in future.

Councillor Breese reported that success rates against national targets in planning for both major and household applications would be reported.  There was still some backlog but the picture was improving.

Councillors made the following comments:

·         The report on museums was welcomed as museums were important in the cultural life of the community.  What had happened to the leather collection?

·         The number of houses needed to be increased and attempts by developers to argue down affordable housing numbers resisted.  More houses were needed, not just flats.

·         Secondary school absence rates and exclusions would be helpful.  This needed to be monitored.

·         Concern was expressed about the number of vacant posts in Cllr Larratt’s area.

·         Home to school transport was only free for those who qualified up to age 16 whereas education/training was compulsory to age 18.  The cost of bus passes was much greater in rural areas.

·         Referrals actioned within 2 working days was underperforming – were there enough staff to improve this?

·         Children subject to a Child Protection Plan for the second time had not gone down.

·         Concern was expressed at the high level of those not in education or training (NEET).

·         A highways plan would be useful to enable members to respond to queries from residents.

The Executive Director Place stated that concern regarding vacant posts was accepted.  A project management approach was being followed to identify issues in recruitment which would be followed through.

Councillor Brown made the following comments:

·         The need to continue to deliver a housing mix was recognised – a third of those on the list were waiting for 1-bed accommodation and flats were an effective way of delivering that.  The officers’ briefing on planning/housing had been positive.

·         The leather collection was due to be transferred later in the year and would have a specialist part-time curator.

The Executive  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

RESOLVED: that Cabinet:

a) Approved the recommended plan for distribution of the allocated £5,199,257 HSF4, as set out in section 6 of the report.

b) Agreed that any under-spend and/or unclaimed support vouchers in a particular category of spend may be re-allocated to other categories based on need and demand as agreed by the Director of Public Health and Cabinet Member.

c) Noted the proposed consultation period and pilot to explore use of support vouchers to access Food Clubs/Larders.

REASONS RESOLVED:

·         The options proposed align with the Department for Work and Pensions guidance and with the Council’s Anti-poverty Strategy.

·         The recommended allocations are based on learning from previous HSF schemes including demand for different types of support.

ALTERNATIVE ACTIONS:

Authorities have discretion on exactly how this funding is used within the scope set out in the DWP Guidance. Key requirements of The Fund are that it:

·         is used to meet immediate needs and help those who are struggling to afford energy and water bills, food, and other related essentials.

·         is allocated to vulnerable households in most need of support, giving particular consideration to households ineligible for other government support with cost of living and ensuring needs of different household types are considered (e.g. children of all ages, pensioners, unpaid carers, care leavers and disabled people).

At the Chair’s invitation Councillor Golby presented the report and summarised the salient points.  The public health team were thanked for a detailed and thorough report.  £5.199m was to be distributed between April 2023 and March 2024.  This would be targeted towards children in poverty, vulnerable households and voluntary sector grants.

Councillors made the following comments:

·         What would happen when the funding came to an end?  There needed to be alignment with the Anti-Poverty Strategy.

·         Housing support was welcomed, but this was not a long-term solution.

·         What about hungry children over the summer holidays – particularly those who did not receive benefits.

·         It was tragic that foodbanks were normalised.   Additional funding was needed.

·         Thanks were expressed to the voluntary sector and staff that delivered services.

Councillor Golby recognised the challenges and the need to make services more sustainable when funding came to an end.  Government was being lobbied.  Communities needed to be supported in partnership with voluntary organisations.  There had been 52,000 visits to warm spaces between January and March 2023, including a high number with mental health issues.

Councillor Brown noted that communication between local and national government was improving.  The government had listened to feedback and funding was now in place until March 2024.

RESOLVED: that Cabinet:

a)    Approved the recommended plan for distribution of the allocated £5,199,257 HSF4, as set out in section 6 of the report.

b)    Agreed that any under-spend and/or unclaimed support vouchers in a particular category of spend may be re-allocated to other categories based on need and demand as agreed by the Director of Public Health and Cabinet Member.

c)    Noted the proposed consultation period and pilot to explore use of support vouchers to access Food Clubs/Larders.

RESOLVED: that Cabinet approved the proposal to lower the admissions age range at Croughton All Saints CE Primary School, from 4 years to 3 years, to enable the school to offer FEEE to three-years-olds from September 2023.

REASONS RESOLVED:

·         To comply with the statutory process to lower the age range by 1 year.

·         To ensure the council can provide sufficient 3-year-old funded early entitlement places, for universal entitlement in the Croughton area.

·         For children to benefit from high quality teaching and learning experience and a provision led by the Head (QTS).

·         To support younger children with a smooth transition and integrated approach to school readiness.

·         To maximise on numbers of children and support the sustainability of a small village school, impacted by reduced admissions numbers.

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS

Doing nothing  would result in a decrease in three-year-old FEEE places in the Croughton village area, due to closure of Croughton Pre-school. Supporting the proposal would bridge a sufficiency gap and also give parents access to term time / school day provision. It would also help to stabilise the school as a result of their declining number of children on roll in years reception to 6.

At the Chair’s invitation Councillor Baker presented the report and summarised the salient points.  The opportunity for funded 3 year olds to join the school would help to sustain its future.  Any school wanting to lower its age range would be supported and it was good to preserve village schools.

RESOLVED: that Cabinet approved the proposal to lower the admissions age range at Croughton All Saints CE Primary School, from 4 years to 3 years, to enable the school to offer FEEE to three-years-olds from September 2023.

RESOLVED: that Cabinet noted the decisions taken by the Leader of the Council set out in the Appendix.

REASONS RESOLVED:

·         To publish and note the decisions taken for urgency by the Leader of the Council without Cabinet. In the interests of transparency, the decision is reported to Cabinet for awareness.

·         The decision taken provided the authority for the Council to enter into an agreement with DLUHC to draw down allocated funding and progress with the acquisition of 30 homes during 2023-24 through the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF) programme within the necessary timescales.

ALTERNATIVE ACTIONS:

The decision taken was necessary to meet the tight DLUHC deadlines for LAHF and not lose the opportunity to secure this capital funding.

At the Chair’s invitation Councillor Brown presented the report and summarised the salient points.  It had not been possible to bring this report to the April meeting of Cabinet.  The LAHF funding could have been passed to NPH to refurbish homes but this would have put undue pressure on the HRA and on NPH.  WNC had asked the government if a hybrid approach could be taken with RP partners funding as many properties as possible with NPH and the HRA as a fall-back position.  The government funding would act as a subsidy going forward because the council would retain rights to the house after the first tenant moved out. This would help the council meet the wider need in the long term.

Councillors made the following comments:

·         The report was welcomed to assist those in need – although it would not be enough.

·         Did Futures and Grand Union have the capacity to deliver and an understanding of the communities in order to be able to deal with them sensitively?

·         What would the criteria be for allocation?  Many Afghan refugees had been in hotels for 2 years.

·         Why were new houses on Welford Road not being brought into use?

Councillor Smith advised that there had been 380 Afghan refugees in hotels who were moving on to other areas. 

Councillor Brown made the following comments:

·         Grand Union had previously dealt with Syrian refugees.

·         The Futures housing project on Welford Road had had issues with a sub-contractor.  Until the Section 278 Agreement had been fulfilled the project could not be delivered.  It was right to hold developers to account.

RESOLVED: that Cabinet noted the decisions taken by the Leader of the Council set out in the Appendix.

RESOLVED: that Cabinet:

a)    Agreed to proceed with the replacement of the Adult Social Case Management, at an estimated contract cost, including supplier implementation (£300,000), hosting, and annual fee costs, of up to £2,500,000 as outlined in section 7.

b)    Noted that in addition to the above costs a further £1.018m of costs would be incurred to implement the new system.

c)    Subject to consideration at the transformation board, supported the use of Transformation Funds, at an estimated cost of £1,318,000 to fund the total implementation costs.

d)    Noted that the ongoing costs of £367,000 per year were anticipated to be met from existing budgets and savings associated with the new system but if, following procurement, there was a shortfall the difference would be built into the 2025-26 budget.

e)    Approved the use of the Crown Commercial Services RM (6259) Vertical Application Solutions (VAS) Framework Lot 2c to purchase the system to ensure compliance with the relevant procurement requirements.

f)     Delegated authority to the Executive Director of People Services in liaison with the Lead Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, to take any further decisions and actions required to award the contract and implement the Case Management System.

REASONS RESOLVED:

·         To implement a new Case Management System that is fit for purpose and enables the council to meet its statutory obligations for delivering Adult Social Care across West Northamptonshire.

·         There are several key business drivers to move from the existing case management system to a new system include the following:

·         Efficiency –to deliver efficiencies through improving processes, removing unnecessary bureaucracy, and enabling greater staff self-sufficiency through mobile digital self-serve for day-to-day transactional services, releasing time for staff to spend on direct client contact.

·         Residents & Market Providers –to enable Residents and Market Providers to self-serve and self-access services.

·         Accurate and timely data –To provide accurate data that is simple to extract, enabled by seamless integration between systems.

·         Integrated access to information –to data to be accessed through a single reporting and business intelligence solution which will be integrated across all platforms, keeping data consistent, accurate, and unique. This will enable WNC to know our customer, their needs, and our service performance, all in one place.

ALTERNATIVE ACTIONS:

Other alternatives considered include:

·         To have no case management system, this would not be a viable option that could be considered.

·         To extend current contract. There is no provision for the current contract to be extended beyond March 2025

·         To explore alternative existing systems, there are no other case management software applications in use within the Council that could be utilised to meet the requirements of an ASC case management system.

·         The associated finance module remains outstanding resulting in Adult Social Care having to retain the legacy system (CareFirst).

The scope of the programme is to procure and implement a new integrated Case and Financial Management contract to provide services to Adults across West Northants

At the Chair’s invitation Councillor Golby thanked the Assistant Director of Discharge to Assess Services, presented the report and summarised the salient points. The current system was due to end in March 2025 and a new system needed to be implemented.  This would give the opportunity to access social care records electronically.

Councillors welcomed the report and asked whether the new system would be ready to go with teething problems sorted before the deadline.

The Executive Director People advised that the system would be up and running by January 2024 when data transfer would begin.  Phase 2 would be implemented in September 2024.

RESOLVED: that Cabinet:

a)    Agreed to proceed with the replacement of the Adult Social Case Management, at an estimated contract cost, including supplier implementation (£300,000), hosting, and annual fee costs, of up to £2,500,000 as outlined in section 7.

b)    Noted that in addition to the above costs a further £1.018m of costs would be incurred to implement the new system.

c)    Subject to consideration at the transformation board, supported the use of Transformation Funds, at an estimated cost of £1,318,000 to fund the total implementation costs.

d)    Noted that the ongoing costs of £367,000 per year were anticipated to be met from existing budgets and savings associated with the new system but if, following procurement, there was a shortfall the difference would be built into the 2025-26 budget.

e)    Approved the use of the Crown Commercial Services RM (6259) Vertical Application Solutions (VAS) Framework Lot 2c to purchase the system to ensure compliance with the relevant procurement requirements.

f)     Delegated authority to the Executive Director of People Services in liaison with the Lead Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, to take any further decisions and actions required to award the contract and implement the Case Management System.

RESOLVED: that Cabinet

a)    Approved the procurement and implementation of a framework for the purchasing of additional capacity of reablement home care services, to be introduced from 18 October 2023.

b)    Approved the duration of the framework to be 2 years with an optional break at the end of year 1 and an inclusive option to extend for a further period of up to 12 months; resulting in a framework for a maximum duration of 3 years.

c)    Approved the commencement of a competitive procurement process.

d)    Approved the delegation of authority to the Executive Director for People Services in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health to take all operational decisions necessary to implement the above resolutions.

REASONS RESOLVED:

·         The Care Act 2014 places a statutory duty on WNC to provide care and support to people that have assessed and eligible social care needs

·         The Council’s strategic objective, through the existing Adult Social Care Transformation Programme, is to support people to live independently within the community for a long as possible.

·         The primary aim of the new arrangements will be to improve the customer experience of commissioned reablement home care by ensuring the timely availability of quality care throughout the West Northamptonshire area.

·         The competitive procurement process will ensure the Council is compliant with the Public Contract Regulations 015 and WNC’s Contract Procedure Rules.

·         It provides the Council with the ability to surge and flex its capacity as required in a way that is harder to do with an employed internal service.

ALTERNATIVE ACTIONS:

An entirely in-house solution for the provision of reablement home care; this is not recommended due to the continuing inability to recruit to full staffing in Reablement West, despite several campaigns, one off incentive and changes to terms. This option would also diminish WNC’s aspiration for a risk sharing around periods of demand and surge and allow a more mixed approach to delivery.

Partially insourcing the provision of reablement home care for rural packages. While this could address the challenge of providing commissioned care in rural areas it would also require the addition of travel time and expenses to be sustainable. This is not recommended; insourcing rural packages would increase the cost of reablement home care. It would also reduce the amount of commissioned reablement homecare by around 25% as care providers based in rural areas generally employ care workers who live in the geographic area of the service thus reducing travel time and increasing productive contact time. Insourcing the rural packages would fragment the overall activity and could undermine the operational and financial viability of the appointed provider and make the tender less attractive to the market.

An open approved “call off” list could be introduced as an alternative to a single contract. This is not recommended because this could increase the likelihood of a high number of very small providers of reablement home care packages with each having the overhead, management and other costs (as see in the  ...  view the full decision text for item 10.

At the Chair’s invitation Councillor Golby presented the report and summarised the salient points.

A Councillor welcomed the plan to support people for longer in their own homes.

RESOLVED: that Cabinet

a)    Approved the procurement and implementation of a framework for the purchasing of additional capacity of reablement home care services, to be introduced from 18 October 2023.

b)    Approved the duration of the framework to be 2 years with an optional break at the end of year 1 and an inclusive option to extend for a further period of up to 12 months; resulting in a framework for a maximum duration of 3 years.

c)    Approved the commencement of a competitive procurement process.

d)    Approved the delegation of authority to the Executive Director for People Services in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health to take all operational decisions necessary to implement the above resolutions.

RESOLVED: that Cabinet authorised the Assistant Director Assets & Environment in consultation with the Finance Portfolio Holder to agree terms for the disposal of land off the A45 London Road, Daventry and complete any documentation required to implement this, in accordance with the constitution and the following:

a)    A hybrid promotion agreement with GC No. 19 Limited or another company associated with Godwin Developments should be entered into to promote and facilitate the disposal of the Site via the open market.

b)    Should the agreement not be achieved for any reason or elapse, disposal would be directly via the open market.

c)    The consideration should not be less than the pro-rata minimum purchase price or such a figure that reasonably represents market value.

REASONS RESOLVED:

·         The land is surplus to requirements and was being held with longer term development aspirations in mind. The site has been actively marketed jointly with the other associated landowners. The disposal would fulfil the objectives of good estate management.

·         The redevelopment of the Site would see a key strategic area of Daventry developed which would align with the proposed West Northamptonshire Spatial Vision, Strategic Plan Objective 13: Economic Advantage.

·         To generate a capital receipt for the Council in the short term, which would be difficult to obtain if it were not included as part of the larger development opportunity.

·         To comply with the obligations on the Council to obtain the best consideration reasonably obtainable in a freehold land disposal.

·         As a hybrid promotion agreement, all costs associated with promotion of the site, such as planning fees, agents, and legal fees are paid by the promoter.

·         The Council has a degree of security knowing that it can expect a minimum consideration when the site is disposed and therefore there is a minimum degree of risk to the local authority.

ALTERNATIVE ACTIONS:

The Council has a number of choices:

(1) Do nothing at this time – At present the Council’s land offers little benefit either from a financial or economic perspective to the Council. It is currently held on a tenancy at will to an adjoining landowner (one of the other landowners in the consortium) at a peppercorn fee for storage. Therefore, its future even for this use is limited should development proceed.

(2) Agree to the proposed promotion agreement – If the Council’s interest was included as part of the larger development, its disposal would assist in the realisation of a capital receipt likely to be more than what could be realised if the land was disposed in isolation. This is likely to remain the case even if the proposed hybrid promotion agreement was not to deliver a disposal. In addition to obtaining a significant capital receipt the inclusion of the Council’s land would assist and facilitate the development of one of strategic sites in area which would align with one of the objectives of the Council as set out in the Settlements & Countryside Local Plan. The development would also result in inward investment, job creation and  ...  view the full decision text for item 11.

At the Chair’s invitation Councillor Longley presented the report and summarised the salient points.  This would enable the council to co-operate with other land owners to dispose of a small area of low-grade agricultural land.

A Councillor noted that the London Road approach to Daventry currently had a scrapyard and a disused hotel.  Would warehouses be added to this area?  Concern was expressed about the climate impact and the number of warehouses.

The Executive Director Place advised that at this stage the land was simply being packaged for sale and promotion.  It would be subject to future planning applications and due process.

RESOLVED: that Cabinet authorised the Assistant Director Assets & Environment in consultation with the Finance Portfolio Holder to agree terms for the disposal of land off the A45 London Road, Daventry and complete any documentation required to implement this, in accordance with the constitution and the following:

a)    A hybrid promotion agreement with GC No. 19 Limited or another company associated with Godwin Developments should be entered into to promote and facilitate the disposal of the Site via the open market.

b)    Should the agreement not be achieved for any reason or elapse, disposal would be directly via the open market.

c)    The consideration should not be less than the pro-rata minimum purchase price or such a figure that reasonably represents market value.

In respect of the following items the Chairman may move the resolution set out below, on the grounds that if the public were present it would be likely that exempt information (information regarded as private for the purposes of the Local Government Act 1972) would be disclosed to them: The Committee is requested to resolve: “That under Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that if the public were present it would be likely that exempt information under Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act of the descriptions against each item would be disclosed to them”

In respect of the following item the Chairman moved the resolution set out below, on the grounds that if the public were present it would be likely that exempt information (information regarded as private for the purposes of the Local Government Act 1972) would be disclosed to them: The Committee is requested to resolve: “That under Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that if the public were present it would be likely that exempt information under Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act of the descriptions against each item would be disclosed to them”

DECISION TAKEN

That Cabinet:

a)    Noted the work undertaken since the cabinet report of December 2021.

b)    Approved the terms as set out in the private Appendix A for entering into an Agreement for Headlease and subsequent Headlease, Agreement for Underlease and subsequent Underlease and an Agreement for Sub-Underlease and subsequent Sub-underlease of the new MSCP at Northampton Railway Station.

c)    Delegated authority to the Director of communities and Opportunities in consultation with Chief Finance Officer, the Monitoring Officer and the Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Town Centre Regeneration and Growth and Economy to take the final decision, take all necessary steps and complete the necessary documentation related to the new MSCP at Northampton Railway Station subject to (d) below

d)    Agree that the Council should only proceed with the proposed lease arrangements subject to the overall business case continuing to show a profit for the council. This will be assessed prior to entering into the agreements by the Head of Major Project and Regeneration.

REASONS

The proposal would help to achieve a number of key objectives including helping to meet an identified undersupply of car parking and providing a new income stream for the council. Meeting an undersupply of car parking at this site will support economic growth and the prosperity of the town and make significant enhancements to the overall environmental and pedestrian connectivity of the surrounding area. The recommendations enable the scheme to proceed, whilst there remain outstanding risks and interdependencies, without these approvals, the project could not continue at this stage

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS

It was considered to no longer proceed with the project given the change in the yield that is required to still be financially worthwhile for the council to proceed. This was discounted as the current yield still achieves a return that would generate a profit rent for the council over the life of the lease in most scenarios tested as well as enabling the wider regeneration of the station area.

This item was discussed in private.

DECISION TAKEN

That Cabinet:

a)    Noted the work undertaken since the cabinet report of December 2021.

b)    Approved the terms as set out in the private Appendix A for entering into an Agreement for Headlease and subsequent Headlease, Agreement for Underlease and subsequent Underlease and an Agreement for Sub-Underlease and subsequent Sub-underlease of the new MSCP at Northampton Railway Station.

c)    Delegated authority to the Director of Communities and Opportunities in consultation with Chief Finance Officer, the Monitoring Officer and the Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Town Centre Regeneration and Growth and Economy to take the final decision, take all necessary steps and complete the necessary documentation related to the new MSCP at Northampton Railway Station subject to (d) below

d)    Agreed that the Council should only proceed with the proposed lease arrangements subject to the overall business case continuing to show a profit for the Council. This will be assessed prior to entering into the agreements by the Head of Major Project and Regeneration.