Agenda and minutes

The members had before them:

A.       The Agenda papers (previously circulated); and

B.       The Minutes of the meeting held on 12 July 2018 (previously circulated).

Apologies had been received from Mr A I Hardman and Dr K A Pollock.

Mr Geraghty declared an interest in Agenda Item 4 as he sits on the Midlands Connect Board and they had given an opinion on the A38 Bromsgrove Major Scheme.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Head of Legal and Democratic Services in writing or by e-mail indicating both the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case Wednesday 26 September 2018).  Further details are available on the Council's website.  Enquiries can also be made through the telephone number/e-mail address listed below.

None.

The Minutes of the meeting of 12 July 2018 have been previously circulated.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 12 July 2018 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Following a report to Cabinet in July which looked at the strategic rationale for the A38 Major Scheme, Cabinet considered a report which sought commitment to Package 1 and detailed the funding strategy.

The Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Highways introduced the report and explained the scheme was almost entirely externally funded. No planning permission was required, there was no need to go out to tender and the contractor was already in place. An addition to the Capital Programme was proposed on the understanding that all funding would come from external bodies. It was important to agree to the scheme to allow the programme to be adhered to and to show the commitment of the County Council.  The scheme would directly address the housing and employment growth in the area.

In the ensuing discussion the following main points were raised:

·       A Member from outside the Cabinet pointed out that any investment in highways was welcome but as resources were tight investments needed to make the most impact. He was concerned that most development had happened in the West of Bromsgrove yet the highways investment was being made to the East, which would leave traffic having to travel through the congested town centre. Improving junctions, but not the entire A38, would just move the bottlenecks to somewhere else.  There was also a question about the validity of the S106 agreements so there was no certainty that the funding was in place.  In response the Leader explained that the strategic overview and discussion on what should be included to relieve congestion had been dealt with at the last meeting and this report was just about approving package 1 and where the funding would come from. The scheme was to deal with current problems as well as mitigate issues which would arise from the new large developments

·       The Leader declared an interest as he sat on the Midlands Connect Board and they considered that the scheme was one of the few major projects across the Midlands which should be considered for Major Road Network Funding from the Government

·       A Member from outside the Cabinet felt the Council should be sceptical about when the s106 monies could be secured as the Scheme could be left with a substantial funding gap.  He also reiterated the importance of putting in yellow boxes on the Oakalls junction which would save money in the long term

·       The Leader responded that the Director would answer the point about yellow boxes after the meeting. He felt the funding issue had been addressed in the report and the risk was recognised but it was necessary to weave together a number of funding streams to complete the project. It was important to provide the right infrastructure as congestion would have an impact on the daily lives of people living in that area.

RESOLVED:that Cabinet

(a)  approved the implementation of the A38 Bromsgrove Major Scheme -Package 1, in accordance with this report, the Conditional Approval Business Case (CABC) and as shown in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1867.

The Cabinet Member for Transformation and Commissioning introduced the report on the Balanced Scorecard Performance and Corporate Risk update to Cabinet. She highlighted that eight indicators were rated as 'red', however work was underway to address the four that were rated red in the Q4 update. A significant number of indicators were 'grey' as the Council could not influence them or there was no basis for rating them, and 18 of these would be removed or combined for 2018/19.

Of the 196 risks in the Corporate Risk Register, 17 were identified as high risk and work was underway to mitigate them. Corporate risk reporting was being reviewed and a new report would be produced.

The Cabinet Member for Communities welcomed the 21 green indicators and looked forward to when some of the grey indicators could turn green once measures had been set.

RESOLVED: that Cabinet

(a)  received the latest update of the Corporate Balanced Scorecard for Quarter Four 2017/18, noting the 21 indicators rated as 'green' and considered actions being taken to improve performance for the 4 indicators rated 'red' where there has been an update in Quarter Four 2017/18; 

(b)  noted the latest refresh of the Corporate Risk Register including actions to mitigate the four risk areas that are rated 'red';

(c)  authorised the Director of Commercial and Commissioning to review and rationalise the Balanced Scorecard in consultation with Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Transformation and Commissioning.

The Cabinet considered the implications relating to the adoption of the new Code of Practice: Well-Managed Highway Infrastructure.

The Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Highways explained that the Department of Transport Codes of Practice would be superseded in October by one new Code of Practice – Well-Managed Highway Infrastructure. Worcestershire Highways was in a good place to adopt the new code of Practice as it had largely conformed with the previous codes. Highways already complied with the 36 recommendations, subject to some minor amendments, which was a testament to the efficient and responsible way the Highways department had been working over recent years.

It was worth the Council meeting the requirements of the Code of Practice which would enable them to continue to be a Level Three, high achieving Council and therefore continuing to receive incentive fund money, currently worth £2.43million.

The Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Health and Well-being asked how much was received from central government for being a Level Three Council. The Director of Economy and Infrastructure agreed to provide the information after the meeting.

RESOLVED: that Cabinet

(a)   noted the review as set out in the document called "A review and response to the Well-Managed Highway Infrastructure Code of Practice", and;

(b)   adopted the Well-Managed Highway Infrastructure Code of Practice including its 36 recommendations.

The Cabinet considered the Resources Report.

The Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Finance (also the Leader of the Council) explained that now that they had four months of data for 2018/19 it was possible to make a projection of the outturn at the end of the year. A significant over-spend of £17.9 million was being reported. However £12.7 million of management action was also being reported which would allow the projected overspend to be reduced to £5.2million. The Leader felt that further action needed to be identified to achieve a balanced budget.

Around £15 million of the overspend was due to Adult Social Care, partly due to the social care reform programme going slower than expected and partly due to demand pressure. Adult Services had seen a greater demand and the cost of older people's care packages had increased as people were living longer with more complex and therefore more expensive, care needs. The situation was not unique to Worcestershire; Adult Social Care was seeing significant pressures around the Country. Children's Social Care costs had also increased.

The Leader believed that a national solution was required and he believed that cross-party work was required to tell Whitehall of the pressures. At the same time Management actions 'good housekeeping' would continue in order to help the in-year pressure while the shape and size of the authority would also need to be reviewed. Tough decisions were needed in order to make the financial situation sustainable. A further report would be brought back in November.

At the same time the Leader pointed out that there was some good news in the report with the purchase of land for the science park and improvements to town centres.

In the ensuing debate, the following principal points were raised:

·       A member from outside the Cabinet queried why Cabinet in February had said the budget was good news. She was aware that some officers had recommended that the council should take the maximum amount of Council Tax which would have raised £2.3 million – an action that her group had supported. She was worried at the lack of transparency and that other Councillors had been kept in the dark. As Vice-Chairman of the Adult Scrutiny Panel she had been asking to look at the budget but had been refused. However she did want to congratulate the Chief Financial Officer on the clarity of his report

·       A member from outside the Cabinet commented that the overwhelming issue was in Adult Services. He asked what was planned in order to get Central Government help. It was agreed that a fundamental change needed to come. He said other Councillors would support ways of lobbying Government but he was worried that the situation could get worse if it was not addressed. He asked whether there could be cross-party lobbying of Government. Whatever happened he hoped compulsory redundancies would be resisted

·       In response it was agreed that Adult Services was a large part of the risk due to being demand-led. Further modelling  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1870.