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BABERGH DISTRICT COUNCIL
STRATEGY COMMITTEE
MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE STRATEGY COMMITTEE HELD IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBER, COUNCIL OFFICES, CORKS LANE, HADLEIGH ON THURSDAY, 28 SEPTEMBER 2006
PRESENT: Mr N A Ridley – Chairman
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Mr N A Bennett
Mr M P Booth
Dr M R Miller
Mr D J Read |
Mr C M Spence
Mr H N Todd
Mrs S M Wigglesworth
Mr L H Young |
Mr J J Quinlan was unable to be present.
Ms J A Jenkins attended in order to present the recommendations of the Overview and Scrutiny (Stewardship) Committee referred to in Minute No. 43 below.
38 DECLARATION OF INTERESTS
Mr M P Booth declared a personal interest in respect of the item referred to in Minute No. 49 below by virtue of five of the car parks being within his ward, one of which was very close to his property.
Mr N A Bennett declared a personal interest in respect of the item referred to in Minute No. 43 below by virtue of being a Member of Sudbury Town Council.
39 MINUTES
RESOLVED
That the Minutes of the meeting held on 17 August 2006 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.
40 PETITIONS
None received.
41 QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS
None received.
42 ISSUES ARISING FROM OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEES
None received.
43 RECOMMENDATIONS AND REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES
District and Parish/Town Council Elections in 2007 – Postal Voting (Overview and Scrutiny (Stewardship) Committee Minute No. 34
Ms J A Jenkins, Chairman of the Overview & Scrutiny (Stewardship) Committee presented this item and advised that since that Committee had considered the matter further discussions had been undertaken with Officers from the Department of Constitutional Affairs (DCA).
The view of the Project Board that is developing the prospectus for pilots in 2007, which needs to be ratified by the Minister, is that all-postal voting pilots are very unlikely to gain approval. The requirements relating to postal voting and, specifically, the checks that need to be made when postal votes are returned, mean that all-postal voting is impossible without the personal identifiers (signatures and dates of birth) first being collected for all the electors involved. Otherwise it would mean that Parliament had gone to great lengths to include security checks for postal voters in the Electoral Administration Act only for them to be disapplied as part of a pilot; this is considered to be highly unlikely. Further, if it were decided to attempt to collect those identifiers from, say, all the electors in the 5 wards that were mentioned at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting, this would have to be done at the cost of the authority and it would only take one elector to refuse to supply the information because, for example, they preferred to vote in person or did not trust postal voting, to compromise the whole proposal. There can be no compulsion on electors who do not wish to vote by post to provide the information and the DCA, obviously, would not countenance any scheme that might have the effect of disenfranchising anyone who did not wish, for any reason, to supply their signature and date of birth.
For these reasons, therefore, the officials at the DCA believe that no more all-postal electoral pilots are likely to be approved. They hoped to be in a position to provide general advice about the future of such schemes in the prospectus, which it was anticipated would be published before the end of October.
RESOLVED
That the report on District and Parish/Town Council Elections in 2007 (Postal Voting) set out in Paper F73 be noted and that the measures set out in paragraph 4.23 of Paper F73 be undertaken, subject to funding being made available, and with particular emphasis on publicising the availability of postal voting in the five selected wards.
44 RECOMMENDATIONS AND REPORTS FROM TASK GROUPS/PANELS
CAST
Mr H N Todd, a Member of the CAST Programme Board, presented a report (Paper F85) relating to Customer Access and Service Transformation. Discussions with other Suffolk Councils have concluded that there are currently no meaningful partnership opportunities, in the short term, to deliver our Customer Access requirements, and there is no business case to pursue any other form of delivery partnership or outsourcing arrangement. A high level two year programme plan to develop our own internal solution is therefore proposed and that a take stock review is then undertaken to determine progress in comparison with others to determine direction from there.
RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL
(1) That, subject to 6 monthly update reports being submitted, the High Level 2-Year Programme Plan, to implement our own long-term internal customer access solution based on the ‘Positioning Option’, including major deliverables and milestones, resource requirements, spending plans and risks set out at Appendix 2 of Paper F85 be approved.
(2) That the CAST Programme Board undertake a ‘Take Stock’ review in 2008/09, of the CAST Programme including a comparison of Babergh’s progress with other Councils (particularly in Suffolk), to determine whether any further changes, initiatives or investments need to be pursued.
(3) That an Invest to Save Fund of £50,000 is set aside, from the CAST budget, to support the Efficiencies Review. Further, that the Head of Finance, in consultation with the Member Efficiencies and Procurement Champion, be delegated authority to allocate funding from this budget.
45 AUDIT COMMISSION ANNUAL GOVERNANCE REPORT
The District Auditor, Robert Davies and the Audit Manager for Babergh, Kevin Sharman were present at the meeting and introduced Babergh’s Annual Governance Report for 2005/06 which was attached as an Appendix to Paper F90. Mr Davies also referred to an addendum to the report in the form of a letter dated 28 September 2006 that had been circulated to Members (and which was subsequently numbered Paper F90 Appendix 2).
In relation to the latter, concern was expressed over the Council’s document retention and disposal policy and the appropriate officers were requested to submit a report to the Overview and Scrutiny (Stewardship) Committee in January 07 reviewing the effectiveness and application of the policy and the incident referred to in the 28 September letter relating to the housing repairs system.
The Head of Finance in his report (Paper F90) advised that the Audit Commission’s report had not made any significant findings or recommendations. Only one other matter, which related to improving the arrangements for ensuring that the procedures for Pension Fund actuarial assessments was identified. This had been accepted by Officers.
RESOLVED
That the Audit Commission’s Annual Governance Report attached as an Appendix to Paper F90 and the addendum letter dated 28 September 2006 referred to as Appendix 2 be accepted.
46 RECOMMENDATIONS AND REPORTS FROM TASK GROUPS/PANELS
(a) E-government Steering Group Update
Mr D J Read, Chairman of the E-government Steering Group, presented Paper F86 which provided an update of the progress being made by the E-government Steering Group.
RESOLVED
That the report be noted.
(b) Car Allowances and Leased Cars
Mr H N Todd, Chairman of the HR Panel, presented a report (Paper F87) advising that the Panel had been requested by Strategy Committee to enter into discussions with Unison to conduct a review of the arrangements for transport and travelling and to recommend a sustainable package of proposals.
Mr H N Todd also referred to a memorandum from the Building Control Group (Paper F99) which outlined their concerns over the proposed revisions to the car/mileage allowances and indicated that the issues raised in this memorandum had been considered by the HR Panel.
RESOLVED
(1) That with immediate effect, all posts with an Essential Car User Allowance becoming vacant should be scrutinised, by the relevant Member of Management Team, to determine whether or not the allowance should continue.
(2) That with immediate effect, all new staff appointed to a post with an Essential Car User Allowance to have the allowance capped at the middle band rate.
(3) That with effect from 1 April 2007, payments under the Essential Car User Allowance be capped at the middle band rate for all eligible staff.
(4) That the leased car scheme be revised from 1 April 2007 to provide for a Council contribution towards the annual lease charge of £1675 for cars up to and including 160 CO2 emissions, and £1500 for cars with a higher emission level. All costs above these levels to be met by the employee.
(5) That the Council’s contribution levels for the leased car scheme remain at the levels set out in (4) above, without any provision for inflationary increases.
(6) That employees on the current leased car scheme be allowed to continue with the option to extend the lease of their current contract to a fourth year.
(7) That with immediate effect, the Council’s leased car scheme be ring fenced to restrict eligibility to existing employees with a leased car contract.
Note: The meeting adjourned for lunch at 1.15 p.m. and resumed at 1.50 p.m. when the following Members were present:-
Mr N A Ridley – Chairman
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Mr N A Bennett
Mr M P Booth
Dr M R Miller
Mr D J Read |
Mr C M Spence
Mr H N Todd
Mrs S M Wigglesworth
Mr L H Young |
(c) Implementation of The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
Mr H N Todd introduced Paper F88, which covered the new age regulations effective from 1 October 2006 and outlined proposals to change current practice and policy to meet the new legislative requirements.
RESOLVED
That the following changes be made to ensure that this Council meets the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 coming into effect from 1 October 2006:-
(a) Remove the qualifying age limit on the contractual benefit of free Health Insurance, for those staff employed on Performance Grade 8 and above.
(b) Change the Eye Testing Policy to provide free eye tests every 3 years for all staff replacing the current two-tier frequency levels, which are reliant on age.
(c) Delete “length of service” from the list of criteria used to select for compulsory redundancy within the Council’s Policy.
47 WORK PLAN
The Head of Corporate Services submitted a report (Paper F89) on items identified for future meetings of the Strategy Committee.
It was reported that added to the topics to be considered at the November meeting should be an item on the award of the contract for collection of domestic refuse.
RESOLVED
That the Work Plan set out in Paper F89 be noted.
48 MEMBER CHAMPIONS
The Head of Corporate Services submitted a report (Paper F91) advising that the Council had agreed that a Member Champion be elected for each of the Council’s priorities where the Council considered that this would be beneficial and necessary. In accepting this Members had been aware that the intention was for a report to be submitted to a future meeting setting out proposals for Member Champions and these were contained in the report.
RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL
(1) That Option 3 contained in Paper F91 be adopted as the framework for appointing Member Champions, and that this approach be recommended to the new Council in 2007.
(2) That the definition and the role of a Member Champion as set out at paragraph 4.2 of Paper F91 be adopted.
(3) That the appointment of new Member Champions be delayed until the new Council in 2007.
(4) That the Independent Remuneration Panel be requested to consider the introduction of a Special Responsibility Allowance for Member Champions.
49 OFF STREET PARKING PLACES – RURAL VILLAGES AND SMALL CAR PARKS
The Head of Contract and Asset Management submitted a report (Paper F92) requesting approval to implement a new Parking Order for nine of the Council’s off street car parks.
It was noted that the timetable for implementation as outlined in paragraph 4.7 of Paper F92 would include consultation with relevant parish/town councils.
RESOLVED
(1) That, in exercise of its powers under Section 35 of the Road Traffic Regulations Act 1984, the Council makes a Draft Order (as shown in Appendix ‘B’ to Paper F92), and that it be referred for formal consultation with Suffolk County Council (as the Highway Authority) and Suffolk Police, and any other person or body required to be consulted, subject to the restriction on parking over 24 hours not applying to residents.
(2) That upon completion of the consultations referred to in (1) above, and providing that no materials objections have been received and the Highway Authority gives its consent in accordance with Section 39 of the Road Traffic Regulations Act 1984, proposals to make The Babergh District Council (Off Street Parking Places) Rural Villages and Small Car Parks Order 2006, be published in accordance with statutory procedures.
(3) That the Solicitor to the Council be authorised to determine the date for the Order to come into effect following completion of the consultation procedures referred to in (1) above.
50 CAPITAL PROGRAMME – NON COMMITTED SCHEMES
The Head of Contract and Asset Management submitted a report (Paper F93) requesting approval to implement schemes within the Council’s Capital Programme that are ready to proceed.
RESOLVED
That expenditure from the Council’s Housing Revenue Account be approved to carry out the proposed works detailed in paragraph 3 of Paper F93.
Note: The meeting adjourned between 11.35 and 11.58 a.m. for refreshments.
The business of the meeting was concluded at 3.05 p.m.
Chairman
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