Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Kim Botting, Mary Cooke, Nicky Dykes, Judi Ellis, Robert Evans, Ellie Harmer and Terence Nathan. Councillor David Jefferys also apologised that he would have to miss part of the meeting.

The Mayor apologised that the meeting date had needed to be changed at short notice – this was due to late receipt of final funding figures from the DCLG.

Councillor Nicholas Bennett declared in relation to minute 82 that he was on the Board of London South East Colleges.

Councillor Peter Morgan declared in relation to minute 75 that his daughter was a Director of Kier Group, who held a contract with the Council.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 12^th December 2016 be confirmed.

Report CSD17105

A petition had been received from Mr Richard Wilsher calling for a pedestrian crossing on Copers Cope Road, Beckenham. Mr Wilsher addressed the Council on behalf of the petitioners.

A motion to take no further action on the petition was moved by Councillor William Huntington-Thresher, seconded by Councillor Pauline Tunnicliffe and CARRIED.

Questions must be received by 5pm on Thursday 23^rd February 2017.

Eighteen questions had been received from members of the public. The questions and replies are set out in Appendix A to these minutes.  

Fourteen questions for oral reply had been received from Members of the Council. The questions and replies are set out in Appendix B to these minutes.

Sixteen questions for written reply had been received from Members of the Council. The questions and replies are set out in Appendix C to these minutes.

The following statements were made –

The Portfolio Holder for Education and Children’s Services, Councillor Peter Fortune made a statement on the initial feedback from the inspections of the Council’s Adult Education provision, Youth Offending Services and Children’s Services. Since the Ofsted Inspection of the Adult Education College in 2015, the service had been redesigned and informal feedback was that it was now headed in a positive direction. The Youth Offending Service was also making good progress and, subject to official confirmation, was expected to move from one star to three stars. Feedback was also positive from Ofsted on Children’s Services, with changes spurred by improvements to leadership and governance. The Portfolio Holder thanked the Director and the staff responsible for the improvement of these services.

The Portfolio Holder for Resources, Councillor Graham Arthur, made a statement on the proposals for the annual staff pay award (Minute 78.) For the fifth year in succession, the proposed award was higher than the national award, with an additional £300 for the lowest paid staff and an increase in standby payments, reflecting the Council’s drive to reward achievement and tackle poor performance where it occurred. Investment in the workforce was crucial to maintaining the quality of services whilst maintaining balanced budgets. This was being supported not only by pay rises but also by merit payments totalling around £800,000 to 774 members of staff, a new performance review process named “Discuss”, roll-out of new laptops for front line social workers, expenditure of £900,000 over two years on creation of a range of apprenticeships and discussion of a range of issues with departmental representatives.

Report CSD17036

The Director of Finance circulated the following supplementary information and amended recommendations -

“There were no changes to the final Mayoral precept accepted by the London Assembly on 20th February 2017. 

Since the last meeting of the Executive there have been further changes on levies and the final position is shown in recommendation 2.1 (d) below.

On 20^th February details of the final Local Government Finance Settlement were published. There are no changes to the level of Settlement Funding compared to the provisional settlement.  Final allocations of New Homes Bonus were also confirmed and Bromley’s allocation is £85k higher than previously estimated due to returned top-slice funding.

On 21^st February 2017 the Department for Communities and Local Government issued the conditions relating to the Adult Social Care precept:

2% increase requires information to ensure that adult social care budgets are not being decreased by a greater proportion than those of other non-ringfenced services and that the precept is being used for adult social care costs;

3% increase requires additional evidence that the extra funding will be used to improve the way that adult social care services are delivered;

as announced in the provisional settlement the precept increase must be no greater than 6% in total over the next three years.

Updated information has been received from Bromley CCG regarding the 2017/18 Better Care Fund. This provides an indicative allocation of £20,287k compared to £20,427k previously reported. £38k of this reduction relates to funding retained by the CCG resulting in a reduction of £102k in the Bromley element and the draft Central Contingency has been reduced to reflect this.  Final allocations are awaited and any required changes will be reflected in the 2017/18 budget monitoring reports.

Members are requested to note that, since the last report to Executive the following items have been allocated from the Central Contingency to Portfolio budgets:

  Impact of Pension Fund Triennial Valuation - £700k

Education SEN and Adult Social Care - £1,200k

Apprenticeship Levy - £350k

National Living Wage - £737k

Other Minor Variations - £10k

It is important to note that the 2017/18 Central Contingency sum includes significant costs not yet allocated to Portfolio budgets at this stage. Therefore, there will be further changes to the Central Contingency to reflect allocations to individual Portfolio budgets prior to publication of the Financial Control Budget.

The above changes will require the following proposed amendments to be made to the recommendations of the Executive:

Amended Recommendation (2.1)

(b)  approves the draft revenue budgets for 2017/18 with the following amendments:

(iii)  On 8^th February 2017, Executive approved the drawdown of £1m from the Central Contingency Budget for 2017/18 to meet the impact of the National Living Wage and associated increase in ceiling rates.  Details are set out in a report entitled “Care Home and Extra Care Quality Monitoring Report 2016”.

(iv)  an increase of £85k in New Homes Bonus set aside to support the revenue budget;

(v)  a reduction of £102k Better Care Fund  ...  view the full minutes text for item 75.

Report CSD17020

A motion to approve an increase of £14,539k in 2016/17 to the Council’s Property Investment Fund scheme to reflect the latest update on successful property acquisitions, an increase of £6896k in 2018/19 to the Basic Need Programme and inclusion of the new scheme proposals listed in Appendix C to the report in the Capital Programme was moved by Councillor Graham Arthur, seconded by Councillor Stephen Carr and CARRIED.

Report CSD17019

A motion to note the report and agree and adopt the Treasury Management Strategy and Annual Investment Strategy for 2017/18, including prudential indicators and the Minimum Revenue Provision policy statement, was moved by Councillor Graham Arthur, seconded by Councillor Stephen Carr and CARRIED.  

Report CSD17016

A motion to approve a flat 1.2% pay increase for all staff (excluding teachers, who are covered by a separate statutory pay negotiating process) with an additional £300 (full time equivalent) paid to those members of staff currently earning less than £18,000 per annum, to approve an increase in standby allowances as set out in paragraph 3.7 of the report and to reject the Trade Union’s claims including the 4% pay claim and the additional annual leave for staff was moved by Councillor Graham Arthur, seconded by Councillor Stephen Carr and CARRIED.  

Report CSD17017

A motion to approve the 2017/18 Pay Policy Statement was moved by Councillor Graham Arthur, seconded by Councillor Stephen Carr and CARRIED.

Report CSD17018

A motion to approve the 2017/18 Members Allowances Scheme, with allowances remaining at the current level, except for the allowance for members of the Licensing Sub-Committee which shall be reduced to £335pa, and to maintain the Mayoral and Deputy Mayoral allowances at £15,698 and £3,575 for 2017/18, was moved by Councillor Tim Stevens, seconded by Councillor Diane Smith and CARRIED.

Report CSD16173

It was proposed by Councillor Stephen Carr, seconded by Councillor Simon Fawthrop and agreed that on page 68 of the Scheme (agenda page 254) the following text would be added to the delegation relating to the European Communities Act 1972 –

“Prosecution proceedings may only be commenced under this delegation with the agreement of the relevant Portfolio Holder and the Leader of the Council.”

A motion to approve the updated Scheme of Delegation to Officers in respect of non-executive functions, and to note the updated Scheme of Delegation to Officers in respect of executive functions received from the Leader of the Council, was moved by Councillor Tim Stevens, seconded by Councillor Diane Smith and CARRIED.

Report CSD17038

A proposal to note the latest indicative increase in transfer value relating to Bromley College was moved by Councillor Tim Stevens, seconded by Councillor Diane Smith and CARRIED.

No motions had been received.

The Mayor announced that he had just returned from a weekend tour with the Council’s twinned town, Neuwied, for carnival. He brought the personal greetings of the Lord Mayor, Nikolaus Roth his deputies and political groups. He reported that it was a most enjoyable time, and he was able to unveil a  refurbished London phone box in the town centre that was going to be utilised as a book swapping kiosk. 

On Friday 20^th January 2017 the Charity Magic and Music Evening had been held at the Churchill Theatre. It was a huge success and the Mayor was very thankful to colleagues who had supported this event.

The Mayor’s Annual Quiz Evening had been held in the Great Hall and the Mayor was grateful to all who had attended and helped make it a successful evening.

The House of Commons Charity Dinner was coming up on Thursday 9^th March 2017 – those intending to come needed to get their names to the office by the next morning.

On Thursday 13^th April 2017 the Mayor was hosting the Charity Preview, at Bromley Little Theatre, of Nick Dear’s “Power” – about the glittering intrigues of the court of Louis XIV.

The Mayor’s Golf Day would be on Wednesday 3^rd May 2017, hosted by Langley Park Golf Club. This event has gathered a lot of interest already but if anyone else wanted to attend then they should contact the Office for further details.

The Mayor concluded by thanking everyone for their very generous support and invited them to contact the Mayor’s office if they were interested in any of the forthcoming events. 

The Chairman to move that the Press and public be excluded during consideration of the item of business listed below as it is likely in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of proceedings that if members of the Press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information.

Item of Business       Schedule 12a Description

It was moved by Councillor Ian Payne, seconded by Councillor Simon Fawthrop and-

RESOLVED that the press and public be excluded during consideration of the item of business referred to below as it is likely in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings that if members of the Press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information.

The following summary

refers to matters

involving exempt information

Report CSD17033

A motion to note the outcome of the Triennial Valuation report and recover the Pension Fund deficit over a period of twelve years was moved by Councillor Tim Stevens, seconded by Councillor Diane Smith, and CARRIED.