Agenda and minutes

Venue: Bromley Civic Centre, Stockwell Close, Bromley, BR1 3UH

Contact: Philippa Gibbs  020 8461 7638

Items
No. Item

49.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND NOTIFICATION OF SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillor Evans, Councillor Gabbert and Councillor McGregor.  Councillors Tunnicliffe, Bainbridge and Thomson attended the meeting as their respective substitutes.

 

The Committee welcomed Councillor Grant to his first meeting in his capacity as Chairman of the Environment and Community Services PDS Committee.

 

50.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Minutes:

Councillor Julie Ireland confirmed that she was still hosting a Ukrainian family.

 

The Chairman, Councillor Fawthrop, declared that he was a Member of the Free Speech Union.

 

 

51.

QUESTIONS FROM COUNCILLORS AND MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC ATTENDING THE MEETING

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions that are not specific to reports on the agenda must have been received in writing 10 working days before the date of the meeting. 

 

Questions specifically on reports on the agenda should be received within two working days of the normal publication date of the agenda.  Please ensure that questions specifically on reports on the agenda are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm Tuesday 21 November 2023.

Minutes:

No questions were received.

52.

MINUTES OF THE EXECUTIVE, RESOURCES AND CONTRACTS PDS COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 17 OCTOBER 2023 (EXCLUDING EXEMPT ITEMS) pdf icon PDF 340 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the Executive, Resources and Contracts PDS Committee meeting held on 18 October 2023 (excluding exempt information), were agreed and signed as a correct record.

 

53.

MATTERS OUTSTANDING AND WORK PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 228 KB

Minutes:

Report CSD23138

 

The report dealt with the Committee’s business management including matters outstanding from previous meetings and the proposed work plan for the remainder of the year.

 

The Committee requested that the Leader be invited to the meeting in February 2024, for a further “Scrutiny of the Leader” session.

 

RESOLVED: That the report be noted and the Work Programme Updated.

 

54.

FORWARD PLAN OF KEY DECISIONS pdf icon PDF 185 KB

Minutes:

The Committee noted the Forward Plan of Key Decisions covering the period October 2023 to January 2024.

 

Members noted that the Investment Strategy Annual Report would be presented in June/July 2024.

55.

RESOURCES, COMMISSIONING AND CONTRACTS MANAGEMENT PORTFOLIO - PRE-DECISION SCRUTINY

Portfolio Holder decisions for pre-decision scrutiny.

Minutes:

The Committee considered the following reports where the Resources, Contracts and Commissioning Portfolio Holder was recommended to take a decision.

55a

INSURANCE FUND - ANNUAL REPORT 2022/23 pdf icon PDF 687 KB

Minutes:

Report FSD23066

 

The report advised Members of the Insurance Fund position as at 31st March 2023 and presented statistics relating to insurance claims for the last two years. In 2022/23, the total Fund value increased from £4.002m to £4.159m. A mid-year review of the Fund had also been carried out and at this stage, it was estimated that the final Fund value as at 31st March 2024 would increase to approximately £4.298m.  The position would continue to be monitored throughout the year. 

In response to a question, the Director of Finance confirmed that it continued to be very difficult to secure policies in respect of cyber security.

Members noted that whilst there was not a large number of claims, it would be helpful to have some performance measures set out in the report.  The Director of Finance agreed to follow this up, noting that there had been some challenges with highways claims and discussions had taken place with Sutton who managed the claims process.

RESOLVED: That the Portfolio Holder be recommended to note the contents of the report.

 

55b

CAPITAL PROGRAMME MONITORING Q2. pdf icon PDF 335 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report FSD23075

 

On 29 November 2023, the Executive would be receiving a report summarising the current position on capital expenditure and receipts following the second quarter of 2023/24 and would be asked to agree a revised capital programme for the five-year period 2023/24 to 2027/28. The report for the Executive, Resources and Contracts PDS Committee highlighted changes to be put to the Executive and the Leader in respect of the capital programme for the Resources, Commissioning and Contract Management portfolio. The revised programme for this portfolio was set out in Appendix A and detailed comments on individual schemes were shown in Appendix B of the report.

 

In response to a question concerning the provision of £3m for the additional costs associated with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), the Director of Finance confirmed that whilst to some extent Officers had been required to estimate any demands on the Capital Programme until surveys had been completed, the view that had been taken was that it was better to make some provision than none at all.  Officers had estimated that following surveys (which cost £300k) the cost of any remedial work was likely to be in the region of £2.7m.  Any funds set aside would continue to earn interest whilst unspent and if the funds remained unspent, they would return to the general fund.

 

In response to a question concerning borrowing for housing, the Director of Finance confirmed that there were no restrictions on borrowing to fund an advantageous housing scheme.  Any business case for such a scheme would be presented to Members for consideration however, rates of interest were currently high and it was therefore in the Council’s interest to wait before embarking on any borrowing for housing, bearing in mind the 40 year term for such borrowing.  The general consensus was that interest rates would begin to fall in the next two years and the Council could afford to wait in order to reduce the cost of any borrowing.

 

RESOLVED: That the Portfolio Holder be recommended to note and acknowledge the changes to be put to the Executive on 29 November 2023.

55c

TREASURY MANAGEMENT - QUARTER 2 PERFORMANCE 2022/23 & MID-YEAR REVIEW pdf icon PDF 347 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report FSD23079

 

The report summarised treasury management activity during the second quarter of 2023/24. The report also included a mid-year review of the treasury management strategy statement and annual investment strategy (Appendix 4 of the report). The report ensured that the Council was implementing best practice in accordance with the CIPFA Code of Practice for Treasury Management. Investments as at 30 September 2023 totalled £379.6m (£390.6m at 30September 2022) and there was no outstanding external borrowing.

 

In response to a question, the Director of Finance confirmed that an asset management review would be undertaken at the same time as the review of the pension fund.

 

RESOLVED: That the Portfolio Holder be recommended to

 

1.  Note the treasury management performance for the second quarter of 2023/24;

 

2.  Recommend that Council approve the 2023/24 prudential indicators as set out in Appendix 4

 

 

55d

MODERN.GOV SYSTEM: ANNUAL SUPPORT CONTRACT pdf icon PDF 209 KB

Minutes:

Report CSD23107

 

The Modern.gov system enabled the Council to publish meeting details, committee agendas, reports and minutes, and information about councillors. The system was purchased in 2009, becoming operational in 2010, and is supported via an annual maintenance contract with Civica. The support contract had been in place for nearly fifteen years and authority to renew the annual support contract for a further five years was being sought. Although the annual value of the contract was small at £13K, its long-term nature meant that the cumulative value required Portfolio Holder decision.

 

Members requested that future reports set out statistics relating to the number of users and frequency of use.

 

In response to a question, the Democratic Services Officer confirmed that the system would be migrating to the new Azure cloud environment in December 2023.

 

RESOLVED: That the Portfolio Holder be recommended to approve the annual renewal of the support contract for the Modern.gov system for a further five years, at an estimated cost of £13,800 per annum (£69k over period of authorisation for renewal).

 

 

56.

SCRUTINY OF THE LEADER OF THE COUNCIL pdf icon PDF 242 KB

Minutes:

The Chairman thanked the Leader for the written update that had been provided along with the Leader’s apologies for not being able to attend the meeting.  Members noted that any questions arising from the update could be sent to the Leader separately and appended to the minutes.

 

The Leader was invited to attend the Committee meeting in February 2024 to provide a further update.

57.

PRE-DECISION SCRUTINY OF EXECUTIVE REPORTS

Members of the Committee are requested to bring their copy of the agenda for the Executive meeting on 29 November 2023.

 

The Executive, Resources and Contracts PDS Committee will be scrutinising at the following items on the Executive Agenda:

 

·  Budget Monitoring Q.2

·  Capital Programme Monitoring Q2

·  London Boroughs Legal Alliance Framework Agreement for Barristers

·  Operational Property Repair Programme Update

·  Local Authority & Voluntary Sector Leases

 

Minutes:

The Committee considered the following reports on the Part 1 agenda for the meeting of the Executive on 29 November 2023:

 

(5)

BUDGET MONITORING Q2

Report FSD23080

 

The report provided the second budget monitoring position for 2023/24 based on expenditure and activity levels up to the end of September 2023. The report also highlighted any significant variations which would impact on future years as well as any early warnings that could impact on the final year end position.

In opening the discussion, the chairman noted the overspend and the action being taken to achieve a balanced budget.

In response to a question, the Director of Finance confirmed that Officers only accounted for known income and as such conversations would take place with the property division concerning the impact of rent increases on income.

The Director of Finance highlighted that the Committee would be considering the draft budget at its next meeting in January 2024 and that report would detail a number of issues with any departmental overspends being factored in to the budget.

Stressing the need for rigor in the management of budgets, a Member highlighted that Directors should keep within their departmental budgets and, where there were overspends, savings and cut backs should be found in other areas of the department.  If it was not possible to identify savings and mitigations, Members should be approached for supplementary estimates.

Another Member highlighted that it previous years it had been possible for Directors and their Officers to identify in-year savings resulting in balanced budgets, although it was acknowledged that this was becoming increasingly difficult.  It was also recognised that the Council often faced pressures financial pressures that were difficult to predict and control such as homelessness.

The Director of Finance stressed that the role of the PDS Committees in budget monitoring was going to become increasingly important. Budget pressures were being addressed through mitigations and it was inevitable that the Council was moving towards a position where overspends in budgets would need to come from depleting reserves where they had previously been managed through the contingency.  All costs would need to be scrutinised as this level of overspend was not sustainable.

Members of the Committee recognised that difficult decisions would be required in the next couple of years.  A Member suggested that there was a need for the government to address the structural issues that existed in financing local government.  Another Member stressed the need to consider all options, including insourcing, for some services such as SEN Transport and Foster Care, with there being a need for Member to carefully consider business cases.

RESOLVED: That Executive be recommended to

  1. Note the latest financial position.
  2. Note the projected net overspend on services of £12,585k is forecast based on information as at September 2023.
  3. Note the comments from Chief Officers detailed in Appendix 2 of the report.
  4. Note the projected reduction to the General Fund balance of £1,393k as detailed in section 3.3 of the report.
  5. Note the full year cost  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57.

58.

POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND OTHER ITEMS

58a

BT ICT CONTRACT MONITORING REPORT pdf icon PDF 317 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report CSD23146

 

The Committee considered the BT ICT contract performance report, utilising the Pan London Framework, covering the period 1st September 2022 – 31st August 2023.

The Chairman welcomed representatives from BT (Ian Withycombe - Services Delivery Manager for LBB, and Andy Taylor – Head of Local Government for London) to the meeting.

In opening the discussion, the Chairman noted that a few months previously, there had been an outage that had impacted Members’ ability to access email over a weekend, otherwise performance had been very good.  In response to the Chairman’s comments, the Services Delivery Manager for LBB explained that the Team had been undertaking planned works to emails, this had caused an outage which had affected outlook.  Assistance from Microsoft had been required and it had taken considerably longer to resolve the issue than had been hoped.  However, throughout the outage access to email had been available through Webmail and Apps.  The Services Delivery Manager for LBB highlighted that BT were continuously trying to improve environments.  The Assistant Director for IT also reported that in response to the issues that had arisen changes had been made to the process for testing.

In response to a question, the Assistant Director for IT conformed that the costs for additional licenses had been built into the budget however, within IT Services budget forecasts could be affected by unforeseen factors such as a higher than anticipated turnover of staff.

The Chairman thanked the Head of Local Government for London (BT), Services Delivery Manager for LBB (BT) and the Assistant Director for IT (LBB) for attending the meeting.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

 

58b

SECTION 106 AGREEMENTS - UPDATE pdf icon PDF 166 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received an update on Section 106 Agreements.

 

Members noted that there were no set time limits for the use of Section 106 funds and limits varied from agreement to agreement.  A Member highlighted that there could often be a time lag between receipt of funds and it becoming clear where the funds could be best utilised for the benefit of the community.

 

It was noted that there was a Team of Officers who were responsible for oversight of Section 106 funds, this team included the Assistant Director for Planning as well as officers from each of the key service departments.  This was to ensure that funds were utilised in the best possible way.

 

The Chairman noted that in the previous municipal year, the Executive, Resources and Contracts PDS Committee had set up a Task and Finish Group to review processes around Section 106 funds.  The Group had concluded that less than 1% of funds received by the Council remained unspent.

 

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

58c

RISK MANAGEMENT pdf icon PDF 221 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report FSD23072

 

The report provided the Executive, Resources and Contracts Policy, Development and Scrutiny Committee with the current iteration of the Corporate Risk Register, together with those for the Corporate Services, Finance, and Human Resources and Customer Services departments.

 

RESOLVED: That the Risk Registers be noted.

 

58d

CORPORATE CONTRACTS REGISTER pdf icon PDF 683 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

This report presented November’s Corporate Contracts Register for consideration.

 

Detailed scrutiny of individual contracts was the responsibility of the six PDS Committees but ER&C PDS took an overview of the Council’s larger value (£200k+) contracts to ensure that commissioning and procurement activity was progressed in a consistent manner. The report provided both the Council wide £200k+ register together with the £50k+ register specific to the ER&C Portfolio.

 

A full report was provided twice a year (May and November) including a detailed Part 2 report which included a commentary on each relevant contract to inform Members of any issues or developments.  Otherwise, a Part 1 Register only would be provided as a ‘For Information’ item with an accompanying Part 2 report only for any contracts RAG rated Red by the Corporate Procurement Team.

 

The full report was not being provided this November cycle due to server migration of the Contracts Database.  The next full report would be May 2024. No contracts had been RAG rated as Red by the Corporate Procurement Team so there was no accompanying Part 2 report.

 

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.



58e

REVIEW OF THE COUNCIL'S MEASURES ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH FOR EMPLOYEES pdf icon PDF 285 KB

Minutes:

Report CSD22020

 

The Chairman of ERC PDS committee had requested a report to review the Council’s process, policy and procedure to protect and defend freedom of speech for Council staff and for those who work for the Council’s contactors. The report looked at the process, policy, and procedure to protect and defend freedom of speech for Council staff and considers the measures available to staff who work for the Council’s contractors.

 

The Committee noted the following amendments (in italics) to the recommendation and report had been proposed by the Chairman:

 

Paragraph 2.1 (recommendation): Members are asked to note the following:

 

2.1.1  the fundamental importance of the right to freedom of speech to the Council’s activities, and the narrow scope for interfering with political expression; and

 

2.1.2  the potential liabilities faced by the council if it fails to protect that right, either in relation to Councillors or Council employees.

 

2.2  Officers are asked to take the following actions in support of the recommendations under paragraph 2.1 above:

 

2.2.1  to review the Council’s policies, procedures and Constitution with a view to ensuring that they reflect the fundamental importance of the right to freedom of speech; and

 

2.2.2  to report to the Executive and Constitutional Working Party on progress with the review recommended at paragraph 2.2.1 above.

 

2.3   GP&L and the Constitutional Improvement Working Party is recommended to note this report and update the code of conduct for Officers and Members, and inform members of the Standards Committee to reflect the above recommendations.

2.4  Note the additional text added to the body of the report.

 

Body of the report

 

4.6  …. Doing so risks discrimination unless an employer has also considered whether the action is both a necessary and proportionateinterference with the right to freedom of expression. Any objective justification of a restriction is always dependent on context and is employment-specific.


4.9  … Freedom of expression and the protection of these individual characteristics have been tested in the employment tribunal due to the potential conflict that arises between competing rights, particularly as damages for discrimination are uncapped.

5.2 A public interest disclosure must be made to certainpeople (e.g. theemployer) in order to attract statutory protection.An employee complaining about suppression of certain beliefs is also likely to have whistleblower protection under the Employment Rights Act and the Equality Act.

 

Members sought clarification around whether the report author had agreed to the changes made to the body of the report and the Assistant Director for Legal Services (the report) confirmed that the changes were the Chairman’s.  A Member highlighted that during his five years serving on the Council he had never seen the body of an Officer report amended in this way.  In response the Assistant Director of Legal Services confirmed that it was unusual for any Member to amend an officer report in this way and the changes has been neither approved  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58e

59.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 AS AMENDED BY THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT (ACCESS TO INFORMATION) (VARIATION) ORDER 2006, AND THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

The Chairman to move that the Press and public be excluded during consideration of the items of business listed 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.

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the Press and public be excluded during consideration of the items 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 summaries

refer to matters involving exempt information

 

 

60.

EXEMPT MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 17 OCTOBER 2023

Minutes:

The Part 2 (exempt) minutes of the meeting held on 17 October 2023 were agreed, and signed as a correct record.

61.

PRE-DECISION SCRUTINY OF EXEMPT EXECUTIVE REPORTS (if any)

The Executive, Resources and Contracts PDS Committee will be scrutinising the following items on the Executive Agenda:

 

  • Capital Programme Monitoring Q2 Part 2 Appendix E

 

Minutes:

The Committee considered the following reports on the Part 2 agenda for the meeting of the Executive on 29 November 2023:

 

 

(17)

CAPITAL PROGRAMME MONITORING Q 2 PART 2 APPENDIX E

 

The Committee noted the Part 2 appendix and in response to a question, received updates on specific sites listed in the appendix.