Agenda and minutes

To invite Councillors and Commissioners to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests or personal interests they may have in any matter which is to be considered at this meeting, to confirm the nature of those interests and whether they intend to leave the meeting for the consideration of the item.

There were no Declarations of Interest to report.

To receive questions from members of the public who wish to ask a general question in respect of matters within the Council’s area of responsibility or influence.

Subject to the Chair’s discretion, members of the public may ask one question and one supplementary question, which should relate to the original question and answered received.

Councillors may also ask questions under this agenda item.

(1)            Councillor Sansome referred to Item 7 on the agenda and the new applications for Business Rates Discretionary Rate Relief and more specifically Application 3 for Swinton Recreation Ground.  He described the work of the registered charity and formally requested if consideration could be given to 100% relief for this financial year.

The Chair, Councillor Read, and Councillor Alam gave an assurance that they would look carefully at the process and respond direct to Councillor Sansome.

Report of the Strategic Director of Children and Young People’s Services

Cabinet Member:     Councillor Watson (in advisory role)

Commissioner:         Bradwell

Recommendations:

1.    That an extensive 90 day consultation period (60 day public and 30 day Staff) on the proposed implementation of Phase Two and Phase Three of the Early Help Strategy 2016-2019 be approved.

2.    That the proposed timeline for consultation and implementation of the Early Help Strategy Phase Two and Phase Three, as set out at paragraph 6.1 of this report, be approved.

3.    That a further report comes back to the Commissioner in October 2018 with recommendations following the consultation.

Consideration was given to the report outlining proposals for Phase Two and Three of the Early Help Strategy with the aim of ensuring that Early Help practitioners and managers had the right skills mix to respond to the needs of families and that the workforce was supported with the right levels of management support and oversight.

The proposed redesigned services would provide targeted, evidenced based interventions through a variety of delivery points and negotiated spaces (community buildings, Youth Centres and Children Centres) relevant to the diversity of the community and would be flexible enough to meet changing patterns of current and future demand, not fixed or bound to buildings that were no longer fit for purpose, to deliver outstanding outcomes for children, young people and families in Rotherham.

A robust ninety day consultation would involve meetings with all staff as well as formal communication via letter and the offer of individual support through Human Resources (HR) and Early Help managers. The consultation would involve the Trade Unions and be delivered through a combination of public meetings, online surveys and would seek the views of  parents, young people, Members, partners, stakeholders, professionals and members of the community through a series of consultation events across the Borough.

Whilst there would be some loss of buildings as part of the proposals, there would still be some minimal impact in the review to staffing structures which would seek to reduce management capacity as the Early Help offer became further embedded across the wider Early Help Partnership.

This report had been considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board as part of the pre-Scrutiny process who were in support of the recommendations, subject to, following the consultation, the final proposals being submitted to the Board prior to consideration by the Commissioner.

Commissioner Ney agreed:-  (1)  That an extensive ninety day consultation period (sixty day public and thirty day staff) on the proposed implementation of Phase Two and Phase Three of the Early Help Strategy 2016-2019.

(2)  That the proposed timeline for consultation and implementation of the Early Help Strategy Phase Two and Phase Three as set out in the report be approved.

(3)  That a further report be submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board in October 2018 following completion of the consultation prior to any consideration by the Commissioners/Cabinet.

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive

Cabinet Member:     Councillor Alam

Commissioner:         Ney (in advisory role)

Recommendations:

1. That the overall position and direction of travel in relation to performance be noted.

2. That consideration be given to measures which have not progressed in accordance with the target set and the actions required to improve performance, including future performance clinics

3. That the performance reporting timetable for 2017/18 be noted.

Consideration was given to the report which detailed how the Council Plan for the period 2017-2020 and was approved by Elected Members at the Council meeting on 12^th July, 2017.  The plan represented the core document that underpinned the Council’s overall vision, setting out headline priorities, indicators and measures that would demonstrate its delivery. Alongside it sat the Council’s Performance Management Framework which explained to all Council staff how robust performance monitoring and management arrangements are required to ensure effective implementation. 

To ensure that the delivery of actions and their impact was assessed, formal quarterly performance reports were required to the public Cabinet and Commissioners’ Decision-Making meeting, with an opportunity for pre-Scrutiny consideration in line with new governance arrangements.  This report was the third report in the 2017/18 reporting cycle covering Quarter 3 1^st October, to 31^st December, 2017. 

The Performance Report and Performance Dashboard/Scorecard (Appendices A and B) provided an analysis of the Council’s current performance against fourteen key delivery outcomes and seventy-two measures.  This report was based on the current position of available data, along with an overview of progress on key projects and activities which also contributed towards the delivery of the Council Plan.   

At the end of this third quarter (October to December, 2017) 21 measures had either met or had exceeded the target set in the Council Plan.  This represented 40.4% of the total number of indicators where data was available or where targets have been set. The direction of travel was positive for thirty-four (55.7%) of the indicators measured in this quarter. The Priority area with the highest proportion of targets met was Priority 5 (A modern, efficient Council).

Cabinet Members provided an update in accordance with current performance for service areas:-

Councillor Beck, Cabinet Member for Housing, reported on the number of homes delivered during the year which, by the end of Quarter 3, had amounted to 337 within an annual ambitious target of 650.  Work remained ongoing to improve this indicator, but the Council were reliant on contributions from the private sector.  It was hoped once the Local Plan was formally adopted the delivery of new housing numbers would improve in coming years.

In terms of selective licensing it was anticipated by the end of Quarter 4 the compliance of landlords target would be achieved.

Councillor Roche, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health, confirmed the direction of travel for Adult Social Care and Safeguarding was positive, along with the Direct Payments review.  Progress was being made with the aspirational Public Health targets.

Councillor Hoddinott, Cabinet Member for Waste, Roads and Community Safety, confirmed the measures on tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB), hate crime, and domestic abuse, have been impacted on this quarter due to changes in the system used by South Yorkshire Police to gather statistics which were used by the Council to measure progress.

Performance in relation to all four requirements for Licensing had improved and was now at 100% for three elements with the fourth for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 124.

Report of the Strategic Director of Finance and Customer Service

Cabinet Member:     Councillor Alam

Commissioner:         Ney (in advisory role)

Recommendation:

That the Council’s fees and charges for 2018/19 be approved.

Consideration was given to a report which detailed the proposed fees and charges for the Regeneration and Environment Directorate for 2018/19 and beyond and were reflected in the budget savings proposals included in the Council’s Budget and Council Tax setting report, which were approved by Council on the 28^th February, 2018. 

The charges for each service were presented in Appendices A – S.  Housing Revenue Account Rents and Service charges had been agreed on 15^th January, 2018 and Allotment Rents 2019/20 agreed on 19^th February.  The report detailed fees and charges for the remainder of the Council’s services which had been increased by 3% with a few exceptions.

In addition, it was suggested that there be a revision to the Regulation and Enforcement Charges 2018/19 in relation to Section 1.9 (High Hedges) as the fee went beyond 3% and should be brought into line with the 3%.

Section 1.10 (Fixed Penalty Notices) with regards to litter, the fine would be £80.00 and £150 for a late payment. Fly tipping fines would be £300 and £400 for a late payment.

This report had been considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board as part of the pre-Scrutiny process who were in support of the recommendations and the revised amendments, subject to a further report being submitted to the Board in six months’ time to review the income targets.

The query at the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board regarding the safe removal of bees had now been responded to.

Resolved:-  That the fees and charge for 2018/19 with the revisions identified above be approved.

Report of the Strategic Director of Finance and Customer Service

Cabinet Member:     Councillor Alam

Commissioner:         Ney (in advisory role)

Recommendations:

That 20% discretionary top up rate relief is awarded to the organisations listed in Section 2 of this report.

Consideration was given to a report which detailed four applications for the award of a discretionary business rate relief. This was in accordance with the Council’s Discretionary Business Rates Relief Policy (approved 12^th December, 2016).

The Strategic Director for Finance and Customer Services clarified the position and addressed the request by Councillor Sansome in his question to the Cabinet this morning and confirmed this discretionary relief was for the award of 20% discretionary top up to support relief already received by the charitable organisations.

The outstanding success of charitable organisations in Rotherham was highlighted by Cabinet Members.

Resolved:-  That 20% discretionary top up rate relief for the period 1^st April, 2018 to 31^st March, 2019 be awarded to 27^th Rotherham Woodsetts Scout Group, Catcliffe Memorial Hall, Swinton Recreation Ground and Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind.

Report of the Strategic Director of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health

Cabinet Member:     Councillor Roche

Commissioner:         Ney (in advisory role)

Recommendation:

That Cabinet endorse the refreshed Health and Wellbeing Strategy for 2018 – 2025.

Consideration was given to the refreshed Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2018-2025 which was submitted for endorsement prior to formal sign-off by the Health and Wellbeing Board at its meeting on 14^th March, 2018.  This was good news for Rotherham and highlighted the strengths of partnership working.

The existing Strategy ran until the end of 2018, however, the Board had agreed that, due to a number of strategic drivers influencing the role of Health and Wellbeing Boards such as the local Integrated Health and Social Care Place Plan, an early refresh was appropriate.  The refresh would ensure that it remained fit for purpose and strengthened the Board’s role in relation to high level assurance and holding partners to account as well as influencing commissioning across the health and social care system and wider determinants of health.

Resolved:-  That the refreshed Health and Wellbeing Strategy for 2018-2025 be endorsed.

To receive a report detailing the recommendations of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board in respect of items that were subject to pre-decision scrutiny on 7 March 2018.

Consideration was given to the circulated report, the contents of which were included as part of the relevant items and the details included accordingly.

The Cabinet wished to place on record, on behalf of the Council, its thanks and appreciation to those members of staff directly responsible for clearing roads and ensuring refuse was collected during the recent period of inclement weather.