A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Council and councillors

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Catmose, Oakham, Rutland, LE15 6HP. View directions

Contact: Natasha Taylor  01572 720991

Items
No. Item

694.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Minutes:

No apologies were received.

695.

ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE CHAIRMAN AND/OR HEAD OF THE PAID SERVICE

Minutes:

There were no announcements from the Chairman or the Head of Paid Service.

696.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

 

In accordance with the Regulations, Members are required to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have and the nature of those interests in respect of items on this Agenda and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

Minutes:

No declarations of interest were received.

697.

RECORD OF DECISIONS

 

To confirm the Record of Decisions made at the meeting of the Cabinet held on 20 February 2018.

Minutes:

The record of decisions made by Cabinet on 20 February 2018, copies of which had been previously circulated, were confirmed by Cabinet.

698.

ITEMS RAISED BY SCRUTINY

To receive items raised by members of scrutiny which have been submitted to the Leader (copied to Chief Executive and Governance Officer) by 4.30 pm on Friday 16 March 2018.

Minutes:

The Chairman had not been formally notified of any items raised by Scrutiny.

699.

RUTLAND COUNTY COUNCIL CHILDCARE SUFFICIENCY ASSESSMENT REPORT 2016 - 2017 pdf icon PDF 74 KB

Report No. 51/2018

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report No. 51/2018 was received from the Director for People.

 

Mr D Wilby, Portfolio Holder for Lifelong Learning, Early Years, Special Educational Needs & Disabilities and Inclusion introduced the report, which all Local Authorities had a statutory duty under the Childcare Act 2006 to complete. The report assessed the sufficiency of childcare in Rutland and identified any gaps in provision and provided Cabinet with assurance that there was currently sufficient childcare to meet the requirements of parents and carers.

 

In his introduction Mr Wilby confirmed that a new minimum payment had been agreed at the Schools Forum meeting the previous week, for all child care settings and that the impact of the 30 hour extended entitlement was being kept under review.  There was ongoing work to increase provision of wraparound/holiday care to meet the needs of working parents.

 

During discussion the following points were raised:

 

i.      The provision in Rutland was of a high quality and officers should be commended for this; and

ii.     Cuts in Government funding had resulted in some settings adjusting charging practices in order to alleviate financial pressures.

 

 

DECISION

 

1.    Cabinet NOTED that there was currently sufficient childcare across Rutland to meet the requirements of parents and carers and that the Learning and Skills Service was undertaking a range of planned activities to manage the market and maintain capacity within the system.

 

Reason for the decision

1.    Under the Department for education’s (DFE) ‘Early Education and childcare: Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities’ local authorities should report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare and make this report  available and accessible to parents.

 

2.    This report provides elected members with this information and identifies that, at the time of the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment being completed, there were sufficient places available. Routine assessment and reviews will continue to be undertaken by the Learning and Skills Service to ensure sufficiency is maintained and, should a potential pressure be identified, positive action will be taken with existing and potential providers to minimize the impact on parents and carers.

 

 

700.

RUTLAND AGREED SYLLABUS pdf icon PDF 79 KB

Report No. 52/2018

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report No. 52/2018 was received from the Director for People.

 

Mr D. Wilby, Portfolio Holder for Lifelong Learning, Early Years, Special Educational Needs & Disabilities and Inclusion, introduced the report the purpose of which was for the Council to formally adopt the Rutland Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education which set out the statutory requirements for schools. The syllabus provided teachers with a framework from which to plan and deliver lessons that were informative and challenging and which allowed pupils to gain a developing understanding of the range of religious and non-religious world views studied.

 

 

During discussion the following points were raised:

 

i.      This was an important subject area for children growing up in Rutland and members commended the work of the Standing Advisory Council Council on Religious Education, Chaired by Miss G Waller.

 

 

DECISION

 

1.    Cabinet RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL to adopt the Rutland Agreed Syllabus as the locally agreed framework for the teaching of Religious Education in Rutland schools.

 

Reasons for decision.

1.    Religious education gives Rutland pupils and ideal opportunity to explore matters of religion and non-religious beliefs, to find out what matters most to people in a wide range of traditions represented in our County and beyond, and to discern what is of value for themselves as they develop their own ideas and ways of living.

 

2.    This new agreed syllabus has been developed as a resource to support pupils in this endeavor. It sets out what should be studied in RE and offers clear advice and guidance on how this can be done so that pupils can develop their own ideas and ways of living.

701.

VARIATION TO THE SECTION 75 AGREEMENT - HOSPITAL DISCHARGE CARE COMMISSIONING pdf icon PDF 61 KB

(KEY DECISON)

 

Report No. 53/2018

Minutes:

(KEY DECISION)

 

Report No. 53/2018 was received from the Director for People.

 

Mr. A Walters, Portfolio Holder for Safeguarding Adults, Public Health, Health Commissioning, Community Safety and Road Safety introduced the report the purpose of which was to set out the process currently used to commission packages of care on discharge from hospital and to request approval to formalise that process and the related funding by using a variation to the current Section 75 Agreement to delegate commissioning of those care packages.

 

During discussion the following points were raised:

 

i.      Once Cabinet approval had been obtained the agreement would go through the East Leicestershire & Rutland clinical Commissioning Groups governance process; and

ii.     It was commendable that in spite of being one of the top performing authorities in the country in reducing delays in hospital discharges, Officers were still looking at options for further improvement.

 

DECISION

 

1.    Cabinet APPROVED the variation to the Section 75 Agreement between Rutland County Council and East Leicestershire & Rutland Clinical Commissioning Group (ELRCCG) to delegate the commissioning of hospital discharge packages of care for individuals from ELRCCG to Rutland County Council.

 

Reasons for decision

1.    By delegating the commissioning of hospital discharge packages of care, the current process will be formalized and will remove the requirement for individual permission to commission each care package. This will make the process more efficient, and reduce the risk associated with recharging the costs after the fact.

 

2.    A section 75 Agreement is already in place to manage delegated commissioning arrangements and the related funding streams between the Council and ELRCCG and can be varied to include this.

 

702.

EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC

Cabinet is recommended to determine whether the public and press be excluded from the meeting in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended, and in accordance with the Access to Information provisions of Procedure Rule 239, as the following item of business is likely to involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

 

Paragraph 2: Information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual.

Minutes:

RESOLVED

 

Cabinet AGREED to remain in public session unless detailed discussion was held on the exempt information at which point the meeting would move into exempt session.

703.

WRITE OFF OF IRRECOVERABLE DEBTS pdf icon PDF 77 KB

Report No. 21/2018

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report No. 21/2018 was received from the Director for Resources.

 

Mr Gordon Brown, Portfolio Holder for Regulatory Services, Waste Management, Property Services, Culture & Leisure, and Finance introduced the report the purpose of which was to seek approval to write off debts, over the value of £2,500, where officers believed that there was little or no prospect of recovering them.

 

During discussion the following points were raised:

 

i.      Attempts would be made to take earlier action in order to prevent debts from escalating.

 

RESOLVED

 

1)    Cabinet NOTED the action taken to recover outstanding debts.

 

2)    Cabinet APPROVED the write off of the debts shown in Appendix A of Report No. 21/2018.

 

 

Reasons for the decision

1.    There is no prospect of collecting the debts detailed in Appendix A and it is therefore prudent to write off the debts.

704.

EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC

Cabinet is recommended to determine whether the public and press be excluded from the meeting in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended, and in accordance with the Access to Information provisions of Procedure Rule 239, as the following item of business is likely to involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

 

Paragraph 3: Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED

 

Cabinet AGREED to remain in public session unless detailed discussion was held on the exempt information at which point the meeting would move into exempt session.

 

705.

ST GEORGES BARRACKS - POTENTIAL ACQUISITION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE OFFICERS MESS pdf icon PDF 122 KB

(KEY DECISION)

 

Report No. 54/2018

Additional documents:

Minutes:

(KEY DECISION)

 

Report No. 54/2018 was received from the Chief Executive.

 

Mr Oliver Helmsley, Leader and Portfolio Holder for Rutland One Public Estate & Growth, Tourism & Economic Development and Resources (other than Finance and Communications) introduced the report, the purpose of which was to obtain Cabinet endorsement to move forward to agree an option for the acquisition of the Officers Mess site (part of St Georges Barracks) subject to final Council agreement.

 

During discussion the following points were raised:

 

i.      Financial viability of the project would be tested at the Formal Gates as set out in the report, but there would also be a series of informal gates and feasibility testing.  At various phases testing would take place in order to inform decisions on the next steps;

ii.     An acceptable land value would be one of the key conditions as set out in page 97 of the report;

iii.    Phase 2 would culminate in an initial feasibility report which would come back to the Project Board for approval;

iv.   Subject to the project proceeding past all testing and formal gates, the acquisition of the site would require Full Council approval.  If the project failed to meet defined criteria it would progress no further;

v.     It would be important to engage the public in the process and ensure there were effective channels for communication;

vi.   Consideration should be given to whether the Project Board may benefit from having a member which represents the Parish Councils in the area;

vii.  A meeting had been arranged to discuss how the Council, Parishes and local communities could work together;

viii. Should Rutland County Council decide not to proceed at any stage, it was understood that the Ministry of Defence would still be looking to develop the site; and

ix.   This was an opportunity for the Council to be involved to ensure the best outcomes for Rutland.

 

RESOLVED

 

1)    Cabinet AUTHORISED the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader and Portfolio Holder for Rutland One Public Estate & Growth, Tourism & Economic Development and Resources (other than Finance and Communications) and the Director of Resources to enter into negotiations to acquire the Officers Mess site on the conditional basis which was set out in section 3.

2)    Cabinet APPROVED the release of up to £850k of funds from capital receipts to support the redevelopment of the Officers Mess Site at St Georges Barracks up to the point where tenders are received from contractors for the development works.

3)    Cabinet AUTHORISED the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader and Portfolio Holder for Rutland One Public Estate & Growth, Tourism, & Economic Development and Resources (other than Finance and Communications) and the Director of Resources to determine a procurement route, award criteria and if a suitable supplier or suppliers are identified move forward and award a series of contracts for all works necessary to develop the proposals at ‘The Officers Mess’ up to the point prior to the issue of tenders for the contractor that will deliver the works element of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 705.

706.

ANY ITEMS OF URGENT BUSINESS

To receive items of urgent business which have previously been notified to the person presiding.

Minutes:

No items of urgent business had previously been notified to the Chairman.