Apologies were received from Councillor K Payne.

There were no announcements made.

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.

Councillor S Harvey declared a personal interest in Report No.31/2023 as she made use of the Household Support Fund Policy. Councillor Harvey confirmed she would leave the meeting at that point.

To confirm the Minutes and Decisions made at the meeting of the Cabinet held on 14^th February 2023.

Consideration was given to the record of decisions made following the meeting of Cabinet on 14 February 2023.

RESOLVED

a)             That the record of decisions made at the meeting of the Cabinet held on 14 February 2023 be APPROVED.

To receive items raised by members of scrutiny which have been submitted to the Leader and Chief Executive.

No items were received.

To receive Report No.44/2023 from the Portfolio Holder for Education and Children’s Services.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

1)    APPROVED the agreed Syllabus for Religious Education 2023-2028.

Report No.44/2023 was introduced by Councillor David Wilby, Portfolio Holder for Education and Children’s Services.

Rutland SACRE had agreed to work on the agreed syllabus alongside Cambridgeshire and Peterborough SACRE’s as they had done in the current agreed syllabus 2018-23.

The new Syllabus would be formally launched on the 15^th June 2023 and would become effective from 1 September. Further events to support the introduction of the Syllabus in schools would take place during the academic years 2023-2025 for all schools in Rutland.

SACRE would then monitor and support the implementation of the Agreed Syllabus over the next 5 years.

Members welcomed the report and thanked Amanda Fitton and her team for the amount of work gone into producing the syllabus.

It was proposed by Councillor D Wilby that the recommendations of report No. 44/2023 be agreed, this was seconded and upon being put to the vote the motion was unanimously agreed.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

a)  APPROVED the agreed syllabus for Religious Education 2023-28.

To receive Report No.43/2023 from the Portfolio Holder for Education and Children’s Services.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

1)    NOTED the progress of the Schools Capital Programme.

Report No.44/2023 was introduced by Councillor David Wilby, Portfolio Holder for Education and Children’s Services.

The report was a key milestone action relating to the Schools Capital Programme, to enable the local authority to meet its statutory obligation, to provide sufficient secondary schools places within Rutland.  This would be achieved by expanding Catmose College, Oakham to deliver additional places through the development of an 8 Form Entry Secondary School. 

The report provided an update of progress to date and the ongoing actions required to complete the project successfully.

Building works for the new build element of the school expansion commenced in November 2022 and were scheduled for completion in September 2023. The current forecasts showed that the £5.5m budget would be sufficient to complete all aspects of the project.

Members were very impressed that the project was being carried out within the projected timeframes and within budget especially with the climate we current are faced with.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

NOTED the progress of the Schools Capital Programme.

To receive Report No.41/2023 from the Portfolio Holder for Health, Wellbeing and Adult Care.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

1)    APPROVED an uplift to the current rate of Direct Payments for individuals and families to employ a Personal Assistant to provide care and support.

Report No.41/2023 was introduced by Councillor Samantha Harvey, Portfolio Holder for Health, Wellbeing, Adult Care and Leisure.

The reports set out the current position of the Council’s Direct Payments used to pay Personal Assistants for support by both children’s families and adult, and requested approval for an uplift to the current rate.

The proposed rate for the Direct Payment for Personal Assistants from April 2023 was £15.00, an increase of 30%, c2.5% increase per year since the £11.50 was set.  As a comparator, by April National Living Wage would have increased by an average of 5.5% per year since it was introduced in 2016.

It was explained to Members by the Chief Executive that these rates had not been neglected, plans had been put forward to Cabinet on a number of instances previously but were not supported on those occasions.

It was proposed by Councillor S Harvey that the recommendations of report No. 41/2023 be agreed, this was seconded and upon being put to the vote the motion was unanimously agreed.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

a)      APPROVED an uplift to the current rate of Direct Payments for individuals and families to employ a Personal Assistant to provide care and support.

To receive Report No.40/2023 from the Portfolio Holder for Finance, Governance and Performance, Change and Transformation.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

1)    APPROVED the direct award of the Annual Hosting and Maintenance contract at an estimated 4 year cost of £354,952, subject to inflation, from 1/4/2023 to 31/3/2027 in accordance with Regulation 33 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

2)    NOTED that the award would give an ongoing saving of around £26,000 per annum from 1^st April 2023.

Report No.40/2023 was introduced by Councillor David Wilby, Portfolio Holder for Education and Children’s Services.

The report asked Cabinet for approval to award the hosting and maintenance contract to Capita Ltd (Capita) to ensure the optimum running and support of the school admission and other software products until the end of March 2027.

The Capita system was the software system for the Schools Admission service.  In addition, the Council also had some software from Capita around eStart and IYSS under the same contract. 

The current 5 year contract which commenced 1st April 2019 was due to expire at the end of March 2024. The scope of this contract was the support and maintenance of the schools admission, eStart and IYSS software and in addition the remote hosting of most of this software by Capita.

Annual costs had risen by inflation and for the period 1st April 2022 to 31st March 2023 and would expect to rise to £114,904 from 1st April 2023.

It was proposed by Councillor D Wilby that the recommendations of report No. 40/2023 be agreed, this was seconded and upon being put to the vote the motion was unanimously agreed.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

a)   APPROVED the direct award of the Annual Hosting and Maintenance contract at an estimated 4 year cost of £354,952, subject to inflation, from 1/4/2023 to 31/3/2027 in accordance with Regulation 33 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

b)   NOTED that the award would give an ongoing saving of around £26,000 per annum from 1st April 2023.

To receive Report No.31/2023 from the Portfolio Holder for Finance, Governance and Performance, Change and Transformation.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

1)    AUTHORISED the Director for Resources, in consultation with the Cabinet Member with portfolio for finance to finalise the Council’s Household Support Fund Policy for 2023/24 and to make any further changes and finalise any future policies should the scheme continue beyond 2023/24. 

Report No.31/2023 was introduced by Councillor L Stephenson, Leader and Portfolio Holder for Policy, Strategy, Economy and Culture.

The report asked approval from Cabinet for the Director for Resources in consultation with the Portfolio Holder with responsibility for finance to finalise the Council’s policy in relation to the Household Support Fund and any future Fund should the scheme continue in future years.

The provision of delegated authority would allow the Council to finalise its policy and make any further amendments as required and to proceed to make targeted payments and invite applications from those in need. In the context of the cost of living crisis, the Council was eager to let residents know that support was available and to make awards as soon as possible.

It was pointed out to Members that the amendment made at Full Council last week with regards to the extra allocation of funds was included within the policy.

It was proposed by Councillor L Stephenson that the recommendations of report No. 31/2023 be agreed, this was seconded and upon being put to the vote the motion was unanimously agreed.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

a)   AUTHORISED the Director for Resources, in consultation with the Cabinet Member with portfolio for finance to finalise the Council’s Household Support Fund Policy for 2023/24 and to make any further changes and finalise any future policies should the scheme continue beyond 2023/24. 

To receive Report No.42/2023 from the Portfolio Holder for Planning, Highways and Transport.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet AGREED that:

1)    The draft North Luffenham Neighbourhood Plan was published for public consultation for a minimum of 6 weeks.

2)    Following public consultation, the draft plan and representations received were submitted for independent examination.

3)    The Strategic Director of Places be authorised to appoint an independent examiner in consultation with the North Luffenham Neighbourhood Plan Group.

4)    That following receipt of the examiner’s report that the Strategic Director of Places in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning be authorised to publish the County Council’s decision notice, update the North Luffenham Neighbourhood Plan and undertake a referendum.

5)    Subject to the outcome of the referendum that the Strategic Director of Places in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning be authorised to make the North Luffenham Neighbourhood Plan part of the Development Plan for Rutland.

Report No.42/2023 was introduced by Councillor Rosemary Powell, Portfolio Holder for Planning, Highways, Transport and Environment, Climate Change and Community Safety.

The report was to seek Cabinet’s authorisation to carry out consultation on the proposed North Luffenham Neighbourhood Plan, followed by submission of that plan to an independent examiner.

The draft North Luffenham Neighbourhood Plan had been submitted to the County Council for statutory consultation and subsequent independent examination.

Councillor Powell thanked the volunteers from the village with the amount of work that had been undertaken in putting this plan together.

An amendment was proposed by Councillor Powell to remove the wording ‘and finance’ in recommendations 4 and 5. This was seconded and upon being put to the vote the amendment was unanimously agreed.

It was proposed by Councillor R Powell that the recommendations of report No. 42/2023 be agreed, this was seconded and upon being put to the vote the motion was unanimously agreed.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet AGREED:

1)    The draft North Luffenham Neighbourhood Plan was published for public consultation for a minimum of 6 weeks.

2)    Following public consultation, the draft plan and representations received were submitted for independent examination.

3)    The Strategic Director of Places be authorised to appoint an independent examiner in consultation with the North Luffenham Neighbourhood Plan Group.

4)    That following receipt of the examiner’s report that the Strategic Director of Places in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning be authorised to publish the County Council’s decision notice, update the North Luffenham Neighbourhood Plan and undertake a referendum.

5)    Subject to the outcome of the referendum that the Strategic Director of Places in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning be authorised to make the North Luffenham Neighbourhood Plan part of the Development Plan for Rutland.

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

There were no items of urgent business.

Tuesday, 4^th April 2023

Tuesday, 4^th April 2023.