No apologies were received.

The Chief Executive informed Cabinet that the Council had been successful in securing an Arts Council Grant for investment in libraries. The conditions were accepted by delegated decisions. The grant was £359,000 and for it to be invested in technology and buildings. It would complement the communities capital investment and workstream as part as the transformation programme.

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.

There were no declarations for interest.

To confirm the Minutes and Decisions made at the meeting of the Cabinet held on 12^th March 2024.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 12 March 2024.

RESOLVED

a)    That the minutes of the meeting held on 12 March 2024 be APPROVED.

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

No items were raised.

To receive Report No.39/2024 from the Portfolio Holder for Adults and Health.

Report No.39/2024 was introduced by Councillor D Ellison, Portfolio Holder for Adults and Health.

The report provided an update on the Sexual Health Procurement undertaken in 2023 which was not successful for all of the individual procurement lots.

It also set out the interim arrangements for 2024-2025 for the Integrated Sexual Health Service (ISHS) and the Long-Acting Removable Contraception (LARC), and the proposal for the commissioning of ISHS and LARC for beyond 2025 including the procurement process and award criteria.

It was moved by Councillor D Ellison and seconded that the recommendations of the Report No.39/2024 be approved. Upon being put to the vote, with six votes in favour the motion was unanimously carried.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

a)    NOTED the interim service arrangements for the financial year 2024 to 2025.

b)    APPROVED the procurement models for the Integrated Sexual Health Service (ISHS) and Long-acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) and the award criteria for the ISHS procurement.

c)    APPROVED of the award of contract is delegated to the Director for Adult Services and Health in consultation with the Director for Public Health and Portfolio Holder for Adults and Health.

RECOMMENDED that should there be a need to withdraw the procurement or there is an unsuccessful procurement that approval of action under the Provider Selection Regime was delegated to the Director for Adult Services and Health in consultation with the Director for Public Health and Portfolio Holder for Adults and Health.

To receive Report No.34/2024 from the Portfolio Holder for Adults and Health.

Report No.34/2024 was introduced by Councillor D Ellison, Portfolio Holder for Adults and Health.

The report provided information on the process taken to develop the Adult Social Care (ASC) Strategy and sought Cabinet’s approval to launch the Strategy.

The Adult Social Care strategy was a key framework which set out Adult Social Cares commitment to people within the community and staff within Adult Social Care, for the next four years. It established the key priorities and approaches to be taken when supporting adults with care and support needs in line with local and national issues facing Adult Social Care.

Cabinet was impressed with the Strategy, that it read very well, was extremely clear and visually attractive.

It was moved by Councillor D Ellison and seconded that the recommendations of the Report No.34/2024 be approved. Upon being put to the vote, with six votes in favour the motion was unanimously carried.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

a)    APPROVED the Rutland Adult Social Care Strategy 2024-2028.

APPROVED the Adult Social Care vision and priorities.

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).

The Leader of the Council confirmed in her view that the meeting would be able to remain in a public session.

To receive Report No.35/2024 from the Portfolio Holder for Planning, Property and Economic Development.

Report No.35/2024 was introduced by Councillor P Browne, Portfolio Holder for Planning, Property and Economic Development.

The report updated Cabinet on the Strategic Outline Business Case for Asset Transformation (seven key assets), obtain approval in principle for the recommendations, and implementation on a self-funding basis.

The Council had a small, varied portfolio which included buildings of historic significance. Most properties were not originally designed or planned for their current use.  As a result, a lot of the Council’s accommodation was no longer fit for purpose. 

The Council had also considered and concluded that the delivery and implementation of the Asset Transformation needed to be phased and spread over a longer timeframe to recognise the limitations of resource, capacity and the potential disruption to Services.

It was highlighted by officers that the valuation of the assets was a red book valuation which could stand in court. The Head of Property informed Cabinet that if we went to market, we could potentially achieve more.

It was moved by Councillor A Johnson and seconded that the recommendations of the Report No.35/2024 be approved. Upon being put to the vote, with six votes in favour the motion was unanimously carried.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

a)    APPROVED the Asset Review Business Plans and overarching programme of delivery for Phase 1 (Catmose House, Museum and Catmose Cottage) and: 

b)    DELEGATED authority to Strategic Director Places, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Property, and the Portfolio Holder for Governance and Resources, to commission further technical advice as necessary to work-up options.

c)    DELEGATED authority to Strategic Director of Resources, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Property, and the Portfolio Holder for Governance and Resources, to market property for disposal (Catmose House, Ashwell Cottage and Ashwell Business Units).

d)    DELEGATED authority to Strategic Director of Resources, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Property, and the Portfolio Holder for Governance and Resources, to make changes that support income generation from property assets in accordance with Draft Asset Strategy.

e)    DELEGATED authority to Strategic Director of Resources, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Property, and the Portfolio Holder for Governance and Resources, to transfer Jules House to the LUF Programme to facilitate delivery of a new community asset, in accordance with the LUF grant.  This will include approval of spend as dictated by the Contract and Grant Procedure Rules.

f)      DELEGATED authority to Strategic Director of Resources, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Property, and the Portfolio Holder for Governance and Resource, to facilitate delivery of the above items on a self-funding basis (i.e. cost neutral with no additional budget pressure to the Council)

-oOo-

At 10.32am the Chair adjourned the meeting and the meeting started again at 10.44am

-oOo-

To receive Report No.55/2024 from the Leader of the Council.

Report No.55/2024 was introduced by Councillor G Waller, Leader of the Council.

On 25 March 2024 Council considered the information contained within report number 26/2024, the report of the Leader of the Council on the subject of the contract for the operation of Catmose Sports Centre (Leisure Contract) and voted upon the recommendations outlined in the exempt Appendix B to the report.

There was no statutory requirement for councils to provide sports and leisure services and facilities.  Councils receive no dedicated funding from government to provide sports and leisure services and facilities. 

It was highlighted that there were significant savings across all directorates of the Council and a number of risks in the delivery of these savings.  There may also be a need to find further savings in future years if cost, demand or government funding did not meet the current assumptions in the Council's Medium Term Financial Strategy.

The Leader highlighted paragraph 1.3.3 within the report which detailed where Cabinet considered removing planned investments in areas where there were no: -

-       Recent and / or significant new duties

-       Trend of demand / cost increase

-       Investment requirement to deliver savings

The two areas that most closely fit the three criteria above were investment in a Climate Change Officer and investment in additional flood expertise and capacity.  The Council had approved these areas as key investments to deliver its priority ‘Tackling the Climate Emergency’. 

Each Portfolio Holder in turn then explained the risks involved if money was taken out of each portfolio to fund Catmose Leisure facility.

The Leader proposed to amend the recommendation to the following ‘That Cabinet recommended the proposed options to funding leisure for Council to consider and approve. Cabinet recognised that in order to finance the management of Catmose Leisure Centre, significant budgetary provision must be found, Cabinet considered that the only viable option was to redirect funding allocated for Flood Management and the Climate Change Officer to Leisure Services for management of Catmose Leisure Centre’. This was seconded and upon being put to the vote, with six votes in favour the amendment was unanimously carried.

It was moved by Councillor G Waller and seconded that the recommendations of the Report No.55/2024, as amended, be approved. Upon being put to the vote, with six votes in favour the motion was unanimously carried.

RESOLVED

That Cabinet:

RECOMMENDED the proposed options to funding leisure for Council to consider and approve. Cabinet recognised that in order to finance the management of Catmose Leisure Centre, significant budgetary provision must be found, Cabinet considered that the only viable option was to redirect funding allocated for Flood Management and the Climate Change Officer to Leisure Services for management of Catmose Leisure Centre’

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

There were no items of urgent business.

Tuesday, 11^th June 2024 (Provisional)

Tuesday, 11^th June 2024.