Council and councillors

Apologies were received from Mrs R Burkitt, Mrs D MacDuff and Mr C Parsons.

The Chair advised that the list of engagements had been circulated.  There were two important events (Choral Evensong for Her Majesty’s Birthday, attended by the Chairman and the Centenary of the Battle of the Somme, attended by the Vice Chairman) which would be reported in the next announcements.

The Chairman announced that for the remainder of the 2016/17 Council he would be removing the requirement under Procedure Rule 41 for Mr King to stand when speaking.  Mr King could remain seated should he wish to do so without requesting permission from the Chairman at each Council meeting.

There were no announcements from the Leader or Members of the Cabinet.

The Chief Executive advised Members of the opportunity to view a video produced by Leicestershire Police to highlight issues associated with Child Sexual Exploitation, after the Council Meeting.  An email had been sent earlier that day and a hard copy of the email had been provided for Members information.

In accordance with the Regulations, Members are invited to declare any disclosable interests under the Code of Conduct 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.

Mr T King declared that in the interests of probity he would take no part in the item on Cottesmore Neighbourhood Plan (Item 10 of the Agenda) and would leave the meeting during discussion and decision of this item.

To confirm the Minutes of the 250^th, 251^st and 252^nd meetings of the Rutland County Council District Council held on 14 March 2016 and 9 May 2016.

The minutes of the 250th, 251st and 252nd meetings of the Rutland County Council District Council held on 14 March 2016 and 9 May 2016 were confirmed by the Council and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any petitions, deputations or questions received from members of the public in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 28. The total time allowed for this is 30 minutes.  Petitions, deputations and questions will be dealt with in the order in which they are received and any which are not considered within the time limit shall receive a written response after the meeting.

There were no petitions or questions from members of the public.

Notice of a deputation had been given, however this was withdrawn as the speaker was not present at the meeting.

To receive any questions submitted from Members of the Council in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rules 30 and 30A.

i.       Miss Waller

In “First”, the LGA Magazine of June 2016 (issue 600) there was an interesting letter from the Cabinet Member for Health in Derbyshire about children going hungry during the school holidays because they do not have access to free school meals.  How many children in Rutland are eligible for Free School Meals and do we have any evidence that these children do not eat sufficiently well during the holidays to maintain good health and a healthy body weight?

The Portfolio Holder for Lifelong Learning responded as follows:

Free school meals

We need to recognise that there may be some difference between the number of children entitled to free school meals and those who actually claim them. 

• The number of children known to be eligible and claiming free school meals is 272 - 141 primary; 131 secondary (from census Jan 2016). 
• Data published in October 2015 indicated the number of children eligible was 300 (from School Health Profiles 2015). 
• DfE research conducted across England in 2012 and 2013 showed the difference between those children entitled to and those claiming free school meals in Rutland was 0% (both figures were rounded up to 300).

Underweight children

Children’s weight information is gathered as part of the National Child Measurement Programme, undertaken by Health partners annually.

Latest published figures show that at Reception 0.31% of children in Rutland were classed as underweight (compared to a national average of 0.95%). This equates to one child (from a total year group of 408).

At Year 6 the percentage of children classified as underweight is 0.69% (compared to a national average of 1.36%). This equates to 2 children (from a total year group of 376).

At present we have no means to establish whether children do or do not have a diet that maintains good health and a healthy body weight during school holidays.  However, the figures on children’s weight indicate that Rutland does not have a problem of underweight.

ii.       Mr Walters

I note the detail of report 66/2016 and specifically its comments on further discussions surrounding the provision of home to school transport for post 16 students.

Could the portfolio holder offer reassurance to current students of Rutland County College that on transfer to new premises based at Casterton College Rutland - a move they could not have predicted and have no discretion over - that they will not suffer financially or practically in terms of accessing their education. Specifically will this council look to provide transport for them, and if so will it be contributory or supplied free of charge, and in consideration of this will this Council seek to minimise the number of students who stop attending their course as a result of the relocation?

The Portfolio Holder for Places (Highways, Environment, Transport and Community Safety) responded as follows:

We have discussed the move with the College and they intend to fund the additional cost of transport for affected students. These will be the students joining the college this September.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 132.

To determine matters where a decision taken by a Committee has been referred to the Council in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule 110.

No decisions had been referred.

To determine matters where a decision taken by the Cabinet has been referred to Council by the call-in procedure of Scrutiny Panels, as a result of the decision being deemed to be outside the Council’s policy framework by the Monitoring Officer or not wholly in accordance with the budget by the Section 151 Officer, in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rules 206 and 207.

No call-ins were received.

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Mr T King left the meeting.

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To receive Report No. 140/2016 from the Cabinet on recommendations referred to the Council for determination and to note the Key Decisions taken at its meetings held on 17 May 2016 and 21 June 2016.

Report No. 140/2016 from the Cabinet was received which noted the Key Decisions made since the publication of the agenda for the previous meeting of Council on 9 May 2016.

RESOLVED

1.  To note the Key Decisions made by Cabinet since the publication of the agenda for the previous ordinary meeting of the Council on 9 May 2016, as detailed in Appendix A to this report.

2.    To approve the following Recommendation from Cabinet:

i)     The making of the Cottesmore Neighbourhood Plan in Appendix A to report 102/2016.

17 May 2016

Decision No. 38

Report No. 102/2016

Cottesmore Neighbourhood Plan

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Mr T King re-joined the meeting.

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3.    To approve the following Adult Social Care Charging Consultation Proposals recommended by Cabinet:

i)     Proposal 1: Paying the full hourly cost of care, up to any applicable ceilings;

ii)    Proposal 2: Charging for care service from their start date

iii)   Proposal 3: Charging an administration fee for helping individuals with over £23,250 to set up their care package.

iv)   Proposal 4: Applying a cost recovery fee for setting up and managing a Deferred Payment Agreement.

v)    Proposal 5: Charging interest on Deferred Payments at the rate set by the Government.

vi)   Keeping any changes to the charging policy under review as part of the annual fees and charging review.

vii) That authority be delegated to the Director of People and the relevant Portfolio Holder to update the charging policy accordingly.

21 June 2016

Decision No. 64

Report No. 117/2016

Adult Social Care Charging Consultation – Proposals

4.    To approve the following Recommendations from Cabinet:

i)     The ceiling for the Insurance and Legal reserve be increased to £250k (Appendix A to Report No. 109/2016, para 1.6.11).

ii)    A new capital scheme for £106k for the permanent repair of potholes following receipt of additional Government grant (Appendix A to Report No. 109/2016, para 4.2.3).

iii)   That £200k of available capital receipts rather than earmarked social care reserve was used to fund the implementation of the Adult Social Care system in 16/17 (Appendix A to Report No. 109/2016, para 1.6.9).

21 June 2016

Decision No. 66

Report No. 109/2016

Revenue and Capital Outturn 2015-2016

a.            To receive reports from Committees on matters which require Council approval because the Committee does not have the delegated authority to act on the Council’s behalf.

b.            To receive reports from Council Committees on any other matters and to receive questions and answers on any of those reports.

No reports were received.

To receive the reports from the Scrutiny Commission / Scrutiny Panels on any matters and to receive questions and answers on any of those reports.

No reports were received.

To receive reports about and receive questions and answers on the business of any joint arrangements or external organisations.

      i.        Mr Bool – Combined Fire Authority

Confirmation was given that the new Chief Fire Officer was Mr Steve Lunn (who had previously been the Deputy Fire Officer) who would take the service forward for the next 18 months.  There would be no change to the plans for the Rutland Fire Service.

    ii.        Miss G Waller – Rutland Access Group

Mr Clifton had attended the last meeting and this was greatly appreciated.  There had been some issues with Rutland County Council Officers being unable to attend the meeting.  It had been identified that the reason for this was that the Rutland Access Group meetings were held on the same day as a regularly occurring meeting at the Council.  The Group were now looking to change the schedule for their meetings to assist with RCC Officer attendance.

   iii.        Mr King – Local Government Association (LGA)

Mr King had attended the LGA Conference and had circulated updates to Members.  The Conference had highlighted that things would be different going forward with consultation around what Local Authorities need, localising business rates, redistribution of European money and eventually decisions on what would replace European money.  Rutland would respond to any proposals appropriately and members would be kept up to date.

To consider any Notices of Motion submitted by Members of the Council in accordance with Procedure Rule 34 in the order in which they are recorded as having been received.

No motions were received.

To Receive Report No. 114/2016 from the Director for Resources.

Report No. 114/2016 from the Director for Resources was received to approve the Draft Recommendations and scope of the second phase of consultation on the Community Governance Review of Barleythorpe and Oakham North West.

Mr King, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Development introduced the report and asked Members to note that the recommendations were in line with the wishes of those members of the community that had responded to the initial consultation.  The consequential boundary changes would make the boundary more easily identifiable.

Mr King moved the recommendations.  This was seconded by Mr Gale.

Issues raised during debate included:

·         The residents in Barleythorpe had empowered themselves and shown they had a strong sense of community;

·         Guidance regarding the size of a new Parish Council was given at paragraph 5.9 of the report.  Reference would also be made to the size of similar Parish Councils in Rutland;

·         Should the proposals for a Parish Council go through to the final recommendations, there would be an interim arrangement in place until the election of the Parish Council in line with the timetable contained within the report.  This would take the place of the Parish Meeting; and

·         There would be no changes to the number of Ward Members for the area under review; this was a matter for the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE).  The LGBCE had confirmed that they had no plans to conduct a review at present.

RESOLVED

1.    To note the results of the initial consultation;

2.    To approves the following Draft Recommendations for the community governance review of Barleythorpe and Oakham North West which would be subject to further consultation prior to being finalised:

i)     That the existing Barleythorpe and Oakham North West parish areas are amended as reflected in Maps A-E;

ii)    That a new Parish Council is created in the Parish of Barleythorpe;

iii)  That the name of this Parish Council should be “Barleythorpe Parish Council”; and

iv)  That the Electoral arrangements for the Barleythorpe Parish Council should follow the timetable provided at paragraph 7.2 below.

3.    Approves the scope of the consultation on the Draft Recommendations set out in Section 8 of this report.

To receive Report No. 115/2016 from the Director for Resources.

Report No. 115/2016 from the Director for Resources was received to consider the constitution and membership of the Welland Independent Remuneration Panel.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Development, Mr King, introduced and moved the recommendations in report.  This was seconded by Mr Mathias.

Issues raised during debate included:

·         The Council is required to review Members Allowances every four years, but Council then has the choice whether to approve any recommendations that come forward; and

·         Payment of allowances are intended to attract a diverse range of Councillors and it would be important to understand should the levels of remuneration be found to be barring members of the community from coming forward to take on the role as an elected member.

RESOLVED

1.    To note that Harborough District Council, Melton Borough Council, Rutland County Council and South Kesteven District Council constitute the current participating authorities of the Welland Independent Remuneration Panel.

2.    To approve that the Panel be made up of four Members and be quorate with three.

3.    To approve the re-appointment of the three existing Panel Members as set out at paragraph 2.4 of Report No. 115/2016 and the term of office for the appointments be four years.

4.    To approve the appointment of a new Panel Member being Ian Davis and the term of office for the appointment be four years.

5.    To approve the appointment of Chair of the Panel being John Cade and the term of office for the appointment be four years.

6.    To approve the payment arrangements to the Chair of the Panel and Panel Members as set out at paragraphs 2.6 and 2.7 of Report No. 115/2016.

To receive Report No. 141/2016 from the Monitoring Officer.

Report No. 141/2016 from the Monitoring Officer was received to invite the Council to consider a number of amendments to the Constitution recommended by the Constitution Review Working Group (CRWG) and the Monitoring Officer in respect of the Financial Procedure Rules (FPRs), Contract Procedure Rules, Council Procedures and the scheme of delegation.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Development, Mr King, introduced and moved the recommendations in report.  This was seconded by Mr Stewart.

Issues raised during debate included:

·         Increasing the advertising threshold to £50,000 would reduce the administrative burden; and

·         A report would be brought back to Council in one year in order to assess the impact of the changes.

RESOLVED

1.    To approve amendments to Finance Procedure Rules set out in section 2 of the report and that these changes are effective immediately.

2.    That the advertising thresholds within the Contract Procedure Rules are amended as set out in section 3 of Report No. 141/2016.

3.    To approve the amendment to Procedure Rule 49 as per section 4 of Report 141/2016.

4.    To remove the delegation in place in respect of expenditure of Section 106 agreements as described at section 5 Report No. 141/2016.

To elect the Vice-Chairman of the Development Control and Licensing Committee for the remainder of the 2016/17 Municipal year from the current membership of this committee following the resignation of Mr J Lammie from this post.

Nominations were invited to the post of Vice-Chairman of the Development Control and Licensing Committee for the remainder of the 2016/17 Municipal year from the current membership of the committee following the resignation of Mr J Lammie from this post.

A nomination was received from Mr King who proposed the appointment of Mr Dale.  This was seconded by Mr Mathias.

A nomination was received from Mr Walters who proposed the appointment of Mr Oxley.  This was seconded by Mr Thomas.

Mr Dale and Mr Oxley gave short speeches before the vote.

RESOLVED

That Mr Dale be appointed as Vice-Chairman of the Development Control and Licensing Committee for the remainder of the 2016/17 Municipal year.

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

No matters of urgent business were received.