Agenda and minutes

The Chairman highlighted to Committee that item 8 on the agenda, Exclusion of the Public and Press, had been withdrawn. This was because the information contained in the ‘Market Street Renewal Ltd. report was now no longer private, and could be heard in public.

Up to 15 minutes are allowed for public participation.  Participants are restricted to 3 minutes each.

There was no public participation.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the previous meeting held on 13 December 2018:

The Democratic and Civic Officer informed Members that there had been a slight change to the draft minutes circulated previously – in the previous meeting held on 13 December it had been stated:

“RESOLVED that under Section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1,2,3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.”

The minutes on the website, and the copy for signing by the Chairman had been amended to read:

“RESOLVED that under Section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.”

Although the ‘write-offs’ item was billed as being exempt under paragraphs 1,2,3, this was not made clear at the meeting on 13 December 2018.

Following this, the minutes of the meeting held on 13 December 2018 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Members may make declarations of Interest at this point or may make them at any point in the meeting.

There were no declarations of interests.

Setting out current position of previously agreed actions as at 2 January 2019.

The matters arising schedule was noted.

Members considered a report on the proposals informed through the annual review of the reserves process.

Statutory requirements included mitigating risk, preparing for investment and replacement programmes in terms of capital assets.

This was an ongoing process, being brought to committee in advance of setting next year’s budget. The proposals within the report were:

·         £0.323m to be returned to the General Fund Working Balance from Earmarked Reserves;

·         Transfer £0.050m to the Finance Risk Reserve;

·         Transfer £15,000 to the Investment for Growth reserve;

·         Amalgamate the Business Improvement and Transformation Reserve, Invest to Earn Reserve and Invest to Save Reserve into one reserve named ‘Project Investment Reserve’;

·         The General Fund Working Balance be increased from £1.5m to £2m to provide additional resilience for any detrimental impact from the Fairer Funding Review 2020/21;

·         The £200,000 commercial contingency budget be transferred, along with £163,000 of the General Fund Working Balance to the Valuation Volatility Reserve to maintain a 5% risk mitigation based on purchase price for the Council’s Commercial Investment Properties.

RESOLVED to approve:

(1)  The General Fund minimum working balance of £2m;

(2)  The changes as proposed and informed by the

Earmarked Reserves review, including returning £0.323m to the General Fund Working Balance;

(3)  That £0.200m be transferred from the Commercial

Contingency Budget to the Valuation Volatility Reserve;

(4)  £0.163m of the General Fund Working Balance be

transferred to the Valuation Volatility Reserve.

Members considered a report on a Review of the Disciplinary Procedure, which had previously been reviewed, approved and referred by the Joint Staff Consultative Committee on 22 November 2018.

RESOLVED to support the attached Disciplinary Procedure for formal adoption.

Delegated authority be granted to the Executive Director of Resources to make minor housekeeping amendments to the policy in future, in consultation with the Chairman of the Corporate Policy & Resources committee and Chairman of Joint Staff Consultative committee.

Members considered a report on Managing Staff During Disruptions at Work, which had previously been reviewed, approved and referred by the Joint Staff Consultative Committee on 22 November 2018.

RESOLVED to support the attached ‘Managing Staff During Disruptions at Work’ policy for adoption. 

Delegated authority be granted to the Executive Director of Resources to make minor housekeeping amendments to the policy in future, in consultation with the Chairman of the Corporate Policy & Resources committee and Chairman of Joint Staff Consultative committee.

Members considered a report that sought to clarify the Council’s policy with regard to the collection of sundry debtor accounts owed to the Council.

Recently, an internal audit report gave the sales and invoicing system ‘substantial assurance’; the only recommendation was to review the Sundry Debt Recovery Policy.  This had since been rewritten.

                                    RESOLVED to:

(1)  That members agree the amendments to the Sundry Debt Recovery Policy;

(2)   That members delegate authority to the Section 151 Officer to make housekeeping changes to this policy when necessary.

Members considered a summary of the work done so far related to compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). 

Paragraphs 3 and 4 of the report outlined the work to date, how much it had cost so far, and how much West Lindsey District Council planned to improve.

Paragraph 5 contained the data breaches so far (15 in total).

Finally Paragraph 6 detailed how it was intended to continue the process, and some priorities.

Members welcomed the report, and added that they appreciated the invite of parish and town councils.  The Members’ Newsletter provided an excellent channel to provide updates.

The Data Protection Officer confirmed that the breach reported to the ICO as made in November.  An acknowledgement was made a week later and no further contact had been received to date.

RESOLVED to welcome and support the report and agree that future updates be provided quarterly in the Members’ Newsletter.

Members considered a report on the key strategic partnerships that the Council were involved in.  It also set out an approach to ensure greater oversight and evaluation of the effectiveness of such partnerships.

This piece of work followed on from work three years ago where a ‘statement of practice’ was set up outlining how partnerships should be managed.  There had been a review of all of the strategic partnerships; there were originally 50 of them, and the recommendation now was that the number tracked be reduced to 18.

There had been an overlap between this report and the work reported to Prosperous Communities committee over number 14 in the list, the Strategic Health Partnership.  It was recommended that this be struck out from this piece of work to let Prosperous Communities take the lead.

Members agreed with the view of the Executive Director for Resources, and it was:                     

                                    RESOLVED to:

(1)  Support the Council’s approach to partnership working, and allow Prosperous Communities Committee to take the lead on the Strategic Health Partnership;

(2)  Support the proposed actions starting at 6.1 of the report.

Members considered a report on a new Asset Management Policy.

The Team Manager for Property and Assets informed Members that there had previously been a long document called ‘Unlocking the Potential’, which was subsequently reduced in size.  This had not been workable or usable.

The new policy was an industry standard type approach, which had been condensed to headline statements with content.

Members highlighted the following points:

·         The actions contained within the policy were already being carried out;

·         This was a long-term project;

·         The policy would cover all land and property assets.  There were 196 assets, which included pieces of land, operational buildings and rental properties.

RESOLVED to note the requirements of managing and maintaining public assets and approve the new Asset Management Policy.

Members considered the Compliance Policy, which aimed to keep customers, clients, employees and the general public safe, as well as attempting to ensure that buildings and premises are compliant with current laws and regulations.

This was a simple one page policy, which stated intentions and management functions.  The document would help the authority to see which areas need further focus; each individual element of the policy would be looked at to see what would be required for compliance.

One Member highlighted that all Members would be the first point of contact in times of emergency, so it was important that Ward Members were aware of their responsibilities, with the aid of training.  It was also important to send out a united message as Members, and not personal opinion.

RESOLVED to note the requirements of the ‘Duty Holder’ and approve the Compliance Policy.

The workplan for the next 12 months was noted.

To resolve that under Section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

This item had been previously withdrawn under item 81.

Members considered a report seeking agreement to allow Market Street Renewal Limited (MSRL) to rent out four flats with a view to selling at a later stage.

The original plan was agreed back in November at the Corporate Policy and Resources committee.

The following points were highlighted:

·         The original intention was to rent shops and sell the flats.  As discussed back in November, the prices and interest in the flats from a sales point of view was not at the requisite level.

The new recommendation to rent the flats was seen as an extension of the original process.

·         The properties had been available to buy; the committee needed to approve a business plan for the properties to be rented instead.

RESOLVED to agree to allow Market Street Renewals Limited (MSRL) to rent out the four flats with a view to sell at a later stage and to revise their Business Plan accordingly.