Agenda and minutes

There were no diclosable pecuniary interests declared.

In respect of the matter in minute 16 below headed ‘West Midlands Rail Limited – Collaboration Agreement with Department for Transport’, Councillor Welsh declared that he represented the City Council on the West Midlands Rail Board. He remained in the meeting and took part in the discussion on this matter and, in line with his role as Deputy Cabinet Member, did not vote on this issue. This appointment did not constitute a disclosable pecuniary interest/other relevant interest.

(a)  To agree the minutes from the meeting of Cabinet on 5^th July 2016

(b)  Matters arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 5^th July 2016 were agreed and signed as a true record. There were no matters arising.

Report of the Executive Director of Place

To consider a petition bearing 94 signatures and an e-petition bearing 24 signatures headed ‘Keep Our Intercity Service to London’, which have been submitted by Councillor Ridley, the petition organiser, who has been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this matter. 

(NOTE: Pursuant to Part 3e, Paragraph 19, of the City Council's Constitution, Councillor Lancaster, the Chair of the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee, has been invited to attend for the consideration of this matter and to agree the need for urgency such that call-in arrangements will not apply. The reason for urgency being, the need to submit the City Council’s response to the Consultation to the Department of Transport by the deadline of 2^nd August 2016.

The Cabinet considered a report of the Executive Director of Place that set out the City Council’s response to a government consultation regarding the proposed renewal of the Intercity West Coast franchise. This dealt with express rail services which operated between the North, Birmingham and London via Coventry. The current franchise was held by Virgin Trains, but this was due to end in April 2018 following previous extensions to the franchise.

Intercity West Coast services were considered to be essential for the local economy and future growth plans for the City, so was important that the City Council puts its views forward to ensure the services were protected and enhanced. The economic importance for the city was heightened further when considering the investment made by the Council to kick start the regeneration of Coventry Station and Friargate development, which was expected to generate 13,000 jobs for the city.

The consultation suggested that the new franchise specification could consider options to reduce the number of long distance services calling at intermediate stations, such as Coventry, to deal with capacity and overcrowding issues. This approach was not considered to be acceptable for the city given the detrimental impact it could have to the local economy and future growth plans, and therefore the proposed response made it clear that Coventry must retain the current level of service.

Due to the timescale for this matter, in accordance with Paragraph 19 of the City Council’s Constitution, Councillor Lancaster, the Chair of the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee, attended the meeting for the consideration of this matter and agreed the need for urgency such that call-in arrangements would not apply. A petition bearing 94 signatures and an e-petition bearing 30 signatures headed ‘Keep our Intercity Service to London’, had been submitted by Councillor Ridley. Councillor Male attended the meeting to present the petition on behalf of Councillor Ridley who was unable to attend. The petition requested that the Department of Transport retained the current service of three express trains an hour between London and Coventry, when it appointed the new operator of the Inter City West Coast Rail Franchise.

The reason for urgency being that the City Council’s response to the Consultation needed to be sent to the Department of Transport before the closing date for submissions which was 11.45pm on 2nd August 2016.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet endorses the submission of the City Council’s response to the government consultation for the proposed renewal of the Intercity West Coast franchise, as set out in Appendix 1 and 2 to the report.

Report of the Executive Director of Place

The Cabinet considered a report of the Executive Director of Place that sought the City Council’s endorsement for West Midlands Rail Limited (WMR Ltd) to sign a Collaboration Agreement with the Department for Transport (DfT). The Collaboration Agreement set out the relationship between WMR Ltd and the DfT in relation to the management of the new West Midlands Rail franchise and further rail devolution for the West Midlands. The collaboration agreement was attached as an appendix to the report.

A report to Cabinet on 26 November 2015 (minute 71/15 refered) asked members to approve the governance arrangements for WMR and approve Coventry City Council joining as an associate member. That report also noted that in due course WMR would be required to enter into a “partnership agreement” with the DfT. All other associate members would also be seeking similar approvals from their respective elected committees.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:

1.  Endorses the signing of the West Midlands Rail Collaboration Agreement.

2.  Agrees that an evaluation report on rail devolution be submitted to Cabinet no later than January 2018.

Report of the Executive Director of Resources

The Cabinet considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources that advised Members of the forecast outturn position for revenue and capital expenditure and the Council’s treasury management activity as at the end of June 2016. The headline revenue forecast for 2016/17 was an over spend of £6.4m. At the same point in 2015/16 there was a projected overspend of £1.0m.

The overall revenue position incorporated a headline overspend of £7.2m within the People Directorate, 50% of which reflected cross-cutting savings relating to the Kickstart and Workforce Strategy Programmes that had not yet been achieved in Children’s and Adults’ Services.

This position would require corrective action to be taken by Strategic Management Board and senior managers across the Council and a set of proposed actions were set out in the report.

Capital spending was projected to be £99.8m for the year, a net decrease of £23.4m on the directorate programme reported in the February Budget Setting Report. This decrease in the Capital Programme included £35.2m of expenditure that had been rescheduled into future years.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:

1.  Approves the forecast revenue overspend at Quarter 1.

2.  Endorses the actions set out in section 5.1 of the report to be taken by senior management to address the revenue budgetary control issue.

3.  Approves the revised capital estimated outturn position for the year of £99.8m incorporating: £1.0m net increase in spending relating to approved/technical changes, as set out in Appendix 2 of the report and £35.2m net rescheduling of expenditure into 2017/18, set out in Appendix 4 of the report.

Report of the Executive Director of Place

The Cabinet considered a report of the Executive Director of Place that summarised the annual progress of the Jobs and Growth Strategy for Coventry in its second year of delivery for the twelve months from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016. The report indicated that performance was at or above target for all measures.

The Strategy, which was endorsed by the Council in May 2014, supported the vision and priorities of the Council Plan and articulated how the council would use its resources to make Coventry a city that supported growth, providing jobs and prosperity for local people.

The Economy and Jobs service, part of the City Centre and Development Division, had directly contributed to creating 1,694 new job opportunities against a target of 1,000 set for the year. £323m of business investment has been secured for the benefit of the city, with the Council's services directly supporting 398 businesses to grow and develop. The number of people engaging with the Council’s Employment Team had far exceeded targets set. In the past 6 months over 6,800 workless, unemployed and vulnerable adults and young people had accessed employment support. 1,844 people who had engaged with the services provided had progressed into work. This was a significant achievement. The majority of the individuals were engaging through the Council’s city centre Job Shop located in Bull Yard.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:

1.  Agrees the recommendations from the Business, Enterprise and Employment Scrutiny Board (3) as follows:

a)  That as part of the budget setting process, consideration be given to an increase in resource to the Economy and Jobs Service to enable them to maximise their outcomes as part of budget setting process

b)  That targets for the Economy and Jobs Service be reviewed on a six monthly basis by the Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration, to take account of the changing climate for jobs and growth

c)  Data from the new database at the Job Shop be included in the next report to enable clients progress to be tracked and monitored

2.  Endorses the progress made by the Jobs and Growth Strategy for Coventry in Year 2, from April 2015 - March 2016.

3.  Ask officers to work on the development of the West Midlands Combined Authority Growth Company. Coventry and the surrounding geography should be considered for the physical location of this West Midlands wide body, because of the City's track record in attracting inward investment, as well as its world renowned business base.

Report of the Executive Director, Resources

The Cabinet considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources, that contained the list of outstanding issues and summarised the current position in respect of each item.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet approves the dates for future consideration of matters relating to the outstanding issues items listed in the report.

There were no other items of public business.