Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 24 January 2017 were signed as a true record.

To be presented by the Lord Mayor and Judge Griffith-Jones, Honorary Recorder

On behalf of the City Council, the Lord Mayor and Judge Griffith-Jones presented Mr Mark Farr with the Good Citizen Award. His citation read:

“Mark is being honoured with this Good Citizen Award for the work he undertakes for the Coventry Central Young Firefighters Association. Mark dedicates many voluntary hours per week to provide diversionary activities for the young people of Radford, Coundon, Spon End and the City Centre by running a fire cadet group. By leading this group Mark and his team are encouraging, supporting and providing opportunities for the personal development of the young people. 

Mark has been a member of the Young Firefighters for over 20 years, as a

cadet and a Volunteer Instructor/ Officer in Charge.

Mark and his team work tirelessly to involve and integrate the cadets into their communities by teaching them the values of giving something back to society. Mark organises several community events for the Cadets to attend and recently involved them in a community clean-up to support members of the Nauls Mill Park area.

Working with local businesses to support these events and organise local fundraising is another aspect of Mark’s dedication to the work that he is clearly passionate about.

Whilst Coventry Central Young Firefighters is one of several Fire Cadet Groups within the West Midlands, the Coventry Branch under the instruction of Mark is one of the most successful in the area. Mark’s branch has 50 young people which is the biggest youth membership across the service.

Mark goes that extra mile to make the young people of Coventry better community citizens and is rightly deserving of this Good Citizen Award”.

The Lord Mayor informed Members that the Leader of the Council, Councillor George Duggins would be running the Coventry Half Marathon next month in aid of the Lord Mayor’s Charity Appeal. He reminded Members that the beneficiaries were Cancer Research through the Medical Research Department at the University of Warwick and Coventry Alzheimer’s Society.

RESOLVED:

(a)   That the following petitions be referred to the appropriate City Council bodies:

(i)  Request for single line outside of St. Albans Church, Mercol Avenue, Stoke, Coventry – 84 signatures, presented by Councillor Bains.

(ii)  Request to start the process so that Freeburn Causeway can be considered for a residents parking permit or similar scheme to help ensure residents can park on the road in which they live and to reduce the non residents parking – 44 signatures, presented by Councillor Mayer.

(b)  That the following petitions objecting to the proposals contained in the Budget Report 2017/18 (Minute 120 below refers) be considered as part of this meeting:-

(i)  Stop the closure of our shop mobility – approximately 1670 signatures (2 petitions – 1 hard copy and 1 e petition), presented by Councillor Lancaster.

(ii)  Stop the closure of shopmobility Coventry – 172 signatures, presented by Councillor Thomas. 

Councillor Sawdon indicated that he had an interest in Minute 125 below headed “Debates – 1995 and 2011 Pension Acts” in so far as it affected his wife. The Acting Monitoring Officer advised that this was not a disclosable pecuniary interest, however Councillor Sawdon still left the meeting during the consideration of this item.

RESOLVED that further to Minute 5 of the Appointments Panel, the City Council appoint Barry Hastie as the Director of Finance and Corporate Services. 

In accordance with the Constitution:

(i)  A motion without notice was moved by Councillor M Mutton, seconded by Councillor Walsh and adopted that agenda items 8  (2017/18 Council Tax Setting) and 9 (Budget Report 2017/18) be considered together.

(ii)  It was noted that a recorded vote would be taken in respect of all decisions relating to matters the subject of Minutes 119 and 120 (including any amendments)

Further to Minute 111 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources which calculated the Council Tax level for 2017/18 and made appropriate recommendations consistent with the Budget Report 2017/18. 

As part of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement in November 2015, it was announced that Councils which provided social care to adults would be allowed to increase their share of the Council Tax by up to an extra 2%, provided that the additional resources were all used to fund the increasing costs of adult social care. This additional Council Tax charge was known as the ‘Adult Social Care (ASC) precept’. The Government indicated that authorities could include this additional 2% precept in each year of the four year period from 2016/17 to 2019/20.

The City Council made use of this flexibility in 2016/17 and increased its Council Tax charge by a total of 3.9% which was made up of 1.9% increase plus a further 2% ASC precept.

In December 2016, the Government announced that Councils could opt to bring forward some, or all, of the potential 2% precept available in 2019/20 to earlier years. However, the maximum increase in any one was limited to 3%, and the total over the three year period 2017/18 to 2019/20 was limited to the original total increase of 6%.

In order to maximise the resources available to fund ASC services in the city, the recommendations within the Budget Report 207/18 were based on a proposed increase in Council Tax of 4.9%. This was made of a basic 1.9% increase plus a further 3% ASC precept, utilising the additional flexibility described above.

At the time of writing the report, the precept from the West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority had not been confirmed. The provisional figures provided in this report were based on indicative figures. The Fire Authority was due to set its precept on 20 February 2017.

Members noted that the recommendations followed the structure of resolutions drawn up by the Chartered Institute on Public Finance and Accountancy, to ensure that legal requirements were fully adhered to in setting the tax. As a consequence, the wording of the proposed resolutions was necessarily complex.

RESOLVED that the City Council: -

1.  Note the following Council Tax base amounts for the year 2017/18, as approved by Cabinet on 3^rd January 2017, in accordance with Regulations made under Section 31B of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended) (“the Act”):

a)  78,971.9 being the amount calculated by the Council as its Council Tax base for the year for the whole Council area;

b)  Allesley  327.6

  Finham  1491.4

  Keresley  233.8

Being the amounts calculated by the Council as its Council Tax base for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which one or more special items relate.

2.  That the following amounts be now calculated by the Council for the year 2017/18 in accordance with Sections 31A, 31B and 34 to 36 of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 119.

Further to Minute 112 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources which set out the Council’s Revenue Budget for 2017/18 incorporating revenue spending and savings decisions for 2017/18 and future financial years and the Capital Programme for 2017/18 to 2021/22.

The report followed on from the Pre-Budget Report approved by Cabinet on 29 November 2016 which had been subject to a period of public consultation. The proposals within the report would now form the basis of the Council’s final revenue and capital budget for 2017/18 incorporating the following details: 

·  Gross budgeted spend of £703m (£11m and 2% higher than 2016/17).

·  Net Budgeted spend of £232.5m (£0.9m lower than 2016/17) funded from Council Tax and Business Rates less a tariff payment of £0.7m due to Government.

·  A Council Tax Requirement of £118.5m (£7.7m and 7% higher than 2016/17), reflecting a City Council Tax increase of 4.9% detailed in the separate Council Tax Setting report on today’s agenda.

·  New service savings of £1.4m in 2017/18 rising to £10.4m in 2019/20.

·  A Capital Programme of £123.2m (£42.2m and 52% more than the latest estimated 2016/17 programme) including expenditure funded by Prudential Borrowing of £60.9m;

·  An updated Treasury Management Strategy.

It should be noted that, at the time of producing the report, the Final 2017/18 Local Government Finance Settlement has not yet been published. The proposals within the budget report had been made on the basis of the latest information regarding the likely details of the Settlement. In particular, this included the estimated impact of joining the ‘100% Business Rates Pilot’. The difference between these estimates and the details in the Final Settlement were likely to be insignificant and would be met by reserve contributions.

The Settlement was anticipated to incorporate continued reductions in core Government funding over the next 3 years with a planned reduction of £24m in Coventry’s funding assessment. However, along with the other 6 West Midlands councils, Coventry was taking part in a 100% Business Rates Pilot scheme. This would enable Coventry to retain 99% of Business Rates income including an element of growth against an historic baseline which would otherwise have been returned to the Government. This money was available for the Council to use within the budget proposals within this report and was in addition to the resource base assumed within the Pre-Budget Report.

In previous years the City Council had had the flexibility to increase Council Tax by up to 2% without holding a local referendum on the matter. In 2016/17 the Government allowed councils to increase this flexibility by a further 2%, up to a maximum of 4%, recognising the increasing pressure on Adult Social Care (ASC) services across the country. This was the basis on which the Pre-Budget position was reported. The Government had subsequently announced a further extension of this ASC flexibility from 2% up to 3%. The recommended budget within  ...  view the full minutes text for item 120.

Further to Minute 114 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources which sought approval to the Digital Coventry Strategy.

The report indicated that to fully realise the benefits that digital technology could bring, the Council needed to pull together its digital work, increase its scope beyond the work that the Council was doing as an organisation and align this work to other partners enabling the Council to co-ordinate this work across the City.

The Digital Coventry Strategy was being established because it would benefit the people of Coventry, develop Coventry as a place and improve the outcomes that the Council could deliver.  It would support the delivery of the Council Plan, including promoting the growth of Coventry’s economy, improving the quality of life of Coventry people and delivering the Council’s priorities with fewer resources.  The report indicated that technology was increasingly present across all sectors and becoming integrated in many aspects of life.  Coventry needed a digital strategy because digital technology had the potential to transform the city and lives of residents while generating long-term savings and income and that digital was important for Coventry as a 21st century City.  The Council was already responding to this challenge through its transformation work, including Customer Journey and Kickstart programmes, alongside digital innovations within individual services and superfast broadband. 

It was clear from speaking to residents, including recent petitions received, that access to high quality internet connections was incredibly important to them. This was also important for businesses and was also a priority for them as it would help them to grow their business and made them want to locate in the City.  As well as being an essential service, investment in broadband was proven to generate jobs and bring wealth to an area.  It was noted that for every £1 of public investment in broadband infrastructure £20 in net economic benefits were gained.

The Council could make the services it provided to its customers better by redesigning them and opening up self-service channels through the internet meaning means people could access services 24/7 from the comfort of their home.  It's also more efficient for the Council to do things this way.  The report indicated that 70% of the Council’s customers were already using its online services for booking a tip visit or ordering a copy certificate.

As the Council’s budgets reduce further, it was looking at every way to protect the most vulnerable and front line services, with firm savings plans of £1m by reducing its buildings, working in a more digital way and moving more of its services online.

The Digital Coventry Strategy set out the Council’s 4 priority themes and case

studies that describe existing activity against those themes:

·  Digital place – Infrastructure, digital innovation and data are promoted within the city to deliver economic growth and public service reform.

·  Digital customer and inclusion – Enabling customers to get the information they need and to access our services through online  ...  view the full minutes text for item 121.

Report of the Executive Director of Resources

The City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources which sought approval to the appointment of Section 151 Officer and Delegation of Powers.

The Council was required by Section 151 of the Local Government Act 1972 to appoint a Chief Finance Officer (the Section 151 Officer). That position is held by the Executive Director of Resources. As he was about to leave the Council, the City Council needed to appoint another officer to fulfil this statutory function.

In addition, changes to the directorate structure of the Council following the departure of the Executive Director of Resources meant that a number of changes needed to be made to the Scheme of Delegation for Employees in the Constitution. Other parts of the Constitution would also need to be amended to reflect changes in the structure and in post titles.

The report set out the changes needed to allocate functions of the Executive Director of Resources to other officers, including Proper Officer functions and onwards delegations and changes needed to other parts of the Constitution to reflect the changes in the directorate structures.

RESOLVED that the City Council:

1.  Designates the Director of Finance and Corporate Services as Chief Finance Officer under Section 151 of the Local Government Act 1972 with effect from 22 February 2017;

2.  Approves the proposed allocations of the functions of the Executive Director, Resources to other officers as set out in Appendix 1 to the report, including Proper Officer functions and onwards delegations with effect from 22 February 2017; and

3.  Authorises the Legal Services Manager (Place and Regulatory) to amend the Constitution accordingly and to make consequential changes to the other parts of the Constitution reflecting the changes in the Scheme of Delegation and in post titles.

Report of the Executive Director of Resources

The City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources which sought approval for the appointment of a Local Returning Officer for the election of a Combined Authority Mayor.

RESOLVED that the City Council appoints the Chief Executive to be the Local Returning Officer for the City of Coventry in respect of the elections for the West Midlands Combined Authority Elected Mayor.

(a)  The Leader of the Council make a statement in respect of “Progress on the Combined Authority”.

Councillor Blundell responded to the statement.

(b)  The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People made a statement in respect of “Children’s Services Improvement Plan”.

Councillor Lapsa responded to the statement.

The following motion was moved by Councillor J Mutton and seconded by Councillor Seaman:

“This Council disagrees with the 1995 and 2011 Pensions Acts, which had led to a generation of women born after April 1951 to become severely disadvantaged,

Furthermore, we call on the Government to listen and to work with the All Party Political Group to address these inequalities”.

RESOLVED that the Motion as set out above be unanimously adopted.

In respect of the above, a recorded vote was required in accordance with the City Council’s Constitution.

The Councillors voting for, against or abstaining in respect of the motion were as follows:

Result: Carried

For: 46

Against: 0

Abstentions: 0

In accordance with the Constitution, Councillor Duggins moved the following Motion without Notice that was seconded by Councillor A Khan and supported by Councillor J Blundell:

“That the warmest thanks of the Council are due and are hereby given to Chris West for his dedication to the City Council and that a copy of this resolution, under the common seal, be presented to him”

RESOLVED that the Motion as set out above be unanimously adopted.