Agenda and minutes

The Minutes of the meeting held on 16 January 2018 were signed as a true record.

To be presented by the Lord Mayor and Judge Lockhart QC, Honorary Recorder

On behalf of the City Council, the Lord presented Mr Madhan Jasal with the Good Citizen Award. His citation read:

“Since 2006 Madhan has managed and organised the inaugural ‘Meggitt Football Championships’, a week­night 11 a side football competition for businesses within Coventry and Warwickshire, with the aim to raise money for charities such as  Prostate Cancer UK, Alzheimer’s Society, Guide Dogs for the Blind and many other prestigious charities . Every year, Madhan gives up his weeknights, from May through to September, in order to voluntarily run the inter-company charity football tournament. His time and efforts have allowed many teams to enjoy playing and this has resulted in raising over £57,000 for charity since the tournament started. His management not only benefits the charity of choice but also promotes healthy living between Coventry businesses through sport.

Madhan provides an opportunity for employees from different companies to meet, socialise and participate in a competitive sport while in a pleasant and respectful environment. In addition to this Madhan arranges the fixtures, books the pitches and referees the majority of the matches himself. In the 2017 Championship’s Madhan refereed over 40 matches, amounting to over 100 hours of his own time spent working tirelessly to raise money for the charities.

The organisation of the tournament alone each year is a considerable undertaking for one person with 2017’s tournament consisting of over 60 games, raising over £8,000 for the British Heart Foundation. It is evident that through Madhan’s voluntary work he has shown tremendous commitment to the people of Coventry, his actions properly reflect his character and he is a worthy recipient of this Good Citizen Award.”

(a)  Feedback on Civic Visit to Volgograd

The Lord Mayor provided feedback on a civic visit to Coventry’s twin city, Volgograd undertaken earlier this month by himself, Councillor Khan and the Dean of Coventry on the occasion of the 75^th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Stalingrad.

(b)  Cyrille Regis MBE

The Lord Mayor referred to the service to be held at Coventry Cathedral on Sunday 4 March at 4.00 pm, to celebrate the Life and Legacy of Cyrille Regis MBE. 

(c)  Coventry Fibromyalgia

In order to raise awareness for sufferers of fibromyalgia, the Lord Mayor reported that he had recently attended the monthly meeting of the Coventry Fibromyalgia Group, the Group supported those who suffered from fibromyalgia.  Contact details could be obtained from the Lord Mayor’s Office.

RESOLVED:

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

(a)  Request to take action on parking issues along Hollyfast Road, Westhill Road, Gaveston Road and surrounding areas – 73 signatures, presented by Councillor Williams.

(b)  Request for yellow lines and disabled bays outside St Albans Church, Mercer Avenue – 90 signatures, presented by Councillor Bains.

(c)  Request that the City Council consider making the “lay-by” style parking bays on Cannon Hill Road between the junctions of Orlescote Road and Atherstone Place Residential Parking Scheme/permit holders only.

There were no declarations of interest.

Further to Minute 113 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place), which set out the forecast outturn position for revenue and capital expenditure and the Council’s treasury management activity as at the end of December 2017.

The report had also been considered by the Audit and Procurement Committee at their meeting scheduled held on 19 February 2018.

The headline revenue forecast for 2017/18 was an overspend of £1.8m.  This had decreased since the Quarter 2 position, when it stood at £3.1m.  At the same point in 2016/17, there was a projected overspend of £4.8m.  Notwithstanding the relative improvement since Quarter 2, and the equivalent position last year, the reasons for the overspend represented some concerning trends for the Council.  At a time of continued tightening of local authority resources, the current position still represented one that demanded a strong focus on addressing the underlying issues.  However, it was still anticipated that tight budgetary control and utilisation of any one-off areas of flexibility would reduce the projected overspend and achieve a near balanced position by year-end.

The current position continued to reflect areas of budgetary overspend reported previously, including services for looked after children and the costs of homelessness.  In addition, a shortfall existed in delivering savings targets set in previous budgets.  Where relevant, the likely anticipated cost of these pressures would be incorporated into the forthcoming 2018/19 budget report.

The report indicated that it was proposed to allocate a 2017/18 windfall Coventry and Solihull Waste Disposal Company dividend of £1.8m to Council reserves to part meet the Council’s commitment to fund UK City of Culture 2021 costs.

The Council’s Capital spending was projected to be £121.0m for the year, a net increase of £1.1m on the position reported at Quarter 2.  Appendix 3 of the report submitted provided an analysis by directorate of the movement since Quarter 2.

The report also set out the current position in relation to treasury management activity in 2017/18, including interest rates; long term (capital) borrowing; short term (temporary) borrowing; external investments and the prudential indicators and prudential code.

RESOLVED that the City Council approve the use of a windfall dividend of £1.8m from the Coventry and Solihull Waste Disposal Company as detailed in Section 5.1 of the report, to fund commitments including those set out in the City of Culture 2012 report to Council on 5^th December 2017.

In accordance with the Constitution, a motion without notice was moved by Councillor M Mutton, seconded by Councillor S Walsh and adopted that agenda items 8 (2018/19 Council Tax Report) and 9 (Budget Report 2018/19) be considered together.

It was noted that a recorded vote would be taken in respect of all decisions relating to matters the subject of Minutes 104 and 105 below (including any amendments)

Further to Minute 127 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place), which calculated the Council Tax level for 2018/19 and made appropriate recommendations, consistent with the Budget Report 2018/19.

The report indicated that some of the figures and information set out within the report were identified as provisional as the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Fire and Rescue Authority precepts had not been confirmed at the time of publication.  The Police and Crime Commissioner met on 9^th February 2018 and the *Fire and Rescue Authority met on 19^th February 2018 and the figures within the report were now confirmed (*see Note 2 at the end of this minute)

The report incorporated the impact of the Council’s gross expenditure and the level of income it would receive through grants, fees and charges.  This resulted in a Council Tax requirement, as the amount that its expenditure exceeded all other sources of income.

The report included a calculation of the Band D Council Tax that would be needed to generate this Council Tax requirement, based on the City’s approved Council Tax base.  The 2018/19 Band D Council Tax that was calculated through this process had increased by £74.18 from the 2017/18 level.

As part of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement (November 2015) it was announced that councils which provided social care to adults would be allowed to increase their share of 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: 2016/17 to 2019/20.

In December 2016 the Government announced that Councils could opt to bring forward some, or all, of the potential 2% ASC precept available in 2019/20 to earlier years.  However the maximum increase in any one year 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%.

Coventry City Council made use of this additional flexibility in 2017/18 and increased its Council Tax by a total of 4.9%.  This was made up of a basic 1.9% increase plus a further 3% ASC precept.  In keeping with this approach, and in order to maximise the resources available to fund ASC services in the City, the recommendations within the Budget Report 2018 were passed on a proposed increase in Council Tax of 4.9%.  As in 2017/18, this was again made up of a basic 1.9% increase plus a further 3% ASC precept.

It was noted that the recommendations followed the structure of resolutions drawn up by the Chartered Institute of 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.

In  ...  view the full minutes text for item 104.

Further to Minute 128 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place), which set out proposals for the Council’s final revenue and capital budget 2018/19.

The report followed on from the Pre-Budget Report approved by Cabinet on 28^th November 2017, which had been subject to a period of public consultation.  The proposals within the report now submitted formed the basis of the Council’s final revenue and capital budget for 2018/19 incorporating the following details:

·  Gross budgeted spend of £727m (£24m and 3% higher than 2017/18).

·  Net budgeted spend of £235m (£2m higher than 2017/18) funded from Council Tax and Business Rates less a tariff payment of £9.5, due to Government.

·  A Council Tax Requirement of £127.3m (£8.7m and 7% higher than 2017/18), reflecting a Council Tax increase of 4.9% detailed in the separate Council Tax Setting report on today’s agenda.

·  A number of expenditure pressures caused by the impact of demographic pressures on Council Services.

·  A Capital Programme of £262.5m (£141.5m and 117% more than the latest estimated 2017/18 programme) including expenditure funded by Prudential Borrowing of £93m.

·  An updated Treasury Management Strategy.

The Council’s gross and net budget figures had increased compared with 2017/18 but this still represented a real-terms reduction in resources available to the Council after taking account of inflation.

The report indicated that the financial position in the report was based on the Final 2018/19 Government Finance Settlement and incorporated reductions in funding over the next 3 years.  This position was particularly uncertain for financial year 2020/21 which could be subject to the combination of a new national Spending Review, a revised allocation model within the Local Government sector and a new national 100% Business Rates model.  As a result, there was huge uncertainty around Local Government funding which made it impossible to provide a robust financial forecast at this stage.  Nevertheless, initial assumptions and existing trends are sufficiently firm to indicate that there will in all certainty be a substantial gap for that year.  The view of the Council’s Director of Finance and Corporate Services was that the Council should be planning for such a position.

Along with the other 6 West Midlands Councils, Coventry was taking part in a 100% Business Rates Pilot scheme. This enabled the Councils to retain 99% of Business Rates income including any growth against an historic baseline which would otherwise have been returned to Government.  The financial model and assumptions that support the Pilot had been incorporated within the position reported.

The Pre-Budget Report was based on flexibility to increase Council Tax by up to 2% without holding a local referendum on the matter and further flexibility, up to a maximum of 3%, recognising the increasing pressure on Adult Social Care (ASC) services across the country.  The Government had subsequently announced that the Council Tax Referendum limit had been raised to 3%.  However, the budget recommended in the report submitted and the associated Council Tax proposals in the report that accompanied  ...  view the full minutes text for item 105.

Further to Minute 129 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place), which set out a proposed consultation response to the Fair Funding Review.

The Government issued a consultation document on 19^th December 2017 entitled “Fair Funding Review: a review of relative needs and resources.  Responses were required by 12^th March 2018.

The fair funding review would set new baseline funding allocations for local authorities by delivering an up-to-date assessment of their relative needs and resources.  The new funding allocations were expected to take effect form financial year 2020/21, at the same time as a new 75% Business Rates retention model.

Given the significance of the outcome of such a consultation it was important for the Council to add its own response, which was set out at Appendix 1 of the report submitted.  The expectation should be that such review results in a system that is evidence based and fair and the proposed responses to the consultation questions are intended to be technical in nature and/or framed is such a way that they were directed at achieving a rational and fair outcome.

The response incorporated the following broad elements:-

·  Simplicity and fairness were both appropriate principles for establishing a needs assessment but fairness was the paramount objective.

·  Agreeing the principle of using population projections in the distribution methodology including flexibility to adjust for annual shifts in population.

·  Proposing that the relative needs assessment should be refreshed annually with the results applied the year after the forthcoming year.

·  Agreeing that rurality and deprivation should be included in cost drivers in the needs assessment to the degree that the evidence demonstrates a significant link between these factors and expenditure pressure.  Rurality should not be double counted in the Area Cost Adjustment.

·  The weight of different funding formulas should be evidence based, supported by statistical analysis of actual spend levels not the judgement of central Government.

·  A preference for techniques that minimise the roles of judgement and opposition to models such as outcome based regression in which authorities are funded according to the success in delivering outcomes.

·  Outliers identified during the statistical analysis may warrant a separate approach, which could include the allocation of specific grants.

·  Agreement that the service specific cost drivers set out in the consultation appeared to be broadly appropriate.

RESOLVED that City Council approve the attached consultation response to be sent to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

The Leader reported that, in accordance with the Constitution, he had exercised executive powers in relation to the portfolio for the Cabinet Member for Community Development on 30 January 2018 due to Councillor Bigham’s absence

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

Councillor Ridley responded to the statement.

To be moved by Councillor M Mutton and seconded by Councillor P Seaman:

"This Council supports the staff of HMRC in their campaign to stop the closure of a local office in the City.

The closure of the Coventry Office will mean a loss of 300 quality jobs, of which 70% are carried out by female workers, the loss of these jobs will have a detrimental impact on the City’s economy.

We call upon HMRC to think again and to cease the widespread local office closure programme which will reduce HMRC offices to just 13 sites to service the whole of the UK"

The following Motion was moved by Councillor Lucas and seconded by Councillor Walsh:

"This Council supports the staff of HMRC in their campaign to stop the closure of a local office in the City.

The closure of the Coventry Office will mean a loss of 300 quality jobs, of which 70% are carried out by female workers, the loss of these jobs will have a detrimental impact on the City’s economy.

We call upon HMRC to think again and to cease the widespread local office closure programme which will reduce HMRC offices to just 13 sites to service the whole of the UK"

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