Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider whether to exclude the press and public for the item(s) of private business for the reasons shown in the report.

RESOLVED that, under Section 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the items of business referred to in Minutes 17 below relating to Coventry Investment Fund on the grounds privacy as it contains information relating to the financial and business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).  The public interest in maintaining the exemption under Schedule 12A outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

The minutes of the meeting held on 1 July 2015 were agreed and signed as a true record.  There were no matters arising.

Outstanding issues have been picked up in the Work Programme

Outstanding issues have been picked up in the Work Programme.

Briefing note

TheScrutiny Boardconsidered aBriefing Noteof the ExecutiveDirector of Resourceson theposition offirst quarter (April– June2015) regarding Discretionary Housing Payments 2015/16 (DHP).   The DHP provides short-term help to people who are experiencing difficulties paying their rent.  The DHP policy was approved by Cabinet in March 2013 in preparation for the national Welfare Reforms which were introduced from April 2013.

In2014/15, abudget of£811,865 wasreceived fromthe Departmentfor Works and Pensions(DWP) andthe whole of this budget was spent.  Thisfinancial yearthe DHPfunding hasbeen reduced to£619,313.  TheDWP haveadvised thatthis wasmainly asa resultof lower numbers of people affected by the welfare reforms than originally estimated. TheScrutiny Boardreviewed thecomparisons betweenthe numberof applications received and awarded as shown in the table below:

Members wanted to know how the scheme was promoted, to seek assurance that a reduction in the number of claims was not due to residents being unaware of the support available to them. They were assured that everyone who claims benefits is aware of the fund as they are told when they are sent information about their benefit claims.

Questions were also asked about the increased use of food banks in the City, particularly by those in work and the issueof reclaiming bondsfrom landlords/tenants at theend of atenancy, where the Council had paid the bond to secure private sector rented accommodation. Membersrequested informationon howmuch DHP funds were utilised to pay housing bonds annually, and how much the Council had been able to reclaim. The Board also asked for an update on the partnership working taking place across the City on Welfare Reform and an update on the impact of these changes of Coventry citizens.

RESOLVED, that the Scrutiny Board:

1.  Notes the contentsof the BriefingNote

2.  Requests a further briefingnote onthe membership andareas of work covered bythe Welfare Reform Group

3. Officers provideinformation relatingto reclaimingof housingbonds at the end ofa tenancy

Briefing note.

The Scrutiny Board received a Briefing Note on the Public Consultation – Local CouncilTax Support Scheme.   Thereport headedPublic Consultation– Local CouncilTax SupportScheme wasconsidered atthe Cabinetmeeting of11 August

2015.   The  Briefing  Note  introduced  the  content  of  that  Cabinet  Report  and detailed the recommendations forthe Board.

TheCouncil TaxSupport (CTS)is ameans testeddiscount tohelp lowincome households withthe costof counciltax payments.   TheCouncil awardedover

£27.6 million in council taxsupport 2014/15 to approximately 33,500 households in theCity.  Aconsultation isbeing undertakenabout changingthe CTSscheme to deliver savings forthe Council, which will end 26 October 2015.

TheBoard wasadvised thatOfficers had consideredvarious modelsfor revising theCTS; conscious ofthe impactthis would have on vulnerablegroups andthe needto consider theimpact onincentives towork.  Someof thework hadbeen informed bythe experiencesof other localauthorities whohave revisedtheir schemes previously. The following four options had been considered and option 4 was preferred:

Option1– Nochange: Thiswould optionwould incuradditional costsfor 2016/17

Option2 –exclusion ofvulnerable groups:by excludingone partof theworking age populationthe encumbranceof additionalcosts increased forall otherlow income households.

Option 3 – Increased taper: a viable option notwithstanding the potential impact on incentivesto workgiven that someexcess incomeearned wouldbe reduced through a lower level ofCouncil Tax discount.

Option 4 – Minimum contribution: preferred option as it would apply a blanket reductionregardless of individualcircumstances orthe typeor levelof income of the customer.

Anadditional optionwas consideredin respectof second adultrebate; thiswas complicated to administer,difficult to understandand gavea relativelysmall additional saving as take up of the discount is.

The Board sought clarification on the following:

a) Consultation document in terms ofcomprehending the material/questions

b) Dealing with issues of none payment ofCouncil Tax and potential court

costs

c) Linking the consultation toother pending changes in welfare reform through shops and local events

d) Estimated eventual collection rate of90% - applied to the scheme changes within the report

e)  The Equality ImpactAssessment for those affected by the

  change

RESOLVED,that the Scrutiny Board:

1)  Note the content ofthe Briefing Note

2)  Request a further Briefing Note with additional information on

   the impacts of the proposed changes on citizens forthe next 

  meeting on 11 November 2015; before a decision is made to

  respond to the consultation document

3)  Work programme tobe updated with this item

Briefing note.

TheScrutiny Boardconsidered aBriefing Noteof the ExecutiveDirector of Place concerning the Coventry Investment Fund and how the fundis promoted.

TheCoventry InvestmentFund (CIF) operatedas arevolving investmentfund to enablecommercial investmentprojects totake place in the Citythat otherwisewould not. Thepurpose of theFund was‘to growCoventry businessrates andachieve economic benefitsfor itscitizens’. TheFund couldoffer arange ofinvestment types including loans, equity, rental guarantees and in exceptional circumstances grants.It wasalso availablefor public sectorinfrastructure investmentwhere such investment supports the purpose ofthe Fund.

TheScrutiny Boardnoted that theFund hadrecently completedits first annual report,which wasattached asappendix oneto thereport.  Todate theFund has committed £16.6m (33%) towards projects totalling £130m which was forecasted to create 845 jobs in the City.

Membersquestioned theofficers andresponses wereprovided. Matters raised included:

- Development ofother projects; without CIF investment

- Cathedral Lane – investment

- Current demand forCIF

- Bring forward major development sites and employment projects for example on Friargate

- How the figures relating to the number of jobs created are being calculated

RESOLVEDthat thereport benoted anda furtherreport tobe presentedin 2016/17 and thisitem to beincluded inthe future work programme.

Report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Board noted the work programme for the year and agreed that the following items to be included:

-  Public Consultation for 11 November meeting

-  Reclaiming Housing Bonds

-  Further CIF report

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as matters of urgency because of the special circumstances involved

There were no other items of public business.

Briefing note.

Furtherto Minute14 above,relating tothe publicaspects ofthis matter, the Boardconsidered aprivate BriefingNote of theExecutive Directorof Place to note the information on the Coventry Investment Fund – Annual Report.

RESOLVED that the Briefing Note be noted.