Agenda and minutes

These had been received from Councillors Neill Young and Lee Mason.

There were no declarations of members' pecuniary interests.

The record of decisions of the Cabinet meeting held on 26 June will follow.

RECOMMENDED that the record of decisions of the previous meeting held on 26 June 2014 be agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

DECISION: The record of the previous decision meeting held on 26 June 2014 was agreed as a correct record to be signed by the Chair accordingly.

The Chair of the PSC Board, Reg Hooke will present the fourth annual report of the Portsmouth Safeguarding Board on the effectiveness of safeguarding children in Portsmouth.

RECOMMENDED: Members are invited to receive the Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Board Annual Report and to note areas of progress and challenges in the work delivered by services to safeguard children and promote their well-being.

Mr Reg Hooke, Chair of the Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Board, presented the statutory annual report for 2012/13 which outlined the progress, challenges and effectiveness of safeguarding, the tackling of neglect and promotion of seeking children's views to ensure their voice is heard.

The Cabinet Members thanked Mr Hooke and wished to encourage the participation of young people. Questions were raised regarding statistics for the numbers of young people affected to support the evidence within the report and the regular review of data. The positive effect of such scrutiny and multi-agency working were welcomed.

DECISION: Members received the Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Board Annual Report and noted areas of progress and challenges in the work delivered by services to safeguard children and promote their well-being.

The report by the Commissioning Manager for Looked After Children is in response to the government's confirmation of a further year's grant for Adoption Report; the grant is not ring-fenced and totals £181,403.  The report outlines the proposed action plan for Adoption and Special Guardianship, and how the planned actions are likely to achieve improved performance in key areas of permanence for children.  The report includes a progress report against the previous Adoption Grant spend, and identifies areas that need continued investment in order to sustain the progress made to date and develop further the post adoption and permanence offer that must be in place for children and families.

RECOMMENDED:  that the Cabinet

(1)  Approve the full allocation of the adoption improvement grant for 2014/15 to enhance the funding allocation previously approved and to ensure that progress to date is not impeded.

(2)  Approve the implementation of the attached revised action plan, in order to continue to increase our supply of adopters to meet expected demand, and target the performance on our matching of children to adopters, which has shown a predicted slight dip this year.

(3)  Approve the plan to develop and embed additional Special Guardianship support in order to respond to the growing numbers of those arrangements and to ensure high quality on-going support to families to prevent those children re-entering the care system.

(4)  Recognise the need to adjust budgets in 2015/16 to meet on-going commitments within the action plan

Julian Wooster, Strategic Director for Children's Services, presented the report regarding this non-ring fenced grant, and the desire to invest more in adoption services to ensure that the right adopters are matched with children.

The cabinet members welcomed the government funding and acknowledged the savings and benefits that could be made by making placements through fostering and adoption rather than external agencies.

DECISIONS The Cabinet:

(1)          Approved the full allocation of the adoption improvement grant for 2014/15 to enhance the funding allocation previously approved and to ensure that progress to date is not impeded.

(2)          Approved the implementation of the revised action plan, in order to continue to increase our supply of adopters to meet expected demand, and target the performance on our matching of children to adopters, which has shown a predicted slight dip this year.

(3)          Approved the plan to develop and embed additional Special Guardianship support in order to respond to the growing numbers of those arrangements and to ensure high quality on-going support to families to prevent those children re-entering the care system.

(4)          Recognised the need to adjust budgets in 2015/16 to meet on-going commitments within the action plan.

The ECYP Scrutiny Panel's report is appended to the response report by the Head of Education and Strategic Commissioning.  Councillor Purvis as Chair of the Education, Children & Young People Scrutiny Panel intends to attend to present the panel's report.

RECOMMENDED:

(1)  That the panel is thanked for its work in undertaking the review

(2)  That the Cabinet notes and supports the recommendations in the report.

Councillor Will Purvis as Chair of the Education, Children & Young People Scrutiny Panel presented their report, and stressed the importance of good governance.  The panel had found examples of excellent practice in some schools, but were aware of other schools where governance was weaker.  Also some schools undertook self-review whereas others did not.  The panel had examined the options now available to schools.  Julian Wooster as Strategic Director for Children's Services supported the panel's recommendations; Councillor Young's Children & Education portfolio would review progress.  The cabinet members welcomed the report's findings and the thorough review and thanked the Chair, panel and officers for their work.

(Councillors Luke Stubbs and Steve Wemyss made declarations of interest as school governors but were advised by the City Solicitor that these did not need to be declared as these were non-pecuniary.)

DECISIONS:

(1)          That the panel and all officers involved are thanked for their work in undertaking the review

(2)          That the Cabinet notes and supports the recommendations in the report.

The TECS Scrutiny report provides an assessment of the progress made following Portsmouth's review of domestic abuse, which is attached with the response report by the Head of Health, Safety & Licensing.

RECOMMENDED:

(1)  That the panel be thanked for its work in undertaking the review

(2)  That the Cabinet note and support the recommendations in the report.

Rachael Dalby, Head of Health, Safety &, Licensing presented the panel's report and her response paper which welcomed the revisit of the review within her service, which had been helpful in examining the progress that had been made; she commended the panel's recommendations.  The Cabinet members were grateful to the chair, panel and contributing officers for bringing forward a positive report to make a difference in the city.

DECISIONS:

(1)          That the panel and all officers involved be thanked for their work in undertaking the review

(2)          That the Cabinet note and support the recommendations in the report.

The purpose of the report by the City Development Manager is to seek approval of the consultation material on major sites in Milton for public consultation.

RECOMMENDED that the Cabinet:

(1)approve the Milton Sites consultation document (attached as Appendix A) for public consultation;

(2)authorise the City Development Manager to make editorial amendments to the consultation document  prior to publication, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning, Regeneration and Economic Development. These amendments shall be restricted to correcting errors and formatting text and shall not alter the meaning of the document

Deputations were made by Janice Burkinshaw (Chair of the Milton Neighbourhood Forum), local resident Mr Harling, Councillors Will Purvis, Lynne Stagg and Ben Dowling whose points included the need to preserve green space, the loss of sports facilities for the city, pressure on the roads at key junctions, concern at the scale of anticipated development and the accompanying number of cars.  The ward councillors felt excluded from consultation and were concerned that there would be pressure on health facilities and local schools.  A written deputation had also been circulated from Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson objecting to the level of development and highlighting the need to consult ward councillors.

Vicky Piper, representing the City Development Manager, responded regarding the land ownership being with the health authority and University of Portsmouth and the retention of open space and sports facilities.  Consultation had taken place via the Milton Neighbourhood Forum.  Councillor Jones as Leader stressed that this report had been due to come to Cabinet for the new municipal year and had not been one requested by the new Administration but she would suggest a deferral of this item for more discussion to take place.

DECISION: The Cabinet deferred consideration of this item to the beginning of August.

The following item did not appear on the last published Forward Plan of 13 May 2014 for May/June/July. This item is also being submitted to Council on 15 July 2014. The Forward Plan Omission procedure has been followed for the inclusion of this item on this agenda with the Chair of Scrutiny Management Panel being consulted:

·         Hampshire Community Bank

RECOMMENDED that it be noted that this item did not appear on the Forward Plan published on 13 May.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet noted that the report on Hampshire Community Bank, agenda item 10, did not appear on the Forward Plan published on 13 May 2014 for May/June/July.

The purpose of the attached report by the Head of Financial Services and Section 151 Officer is:

(1)  To describe what a "Community Bank" is and the advantages one could bring to the local economy and to set out details of an opportunity to help create a new "Hampshire Community Bank" (HCB). 

(2)  To seek endorsement to the key aims of HCB and, if agreed, give delegated authority to the Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer (HFS) to invest up to £5 million in the HCB Limited in consultation with the Strategic Director Regeneration but subject to the HFS being satisfied with the outcome of the Due Diligence process.

RECOMMENDED to Council that:

1)    The key aims for the Hampshire Community Bank Limited as set out in this report are endorsed.

2)    The Governance arrangements set out in Section 10 are approved. 

3)    Authority to approve a Capital Investment of up to £5 million in preference shares in the Hampshire Community Bank Limited, to include costs relating to the Due Diligence process, is delegated to the Head of Financial Services and Section 151 Officer in consultation with the Strategic Director Regeneration.

4)    The £5m Capital Investment costs to be funded by unsupported Prudential Borrowing and Due Diligence costs up to £25,000 are financed from the MTRS Reserve.

5)    The attached financial appraisal is approved and the Corporate Capital Programme is amended to reflect the addition of this new Capital Investment.

Chris Ward, Head of Financial Services and Section 151 Officer, presented his report which followed on from the Treasury Management report that had been received in March, and advised that this would need Council approval for the funding.

The cabinet members asked for clarification on the £1.2m anticipated return, and were mindful of the support being given to the Small & Medium Enterprises through the proposal.

RECOMMENDED to Council (and therefore not subject to call-in) that:

(1)          The key aims for the Hampshire Community Bank Limited as set out in this report are endorsed.

(2)          The Governance arrangements set out in Section 10 are approved. 

(3)          Authority to approve a Capital Investment of up to £5 million in preference shares in the Hampshire Community Bank Limited, to include costs relating to the Due Diligence process, is delegated to the Head of Financial Services and Section 151 Officer in consultation with the Strategic Director Regeneration, the Cabinet Member for Planning Regeneration and Economic Development and the Leader.

(4)          The Capital Investment costs to be funded by unsupported Prudential Borrowing and Due Diligence costs up to £25,000 are financed from the MTRS Reserve.

(5)          The attached financial appraisal is approved and the Corporate Capital Programme is amended to reflect the addition of this new Capital Investment.

A report by the Director of Children's and Adults' Services is expected to follow regarding future provision for the Harbour School (Milton and Fratton) and use of the Vanguard Centre.

(This item had been withdrawn from the agenda so no report was circulated for discussion)