Agenda and minutes

Councillor Barry Rawlings, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Resources and Effective Council welcomed all attendees to the meeting.

An apology for absence had been received from the Cabinet Member – Equalities and the Voluntary and Community Sector, Councillor Zahra Beg.

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The Chair welcomed Councillors Daniel Thomas, Peter Zinkin and Arjun Mittra to the meeting who were in attendance to ask questions on agenda items in accordance with Executive Procedure Rule 13.6. Questions were raised in relation to agenda items 10, 11 and 14 which were responded to verbally at the meeting by Cabinet Members.

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At the invitation of the Leader, the Cabinet Member for Family Friendly Barnet read the following statement to Cabinet:

“As you will be aware the Secretary of State for Education significantly escalated the risks associated with the safety of school buildings, last week, because of the use of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) in public buildings, following failures of this in some schools in England.

Barnet Council has been proactive in addressing these concerns for the schools we have responsibility for (i.e. community schools and foundation schools). There are 51 Community Schools/Foundation Schools in the Borough. Following a desktop analysis and questionnaires, initial survey checks have already been conducted across these institutions yesterday and today. We are pleased to report that in general community/foundation schools in Barnet are not affected by RAAC-related issues. We do need to do some further intrusive survey work in five schools and they are not able to use all of their facilities. No schools have needed to close or educate their pupils at home, although one did delay the start of term by one day.

In addition, there are 79 Academies and Voluntary Aided Schools in Barnet and the school buildings for these schools are not the responsibility of the Council. We did not have access to their DfE Questionnaire responses so were unable to ascertain which schools fully complied with the requirements. The Diocesan Boards and Trusts, responsible for these school buildings dealt directly with the DfE.

We have contacted the Responsible Bodies for all our non-Community Schools requesting that they confirm to us that they have completed the DfE survey/questionnaire and that no further surveys were requested by the DfE. Responses so far have confirmed that no RAAC has been identified, apart from the academy indicated previously. We will follow up with any school where the DfE survey/questionnaire has not taken place.

We have been made aware that one academy, who had a survey conducted directly by the DfE, has got the RAAC material in one of its buildings. We have been notified that this area has been made safe.

The safety of our children and the structural integrity of our schools remains our top priorities. Barnet Council is committed to cooperating fully with the government's inquiry and taking all necessary actions to maintain the highest safety standards in our educational establishments.”

Councillor Barry Rawlings Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Resources & Effective Council introduced the report.

During discussion officers were requested to:

·         Provide a response on the “technical reason” for the decrease in “% of customers who are satisfied with the service on the web”; and

·         Ensure that Our Plan for Barnet indicators included all of the new Office for Local Government indicators.

Following discussion, the Chair moved to vote on the recommendations.

DECISION:

RESOLVED that Cabinet note the contents of Our Plan for Barnet – Delivery and Outcomes Framework, Q1 2023-24 Report.

The report set out the options considered, if any, and the reasons for the recommendations and the decision.

Councillor Barry Rawlings Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Resources & Effective Council introduced the report.

Following discussion, the Chair moved to vote on the recommendations.

DECISION:

RESOLVED that Cabinet:

1.    Note the forecast outturn for 2023/24 against the Council’s revenue budget.

2.    Note the current use of reserves, and the outlook.

3.    Note the expenditure against capital budgets in the year.

4.    Note the current debt position and related actions.

5.    Approve the changes to the existing Capital Programme in relation to additions and slippage as set out in section 5.1 – 5.12 in accordance with the virement rules.

6.    Agree the CIL funding for Road Safety & Parking be increased from £0.450m per annum to £1.2m per annum for schemes to be authorised by the Director, Highways & Transportation

7.    Approve the Fees and Charges as set out in section 6 and attached at Appendix B for recommendation of the council side fees and charges to Full Council for consideration with any consultation responses and equality impact assessments (EqIA), and to delegate the approval of the executive side fees and charges to the Portfolio Holder for Resources & Effective Council once they have been subject to consultation and EqIA.

8.    Approve the writes-offs for Tenant Arrears and Sundry Debt as detailed in sections 7.17 – 7.26 and in Appendix C.

The report set out the options considered, if any, and the reasons for the recommendations and the decision.

Councillor Barry Rawlings, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Resources & Effective Council introduced the report.

Following discussion, the Chair moved to vote on the recommendations.

DECISION:

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:

1.    Agree the contents of the report and accepts the recommendations of the LGA Peer Review team (as set out in Appendix A).

2.    Agree the contents of the Action Plan prepared in response to those recommendations (Appendix B) and that implementation of the actions is delegated to the Chief Executive, who will report progress to Cabinet or appropriate committee.

3.    Agree to publish the LGA Peer Review report and the Action Plan on the Barnet website.

4.    Note that there will be a follow-up visit from members of the Peer Team to review progress against the Action Plan, date to be confirmed but likely to be spring 2024.

The report set out the options considered, if any, and the reasons for the recommendations and the decision.

Councillor Alan Schneiderman, Cabinet Member forEnvironment and Climate Change introduced the report.

Following discussion, the Chair moved to vote on the recommendations.

DECISION:

RESOLVED that Cabinet:

1.    Approve the proposed Local Flood Risk Management Strategy (LFRMS) 2023-29.

2.    Adopt the associated Action Plan 2023-29 to achieve the four key strategic objectives as set out by the LFRMS 2023-29 and under section 1.2.

The report set out the options considered, if any, and the reasons for the recommendations and the decision.

Councillor Alan Schneiderman, Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change introduced the report.

Following discussion, the Chair moved to vote on the recommendations.

DECISION:

RESOLVED that Cabinet:

1.    Approve the Council’s Reduction & Recycling Plan (RRP) for submission to the Greater London Authority (GLA).

2.    Delegate authority to the Street Scene Director in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment & Climate Change to implement the actions detailed within the RRP once the plan is formally approved by the GLA.

3.    Delegate authority to the Street Scene Director in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment & Climate Change to provide any updates to the GLA as required in relation to the RRP.

The report set out the options considered, if any, and the reasons for the recommendations and the decision.

Councillor Barry Rawlings, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Resources & Effective Council.

Following discussion, the Chair moved to vote on the recommendations.

DECISION:

RESOLVED that Cabinet authorise the extension of the Temporary and Interim Workforce (including Permanent Recruitment Service) contract with Matrix SCM Limited for 2 years from 1^st October 2023 until 30^th September 2025.

The report set out the options considered, if any, and the reasons for the recommendations and the decision.

Councillor Barry Rawlings, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Resources and Effective Council introduced the report.

Cabinet noted the information detailed in the associated exempt report in making the decision.

Following discussion, the Chair moved to vote on the recommendations.

DECISION:

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:

1.    Note a 12-month extension to the contract with Lextox T/A E4 Law Limited with new agreed pricing (Appendix 1) from 05/06/2023 to 04/06/2024 to allow time to complete the tender process.

2.    Note that there was an overspend of £113,790 in the contract with Lextox Ltd between 05/06/2021 to 04/06/2023 due to demand for higher volumes. The contract is a volume-based contract.

3.    Note that a Waiver should have been granted for 12-months pursuant to the Contract Procedure Rules to enable continuity of service and enable a new procurement exercise.

4.    Authorise to increase from the agreed contract value of £100,000 on the Annual Procurement Forward Plan to £150,000 per annum over a 2 year plus up to 2-year extension period to a forecast total contract value £600,000.

The report set out the options considered, if any, and the reasons for the recommendations and the decision.

Councillor Barry Rawlings, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Resources and Effective Council introduced the report.

Cabinet noted that an addendum had been circulated which:

1.    Proposed an amendment to recommendation 2;

2.    Provided the exempt appendix (Insurance Tender Report – AJ Gallagher Insurance Brokers) marked as ‘to follow’ in the agenda; and

3.    Replaced text in section 5 of the report relating to Resource Implications.

Cabinet noted the information detailed in the associated exempt report in making the decision.

Following discussion, the Chair moved to vote on the recommendations.

DECISION:

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:

1.    Award the Main Insurance contracts to commence on the 1 October 2023 for a period of three years, with the option to extend for a further period of up to two years.

2.    Award of the Leasehold Insurance contract to commence on the 1 October 2023 for a period of three years, with the option to extend for a further period of up to two years.

3.    Delegate authority to the Director of Finance (S151 Officer) to have regard to the S20 notice and to make any emergency arrangements for insurance cover beyond 1 October 2023 in the event contracts are not able to be finalised in line with these proposals by 1 October 2023.

4.    Delegate authority to the Director of Finance (S151 Officer) to determine funding for any extra budgetary requirements caused by the awarding the new contracts commencing 1 October 2023.

The report set out the options considered, if any, and the reasons for the recommendations and the decision.

Cabinet noted the Forward Plan – Key Decision Schedule.