Agenda and decisions

Members of the public intending to attend the meeting are asked to please note that, in the interests of health, safety and security, bags maybe searched on entry to the building.  Everyone attending this meeting is also asked please to behave with due courtesy and to conduct themselves in a reasonable way.

Please note: if the alarm sounds during the meeting, everyone should please exit the building via the way they came in, via the main entrance lobby area, and then the front ramp. Please then assemble on the paved area in front of the building on College Green by the flag poles.

If the front entrance cannot be used, alternative exits are available via staircases 2 and 3 to the left and right of the Conference Hall. These exit to the rear of the building. The lifts are not to be used. Then please make your way to the assembly point at the front of the building.  Please do not return to the building until instructed to do so by the fire warden(s).

Up to one hour is allowed for this item

Any member of the public or Councillor may participate in Public Forum. Petitions, statements and questions received by the deadlines below will be taken at the start of the agenda item to which they relate to.

Petitions and statements (must be about matters on the agenda):

• Members of the public and members of the council, provided they give notice in writing or by e-mail (and include their name, address, and ‘details of the wording of the petition, and, in the case of a statement, a copy of the submission) by no later than 12 noon on the working day before the meeting, may present a petition or submit a statement to the Cabinet.

• One statement per member of the public and one statement per member of council shall be admissible.

• A maximum of one minute shall be allowed to present each petition and statement.

• The deadline for receipt of petitions and statements for the *name date*

 Cabinet is 12 noon on *name deadline date*. These should be sent, in writing or by e-mail to: Democratic Services, City Hall, College Green,Bristol, BS1 5TR

e-mail: democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk

Questions (must be about matters on the agenda):

• A question may be asked by a member of the public or a member of Council, provided they give notice in writing or by e-mail (and include their name and address) no later than 3 clear working days before the day of the meeting.

• Questions must identify the member of the Cabinet to whom they are put.

• A maximum of 2 written questions per person can be asked. At the meeting, a maximum of 2 supplementary questions may be asked. A supplementary question must arise directly out of the original question or reply.

• Replies to questions will be given verbally at the meeting. If a reply cannot be given at the meeting (including due to lack of time) or if written confirmation of the verbal reply is requested by the questioner, a written reply will be provided within 10 working days of the meeting.

• The deadline for receipt of questions for the XXXXXX Cabinet is 5.00 pm on XXXXXXXX. These should be sent, in writing or by e-mail to: Democratic Services, City Hall, College Green, Bristol BS1 5TR.

Democratic Services e-mail: democratic.services@bristol.gov.uk

When submitting a question or statement please indicate whether you are planning to attend the meeting to present your statement or receive a verbal reply to your question

To note any declarations of interest from the Mayor and Councillors.  They are asked to indicate the relevant agenda item, the nature of the interest and in particular whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest.

Any declarations of interest made at the meeting which is not on the register of interests should be notified to the Monitoring Officer for inclusion.

(subject to a maximum of three items)

To note any announcements from the Chair

That under s.100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it (they) involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s)3 (respectively) of Part 1 of schedule 12A of the Act

Please note that some of the reports below contain exempt information and it may be necessary for the Mayor/Cabinet to go into closed session i.e. exclude the press and public from the gallery whilst relevant matters are discussed. 

1. Cabinet noted at P7, the overall forecast outturn position for general funded services is an underspend of (£0.4m), with Directorates now forecasting to be within budget when Communities budgets are transferred to other Directorates following the restructure. (Appendix A, para 1).

2. Cabinet endorsed the utilisation of up to £250k of the forecast underspend to support urgent Brexit preparation work (Appendix A, para.1.3).

3. Cabinet approved the re-allocation of the 2018/19 budgeted fees and charges savings as agreed by Full Council to services as set out in Appendix A, Table 2.

4. Cabinet noted the re-allocation of £0.5m corporate recharging budget to permanently address the identified need to enable the delivery of core services. (Appendix A, Table 3)

5. Cabinet noted the current forecast position with regard to the Housing Revenue Account, Dedicated Schools Grant and Public Health Accounts. (Appendices A5, A6 and A7).

6. Cabinet noted the current forecast spend of £160.3m against the capital programme budget of £162.6m. (Appendix A, section 5 and Directorate Appendices A2 to A5).

7. Cabinet noted the forecast movement in reserves of £21.6m (Appendix A, Table 8).

8. Cabinet approved the transfer £5.021m of ear-marked reserves no longer required for the purpose intended to general reserves for reallocation as part of the 2019/20 budget process (Appendix A, Table 7).

1. Schools Block (detail in Appendix A.2 and Growth Fund (detail in Appendix A.6)

a. the Schools Block budget was set at £259.445m for 2019/20, as per Table 1 above, after £2m of the overall Schools Block DSG has been transferred to the High Needs Block;

b. the basis for distributing the funding to mainstream schools was approved as set out in the Schools Block report to Schools Forum (Appendix A.2)

c. the Growth Fund for established schools expanding in September 2019 was set at £1.6m ( a component of the total Schools Block budget);

d. the Growth Fund policy is no different to that which operated in 2018/19 (Appendix A.6)

2. Central School Services Block (detail in Appendix A.3)

a. Subject to Schools Forum agreement, the Central School Services Block budget was set at £2.329m for 2019/20, after £0.566m is transferred to the High Needs Block.

3. High Needs Block (detail in Appendix A.4)

a. The High Needs Block budget was set at £58.187m for 2019/20 as per Appendix A.4.2, after receiving transfers of £2.566m from other blocks and bringing forward £2.407m DSG from future years;

b. Members noted that this level of budget is estimated to lead to a cumulative deficit in the High Needs Block in the region of £3.3m by the end of March 2020.

c. Members agreed that the current strategy for addressing the deficit is: a) to lobby central government to ensure that sufficient resource is provided for High Needs in Bristol; b) to work with stakeholders to identify service improvements through the High Needs Transformation Programme; and c) to continue to look for opportunities to transfer resource to High Needs from other blocks and funds.

4. Early Years Block (detail in Appendix A.5)

a. the Early Years Block budget was set at £36.950m for 2019/20 (including £0.517m to be applied from unspent Early Years DSG in either 2018/19 or 2019/20), noting that spend and DSG income will vary up or down, according to participation levels in each of the three terms;

b. Funding for Early Years should be distributed in line with the arrangements explained in the Early Years report to Schools Forum (Appendix A.5), including the continuation of local maintained nursery school factor.

c. Members noted that a decision on changes to the Early Years SEN hourly rates be considered as part of the High Needs Transformation Programme.

5. Overall position

a. Members noted that school balances are expected to be in the region of £5m at the end of 2018/19, with 14 of 75 maintained schools in deficit, and the DSG position is currently expected to underspend by £0.397m for 2018/19.

1. Cabinet noted the requirement to reduce social rents by 1% for 2019/20 and the inflationary uplift in service charges for tenants and leaseholders.

2. Cabinet approved the proposals for the 2019/20 Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget and the HRA Medium Term Financial Plan, which have been tested within a 30-year financial business plan model; and

3. Cabinet approved proposals for the implementation of the capital and revenue investment plans

4. Cabinet delegated authority to the Strategic Director of Growth and Regeneration (with appropriate legal and procurement advice) in consultation with Cabinet Member for Housing, deputy mayor for resources, section 151 officer and the monitoring officer for the procurement of relevant contractors during 2019/20 to 2023/24 (covering the period of the2019/20 budget and rolling five year planned maintenance budget, and the already planned phases 3 and 4 of the HRA new build schemes ) to deliver the capital and revenue investment plans as set out in detail in Appendices A2 and A3.

5. Cabinet delegated authority for the Service Director of Housing and Landlord Services to draw down reserves to fund the projected spend, should there be changes in forecast income during the year.

Cabinet Noted:

1. The report from the Budget Scrutiny is to follow after the 10th and 14th January Resources Scrutiny Commission meetings.

2. The categorisation of earmarked reserves and provisions set out in Section 17.

3. The advice given by the Chief Finance Officer with respect to the robustness of the budget estimates and the adequacy of the Council’s reserves as set out in Section 16.

4. The results of consultation as set out in Section 18 and detailed in Appendix 6.

Cabinet agreed to recommend to Full Council:

1. An overall 3.99% increase in the Council’s element of council tax for 2019/20 with 1% as a precept for Adult Social Care and a 2.99% general increase.

2. The General Fund revenue budget for 2019/20, as summarised in Section 7, the detailed budget summary by Directorate as outlined in Appendix 1.

3. The Capital Programme as set out in Appendix 2.

4. The Treasury Management Strategy, including the Prudential Indicators measuring affordability, capital spending, external debt and treasury management, as set out in Appendix 4.

Cabinet agreed to recommend to Full Council:

5. That they note the results of consultation as detailed in Appendix 6.

Delegation of authority

1. Delegated authority to the Director, Finance after consultation with the Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Finance, Governance & Performance and the Mayor, to make any necessary adjustments following receipt of the final settlement information, West of England Combined Authority budget or other technical adjustments to the figures to be submitted to Full Council on 26 February 2019.

1. Cabinet approved a six month extension to the Rough Sleeper Service Contract (from October 2019 – 31st March 2020).

2. Cabinet approved the use of £648,539 provided by MHCLG to implement a Somewhere Safe to Stay pilot in the city which is integrated with the Rough Sleeper Service delivered by St Mungo’s.

3. Cabinet noted that most of the funding will be integrated with the Rough sleeper contract but that some funding will be applied to elements to be delivered by other providers and that appropriate processes will be followed to procure this.

1. Cabinet authorised the procurement of a contract for the supply of mobile devices and associated airtime for up to 2 years, through the Crown Commercial Services Framework.

2. Cabinet delegated authority to award the contract to Director of Digital Transformation in Consultation with the Deputy Mayor for Finance, Governance and Performance.

1. Cabinet authorised the purchase of the property detailed in Appendix A1 of the report for the purpose of providing an additional children’s home in Bristol.

Cabinet approved spend of the additional funding allocation for Local Highways Maintenance as set out in Appendix A to this report.

Cabinet approved the business plan of the Bristol Waste Company Limited (company number 09472624), (Attached as Appendix A2; and Exempt Appendix J1 and J2)

1. Cabinet authorised the procurement of a transport contract for the HM Avon Coroner.

2. Cabinet delegated authority to approve the award of the contract to the Director of Legal and Democratic Services in consultation with the Designated Deputy Mayor with responsibility for Finance, Governance and Performance.

Cabinet authorised the Executive Director Growth and Regeneration, in consultation with the Deputy Mayor for Finance Governance & Performance, to revise the allocations of existing approved funding (£11.25m) between budget lines in order to progress the demolition of the former post office sorting office building to ground level and associated works.

1. Cabinet noted the contents of this report.

2. Cabinet endorsed the revised Risk Management Assurance Policy.

3. Officers will provide a copy of this report to Members of the Audit Committee and Scrutiny Committee (Resources) for information.

Cabinet received and noted the Corporate Risk Report

1. Cabinet approved the revised Social Value Policy;

2. Cabinet approved the development and implementation of a measurement toolkit that reflects Bristol’s social value outcomes; and,

3. Cabinet approved the allocation of up to £20,000 in year one, for the development and implementation of a toolkit to be funded from 2018/19 underspend.

1. Cabinet noted and agreed the recommendations of the LGA Peer Review Corporate Peer Challenge as set out the in LGA Corporate Peer Challenge Feedback Report.

2. Cabinet delegated authority to the Executive Director of Resources and Head of Paid Service, in consultation with the Deputy Mayor with responsibility for Finance, Governance and Performance to implement, amend and update the action plan (appendix A) based on the LGA’s recommendations, which will be reviewed by Cabinet bi-annually.