Decisions

That Cabinet noted:

·       The General Fund forecast £19.3m adverse outturn variance against the approved budget for 2023/24.

·       The performance on delivery of savings (as summarised in Section 3).

·       The General Fund additional net risk of £0.7m against which Executive Directors plan to mitigate in full (as summarised in Section 4).

·       A forecast underspend of £0.8m within the HRA and that over- or under-spends that materialise on the HRA will be funded by a transfer from or to the HRA general reserve at the end of the financial year.

·       A forecast in-year deficit of £16.4m accumulating to a total £56.1m carried forward deficit in the DSG for 2023/24.

·       A breakeven position on Public Health services.

·       A forecast £30.4m underspend against the revised Capital Programme’s Budget (Section 6).

·       That reprioritisation of HRA budgets will be required to accommodate the spend linked to emergency response at Barton House

·       The urgent officer executive decisions in respect of council financial systems; these being, a) a contract variation in the council’s ledger system b) the re-procurement of financial ledger 3rd party hosting arrangement for the Council’s ledger.

Cabinet approved:

·       The reprofiling of the Capital programme budget to reflect the forecast £30.4m underspend at P7.

·       The acceptance of the LAHF capital grant allocation and reprofiling of the Capital programme budget to reflect incorporation of the Local Authority Housing Fund’s (LAHF) £1.52m capital grant funding allocation

·       The decision to fund £242k unplanned capital expenditure on temporary accommodation for homeless families through commuted funds and reprofile Capital programme budget accordingly

·       The contract award for the procurement of external audit services provided by Grant Thornton.

·       The urgent key decision (no.33) for extended expenditure of up to £510,000 of the council’s payments system funded from the combined budgets within the Resources and G&R Directorates and the re[1]procurement of the council’s internet payment service.

·       The urgent key decision (no.32) for excess layer insurance for Bristol Beacon venue to a value not exceeding £90,000 noting that this will take the total premium value up to a potential £250,000.

That Cabinet:

1.      Authorised the Executive Director Growth and Regeneration in consultation with the Cabinet Member Housing Delivery and Homes to take all steps require to procure and award the contract for a new Fire Safety Framework from April 2024 for 3 +1 years within the maximum budget envelope as outlined in this report.

2.      Authorised the Executive Director Growth and Regeneration in consultation with the Cabinet Member Housing Delivery and Homes to invoke any subsequent extensions/variations specifically defined in the contract(s) being awarded, up to the maximum budget envelope outlined in this report.

That Cabinet:

1.      Approved the acceptance of £1.1m of grant funding from the DfE Short Breaks Innovation Fund.

2.      Authorised the Executive Director Children and Education, in consultation with Cabinet Member for Children, Education & Equalities to take all steps required to accept and spend the funding including entering grant agreements and procuring and awarding contracts for the delivery of the project.

3.      Authorised the Executive Director Children & Education in consultation with Cabinet Member for Children, Education & Equalities to submit further funding bids to extend the project in future funding rounds, noting that any successful bids will be brought back to Cabinet for approval to accept and spend.

To seek approval and recommend to Full Council a byelaw allowing Bristol City Council to charge funeral directors if deceased patients they are responsible for stay in the mortuary more than three days after release from the Coroner investigations.

That Cabinet:

1.      Recommended to Full Council that a byelaw be passed permitting the council to commence charging for storing of a deceased person at Flax Bourton Mortuary where the funeral director delays collection.

2.      Noted the outcome of the consultation as set out in this report and appendix B.

To seek approval of the recommendations for the allocation of Imagination and Openness grant funding for the second round of the Cultural Investment Programme.

That Cabinet:

1.      Approved the recommendations for the award of Imagination grant funding as set out in this report and appendix A2 for 2024-26.

2.      Approved the recommendations for the award of Openness grant funding as set out in this report and appendix A3 for 2024-2027

3.      Authorised the Executive Director of Growth and Regeneration in consultation with the Mayor to take all steps required to award the funding to those successful applicants.

That Cabinet

1.      Approved the report and calculations as set out in this report and refered to Full Council for approval.

To seek approval of an increase to charges above the 5% general approval in place for 2023/24 in a number of service areas.

That Cabinet:

1.      Approved the fees and charges changes outlined within the report, Appendix A.

2.      Authorised the Director of Finance and the Executive Director of Growth and Regeneration in consultation with the Cabinet Member City Economy, Finance and Performance to take all steps required to implement these change.

To seek approval of an increase to the strategic framework contract value.

That Cabinet:

1.      Noted the successful implementation of the strategic finance partnership arrangements.

2.      Authorised the Head of Financial Management / Deputy s151 Officer in consultation with the Director of Finance and Cabinet Member City Economy, Finance and Performance to vary and award the contract amendment necessary for the implementation of the ongoing existing strategic finance partnership, in-line with the procurement routes and maximum budget envelopes outlined in this report.

3.      Approved the procurement of a new 3 +1 +1 year contract for a financial strategic partnership, using an appropriate route to market as advised by Strategic Procurement, at a cost not exceeding £1 million p.a., total maximum cost of £5 million over 5 years.

4.      Authorised the Head of Financial Management / Deputy s151 Officer in consultation with the Cabinet Member City Economy, Finance and Performance to take all steps required to procure and award the contract and to enact extensions as required, within the maximum budget envelope outlined in this report.

5.      Authorised the Head of Procurement & Contract Management to approve appropriate procurement routes to market where these are not yet fully defined, or if changes to procurement routes are subsequently required.

To seek approval of the City Centre Development and Delivery Plan (DDP).

To seek approval for CIL funding to progress the next stage of the Castle Park redevelopment.

That Cabinet:

1.      Approved the City Centre Development and Delivery Plan and note that it will be a material planning consideration in the determination of planning applications.

2.      Authorised the Executive Director for Growth and Regeneration in consultation with the Mayor to secure the freeholder requirements set out in this report through lease re-gearing negotiation in the City Centre and to note the costs of these requirements will be considered when determining best value in line with Section 123.

3.      Authorised the Executive Director for Growth and Regeneration in consultation with the Mayor to procure and award the contract(s) (which may be above the key decision threshold) necessary to progress the designs and secure planning approval for the transformation of Castle Park as outlined this report.

4.      Authorised the Executive Director of Growth and Regeneration in consultation with the Mayor to spend the £1.2m Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding as outlined in this report.

5.      Authorised the Executive Director of Growth and Regeneration, in consultation with the Section 151 Officer and Mayor, to explore and to submit funding bids (which may be over the key decision threshold) to enable the redevelopment of Castle Park, noting that the acceptance and spend of any funding award over the key decision threshold will be subject to further approval in accordance with the decision pathway.

6.      Authorised the Executive Director of Growth and Regeneration, in consultation with the Section 151 Officer and Mayor, to explore and to submit funding bids (which may be over the key decision threshold) to enable development of a Community Land Trust or similar appropriate vehicle to run and manage community and cultural spaces in the City Centre, noting that the acceptance and spend of any funding award over the key decision threshold will be subject to further approval in accordance with the decision pathway.

7.      Noted the consultation report at Appendix B.

To recommend the Council Tax Base for 2024/25 for approval at Full Council.

That Cabinet:

1.      Approved the report and calculated amount as set out in the report and referred to Full Council for approval.

To seek approval of the  Council Tax Reduction scheme for 2024/25.

That Cabinet:

1.      Noted the outcomes of the Council Tax Reduction (CTR) 2024/25 scheme consultation as outlined in this report and appendix A5.

2.      Approved no change to Bristol’s 2024/25 Council Tax Reduction (CTR) scheme.

To seek approval for a variation to the value of the Fibre and CCTV contract and  the assets that are supported within the contract.

That Cabinet:

1.      Approved the variation to the Fibre and CCTV contract as outlined in this report.

2.      Authorised the Executive Director for Growth and Regeneration, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, Governance & Procurement, to take all steps required to vary the Fibre and CCTV contract to increase the value of the contract by up to £3.5m (total value £15.5m).