Agenda and minutes

To consider and approve the minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 18 November 2014.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Executive on 18 November 2014 together with the accompanying decision records be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Leader.

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or an Affected Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Executive considered the reports submitted on the items listed below and the decisions taken are recorded in the decision sheets attached to these minutes and summarised below:

For the Executive to respond to the recommendations raised by the Adult Social Care and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Panel Working Group in its report looking at the Council’s Role in Regulated Adult Social Care services.

RESOLVED that the following recommendations of the Working Group on “A Review of the Council’s role in Regulated Adult Social Care Services”:

         i.            Are accepted

Recommendation 6.3   Checks be made to ensure that local care providers adopt and implement a missing person’s procedure which includes up to date contact details and reflects the outcome of the Thames Valley Police’s review of missing persons’ guidance on the procedure to be followed in the event of the unexpected absence of a person receiving care in order to safeguard vulnerable adults.

Recommendation 6.4   Validation Guidelines be expanded to include a section explaining how benchmarks are identified and giving information regarding the service aspects that the Council measures performance against.

       ii.            That the following recommendation is partially accepted

Recommendation 6.2   The Quality Assurance Framework be expanded to
      include collection of the views of people who self-fund their care.

      iii.            That the following recommendation is not accepted:

Recommendation 6.1   The plan for the emergency evacuation of care / nursing home premises that is practiced regularly be reconsidered with a view to introducing a more practical emergency response procedure reflecting residents’ disabilities and conditions as far as possible within safety requirements.

To approve the Council’s budget proposals for consultation.

RESOLVED that the Executive:

1. Approves, for consultation, an initial Council funded capital programme of £16.818m for 2015/16 as set out in paragraph 5.24 and summarised in Annex
2. A of the Borough Treasurer’s report , including the schemes listed in Annexes B – F.

3. Approves as a supplementary capital approval funding in 2014/15 of £0.447m for Binfield Learning Village at Blue Mountain, as outlined in the Funding Model agreed by Executive in October 2014.

4. Approves, for consultation, the inclusion of an additional budget of £1m for Invest to Save schemes.

5. Approves, for consultation, the inclusion of £1.880m of expenditure to be funded from S106 as outlined in paragraph 5.25 of the Borough Treasurer’s report.

6. Approves, for consultation, the inclusion of £17.804m of expenditure to be externally funded as outlined in paragraph 5.25 of the Borough Treasurer’s report.

7. Approves the virements totalling £0.33m to the 2014/15 Children Young People and Learning Programme, as set out in Annex I of the Borough Treasurer’s report, in order to meet the demands of the School Places Plan.

To consider the draft Revenue Budget for the 2015/16 financial year prior to consultation.

RESOLVED that the Executive:

1. Agree the draft budget proposals for 2015/16 as the basis for consultation with the Overview & Scrutiny Commission and other interested parties or individuals.

2. Agree the Treasury Management Strategy and associated documents at Annexe E of the Borough Treasurer’s report and request that the Governance and Audit Committee review each of the key elements.

3. Agree that the 2015/16 Schools Budget be set at the estimated level of grant income plus any accumulated balances, with the Executive Member for Children, Young People and Learning authorised to make amendments and agree budgets for schools and services centrally managed by the Council.

4. Approve the virements relating to the 2014/15 budget as set out in Annexes F and G of the Borough Treasurer’s report and recommend those that are over £0.100m for approval by Council.

To approve the External Auditor’s Annual Audit Letter.

RESOLVED that the Executive note the Annual Audit Letter 2013/14 at Appendix 1 of the Borough Treasurer’s report.

To consider a report seeking approval of the three year Joint Commissioning Strategy for Intermediate Care.

RESOLVED that the overall approach within the Joint Commissioning Strategy for Intermediate Care 2015 – 2018 is approved, and that final approval, following comment from the Clinical Commissioning Group, is delegated to the Better Care Fund Programme Board.

To receive a report detailing the Council’s performance over the second quarter of 2014/15.

RESOLVED that the performance of the Council over the period from July - September 2014, highlighted in the Overview Report in Annex A of the Chief Executive’s report be noted.

To consider a report providing an update on key changes in the curriculum, assessment and testing practice in schools and an analysis of pupil achievements across key stages in 2014.

RESOLVED that the Executive:

1. Notes the expectation that schools continue to raise standards of pupil achievement to improve economic competitiveness in a global economy.

2. Notes the unvalidated test and examination results in Bracknell Forest schools in the academic year 2013-14 (validated results are not available until later in the academic year) and changes to the School Improvement Service.

3. Endorses the actions taken to develop School Improvement practice to meet a more challenging context.

4. Reaffirms the ambition for all Bracknell Forest Schools to be ‘good’ schools.

To consider a report seeking approval of a decision in relation to the provision of Sexual Health Services for Reading, Wokingham amd West Berkshire local authorities.

RESOLVED that the Sexual Health contract commencing 1^st April 2016 is awarded to Tenderer 1 (As detailed in the confidential Annex to the Director of Adult Social Care, Health and Housing’s report)  by Reading, Wokingham and West Berkshire Local Authorities.

To consider a report seeking approval of the School Capital Strategy and Funding Strategy.

RESOLVED that the Executive:

1. Note the forecast demand for school places, and the arrangements for creating new school places that are required to keep pace with the demand.

2. Endorse the School Capacity Strategy as set out in the confidential Appendix B appended to the Director of Children, Young People and Learning’s report.

3. Agrees the Funding Strategy as set out in the confidential Appendix C appended to the Director of Children, Young People and Learning’s report

To consider the following motion:

That pursuant to Regulation 4 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Access to Information) Regulations 2012, members of the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the consideration of item 15 and 16 which involves the likely disclosure of exempt information under the following category of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972:

(3)        Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

 (NB:    No representations have been received in relation to the notice published pursuant to Regulation 5 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Access to Information) Regulations 2012.)

RESOLVED that pursuant to Regulation 21 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Access to Information) Regulations 2000, members of the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the consideration of items 15 and 16 which involves the likely disclosure of exempt information under the following category of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972:

(3)        Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority).

To receive a report seeking the release of additional capital expenditure to enable the delivery of the regeneration of Bracknell town centre.

RESOLVED that the Executive recommends to Council approval for additional capital expenditure of £12.4m plus stamp duty of up to £0.6m.

To consider a report seeking approval to undertake a major facility enhancement project at Coral Reef Water World

RESOLVED that the Executive recommend to Council, subject to the outcome of the budget consultation, that:

         i.            Capital provision of £11.23m be made to undertake the Coral Reef enhancement works as summarised in paragraph 6.14 of the Director of Environment, Culture and Communities’ report

       ii.            revenue provision of £593,000 relating to the project be made as detailed in paragraph 6.16 of the Director of Environment, Culture and Communities’ report

      iii.            The outline HR strategy described in paragraph 6.18 b of the Director of Environment, Culture and Communities’ report be endorsed;

     iv.            The outline programme as detailed in paragraph 6.19 of the Director of Environment, Culture and Communities’ report be noted