Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider and approve the minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 17 November 2015.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Executive on 17 November 2015 together with the accompanying decision records be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Vice-Chairman.

To seek approval of the draft Capital Programme 2016/17 – 2018/19 for consultation purposes.

RESOLVED that the Executive

      i.        Approves, for consultation, an initial Council funded capital programme of £55.037m for 2016/17 as set out in paragraph 5.30 and summarised in Annex A, including the schemes listed in Annexes B – F of the Chief Executive’s report

     ii.        Approves, for consultation, the inclusion of an additional budget of £1m for Invest-to-Save schemes in addition to the specific schemes identified in paragraph 5.24 of the Chief Executive’s report subject to the detailed business case being reviewed and agreed by the Borough Treasurer.

    iii.        Approves, for consultation, the inclusion of £2.092m of expenditure to be funded from S106 as outlined in paragraph 5.31 of the Chief Executive’s report

   iv.        Approves, for consultation, the inclusion of £17.498m of expenditure to be externally funded as outlined in paragraph 5.31 of the Chief Executive’s report

    v.        Recommends to Full Council the approval of virements totalling £0.481m to the 2015/16 Children Young People and Learning Programme, as set out in Annex G of the Chief Executive’s report, in order to meet the demands of the School Places Plan.

   vi.        Recommends to Full Council the approval of £0.05m in 2015/16 from unallocated Basic Need Grant for Ascot Heath Schools as outlined in paragraph 5.35 of the Chief Executive’s report.

To seek approval of the draft General Fund Revenue Budget 2016/17 for consultation purposes.

RESOLVED thatthe Executive:

      i.        Agree the draft budget proposals for 2016/17 as the basis for consultation with the Overview & Scrutiny Commission and other interested parties or individuals.

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

    iii.        Agree that the 2016/17 Schools Budget be set at the eventual 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.

   iv.        Approve the virements relating to the 2015/16 budget as set out in Annexes F and G of the Chief Executive’s report and recommend those that are over £0.100m for approval by Council.

To receive the external Auditor’s Annual Audit Letter for 2014/15.

RESOLVED that the Executive note the Annual Audit Letter 2014/15 at Appendix 1 of the Chief Executive and Borough Treasurer’s report

To seek approval of the draft Homelessness Strategy 2015-20 for consultation purposes..

RESOLVED that the Homelessness Strategy at Appendix A of the Director of Adult Social Care, Health and Housing’s report be approved for wider consultation.

To seek approval to changes to the Local Council tax Reduction Scheme with a view to referring the scheme to Council for formal adoption.

RESOLVED that the Executive agree to make the following changes to the Council’s Local Council Tax Benefit Scheme:

      i.        That all working age households will pay at least 20% of their Council Tax liability, the maximum discount will be 80% of Council Tax liability.

     ii.        That for working age household’s child maintenance payments are taken into account when assessing income to calculate the Local Council Tax reduction.

    iii.        That when calculating income for working age self employed people it will be assumed that after 12 months the self employed person is earning national living wage.

   iv.        That  all the income disregards for working people will be increased by £5 a week.

    v.        That the hardship fund  is increased to £20,000 and the criteria for support is amended to include those who had received a reduction in the previous twelve months and face financial hardship due to the proposed changes.

   vi.        As a consequence of the above recommendations the Local Council Tax Benefit Summary Scheme at Appendix A of the Director of Adult Social Care, Health and Housing and Borough Treasurer’s report is report  is agreed.

  vii.        The detailed scheme operation to be delegated to the Director of Adult Social Care, Health and Housing to finalise.

 viii.        The Local Council Tax Benefit Scheme is referred to Council on the 20th January for adoption.

   ix.        That the Local Council Tax Benefit Scheme will be reviewed on an annual basis.

To seek approval to increase the annual spending limit on suitable alternative natural green spaces during 2015/16.

RESOLVED that the Executive recommend to Full Council that they approve the spending of a further £95,000 of developer contribution on SANGs for this financial year. 

To consider the decision of the Local Government Ombudsman in relation to a complaint against the Emergency Duty Service.

RESOLVED that the Executive;  

i.                Notes the Ombudsman’s findings and endorses the steps set out in paragraph 6.10 of the Monitoring Officer’s report

ii.                Agrees that no further action needs to be taken in relation to the matter set out in the Monitoring Officer’s report

    iii.        Notes that a copy of the Monitoring Officer’s report has been circulated to all members of the Council

   iv.        Approves the draft report of the Executive attached here to as Annex A of the Monitoring Officer’s report 

To consider the performance of the Council over the second quarter of 2015/16.

RESOLVED that the Executive note the performance of the Council over the period from July - September 2015, highlighted in the Overview Report in Annex A of the Chief Executive’s report