Agenda and minutes

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.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 26 November 2014.

Subject to the amendment of minute 29 to read that “the demolition of Winchester House would be started on Friday 28 November” it was

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Council meeting held on 26 November 2014 be approved and signed by the Mayor as a correct record.

To Elect the Mayor of the Borough of Bracknell Forest for the remainder of the Municipal Year 2014/15.

It was proposed by Councillor Bettison and seconded by Councillor Birch, that Councillor Blatchford be elected Mayor of the Borough of Bracknell Forest.

There being no further nominations it was

RESOLVED that Councillor Blatchford be elected Mayor of the Borough of Bracknell Forest for the remainder of the 2014/2015 Municipal Year.

Councillor Blatchford was invested with the Mayoral Chain of Office and then made and signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office of Mayor and thanked Members of the Council for his election.

THE MAYOR, COUNCILLOR BLATCHFORD, IN THE CHAIR

The Mayor announced that his wife, Mrs Ann Blatchford, would be his Consort for his term of office and was invested with the Chain of Office.

In his acceptance speech Councillor Blatchford thanked colleagues for supporting his election and announced that he would continue to support Councillor Kendall’s chosen charity, Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund. He encouraged his colleagues to attend the remaining two charity events: the Quiz night and the Golf Day. He thanked Father Guy Cole for agreeing to continue as his chaplain and his wife for her support undertaking Mayoral duties. He added that he took a lot of pride in the borough and the facilities that it offered.

Bracknell Rotary Club

Dave Donaldson, Secretary of Bracknell Rotary Club, and Diana Henfrey, Senior Vice President of Bracknell Rotary Club attended the meeting to present the Mayor with a cheque for £300 which had been raised for Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund.  They also promoted the Rotary International Three Counties Cycle Ride which was scheduled for Sunday 7th June 2015.

Interim Director, Adult Social Care, Health & Housing

The Mayor welcomed John Nawrockyi, Interim Director of Adult Social Care, Health & Housing who had recently joined the Council.

Executive Member for Adult Social Care, Health & Housing

Councillor Birch was pleased to introduce Matthew Clift, Project Manager (Prevention and Self-Care) and Dave Rossiter, Joint Commissioning Officer who attended the meeting to update Members on the success of the 2014 Self Care Week. The national event was intended to support and encourage residents to look after themselves. In Partnership with Bracknell and Ascot Clinical Commissioning Group and Bracknell Public Health the Council had launched a wide-reaching programme of promotional activities. The programme included distribution of information within a wide range of locations, free zumba and boxercise sessions, ranger walks, the completion of 1929 surveys and receipt of 5210 text comments.

Executive Member for Children, Young People & Learning

Councillor Dr Barnard was pleased to report that the Department for Communities had allocated £87,500 to the Council for delivering different neighbourhoods work. Phase two of the project was about to begin. 

Councillor Dr Barnard was pleased to announce that Larchwood Respite Care Home had been rated as outstanding for the fourth year in a row by Ofsted inspectors. The report highlighted the attention to detail by the short break service staff to ensure that the young people fully benefited from overnight stays away from their families.

He was proud to add that College Hall, the Council’s Secondary pupil referral unit was rated as good by Ofsted inspectors. He added that the rating reflected the sense of community within the unit which supported some of the borough’s most challenging young people.

Executive Member for the Environment

CouncillorMrs Hayes encouraged all of the Members present to consider spending some of their Members Initiative Fund monies on installation of defibrillators in their local school, community centre or neighbourhood shopping area. 29 devices had been ordered to date. Councillor Mrs Phillips demonstrated the simplicity of the device and reassured Members that no shock would be delivered if a pulse was detected by the device. Councillor Mrs Hayes advised the meeting that the cost of each device would be at least £900 and depend upon whether it would be installed internally or externally.

Executive Member for Adult Social Care, Health & Housing

Councillor Birch was pleased to report that the Department of Health had allocated £325,000 toward supporting acute hospitals with prevention of delayed discharges and that the Council was one of 65 authorities to receive funding.

Executive Member for Culture, Corporate Services & Public Protection

Councillor McCracken was pleased to announce that the Council had been successful in achieving  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

To receive the Leader’s report on the work of the Executive since the Council meeting held on 26 November 2014.

Council is asked to resolve recommendations in respect of:

• Coral Reef Enhancement Programme
• Bracknell Town Centre Supplementary Capital Expenditure
• General Fund Revenue Budget 2015/16
• Capital Programme 2015/16-2017/18

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Bettison, presented his report on the work of the Executive since that reported at the Council meeting on 26 November 2014.  The Executive had met twice, on 19 November 2014 and 16 December 2014.

The Leader highlighted the following matters that had been considered:

·         School Places Plan 2014-2019; this linked school capacity to funding strategy with numbers of primary aged children increasing by 23% and secondary aged children by 29%.

·         Child Sexual Exploitation was recognised by the Executive as everyone’s responsibility with the Council as Corporate Parent.

·         The Executive noted the level of educational attainment across the Borough in the 2014 School Exam Results.

·         Recommendation to Council to consider Coral Reef Enhancement Programme to refurbish and upgrade the iconic leisure facility.

·         The Executive recommended to Council that supplementary capital expenditure be agreed to progress the Council’s planned Bracknell Town Centre infrastructure works.  

·         The separation and recycling requirements arising from the Waste Regulations 2011 were likely to be met.

·         The on-going dispute regarding additional recyclate income from the Joint Waste Disposal Contract was ready to be defended subject to agreement by Wokingham and Reading Borough Councils.

·         The Council’s external auditors had issued an unqualified opinion on the Council’s financial statements in their Annual Audit Letter. The Leader thanked officers from the Finance team for their hard work to deliver this outcome.

·         The Revenue Budget 2015/16 and Capital Programme 2015/16-2017/18 had been agreed for consultation which would be considered at the February meeting. 

In response to Councillor Mrs Temperton’s question, Councillor Dr Barnard confirmed that the Council had made representations through the Local Government Association about the government’s underestimation of the number of students up to the age of 25 requiring additional support. The Council was working closely with the School’s Forum and the approach adopted had been to provide the support required. It was estimated that there was a shortfall of £2 million. It was intended to support post 18 year old students to ensure that their courses were appropriate.

Coral Reef Enhancement Programme

On the proposition of Councillor Ward, Executive Member for Transformation and Finance, seconded by Councillor McCracken it was

RESOLVED 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 detailed Human Resources Strategy described in paragraph 6.18 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.

Bracknell Town Centre Supplementary Capital Expenditure 

On the proposition of Councillor Ward, Executive Member for Transformation and Finance, seconded by Councillor Brunel-Walker it was

RESOLVED that approval be given for additional capital expenditure of £12.4M plus stamp  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

To approve the eighth Pay and Workforce Strategy.

The Council was asked to agree the recommendation of the Employment Committee to approve the eighth Pay and Workforce Strategy.  The Strategy was appended to the report and had been reviewed in light of changing priorities, new legislation and other issues which impact on the Council.

On the proposition of Councillor Ward, Executive Member for Transformation and Finance, seconded by Councillor McLean, it was

RESOLVED that the eighth Pay and Workforce Strategy be approved.

To agree the recommendations of the Employment Committee with regards to the senior salary structure, severance policy and the Pay Policy Statement for 2015/16 and to agree that the level of the Bracknell Forest Supplement for 2015/16.

The Council was asked to agree the recommendations of the Employment Committee with regards to the senior salary structure, severance policy and the Pay Policy Statement for 2015/16.

On the proposition of Councillor McLean, Chairman of Employment Committee, seconded by Councillor Ward, it was

RESOLVED that;

i)                    the Pay Policy statement for 2015/16; and

ii)                   the level of the Bracknell Forest Supplement for 2015/16 be £7.85 per hour with effect from 1 April 2015 be agreed.

By Councillor Mrs Temperton to Councillor Dr Barnard, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Learning:

There are now 12 schools in Bracknell Forest (almost 1/3) which have been judged by Ofsted to be Requiring Improvement, despite all the hard work going on to ‘close the gap’ and raise achievement. The Council offers a pre- Ofsted check which is taken up by some schools. These monitoring sessions are invaluable, giving the Head, Staff and Governors direction, focus and support to meet the challenges.

We believe that all Bracknell Forest schools should be given this review annually to ensure that the changing bench marks are being met and that best practice is shared. 

With the recruitment and appointment to 7 vacant headships in Bracknell Forest this year, we would suggest that such support is very necessary.

Will the Council implement this annual support to all schools?

Councillor Mrs Temperton asked Councillor Dr Barnard, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Learning, the following published question:

There are now 12 schools in Bracknell Forest (almost 1/3) which have been judged by Ofsted to be Requiring Improvement, despite all the hard work going on to ‘close the gap’ and raise achievement. The Council offers a pre- Ofsted check which is taken up by some schools. These monitoring sessions are invaluable, giving the Head, Staff and Governors direction, focus and support to meet the challenges.

We believe that all Bracknell Forest schools should be given this review annually to ensure that the changing bench marks are being met and that best practice is shared.

With the recruitment and appointment to 7 vacant headships in Bracknell Forest this year, we would suggest that such support is very necessary.

Will the Council implement this annual support to all schools?

In response Councillor Dr Barnard explained that some funding went directly to schools and that all schools had the option of purchasing services which support their school improvement plans and this included an annual review. Therefore the Local Authority already offered an annual review to all schools.  He added that the Council agreed that school reviews were an important part of continuous improvement and the preparation for an Ofsted inspection. Investment was being undertaken to develop additional capacity to conduct more reviews. Reviews had been focused on schools which were categorised as 'Requires improvement' by Ofsted and in some cases these had been completed free of charge but continue to be available for all schools no matter their Ofsted category.

In response to the supplementary question regarding the number of Headteacher vacancies Councillor Dr Barnard stated that the Council felt it was important to undertake robust recruitment processes. He stated the Council wanted to put in place effective and strong leadership for the borough’s schools. Good interim arrangements had been put in place whilst the right people were found for the seven vacancies. He reported that this was particularly an issue in the South East but the Council was aware of the challenge and were supporting the school governors from those schools.