Agenda and minutes

(a) This meeting is to be webcast;

(b) Members are reminded of the need to activate their microphones before speaking; and

(c) the Chairman will read the following announcement:

“I would like to remind everyone present that this meeting will be broadcast live to the Internet and will be capable of subsequent repeated viewing, with copies of the recording being made available for those that request it.

By being present at this meeting, it is likely that the recording cameras will capture your image and this will result in your image becoming part of the broadcast.

You should be aware that this may infringe your human and data protection rights. If you have any concerns then please speak to the Webcasting Officer.

Please could I also remind Members to activate their microphones before speaking.”

The Chairman reminded everyone present that the meeting would be broadcast live to the Internet, and that the Council had adopted a protocol for the webcasting of its meetings.

(Director of Governance) To declare interests in any item on this agenda.

There were no declarations of interest pursuant to the Council’s Member Code of Conduct.

To confirm the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 10 November 2016 (previously circulated at Cabinet 1 December 2016).

            RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 10 November 2016 be taken as read and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

(Assistant Director - Housing Operations ) To consider the attached report (FPM-021-2016/17).

The Assistant Director (Housing Operations), R Wilson, presented a report regarding the extension of funding for 2 Epping Forest Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) Debt Advisors for a further year from 1 April 2017.

The Cabinet Committee had previously agreed to fund the CAB’s two Debt Advisors for a further year in 2016/17 subject to the CAB Manager attending an appropriate meeting to explain the use and outcomes of the Council’s grant funding. Accordingly, the CAB Manager had recently attended the Communities Select Committee on 17 January 2017 and advised that CAB now had offices in the library in Loughton, a newly refurbished office in Epping, a new online system and were looking to provide outreach services in Ongar and at Norway House, North Weald. She had also said that she expected that reductions in the overall national Welfare Budget would increase the need for continued support around personal budgeting and debt advice.

The Chairman of the Communities Select Committee, Councillor Y Knight attended the Cabinet Committee meeting advised and that the Select Committee had fully supported the recommendation to extend the two posts for a further year. She advised that the CAB’s presentation would be made available to all Members by email, which provided detailed information on the use and outcomes of the service throughout the District and that the CAB had agreed to make a further presentation to the Select Committee on the use of the funding in twelve months’ time.

The Cabinet Committee were in agreement that the CAB provided a valuable service that could prevent rent arrears and homelessness issues for the District’s residents.

Recommended:

1)         That funding for the Citizens Advice Bureau’s two existing Debt Advisors be recommended to Cabinet for approval from 1 April 2017 for a year and funded as follows:

(a) £37,800 from the Housing Revenue Account; and

(b) £4,200 from the General Fund District Development Fund; and

Resolved:

2)         That the CAB makes a presentation to the Communities Select Committee about the use and outcomes from the funding in 12 months’ time.

Reasons for Decision:

To agree to extend the funding of the CAB’s two existing Debt Advisors for a further year from 1 April 2017, in order to provide support to residents with personal budgeting and debt advice.

Other Options Considered and Rejected:

1.         Not to agree to extend the funding of the CAB’s two existing Debt Advisors for a further year from 1 April 2017.

2.         To only extend the funding for one CAB Debt Advisor.

3.         To provide funding for more than two CAB Debt Advisors.

(Assistant Director – Housing Operations) To consider the attached report (FPM-022-2016/17).

The Assistant Director (Housing Operations), R Wilson, presented a report on the current homelessness situation in the District and on initiatives to seek to mitigate the increasing numbers, which included the appointment of 1 additional Homelessness Prevention Officer, amendments to the operation of the proposed rental loan scheme, the use of an external company to undertake Homelessness Reviews and funding for an external specialist services to provide advice to rough sleepers.

The Communities Select Committee had been asked by the Portfolio Holder for Housing to consider various mitigation strategies to deal with the current and  future increasing pressures of homelessness in the District, which had been summarised as follows:

·                     The Council’s Hostel’s were full most of the time;

·                     The Housing Association Leasing Direct Scheme had reduced to 15 units, which were fully occupied;

·                     Increasing figures of single homeless applicants within Bed and Breakfast(B&B);

·                     Lack of temporary accommodation leading up to 5 families being placed in B&B accommodation, which becomes unlawful after 6 weeks;

·                     The net cost to the Council’s General Fund had increased from £62,561 in 2013/14 to £114,273 in 2015/16;

·                      B&Bs were often full due to other authorities using the hotels as well;

·                     14 homeless families were currently placed within the Council’s own housing stock on non-secure tenancies until their cases were resolved and the likelihood was that this figure would rise;

·                     The Invest to Save fund for landlord deposits held by a third party had proven difficult to operate and had therefore not been able to be used;

·                     London Boroughs were placing their homeless applicants in privately rented  accommodation within the District and paying more generous cash incentives;

·                     The Homelessness Reduction Bill was expected to become law in 2017 placing additional duties on the Council to prevent and reduce homelessness; and

·                     The number of Statutory Homelessness Reviews was increasing the burden on senior officers.

In order to combat these increasing pressures on the homelessness services, a bid of £32,000 from CSB funding for the appointment of 1 FTE additional Grade 6 Homelessness Prevention Officer and £9,000 for external assistance with statutory homelessness reviews had been requested. In addition to this the Invest to Save funding of £90,000 would provide applicants with a rental loan for 4 weeks when securing accommodation in the private rented sector and/or a landlord deposit in accordance with LHA rates, which would be paid back on an interest free basis over 36 months. Furthermore a CSB Growth Bid of £2,500 per annum had been requested from 2017/18 to fund an external company to provide specialist services to rough sleepers.

The Chairman of the Communities Select Committee, Councillor Y Knight attended the meeting and advised that the Select Committee had fully supported the recommendations, in order to prevent homelessness and associated costs to the Council.

Councillor J M Whitehouse enquired about the use of Council flats above shops with separate access being made available and incorporated into the Council stock, that were not linked to the lease. R Wilson advised that he  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40.

(Assistant Director - Housing PSR) To consider the attached report (FPM-023-2016/17).

The Assistant Director (Private Sector Housing and Community Support), L Swan, presented a report on the funding for Caring and Repairing in Epping Forest (C.A.R.E).

The Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs) were statutory, means-tested grants of up to £30,000 to provide adaptations in the homes of disabled owner-occupiers and private tenants to maintain independent living in the community. Expenditure on DFGs in 2016/17 was expected to be £630,000 and came from the General Fund, through the Government to Essex County Council (ECC) via the Better Care Fund (BCF) alongside a contribution from EFDC.  In 2016/17 the amounts allocated were £665,000 from the BCF and £120,000 from EFDC. These services were provided through the Council’s in-house Home Improvement Agency (HIA), C.A.R.E. (Caring and Repairing in Epping Forest). ECC currently provided funding of £51,000 a year for C.A.R.E. but had recently announced that this funding would stop in April 2017. Therefore, in order to continue to provide this service it was recommended that £51,000 of the BCF (which was likely to be in excess of £665,000 in 2017/18) was ‘top-sliced’ in 2017/18 to meet the funding shortfall.

The Cabinet Committee were in favour of enabling residents to stay within their own homes and therefore supported the recommendations.

Recommended: 

1.         That £51,000 be top-sliced from the Government’s Better Care Fund (BCF) contribution towards support for applicants of Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs) from 2017/18; and

Resolved:

2.         That the capital allocation for Disabled Facilities Grants continues to be monitored by Members on a quarterly basis with specific reference to the viability of this arrangement from 2017/18 onwards.

Reasons for the Decision:

C.A.R.E. provides services to support older people and people with disabilities to maintain independent living in the community.  A large part of the team’s work was to help people with disabilities to apply for adaptations to their homes.  Historic evidence was that if people were not supported to apply for the help they needed, they would do without the adaptations and risk ending up in the care service or in hospital.

The BCF was set up in 2014 in order to provide ‘the most vulnerable people in our society with a fully integrated health and social care service, resulting in an improved experience and better quality of life’.  The funding that the Council expected to receive from ECC in April 2017, added to the £120,000 DFG funding that the Council had already agreed for 2017/18, was likely to be more than £785,000 which would be more than adequate to meet the need for DFGs and the £51,000 funding shortfall.  As the BCF allocation for future years was not known at present (although it was likely to be at least as much if not more than the current allocation), consideration would need to be given in the monitoring of Capital budgets as to whether this arrangement should continue in future years.

Options Considered and Rejected:

1.            The main alternative option to the one proposed would be to raise the fees charged to DFG applicants.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

(Director of Resources) To consider the attached report (FPM-024-2016/17).

The Director of Resources presented a report regarding the Council’s Corporate Risk Register.

The Corporate Risk Register had been considered by both the Risk Management Group on 12 December 2016 and Management Board on 21 December 2016. The reviews identified amendments to the Corporate Risk Register but no additional risks or scoring changes. The amendments were as follows;

(a)        Risk 1 – Local Plan

The public consultation closed on 12 December 2016, an additional Required further management action had been added to cover the need to assess the responses received. “Making use of external PR firm” had been added to an Existing control, this would assist with the provision of accurate ongoing communications.

(b)        Risk 2 - Strategic Sites

The Effectiveness of controls/actions had been amended to advise the updated position for the key sites. Work continued to progress well at the Winston Churchill site. The purchase of St. Johns from Essex County Council had been completed. The works at Langston Road continued ahead of schedule. Waltham Abbey Leisure Centre had been added as a key site, with the Required further management action of obtaining detailed planning consent.

(c)        Risk 4 - Finance Income

The Key date had been amended for budget setting at Council on 21 February 2017.

(d)        Risk 9 - Safeguarding

The Vulnerability now included reference to the Care Act 2014, which referred to adults with needs for care and support. This included a specific responsibility for safeguarding adults from self-neglect.

Members were asked to consider the updated Corporate Risk Register and whether the risks listed were scored appropriately and if there were any additional risks that should be included.

Councillor J M Whitehouse advised that the removal of the ‘Forester’ was required to Risk 1 – Local Plan, under Effectiveness of controls/actions.

Recommended:

1.             That the Existing Control and Required further management action in Risk 1 – Local Plan be updated;

2.            That the Effectiveness of controls/actions and Required further management action in Risk 2 -  Strategic Sites be updated;

3.            That the Key date for Risk 4 - Finance Income be updated;

4.            That the Vulnerability for Risk 9 – Safeguarding be updated; and

5.            That including the above agreed changes, the amended Corporate Risk Register be recommended to Cabinet for approval.

Reasons Decisions:

It was essential that the Corporate Risk Register was regularly reviewed and kept up to date.

Other Options for Considered and Rejected:

Members could suggest new risks for inclusion or changes to the scoring of existing risks.

(Director of Resources) To consider the attached report (FPM-025-2016/17).

The Assistant Director Accountancy presented a summary of the detailed directorate budgets for 2017/18.

The report provided the draft General Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Budgets for the financial year 2017/18, which were presented on a directorate by directorate basis. There were accompanying notes highlighting areas where significant changes had occurred, which were presented to the Cabinet Committee to give an opportunity for Members to comment and make any recommendations prior to the budget being formally set during February 2017. The budget setting process commenced with the Financial Issues Paper incorporating the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) being presented in July 2016, which had identified a savings target for 2017/18 of £0.25 million.

The settlement figures provided in December 2015 were for four years and providing that the Council had signed up to an efficiency plan. The Council duly agreed to accept the settlement during the autumn on the basis that indications were that failure to do so could mean a worse settlement, although the figures had not included the New Homes Bonus. The released proposals had been rather more draconian than expected as a significant amount had been redirected to Adult Social care, meaning a reduction for districts but a gain for county’s. The actual reduction was around £2.5 million for this Council but because the MTFS had assumed some loses going forward the actual growth required to meet the shortfall over the next four years was £1.9 million. The impact on the Council of this was serious but because of the savings on the new Leisure Management Contract, income from the Epping Forest Retail Park, the Winston Churchill development and other assets, the Council would be in a far better position than some other districts. The commitment made to move to 100% retention of Business Rates locally was still being worked on by Central Government and the current retention proportions (40% District, 9% County and 1% fire) were likely to be changed.

The budgets were presented on a directorate by directorate basis, highlighting areas where Continuing Services Budget (CSB), District Development Fund (DDF) savings or growth and Invest to Save (ITS) expenditure had occurred and also where allocation or other changes had affected budgets.

Chief Executive

The Chief Executive reported that the budget was made up of mostly recharges from services for corporate and public accountability activities, subscriptions and Transformation Projects. The original estimate for 2016/17 had been an expenditure of £1.174 million, with a probably outcome of £1.317 million. The net increase had been attributed to the new Head of Customer Services position reporting directly to the Chief Executive and the Invest to Save amount of £83,000 for the accommodation review. The 2017/18 budget also included an additional DDF allocation of £100,000 to support work to integrate and increase efficiency in the delivery of public services.

Communities Directorate

The Director of Communities reported that the Directorate was responsible for three distinct budgets which were the the Housing General Fund, Community Services & Safety and the Housing Revenue  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972, requires that the permission of the Chairman be obtained, after prior notice to the Chief Executive, before urgent business not specified in the agenda (including a supplementary agenda of which the statutory period of notice has been given) may be transacted.

Resolved:

That, as agreed by the Chairman of the Cabinet Committee and in accordance with Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972, the following items of urgent business be considered following the publication of the agenda:

(a)        Detailed Directorate Budgets - Housing Revenue Account; and

(b)        Council Budgets 2017/18.

(Director of Resources) To consider the attached report (FPM-026-2016/17)

The Director of Resources presented a report detailing the proposed Council Budget for 2017/18, which used £108,000 from reserves but maintained the Council’s policy on the level of reserves throughout the period of the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS). Over the course of the MTFS, the use of reserves used to support spending peaked at £139,000 in 2019/20 and reduced to £78,000 in 2020/21. The budget was based on the assumption that Council Tax would be frozen and average Housing Revenue Account rents would decrease by 1% in 2017/18.

The annual budget commenced with the Financial Issues Paper (FIP) being presented to the Committee on 14 July 2016, which continued the earlier start to the process and reflected the concerns over the reform of financing for local authorities. It highlighted the uncertainties associated with Central Government Funding, Business Rates Retention, Welfare Reform, New Homes Bonus, Development Opportunities, Transformation, Waste and Leisure Contracts and Miscellaneous including recession, income streams and pension valuation.

In setting the budget for the current year, Members had anticipated using £36,000 from the General Fund reserves which was possible as the MTFS approved in February 2016 had shown a combination of net savings targets and limited use of reserves. The limited use of reserves in 2016/17 was not significant as the MTFS at that time had been predicting the use of just under £0.38 million of reserves to support spending in the following three years.

The revised MTFS presented with the FIP took into account all the changes known at that point and highlighted the potential reductions in New Homes Bonus. The projection showed a need to achieve additional net savings of £250,000 on the 2017/18 estimates, followed by £150,000 in 2018/19 and £100,000 in 2019/20 to keep revenue balances comfortably above the target level at the end of 2019/20. The budget guidelines for 2017/18 were therefore established as; the ceiling for CSB net expenditure be no more than £13.11 million including net growth/savings; the ceiling for DDF net expenditure be no more than £0.26 million; and the District Council Tax  be frozen.

The Director of Resources reported that Members had decided that the offer from DCLG of a four-year settlement had been accepted and figures were very much as expected with the SFA reducing over the four years by £2.43 million or nearly 45%.

The full retention of business rates had proven to be disappointing with the funding increasing from £3.02 million in 2015/16 to £3.32 million in 2019/20, an increase of £0.3 million or 9.9% and the tariff paid to the Treasury increasing by a similar percentage from £10.23 million to £11.17 million. Furthermore, the Councils retained business rates would exceed the SFA in 2019/20, incurring an additional tariff of £0.28 million and a disincentive to local authorities in devoting resources to economic development. The Council Tax had not increased since 2010/11 and the Cabinet Committee had advised that the Council Tax would not increase whilst the General Fund balance remained comfortably above the minimum  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.