Decision details

This item was chaired by Councillor Thittala Varkey (Chair)

Matter for Decision

Cambridge City Council’s Community Alarms service has been in operation in the City for over 20 years and currently serves around 440 customers. It has built a solid reputation and provided a valuable service over this time. However, for the last 5 years the service has been experiencing a decline in customer numbers and has, therefore, not achieved its income targets, resulting in the service no longer recovering its full cost inclusive of all overheads.

A review of the options for the service has been conducted and the report recommends the termination of the service by the City Council and the transfer of customers to the equivalent service by Cambridgeshire County Council.

Decision of Executive Councillor for Housing

      i.          Agreed the termination of the Community Alarm Service.

Reason for the Decision

As set out in the Officer’s report.

Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

Not applicable.

Scrutiny Considerations

The Committee received a report from the Housing Service Manager (Supported Housing).

The Housing Services Manager (Supported Housing) said the following in response to Members’ questions:

i.      Advised that the officer whose job was affected by the proposals had been involved with the drafting of the report and developing the recommendation.

ii.    Noted in relation to concerns expressed regarding paragraph 1.3 of the officer’s report that discussions which had taken place with the County Council in 2019 were before the County Council had set up their own independent service.

iii.   Agreed to share information regarding pricing with members and would report back on discussions with the County Council.

The Committee unanimously resolved to endorse the recommendation.

The Executive Councillor approved the recommendation.

Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Executive Councillor (and any Dispensations Granted)

No conflicts of interest were declared by the Executive Councillor.