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i) Recommend to Council to approve carry forward requests for revenue funding from 2020/21 to 2021/22 as detailed in report appendix.
(ii) Recommend to Council to approve capital funding rephasing from 2020/21 to 2021/22 as detailed in report appendix.
Decision Maker: Executive Councillor for Transformation
Decision published: 28/07/2021
Effective from: 12/07/2021
Decision:
Matter for Decision
The outturn report presented reflects the Executive Portfolios for which
budgets were originally approved (which may have changed since, for example for
any changes in Portfolio responsibilities). Therefore, members of all
committees were asked to consider proposals to carry forward budgets and make
their views known to the Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources, for
consideration at Strategy and Resources Scrutiny Committee prior to
recommendations to Council.
Decision
of Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources to recommend to council to:
i. Approve carry forward requests totalling
£658,670 of revenue funding from 2020/21 to 2021/22, as detailed in Appendix C
of the officer’s report.
ii. Approve carry
forward requests of £49,211,000 of capital resources from 2020/21 to 2021/22 to
fund rephased net capital spending, as detailed in Appendix D of the officer’s
report.
iii. Approve the addition of £85,000 capital
funding in 2021/22 to undertake works to the Council Chamber/Committee Rooms to
stream meetings/enable hybrid meetings.
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 Head of Finance. The Head of
Finance referred to a budget proposal which had been published in advance of
the meeting regarding additional expenditure to upgrade the Council Chamber and
Committee Rooms with equipment to enable livestreaming and hybrid meetings.
This proposed as an additional recommendation (c).
Additional recommendation (c):
The Executive Councillor for Finance and
Resources is requested to recommend to Council the addition of £85,000 capital
funding in 2021/22 to undertaken works to the Council Chamber/Committee Rooms
to stream meetings/enable hybrid meetings.
The Committee made the following comments in response to the
report:
i.
Asked whether the decision to reduce car parking
charges affected the Council’s ability to reclaim this funding back from the
Covid Pandemic funding from Central Government. Noted that the capital spending
proposed was a lot of money and queried whether the programme could be delivered.
ii.
Commented that the decision to reduce car
parking charges allowed key workers not to have to travel on buses during the
pandemic.
iii.
Asked how big the existing capital programme for
2021/22 was in comparison with the requested carry forward of £49m
The Head of Finance said the following in response to
Members’ questions:
iv.
The decision to reduce car parking charges did
affect the funding the Council was able to claim back from Central Government.
Confirmed following the meeting that the total car parking charges the Council
reclaimed back was £4.1 million of the £5.9 million sales, fees and charges and
that the Council was not able to claim back £1.1million due to the decision to
reduce car parking charges.
v.
A large proportion of the capital programme involved
lending funding (£20 million) to the Cambridge Investment Partnership (CIP). Or
involved projects that were already in progress, for example Park Street
development (£9 million), which were being managed by external companies.
vi. The
capital plan total for 2021/22 in the Budget Setting Report approved in
February was £40.9m.
vii. There
were processes in place to ensure that capital projects moved forward as
quickly as possible.
viii. Confirmed
that the income compensation the Council applied for was calculated via a
Government formula.
The Committee resolved by 4 votes to 0 to endorse the following
recommendations.
ii) Approve carry forward requests of £49,211,000 of
capital resources from 2020/21 to 2021/22 to fund rephased net capital
spending, as detailed in Appendix D of the officer’s report.
The Committee
resolved unanimously to endorse the following recommendation.
iii) Approve the
addition of £85,000 capital funding in 2021/22 to undertaken works to the
Council Chamber/Committee Rooms to stream meetings/enable hybrid meetings.
The
Executive Councillor approved the recommendations.
Conflicts
of Interest Declared by the Executive Councillor (and any Dispensations
Granted)
No
conflicts of interest were declared by the Executive Councillor.
Lead officer: Caroline Ryba
Recommend the report to Council, which includes the Council's actual Prudential and Treasury Indicators for 2020/21.
Decision Maker: Executive Councillor for Transformation
Decision published: 28/07/2021
Effective from: 12/07/2021
Decision:
Matter for Decision
The Council was
required by regulations issued under the Local Government Act 2003, to produce
an annual treasury report reviewing treasury management activities and the
actual prudential and treasury indicators for each financial year.
This report meets the
requirements of both the CIPFA Treasury Management in the Public Services: Code
of Practice 2017 (the Code) and the CIPFA Prudential Code for Capital Finance
in Local Authorities 2017 (the Prudential Code) in respect of 2020/21.
During the 2020/21
the minimum requirements were that Council should receive:
- An annual strategy
in advance of the year
- A mid-year treasury
update report and;
- An annual review
following the end of the year describing the activity compared to the strategy.
In line with the Code
of Practice on Treasury Management all treasury management reports have been
presented to Strategy and Resources Scrutiny Committee and to Full Council.
Decision of Executive
Councillor for Finance and Resources to recommend to Council to:
i.
Approve the report
with the Council’s actual Prudential and Treasury Indicators for 2020/21
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 Head of Finance.
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.
Lead officer: Caroline Ryba
To enable the Committee to scrutinise the Council's representative on the Combined Authority.
Decision Maker: Executive Councillor for External Partnerships
Decision published: 28/07/2021
Effective from: 12/07/2021
Decision:
Matter for Decision
The report provided an update on the activities of the
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) since the 8 February
2021 meeting of Strategy & Resources Scrutiny Committee.
Decision of Executive
Councillor for Finance and Resources
i.
Noted the update on issues considered at the
meetings of the Combined Authority held on 24 March (reconvened on 26 March), 2
and 30 June 2021.
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 Head of Corporate
Strategy presented by the Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources in the
absence of the Executive Councillor for Strategy and External Partnerships.
The Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources made the
following comments:
i.
Confirmed changes to Lead Councillors in the
Combined Authority:
a.
Councillor Herbert was now the lead councillor
for Housing,
b.
Councillor Nethsingha was the lead councillor
for Skills and
c.
Councillor Dupre was the lead councillor for
Overview and Scrutiny.
ii. Highlighted
the appointment of the new Chief Executive and advised it was anticipated that
they would be in post by late autumn.
The Committee made the following
comments in response to the report:
i. Asked whether the
new Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority Mayor had confirmed their
intention to discontinue the CAM Metro project.
The Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources said the
following in response to Members’ questions:
i.
Confirmed he thought that the CAM Metro project
had been stopped but he wasn’t sure what project may replace it.
The Committee resolved to note the report.
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.
Lead officer: Andrew Limb
Update on business support during the pandemic to date and next steps.
Decision Maker: Executive Councillor for Transformation
Decision published: 28/07/2021
Effective from: 12/07/2021
Decision:
Matter for
Decision
The report provided an update on the ongoing work that the council had
undertaken during the pandemic to respond to the needs of the City following a motion to Council in February 2021.
Decision
of Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources
i.
Noted the update on progress across the programme and next
steps.
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 Strategic Director. The Head of
Corporate Strategy attended to answer questions.
The Committee made
the following comments in response to the report:
i.
Commented that it was a helpful report and thanked
officers for their work on the report. Commented that recovery was only one
part of the exercise and that the report was silent on the question of renewal
in the city centre. Renewal was different to recovery and both were needed.
Commented that the Council was not doing anything about renewal, the pandemic
had accelerated changes in the high street. Referred to the Grafton Centre as
an example and stated that the public were concerned about what would happen
with the space since the owners had put the building up for sale.
ii.
Concerned to make sure that businesses in neighbourhood
areas would also be supported in their recovery as well as the city centre.
iii.
Commented that the new Joint Local Plan was where
the high-level strategic thinking should be undertaken and that a separate
strategy outside of that process would be duplicating work.
iv.
Looking to the future, asked what support would be
given to younger people.
v.
Asked what the Capitalised Future Vision was on
p133 of the agenda point 4.
The Executive Councillor said the following in response to Members’
questions:
i.
Work was already being undertaken by the Assistant
Director (Strategy and Economy) and Head of Property Services and would be
supported by the new Economic Development Manager.
ii.
Felt it was still too early to see the full impact
of the Covid pandemic on the city centre. There was a lot of new retail
businesses coming into the city centre as well as business leaving. There
needed to be a long term strategy based on evidence.
Neighbourhood areas, such as Mill Road were being supported.
iii.
Had been in discussions with the owners of the
Grafton Centre, there were a lot of tenancies in place.
iv.
Work was being undertaken with South Cambridgeshire
District Council, the Greater Cambridge Partnership and the Combined Authority
regarding opportunities for younger people.
v.
Confirmed that the Capitalised Future Vision was
the work being undertaken by the Strategic Director and Head of Property
Services.
Councillor Bick proposed the following amendment:
i.
Add second bullet to recommendation at 2.0 on
page 125 of the agenda
·
Commission an exercise to define a place-based
renewal strategy for the city centre to recognise the structural changes in the
‘high street’ which the pandemic has accelerated and to which recovery is only
a partial answer.
The Executive Councillor said in response that the amendment
was not required as the work was already underway.
On a show of hands, the amendment was lost by 2 votes to 4.
The Committee resolved to note the recommendations.
The Executive
Councillor noted the recommendations.
Conflicts of Interest
Declared by the Executive Councillor (and any Dispensations Granted)
No conflicts of interest
were declared by the Executive Councillor.
Lead officer: Fiona Bryant
To note and agree content of the Annual Complaints Report prior to publication.
Decision Maker: Executive Councillor for Transformation
Decision published: 28/07/2021
Effective from: 12/07/2021
Decision:
Matter for Decision
The Officer’s report summarised the performance for the 3Cs
ICT, Legal Shared Services and the Greater Cambridge Shared Internal Audit
Service during 2020/21.
Decision of Executive
Councillor for Finance and Resources
i. Noted the content
of the report.
Reason for the
Decision
As set out in the Officer’s report.
Any Alternative
Options Considered and Rejected
Not applicable.
Scrutiny
Considerations
This item was not requested for pre-scrutiny and the committee made no
comments in response to the report.
The Committee unanimously resolved to endorse the
recommendations.
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.
Lead officer: Tony Stead
Shared Service Annual reports for 2020/21 for approval by Exec Councillor.
Decision Maker: Executive Councillor for Transformation
Decision published: 28/07/2021
Effective from: 12/07/2021
Decision:
Matter for Decision
The Officer’s report summarised the performance for the 3Cs
ICT, Legal Shared Services and the Greater Cambridge Shared Internal Audit
Service during 2020/21.
Decision of Executive
Councillor for Finance and Resources
i. Noted the content
of the report.
Reason for the
Decision
As set out in the Officer’s report.
Any Alternative
Options Considered and Rejected
Not applicable.
Scrutiny
Considerations
This item was not requested for pre-scrutiny and the committee made no
comments in response to the report.
The Committee unanimously resolved to endorse the
recommendations.
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.
Lead officer: Fiona Bryant