CABINET
Minutes of a meeting held on 4th
February, 2009.
Present: Councillor G.C. Kemp
(Chairman); Councillor T.H. Jarvie (Vice-Chairman); Councillors
Mrs. J.E. Charles, P. Church, G.A. Cox, A.M. Ernest, H.J.W. James,
R.L. Traherne and Mrs. D.M. Turner.
Also present: Councillor R.F. Curtis.
C312
APOLOGY FOR ABSENCE -
This was received from Councillor A.D.
Hampton.
C313
MINUTES -
RESOLVED - T H A T the minutes of the meeting
held on 21st January, 2009 be approved as a
correct record.
C314
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST -
No declarations were received.
C315
THE VALE OF GLAMORGAN JOINT HOUSING LAND AVAILABILITY STUDY 2008
(DEER) (SCRUTINY - ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT) -
Planning Policy Wales (2002) required local
planning authorities to ensure that sufficient land was genuinely
available to provide a 5 year supply of land for housing judged
against the general objectives and the scale and location of the
development provided for in the Unitary Development Plan. The
current study indicated that between 1st April 2007 and
1st April 2008 406 dwellings had been completed of which
38 had been affordable. In respect of land supply, the study
calculated that as of 1st April 2008 the Vale of
Glamorgan land supply stood at 5.5 years or 2,264 dwellings.
In terms of the current UDP target of 6,079 during the 1998 period
to 2011, 4,932 units had been constructed to date therefore
equating to the need to provide 416 units per annum over the next 3
years to meet the UDP dwelling figure. It was accepted,
however, that it was likely in the current economic downturn that
future build rates within the Vale would not keep apace with the
annual requirement identified in the study. Consequently,
progress of sites identified within the study would be carefully
monitored and developer aspirations for the future development of
those sites would be taken into consideration in future studies as
well as the forthcoming Local Development Plan.
This was a matter for Executive decision.
RESOLVED - T H A T the findings of the Joint
Housing Land Availability Study be endorsed as a factual account of
the current housing land supply within the Vale of Glamorgan as at
1st April 2008.
Reason for decision
To allow the Joint Housing Land Availability
Study to be made available to the public and for officers to use
the Study in the preparation of the Vale of Glamorgan LDP and,
where necessary, in the determination of planning applications and
appeals.
C316
CONNECTING SOUTH EAST WALES SHARED SERVICES PROJECT (DFICTP)
(SCRUTINY - CORPORATE RESOURCES) -
The Connecting South East Wales (CSEW) Board
Steering Group had commissioned Orion Partners to produce a Final
Business Case (FBC) for the implementation of the design proposal
which identified all the costs and benefits of identified options
for its implementation. A summary of the updated FBC was
appended to the report. In October 2008 the CSEW Board had
recommended that Option 2 in the Business Case be considered by the
Executive of each organisation and evaluated with reference to the
circumstances of each. Option 2 related to a shared service
being introduced on the platform of existing technologies in year 2
with technology connections made through a Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) system.
The Design Proposal was intended to provide an
improved service and, overall, a financial appraisal within the FBC
led to the conclusion that there was a positive Business
Case. However, in recent years, the Council as part of its
OneVale programme had invested significant time and resources in
implementing the Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) suite of
systems, including Human Resources and was committed to bringing
the Oracle Payroll system on line in the current financial
year. As a part of that process, working practices and
existing structures had been radically transformed through Business
Process Re-engineering (BPR), the formation of TransAct to deal
with all transactional aspects of the HR and Payroll function being
quoted as a prime example of this. A consequence of
progressing those initiatives had not only been the investment of
significant resources in new systems and the potential for improved
service delivery but also the early realisation of potential
savings. As such, the FBC for the Vale of Glamorgan had far
less to offer in terms of sustained cost reductions than for other
participating bodies. As a consequence of Cardiff’s
non-participation in the shared services project, the eventual
annual potential saving to the Vale had now reduced to £7k.
It was noted that any further withdrawals would mean that this
Council’s full participation would likely result in a net
cost. It was also noted that irrespective of the Council’s
participation in the FBC, it was envisaged that further savings
would accrue as a result of the implementation of Oracle Financials
and associated BPR work which would easily exceed the latest level
of savings projected under the FBC. However, whilst the case
for financial savings accruing into the Council fund transactional
benefits as a result of implementing Option 2 was negligible, the
FBC did present opportunities for developing specialist services
from a shared services perspective. As regards the technology
required to implement Option 2, concerns had been raised over the
actual feasibility of implementing a “middle” solution for the
first two years of the project and, in addition, a decision still
had to be made on the eventual software solution to be implemented
from year 3. It was considered that the Council’s existing
ICT Strategy for an integrated system to provide “a single source
of the truth” could be compromised depending upon the eventual
choice of software supplier and / or configuration decisions made
by the project.
This was a matter for Executive decision.
RESOLVED -
(1) T H A
T the outcome of the Full Business Case, including the low level of
sustained cost reductions projected to accrue to the Council and
the potential for future service benefits in the area of specialist
services, be noted.
(2) T H A
T continued participation in the CSEW Shared Services Project be
agreed in principle provided that no further costs fell on the
Council resulting from additional work and implementation of the
project.
(3) T H A
T a progress report be submitted in due course.
Reasons for decisions
(1&3) To inform Cabinet of progress
in this matter.
(2) To
maintain progress in this matter.
C317
NATIONAL FRAUD INITIATIVE (DFICTP) (SCRUTINY - CORPORATE RESOURCES)
-
Cabinet approval was sought to allow the
Council to provide information for use in a bi-annual data match
exercise conducted by the Audit Commission and known as the
National Fraud Initiative. The National Fraud Initiative was
an extensive national data match exercise of matching Council Tax
records and the Electoral Register with the aim of identifying
cases where customers were claiming a single person discount on a
Council Tax liability when another adult was residing at the
property. A pilot of the data match by a number of councils
last year had identified savings in excess of £23m.
nationally. For ease of administration, it was proposed that
an officer be delegated authority to undertake disclosure of the
Electoral Register in line with best practice and the sharing of
personal information in accordance with the Auditor General’s Code
of Data Matching Practice. The Council’s Information Lawyer
had also indicated that the provision of the Electoral Register to
the Audit Commission was in accordance with the appropriate
legislation and within the powers of the Auditor General to
request.
This was a matter for Executive decision.
RESOLVED - T H A T the Director of Finance,
ICT and Property Services in consultation with the Chief Executive
be given delegated authority to provide the electoral register to
the Audit Commission for the purpose of the National Fraud
Initiative data management exercise for this and subsequent
matches.
Reason for decision
To enable Electoral Register data to be
provided to the Auditor General for data matching purposes.
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REVENUE MONITORING: 1ST APRIL - 31ST DECEMBER
2008 (CMT) (SCRUTINY - ALL) -
Although there were pressures on service
budgets, the projected outturn for 2008/09 was for a balanced
budget on the Council Fund and the Housing Revenue
Account.
This was a matter for Executive decision.
RESOLVED - T H A T the position be noted.
Reason for decision
So that Members are aware of the projected
revenue outturn for 2008/09.
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CAPITAL MONITORING: 1ST APRIL - 31ST DECEMBER
2008 (CMT) (SCRUTINY - ALL) -
Details of the financial progress on the
Capital Programme as at 31st December 2008 were
appended to the report. Particular reference was made to the
School Target Hardening Grant whereby the Council had been offered
a grant from the Welsh Assembly Government in the sum of £15k. for
the installation of steel railings at St. Richard Gwyn
Comprehensive School. Under the heading of Environmental and
Economic Regeneration, reference was made to General Asset Renewal,
specifically the two budgets for public convenience refurbishment
in the sum of £4k. from the 2007/08 allocation and £40k. in the
2008/09 allocation. It was proposed that the budgets be
combined and used for the refurbishment of the Llantwit Major and
Barry Island public convenience facilities and noted that
additional funding would be required to undertake the
schemes. It was not anticipated that both schemes could be
completed before the end of the current financial year and notice
was given that there was a potential that the budget would
therefore slip into 2009/10. As regards Barry Island
Footbridge, the tenders received for the work to replace the
footbridge adjacent to Barry Island Train Station had far exceeded
the budget available. Given that the price of steel had
fallen since the initial tender had been sought, it was intended to
re-tender the works in the hope that the price would further
reduce. Officers were also investigating the opportunity to
transfer funding from other schemes within the Directorate and a
further report would be submitted to Cabinet in due course.
This was a matter for Executive decision.
RESOLVED - T H A T the following changes to
the Capital Programme be approved:
·
School Target Hardening Grant - increase the budget by £15k. funded
from a WAG grant
·
General Asset Renewal - increase the budget by £48k. funded from an
existing revenue reserve within Visible Services.
Reason for decision
To allow schemes to be undertaken in this or
future financial years.