Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor C Harris.

NOTED

The Chair will consider the admission of any of any late items of urgent business. (Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with at item 12 below.  New exempt items will be dealt with at item 15 below).

The Clerk advised that Item 14 had been TABLED and reasons for urgency would be given as to why the item was late for consideration.

NOTED

A member with a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered must disclose to that meeting the existence and nature of that interest at the commencement of that consideration, or when the interest becomes apparent.

A member with a personal interest in a matter also has a prejudicial interest in that matter if the interest is one which a member of the public with knowledge of the relevant facts would reasonably regard as so significant that it is likely to prejudice the member's judgement of the public interest.

There were no declaratrions of interests.

NOTED

To receive any deputations and petitions in accordance with Standing Order 37

There were no deputations or petitions.

NOTED

To approve the minutes of the following meetings of the General Purposes committee:

i)                    23 October 2006

ii)                  2 November 2006 (special meeting 1)

iii)                2 November 2006 (special meeting 2)

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meetings of the Committee held on (i) 22 October 2006, (ii) 2 November 2006 (Special) (at 18:00HRS) and (iii) 2 November 2006 (Special) (at 18:20HRS) be agreed as an accurate record of the proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them on behalf of the Committee.

To note the minutes of the following sub-bodies:

i)                    Council & Employees Joint Consultative Committee

-          4 September 2006

-          6 November 2006 (special meeting)

ii)                  Pensions Panel

-          5 October 2006

iii)                Planning Applications Sub-Committee

-          12 October 2006

-          30 October 2006

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the following Sub-bodies of the General Purposes Committee be noted:

i.                    Council & Employees Joint Consultative Committee

4 September 2006

6 November 2006 (special)

ii.                  Pensions Panel

5 October 2006

iii.                Planning Applications Sub-Committee

12 October 2006

30 October 2006

(Report of the Acting Director of Finance)   That the committee consider the report from the Procurement Committee and to endorse the proposed amendments to Contract Standing Orders.

The Committee received a brief introduction from the Head of Procurement – Mr Wood in respect of proposed amendments to Contract Standing Orders (CSOs). This report had been received and approved in principle by the Procurement Committee at its meeting on 7 December. Mr Wood advised that the changes were needed to secure compliance with European and UK legislation. They would also help to promote voluntary collaboration between local authorities in their efforts to achieve cost savings in procurement. 

Mr Wood advised of the full text changes are set out in Appendix 1 to the report and a more convenient comparison between the existing CSOs and the proposals was TABLED as Appendix 2.

Mr Wood advised that in respect of the circulated report he was withdrawing the proposal that the contract value, where it was appropriate to require the sealing of a contract, should be increased from £150,000 to £250,000.  He advised that it would be appropriate to bring the revised CSOs into force with the new central procurement register on 5 February 2007.  Mr Wood further advised that  the EU Consolidated Procurement Directive had been transposed into UK law by the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 which replaced all the Regulations previously referred to in CSO 8.01.  Mr Wood also commented that to ensure compliance with the European Court of Justice decision in “Alcatel”, which required a standstill period between notifying unsuccessful tenders and contract award, a 10 day period is to be inserted into CSO 8.02. In accordance with the 2006 Regulations, a new procurement procedure known as competitive dialogue is to be included in CSO 8.03(d) and provision is made for electronic tendering and auctions in CSOs 9.06 to 9.09.

In response to points of clarification by Members Mr Wood advised that the Committee were asked to approve improvements to streamline contract management. In some cases the urgency of works requires the use of “Letters of Intent” which were now to be permitted subject to value limits of 10% of contract value for works and services and £50,000 for supply of goods as proposed in CSO 12.02.  CSO 12.09 will make it the responsibility of the Director of Corporate Resources to decide whether a bond was needed for a works contract or whether a parent company guarantee either is needed in respect of contracts with subsidiary companies.  The Committee were also asked to note that certain requirements would be strengthened. CSO 12.04(d) provided for compliance with the Council’s insurance requirements for all contract values and CSO 12.04(e) required compliance with the Council’s equalities policies. A new CSO 12.11 was proposed to ensure that the Council could meet its duties to secure CRB checks where services involve children or vulnerable adults.  . In response to further clarification and requests from Councillor Adje in respect of the construction contracts awarded dating back to May 2002, the length of those contracts and a list of the companies Mr Wood undertook to supply Councillor Adje of details of the contracts awarded.

In  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

(Report of the Acting Director of Finance)  For the General Purposes Committee to approve the Schools’ Financial Regulations.

The Committee received a brief introduction of the circulated report by the Acting Head of Corporate Finance – Mr Bartle – in which he advised of the necessity for the regulation of Haringey’s schools financial management, and the recent legislative and process changes that needed to be reflected within updated financial regulations.  In response to questions from Councillor Adje with regard to the involvement of Schools Forums and Governing Bodies in respect of the proposed regulation changes Mr Bartle advised that a Governor had sat on the working party and indeed the regulatory changes had been discussed through Governor Forums.

There being no further questions the Chair summarised and it was:-

RESOLVED

That the new Financial Regulations for Schools for implementation from 1 April 2007 be noted, and approved.         

(Report of the Head of Personnel)  To outline the benefits of having a childcare voucher scheme, employee and employer implications and outline further actions required in order to progress with the scheme.     

The Committee received a brief introduction of the report from the Head of Personnel’s representative – Ms Gafney in which she advised the Committee of the benefits of having a childcare voucher scheme. The report was previously considered by the Committee on 23 October 2006 where it was agreed that more information was required in respect of the operation of the scheme in other boroughs/organisations, clarification on the use of registered childminders, and safeguards over fraud. Ms Gafney advised that these issues had been addressed at Sections 10 and 11 of the report and Ms Gafney briefly outlined these.

In response to questions from Councillor Dobbie Ms Gafney undertook to supply him with details of the political make up of the Local Authorities that had been consulted.

Following discussions in relation to the proposed implementation of the scheme the Chair summarised and it was:

RESOLVED   

i.                    that approval be given to the introduction of a childcare voucher scheme to eligible employees;

ii.                  that the scheme be administered by an external childcare provider;

iii.                that authority be delegated to the Head of Personnel to decide on the childcare voucher provider;

iv.                 that the Childcare Voucher functionality on SAP be configured;

v.                   that Employees should be subject to a fixed period contract where they agree to purchase vouchers over the set period; and

vi.        that in respect of the proposed implementation as outlined in (i)-(v) above, officers be requested to report any difficulties with implementation to the march meeting of general Purposes Committee.            

(Report of the Head of Legal Services and Monitoring Officer)  To report on a request from the Licensing Committee to the General Purposes Committee to recommend to full Council the adoption of amendments to the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy.

The Council’s Head of Legal Service’s representative – Mr Mitchison advised of proposed amendments to the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy. This was a statutory policy under the Licensing Act 2003 which could only be formally adopted or revised by full Council. It was not part of the Council’s Constitution.  Concerns had been expressed about the relationship between

licensing decisions and Town Planning controls, especially where

public houses, restaurants or night cafes applied for premises licences

with hours outside those allowed by the planning permission. Mr Mitchison advised that Counsel’s Opinion had been obtained which advised that the existing provision in paragraph 8.2 of the Statement of Licensing Policy was not sustainable. The paragraph stated that any application for licensing hours will not be considered if the hours applied for exceeded those permitted by Planning controls. Counsel was very clear that the Licensing Committee and Sub-Committees cannot be tied in this way to Planning. Licensing bodies have a duty to reach their own conclusions about the hours and activities that are acceptable when determining contested cases. However, licensing bodies can give appropriate weight to related planning decisions when these are relevant to the licensing objectives.

Mr Mitchison also drew the Committee’s attention that applicants for premises licences would still be encouraged to obtain the necessary planning permission for their hours of opening. If they failed to do so they could be subject to Planning Enforcement action, if this was expedient. Counsel also advised that paragraph 8.1 of the Statement of Licensing Policy required amendment to reflect the fact that public houses and hot food take-aways are now in a separate Planning Use Class from restaurants and cafes. This was purely technical change to update the Policy.  Mr Mitchison also advised that that statutory consultation of stakeholders had taken place but no representations had been received in relation to the proposed changes to the Statement of Licensing Policy. The Committee were also asked to note that a report on this matter had been received approved in principle by the Licensing Committee at its meeting on 31 October.

There being no questions or points of clarification the Chair summarised and it was:-

RESOLVED

That the amendments to paragraphs 8.1 and 8.2 of the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy (as detailed also in appendix 2 of the report) be endorsed and referred to Full Council for adoption.

To consider any items admitted at item 2 above

Nil Items.

The following items are likely to be the subject of a motion to exclude the press and public from the meeting as it contains “exempt” information as defined in Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972.

RESOLVED

            That the Public and press be excluded from the proceedings as the following item contains  exempt information as defined in section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972 namely; Para 1 – Information relating to an individual. 

(Report of the Director of Environmental Services)  To set out the proposed new structure approval.  To advise on the proposed process for the restructuring of Enforcement.  To advise on the proposed process for implementation including the ring fences and timetable.

In a brief introduction of the report the Assistant Director of Environment – Mr Payne, advised the meeting that the Enforcement Business Unit was established in 2003 with a newly created Assistant Director appointed in September 2003.  In 2004/5 the service took on responsibility for planning enforcement, the coordination of five Neighbourhood Warden schemes, and the establishment of a Heavy Enforcement Team within a new Environmental Crime Group. 

Mr Payne then took the Committee through the proposed further restructuring  to establish the new enforcement service which was intended to consolidate some of the improvements already made, to balance the budget overall, and take forward the service in a number of new areas of improvement, as outlined in the report.  

In welcoming the contents of the report Members expressed the following points:

• That it would be of use to receive an update in 1 calendar year to see how well the new structure had ‘bedded’ in and how Staffside viewed  the proposed structure was working
• The need to address the issue of the use of temporary and agency staff across the service area, as well as Borough-wide , together with rights of temporary or agency staff to newly created posts within the structure
• Clarification of the period that temporary staff had been in post

The Chair then summarised and it was:

RESOLVED

i.                    that approval be given to the proposed restructuring of the Enforcement Service as detailed within the body of the report and detailed in Appendix 2 therein;

ii.                  that the Head of Personnel be requested to report to the next meeting of the Committee in respect of the issue of the use of temporary and agency staff across the service area, as well as Borough-wide , together with rights of temporary or agency staff to newly created posts within the structure; and

iii.                that an update report be received in 1 calendar year to see how well the new structure had ‘bedded’ in and how Staffside viewed  the new structure was working.

(Report of the Head of Personnel)  A report to consider the implications of implementing the Council Reshaping report approved by Full Council on 13^th November.  TO BE TABLED

The Chair advised the Committee that the report was TABLED and considered urgent for consideration due to the need to consider a redundancy payment following the withdrawal of the person concerned from the open ring fence for the post of Assistant Director Access & Customer Focus.

The Chair advised that the Head of Personnel had been detained at the Appointments panel for the Director Posts and therefore was unable to attend.  In the absence of the Head of Personnel the Vice-Chair undertook to give a brief introduction of the report.

In a brief introduction of the report Councillor Adje advised the Committee of the Council’s reshaping proposals and the situation as detailed in the report whereby the person concerned was asking for a release from service through redundancy.  It was within the remit of the Council to agree this process through its internal mechanisms and the Committee were being requested to agree the resultant compensation award for the redundancy in line with Council policy which was early release of pension without actuarial reduction. Councillor Adje also advised that the costs in total would be drawn from the revenue budget of Access Services  and that there was no additional cost to the Pension Fund arising from the proposals.

The Chair asked if there were any questions from Members.

Councillor Dobbie commented that he was extremely concerned and felt it totally inappropriate that the report should have been introduced by the Vice-Chair (though the report was adequately covered) and that either the Head of Personnel, or in his absence, his deputy, should have been in attendance to report on such matters.  In deploring this Councillor Dobbie advised that he would be writing to the Chief Executive the following day to express his comments.

The Head of Member Services – Ms Semambo responded that she would take back the concerns expressed by Councillor Dobbie.  Ms Semambo also commented that the Committee needed to consider whether it was able to reach a decision in the absence of the Head of Personnel, or if there were sufficient concerns to not consider the item and defer consideration.    

Councillor Adje commented that the payment was inline with agreed Council policy and that no enhancements were being agreed.  Councillor Adje shared Councillor Dobbie’s concerns with regard to the absence of the Head of personnel or his representative. 

Councillor Whyte expressed her concerns that in this instance Members were agreeing to a redundancy payment when there were clearly vacancies in other service areas. Councillor Beynon also sought clarity in respect of the actual costs involved. In response Councillor Adje commented that under the current 85 year rule a person could leave in this position as their length of service and age added up to 85. The post holder was redundant and therefore there was no choice in the matter.    Councillor Adje reiterated his earlier comments that costs in total would be drawn from the revenue budget of Access Services  and that there was no additional cost to the Pension Fund  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.

To note the minutes of the meeting of the Pensions Panel held on:

-          26 July 2006

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the following Sub-bodies of the General Purposes Committee be noted:

i.                    Pensions Panel

26 July 2006

-          3 February and 10 March 2006

-          2 October 2006

-          16 October and 23 October 2006

-          6 November 2006

-          9 November 2006

-          17 November 2006

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the Member Level Appeals be noted:

3 February 2006

10 March 2006

16 & 23 October 2006

6 November 2006

9 November 2006

17 November 2006

Nil Items