The Chairman opened the meeting and paid tribute to Councillor JA Hyde who had passed away recently. Her passing was a great loss to Herefordshire in general and Ross-on-Wye in particular. Councillor Hyde was a dedicated and hardworking councillor who would be missed greatly by her colleagues. She was a champion for vulnerable people and spent much of her career supporting and encouraging children in care.

The Leader paid his respects to Councillor Hyde and explained that she was a well-respected colleague who had the best interest of others at heart. She did not shy away from difficult decisions and was focused on ensuring the wellbeing of children in the county from a young age.

Councillor RI Matthews spoke about Councillor Hyde and explained that he had known her for a number of years. She was fair minded and professional and the condolences of the Herefordshire Independents group were offered.

Councillor FM Norman offered her sympathies to Councillor Hyde’s family. Tribute was paid to her work on the Corporate Parenting Board and her work with looked after children which was a greatly appreciated and valued aspect of her work.

Councillor TM James spoke of Councillor Hyde’s positivity and her drive to achieve change. He also paid tribute to her even-handedness and the absence of tribal politics in her work.

Councillor EPJ Harvey offered the sincere condolences of the It’s Our County group and spoke of the dedication Councillor Hyde showed working on behalf of looked after children and to promote children and young people in the county.

The Chairman explained that any donations should be made to Hereford 16+ Herefordshire Children in Care.

A minute’s silence was conducted.

Councillor Cutter paid tribute to Councillor Hyde and her work with children and on the adoption panel.  A personal expression of thanks to Jenny was made.

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors SP Anderson, PA Andrews, PE Crockett and CA Gandy.

To receive declarations of interest in respect of Schedule 1, Schedule 2 or Other Interests from members in respect of items on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest at this stage of the meeting please see minute 47 below with details of a other interest declared by Councillor RJ Phillips and a other interest declared by Councillor A Seldon.

To approve and sign the minutes of the ordinary meeting of Council on 12 October 2018 and the extraordinary meeting of Council on 18 January 2019.

RESOLVED: that the minutes of the ordinary meeting of Council on 12 October 2018 and the extraordinary meeting of Council on 18 January 2019 are approved as correct records.

To receive the Chairman and Chief Executive’s announcements.

Council noted the Chairman’s and Chief Executive’s announcements as printed in the agenda papers.

The Chairman introduced his announcements and referred to the exhibition in the European Parliament in Brussels sponsored by the M.E.P Anthea McIntyre to showcase Herefordshire. The exhibition was being attended by The Chairman, Councillor DG Harlow and the director of children and families at the invitation and expense of the European Union.

The Chief Executive introduced his announcements and corrected the date of the local elections stated in his report to the 2 May 2019.

To receive questions from members of the public.

Deadline for receipt of questions is 5:00pm on Monday 11 February 2019.

At the budget meeting of Council questions must relate to items on the agenda.

Accepted questions and answers will be published as a supplement prior to the meeting. Please submit questions to councillorservices@herefordshire.gov.uk,

A copy of the public questions and written answers, together with supplementary questions asked at the meeting and their answers, is attached to the Minutes at Appendix 1.

To receive questions from members of the council.

Deadline for receipt of questions is 5:00pm on Monday 11 February 2019.

At the budget meeting of Council questions must relate to items on the agenda.

Accepted questions and answers will be published as a supplement prior to the meeting. Please submit questions to councillorservices@herefordshire.gov.uk,

A copy of the Member questions and written answers, together with supplementary questions asked at the meeting and their answers, is attached to the Minutes at Appendix 2.

To approve the continuation of the 2018/19 local council tax reduction scheme (CTR) for 2019/20. The current scheme was initially approved by Council on 18 December 2015.

Council considered a report by the Leader to agree the council tax reduction scheme for 2019/20.

The deputy leader moved the report and proposed the current council tax reduction scheme for approval. He noted that summons for arrears were mostly arising from claimants of council tax reduction and that collection rates had been maintained at a stable level. The council tax reduction scheme introduced a discount to care leavers which offered a 100% discretionary discount to care leavers aged 18 – 25.

The report was seconded by the Leader.

In discussion the following principal points were raised:

·         The impact of universal credit (UC) was raised. The deputy leader explained that discussions of the impact of the introduction of UC took place at Blueschool House which demonstrated the benefit of co-locating the council and job centre in the same building. There were no concerns regarding the council tax reduction scheme in respect of claimants of UC.

·         The impact of council tax debt was raised and whether budgeting training was made available to help the vulnerable cope. The provision of staff to help with the roll out of UC and assist claimants was queried. The impact of the introduction of UC required ongoing monitoring by the council. The deputy leader confirmed that training in respect of UC had been made available through the council which would pass to the citizens advice bureau from 1 April 2019. Currently there was a concern regarding the capacity of the citizens advice bureau to provide a sufficient number of trained staff from April.

·         The introduction of council tax relief for care leavers was supported.

·         The status of students in relation to council tax liability and the council tax reduction scheme was raised. The deputy leader confirmed that a written reply to the query would be provided.

·         The retention of the existing council tax reduction Scheme was supported.

A named vote was held to agree the council tax reduction scheme set out in the report. The scheme was approved unanimously.

For (48): BA Baker, JM Bartlett,  WLS Bowen, TL Bowes, H Bramer, CR Butler, ACR Chappell, EE Chowns, MJK Cooper, P Cutter, BA Durkin, PJ Edwards, DW Greenow, KS Guthrie, J Hardwick, DG Harlow, EPJ Harvey, EL Holton, TM James, PC Jinman, AW Johnson, JF Johnson, JLV Kenyon, JG Lester, MD Lloyd-Hayes, PP Marsh, RI Matthews, RL Mayo, MT McEvilly, SM Michael, PD Newman, FM Norman, CA North, RJ Phillips, AJW Powers, PD Price, P Rone, AR Round, A Seldon, NE Shaw, WC Skelton, J Stone, D Summers, EJ Swinglehurst, LC Tawn, A Warmington, DB Wilcox, SD Williams.

Against (0)

Abstentions (0)

RESOLVED:– that the Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2019/20, attached at appendix 2 of the report, is approved.

To approve the capital investment budget and capital strategy for 2019/20, as recommended by Cabinet.

Council considered a report by the Leader to approve the capital investment budget and capital strategy for 2019/20 onwards.

The deputy leader moved the report and proposed the recommendations. He outlined a number of schemes in the report within each of the directorates for which an expanded description was provided. The capital strategy document was also proposed for approval which was intended to bring clarity regarding how the council prioritised its work programme, setting out its appetite for borrowing and specifying monitoring arrangements.

The Leader seconded the report.

In discussion the following principal points were raised:

·      The lack of public consultation was raised. The lack of public input in the programme was unacceptable given the significant amount of money allocated in the capital programme. The deputy leader explained that the consultation of the MTFS was undertaken some time ago and this year there was a focus on honing elements of the revenue budget. The statutory consultation required was from businesses only however the council was always open to receiving comments and feedback. 

·      The level of support from members, listed against projects in the report, was queried. It was assumed that this was cabinet member support as members were not aware of being consulted on the projects. For clarification it should be titled cabinet member support. The low level of support for the Members IT project was queried. The deputy leader confirmed that the indicator of member support demonstrated the backing provided for the project by the cabinet member. The level of support indicated for the IT project was a subjective view informed by the longevity of the equipment used by the deputy leader; it was however recognised that to respond to IT security concerns, updated IT equipment for members was required. The chief finance officer clarified that the scoring for member support outlined in the report was based upon an examination of the business cases of the projects and their link to the corporate strategy.             

·      The capital programme was inconsistent with the scale of the climate change and public interest in this environmental challenge. There was no mention of climate change in any of the administration’s budget papers but it needed to be acknowledged that the proposals in the budget would establish long term patterns of development with an impact on the climate. The road building projects were not consistent with the challenge faced by climate change; every building in the capital programme should be zero carbon. The deputy leader explained that there were a number of environmentally friendly elements of the budget which all had a big effect on reducing the council’s carbon footprint, and new development such as the cyber security project was being designed to a high level of environmental standards.

·      It was concerning that the administration was not looking at incorporating the principle of sustainability in to the budget. It was explained that the It’s Our County group supported the level of spending proposed in the capital programme but would have different priorities and a different  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

To approve the 2019/20 budget and associated medium term financial strategy and treasury management strategy.

Council considered the report setting the 2019/20 budget and updating the medium term financial strategy (MTFS) and treasury management strategy.

The Chairman outlined the procedure to be followed during the budget debate and the time limits for speaking.

Councillor EPJ Harvey raised a point of order. The administration’s budget that Council was considering had not been approved by cabinet. Appendix 7 to the budget report had not be considered or approved at the cabinet meeting on 31 January. The proposals contained in appendix 7 were an amendment to the cabinet’s budget and not clarifications. The changes should follow the process for amendments set out in the budget and policy framework rules. The chief finance officer had explained to the It’s Our County group that it could not change its alternative budget after consideration by the scrutiny committees and for the administration to make changes to its budget following the cabinet meeting on 31 January was unconstitutional and undermined the authority of cabinet to make recommendations to Council. The Chairman was asked to withdraw appendix 7 and require that it be submitted as an amendment. 

The Chairman explained that the detail in appendix 7 was clarification provided by the cabinet concerning the allocation of the £2 million additional funding sources in the 2019/20 budget, and followed a request made by a group leader at the cabinet meeting for additional detail. The Chairman was content with the manner in which the budget had been submitted; the £2 million had been in the budget agreed by cabinet and appendix 7 provided detail regarding its allocation.

The deputy leader introduced the budget and made the principal points below:

·       Over the previous 10 years the Council had achieved significant savings which stood at £90 million since 2010. Over this period of time the revenue support grant from central government had decreased from 60.1 million to 0.6 million.

·       The budget included savings of £3.9 million and a council tax increase of 4.9% which included 2% to address adult social care pressures. The band D charge was above the CPI but below RPI measures.

·       The budget setting process had rebased the entire budget and had taken into account policy changes and population growth. The process had taken into account those funding pressures faced by the Council and the savings required over the period of the MTFS.

·       The recommendation in the report was to approve the MTFS and the treasury management strategy, the chief finance officer had confirmed that he was content that the approach of the Council was robust.

·       The future fair funding review and the business rates retention scheme were two elements of uncertainty in the MTFS. The rural nature of the county and the relatively low business rate levels meant that help would be required to meet obligations such as public health and lobbying of the local MPs was taking place to ensure that government expedited the review of local government funding.

·       Appendix 7 set out details of the allocation of additional funding for 2019/20.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

To approve the 2019 pay policy statement for publication.

Council considered a report from the Chairperson of the Employment Panel concerning the pay policy statement at the council.

The Chairperson of the Employment Panel proposed and introduced the report. The recommendations presented to Council had been agreed by the Employment Panel. There was a requirement to approve the pay policy every year. The changes to the pay policy included new pay scales which had been agreed nationally by the National Joint Council. The new pay scales addressed cost of living concernsand supported those on the lowest wage at the council. It was noted that some authorities had moved away from the nationally agreed pay scales but this would represent a breach of contract of employment for employees at the council.

 A member asked if there had been any progress in addressing the gender pay gap at the council. The chief executive confirmed that the outcomes of the gender pay gap assessment had been published on the website.

A member commended the council for paying the living wage recommended by the living wage foundation.

The recommendations in the report were put to the vote and approved unanimously.

RESOLVED: That:

(a)       the pay policy statement at appendix A is approved.

(b)       Council approves in year recruitment, should the need arise, to any posts listed with salaries over £100,000.

To approve the appointment of additional independent persons for standards.

Council considered a report by the chairperson of the audit and governance committee concerning the appointment of independent persons to standards. Thanks were provided to those members of the committee who had assisted in the selection process.

The Chairman noted a correction to the recommendation in the report; the correct name of one of the proposed appointees was Gerald Hodson.

The recommendation in the report was put to the vote and approved unanimously.

RESOLVED: That:

(a)       the following candidates are approved for appointment for a term of office of four years from the date of appointment:

·         Sheila Archer

·         Jake Bharier

·         Bryn Caless

·         Malcolm Foord JP

·         Gerald Hodson

·         Claire Jenkins

·         Stephen Willmot

·         Roger Yates