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The leader of the council made an opening statement on the situation in Ukraine. He highlighted the county’s long standing connection to workers from Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, and to the security industry. The leader offered, on behalf of the council, a message of solidarity and sympathy to all democratically elected representatives of the government and of councils across Ukraine and to the people of Ukraine whom they all serve and represent. The council’s thoughts were also with the many residents of Herefordshire with friends and family in the region.

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To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Cllr Gemma Davies.

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

Councillor David Hitchiner declared a conflict of interest in agenda item 11 as a non-executive director of Hoople Ltd.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 31 January 2022.

Resolved:       That the minutes of the meeting held on 31 January 2022 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairperson.

To receive questions from members of the public.

Questions received and responses given are attached as appendix 1 to the minutes.

To receive questions from councillors.

Questions received and responses given are attached as appendix 2 to the minutes.

To review performance for Quarter 3 2021/22 and the forecast budget outturn for the year.

The cabinet member finance, corporate services and planning introduced the report. She highlighted the position in quarter 3 given continuing challenges from covid and that the council was working hard to improve the outturn position.

Group leaders presented the comments and queries of their group. It was noted that:

·       The treasury management strategy was clear that the council only deposited money in banks with a strong credit rating, there had been some occasions where deposits had been in accounts with zero percent interest but rates had increased since then;

·       The return of monies from phase 1a of the Green Homes Grant was disappointing but other authorities had also struggled to spend the grant due to a combination of a lack of local skills, supply chain issues for the type of work required and the stringent requirements on eligibility and spend deadlines, some of the funding had been reissued through the third phase grant and a different contractor was to be used for this phase to improve delivery;

·       The capital programme had been reviewed in the autumn and adjusted to reflect difficulties in delivering schemes, partly due to covid. The report showed the variances against the adjusted programme;

·       Additional project management support was being provided to progress work on section 106 projects;

·       Several communities were still struggling to access broadband and further progress on the Fastershire contract would be welcomed;

·       The current high rate of inflation would have an impact on the council’s services and expenditure.

It was resolved that:

Cabinet, having reviewed performance and financial forecast for year 2021/22 as set out in the appendices A-E, has not identified any additional actions to be considered to achieve future improvements.

To provide an update to cabinet on the children's improvement plan.

The cabinet member children and families introduced the report. She highlighted that this was the first in a series of quarterly updates on the improvement journey. The improvement plan was a live document and was in the process of being refreshed and simplified. The new version of the plan would be included with the next quarterly update.

Group leaders and representatives gave their comments and questions. It was noted that:

·       There was still a long way to go and the council needed to remain vigilant in its assessment of progress;

·       The next update would have much more detail, reflecting a new approach to data management and reporting;

·       It was important to support staff working in this difficult area and recognise that they were experiencing considerable change.

The chairperson of the children and young people commented on the report, noting that progress was being made and a more bottom up focus on the experience of children and families was evident. He highlighted that the committee had received four detailed reports at its recent meeting, including a report on workforce issues.

It was resolved that:

Cabinet members, having reviewed progress against the Children and Families Strategic Improvement Plan v1.0 following the 18th May 2021 DfE non-statutory notice to improve, have not identified any additional actions to support delivery of improvements.

To approve the Market Town Investment Plan (MTIP) for each of Herefordshire’s market towns.

This item was deferred to the next meeting of Cabinet due to the upcoming by-election in the Bromyard West ward.

To approve the expenditure required to instruct the technical project manager and design team to complete the detailed design stage and works required to develop the full business case of the Maylord Orchard Library and Learning Resource Centre project including seeking planning and all related regulatory approvals.

The cabinet member environment and economy introduced the report. It was noted that this formed the next stage of the project and that while the library was based in the city, these services would be designed to support wider connections across the county.

Cabinet members welcomed the progress on the project but expressed frustration at the process for the stronger towns grant funding as a significant amount of investment was required upfront and this was a challenge for the many small and community groups involved in the Hereford Stronger Towns Partnership.

Group leaders and representatives gave the comments and queries from their groups. It was noted that:

·       The project was widely supported;

·       It was hoped that future capital investment would be spread across the county;

·       It was important to have communities on board;

·       The barriers to smaller groups were a concern but the council had to work with the system as it was.

It was resolved that:

a)             The redevelopment of Maylord Orchards to create a new library and learning resource centre project is approved;

b)             Expenditure of up to £0.45m of the Maylord Orchard Library and Learning Resource Centre project capital programme allocation be approved to complete the detailed design stage of the project including seeking planning permission,; and

c)             The Corporate Director for Community and Wellbeing, following consultation with the Deputy Section 151 Officer and in consultation with the Cabinet member commissioning, procurement and assets, be authorised take all operational decisions necessary to complete the detailed design stage and seek planning approval within the £0.45m approved budget.

To approve up to £1.5m of the expenditure required to instruct the technical project manager and design team to complete the detailed design stage of the project and any related work required to support the development of the full business case including seeking planning and all related regulatory approvals such as listed building consent.

The cabinet member environment and economy introduced the report. It was noted that this formed the next stage of the museum project and, as with the library project, these services would be designed to support wider connections across the county. The building would seek to achieve EnerPHit passive house environmental standards and would be a fantastic visitor attraction to add to the current offer.

Group leaders and representatives presented the comments and queries from their groups. The project was generally supported but there were concerns about the challenges of adapting and maintaining heritage buildings and the timescales to deliver the project.

It was resolved that:

a)          The redevelopment of the Hereford Museum and Art Gallery to create a new high quality visitor attraction project is approved;

b)          Expenditure of up to £1.5m of the Hereford Museum and Art Gallery (HMAG) redevelopment capital programme allocation be approved to complete the detailed design stage of the project including seeking planning permission; and

c)          The Director for Community and Wellbeing, following consultation with Deputy Section 151 Officer, in consultation with the Cabinet member commissioning, procurement and assets, be authorised take all operational decisions necessary to complete the detailed design stage and seek planning approval within the £1.5m approved budget.

To agree the council's registered services nominated individual responsibility is transferred over to Hoople Limited.

Councillor Hitchiner declared a conflict of interest as a non-executive director of Hoople Ltd, relinquished the chair and left the room for the duration of this item.

The director of resources and assurance also declared a conflict of interest as a non-executive director of Hoople Ltd and left the room for the duration of this item.

(Councillor Harvey as deputy leader of the council assumed the chair for consideration of this item.)

The cabinet member health and adult wellbeing introduced the report and set out the key objectives of the transfer.

Cabinet members noted that staff impacted by the transfer had been given prior notice and that the transfer was expected to build on the improvements that previous in-sourcing had already delivered. The transfer was a positive move for the council, the care services market and for Hoople in broadening its service base.

Group leaders and representatives presented the comments and queries of their groups. It was noted that:

·       There was general support for the improvements to delivery of services;

·       The audit and governance committee would have oversight of Hoople performance;

·       Hoople Care would be quality assured in the same way as all independent providers;

·       Hoople Care was expected to have lower operating costs than the council due to the fixed overheads.

It was resolved that:

a)           Cabinet approves the formal transfer of registered social care provider services to Hoople Care, as part of Hoople Limited and;

b)           the transfer of council staff employed in the registered services to the employment of Hoople Ltd under TUPE regulations is approved and;

c)           Authority is delegated to the Acting Corporate Director for Community Wellbeing to make all operational arrangements necessary for the implementation of the transfer, including the transfer of staff under TUPE regulations.

(Councillor Hitchiner resumed the chair.)

To consider the recommendations resulting from the Herefordshire Citizens’ Climate Assembly commissioned by the council.

The cabinet member environment and economy introduced the item. She thanked everyone who had participated in the citizens’ climate assembly.

Cabinet members noted that:

·       It was important to find new ways to engage with residents and stakeholders;

·       The bar charts produced in the report set out clearly under three broad headings the ideas that assembly members had come up with and voted on;

·       The next stage would be to develop project proposals to seek to deliver on the assembly’s recommendations and the new homes bonus money for this year had been allocated to the climate reserve to provide funding;

·       The assembly process had been rigorous in selecting a broad representation of the demography of the county and a spectrum of views.

Group leaders and representatives presented the comments and queries from their groups. It was noted that:

·       Additional engagement was generally welcomed;

·       The general scrutiny committee had considered recommendations from the climate change panel in January 2021 and these recommendations should be referred back to alongside the recommendations from the citizens’ climate assembly;

·       Some points raised by the climate assembly were challenged, for example the difficulties of rural areas needed to be recognised when seeking to avoid car dependency;

·       It was queried whether the cost of running the assembly represented good value for money, in response it was highlighted that councillors voted unanimously to establish the citizens’ climate assembly in 2019 and that the costs had come from existing consultation budgets;

·       A new supplementary planning document was in development for environmental building standards and all stakeholders would be able to participate in the consultation process;

·       It might not be possible for the council to take forward all of these recommendations but there was interest in seeing what would come forward.

It was resolved that:

a)             Receive and note with thanks the recommendations provided by the Citizens Climate Assembly;

b)             Delegate responsibility to Corporate Director Economy & Environment and S151 officer in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Economy and Environment to allocate funding from the Climate Reserve to consider next steps and provide recommendations to Cabinet by April 2022;

c)             Provide a progress report to the Citizens Climate Assembly in September 2022.