Resolved that Councillor Wigens be appointed as Vice-Chair for this meeting.

Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this Agenda.

The following declarations of interest were made in accordance with the Code of Conduct from Members in relation to an item under consideration at this meeting –

To sign and confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 20 October 2009.

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 October 2009 were confirmed as a correct record.

To receive questions from the public in accordance with the Constitution.

There were no questions submitted by members of the public.

To receive reports on business which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

There were no items of Chair’s Urgent Business.

The report of the Corporate Management Team was submitted.

Resolved that –

(1)        the work underway to improve the Carefirst System and the need for priority investment in this area be noted;

(2)        the maximum amount of carry forward at year end for Departments for 2009/10 be agreed, based on previously agreed criteria as:

                  Chief Executive’s                  £0.012m

                  Corporate Support                £0.066m;

(3)        the movement on the capital programme during the period be noted and the new schemes totalling £0.349m and scheme variations totalling £0.084m, outlined in paragraph 6.6 of the report, be added to the programme for 2009/10;

(4)        the reallocation of the Job Evaluation contingency across council departments, as outlined in section 13.2.2 of the report, be approved;

(5)        Officers seek an urgent meeting with Department of Communities and Local Government to discuss options to utilise the capital monies from the VAT shelter agreement to offset revenue pressures, these options to include:

(a)     an in principle agreement to an exceptional Capitalisation Direction over the next five years, and/or

(b)     agreement to a special regulation under section 9(3)(a) of the Local Government Act 2003 permitting the Council to treat VAT shelter receipts as revenue;

(6)        the action taken by Officers to ensure that funding for the Devonport Neighbourhood Manager post is available over the next three years be noted and the transfer of £0.100m to an earmarked reserve in return for additional New Deal Communities grant funding towards Brickfields running costs be agreed;

(7)        the action taken by the Director for Corporate Support, acting under delegated authority, to remove the £10m limit on call accounts be noted, these deposits to be managed within the overall credit limit for each banking Group.

The report of the Chief Executive was submitted.

Resolved that

(1)         a Committee of Cabinet be formed, to be known as the ‘BSF Cabinet Committee’, be formed, the members of that Committee being:

·        Cabinet Member for Children and Young People (Chair)

·        Cabinet Member for Budget and Resources

·        Cabinet Member for Safer and Stronger Communities

and that the Committee be asked to invite the Shadow Cabinet Member for Children and Young People and Councillor David Stark to attend Committee meetings as observers:  it be noted that the Cabinet Procedure Rules will apply to the Committee;

(2)         the Leader delegates all executive functions relating to the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) Project (including without limitation the monitoring of the Services for Children and Young People Capital investment) to that BSF Cabinet Committee, with the exception of decisions relating to the constitution of the BSF Cabinet Committee, the services to be provided by the Local Education Partnership and the contract award, each of which the Leader delegates to Cabinet;

(3)         the terms of reference and other provisions relating to that BSF Cabinet Committee, and the other arrangements for governance of the BSF Project, in each case as set out in Appendices 1 and 2, be approved and the Committee be requested to ensure appropriate sub-delegation, broadly in line with those arrangements;

(4)         the BSF Cabinet Committee, the BSF Project Executive, the BSF Project Team and the delegations to the Project Owner and Project Director be automatically terminated in the event that the Council does not achieve a ‘Remit’ meeting (project inception, as defined by Partnership for Schools processes) and accordingly it be requested that all delegations from the Committee to the Project Owner and from the Project Owner to the Project Director be made on that basis.

The report of the Director for Services for Children and Young People was submitted.

Resolved that the 2009 refresh of the Children and Young People’s Plan be endorsed.

The report of the Director for Community Services was submitted.

Resolved that the recommendations of the Customers & Communities Overview & Scrutiny Panel be agreed, as follows –

(1)               the existing policy remain in place;

(2)               a full review by the Customers & Communities Overview & Scrutiny Panel of the Cumulative Impact Policy be undertaken, together with the three year licensing policy review for 2011.

The report of the Director for Community Services was submitted.

Resolved that it be recommended to the City Council that the Gambling Act Statement of Licensing Policy contained in Appendix B be adopted and that the Officers be authorised to take the necessary steps to publish the new Policy, to be implemented on 31 January 2010.

The report of the Director for Community Services was submitted.

Resolved that the re-provision of Whitleigh Residential Respite Home and the reinvestment into alternative respite services be agreed.

(Councillors Bowyer and Michael Leaves declared personal and prejudicial interests in the above item and left the room.)

To consider passing a resolution under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it (they) involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

There were no items of exempt business.