To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Stimson.

To receive any declarations of interest

None received.

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 28^th April 2022.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the minutes of the meeting held on 28 April 2022 were approved.

None

To consider the Forward Plan for the period June 2022 to September 2022.

Cabinet considered the contents of the Forward Plan for the next four months and noted the changes made since it was last published including the following:

·       Calvary Crescent moved to July Cabinet

·       Peer Review Action Plan moved to July Cabinet

·       Leisure Centre Procurement add to June Cabinet

Cabinet considered the report regarding the financial outturn against budget for the 2021/22 financial year.

The Cabinet Member for Asset Management and Commercialisation, Finance, and Ascot informed Cabinet that he was pleased to present the 2021-22 financial outturn and reported an underspend of £2.353M on services which was an increase of £2.162m on month 10. This was a significant change from month 10 which was great news as it increased available resources, but it was not good from the point of view of financial control.

Recruitment of a new team of Business Partners was nearly complete, they were senior accountants who would work with services. The first appointment was Julian McGowan the Senior Business Partner and he told him that at month 10 the financial challenge of some interims could have been more robust. Having met with him not only did he think that this hiccup will not recur, but with the business partners in post there should be more clarity in monitoring reports and, importantly, finance support to services would be greatly enhanced.

The Cabinet Member went on to inform that the headlines of the report were that the general fund reserve increases to £8.75M, £2m above the minimum. As planned the corporate contingency was not required and along with unused provisions, £2.2M had been placed into reserves which strengthens our financial base.

The expectation that our commercial portfolio tenants would struggle to pay rents and that some would leave had not realised and the Covid pressures budget of £1.51 m was not required, indicating our tenants had stronger covenants than thought.

As a consequence of staff vacancies, Governance showed an underspend of £300K. In Month 4 Governance reported a recruitment program across the directorate with the anticipation that a full establishment would be achieved in December last year. That aspiration was not achieved highlighting issues in recruiting high calibre staff that match job specifications. These staff were needed to maintain current standards and importantly break new ground so recruitment was a growing concern.

Children’s Services overspend had been managed down from a high of nearly £1.5M to £214K or less than 1% of the budget. Since month 10 there had been a number of incremental cost reductions that collectively added up to a £551K improvement.

Cabinet were asked to note the outturn of the schools’ budget which was an overspend of £257K and resulted in an accumulated deficit of £2.048M which did not impact on the Council budget but potentially could. The School’s Forum considered a deficit recover plan under the plan RBWM would participate in the DfE Delivering Better Value in SEND support programme. The programme would provide dedicated support and funding to help with substantial deficit issues and reform the high needs systems.

The outturn in Adult Social Care was an underspend of £139K and a cost reduction of £826K from month 10. The most significant issues were the release of a £300K accrual no longer needed and reallocation of costs to other funding sources amounting  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6a

Cabinet considered the report reading the procurement of the councils HR and Pay role system.

The Cabinet Member for Business, Corporate & Resident Services, Culture and Heritage, Windsor informed Cabinet that the current system had been in operation for the last 16 years and as its contract was up it was time to undertake a review and procurement exercise.  This exercise was undertaken because the current contract is due to end in May 2023.

The report recommended that a new contract is awarded to MHR International, whose bid had been considered as the most economically advantageous on the basis of the technical and financial evaluation undertaken. The new contract incorporated a specification that exceeds the current provision because a number of enhancements were now available that will support the Council’s transformation agenda, as well as lead to improved employee engagement and more efficient data processing.

The Human Resources customer base covered over 4,500 employees, of which around 600 are core RBWM staff, the rest are partner organisations, maintained schools and academies. In total, Human Resources manages 15 monthly payrolls.  This brought in valued revenue that the new system would help maintain and strengthen. 

Resolved unanimously:  that  Cabinet notes the report and:

i)       approves the award of the HR and payroll system contract to MHR on the basis of a 5 year contract, with the option to extend for a further 3 years in 1 year periods. The contract to commence in May 2023 and its value is detailed in Appendix A which is Part II by virtue of paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

To consider passing the following resolution:-

“That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion takes place on item 8 on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1-7 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act"

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That under Section 100(A)(4) od the Local Government Act 1972, the public were excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion took place on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1 and 3 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.