Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

No Apologies of absence were received.

To consider excluding the press and public from the meeting for the following item of business under section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, on the grounds that, if they were present there could be disclosed to them exempt information as defined in paragraphs 3&4 of Part 1 of schedule 12A of the Act (as amended)

This item was not necessary as Members did not wish to discuss the Confidential Minute of the meeting held 30^th August 2023

To sign and confirm the minutes of meeting held on; 2^nd August 2023, 30^th August 2023 and the Exempt minutes of 30^th August 2023.

The minutes of the previous meetings held; 2^nd August and 30^th August 2023 were agreed.

To receive declarations of interests in respect of any item on the agenda.

No declarations of interest were received.

To answer any written questions received from members of the public no later than 5 p.m. two clear working days prior to the meeting – for this meeting the deadline is 5 p.m. on Friday 15^th September 2023.

No questions were received.

There were none.

There were none.

(A report by James Gilbert, Assistant Director - Corporate)

Councillor Dorrian, The Leader presented the Quarter 1 Performance and Risk report. The report confirmed that overall performance in Q1 of 2023/24 was in line with targets and remedial action was in place where required. Strategic and operational risks continued to be managed in accordance with the Risk Management Framework.

A joint performance management framework had been agreed across the South & East Lincolnshire Council Partnership for 2022/23 to support the delivery of services. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) had been agreed to capture performance against the strategic priorities of the Partnership and the individual Councils. A combined performance report for Quarter 1 of 2023/24 (April to June 2023) had been presented to Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and this information had then been split out by Council for reporting to Cabinet.

Members thanked the report author for this being a more comprehensive report compared to previous years.

It was discussed that while homelessness had almost doubled since Quarter 1 2022/23, Members and officers were doing everything possible to combat this.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet;

1. Note the quarterly performance and risk monitoring information for Q1 of2023/24

2. Amend the target for the average number of days taken to process Local Authoritysearches from 6 to 8 working days for the remainder of the financial year.

(A report by Louise Fenwick, Strategic Finance Manager and Collen Warren, Head of Finance)

Councillor Ghosh, Portfolio Holder for Finance presented the report which set out the current financial position for the Council at the end of the first quarter of 2023/24 forecasting to the year end for members consideration.

Throughout the year quarterly monitoring reports were completed forecasting that expected year end outturn compared to the approved budget. This report provided information on the forecast full year financial performance as at 30 June 2023 and as detailed in the attached Appendix, for the following areas;

• The General Fund Revenue Budget,
• The General Fund Reserves Position,
• The Capital Programme for 2023/24; and
• The Treasury Management Performance for the year.

Following questions from Members the Deputy Chief Executive – Corporate Development & Section 151, with support from the Portfolio Holder – Finance, confirmed that;

·         The new parking machines that were to be installed in October 2023 should increase the income, as currently multiple machines were broken.

·         The HSBC account which holds a 0.4% increase balance is used for overnight cash purchases and is kept at a minimum balance where possible.

·         Areas of concern were monitored closely by the finance team and reported back where necessary.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet;

1. Note the current forecast overspend of £366,000 for 2023/24 and the detail set out in Appendix A

Recommends to Full Council the approval of the amended Capital Programme to take into account the changes set out in the report at Appendix A – Table 5.

(A report by James Gilbert, Assistant Director – Corporate)

Councillor Dorrian, The Leader presented the Partnership Communications Strategy.

When the South & East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership formed in October 2021, the Partnership Business Case identified opportunities to bring together strategy, policy and services across the three Councils. This had the aim of Improving services, achieving savings and ensuring resilience.

Once of the first service reviews to be concluded was for the ‘Corporate’ Directorate, and this included the creation of a single Partnership Communication Service. Whilst working together informally since the Partnership formed, the Communications team formally came together as a single service in November 2022, creating the opportunity to fully align the Communications approach.

In the 2023/24 Annual Delivery Plan, approved by Council in March 2023, it was identified that a single Partnership Communication Strategy would be brought forward for consideration to provide a framework for how the Partnership communicates with internal and external audiences going forward.

The Cabinet gave thanks to the Communications team for their dedication and hard work.

All elected Members were urged to use the Communications team for public announcements rather than other News sources.

RESOLVED: That;

1. The Partnership Communications Strategy at Appendix A be approved.

That the feedback from scrutiny committees at 2.6 be noted.

(A report by Christian Allen, Assistant Director – Regulatory)

Councillor Callum Butler, Portfolio Holder – Environment presented a report which asked Cabinet to consider and approve the draft Public Space Protection Order.

Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) are intended to deal with a particular nuisance or problem, in a specific area, that is detrimental to the local community’s quality of life. It does so by imposing conditions on the use of that area which apply to everyone.

A PSPO had been in place in Boston in relation to dog controls since 2017, following extensive consultations. The PSPO expired in February 2023, and it was proposed that the same controls are adopted across the Borough to tackle irresponsible dog ownership.

The Assistant Director – Regulatory assured Cabinet that the amount of signs relating to the PSPO was sufficient, however the condition of the signs would be checked. Cabinet was urged to let Officers know if there was an area Members felt would benefit from more signs.

The Cabinet confirmed that dog fouling bags were available free of charge to anyone in the Borough.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet approve the draft PSPO attached as appendix 1.