Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from Cllr Shaw.

In accordance with paragraph 2.6(a) of the Council’s Constitution, the following speakers addressed the Cabinet with regard to the following items:

Item 7 – Council Plan Performance Report Year-End 2022/23

· Cllr Malcolm

· Cllr Gallant

Item 8 – Determination of SEN statutory proposals, and capital approvals, relating to St Ann's and Mandeville Schools

· Cllr Malcolm

The meeting was held in a hybrid format with members and officers able to join the meeting remotely. However, regulations did not allow for members attending virtually to be counted as present in the attendance section of the minutes, and their attendance would not count as attendance in relation to section 85(1) of the Local Government Act 1972. Members attending virtually would be able to speak but would not be able to vote. Cllr Costigan attended the meeting virtually.

There were none.

Item 8 – Appendix F was exempt by virtue of paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972

Item 9 - Appendix A was exempt by virtue of paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972

There were none.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 14 June 2023.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 14 June 2023 be agreed and signed as a true and correct record.

There were none.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet noted the:

i)          Key performance highlights against the 2022/23 Council Plan Delivery Plan

ii)        Progress on the Council Plan numeric targets

iii)       Progress against the Corporate Health Check indicators at the year-end 2022/23

REASONS FOR THE DECISION:

1.     Cabinet reviewed the progress on the delivery of the Council Plan 2022-26, with specific reference to year-end performance against the 2022/23 Delivery Plan. Cabinet highlighted that performance management was an essential part of a high performing organisation and that not providing a performance report was discounted as an option.

2.     The Council Plan 2022-26, including a 2022/23 Delivery Plan, was agreed in July 2022. Progress on delivery of the council’s priorities was noted in the following three ways:

a.     Narrative updates on key achievements at year-end, against the council’s 2022/23 Delivery Plan.

b.     Progress against numeric, quantifiable, targets under the ‘4-year commitments’ contained within the Council Plan 2022-26, as of March 2023.

c.     Performance at the year-end 2022/23 against target on the key performance indicators (KPIs) that enable a ‘corporate health check’ of the organisation in terms of its operational effectiveness.

3.     It was put on record that Cabinet thanked all employees of Ealing Council for their continued hard work and dedication to residents.

RESOLVED:

 That Cabinet:

       I.          Approved the proposals for the expansion of St Ann’s School to increase the capacity of the school to 128 students aged 11 to 19. The increase would be phased over five years starting with extra places in Year 7 in 2023 and ending in 2028 when the school would typically have up to 16 students in each year group, year 7 to year 13/14.

     II.          Agreed to incept an additional capital budget of £0.950m to the existing St Ann’s School Expansion Capital Programme, funded by s106 contributions.

   III.          Approved the proposal for expanding Mandeville School to 168 places. The increase would be phased over two years with extra places in 2024 and ending in 2025 when the school would typically have up to 168 pupils, Reception to year 6.

   IV.          Approved the recommendation to open an additional building at Oldfield Primary School to be used as a satellite site for the Mandeville School Expansion.

    V.          Agreed to incept a budget of £1.600m into the capital programme for Mandeville School Expansion, to be funded from the existing approved unallocated SEN Expansion Programme Budget.

   VI.          Authorised the award of a contract in the sum of £799,420.96 to MP Building Ltd for the Phase 1 Mandeville at Oldfield Primary School works to be funded from the approved Schools SEN Expansion Programme budget.

REASONS FOR THE DECISION:

1.     The decisions were required, in order to enable the Council to progress to the next stage of the process for expanding special school provision to meet its statutory duty to secure sufficient school places. The Council has a statutory responsibility to promote high educational standards, ensure fair access to educational opportunity and promote the fulfilment of every child’s educational potential. The Council must also promote diversity and increase choice.

2.     Cabinet highloighted that the relevant background report seeking approval to publish the St Ann’s statutory notice went to Cabinet on 7 December 2022. It was noted that Cabinet additionally, on 22 February 2023, authorised the Strategic Director for Children’s Services to invite and evaluate tenders for the building contracts for the Mandeville Satellite at Oldfield Primary School. Awarding the Phase 1 building contract would facilitate the Council to carry out its statutory duty of providing sufficient school places.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

      I.          Noted that the Council’s bids for Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) 3b Grant funding of £13.721m were successful.

     II.          Approved the inception of a further £0.657m match funding from the carbon offset fund for the Leisure schemes into the 2023/24 Economy and Sustainability capital programme for Phase 3b of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, which resolved the funding gap reported to Cabinet in April.

   III.          Authorised the award of the Stage 2 contract for the appointment of the delivery partner for the construction and installation works for the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme Phase 3b, for a value up to £15.652m, to Asset Plus Energy Performance Limited, following the April 2023 Cabinet decision to award the Stage 1 contract and in line with the approved grant award and proposals set out in Confidential Appendix A.

  IV.          Authorised the Strategic Director for Children’s Services to finalise the terms of the Stage 2 contract following consultation with the Strategic Director for Economy and Sustainability and the Strategic Director of Resources.

   V.          Delegated authority to the Strategic Director for Children’s Services, following consultation with the Strategic Director for Economy and Sustainability, to finalise the list of building works and take any other necessary steps to secure the implementation of the works.

REASONS FOR THE DECISION:

1.     The Ealing Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy (CEES) set a date of 2030 to be a net zero carbon borough. A number of funding routes were used to progress towards this target.

2.     The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) launched the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) in 2020, delivered by Salix Finance. The Council was successful in significant funding awards in earlier phases and was on site with schemes funded by Phase 3a of the scheme.

3.     The scheme was extended to a further phase, Phase 3b, and the Council was successful in a bid for funding to enable a further seven schools to receive new low carbon heating systems in 2023/24, with a bid value of £3,006,074; and new low carbon heating systems which will remove the use of gas at the Council’s three major wet leisure centres, with a bid value of £10,715,176.

4.     A small proportion of match funding was required for each bid, and this was agreed with services at £469,570 for the schools and £1,461,161 for the leisure centres.

5.     The CEES committed the Council to improving its own commercial portfolio  and managed schools to meet the net zero carbon target by 2030. The delivery of the CEES was impacted by unprecedented global events. Additionally, underlying assumptions adopted in the development of the strategy included central government commitment to regulatory changes and strategic investment. Neither was forthcoming to the pace and extent forecast, which made delivering the strategy far more challenging than previously estimated. Although the impacts of these challenges were recognised, the council continued its efforts, capitalising on emerging opportunities, and finding solutions to mitigate the impact of these challenges to achieve the 2030 net  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The next meeting is scheduled for 13 September 2023.

The date of the next meeting was scheduled 13 September 2023.