Councillor Phil Davies paid tribute to PC David Phillips who had been tragically killed at work in Wallasey on 5 October 2015.  Councillor Davies informed that everyone on the Wirral and in fact the whole country were in shock over what had happened.

PC Phillips was a young dedicated Police Officer who had been knocked over and killed whilst protecting the people of the Wirral.  There had been an overwhelming outpouring of grief.  People were united in their anger and their sorrow.  Councillor Davies mentioned PC Phillips’ wife and daughters, Jen, Abigail and Sophie and informed that, as a Borough, the Council would support them in any way that it could.

The Cabinet then stood for one minute in silent tribute to the life of PC David Phillips.

Members of the Cabinet are asked to consider whether they have any disclosable pecuniary and/or any other relevant interest, in connection with any item(s) on this agenda and, if so, to declare them and state the nature of the interest.

No declarations of interest were received.

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 10 September 2015 be confirmed as a true record.

Councillor Phil Davies introduced a report by the Chief Executive that set out phase one of the Delivery Plan for consideration following the unanimous approval of the five-year Council Plan at the meeting of the Council held on 13 July 2015.  Appended to the report was the Wirral Plan: A 2020 Vision Delivery Plan (Phase One).  Councillor Davies informed that this Plan was a key document for the Council and all agencies in terms of setting out a clear vision for the next five years. He was confident that the Council would achieve many of the 20 pledges well before the five year period.

The Plan provided a clear ambition for the Borough and defined the outcomes towards which the Council would work for the next five years: the 20 pledges.  This Plan had, since approval by the Council in July, had now been adopted by all strategic partners from the public, private and third sectors to create the first Wirral Plan.  This meant that for the first time partners had formally agreed to work towards a shared set of outcomes, goals and objectives, to work towards integrating services and budgets and making best use of the totality of public sector resource in the Wirral, for the benefit of Wirral people. 

As part of that agreement and progress since July, partners had committed to playing a lead role in achieving eight out of the 20 pledges.  This Delivery Plan (Phase One) provided an outline of the approach that would be taken to ensure that the ambitions and priorities set out in the Plan were achieved and that they secured positive outcomes for local residents. Councillor Davies informed that Central Government would continue to cut the Council’s funding but it still needed to do its best to improve the people of Wirral’s quality of life.

Since July, significant progress had been made against all areas of the Wirral Plan.  This work had been completed at the same time as continuing the business of the Council which would benefit Wirral residents in relation to jobs, the local environment and their health. 

The Council was embedding an integrated approach to planning, policy and financial strategy; ensuring that resources were invested and allocated in accordance with the priorities committed to in the Wirral Plan.  Therefore, the Cabinet was also provided with the strategic framework for the delivery of a balanced budget for 2016/17 and the Medium Term Financial Strategy for 2016/17 - 2020/21.  Cabinet Members were informed that this framework would align the budget with the priorities in the Wirral Plan and it would inform the development of a detailed Delivery Plan in February 2016.

Councillor Davies told the Cabinet that he was very pleased with the positive comments the Council had received on the Plan.  Council staff had informed him that they now had a clear idea of what was to be achieved during the next five years.  The budget needed to be aligned with the work that had to be carried out  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

Councillor Bernie Mooney introduced a report by the Assistant Chief Executive that set out a summary of the progress made in the implementation of the new climate change strategy for Wirral.  It documented the activities of the Wirral Climate Group, introduced the first annual progress report and detailed the current action plan in support of the strategy.

Attached to the report was:

·  Appendix 1 – The Annual Progress Report and Action Plan 2015; and

·  Appendix 2 – The Wirral Climate Strategy Rolling Action Plan – August 2015.

The Cabinet noted that, as part of the Council’s five year plan, the proposals in the report supported the following pledges covered in the plan:

·  Providing an attractive local environment for Wirral residents.

·  Wirral residents live healthier lives

·  Thriving small businesses

·  Assets and buildings are fit for purposes for Wirral’s businesses

Councillor Phil Davies informed the Cabinet that the Annual Progress Report was a very important document and that the Council would only under estimated the effects of climate change at its peril!

Councillor Stuart Whittingham informed that the Council was replacing 7557 existing lanterns with retrofit LED units.  The installations would start in July.

RESOLVED:

That the annual progress report and climate strategy action plan be noted and endorsed and used as the basis for public reporting to meet commitments under Climate Local.

At its meeting held on 8 June 2015 (minute 3 refers), the Audit and Risk Management Committee gave consideration to the draft Annual Report 2014/2015, which had been prepared by the Chair in consultation with Internal Audit. The report was approved and referred to the Cabinet for consideration.

To comply with best professional practice the Audit and Risk Management Committee was required to complete an Annual Report for the Cabinet’s consideration on the work undertaken by the Audit and Risk Management Committee.

Councillor Ann McLachlan introduced a covering report by the Chief Internal Auditor and the attached Annual Report that had been prepared by the Chair of the Audit and Risk Management Committee in conjunction with Internal Audit Officers.  The Audit and Risk Management Committee had given consideration to the draft Internal Report 2014/2015 at its meeting on 8 June 2015 where it had been approved and referred to Cabinet for consideration (Minute No. 3 refers). 

Councillor Phil Davies thanked the Audit and Risk Management Committee for its work over the last Financial Year.  He informed that it had carried out a sterling job ensuring that the Council maintained high standards.

Councillor Adrian Jones congratulated the Head of Financial Services/Acting 151 Officer, Tom Sault and his colleague on all of the extra work they had carried out.

RESOLVED:

That the report be approved.

Councillor Ann McLachlan introduced a report by the Strategic Director – Transformation and Resources which informed that the preparation and publication of an Annual Governance Statement (AGS) was necessary to meet the statutory requirement set out in the Accounts and Audit (England) Regulations 2011, Regulation 4(3).  Appended to the report were:

·  Appendix 1 – The Annual Governance Statement; and

·  Appendix 2 – The Significant Governance Issues Action Plan.

The Cabinet noted that it was necessary for the Council to have approved and adopted a Code of Corporate Governance that complied with the principles of the CIPFA/SOLACE Framework Delivering Good Governance in Local Government and to report publicly through the Annual Governance Statement the extent to which the governance processes outlined in the Code were operating effectively in practice.

The Framework identified the following six core principles of good governance:

·  Focusing on the purpose of the Authority and on outcomes for the community and creating and implementing a vision for the local area.

·  Members and officers working together to achieve a common purpose with clearly defined functions and roles.

·  Promoting values for the Authority and demonstrating the values of good governance through upholding high standards of conduct and behaviour.

·  Taking informed and transparent decisions which are subject to effective scrutiny and managing risk.

·  Developing the capacity and capability of Members and Officers to be effective.

·  Engaging with local people and other stakeholders to ensure robust accountability.

Councillor Ann McLachlan reported that the Council had made good progress since the withdrawal of its Improvement Board.  There were four items outstanding.  Last year there had been five and before that there had been 15.  Particular progress had been made with Asset Management and there was now a Strategy in place.  No new issues had been identified for 2015.

Councillor Ann McLachlan also reported that the Council had won the Local Government Chronicle’s Most Improved Council Award in 2015 and this achievement had shown that its peers in local government recognised the improvements it had made as a local authority. The Council had also been shortlisted for some other awards.

Councillor Phil Davies thanked Councillor Ann McLachlan for her hard work over the last three years which had helped to move the Council into the improved position it was now in and thanked the Officers who had worked with her on this.

RESOLVED:

That the Annual Governance Statement for 2014 - 15 be endorsed.

Councillor George Davies introduced a report by the Director of Adult Social Services that informed that the five - year Wirral Plan set out a clear vision on how the public services across the area would work together to deliver a better life for local people.  One of the four key themes of this work was the principle of empowering locally: giving back power and responsibility to communities and tailoring public services to meet the unique needs of local areas and neighbourhoods.

The Director’s report sought the Cabinet’s approval for the further development of the neighbourhood working model in order to support the effective delivery of the Wirral Plan 2020 outcomes at a local level.

Appended to the report at Appendix 1 was the Proposed Outline for a Neighbourhood Working Model.

Councillor Phil Davies informed that this approach was about the Council working differently, creatively and innovatively to meet the agreed outcomes.  It was also hoped that local people would also be encouraged to use their skills, talents and energies to benefit their local communities.

RESOLVED: That

(1)  the further development of the neighbourhood working model be agreed in order to support the effective delivery of the Wirral Plan 2020 outcomes at a local level;

(2)  the development of a Neighbourhood Working Development Plan by December 2015, which will be a key component of the Wirral Plan 2020 delivery plan be agreed;

(3)  the alignment of the delivery of 2020 outcomes to  neighbourhood working where this is appropriate to do so, proactively promoting co-location and working across organisational boundaries be agreed;

(4)  the realigning of resources required to deliver the Neighbourhood Working Development Plan and Neighbourhood Plans, once these are in place, and to embed this in the Council’s Five Year Financial Plan be agreed;

(5)  the review of the role of Constituency Committees and Constituency Managers in line with the proposed Neighbourhood Working Development Plan be agreed; and

(6)  as there are no additional resources available to fund this approach the work involved in respect of (1) to (5) above be carried out within existing resources.