To approve as a correct record the minutes of Cabinet held on 12 October 2016.

The Minutes of Cabinet, held on 12 October 2016, were approved as a correct record.

To receive additional items that the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency, in accordance with Section 100B (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no items of urgent business.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Leader firstly apologised for his absence due to illness at the previous meeting and thanked Councillor Hebb for chairing the meeting.

He continued by offering his condolences to the families involved in the tram accident in Croydon earlier in the day. He advised Members that 7 people had lost their lives and 50 more had been taken to hospital, the Leader then asked those who were able to stand to do so as he held a minute’s silence.

The Leader offered his congratulations to Donald Trump following the US Election and wished him well for his term in office as the new American President. 

Councillor Gledhill addressed the lightness of the agenda for the meeting and stated the day the administration had taken control it had been made clear that Overview and Scrutiny Committees would be used to their maximum effect and this would, at times, mean a fluctuation in reports being presented to the Cabinet. The Leader continued to mention that on the Forward Plan for the December meeting there were currently 9 items, which included reports on Corporate Performance, Strategy, Treasury Management and Public Health among others.

The Leader moved on to the Clean it, Cut it and Fill it agenda and in doing so highlighted the following to Members:

·         2000 additional bags of rubbish had been collected, this was the equivalence of 2 double decker buses;

·         93 times the area  of lakeside including its car parks of grass had been cut and;

·         Over 8000 potholes had been filled this was the same as 2 Canary Wharf Towers standing on top of each other.

He further notified that the pilot for Clean it, Cut and Fill it had completed at the end of October and at the end of November he would update all Members on the possibility of continuing with the scheme.

Councillor Gledhill advised Cabinet in the absence of Councillor Tolson that from 1 December Environment Enforcement Officers would come into force and Officers would be able to issue Fixed Penalty Notices.  He further advised that the consultation on the Mannorway for the Traffic Restriction Order had completed with no objections received, the Leader explained this meant that horse drawn vehicles were not permitted on the Mannorway. He thanked Officers for all their hard work and their speedy response to the matter.

The Leader notified Cabinet that he visited Bracelett Close, which was the Council’s new social housing project. He continued that the project provided modern buildings that were built for home use and home working, with fantastic views of Langdon Hills and One Tree Hill. He informed Members that the layout of the building was spacious with lots of room inside and plenty of storage space including extractor fans. 

The Leader hoped that keys would be handed to residents within the next couple of weeks.

Councillor Halden, Cabinet Member for Education and Health addressed the Cabinet to update them on the Sustainable Transformation Programme (STP), during which he mentioned:

·         The government announced the Success Regime in an effort to address the NHS operating deficit across the Hospital Community Sector in  3 locations in England and Wales selected, 1 of which were Mid and South Essex;

·         On top of this announcement the Government also introduced the STP to try and improve the health system and make it more  sustainable for the future;

·         Fortunately for Thurrock both the Success Regime and the STP were both located at Mid and South Essex;

·         Although the Government had increased funding into the NHS, the total spends continued to outweigh actual budgets.

The Cabinet Member further notified Members that current discussions were underway to bring different partnerships together from Mid and South Essex to work in collaboration, to ensure the STP successes. For example driving improvement in primary care for residents to have better access to medical support. He continued that locally this would mean taking some pressure off of A&E Departments.

He continued to advise Cabinet Members that any local collaboration between Thurrock and any other Authority must not undermine the Thurrock Health and Wellbeing Board, Thurrock CCG or the Cabinet. Councillor Halden stated that his position was clear and Thurrock would not be allowed to be drawn into a merged Essex CCG, as this would be an old fashioned Primary Care Trust.

Councillor Halden commented that he had meet with Essex and Southend Health and Wellbeing Boards, Basildon Hospital and other clinical community groups, to discuss a joint approach to the STP.  He continued that he was delighted to announce that after months of meetings and conferences, all three authorities had agreed a set of principles in regard to the work of the STP, which he had signed and would present to the Health and Wellbeing Board at their meeting next week.

Finally the Cabinet Member for Health and Education assured Members that the output of the STP would be to improve primary care and offer the best access for the best service for all Thurrock patients.

There were no petitions submitted.

The Leader of the Council advised that no questions had been submitted from Non-Executive Members.

The Leader of the Council informed Members that no matters had been referred to the Cabinet by an Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing introduced the report to Members informing them that on 12 May 2016 the Housing and Planning Act 2016 received Royal Assent.

He continued to advise Cabinet that the Council were awaiting clarification from the Government in relation to aspects of the new Act.   Without this he stated it would be wrong to make a decision.

Councillor Gledhill explained to Members that current tenants would remain as council tenants, however new tenants would receive a fixed tenancy which would enable the Council to review the tenancy 6 months before the end of the tenancy. This would assist with meeting the needs of Thurrock  residents. Once the review had taken place the Council would be able to renew the tenancy for a further period, if it was required.

Councillor Halden sought assurance from the Leader that as in 3.1.7 of the report the Council would look into a key worker scheme for certain roles within the Council.

The Leader agreed that there would be a tracker on key workers, within the authority to ensure their needs were met.

Councillor Gledhill notified Cabinet that the report had been through the Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Tenant Excellence Panel.

He continued to suggest that given the Government hadn’t issued the relevant guidance on 3 separate occasions that he would adjourned the meeting, so that as soon as the guidance was released, a meeting could be called and a decision made as soon as possible.

RESOLVED

That the meeting be adjourned, until such time as the Government release guidance on Fixed Term Secure Tenancies.