Agenda and minutes

All Members were present.

No interests were declared by Members at this meeting.

The minutes and decisions of the Cabinet meeting held on 23 April 2015 were agreed as a correct record.

This was confirmed by the Cabinet.

The Chairman of the External Services Scrutiny Committee, Councillor John Riley, introduced the Committee's report, which was welcomed by Cabinet.

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet welcomes the review of the External Services Scrutiny Committee and:

1.      Commends the work that has already been undertaken by officers with regard to the reforms introduced by the Children & Families Act 2014; and

2.      Supports the continued partnership working with the West London Family Court to ensure that everything possible is done to safeguard children in Hillingdon. 

Reasons for decision

Cabinet received a useful report from the Committee about the implications for the Council of the recent legislative changes in relation to family law proceedings. Cabinet noted the positive improvements in the way Hillingdon works in this field and the continued partnership to safeguard children.

Members welcomed the valued contribution to the review from Her Honour Judge Judith Rowe QC, the designated Family Judge for West London sitting at the West London Family Court.

Alternative options considered and rejected

The Cabinet could have decided to reject or amend the Committee’s recommendation.

Officer to action:

Nikki O'Halloran, Administration

Raj Alagh, Borough Solicitor

Classification: Public

The report and any background papers relating to this decision by the Cabinet are available to view on the Council's website or by visiting the Civic Centre, Uxbridge.

The Chairman of the Social Services, Housing and Public Health Committee, Councillor Wayne Bridges, introduced the Committee's report, which was welcomed by Cabinet.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet welcomes the report from the Social Services, Housing and Public Health Policy Overview Committee and:

1.      Notes and commends the preventative work currently being taken; and agrees that this work should continue, such as the Early Years Programme and Brushing for Life campaign.

2.      Notes the current delivery of a partnership project (between NHS England, Hillingdon Council and Public Health England) to improve the uptake of dental services by young children.

3.      Asks officers to prepare a report (incorporating key performance indicators) in partnership with Public Health England and NHS England on the uptake and effectiveness of dentistry services for children and for this to be referred to the Cabinet Member for Social Services, Health and Housing and to the External Services Scrutiny Committee or Health and Wellbeing Board as appropriate for consideration in 2016.

Reasons for decision

Cabinet welcomed the review by the Committee on the causes of poor oral health amongst children and the health implications if this were not addressed. Cabinet agreed to pursue further remedial action, in conjunction with the NHS, to tackle tooth decay and poor oral hygiene. It was noted that additional funding had recently been announced which would plug some of the gaps in dentistry services in the Borough. Cabinet welcomed a further report to progress the matter at the Health and Wellbeing Board.

Alternative options considered and rejected

Cabinet could have decided to reject or amend the Committee’s recommendation.

Officer to action:

Charles Francis, Administration

Shikha Sharma, Residents Services

Classification: Public

The report and any background papers relating to this decision by the Cabinet are available to view on the Council's website or by visiting the Civic Centre, Uxbridge.

The Chairman of the Corporate Services and Partnerships Policy Overview Committee, Councillor Richard Lewis, introduced the Committee's report, which was welcomed by Cabinet.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

Welcomes the Committee's findings from their review of the Council's Corporate Complaints Procedure and agree the following recommendations from the Committee:

Policy Overview Committee Recommendations

(i)         Notes the positive way in which complaints are handled by the Council and that officers are actively encouraged to prevent complaints from escalating by resolving service issues to prevent complaints and where complaints do arise, resolving these at the earliest opportunity.

(ii)        That to ensure consistency, minor service requests across all service areas should not be logged as complaints where the issue is simply corrected within 24 hours.           

(iii)       Notes that officers will continue to target specific service areas to reduce complaints in order to put the Council's residents first.

(iv)       That the current arrangements for a three-stage complaints procedure continue, with additional discretion to be applied by officers to expedite complaints through stages 2 and / or stage 3 of the procedure in particular where the complaint is against Council policy and therefore, the outcome of the complaint investigation will be unchanged.  

(v)        That to implement the above recommendations, an updated three-stage Corporate Complaints Procedure be presented to Cabinet in the Autumn 2015 for consideration and subject to the approval of the Leader of the Council, take account of the suggested changes set out in the Committee's review report to streamline the three stage process.

(vi)       Looking ahead, that Cabinet notes from the evidence the Committee received during the review, some local authorities are operating a two stage complaint procedure with success; and that a future report is presented in 2016/17 to both the Cabinet and the Committee on the operation and effectiveness of the Corporate Complaints Procedure, to ensure arrangements for preventing and resolving complaints continue to put the Council's residents first.

Reasons for decision

Cabinet welcomed the review into the Council's corporate complaints procedure and agreed to take forward the Committee's recommendations aimed at ensuring the process continues to put residents first through a fast and effective resolution to their complaint from the outset. It was noted that Hillingdon performed well in the low number of complaints reaching the Local Government Ombudsman, pointing to the effectiveness of the Council to satisfactory resolve matters as early as possible.

Alternative options considered and rejected

Cabinet could have decided to reject some or all of the Committee’s recommendations.

Officers to action:

Khalid Ahmed, Administration Directorate

Dan Kennedy, Administration Directorate

Classification: Public

The report and any background papers relating to this decision by the Cabinet are available to view on the Council's website or by visiting the Civic Centre, Uxbridge.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet note the progress made with primary and secondary school expansions, the school condition programme and other school capital projects.

Reasons for decision

Cabinet received its monthly update, tracking progress on London’s largest school building programme which would invest over £300m in new local education facilities by 2020. This would ensure that every child in the London Borough of Hillingdon would have a quality place at a local school.

Alternative options considered and rejected

None.

Officer to action:

Bobby Finch, Residents Services

Classification: Public

The report and any background papers relating to this decision by the Cabinet are available to view on the Council's website or by visiting the Civic Centre, Uxbridge.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet:

1.      Approves the award of Lot 5 for an All-in-one ICT solution to Symology Ltd. for a 3 year contract, with an option to extend up to a maximum of a further 2 years, for the delivery of the Highways Asset Management System with effect from 1st April 2016.

2.      Delegates authority to the Deputy Chief Executive and Corporate Director of Residents Services, in consultation with Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Planning, Transportation and Recycling, agreement to any proposed contract extensions.

Reasons for decision

Cabinet noted that the existing contract for this service would come to an end in 2016 and following a competitive tender exercise, agreed to award a new contact to provide a modern Highways Condition & Asset Management System, which had been successfully road tested in other local authorities

Alternative options considered and rejected

Cabinet could have decided to renew a contract under single tender action with an alternative supplier. However, to not have undertaken a market exercise approach would have limited the Council's ability to seek both innovation and value for money.

Officers to action:

John Fern / Correen Muir - Residents Services

Jo Allen - Finance

Classification: Private

Whilst the Cabinet's decisions above are always made public, the officer report relating to this matter is not because it was considered in the private part of the meeting and contained information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the Authority holding that information) and the public interest in withholding the information outweighed the public interest in disclosing it (exempt information under paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 as amended.

No additional items were considered by the Cabinet.

The meeting closed at 7:18pm

* IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Implementation of the decisions (for officers only)

Meeting after Cabinet, the Executive Scrutiny Committee did not call-in any of the Cabinet's decisions. These can therefore be implemented from 5pm, Monday 1 June 2015. Officers to action the decisions are indicated in the minutes.