Decisions

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To

1.             Agree to proceed with the novation of the Fairfield Halls refurbishment contracts and associated contracts, with outstanding costs to borne by the Council, once certified by the Quantity Surveyors (Chronos Ltd) (not including any potential additional remedial works)

i.              Novation of the Principal Contractor (Vinci) building works contract from Brick by Brick to the Council, and financial commitment for outstanding retentions.

ii.            Novation of the Contract Administrator (MICA Architects) contract from Brick by Brick to the Council.

iii.           Novation of the Quantity Surveying (Chronos Ltd) contract from Brick by Brick to the Council.

iv.           Novation of other professional services contracts from Brick by Brick to the Council.

v.            Assignment of completed contracts warranties and guarantees.

2.             Note:

i.             The recommendations above could not be made under delegated authority (as envisaged in the May Cabinet report) due to its potential overall value

ii.            Brick By Brick will continue to pay relevant contractors on the Council’s behalf whilst the recommended novations are completed, from 1st April and forecasted to August 2021 these payments are under £50,000 (managed under delegated authority)

iii.           The progress of the non-intrusive survey works

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To

1.    Note the progress that has taken place with regard to the development of the FPR report alongside a suite of reports in order to improve the corporate offer.

2.    Review the corporate FPR report (appendix A) as at 31 May 2021 with regard to performance measures.

3.    Note the progress made with programmes and projects in relation to milestones, deliverables and issues

4.    Note the progress made against Savings and growth targets as identified in the CRP

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To

1.    Note the General Fund is projecting a net adverse movement of £0.583m from Period 1. Service departments are indicating a £4.034m overspend with this being netted of against £3.451m release of a one off Covid Grant confirmed to Croydon Council for 21/22 by MHCLG as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement;

2.    Note that a further number of risks and compensating opportunities may materialise which would see the forecast year-end variance change and these are reported within Section 3 of this report. Should these risks materialise or the mitigations not be effective the Council could overspend by £3.676m; 

3.    Note the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) is projecting a £1.595m overspend for 2021/22. If no further mitigations are found to reduce this overspend the HRA will need to drawdown reserves from HRA balances;

4.    Note the capital spend to date for the General Fund of £3.071m (against a budget of £176.005m) and for the HRA of £5.701m (against a budget of £127.412m);

5.    Note, the above figures are predicated on forecasts from Month 2 to the year end and therefore could be subject to change as forecasts are refined and new and updated information is provided on a monthly basis. Forecasts are made based on the best available information at this time; and

6.    Note that whilst the Section 114 notice has formally been lifted, the internal controls established as part of the S114, such as the Spend Control Panel remain. However, restrictions have been lifted for ring-fenced accounts such as the Pensions Fund, Housing Revenue Account and Coroner’s Costs as these do not impact on the financial position of the General Fund. The Spending Control Panel which was set up at the beginning of November 2020 continues to meet on a twice daily basis.

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To

1.   Approve the establishment of a Croydon Companies’ Supervision and Monitoring Panel (CCSMP) for the purposes and with the responsibilities described in this report. 

2.    Approve the appointment of the S151 Officer as chair of the CCSMP, with other permanent membership and invited attendees as described in the report.

3.    Approve the Terms of Reference for the CCSMP set out at Appendix 2 to the report.

4.    Delegate to the s151 Officer in consultation with the Council’s Chief Executive the authority to approve the appointment and removal of Council nominated directors from the boards of Group entities in accordance with paragraph 3.5.2 of the report. Group is defined at paragraph 2.2 in the report.

5.    Delegate to the s151 Officer the authority to make arrangements for company secretarial, accounting and administration in relation to the Group entities in accordance with paragraph 3.5.3 of the report.

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To

1.   Approve the Private Sector Housing Assistance Policy 2021 (“the Policy”), Appendix A to the report.

2.    Delegate authority to the Executive Director of Housing to make minor amendments to the Policy including in relation to typographical errors or updating post holders titles as necessary.

3.   Note that in respect of the 6 month Pilot Scheme detailed at paragraph 3.4 of the report and Section 10 of Appendix A, the outcome of the Pilot will be reported back to Cabinet to determine whether or not it is appropriate for the Pilot scheme to be incorporated into the Private Sector Assistance Policy beyond that 6 month time frame.

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To

1.            Note the further progress in improving housing conditions at 1-87 Regina Road and further actions in response to the recommendations of the report by ARK, detailed at Appendix 1 of the report.

2.            Note the draft Terms of Reference of the Housing Improvement Board, detailed at Appendix 2 of the report, to be agreed under delegated authority.

3.            Note the approach to development of the emerging improvement plan for the housing service to be put to the Housing Improvement Board for input.

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To

1.             Agree to proceed with the novation of the Fairfield Halls refurbishment contracts and associated contracts, with outstanding costs to borne by the Council, once certified by the Quantity Surveyors (Chronos Ltd) (not including any potential additional remedial works)

i.              Novation of the Principal Contractor (Vinci) building works contract from Brick by Brick to the Council, and financial commitment for outstanding retentions.

ii.            Novation of the Contract Administrator (MICA Architects) contract from Brick by Brick to the Council.

iii.           Novation of the Quantity Surveying (Chronos Ltd) contract from Brick by Brick to the Council.

iv.           Novation of other professional services contracts from Brick by Brick to the Council.

v.            Assignment of completed contracts warranties and guarantees.

2.             Note:

i.             The recommendations above could not be made under delegated authority (as envisaged in the May Cabinet report) due to its potential overall value

ii.            Brick By Brick will continue to pay relevant contractors on the Council’s behalf whilst the recommended novations are completed, from 1st April and forecasted to August 2021 these payments are under £50,000 (managed under delegated authority)

iii.           The progress of the non-intrusive survey works

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To agree

1.    The expenditure of external ring-fenced funding indicated within Table 1 of Section 3 of the report, expenditure, subject to any further advice of the S151 Officer / Director of Finance, Investment and Risk.

2.    The delivery of the potential programme summarised within Section 3 of report, the extent and scope of that programme dependent on funding allocations to Croydon Council still to be confirmed by TfL; and subject to other matters outlined in Section 3 of the report.

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To

1.   Approve the re-design of the Best Start Children’s Centres into a 3 Hubs and 8 Spokes locality model to provide greater efficiency and co-ordination of service delivery within a reduced budget.  This recommendation has been informed by public consultation.

2.    Note that the Director of Commissioning and Procurement as Chair of the Contracts & Commissioning Board has approved the Procurement Strategy contained in this report and a number of waivers in accordance with Regulations 19.2 of the Council’s Contracts and Tender Regulations. The Procurement Strategy will potentially result in Contract awards for a maximum value of £1,431,533, of which for Lot 1, Child Development and School Readiness services is £1,162,533 and for Lot 2, Parent Aspirations and Parenting Skills services is £269,000.  Contracts will be for a term of 2 years and 4 months. 

The Leader of the Council delegated authority to the Cabinet to make the following decisions:

RESOLVED: To note the contents of the report.

RESOLVED:

1.    Approve the variation of the existing lease terms for the long leases for Concord and Sycamore House on the basis set out in section 3.2 of the report.

2.    Note the potential opportunity to secure a further capital receipt through the extension of the lease terms.