News Bulletin - November 2012

Slough Conservative Group News – November 2012

1. Conservative Motion – A5 premises

The Conservative motion submitted for Council on 27th November recommends:- That the health and well being priorities in the Sustainable Community Strategy (2011) and other relevant national and regional guidance in relation to improving the health of children be expanded  by considering ways to prevent any new premises with A5 from opening within 300-500 metres of any school within the Slough borough borders.

Resolved -   Council resolved that the health and well being priorities in the Sustainable Community Strategy (2011) and other relevant national and regional guidance in relation to improving the health of children be expanded  by considering ways to prevent any new premises with A5 from opening within 300-500 metres of any school within the Slough borough borders and that consideration of the issue takes place through referral to the O&S Committee for Member input and appropriate recommendations be made to the Planning Committee on new policy.

2. Parliamentary Boundary Review Proposals

Group Leaders met on 5th November to discuss proposed parliamentary boundaries. Concerns were raised for warding arrangements for the far eastern part of the borough of Slough. The impracticalities of moving Cippenham Meadows into Windsor, and Colnbrook and Poyle from Windsor into Surrey's patch were discussed. In particular, the poor transport links between polling stations which would cause ample chaos if parliamentary elections fell on the same day as borough elections.

The deadline for submitting a response to the Boundary Commission is 10th December.

3. Peer Review

An experienced team of specialists spent a week at the council (12 to 16 November 2012) talking to staff, councillors (including Conservative Group Leader) , partners and children about progress made since the Ofsted report of June 2011 which rated the authority as inadequate.

The review found:

• the Slough local safeguarding children’s board (SLSBC) was working well
• new projects are benefiting children and young people
• evidence of good joint working between staff across front line services in health, police, schools and the council
• a commitment between agencies to continue to work together to improve services for Slough’s children and young people
• new management was speeding-up the pace of improvement and change

The review also confirmed the council’s and partner agencies’ plans for continued improvement were the right ones.

These include:

• continuing to ensure social work practice is consistent
• ensuring there is a shared understanding across agencies about early intervention and prevention services and these services are joined up
• maintaining the focus on staff recruitment
• extending the use of audits to support multi-agency learning

The letter from the peer review team, setting out the feedback, is expected in three weeks and will be discussed at the Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Panel in December.Bottom of Form

4. Slough Borough Council Third Local Transport Plan – Local Transport Implementation Plan 2012/13 to 2014/15

The Third Local Transport Plan (LTP3) covers the 15 years from April 2011 to March 2026. The15-year strategy is set out in the separate LTP3 Strategy Document. The purpose of this first 3-year Local Transport Implementation Plan (LTIP1) is to show how the strategy will be delivered on the ground. Together the Strategy Document and LTIP comprise the LTP3 programme.

LTIP1 outlines the schemes and measures we intend to implement to achieve the LTP3 objectives, taking account of available finance and resources. An Interim LTIP for 2011/12 was adopted in March 2011. This focuses on the 3 years 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15. A second LTIP (LTIP2) will cover the following 3 years and subsequent plans will set out proposals for future years. SBC undertake an annual review of the programme, looking back on progress in the previous year and adjusting the forward programme as necessary to take account of changing circumstances. The full plan can be viewed at:

http://www.slough.gov.uk/moderngov/documents/s26716/LTIP%20Nov12Cabinet13nov12.pdf

5. Council Tax Support Scheme/Council Tax Base For 2013/14

The Government has decided that there will no longer be a national Council Tax Benefits system from 1 April 2013. Instead the Council needs to introduce its own local Council Tax Support Scheme. The Council is required to approve the new local Council Tax Support Scheme by the end of January 2013. There are two full Council meetings before then on 27th November 2012 and 29th January 2013. It is unlikely that the new local Council Tax Support Scheme will be completed in time for the 27th November Council meeting. The Council meeting on 29th January 2013 will be too late as it would allow insufficient time to notify preceptors and parishes of the 2013/14 Council Tax Base for their areas.

6. Britwell Regeneration Scheme – Development Agreement for the Major Housing Provision and Update

Cabinet decided on 19th November that the Chief Executive be authorised to:

·   Agree the Development Agreement for the Regeneration of Britwell set out as the Heads of Terms.

• Agree the disposal of the land subject to the Development Agreement to Countryside Properties PLC.
• Agree the final agreement of the Heads of Terms for the disposal of the leases for the car parks on the SEGRO estate in exchange for a 999 year lease for the land off Northborough Road for the incorporation of the land into the Kennedy Park Masterplan for development as part of the regeneration scheme.

It was decided that all the land the subject of the Britwell regeneration be appropriated to the Planning Committee. And recommend to Council that the Council will not develop the land the subject of the Britwell Regeneration otherwise than in accordance with the Development Agreement and will not dispose of the land otherwise than in accordance with the terms of the Development Agreement.

7. School Funding Reform 2013-14

School Funding Reform and the need to agree the framework, most particularly the factors to be used, for a new formula by which Dedicated Schools Grant should be allocated in the future. The Council has a responsibility to consult schools and to determine the formula. The deadline for submission of the framework was 31 October and as a result the decision on the formula was delegated to the Chief Executive following consultation with the Leader.

A Task and Finish group formed from a cross-section of heads has worked with the Council’s financial officers to design a formula based on the new needs based factors defined by government. The factors are more limited than in the current regime, in some cases are defined in a way which does not reflect the context in Slough and there are no discretionary or local factors. The task is to design a local formula which best reflects need. The new needs-based formula presents some immediate and longer term risks in the funding of Slough schools and more work will be done to understand the

impact of the formula and where need dictates and the formula can be amended to resolve the fluctuations in outcome.

8. Berkshire County Archives – Future Service Provision

Cabinet decided on 19th November  that the Assistant Director for Community and Skills be authorised to agree an appropriate new joint arrangement for the provision of the Berkshire County Archive Service for a period of 15 years to 31st March 2028. The Joint Arrangement model as it has existed in Berkshire since 1998 has worked very well and resulted in robust management of the service to the benefit of the individual Unitary Authorities and their communities as well as the wider public and other stakeholders. Elected members from each of the Berkshire authorities are members of the Standing Conference on Archives. This is essentially a stakeholder group which meets once a year. SBC is currently represented by Councillor Sabia Hussain.

9. Slough Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships support the Council’s priority of Economy and Skills as they look to ensure that young people entering into the work marketplace are able to access the opportunities available and are equipped with the necessary skills to be competitive. The Business Administration Apprenticeship Scheme, run by Slough Borough Council, is specifically aimed at the development of young people aged 16-18 years of age so that they are better able to compete in the modern employment market. The idea is to support young people who want to take their first steps into the world of work to learn (and earn) in a structured programme, while working towards a formal Level 2 NVQ qualification. As an additional element to the Business Administration Apprenticeships Scheme, Slough Borough Council manages the apprenticeship scheme for Arvato. During 2012 this has involved the recruitment of six Business Administration Level 2 Apprentices through a joint assessment centre. Slough Aspire was officially launched on 2 July 2012. This is a training and recruitment initiative created by SEGRO, supported by Slough Borough Council, East Berkshire College, Mars, Learning to Work, Ipsen, Lonsa, Polycom, O2, RIM, UCB and the Federation of Small Businesses.

Customers will be better informed when eating out in Slough thanks to the introduction of a new scheme which rates the hygiene standards of food outlets. Slough Borough Council has announced it will switch to The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS), a new way of displaying the hygiene standards of food businesses to consumers, from the end of February 2013. The council will be writing to local food outlets over coming weeks in preparation for the launch.

Slough Conservative Group News – October 2012

1. Windsor Road Widening and Regeneration Scheme

Further work on proposals for a Windsor Road Widening Scheme has been approved by Cabinet on 15th October:

Ø      Phase 1 of Windsor Road Widening scheme with the Heart of Slough highway materials at the indicative cost of £1.2M;

Ø      Phase 2 of Windsor Road Widening scheme with standard highway materials at the indicative cost of £1M;

Ø      Phase 3 of Windsor Road Widening scheme with standard highway materials at the indicative cost of £1.5M; and

Ø      Options for further land assembly and regeneration;

Officers will report back to the December Cabinet meeting on the proposed highway and possible regeneration scheme together with the advantages and disadvantages of the options for delivering any scheme.

2. School Services Review Programme

Cabinet decided on 15th October that a PQQ be issued to soft market test the opportunities and the appetite for a ‘fit for purpose’ business operating model for services to schools.

3. Schools Funding Formula

Cabinet decided on 15th October that That authority for final approval be delegated to the Chief Executive following consultation with the Leader and following receipt of the proposals from the Schools Forum.

4. Ofsted Inspection of Safeguarding and Looked After Children – Peer Review

As part of SBC’s Safeguarding Improvement Plan 2011-2013, a Peer Review will take place w/c 12th November 2012. The Peer Review will look at aspects of the ‘child’s journey’ from early intervention to the need for specialist social care services, and examine all partner contributions to support for children, young people and their families. It will identify areas for focus in future work and assist with some of the preparation for the new Ofsted unannounced inspection framework. The Peer Review will include a presentation from the Opposition Leader, Cllr Anna Wright, on 15th November 2012.

5. The Executive Forward Plan

The Executive Forward plan outlining when key Council decisions has been released. Please see attached. The Forward Plan can also be found at http://www.slough.gov.uk/moderngov/documents/s26211/report.pdf

6. Progress On The Thames Valley Transactional Service Centre

Whilst the partnership between SBC and Arvato still remains within the

transition phase, a considerable amount of work has been undertaken during the 6 month period which has included:

Ø      A strong focus on further strengthening the relationship between both partners

Ø      The establishment of a Partnership Client Monitoring team to act as the main liaison for both the retained organisation and our partner arvato.

Ø      The development of a joint service improvement plan which continues to actively engage with officers from retained services.

Ø      Customer Liaison meetings between Housing and Strategic HR have been set up to discuss issues, and develop joint solutions.

Ø      A Joint approach to the implementation of new legislation i.e. Council Tax Support Scheme, Benefits Capping, Debt Recovery and Automatic Pension enrolment and Universal Credit are currently underway.

Ø      Four Operations boards have taken place where senior officers from the partnership have met to review and discuss progress.

Ø      Internal Audit is currently completing reviews of all transactional service

            areas.

7. Update on Wellbeing Strategy – Invest to Save Project & Revised Sickness Absence Policy

Further to the last Employment and Appeals Committee on the 28th June 2012, a

Wellbeing Project Group has now been established which includes representatives

from all directorates, trade unions and Health and Safety Representatives.

The new Occupational Health provider, which started on the 2nd July 2012 is

working closely with managers to support them with their staff wellbeing issues and

provide advice to enable a pro-active response to deal with sickness / health issues.

Benefits include specialist advice, earlier intervention and faster response times

following management referrals and closer working relationships with our current

Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and the mediation service to ensure joined

up wellbeing solutions for staff. Regular contract meetings are held with

Occupational Health to monitor the effectiveness of this approach and discuss any

other support strategies they recommend we could implement.

The draft Sickness Absence policy was consulted on from 6th August to 5th

September, comments were received and these have been reviewed and

incorporated into the revised policy.

The 2013 Electoral Register for the Borough of Slough has now been published, containing some 96,479 electors representing 89.3% of the electorate. The Register will be used to identify who is allowed to vote at next month’s Police and Crime Commissioner Elections. However, schools, shops and credit agencies also use the Register to prove where people live.

Slough Borough Council has launched a consultation on changes to the council tax benefit scheme. The government is scrapping the national benefit scheme and in its place the council has to design a local support scheme, known as Council Tax Support (CTS).

The council is considering:

Ø      All council tax payers of working age will make a contribution to their council tax.

Ø      Reducing the band at which CTS would be calculated at, so a person in band F would only have their CTS based on the band C or band D charge. This would mean customers of working age would pay a fixed percentage of their council tax and be eligible for Council Tax Support on the remainder.

Ø      Capping the amount of CTS received between 70% to 90% of the amount currently received.

Ø      Removing second adult rebate - this is awarded to households who are not entitled to council tax benefit based on their income. However if they have another adult living in the house and they have a low income their bill can be reduced by up to 25%.

Ø      Under the scheme, the period for which benefits could be backdated would also reduce - from 6 months to 1 month.

The council is also considering having a hardship fund for those faced with exceptional needs or circumstances. Pensioners are not affected by the changes and will be no worse off than under the current system.

The new council tax support scheme will start on 1 April 2013.

Slough Borough Council has announced its plan to place the Arbour Park development into the Slough Regeneration Partnership.

Arbour Park, the site of the old Arbour Vale School, Stoke Road, is planned for a development including:

Ø      a new football stadium intended to be run and used by Slough Town Football Club

Ø      two extra football pitches

Ø      multi use games area

Ø      club house and accommodation block

Ø      athletics track

Ø      facilities for the dance academy

Ø      89 new homes

Slough Borough Council is apologising to local residents after a systems error meant thousands of council tax direct debits were collected a day early.

13,449 residents who pay council tax by direct debit on the first of the month were affected by the error which meant banks transferred the money on Friday last week (28 September) instead of Monday 1 October; one working day early.