The following disclosures of interest were received in the interest of transparency:

(i)            Councillor Cooke declared an interest in the item relating to Universal       Credit (Minute 61) as he was a member of the InCommunites Board.

(ii)          Councillor Sunderland declared an interest in the item relating to the Property Programme (Minute 60) as she was involved with three community asset transfers in her ward.

ACTION:       City Solicitor

Recommended –

That the minutes of the meetings held on 19 October and 3 November 2016 be signed as a correct record (previously circulated).

(Yusuf Patel – 01274 434579)

Resolved –

That the minutes of the meetings held on 19 October and 3 November 2016 be signed as a correct record.

(Access to Information Procedure Rules – Part 3B of the Constitution)

Reports and background papers for agenda items may be inspected by contacting the person shown after each agenda item.  Certain reports and background papers may be restricted. 

Any request to remove the restriction on a report or background paper should be made to the relevant Strategic Director or Assistant Director whose name is shown on the front page of the report. 

If that request is refused, there is a right of appeal to this meeting. 

Please contact the officer shown below in advance of the meeting if you wish to appeal. 

(Yusuf Patel - 01274 434579)

There were no appeals submitted by the public to review decisions to restrict documents.

There were no referrals made to this Committee at the time of the publication of this agenda.

                                                                                    (Yusuf Patel – 01274 434579)

There were no referrals made to the Committee.

ACTION:       No Action

The Director of Finance will submit a report (Document “Y”) which sets out the overall progress made by the Property Programme (formerly b-works) to date and on the 2016/17 projects. The report also highlights the future direction of the Programme.

Recommended –

The Director of Finance submitted a report (Document “Y”) which set out the overall progress made by the Property Programme (formerly b-works) to date and on the 2016/17 projects. The report also highlighted the future direction of the Programme.

The Estates Manager gave a detailed overview of the Programme, during which the following aspects were highlighted:

·        That the Property Programme was a ten year ‘invest to save’ strategy, to deliver a well managed and fit for purpose estate.

·        The Programme was in year 9 of a 10 year resourced programme.

By the end of 2016/17 it is projected that the Programme will have delivered:

·        £7.3m of on-going per year gross revenue savings from vacating over 69 properties. The savings from the start of the Programme to the end of 2016/17 total £27.2m and will be equivalent to £42m by the end of the Programme in 2018/19.

·        Vacating the buildings will have reduced operational floor space occupied by approximately 83,000 m2 (25%) – equivalent to in excess of 8 Jacobs Wells, with a further 14,000m2 in the pipeline.

·        Additionally approximately 50 Community Asset Transfers applications were currently in the process of being assessed.

·        That £39m of capital receipts from disposing of surplus properties. An additional benefit to the district is that many of the surplus properties are subsequently redeveloped by the purchasers thus aiding regeneration.

·        That over £50 million of backlog maintenance reductions from investing in retained premises and disposing of surplus properties.

·        That the Programme had delivered the infrastructure necessary to enable flexible and mobile working.

·        To deliver the above benefits the Programme will have incurred approximately £15.4m of revenue expenditure and £52m of capital expenditure from the start of the Programme in 2008/9 to the end of 2016/17.

·        The Programme had recently completed work on a scheme to refurbish Argus Chambers and part of Britannia House.

Projects approved in 2016/17 included:

·        A £2m Essential Maintenance programme.

·        £0.2m Shipley Library refurbishment and creation of a Community Hub.

·        £750k for the refurbishment of the 5 upper floors of Argus Chambers.

·        £2m for the refurbishment of the ground floor space and reconfigured upper floor space in Britannia House.

·        The relocation of staff from Jacobs Well to Argus Chambers/Britannia House.

·        Depot Strategy – £3m scheme to create a new depot facility.  This scheme will enable the vacation of Shearbridge Depot, Harris Street Depot and the Tramshed, Wakefield Road.

During the discussion Members asked a number questions, the questions together with the responses are set out below:

A Member stated that Community Asset Transfers (CAT) were becoming more pertinent recently, and that it was difficult for people to know how to commence the CAT process.  He ascertained what help was available to enable individuals and community groups to navigate through the process, negotiate with the Council, as many people lacked the capacity and confidence to do this.  In response the Estates Manager explained that the whole CAT process can be accessed online, which takes you through the criteria and process.  In  ...  view the full minutes text for item 60.

The Director of Finance submitted a report (Document “Z”) which set out progress in rolling out Universal Credit, both locally and nationally, and the support arrangements that had been introduced to support residents claiming Universal Credit.

The Assistant Director Revenues, Benefits and Payroll explained that Universal Credit was introduced in the Bradford District in November 2015, and had, so far, been restricted to single newly unemployed people. The Council has recently learned that couples and families will start to apply for the new benefit from March 2018.  

The Department for Work and Pensions had put a number of support arrangements in place, such as coaching and training better tailored to the claimants’ circumstances. However, the Government had recognised that Local Authorities were best placed to provide this support locally. Locally provided support, by both the Council and DWP, was outlined in Appendix 1 to Document “Z”.

To formalise the working relationship between the DWP and the Council a framework agreement, known as Universal Support - delivered locally (USDL), had been established. This included the Delivery Partnership Agreement, which sets out how UC support arrangements will be delivered at the local level; including the establishment of a ‘Local Delivery Partnership’ to deliver specific support services to claimants. 

The scope of the USDL agreement was set out in Appendix 2 to Document “Z”. The current agreement ends on 31 March 2017; a new agreement will be negotiated for 2017/18, informed by the lessons learnt to date. 

During the discussion Members asked a number of questions which are detailed below with the responses.

In relation to a question on the full extent on the number of people claiming UC, it was explained that currently 55,000 families claimed tax credits, of this how many were in receipt of UC or housing benefit was difficult to extrapolate.

In response to a question regarding pensioners it was pointed out that although pensioners were outside of the scope of UC, currently 20,000 pensioners received Council Tax support and just a slightly lesser number were in receipt of housing benefit.

A Member stated that as a result of housing benefit changes being paid directly to the claimant, rent collection rates may fall as a consequence and this may have a corresponding impact on the budgeting support that would be offered as part of Universal Credit.  In response the Assistant Director acknowledged that there were a number of issues he could foresee, including the fact that Universal Credit was paid in arrears, this could lead to claimants being in arrears with their rent  and it may be difficult in future to determine who was genuinely in arrears.

A Member stressed that the need to monitor those individuals most at risk.  The Assistant Director stated that in relation to risk, people can move in and out of risk, depending on their circumstances, however the transitional nature of Universal Credit would allow people to make this transition and enable any problems to be identified at an early stage. The Assistant  ...  view the full minutes text for item 61.

Recommended –

(1)       That members consider and comment on the areas of work included in the work programme.

(2)       That members consider any detailed scrutiny reviews that they may wish to conduct.