None.

Councillor Turner arrived during Minute 220 and left at the end of Minute 223.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no public questions.

There were no addresses.

Councillor Fooks addressed the Board on the items at Minutes 221 and 222. Her comments are included in the relevant minutes.

The Scrutiny Committee submitted reports and recommendations to the Board following the committee’s meeting on 5 April and the meetings of the Finance Panel and the Housing Panel on 7 April and 11 April respectively:

·         Tackling elderly isolation

·         Security in tower blocks

·         Tenant Involvement

·         Council Tax exemptions and discounts

·         Oxford Credit Unions

·         Low Carbon Hub funding model

The Chair of the Scrutiny Committee and the Chair of the Housing Panel introduced their reports. They noted the Board’s responses to the recommendations and were pleased to note that overall 25 recommendations were accepted in full and 4 recommendations in part by the Board with only 1 rejected.

The Chair of Scrutiny had asked for a full response to the report on credit unions to be presented to the Finance Panel for their discussion of this issue in June. The Board Member, Councillor Brown, said she would attend this meeting.

The Chair of the Housing Panel congratulated the tenant involvement team on their performance and positive impact.

The following Scrutiny Committee reports and recommendations were considered as part of the substantive discussion of these items:

·         Discretionary Housing Payment Policy – 2016 Revision

The Head of Law & Governance has submitted a report which considers whether the Executive Scheme of Delegation should be amended to increase the thresholds beyond which City Executive Board approval is needed for contract awards and for tenders to be submitted by the Council.

Recommendations: That the City Executive Board resolves to:

1.    Approve an increase to the threshold at which the decision to accept a tender must be made by the City Executive Board from £500,000 to £1,000,000;

2.    Delegate to the relevant Executive Director, in consultation with the statutory officers and the relevant Board member, the decision to accept a tender of a value between £500,000 and up to £1,000,000;

3.    Delegate to the relevant  Executive Director, in consultation with the statutory officers, the decision to submit a tender with a value of up to £500,000; and

4.    Delegate to the relevant Executive Director, on confirmation that a tender submitted by the Council, with a value up to £500,000, is successful, the decision to enter into an agreement to deliver the services.

The Head of Law & Governance submitted a report which considered whether the Executive Scheme of Delegation should be amended to increase the thresholds beyond which City Executive Board approval is needed for contract awards and for tenders to be submitted by the Council.

The Leader of the Council presented the report.

Councillor Fooks said it would be better to take these decisions in public and asked what would be reported?

Board Members responded that decisions were formally advertised as key decisions in the forward plan and advertised as officer decisions, and the relevant board members would be informed before the decision.

The City Executive Board resolved to:

1.    Approve an increase to the threshold at which the decision to accept a tender must be made by the City Executive Board from £500,000 to £1,000,000;

2.    Delegate to the relevant Executive Director, in consultation with the statutory officers and the relevant Board member, the decision to accept a tender of a value between £500,000 and up to £1,000,000;

3.    Delegate to the relevant  Executive Director, in consultation with the statutory officers, the decision to submit a tender with a value of up to £500,000; and

4.    Delegate to the relevant Executive Director, on confirmation that a tender submitted by the Council, with a value up to £500,000, is successful, the decision to enter into an agreement to deliver the services.

The Executive Director, Organisational Development & Corporate Serviceshas submitted a report which seeks approval of the revised Discretionary Housing Payment policy for 2016.

Recommendations: That the City Executive Board resolves to:

1.    Approve the revised Discretionary Housing Payment policy.

The Executive Director, Organisational Development & Corporate Servicessubmitted a report seeking approval of the revised Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) policy for 2016.

The Executive Board member for Customer and Corporate Services presented the report.

Councillor Fooks said she hoped that the council could help as much as possible and while it could not offer unlimited support should offer ongoing support in genuinely exceptional circumstances where there is no other option.

The Chair of the Scrutiny Committee presented the committee’s recommendations. The Board noted the Scrutiny Committee report and their published responses to the recommendations.

The City Executive Board resolved to:

Approve the revised Discretionary Housing Payment policy as set out in the report and appendices.

The Head of Housing & Property has submitted a report which details a proposal to put in place a Local Lettings Plan at Salter Close and Whitehouse Road to reduce the impact of any new lettings on existing residents following the de-designation of these flats for exclusive occupation by elderly persons.

Recommendations: That the City Executive Board resolves to:

1.    Approve the Local Lettings Plan at Salter Close and Whitehouse Road for a period of 12 months following the de-designation of the one-bedroom flats for occupation by elderly persons.

2.    To delegate authority to the Head of Housing and Property to extend the Local Lettings Plan after a period of 12 months if, after a review submitted to the Scrutiny Housing Panel, this is still considered to be required.

The Head of Housing & Property submitted a report detailing a proposal to put in place a Local Lettings Plan at Salter Close and Whitehouse Road to reduce the impact of any new lettings on existing residents following the de-designation of these flats for exclusive occupation by elderly persons.

The Executive Board Member for Housing presented the report. He asked for approval for a change to the policy to delete the words below:

Local Lettings Plan Approach

……………………

·         No housing applicants with a current or historic dependency on drugs and/or alcohol will be considered for an offer.

…………………………

The City Executive Board resolved to:

1.    Approve the Local Lettings Plan at Salter Close and Whitehouse Road for a period of 12 months following the de-designation of the one-bedroom flats for occupation by elderly persons with the change as above.

2.    Delegate authority to the Head of Housing and Property to extend the Local Lettings Plan after a period of 12 months if, after a review submitted to the Scrutiny Housing Panel, this is still considered to be required.

The Executive Director, Regeneration and Housing has submitted a report which seeks budgetary approval for the sale of Oxpens land and a loan to Oxford West End Development Ltd.

Recommendations: That the City Executive Board resolves to recommend full Council to approve:

1.    A loan of £4.16 million to Oxford West End Development Ltd to provide funds to the company to purchase land owned by Oxford City Council on terms set out in this report.

2.    A capital budget of £4.16 million in the Council’s General Fund Capital Programme in 2017/18 funded from the Capital Receipt received from the sale of the land.

The Executive Director, Regeneration and Housing submitted a report seeking budgetary approval for the sale of Oxpens land and a loan to Oxford West End Development Ltd.

The Leader of the Council presented the report.

The City Executive Board resolved to recommend full Council to approve:

1.    A loan of £4.16 million to Oxford West End Development Ltd to provide funds to the company to purchase land owned by Oxford City Council on terms set out in this report.

2.    A capital budget of £4.16 million in the Council’s General Fund Capital Programme in 2017/18 funded from the Capital Receipt received from the sale of the land.

The Head of Community Services has submitted a report which seeks approval of terms for a new lease for West Oxford Community Centre.

Recommendations: That the City Executive Board resolves to:

1.    Approve the terms of a new lease for West Oxford Community Association and delegate authority to the Director of Community Services in consultation with the Monitoring Officer to complete a lease.

The Head of Community Services submitted a report seeking approval of terms for a new lease for West Oxford Community Centre.

The Executive Board Member for Culture and Communities presented the report.

The City Executive Board resolved to:

Approve the terms of a new lease for West Oxford Community Association and delegate authority to the Director of Community Services in consultation with the Monitoring Officer to complete a lease.

No items were raised by Board members.

Minutes of the meetings held on 17 March 2016 and 24 March 2016

Recommendation: The City Executive Board NOTES the minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2016 and 24 March 2016 as a true and accurate record.

The Board resolved to approve the minutes of the meetings held on 17 March 2016 and 24 March 2016 as a true and accurate record.

The City Executive Board resolved to exclude the press and the public from the meeting during consideration of the items on the exempt from publication part of the agenda in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 21(1)(b) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2000 on the grounds that their presence could involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as described in specific paragraphs of Schedule I2A of the Local Government Act 1972 and that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

The Board received and noted the contents of the not for publication appendix to the report considered at Minute 225.