Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor David Chance, who was unable to join the meeting in person, but joined virtually.

Resolved –

That the public Minutes of the meeting held on 17 October 2023, having been printed and circulated, be taken as read and confirmed by the Chairman as a correct record.

There were no declarations of interest.

Members are recommended to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of each of the items of business listed in Column 1 of the following table on the grounds that they each involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the paragraph(s) specified in column 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 as amended by the Local Government (Access to information)(Variation) Order 2006:-

Resolved –

That on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 2 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 as amended by the Local government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of agenda item 9.

Members of the public may ask questions or make statements at this meeting if they have given notice to Will Baines of Democratic and Scrutiny Services and supplied the text (contact details below) by midday on Thursday 2 November, three working days before the day of the meeting.  Each speaker should limit themselves to 3 minutes on any item.  Members of the public who have given notice will be invited to speak:

·         at this point in the meeting if their questions/statements relate to matters which are not otherwise on the Agenda (subject to an overall time limit of 30 minutes);

·         when the relevant Agenda item is being considered if they wish to speak on a matter which is on the Agenda for this meeting.

If you are exercising your right to speak at this meeting, but do not wish to be recorded, please inform the Leader who will instruct anyone who may be taking a recording to cease while you speak.

There were no public questions or statements.

Recommendations:

i)        recommend the proposed Council Tax Reduction scheme for 2024/25 to full Council, retaining the scheme as that operating in 2023/24

ii)       delegate authority to the Section 151 officer to approve the accompanying Exceptional Hardship Scheme

iii)      authorise the Section 151 Officer, in consultation with the portfolio holder for Finance, to undertake the necessary consultation work to design a scheme for 2025/2026.

Considered – Report of the Corporate Director – Resources to present the proposed North Yorkshire Council Tax Reduction (CTR) Scheme for 2024/25.

Councillor Gareth Dadd introduced the report, noting that there are no fundamental changes to the current CTR scheme that was introduced last year, as the seven former district and borough councils were brought together with the county council to create a new scheme to operate under the new unitary authority. Even with a further £1million put into the 2023/24 scheme through an uplift in charges on empty properties, it was felt the introduction of the CTR scheme for 2023/24 had been a success

It is pleasing to note the current 2023/24 scheme has seen reductions in the number of council tax recovery notices issued, with a decrease of over 10% across the county, whilst council tax collection rates have remained stable. This aligns with the priority of helping those most vulnerable residents within our county.

The proposed uplift of 6.7% in the current income bands is in line with the rate of the CPI (Consumer Price Index) and will be funded by an uplift in grant funding from central government.

The officer team who designed the proposed scheme were thanked, with the introduction of the 2023/24 CTR scheme seen as one of the benefits of unitarisation to date.

Marcus Lee, Head of Welfare and Benefits emphasised the scheme was proving successful to support the most vulnerable residents of the county with its simplistic approach to the application process and also the administration of it for officers.

Resolved –

i)            recommend the proposed Council Tax Reduction scheme for 2024/25 to full Council, retaining the scheme as that operating in 2023/24

ii)          delegate authority to the Section 151 officer to approve the accompanying Exceptional Hardship Scheme

iii)         authorise the Section 151 officer, in consultation with the portfolio holder for Finance, to undertake the necessary consultation work to design a scheme for 2025/26.

Recommendation:

i)        To approve the updated paragraphs provided at section 3.1, to progress to full council.

Considered – Report of the Assistant Chief Executive (HR and Business Support) to provide clarification and amendments to the pay policy for senior managers.

Councillor Gareth Dadd introduced the report, noting the report recommendation was a tidy up from the pay policy for senior managers approved by full Council in February 2023 which had come into effect from 1 April 2023.

Resolved –

i)        To approve the updated paragraphs provided at section 3.1, to progress to full council.

Recommendation:

That the Executive consider the report of the Independent Remuneration Panel for Member Allowances and to make recommendations to the meeting of Council on 15 November 2023 regarding the recommended Basic Allowance and Special Responsibility Allowances for 2024-25.

Considered – Report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services) to consider the report of the Independent Renumeration Panel for Member Allowances.

Councillor Carl Les introduced the item, thanking the Independent Renumeration Panel for their further work. It was noted this report would go to full Council for elected members to choose whether they accepted the report recommendations.

Therefore, it was

Resolved – That the Executive consider the report of the Independent Remuneration Panel for Member Allowances and recommend it to the meeting of Council on 15 November 2023 regarding the recommended Basic Allowance and Special Responsibility Allowances for 2024-25.

Resolved –

That the recommendations within the confidential report be approved.

Considered –

The Forward Plan for the period 30 October 2023 to 31 October 2024 was presented.

Resolved -   That the Forward Plan be noted.

Considered – Report of the Corporate Director – Children and Young People’s Service seeking approval for the acceptance of the Department for Education grant funding for Wraparound Childcare Programme Costs 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26.

Councillor Annabel Wilkinson introduced the report, noting the deadline of 17 November 2023 for the local authority to agree the Grant Memorandum of Understanding in order for the 2023/24 allocation payment instalment to be paid in December 2023.

Resolved –

That the Executive

i)            Note the DfE Wraparound Childcare Programme and the required role of the local authority in the delivery of the programme.

ii)          Provide approval for the acceptance of the Wraparound Childcare Programme Costs Grant which covers the financial years 2023/24 to 2024/25, with the provisional total grant funding allocation for the three years being £4.33m.