Committees

A Special Meeting of The Highland Council will take place in the Council Chamber, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Thursday, 9 February  2012 at 10.30am.

 

Webcast Notice: This meeting will be filmed and broadcast over the Internet on the Highland Council website and will be archived and available for viewing for 12 months thereafter.

 

Your attendance at the meeting is invited and I append a note of the business to be transacted.


 

Yours faithfully,

 

Michelle Morris
Assistant Chief Executive


 

1. Calling of the Roll and Apologies for Absence

 

2. Declarations of Interest

 

Members are asked to consider whether they have an interest to declare in relation to any item on the agenda for this meeting. Any Member making a declaration of interest should indicate whether it is a financial or non-financial interest and include some information on the nature of the interest. Advice may be sought from Officers prior to the meeting taking place.   

 

3. Revenue Budget and Council Tax 2012/13

 

There is circulated Report No.HC-70-11 (140kb pdf) dated 1 February 2012 by the Director of Finance which sets out information relating to the Revenue Budget for 2012/13 to allow the Council to formally agree the Revenue Budget and Council Tax for that year. 

 

The following Booklets A to D accompany the report and are circulated separately:-

There are also circulated Minutes of Meeting of the Budget Information Group held on 31 January 2012.     

 

Members are asked to consider the report and:-

 

(a) agree a Council Tax freeze for 2012/13, with the Council Tax at Band D for
     the year being £1,163;
(b) note the previously agreed budget savings as set out within Booklet B;
(c) agree the deferral, reduction or deletion of certain savings as highlighted within
     Booklet A;
(d) note the new or revised saving proposals highlighted in Booklet A, these
     savings representing management actions or savings already reported to
     Members;
(e) agree the budget growth and pressures set out within Booklets C and D;
(f) agree the revenue budget for 2012/13 of £602.018m as set out in the report,
     annexes and booklets;
(g) agree to accept the Scottish Government settlement package in full and the
     conditions associated as summarised at Paragraph 3.1 and reported to the
     Council on 15 December 2011;
(h) note that the financial settlements for the integrated service for children and
     the integrated service for adults have still to be finalised with NHS Highland and
     that there would normally have been some provision for demographic
     pressures on social care in 2012/13 which may require to be met from the
     uncommitted contingency budget which will be reported to the Council in March
     as part of the partnership agreement;
(i)  note the initial budget outlook for years 2013/14 to 2014/15 and arrangements
     proposed to take forward the budget planning for those years; and
(j) note the reserves and balances strategy as set out in Annex 2 to the report.

 

4. Housing Revenue Account Estimates 2012/13

 

At its meeting on 11 January 2012, the Housing and Social Work Committee agreed to make recommendations to the Council on the Housing Revenue Estimates 2012 (20kb pdf) and on rents for houses, garages and other charges.

 

In this connection, there is circulated Extract from the Minutes of Meeting of the Housing and Social Work Committee which recommends that the Council agree:-

 

(i) a flat rate increase of £0.53 per week in relation to Council House Building and a
    1% rent increase in relation to general costs for 2012/13 resulting in a combined
    average increase of 1.9%;
(ii) that this percentage increase (1.9%) should be applied to hostel rents,
    Gypsy/Traveller site pitches, garage and garage site rents;
(iii) that there should be no increase in sheltered housing warden charges in
    2012/13;
(iv)that the service charge for caretaking services should be increased to £3.00 per
    week;
(v)to discontinue the service charge in relation to CCTV, subject to further
    consultation to include Northern Constabulary and Ward Members;
(vi)that service charges for communal TV aerials should be discontinued and costs
    recovered through rechargeable repairs;
(vii)that other service charges should be increased by 1%;
(viii)that rents for ‘combined properties’ should be revised as set out in Section 4 of
    the report to fit with the Council’s overall rent structure;
(ix)that rents for leased property should increase as stipulated in existing contracts;
    and
(x)that the estimated HRA surplus of £3.429m in 2012/13 should be applied as
    Capital from Current Revenue to fund the HRA Capital Programme in 2012/13. 

 

For information, there is also re-circulated Report No. HSW-08-12 dated 4 January 2012 by the Director of Housing and Property.

 

The Council is asked to agree the recommendations from the Housing and Social Work Committee as detailed.

 

5. Draft Written Response for the Inquiry on Public Sector Reform and Local Government

 

There is circulated Report No.HC-71-11 (77kb pdf) dated 30 January 2012 by the Assistant Chief Executive which includes draft written evidence to provide to the Scottish Parliament’s Committee on Local Government and Regeneration.

 

Members are asked to approve the written evidence to be submitted to the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government and Regeneration Committee based on the draft response appended to the report.

 

6. Timetable of Meetings for 2012

 

Members are asked to agree the following changes to dates of meetings of the Planning Review Body in 2012 –

  • Meeting scheduled for 29 March – now to be held on 28 March
  • Meeting scheduled for 30 August – now to be held on 29 August

7. Exclusion of the Public

 

The Council is invited to resolve that, under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the public should be excluded from the meeting during discussion of the following item on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1, 8 and 9 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A of the Act.    

 

8. Appointments to Posts of Directors of Education, Culture and Sport and  Health and Social Care

 

There is circulated to Members only Report No. HC/72/11 dated 1 February 2012 by the Chief Executive in relation to appointments to the posts of Directors of Education, Culture and Sport and Health and Social Care.

 

Members are asked to agree the recommendations as detailed in the report.