Agenda and decisions

To receive any apologies for absence.

To approve the minutes from the previous meeting.

To receive and note any declarations of interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.

(The other registrable interests of Councillors of Somerset Council, arising from membership of City, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes: City, Town & Parish Twin Hatters - Somerset Councillors 2023 )

The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.

For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.

We are now live webcasting most of our committee meetings and you are welcome to view and listen to the discussion. The link to each webcast will be available on the meeting webpage, please see details under ‘click here to join online meeting’.

To note the latest Executive Forward Plan of planned key decisions that have been published on the Council’s website.

Click here to access - Executive Forward Plan

Following consideration of the officer report, appendices and discussion, the Executive resolved to:

• Endorse the progress made in the month from 11 November – 6 December 2024. 

• Consider the current assessment of programme risks which includes those with a score of 16 or higher that may arise during the change process, along with the status of actions to mitigate these risks, as detailed in Appendix A. 

Following consideration of the officer report, appendices and discussion, the Executive resolved to:

a)    Note Council is now forecasting a balanced revenue position (on-budget). 

b)    Note the total Council revenue forecast underspend of £8.782m for the year. There is a forecast underspend of £2.722m within Service Directorates for 2024/25 and the Corporate Contingency of £6.000m, whilst remains unallocated it has been released into the forecast outturn within budget lines Table 1. 

c)    Note that the planned use of reserves of £36.800m for Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) Support towards the budget is forecast to reduce by £8.782m to £28.018m, due to the forecast underspend within budget lines (section 18). 

d)    Agree that mitigating actions are to be identified in order to reduce any overspends, to take action and to contribute to the long-term financial sustainability of the authority. 

e)    Agree that the Council continues with the aim of avoiding a Section 114 notice by taking all of the necessary actions and continuing to operate as if onehas been issued. 

f)      Note the progress and delivered savings of £17.050m of the approved savings programme as set out in Table 2 and Appendix J. 

g)    Note that work will continue to find mitigating or substitute savings for the £1.239m of Red unachievable savings, deliver the £5.004m Amber at risk savings and the £16.584m Green on track savings. 

h)    Note the in-year forecast overspend on the Dedicated Schools Grant of £32.767m, an increase of £4.508m from Quarter 2 (in section 12). 

i)      Note the total forecast Dedicated Schools Grant year-end deficit of £68.707m as set out in Appendix C. 

j)      Note the collection rates for Council Tax and Business Rates as set out in section 19. 

k)    Note the Capital Programme forecast outturn at Month 7 is £113.678m. 

l)      Approve that any application for Exceptional Financial Support for the 2025/26 budget is delegated to the Interim Chief Finance Officer (Section 151 Officer) as detailed in section 31 of this report. 

Following consideration of the officer report, appendices and discussion, the Executive resolved to agree:

1. the outcome of the procurement process to award contracts to the supplies named in the Tender Evaluation Report Confidential Appendix B for General Nursing Block Beds, for the length of 5 years (plus permitted extensions of 2 years + 2 years + 1 year). 

2. Commissioners to work with the care home market to explore a direct award for 10 Block Beds in Yeovil due to no bids being received during the procurement tender. 
3. the case for applying the exempt information provision as set out in the Local Government Act 1972, Schedule 12A and therefore to treat the attached confidential Appendix B in confidence, as it contains commercially sensitive information, and as the case for the public interest in maintaining the exception outweighs the public interest in disclosing that information. 

Following consideration of the officer report, appendices and discussion, the Executive resolved to note and endorse the recommendations in the report and agree its publication:

1.    Strong leadership across many organisations will be needed. The Somerset Board and constituent organisations commitment to a refreshed Local Declaration on Tobacco Control, (including commitment to not work with tobacco companies). 

2.    Support to Trading Standards to enforce the new tobacco and vaping legislation. 

3.    Support local workplaces to develop smoke-free policies that adhere to smokefree legislation, public sector organisations in Somerset should be exemplar employers. 

4.    Launch new, fresh communication and training campaigns that take a compassionate approach to smoking, supporting front line workers and members of our communities to have non-judgmental Very Brief Advice conversations about stopping smoking at every opportunity with signposting to support that meets their needs. 

5.    Strong engagement with people in Somerset to develop a new Somerset-wide action plan which develops services to meet the needs of people to stop smoking and protects people from second-hand smoke and smoking-related behaviour. 

6.    Focus our support towards groups with the highest rates of smoking, use behavioural insight research to understand what will work best to help them to stop smoking as well as to create more supportive environment. 

7.    Support schools, hospitals and care infrastructure to embed clear policies for smoking and vaping. 

8.    Stop smoking services should be further developed at hospital sites so 100% of patients are asked if they smoke and offered support to stop. 

9.    100% of pregnant women and partners should be screened using carbon monoxide monitors at booking and throughout pregnancy, and provided with appropriate support. 

10.To hit the target of smokefree by 2030, there needs to be strong measurement of progress against the target of 45,000. A collection of performance measures needs to be agreed with constant monitoring; as many measures as possible need to be ‘real time’ with little time lag. 

Following consideration of the officer report, appendices and discussion, the Executive resolved to:

1. Approve the proposed name change from Homes In Sedgemoor to Homes in Somerset  

2. Approve the TUPE transfer of the Somerset Council Development Team to Homes In Sedgemoor (Homes In Somerset), with the associated change to the Management Agreement, subject to formal HR consultation.