 Rhaid i chi ddim yn gweithio archu'r Cwm Yn Ysgrifennu, ddim yn gweithio argyrin, gwneud hynny, ddim yn gweithio argyrin, gwneud hynny. Fe'i'r Brydget Smith, rhai, mae Llywodraeth Rhaidiannol Cymru, i'r rhangyrchu'r eistedd i'r ddysgu? Mae'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio, yn brodgig yn yr meddwl, Played bydd yma, mae gennym o credu buddiidol a bydd nhw, o'r dyfodol ar gyfer â'r ysgrifennidau. Nw'n eich bod dweud i ddweud am dŷlwg mwynigol. Fe oedd yn ymweld y teimlo eich gweithio, eu bobl yn y ddいつr oedd gwneud o'r ddataill o'r 12 a'n arweud o'r 24. Gweithio eu drafodaeth y ddatesgmwynt gweithio ffuer i unrhyw yw grechwr, ond rwy'n oed. Ddweud â'r ddatesgmwynt. Pryddoedd os yw ddatesgmwynt? Nawr, os yw'r ddatesgmwynt gweithio? oherwydd ydych chi'n mynd i gweithio'r ysgrifetau sydd i ddechrau'r ddysgu, Mr Fflton. Ond, ydych chi'n gweithio, gallu eich ddysgu, ond ydych chi'n mynd i gael e-mail, gallwn i ddim o'r ddefnyddio cymdeithasol, i ddim yn ymgyrch, ac mae'n ddim yn gweithio'r ddysgu. Ond ydych chi'n ddigon. Ond ydych chi'n ddweud i ddim yn cwestiynau ar y cyhoedd. A yna, mae'n ddegyglwch yng Nghymru i Gweithafol, yw'r ysgolau bwrdd? Efo'r ysgolau bwrdd fo fynd ar ôl yng Nghyrch Gwybethol yn dweud? Yn oedd yn dweud, ac mae'n siŵr y gallu gwahanol yn Oedol? Nay, ond mae'n gwahanol yn oedol, a'n dweud mor ffordd yn oedol. Yn oedol, mae'n gweithio'n cymryd gyda'r ysgolau bwrdd. Nid yw, oes gennym i'n defnyddio'r ysgolau bwrdd. Yn oedol, mae'n cymryd gyda'r laran. Gwydduch chi'n gweithio'r gwaith cyfnodd yn ddiweddol yn fawr. Rwy'n meddwl yw'r cyfrans yw'r cyfrans ac mae'r cyfrans yn o'r fawr. Gwydduch chi'n dweud elfennidol eich llwyth ar wahanol. Gwydduch chi'n gweithio'r gwaith ac mae'n cwylwch ar hyn o'r gwaith arwain. Er線wnaeth hefyd, ar y dystod o'u trofio'r proses, rydyn ni cwestiynau bod y gorfod ychydig o'i cynyddu i'r cyfletigol ac brydain wedi'i hyfforddi'r cyfletigol i'r cyfrannu gyfletigol yma. Cyfrannu cyfrannu gweld oedd yr ulyniad yn ysgriffturnau yn y dketwch. Yn hyn a'r cyfrannu cyfrannu cyfrannu gyfletigol ym du, mae gennym ni am yr hydwnaeth yma. Yn hyn yna bod chi wef nhw'n gweld oedd ysgriffturnau yma. Ac mae'r ffordd roedd o'r ddweud o gael y byddai rhai. Rhyw gwybodaeth y Gweithgabeth yn oes o'r ddweud o'r cymdeithasol. A'r dweud o'r ddweud o'r ddweud o'r ddweud o'r ddweud o'r rhain. A'r ddweud o'r arweinio am y gweithgabeth a'r ddweud o'r ddweud o'r ddweud o'r ddweud o'r ddweud o'r ddweud. A dylai yn y prôlion cyllide oherwydd gan gwasanaethau dethyl yn y ffrindiol ac mae'n entfawr o'ch gaur yn hyn yn yr hyn yn hynny. Rydymuno'r rhoi y cyllidegau thatunau sydd y Brindiau Rhyw Gwm iawn o'r Rhyw Grwp a'r boedau yn ymddyl gyda'r rhai wg. Mae hynny'r drwsio o'r troi ymddyl yn y wylo ar yr ymddyl. Mae'r ddaf ar gyfer y rhwng yn y dweud ar hynny. o'r pwysig o'r gwylliannol, ac mae'n bobl sy'n cais ei fyddysgu o'r pergor, mae'n cysylltu'r bounds, gwahanol, dyma'r ddiwrnod, ac mae'n gweld os ymddi wrthig, mae ydym yn lleoddтерm. Mae'r meddwl, yn gwzgol, mae'r ymddi, maen nhw'n sgwm seriad mins yma. Mae'r yna sydd yn terfodol yn y gyfael yma i chi yw rhwng yma, mae'r ysgol yn teimlo gyda'n gwneud. Mae eich mewn gwahanol yma i gweithbeth, yr aeswodd Jwg hwnnw'n ei gweithio am y ffordd ymateb cydarkodd a'r eich ffordd ddim yn mynd i ddwy modd hwnnw ar gyfer y bywydau neu mae'r byd yn cael Iesbyd o'r hynny o'r pwyllts sy'n dod yn arbennig gandudd ond mae'r ysgedwch sydd wedi'u cymlygon fel hynny o'r mwyaf i gyda'r cymryd realms yw mae'r ysgedwch ar y cymryd yn y ddarlliannach if you will a kind of a gap between the recommendation that came in the Piers report and the proposed council actions. Now I did, perhaps I should apologise for this, use the word narrative. I felt there was a narrative, I think rationale would have been a better phrasing of what I intended, But an understanding of how those actions came about and relation to the recommendations. Well as the meeting continued, it became apparent why those actions had been recommended. Now the committee chose to focus, I mean the discussion was wide, but on recommendations So, two in relation to relationships at local and regional level and six, a community strategy. So, let me just make a few comments on each of those. Now, there was a debate about what reset meant. So, reset was the word chosen by the peers. And I think between that means just going back to the beginning and reviewing every relationship we have and maybe doing something a little different. In certain cases, not doing anything much at all different to what we're doing already. So, I think we came through that process, recognising that there's great variability in the types of organisation of groupings of individuals with whom we interact. And in certain cases, those are good and in cases, not so good. And so, the kind of reaction that we will make will depend on the quality of those relationships. I think that's something that emerged from that discussion. And perhaps we could argue for a culture of asking the question, how are we doing? And how could we be working together better? There is another dimension of this, which I think is quite intriguing and some members will recognise this, that some of the groups are working with, and I'm thinking particularly of parish councils, may even with some encouragement begin to work together. And I think that's very refreshing when we see that kind of relationship developed. So, reset means, and I think it comes out in the recommendations to cabinet, that we examine our relationships, we propose different things if those relationships aren't working out. So, the notion of a reset is perhaps a little more nuanced than we thought of, what we were thinking of during the course of the meeting. I think in terms of relationships, the member role is crucial. So, members are those who are often in contact with organisations and can make those links and can facilitate. So, I think we shouldn't underestimate member roles. Now, at one point in the meeting, the deputy leader, Councillor Mills, talked about the sheer variety of stuff that we do, the complexity of our governance process. And I think in that particular week that the deputy leader had spent quite a long time in meetings on East West Trail, and they were the ones that I knew about. So, actually, we have a dimensionality about the council's activity, which is sometimes hard for people to perceive, and that means we're stretched on those relationships, but it still behoves us to maintain the good quality of those relationships. In relation to six, again, this is a quite all-embracing recommendation developing a community strategy. The leader, I think, made the very good point that we've got a lot going on, and Head of Transformation also talked about a series of mini-initiatives. So, I think we were drawing the conclusions and we recognise ourselves that the elements are in place and need to be developed and joined up. And I think we already see in some of our newer communities, that there is a kind of cross-talk between those two developments, perhaps at the community development level, which is suggesting things are happening. And so, nurturing those mini-initiatives, bringing them together as we need to, is what is essential in this space. And so, developing the community statement, which is a kind of level of expectation of what we should be doing in our community relations, is a good step and realisable in the timescale of the feedback. I don't think we should forget the older communities, and there's lots going on in the established villages of this district, and we shouldn't ignore those in the face of the bigger developments. In fact, Water Beach is a very good example of where we have an existing village with all its own issues and a new town with all its challenges. We had a very useful, if you will, side discussion on KPIs underlining the importance of stability in our current situation of how we measure stuff, but a commitment to keep reviewing KPIs as the need arose. So, KPIs should be justified and appropriate. I think we came to that conclusion, and the committee scrutiny and overview will be engaged with that. Short discussion about risk and scrutiny and overviews, position with regard to risk, and other things we take on things that are perhaps more risky or where risk is emerging. Now, that is already done. Chair and Vice-Chair of the committee review with officers where those risks are, but we'd like to keep that under review and challenge and look at emerging risk. Residents survey, which was under the recommendation, the committee felt that we really must make efforts to reach the hard to reach, particularly the young and those busy in their mid-years who may not recognise what the council does, and we have to ask the question, how do we do that, and what kind of information are we seeking to find and why? What will we do with it when we've got it? So, some questions on the residents survey. And then just to conclude, a few minor points. We were unfamiliar with the term target operating model, but we rather like it. And so, there is a little gap that perhaps the committee needs to address from time to time. I'm not quite sure if there's an action around that, apart from keeping up to date. So, I'd just like to say a thank you to Ian Sr who drafted minutes from a rather complicated meeting. The minutes were beautifully coherent and a good summary of what we talked through. The recommendations were appropriate, and I think Ian's work is to be commended. So, on behalf of the committee, I'd like to say this, that we hope that Cabinet will accommodate our recommendations. We look forward to a continuing engagement during the process. Thank you very much indeed, councillor Snowbard. And in fact, the next week, Cabinet had an away day with the senior leadership team, where we spent most of that day discussing the output of the scrutiny and overview committee and how we accommodate what was very useful feedback. So, thank you. So, we won't discuss that because we're going straight on to the item in question. So, if I can thank you, thanks scrutiny committee, similarly commend Ian Sr for managing to compress a very long and intense meeting into two pages. So, well done Ian for doing that. So, thank you very much indeed. It was a really good and really productive meeting. So, thank you to all members of scrutiny. So, moving on now to item seven, which is the peer review action plan. And this has been presented by councillor John Williams. And I am happy to second it. So, councillor Williams. Thank you, leader. First of all, may I, as the report says in paragraph nine, extend our thanks to the peer review team for the work they carried out. It was very thorough. They interviewed members of the Cabinet. They interviewed colleagues. They interviewed members of our communities and our stakeholders. And it was a very thorough review. And it was an independent review. And clearly, it praised us, but it also found some areas for improvement, which we accept. And I also am very grateful to scrutiny and overview of their input as well. And I think that demonstrates the importance of pre-scrutiny, which we introduced to make scrutiny actually worthwhile. Rather than look at something after it had been implemented, we now look at something before it's implemented. And we take on board the comments made by Scrutiny overview before we make that implementation. And that was certainly picked up by the peer review team as good practice. And I'd like to think that other authorities may wish to follow our example with that. And thank you very much for Councillor Stobart for giving us the views of Scrutiny overview, which I'd say we greatly appreciate and have incorporated into this report. You'll see from the appendix that there were 12 recommendations made by the peer review team. And we, and you'll see in the appendix how we intend to go about meeting those recommendations. So I won't go into them in any great detail. But I will say that there was some very... I'd say it wasn't all bad. And in fact, most of it was very good. I'm very pleased, obviously, from my own portfolio to see that the peer review team felt that we were very fine. We were very... From a financial point of view, we were a council that had a good financial situation and that we spent our money wisely and gave best value. Also, the team also commended us on a number of other areas and in the way that we conduct ourselves with our communities and with residents. However, as I say, there were some areas that they felt we could improve on and given their experience elsewhere, we've certainly taken on those recommendations. I say I won't go into any great detail on this. I'm sure other members of Cabinet will point out particular things. But I would recommend the action plan at appendix 1 and that we proceed and continue with this transformation, with this plan to meet those recommendations highlighted by the peer review. Thanks. Thank you very much. If you look at the appendix, you'll see that some of these recommendations have already been actioned and some of them are indeed being completed already. Are there any questions from members of Cabinet, please? Councillor Batchelor. Thank you, leader. Not a question, just more of a comment. Having heard the feedback from Councillor Stobart on behalf of Scrutiny, I'd like to say thank you to the Scrutiny Committee for being demonstrated that they do an extremely thorough and valuable job. I mean, this is exactly the kind of work that we as a Cabinet benefit from and I certainly, from a personal level, found it very helpful and we had our Cabinet away day with senior officers here at the Council and helped us formulate the paper we have in front of us. I'd just like to extend my thanks to the Scrutiny Committee and to senior officers and to the Peer Review Committee but I will certainly be supporting the recommendations. Thank you very much, Councillor Batchelor. Any other comments? Councillor Mills. I just think it's worth noting that we invited the Peer Review and it's always very valuable to do reviews of performance whether this is on an individual basis or in this case the whole of the Council. You shouldn't mark your own homework and for me this is just a good example of opening ourselves up to potential critical friendship type reviews that has been really valuable and I echo the thanks to the Scrutiny Committee for their work on this and it continues our process that the Japanese call Kaiser, continuous improvement and I think we're seeing here today that we are very willing to take on board suggestions of how we can do that continuous improvement. Thank you. Thank you very much for reminding us that this was voluntary. Absolutely wasn't an off-stead inspection. Yes, I can see. Thank you. Yes and that we embarked on it willingly because as you say we know that sometimes it takes somebody from outside to view things differently but actually it was incredibly positive. So there's nothing else. Councillor Hawkins before I come to other members. Thank you leader. I must say that when I saw the recommendation about resetting and defining relationships I also was confused so I'm not surprised that Scrutiny found the same. However we do appreciate our communities and partners so yes we're taking all that on board just to say and this is for me using this forum to just remind our parish councils that there's an event tomorrow here at the council chamber for the parish clerks and that's another way of us just building our relationship and enabling parish councils to have an opportunity to learn more and do better for all of us really. So we'll be having more workshops and trainings throughout the rest of the year as we've been doing. Thank you. Thank you very much and Councillor Stobart talked about parish councils even working together so I actually went to a parish council meeting last week where they were presenting a very exciting neighbourhood plan that was done with two parishes together so that's already happening. Councillor Bradnam. Thank you leader. Welcome to Councillor Williams. Thank you. I just wanted to echo Councillor Stobart's very full and comprehensive record of our very thoughtful and inquisitive discussion at scrutiny and overview because it was really useful and I think Ian Senior has summarised it superbly because it was a convoluted conversation but I also wanted to just urge all of us when we're working on documents like this to use some Anglo-Saxon because some of the terminology in it has been quite confusing and has caused us to ruminate on what was meant by it so I think we need to really make our purposes clear not be frightened of saying what we want to do and how we wish to improve and how those steps should be followed and how they can be measured so it's just in the interest of clarity that we take that forward in that way that we make our planning documents really clear. Thank you very much. Thank you. Yes, point well made. We've spent hours and hours on number two because none of us understood what it meant really and we did ask the peers to clarify and they had disposed of their notes so they weren't able to tell us what they actually wanted to say. Councillor Williams. Thank you, leader. I'm just going to focus my questions on page 27 in relation to recommendation where my screen is frozen for recommendation nine and to deal with the KPIs some of what came through the peer review and I do welcome the fact that the peer review had come in and I know quite a few councils are quite keen to voluntarily go through the LJP so that when the new thing comes in they're not first on the list but I do think it's a positive thing to do and what was useful from my own personal perspective was some of the things that I have been erasing I appreciate and need the opposition so there's always going to be scepticism from the administration when I speak but some of the things that I had raised previously fleshed out in this so I think as well I hope that it serves as a way to see that there isn't always politics at play sometimes for example on communication and training there are things that I know I've been raising for a long period of time and there hasn't been action on so I'm really pleased and hope that now somebody else has said it that will happen and I would like some reassurance that in the future those sorts of things will be looked at when the opposition calls for them and with that I ask about something that we have been calling for a while and that's KPIs on quality a lot of our KPIs are based on productivity of volume and volume of applications volume of payments etc but will there now be KPIs that help give us some assurance of the quality of work because there is fear particularly with the four day week that yes the volume gets out the door but the quality is sacrificed as a consequence and some KPIs on that might relieve those fears the other thing in relation to the four day week is with KPIs changing how will the administration be able to reassure ourselves and residents about those comparisons and that comparison data and is the administration sure that the working four day working week is the success that the administration has hailed given that this clearly shows that there aren't enough KPIs to cover and show the performance of the council as a whole thank you very much so one of the huge advantages of court prepare reviews is that it gives everyone a voice those in administration those in opposition our officers at every level of the organisation our partners, our residents our parish councils everybody's voice is heard as loudly and given as much credit so I think that's one of the big advantages of these and certainly when I'm in the position of helping do them elsewhere actually the people I listen mostly to are the little people actually because they're the people who provide real insight into how the council touches everyone's lives so I'm glad that you recognise that the issue about KPIs is that it has to be measurable they are meaningless if there isn't actually something that is quite clearly quantifiable but we will, Councillor Williams take away your comments about quality and look at it and see when we are reviewing our KPIs see how we can accommodate that certainly customer satisfaction surveys particularly of our housing repairs the survey we've done on our contact centre I think that gives us that much more qualitative data in a way that is actually measurable the peer review was absolutely not on the four day week or on any impact of the four day week that's for another piece of work so the peers made it quite clear that they were not looking at that so that is a piece of work that will come once we have finished the independent analysis of the year long trial any other questions? Yes, Councillor Mills I think the leader of the opposition mentioned comparison of KPIs and I think that's a perfectly valid point that unless we compare like with like then it loses validity so I think that's a perfectly reasonable point for us to check that we are doing like to like comparison Thank you, yes I thought I intend to say that but thank you for clarifying Okay, so if we move on to the recommendations which are, let's go back a bit on page 19 so recommend that we approve the action plan in Appendix 1 and further recommended cabinet agrees that progress against this plan be reported alongside the quarterly key performance indicators until it's complete so do cabinet agree with the recommendations? Anyone voting against? Anyone abstaining? So cabinet therefore agrees the proposals Thank you and item 8 is the proposed administration of the Northstone Community Activation Grant Fund on behalf of Homes England criteria and award process and Councillor Bill Handley is going to present this and I think Councillor Tumi Hawkins is going to second it so over to you Councillor Handley Thank you leader As you know Homes England is a master developer for phases 2 and 3 of Northstone and through the section 106 developer agreements they will be providing substantial funding to support the needs of the developing community however you'll also know that section 106 funding may not always be perfect in its timing and so Homes England have agreed to fund a new scheme which they're calling the Community Activation Fund which is going to provide and the figure I'm just about to give you might be slightly different from what's in the paper 120,000 over six years and that's to support the Northstone community as it develops but since Homes England does not have the skills of administrating this kind of grant they've asked us as council because we do it all the time they've asked us to do it for them and they've agreed in principle that they should pay us a 5% administrative administration fee to cover the cost of the officer time to get this all working as it should and that 5% will be on top of the 120,000 so it's not coming out of the funding for the community it's additional to it so the recommendation is that the cabinet approves this that the council administers the Activation Grant Fund set out in paragraphs 8 to 10 and the scheme criteria and guidance is set out in Appendix A that's lovely thank you very much indeed Councillor Hawkins thank you this is an example of where teamwork between the council and the partner is going to be working very well for communities happy to second thank you very much I think it's a good news story any other comments from members of cabinet any questions from anybody else no okay that's nice and quick really good can we just ask when will this start when will we when is it going to be implemented sorry I think it's probably as soon as soon as it can be put in place so quickly excellent good that's really nice exciting yes I'm sure the residents of Northsdale will be delighted righty ho so if we move to the recommendations which are on page 31 recommend that the cabinet approves the council administering the Homes England activation grant fund that's set out in paragraphs 8 to 10 and approves the scheme criteria and guidance of all the funds set out in Appendix A so do members agree with proposals anyone voting against anyone abstaining the cabinet therefore agrees with the proposals thank you and moving swiftly on to another good news story home for Ukraine landlord incentive schemes so I think Councillor Bill Handley is going oh sorry sorry I jumped ahead of myself here low income family tracker let me just get back to that's me again the low income family tracker it's a platform that layers multiple council data sets alongside data from external sources and then applies modelling to provide insights right down to household level levels of deprivation it's a well tried software package it's used by over 70 local authorities in England that includes Cambridge City Council and we think that once it's in operation this tracker will help the council to assist more low income families and in the longer term it's predicted that there will be efficiency savings which can obviously be used to even better help so the report recommends the allocation of £187,000 for the purchase of a licence for the lift as they call it the lift platform and also a fixed officer including a fixed officer which term posts for an officer to manage a project and a relatively small budget to support the benefits take-up campaign so we're using direct mail shots and so on to raise awareness because if people don't know about it they won't apply so the figures are broken down on page 43 of the papers and I won't go into many detail but that is basically the this report thank you very much Councillor Williams to comment thank you I think paragraph 3 of the report explains the background to this it's in total just over £90,000 a year I think it's it is a trial and see what happens over the two years we look very closely following the introduction of the cost of living project back last year we quickly identified the fact that we needed to be able to analyse and interrogate data better to enable us to focus in and identify those groups and individuals that needed help that were not always obvious and we wanted to ensure that everyone in the district was benefiting from our cost of living support and it's clear from what other councils are doing that this particular piece of software does help enable that to be done so I'm quite pleased that we are undertaking this work as I say it is a two year project and I hope that at the end of it we will have better identified our residents who on low incomes and require support given the situation we find ourselves in financial situation and the cost of living increases that in particular those people are facing so I would recommend that we support this recommendation Thank you very much indeed and I'm sure all members come across people quite regularly who aren't actually in receipt of the state aid that they should be because they just don't know and that can be anything from council tax relief to attendance allowance and so on so hopefully this will go some way when we discussed it earlier we talked about how we can get it to link in with NHS data so people with poor health are also being signposted on this because there may well be benefits that would help them as well and I think we did a lot of work in the early days targeting those people who were how do we describe them not quite managing or something like that so hopefully we will target them as well and get more help to more people Any questions? I was just looking at the total impacts of unclaimed benefits in the UK and it's approaching 19 billion pounds a year which just gives us a firm indication of how many people are not claiming the benefits that they are entitled to because they're just unaware so this is a very important step I think to helping those people who, as Councillor Williams has already said have been struggling during this cost of living crisis that continues despite claims elsewhere that it was all over and there wasn't a problem anymore I would very much welcome this initiative to join the lift programme Thank you Starting with Councillor Heather Williams Thank you leader and I'm sure all members appreciate the efforts when it comes to this I know myself I keep raising to parish councillers and I'm sure everybody does to try and ensure that people also understand it's confidential and that it's not going to be shared and any communications that the administration is planning I really encourage you to emphasise that because there are people that don't feel a sense of shame which they shouldn't there's a reason that the benefits exist and that to support people but if I could request that that's emphasised a motion which received support on period poverty I can see comments in relation to sort of food and electric blankets and some reassurance that that will be included in the package of help and support when you do identify people because I appreciate it's a difficult thing to identify in rural areas in places like ourselves because deprivation can be very small pockets but reassurance that that motion will be included Thank you very much indeed so we have to enter data sharing agreements with other organisations and confidentiality is at the root of all that and we've already implemented your motion to make sure that period products are available as part of our cost of living packages so do you want to add anything to that Councillor Handley? No, I think you've covered it I'm sure we will act certainly on the confidentiality thing I'm sure that officers are very very aware of that but it's worth saying it out loud yes and again and again so thank you Councillor Snowboard Leader, thank you I think a proactive approach to as it were the benefit gaps just about managing who needs something so proactivity means I can answer some questions that parish councils have been raising which is really helpful I just wondered if there was a target so the two year programme perhaps is aimed at a target and if we meet those targets or we come within 10% of them whatever what would those targets be secondly it would be helpful if the staff person involved in this could join a community of other users so if there is a user group for the Z software I think it would be helpful for that person to be a part of that to gain benefit from what other people are doing and the experience they're gaining so on your second point we'll take that away I think it exists or whether we need to create it I think on targets I think we don't know I think setting a target might actually inhibit us because we don't know how big the issue is but there will be we will be monitoring this really closely to see that it's having an impact it's got to demonstrate value for money and if at the end of two years it isn't doing that then we'll have to think again but I personally don't think that's going to be the case councillor handling Yes we don't have any targets set up at the moment councillor through you chair councillor Stobart but if you have any ideas please come and speak to me Thank you very much indeed and councillor Bradnham I just wanted to raise a couple of things I think this is an excellent idea I think it's very welcome that these multiple indicators can all be looked at at the same time with regard to individual families and circumstances and indeed just in my own ward we've had very good experience from the intervention, positive intervention of the income maximisation officer locally who's been able to help out some families in making sure they apply for the appropriate benefits Excuse me just one moment One of the things I just wanted to check though was I'd like some reassurance that the software having been acquired which I support will not be followed slavishly but will allow room for flexibility so there's always a danger isn't there when you've got a very complicated system that gives you some data that you assume that that's all there is so I just would like to be aware or hope that the officer that's being employed to take on this work will also look out for the individual referrals that they get so that they can use the normal flexibility that we would where we encounter exceptional circumstances that might be out of the norm so that would be nice if we could have some assurance about that but the other one is about confidentiality, members have said absolutely confidentiality should be respected I just wanted to give officers and members pause for thought on that because there are occasions when one encounters information that one has been given as part of a normal gathering of data which give one cause for concern and there should be within this system the opportunity to refer appropriately I say this I used to work in research where it was always said and of course this was looking at research studies on people who were coming to the NHS and it was always said that if we encounter something that gives us real cause for concern and we feel that for your safety we need to refer this on to an authority or to an appropriate body we will do so now I appreciate what Councillor Heather Williams has said and I appreciate what the cabinet has said but I just think cabinet members might need to consider that option to tell people that if they encounter something really serious they will refer it on so it's just that thought and finally just because I'm chair of licensing I just wanted to point out to you that everywhere that it refers to the two year licence that is a noun and should be spelt with a C not an S Thank you very much indeed Would either Councillor Handler or Councillor Williams like to talk about the actual programme or would you like me to ask Anne Ainsworth and talk about the flexibility within the system we're purchasing? Well I think Anne would be able to put some flesh on the bones here but I would be very very surprised if this adoption of this particular system is going to lead to any less flexibility I mean it's going to it's working in a different way Anne please, thank you I think one of the key aspects of this programme is about prevention so it is about that early identification of need and I know as we've discussed before in scrutiny committee and other committees being able to layer data to understand what is actually happening to people is crucial and that then helps us to be able to consider the type of support and interventions that may be suitable for those individuals so if I can give some reassurance with regards to flexibility we would continue to work in the way that we do currently so if we identify a problem for individuals we would obviously seek to work with them to address those problems so that the system that goes end to end is very much a system of early identification and prevention so that we can then help to design the appropriate interventions to help individuals and also as you say as well Councillor Bradman to through your chair to look at where there might be a number of issues and it was mentioned earlier about pockets of issues that are hard to identify sometimes in all areas this might also give us a chance to see if there is a greater hidden problem and then to be able to look at interventions in response to that as well so hopefully that provides some reassurance with regards to that flexibility. Thank you very much indeed and I think the other issue raised was really about safeguarding which I think is different from this so I know not infrequently ringing to either the county council or to our housing team what I considered you know stuff that I've seen stuff that's been referred to me that I consider a safeguarding issue but that's because I know how to do it so I think I'm going to take that away and when we're talking about our member development training I think you raised an issue that actually we do need to make sure that all members understand what the pathways are and what the red lights are and I always work on a better safety than sorry if it doesn't feel right then pass it on and get an expert to assess the situation so it's a good point. Did you watch this come back before I come to Councillor Williams? Just that if one is going to broadly speaking it's more nuanced than this but use the data in that way people need to know that if you encounter an issue that so you think about it the officers are getting all this data layered brilliantly and you've got all this depth and quality and depth and richness of data about individuals and in particular circumstances so if they come across a situation which they feel might require a safeguarding referral the person needs to know it's informed consent the person needs to know that their data might be used in that way now there is the risk of course that if somebody feels that they might get a referral they don't want they might not give you the data or they might not give you permission but I just think we need to express it in a way that says if we encounter an issue that gives us concern for your safety or anybody in your household we may refer it so that they know it's very difficult I think this is why we need to make sure members are trained because my experience with the education was that safeguarding issues override everything else and if there's a safeguarding issue all the kind of confidentiality everything goes down the pan because actually there's somebody who's at risk be it a child or an elderly person or a vulnerable person or anybody else so I think this needs to be clarified because my understanding is certainly that safeguarding overrides all other considerations and one shouldn't actually be giving people saying to people that sharing the data with us might result in us making a safeguarding referral because actually there might be somebody else at the end of that who's a victim but we'll take that away and think about how we incorporated into member development training Cansol Williams, you want to come in? Thank you, it's along the similar lines to your response there Neda so like all councillers we've all had to make that call sometimes and it's very difficult but we do have safeguarding policies that would lie alongside this which I think would be sufficient the problem is and I have this in my own ward somebody who was struggling and they were completely entitled to support going to food bank or vouchers but they worried the fact that they couldn't feed their child would mean that their children were taken off them if they asked for help and I think if we then start notifying this and say oh yes but we might then we're not going to get around that and when I talked about confidentiality I meant not making it identifiable your neighbours aren't going to know this is something that's kept within the council some people really still know down their road who's in a council house who's not we've got areas like this I have in my own ward and that's what we need to make sure and actually reassure people that they're not automatically they're going to be helped and not reported but as you say Neda the safeguarding outtramps and that's not just this though that's why it has to be a separate policy because this goes if we see anything on a site visit from planning that looked odd through invoices the safeguarding policy needs to cover absolutely everything because abuse happens in and I'm afraid probably every village but that can't take away from and deter people from sourcing help thank you so I think the advantage of this is that it's very much focused on the individual and everybody's different and so yes it's not about a blanket approach we will be taking it very gently to see if this works it's evidence that it's working well in Cambridge City so we've got some learning already there but we are very mindful of people's individual circumstances and their own vulnerabilities and that this is about a sort of softly softly approach not a sledgehammer approach okay alright so thank you so can I just say I have absolute faith in the officers to operate this appropriately and thoughtfully and considerably thank you goes without saying thank you Councillor Bradman okay so moving on the recommendations are on page 39 to purchase the two year licence to employ two year two year fixed term development officer to do it and to produce a small budget support the benefit take up campaign with mail shops so do members agree with the recommendations anyone voting against anyone abstaining cabinet therefore agrees the proposals and now moving on to item 10 the homes for Ukraine landlord incentive scheme Councillor Handley again and Councillor Williams is seconding this one yes thank you leader cabinet will recall that we launched a landlord incentive scheme last autumn to help improve access to the private rented market for guests in the homes for Ukraine scheme although we've had quite a bit of interest and despite extensive publicity excuse me we've actually only one landlord has actually signed up to the scheme as it stands and it's cleared to us that the incentive package we're offering isn't generous enough so the proposed revision to the policy will allow us to offer a much more comprehensive package and as before the incentive scheme will be fully funded from government funding provided support Ukraine guests so it is a government but funded thing so the recommendation is that the cabinet agrees the revised home for Ukraine landlord incentive scheme policy and it's set out in Appendix A thank you very much Councillor Williams sorry Councillor Batcher move John I didn't write a surname sorry Councillor Batcher I won't tell the difference so I'm very happy to second this it was a bit disappointing that we weren't successful the first time round but I'm sure we've learned from that and hopefully this will be successful this is just one of many planks in our support for Ukrainian refugees and a thing that I'm sure we're all very proud of the way that not only the council but the population in general has been extremely supportive of the Ukrainians and we hope that this will continue as the the member for housing I'm particularly keen on to get as many people moving on into private rental accommodation as many as we can given that the alternative will be knocking on our door and looking for support through our housing so given the funding that we do have from government which to give it has been generous we are in a position to actually be able to encourage landlords to actually provide facilities in the private sector so fingers crossed that's time fully supportive of the recommendations. Thank you very much can I just ask a question must the homes be in South Cambridge or can they be outside of South Cambridge that's fine any questions from cabinet any questions from anyone Councillor Williams thank you leader I've got a few things on there would you mind just clarifying I couldn't quite gather from the report so obviously it's been funded by the government but are government prescribing this sort of tariff system is that something that we've sort of devised ourselves I wasn't quite sure of that from the report whether it's prescriptive from the government or not so this is our initiative in fact I was at a meeting I was at a fairly urgently called meeting at the LGA last week cross party meeting where there were there was lots of councils really struggling and I told them about this so I've submitted it as a very good model but the government and I'm looking at Gareth here the government give us money associated with which of the Ukrainian guests we have and it's I think at our discretion how we use that in their best interest but there is this has been very positively received as an initiative when I presented it outside of this organisation are you okay with that? Yeah I'm not I think the question was around the government tariff funding that's their scheme it's funding that is received to the area per Ukrainian guest that arrives so that's the government's model for providing funding to areas so obviously areas with more guests receive more funding and it's proportionate and I think the leaders answered your other question but let me know if I need anything else Thank you for that clarification because it is quite difficult to negotiate which ones are we going with the prescriptive and then which ones are we using that money in our discretion to apply things so that's thank you for that clarification I'm fully supportive of the efforts that the administration like you say our communities I know in my ward I have lots of people volunteering to take in Ukrainian families as I'm sure other areas have as well and I understand the reasons for the increase in the tariff to see if you get some more interest as the uptake hasn't been but I would encourage not to give up them if we don't on the next round and to be looking through this round alternative ways to try and incentivise just in cases worked because sometimes of adding the money that there could be another reason as opposed to the actual sum that's preventing landlords taking it up and just one thing that while I completely support what's happening here there will naturally and we've just said about how welcoming residents have been but there naturally becomes tension if people feel that they're sort of the market if they're trying to get into that market and they're trying to get those houses and they feel there's an tilted balance like we say in planning if that makes sense away from them so just how does the administration intend to deal with any tensions that may arise from that because we want people to continue to be supportive whereas if they think that the market places stacked against them there may start to be some tensions from those people that are struggling to get into the market at the moment it's a balancing act as ever but what's the plan to deal with that I'll address your first point and then I'll come to the members to see if they want to pick up another point so the thing is it's not a level playing field for our Ukrainian guests when they're trying to get into the private housing market because they don't have a credit history and most landlords want a credit history and they're not always in work either so they're already disadvantaged so what we're doing here is giving certainty to landlords that they will get their rent and we're giving them the six months rent in advance we're also ensuring that the local housing allowance covers the rent and then we are dealing with the amount that's required in order to bring it up to private rent because it takes a lot for a landlord to be altruistic enough to let at local housing allowance when actually there's such a massive difference between that and commercial rents landlords aren't some of them are very good and let out their properties are very low values but at the end of the day it's a business to a lot of people and so we've got to make it work and address the inequality that our Ukrainian guests are facing on tensions I'm going to come to councillor handily because I'm not recognising tensions within South Cambridge or with our guests I'm an avid follower of social media and I haven't really seen any real antagonism I think most people realise that these Ukrainian people have come from a terrible situation back home under generous understanding that this council and the government needs to help them so no I'm not seeing that and I hope it doesn't I hope it doesn't happen I don't think you will and I don't think I hope certainly hope it doesn't Thank you councillor Williams I think it would make a point of clarification that you're talking about if people feel that they are being disadvantaged in getting into the private market against the Ukrainian guests Thank you I'm not saying that I've identified this at the moment I'm saying as time goes on and with the increase and there was two things one of which I appreciate what you've listed but is there another cause or something else that we can be doing if by increasing the money that doesn't reap the rewards of getting enough people because as you said there was only one person so is there some other reason and what engagement could be done there to identify that but also it was as time goes on and with the increase I'm not saying that there is that undercurrent but we do know that sometimes when it does happen it can be out the blue and that we just need to be prepared for it and have a response if it comes about I'd rather we had the response ahead of time rather than after Yeah, okay I'll just have to think about this I mean I'd be Yeah, so we do need to be mindful The bottom line is if we don't do this or this is unsuccessful the bottom line is people will end up in hotels and that's not good for anyone, it's extremely expensive for us for the government who will be well I think it's also going to be footing the bill if it's a hotel bill the people are presenting to us as homeless and we have nowhere to put them they'll end up in hotels and these are people who've come from a wall zone and that's going to be very, very undesirable we all admit so the fact that there was such interest in this from other councils was because everybody's desperate now and they're desperate for innovation and we've come up with something that might work or might work to some degree are we putting all our eggs in one basket Gareth Thank you, Leah I think it's a really good point around tension and balance and I think testing through the original scheme and perhaps this revised scheme we haven't had a huge amount of that tension but I think it's a fair point and something that we're mindful of around the level playing field and that's what we're trying to do here, there isn't the credit history so we're looking for the level playing field I think that we've got a wide range of support that we've offered to help people to move on and the figures in the paper are really impressive, Ben and his team have worked hard to successfully move people on and our figures are really really impressive but we've definitely still got a mountain to climb because the numbers in South Cams are so high so we've got a range of support and then Council Bachelor mentioned it in the intro as well around the various different support that we've put in place for Ukrainian guests so I think we've got a good mix it's another sort of string on our bow and I think Members are right that we need to continue to monitor just to make sure and see that we're seeing people successfully move on and we're definitely up for learning from elsewhere as well because this is a scheme that's been picked up elsewhere and we've picked it up from there as well Thank you, and I'm sure we're in contact with all other councils as well Council Bachelor, do you want to add anything to that? I'll put that. Thank you Council Hawking Thank you leader I saw one who approached the private rendered sector but not in South Cams I just wanted to make a point to Council Williams a point that she's raised private landlords just want to make ends meet the original programme that we had looking at it from their viewpoint would not have worked because interest rates have gone up mortgage rates have gone up the interest rate that landlords are paying on mortgages on their properties is much higher now than it used to be and what we're offering wouldn't have met with the rents that they could have taken because it was based on the local housing allowance which is much lower than the rent and which is why we have had to increase this As a landlord yes they might want to take them on but at the same time they have to pay their bills so this is not taking it much more than the market rent it's meeting that gap so in that respect it's not as if any other person wanting to rent the same house will be put at risk or at disadvantage because they're looking at it as you're going to pay this rent it's just that we are able to remove the disadvantage that's what it's spoken about and what the tenants have and put them on a level playing field with those who already are here so it's nothing of great advantage Sounds like you've got your defence there and of course most of our Ukrainian guests want to go home they don't want to be here forever and hopefully they will be able to in due course Councillor Bradman Thank you leader I am absolutely mindful that the war in Ukraine is not over and if anything it looks as if it might be ramping up and I'm very glad that we can be proud to be one of the district councils who has accepted a lot of Ukrainian guests to support them during this awful period but one of the things I just sort of puzzled me about the arrangements are it's just not clear to me if the monthly rental payment is being paid to the landlord by South County District Council or if it's being paid by the tenant and I ask that question because at paragraph 31 it says there is a risk that homes for Ukraine guests will default on their agreement with the council to pay back the monthly rent so it sounds as if the council pays the landlord and then the guest pays the council I just wanted to clarify that but absolutely I support the scheme in general So yes you're right but I'll come to Gareth to or Ben to explain Thank you leader so the way the scheme instruction is that we would pay the 4, 6 months rent in advance directly to the landlord and then the guests the Ukrainian tenants would then pay that rent directly to the council so we could just recoup some of the cost of the scheme Thank you for that clarification Thanks Ben, thank you So there's no more questions Sorry, yes can't so handily I'd just like to make one the amount of work that's gone into all of this Ben Thackeray, Gareth team we should be really proud of what we're doing here and they have been flexible they have shifted when things haven't been working this is an example of it so I'd just like to really I'd like to for the record say thank you very much for all the work that our officers are doing on this So thank you very much for reminding me Thank you Ben, it's terrific and when I've talked about this recently people really sit up and pay attention this is very innovative and I'm not surprised there's innovation coming out of the community's team but it's great and I expect other councils are going to probably pinch our ideas so once we've got a bit of once we've got a bit of data to hopefully show that it's working I think we need to do a bit of put a little pack together or something that we can share with other councils because I think they'll possibly with the Refugee's Minister as well whoever that is at the moment but thank you very much indeed it's an exciting scheme So, recommendation is on page 47 recommend to have degrees the revised home for Ukraine landlord incentive scheme policy as set out in Appendix A Do members agree with the proposal? Anyone voting against? Anyone wishing to abstain? Nope, okay, fine So that brings us on to the bit where we have we have some confidential papers but we have some that are in the public domain so I'm just going to read out the statement about exclusion of press in public and then ask you if anybody wants to discuss the pink paper information if not we'll stay in public So we now come to the point and our agenda where we need to consider whether to exclude the press in public from the meeting this is because the final two items include appendices that contain information which is commercially sensitive to public advice that if Cabinet agrees to exclude the press in public the video stream will end once the debate of the appendices begins I therefore propose that the press in public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the appendices for the remaining items of business in accordance with section 100A brackets 4 the local government act 1972 on the grounds that if present there would be a disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 on the survey of the act brackets as amended is that seconded? Yes it is Do you members agree with the proposal? Anyone wish to vote against? Anyone abstaining? OK So exclusion of press in public is now agreed and say if anybody could indicate if they want to discuss any of the excluded information So moving on to item 12 which is the affordable housing acquisition of new homes in Cottenham So John Bachelor Thank you very much Leela This is very much business as usual This is 33 new homes in Cottenham to add to our list of forward contracts This meets all our financial viability criteria as well as quality of build The only reason it's coming to us now is that the capital cost of the project is above the director or myself's delegation funding authority So it's all good news and this I would like to say adds to a very substantial number of forward contracts that we now have This particular one will be delivered 2526 and over the next two to three years we are currently contracted for well in the excess of 400 houses a very significant contribution to our funding our housing stock So given that I'm delighted to move the recommendations Thank you Henry Bachelor I think you're second to it Do you want to speak to this? We seem to be getting a couple of these items at every cabinet meeting now which is obviously very pleasing to see Obviously we need to be adding to our housing stock as numbers in South Cambridge Absolutely really happy to see that we're getting the quantity that requires it to come to cabinet coming forward rather than one or two here We're getting 33 and 45 today which I'm very pleased to endorse and I'm happy to support the recommendation Thank you and well done to Kirsten Donelson and her team because they're really motoring on this which is great Any questions from anybody? Councillor Hawkins Not a question really just to congratulate the team on our continued acquisition of affordable homes for our communities which is one of our key objectives so thank you Thank you very much Councillor Mills Do you want to speak? Sorry I thought I saw you I thought I saw your hand move Anyone else? No Councillor Williams No just happy to endorse your endorsement Lovely, jolly good Mainly affordable rent which is excellent good and lots of nice little houses as well Good, righty hoe Proposal is at page 63 item 6 and 7 Members agree with proposal? Agree Anyone wish to vote against? Anyone abstaining? Good so cabinet therefore agrees with the proposals moving on to the last item which is affordable homes in Barrington which is a lovely well not Scotland's lovely village Barrington has a fantastic village green it's just massive John Batchelor and seconded by Peter Macdonald I believe Thank you very much leader same story as the previous one doing 45 new homes at Barrington just to confirm that it meets all the financial viability criteria and the quality of build requirements so I just like to move the recommendation and recommend it to everyone Thank you So you've heard Councillor Macdonald Thank you leader, yes although it's not in my district ward it borders by county division the all saint's development it's really nice to see especially the one and two bed houses and flats available for people to get on the ladder so I'd very much support it Thank you This one is 25 26 as well isn't it the majority of them so that's excellent news Well congratulations again to Kirsten and her team Councillor Williams Thank you leader again very supportive of the acquisition of the portable homes particularly their portable rent and just those are some planning committee I know that there have been the site has been to us a few times and just an encouragement to make sure that all conditions everything is hunky dory before you sign on the dotted line I feel like I should raise that given some of what we see in the committee Okay right that's not something I'm excited on I thank you for saying it I'm sure that is the case I see Stephen Currie's names on this as well so thank you also to Stephen Okay so if there's nothing else the recommendations are on page 73 I think yes 71 72 73 a lot of recommendations there definitely not reading those out Do members agree with proposals? Agree Next Anyone wish to abstain? Members therefore agree the proposals Thanks very much that brings the meeting to a close Next meeting cabinets on the 25th of June Thank you very much everybody Thank you