Policy And Resources Committee - 23/01/2023

At a MEETING of the POLICY AND RESOURCES COMMITTEE held remotely on 23rd January, 2023.

Present:-

BAILIES

COUNCILLORS

The minute of meeting of this Committee of 9th January, 2023 was held as read.

Unless marked thus * all items stand delegated.

Councillor John ALEXANDER, Convener, in the Chair.

I DECLARATION OF INTEREST

There were no declarations of interest.

II HOUSING (HRA) REVENUE BUDGET 2023/2026 AND REVIEW OF RENTS AND OTHER HOUSING CHARGES FOR 2023/2024

There was submitted Report No 33-2023 by the Executive Director of Neighbourhood Services, advising members of the outcome of the rent consultation exercise in order for them to approve the Housing (HRA) Revenue Budget, rent and other housing charges for financial year 2023/2024.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the outcome of the rent consultation exercise as detailed in Section 7 and Appendix 4 of the report and that the proposed rent increase below (iv) was in line with the majority view expressed by tenants through this exercise;

(ii) to approve the Housing (HRA) Revenue Budget for 2023/2024 as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report;

(iii) to note the Provisional Revenue Budgets for 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report;

(iv) to approve rents be increased by 3.00% equal to an average increase of 2.41 per week and subject to a maximum increase of 3.00 with effect from 3rd April, 2023. In comparison and as noted at 4.6 of the report, Dundee City Council had in the past aimed to keep option 1 within (or as close as possible to) the current rate of inflation plus 1%. Based on the latest information available, this had been calculated as 14.30%;

(v) to approve that all other housing charges were set as outlined in Appendix 2 of the report with effect from 3rd April 2023;

(vi) that the level of rents held on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) be similarly applied to miscellaneous houses ie the properties which were leased to the Richmond Fellowship, Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership and City Development, subject to categorisation where appropriate; and

(vii) to note that the Hardship Fund had also been increased to 1m (increase of 0.500k) to assist those tenants that were struggling to pay their rent and was a one-off increase funded from reserve balances.

III TREASURY MANAGEMENT ACTIVITY 2022/2023 (MID-YEAR REVIEW)

There was submitted Report No 12-2023 by the Executive Director of Corporate Services reviewing the Treasury Management activities for the period 1st April to 30th September, 2022.

The Committee agreed to note the information contained in the report.

IV FREE SCHOOL MEAL EXPANSION (P4/P5) - CAPITAL FUNDING

There was submitted Agenda Note AN3-2023 which made reference to the Scottish Government announcement in May, 2021 on a phased approach to universal free school meals (FSM) for primary children. Primary 4 children were now receiving FSM from August, 2021 and Primary 5 children from January, 2022. In Dundee, this provision would now benefit overall 2,881 pupils in the above age groups.

Officers had identified that in order to facilitate and enhance the dining experience for the larger number of overall pupils now receiving school meals, further expansion work was necessary to both dining and kitchen facilities in 19 primary schools across the school estate. The Scottish Government had allocated the Council a grant of 635,000 in 2022/2023 to carry out such works.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) that to ensure that the works were progressed in accordance with the funding allocation to delegate authority to the Executive Director of Children and Families Service, in consultation with the Executive Director of Corporate Services, to agree the scope of improvements to be undertaken and award the necessary tenders to complete the works; and

(ii) that the Chief Executive be remitted to write to COSLA and, if required, thereafter the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills to clarify the position in relation to the timeline for the roll out of free school meals for Primary 6 and Primary 7 children and that a copy of responses received be circulated to the membership of the Committee.

John ALEXANDER. Convener.