The minutes of the meeting held on 22 March 2017 were submitted and approved and the chairman was authorised to sign them as a correct record.

Declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) by members as required under Section 31 of the Localism Act and of other interests as required by the Code of Conduct and regulation 12(2)(d) of the 2012 Access to Information Regulations.  (Please see note at end of agenda).

Declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) by members as required under section 31 of the Localism Act and other interests as required by the council’s code of conduct and regulation 12(2)(d) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.

No declarations were made.

3.1 The chairman welcomed Councillors Jonathan Dow and Dean Sabri to membership of the cabinet.  Councillor Dow would assume responsibility for environment and planning activities and Councillor Sabri for core support and strategic services.  He took this opportunity to express his thanks to Councillors Steve Wallis and Troy Tester for their past service on the cabinet as members since 2007.

3.2 The chairman added that cabinet membership and responsibilities were as reported to the annual meeting of the council held on 17 May 2017.

Dates of future cabinet meetings were noted as follows:

12 July 2017 at 6.00pm

13 September 2017 at 6.00pm

18 October 2017 at 6.00pm

13 December 2017 at 6.00pm

7 February 2018 at 6.00pm

21 March 2018 at 6.00pm

23 May 2018 at 6.00pm

Resolved: (1) That that the delegation of executive functions to officers be as set out in the scheme of delegation to officers (Section 3, Part D of the council’s constitution) and noting that relevant lead cabinet members are to be consulted by officers when exercising their delegated powers where required to do so.

(2) To note that delegations to individual cabinet members in respect of executive functions have not been made at this time.

Report of Director of Regeneration and Planning.

Lead cabinet member:  Councillor Steve Wallis.

(1) Affordable housing SPD approved for publication for 8 week consultation period to receive representations and comments.

(2) Director of strategy, planning and regeneration given delegated authority, in consultation with the lead cabinet member, to make minor amendments before the commencement of the consultation period.

6.1 Cabinet considered the report of the director of strategy, planning and regeneration.  Following changes in national policy and updated information on development viability, the council was preparing a new affordable housing supplementary planning document (SPD) to update the position relating to affordable housing contributions sought from development.  The SPD would provide detailed explanation in support of the implementation of policy D5: housing of the Eastbourne core strategy local plan 2006-2027 (adopted 2013).  It would contain advice relating to the standards required of the range of residential sites in order to deliver the affordable housing necessary to meet local needs.  Once adopted, the SPD would replace the affordable housing implementation technical note (adopted 2013).

6.2 Before the new SPD could be adopted, it was required to be published for consultation with the local community and other stakeholders.  It was  proposed that public consultation should take place for an 8 week period between 26 May and 21 July 2017, in line with the principles set out in the statement of community involvement.  The draft SPD was appended to the report.

Resolved (key decision):  (1) That the affordable housing supplementary planning document be approved for publication for an 8 week consultation period to receive representations and comments.

(2) That the director of strategy, planning and regeneration given delegated authority, in consultation with the lead cabinet member, to make minor amendments before the commencement of the consultation period.

Report of Assistant Director for Business Transformation.

Cabinet lead member:  Councillor Troy Tester.

Delivery of phase one of the programme noted and decisions made by the programme board as detailed in the report endorsed.

7.1 Cabinet considered the report of the assistant director for business transformation.  In May 2016 the cabinets of Eastbourne and Lewes councils had approved the joint transformation programme (JTP) to deliver the majority of council services via shared teams adopting new ways of working.  Last October, cabinets approved the 3 phase delivery of the programme, with phase one lasting from September 2016 to March 2017.

7.2 Phase one involved the design of and recruitment to new roles and teams in strategy, planning and regeneration and democratic services, and new leadership and management roles in service delivery.  The final phase one structure consisted of 63 posts.  The internal recruitment process ran from March to early May and 50 appointments were made.  A small number of posts remained vacant and would be filled through external recruitment.   The savings target for phase one was £1.05m across the two councils.  Although the exact savings figure would not be established until the final vacant roles were recruited, the expectation was that the savings target would be slightly exceeded.

7.3 At the start of the programme, there were significant differences between the two councils’ respective computer systems.  The programme consisted of a number of projects to move the councils to a common set of technologies, including a single IT network, telephone system and upgraded mobile phone system to meet modern security standards.

7.4 Since October the programme board had made a number of key decisions:

Branding.  The councils would maintain separate corporate brands based around their current logos for all separate and distinct services and communications.  Shared public services would be delivered under a joint brand based on a revised version of the Customer First brand already known in Eastbourne, adapted to incorporate elements of Lewes visual identity.

Websites.  Both councils would move over to a new joint domain, lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk, which was an essential foundation for the shared network.  All staff would get a new lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk email address.  Councillors would continue to use the email address that matches the specific council they represent.  A condition of the Cabinet Office granting permission for the use of the lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk domain was that the councils replaced their two separate websites by a new, joint website. The Cabinet Office also imposed a tight deadline of summer 2017 for delivery of this site, meaning that design decisions would need to be taken quickly, and it had been agreed that the board will sign off the new website design.

Joint committees.  Following a review of shared services governance at other councils by Improvement and Efficiency Social Enterprise (iESE), the board authorised the development of terms of reference for two new joint committees.  A joint committee for employment matters delegated from full council and a joint advisory committee concentrating on external facing regional development and growth.  The creation of these new committees will be subject of a report to meetings of both full councils.

7.5 The next update to cabinet would be in autumn 2017 after the completion of the phase  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Chief Executive considers that discussion of the following item is likely to disclose exempt information as defined in Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 and may therefore need to take place in private session.  The exempt information reasons are shown beneath the item listed below.  Furthermore, in relation to paragraph 10 of Schedule 12A, it is considered that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. (The requisite notices having been given under regulation 5 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.)

(Note: Exempt papers are printed on pink paper).

Resolved:  That the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting as otherwise there was a likelihood of disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.  The relevant paragraph of schedule 12A and a description of the exempt information is shown below.  (The requisite notice having been given under regulation 5 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.)

Report of Assistant Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development.

Cabinet lead member: Councillor Troy Tester.

Exempt information reasons 1 and 2.  Information relating to an individual or likely to reveal the identity of an individual.

Update report on outcome of phase one of the joint transformation programme and position of employees currently subject to the procedure noted.

9.1 Cabinet considered the report of the assistant director for human resources and organisational development.  The first phase of the joint transformation programme (JTP) had commenced in January 2017 with consultation and appointment to new roles being completed by the end of March.  They noted the actions taken to manage implications of change for displaced individuals through support, redeployment and assistance with self-marketing under the redundancy and redeployment procedure and the use of the procedure in managing the change resulting from implementation of the joint transformation programme.

9.2 Cabinet wished all those who were leaving the authority well for the future.

Notes: (1) The full minute of the above item is set out in the confidential section of these minutes.  The report remains confidential.

(2) Exempt information reasons 1 and 2 – Information relating to an individual or likely to reveal the identity of an individual.