Agenda item

Cllr Bottwood gave an overview of the budget.

Cllr Bottwood advised that there are no current plans to move over to private car parking.

DS asked, following the Chief Exec of Northamptonshire County Council announcing plans for NCC to change to a Commissioning based Council – how does this fit in with NBC? Cllr Bottwood explained the positive effect of Shared Services, and the savings that have been found through moving to LGSS.

DS – spoke about the Equality Duty, part of the equality act, and commented that when completing Equality Impact Assessments it is a requirement for contractors and third party bodies to have the same ethos. DS has tried to find the policy around Procurement, and the equality and diversity policy. VR added that Procurement is shared with LGSS, and therefore it may available on the LGSS website. ACTION: VR to get clarity around this. Cllr Bottwood also advised that the Procurement system under LGSS is being reviewed.  Cllr Bottwood commented that he would like to see smaller local businesses contracted through the procurement processes.

Cllr Mennell spoke about the Decent Homes Standard contract work and commented that NBC should be learning lessons from the issues that have been experienced through some companies contracted out to. Cllr Mennell commented that she would like to see small local businesses contracted to do the work procured by NBC also.

LB asked whether tenders are broadcasted to the general public. Cllr Bottwood advised that main way that tenders are put out is through Insource. Anything that is over £75,000, this will need to go through to Europe. Tenders are looked at and scored by Officers. Companies can challenge the decisions that are made, and therefore it is in the best interest of the Council to make sure the tendering process is open and transparent.

Cllr Mennell felt that savings could be made by the Council moving to a Unitary Authority and the commented on the cost of the role of the Chief Executive. Cllr Bottwood advised that shared services and a tiered structure provide significant savings.

DS commented on the Riverside Enterprise Zone tax breaks, and asked how are NBC encouraging companies to employ people with disabilities as part of the tax breaks. Cllr Bottwood explained that there are difficulties with this, as tax breaks are set by central government, and the Council can encourage, but cannot force conditions upon companies. It was explained that NBC are encouraging more companies to come to the borough, in order to widen the opportunities for employee within Northampton. DS commented that he felt NBC could be more proactive to encourage companies to employ disabled people, with the financial support they are receiving. Cllr Bottwood advised that this should be raised with the Regeneration Team. ACTION: VR/AM to take this back to Cllr Hadland and the Regeneration Team.

JM spoke about the lack of access to support while looking for work, such as Interpreters, to allow the person to get into work experience. Also, this is an issue for people trying to get into sports. The forum discussed this; it was felt that small organisations may not have this money to be provided interpretation all the time. There would be a need to provide this under the Equality Act, but smaller, voluntary organisations may not have the budget to provide this.

The forum discussed the accessibility of work places, and the policy which is used for this.