Agenda, decisions and minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 April 2022 are attached for confirmation and signature as a current record.

The minutes of 7 April 2022 were amended as follows:

Under minute 142, Draft Service Plans 2022/23, there was an error in the 4^th bullet point.  This was amended to read “The reason why the data transfer from Hart to Basingstoke and Deane relating to licensing charges….”

With this amendment the minutes were agreed and signed as a correct record.

To receive any apologies for absence from Members*.

*Note: Members are asked to email Committee services in advance of the meeting as soon as they become aware they will be absent.

No apologies had been received.

To declare disposable pecuniary, and any other interests*.

*Note: Members are asked to email Committee Services in advance of the meeting as soon as they become aware they may have an interest to declare.

Cllr Forster declared an interest in agenda item 7 as he was a Hampshire County Council Member, although this was not prejudicial.

The Chairman had no announcements.

Anyone wishing to make a statement to the Committee should contact Committee Services at least two clear working days prior to the meeting. Further information can be found Online

No questions from the public had been received.

Cllr Tim Davies from Hampshire County Council was at the meeting, and it was agreed that he could speak to Agenda Item 7. 

To seek Cabinet approval to release funds from the Digital reserve to secure temporary staff to review and remediate documents published on Hart’s website for suitable accessibility

RECOMMENDATION

To approve the release of funds from the Digital reserve to secure agency staff to accessibility check documents published on our website.

That Cabinet:

1.    approves use of Digital reserves to recruit a temporary resource to conduct a programme of remediation to all published web content currently available on the corporate website

2.    approves the creation of a series of training and awareness events for all staff and Councillors across the organisation to embed the principles of accessibility

3.    approves the development of an accessibility strategy to embed the workflow and culture required to ensure ongoing compliance with the guidelines

Cllr Clarke and the Change and Digital Manager provided the background to the requirements for the accessibility project.  This would tie in with the launch of the new Hart website in November 2022.  There was a need to ensure that Hart’s documents were accessible to all, regardless of what type of device they were accessed on.

Questions and discussion included:

• Future processes to ensure all documents were compliant
• Mapping compliance
• Video/live streaming captions
• Digital reserve funds
• Accessibility of new website
• Scale of project

DECISION

That Cabinet:

1.    approves use of Digital reserves to recruit a temporary resource to conduct a programme of remediation to all published web content currently available on the corporate website

2.    approves the creation of a series of training and awareness events for all staff and Councillors across the organisation to embed the principles of accessibility

3.    approves the development of an accessibility strategy to embed the workflow and culture required to ensure ongoing compliance with the guidelines

1. Cabinet noted Hampshire County Council’s decision to terminate the agency agreements for Traffic Management and Civil Parking Enforcement (On-Street) and agreed:
2. That the notice period for the Civil Parking Enforcement Agreement was reduced from 18 months to 12 months, to allow for the termination of both agency agreements on 31st March 2023.
3. That implementation of the 2022/23 Traffic Management Programme attached at Appendix 1 to the paper, was prioritised to ensure its delivery before 31st March 2023.
4. That the opportunity for delivering a shared off street car parking service with Rushmoor Borough Council was investigated.

5.    That £7,000 was allocated from the general fund to jointly commission, with neighbouring authorities, consultants to evaluate options for a shared off street parking service.

Cllr Oliver and the Head of Environmental and Technical Services outlined the background to the proposal.  In brief, Hampshire County Council had stated they were taking back responsibility for traffic management and on-street civil parking enforcement.  It was felt that this was likely to be for reasons of efficiency and safety.  Hart was discussing with HCC how to make the transfer of the service as easy as possible.

Cabinet discussed:

• The list of outstanding traffic regulations, and amendments to this list
• Criteria for future changes to this list
• Safety of residents, particularly around schools at drop off/pick up times
• Potential lack of enforcement action when service returns to HCC
• Number of enforcement officers and enforcement visits
• Issues with particular roads and traffic
• The excellent job that our enforcement officers and parking team does.

An amendment to the proposal was agreed so that the 3^rd paragraph referred to just Rushmoor Borough Council. 

DECISION

1. Cabinet noted Hampshire County Council’s decision to terminate the agency agreements for Traffic Management and Civil Parking Enforcement (On-Street) and agreed:
2. That the notice period for the Civil Parking Enforcement Agreement was reduced from 18 months to 12 months, to allow for the termination of both agency agreements on 31st March 2023.
3. That implementation of the 2022/23 Traffic Management Programme attached at Appendix 1 to the paper, was prioritised to ensure its delivery before 31st March 2023.
4. That the opportunity for delivering a shared off street car parking service with Rushmoor Borough Council was investigated.

5.    That £7,000 was allocated from the general fund to jointly commission, with neighbouring authorities, consultants to evaluate options for a shared off street parking service.

To consider and amend the Cabinet Work Programme.

The Cabinet Work Programme was considered and noted.

The following item(s) contain exempt information.

RECOMMENDATION

Members must decide whether the public interest in maintaining an exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

It is suggested that, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded during the discussion of the matters referred to, on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Members decided that the public interest in maintaining an exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information. 

In accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded during the discussion of the matters referred to, on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information. 

It was noted that whilst this was an exempt discussion regarding Cyber Security there was no need for alarm.  Hart was in a good place, but was not being complacent. 

Cllr Davies from HCC left the meeting at this point.

The following item contained exempt information. 

A recorded vote was held as to whether to go into exempt session:

For – Bailey; Clarke; Collins; Neighbour; Oliver; Quarterman; Radley

Against – none

Abstain – Cockarill

DECISION 

Members decided that the public interest in maintaining an exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information. 

In accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded during the discussion of the matters referred to, on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information. 

It was noted that whilst this was an exempt discussion regarding Cyber Security there was no need for alarm.  Hart was in a good place, but was not being complacent. 

Cllr Davies from HCC left the meeting at this point.

To seek Cabinet authorisation to spend funding secured from the Government’s cyber security fund, to enhance the Council’s Information Technology Infrastructure to refresh the Council’s backups and security posture to minimise the impact of a ransomware attack.

RECOMMENDATION

That Cabinet approve the spend of funding to enhance the IT infrastructure to refresh the Council’s backups and security posture to minimise the impact of a ransomware attack.

Cabinet authorised the Business Improvement & IT Client Officer, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Digital and Communications to use the £125k Cyber Support Fund grant secured from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities (DLUHC) to implement measures to improve the resilience of the Council’s backups and security posture to minimise the impact of a ransomware attack. 

Cabinet considered and discussed the Cyber Support Fund paper. 

DECISION

Cabinet authorised the Business Improvement & IT Client Officer, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Digital and Communications to use the £125k Cyber Support Fund grant secured from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities (DLUHC) to implement measures to improve the resilience of the Council’s backups and security posture to minimise the impact of a ransomware attack.