latest estimated shortfall in the capital allocation for 1999/2000 is £2,471,000 and that the total projected spend is £8,529,000, approximately £800,000 less than the current estimated allocation. The report advised that requests had been made from service Committees for approval to incur capital expenditure on projects with a cost of £954,000 currently included in the Capital Programme. It was noted also that the Executive Director Social Work and Housing Services had requested approvals totalling £41,500 from the Social Work programme and £105,000 from the Private Sector programme.

DECIDED:

(a) That approval be granted to progress the following:-

Major Repairs Projects

Work to Reservoirs £53,000

Council Property - Escape Signs £25,000

Port Glasgow Town Hall, Bay Window Repairs £13,000

Greenock Town Dam, Repairs to Concrete and New Railings £25,000

Oakfield Primary, Concrete Repairs £11,000

St John’s Primary, Concrete Repairs £11,000

Moorfoot Primary, Replace Porch for Janitor’s House £12,000

Hardridge/Dowrie’s Farm, Water Treatment Systems £10,000

Kilmacolm Cemetery, Renew Water Supply to House £15,000

TOTAL £175,000

Accommodation Works

Cathcart House - Works to Comply with Landlords

Schedule of Dilapidation £45,000;

(b) That the additional costs of £34,000 in respect of the Greenock Muncipal Buildings Phase 5 - Heating Contract be approved;

(c) That the request by the Community and Protective Services Committee for formal approval to incur £700,000 in 1999/2000 on the replacement of vehicles and plant be agreed;

(d) That the request by the Community and Protective Services Committee for increased spend on vehicles and plant by the Community and Protective Services Committee in the sum £550,000 be agreed;

(e) That the contents of the report be noted; and

(f) That the request by the Executive Director Social Work and Housing Services for expenditure to be made totalling £41,500 from the Social Work and Housing Capital Programme and £105,000 from the Private Sector Programme be agreed.

809 NON-HRA CAPITAL PROGRAMME 809

SUBMITTED: Report dated 28 July 1999 by the Executive Director Social Work and Housing Services advising that £15,000 worth of disabled improvement grants had been paid and approximately £30,000 for aids and adaptations require payment in 1999/2000. The report requested that £75,000 be set aside for aids and adaptations and a further sum of £20,000 for disabled improvement grants to allow for a planned programme in 1999/2000 and, to allow smaller minor grant projects to proceed, a request was made for £10,000 in the current financial year.

DECIDED:

(a) That the expenditure so far incurred on aids and adaptations and disabled improvement grants be homologated;

(b) That the Executive Director Social Work and Housing Services be authorised to spend up to a maximum of £75,000 on aids and adaptations and £20,000 for disabled improvement grants and, if this sum proves to be insufficient, the Committee may consider whether additional funds can be made available for such purposes; and

810 SOCIAL WORK PROJECTS 810

SUBMITTED: Report dated August 1999 by the Executive Director Social Work and Housing Services on the projects requiring legal commitment and approval of the Committee. It was noted that if the projects listed were approved, the level of financial commitment would increase by £41,500 and further Committee approval would be required to utilise the balance of £135,500 which would remain in the budget for minor adaptations.

DECIDED: That the following projects be approved which would be instructed by means of an order to Building Services, Transportation and Roads or to a specialist contractor following receipt of quotations:-

Strone Office Car Park Transportation & Roads £10,000

Fitzgerald Centre, Relocated Entrance Doors Specialist Contractor £10,000

Fitzgerald Centre, Alter Reception Building Services £2,000

Redhome, Fans and Security Lighting Building Services £6,000

Crosshill, Refurbish Play Area Specialist Contractor £3,000

Golf Road Hostel, Conservatory Specialist Contractor £7,500

Neil Street, Convert Bedroom to Shower Building Services £3,000

811 RENFREWSHIRE VALUATION JOINT BOARD CAPITAL BUDGET 1999/2000 811

SUBMITTED: Report dated 26 July 1999 by the Executive Director Resource Services advising that the Renfrewshire Valuation Board had approved the 1999/2000 Capital Expenditure of £16,000 to complete the upgrade to the Assessor’s systems to achieve Year 2000 Compliance and requesting £3,940 being this Council’s share to carry out these works.

DECIDED: That the increased capital expenditure of £3,940 in respect of the required Renfrewshire Joint Valuation Board capital works be approved.

812 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IN SCHOOLS - CAPITAL 812

EXPENDITURE

SUBMITTED: Report dated 27 July 1999 by the Executive Director Education Services seeking approval to proceed with the capital expenditure in schools within the National Grid for Learning Initiative. The report advised that capital funding was available from the Excellence Fund in the sum of £270,000 and £322,000 from the New Deal Fund and further allocation would be made available in 2000/2001 and 2001/2002 to develop the programme in primary schools.

DECIDED: That the capital expenditure for 1999/2000 as outlined in the report in the sum of £592,000 be approved for the Information and Communication Technology for Schools project.

813 NON-HRA CAPITAL PROGRAMME 1999/2000 - RINGFENCED EXPENDITURE 813

SUBMITTED: Arising from discussion of the previous item the Committee considered that ringfenced expenditure need not be affected by the monitoring of Capital Expenditure by the Council.

DECIDED: That no further Policy and Strategy Committee approval would be necessary to accept tenders or otherwise make a legal commitment on behalf of the Council in respect of projects funded by ringfenced expenditure.

814 EXTERNAL AUDITORS: ANNUAL REPORT TO MEMBERS 1996/97 814

SUBMITTED: Report dated 29 July 1999 by the Chief Executive on the contents of the annual report by the external auditors in respect of the 1996/97 accounts.

DECIDED: That the contents of the report and the action taken to address the matters highlighted by the external auditors be noted.

815 REVENUE BUDGET OUTLOOK 2000/2002 815

SUBMITTED: Report dated 6 August 1999 by the Executive Director Legal, Information and Support Services on a remit from the Finance Sub-Committee to consider the alignment of budgetary issues with that of policy priorities for the next two years.

DECIDED: That the contents of the report be noted and that the alignment of budgetary and policy considerations for the next two years be endorsed.

816 DATA MATCHING POLICY 816

SUBMITTED: Report by the Executive Director Legal, Information and Support Services advising of data matching and seeking approval for the adoption of a Data Matching Policy for The Inverclyde Council.

DECIDED: That consideration of the report be continued to allow the Director of Personnel Services to consult with the Trade Unions on the adoption of the proposed policy.

817 COMMUNITY PLANNING 817

SUBMITTED: Report dated 29 July 1999 by the Chief Executive advising of the progress and aims of Community Planning and indicating the up to date position with regard to the Council’s involvement and the need for a draft Community Plan to be completed by 31 December 1999.

DECIDED:

(a) That a Members’ Steering Group be established to monitor the preparation of the Community Plan comprising: Councillors Jackson, Robertson (Y), O’Rourke, Robertson (A), McGhee, Calvert and two Members from the Liberal Democrats to be identified to the Director of Central Services in due course; and

(b) That the Officers’ Steering Group oversee the key theme working groups and report to the Members’ Steering Group.

818 PROPOSALS FOR THE STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNCIL 818

SUBMITTED: Letter from Councillor Jackson requesting the Committee to consider proposals for the strategic development of the Council.

Councillor Jackson indicated that he believed it was important to set out aims and aspirations for the next three years and to recognise needs and take account of resources and moved as follows:-

1. That the corporate mission of Inverclyde Council embrace the following:-

1. Support and promotion of the Invest in Inverclyde Campaign

2. Development of policies to encourage population growth

3. Development of policies to promote employment growth

4. Continuation of physical regeneration, including environment and infrastructure improvements

5. Action to address poverty and deprivation

6. Action to tackle issues of poor health

7. Policies to promote social inclusion and community inclusion

8. Policies to promote quality education and lifelong learning

9. Policies to promote care of the young, the elderly and the vulnerable

10. Policies to promote community safety

11. Policies to embrace technology and to ensure that the Council and its services grow with technology and take all opportunities to develop the use of technology with appropriate partners.

2. That the key service priorities of the Council be within Education, Social Work, Economic Development and Information Technology.

3. That the Chief Executive takes all appropriate action to address matters covered in 1 and 2 and ensure that reports as appropriate are produced to Committee and that service plans and budget proposals address these matters.

4. That there be a review of the provision of education and that a cross-party working group be established to oversee this review, ensuring that all statutory requirements are met and that all opportunities to improve the quality of education provision are taken.

5. That the Council’s commitment to the Best Value regime be reaffirmed and that, as part of the rolling three-year policy-led budget process, the use of resources and assets be highlighted. In addition, further emphasis is to be placed on performance criteria and outcomes matched with resources input to services.

DECIDED: That the motion as detailed above be approved.

819 INVERCLYDE REGENERATION PARTNERSHIP 819

SUBMITTED: Report by the Executive Director Community and Protective Services advising of the position of the Social Inclusion (Urban Programme) budget and seeking approval for project funding as recommended by the Partnership Forum in the sum of £341,580 revenue budget and £65,000 capital budget.

DECIDED:

(a) That the Partnership’s intentions to produce a revised strategy for the period 2000/2001 - 2003/2004 including the preparation of exit strategies for projects where funds are unlikely to be available be noted;

(b) That it be agreed that the revenue funding be extended to 31 March 2000 for the following projects:-

Elderly and Disabled Resource Centre £20,210

Ladybird Pre-5 Centre £37,760

Employment Training Initiative £58,170

Joint Support for Children in Care £4,690

Partnership Team £18,600 ;

(c) That consideration of the proposed merger of Threshold Printing Services and Inverclyde Special Needs Initiative be continued and that it be remitted to the Executive Director Community and Protective Services to submit a detailed report to the next meeting on the proposals for the merger; and

(d) That £150,000 revenue and £50,000 capital be committed to a “Key Fund” subject to a successful European application.

820 RESOLUTION: EXCLUSION OF PUBLIC AND PRESS 820

On the motion of the Convener it was agreed unanimously that, in terms of Section 50(A)(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 as amended, the public and press be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the undernoted items of business on the grounds that consideration of the items involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the respective paragraphs 1 of Part I of Schedule 7(A) of the Act as are set opposite each item:-

Item Paragraph(s)

National Grid for Learning and Strategic Development Partnership 6

Request for Financial Assistance: Greenock Medical Aid Society,

Bagatelle Court, Greenock 2, 6 and 9

821 National Grid for Learning and Strategic Development Partnership 821

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive on proposals for developing the National Grid for Learning within Inverclyde Council, and this was agreed, all as detailed in the Appendix.

822 Request for Financial Assistance: Greenock Medical Aid Society, 822

Bagatelle Court, Greenock

SUBMITTED: Report dated 10 August 1999 by the Executive Director Legal, Information and Support Services on a request by Greenock Medical Aid Society for financial assistance as a consequence of the leasing arrangements of the development at Bagatelle Court, Greenock, consideration of which had been continued from the previous meeting for further information (para 630).

DECIDED: That financial assistance in the sum of £6,636 be granted from the Common Good Fund to the Greenock Medical Aid Society.