There was submitted a joint report by the Chief Executive, Director of Finance & Resources and the Chief Finance Officer, Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership relative to the projected revenue and capital outturn position as at March 2022 across all services reporting to this Board. For financial year 2021/22, the projected outturn position was split into core and Covid-19 related variances to outline the impact of the pandemic on service finances.

The revenue budget monitoring report identified a projected annual underspend of £0.688 million and the capital budget monitoring report indicated movement in the approved capital programme for the year for the Chief Executive's Service of £4.731 million.

DECIDED:

(a) That the projected revenue outturn position as detailed in Table 1 of the report be noted;

(b) That the projected capital outturn position as detailed in Table 2 of the report be noted; and

(c) That the budget adjustments detailed at sections 4 and 6 of the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to the COVID Economic Recovery Fund.

The report intimated that as part of this Fund, the Scottish Government had provided £80 million amongst local authorities to provide support to businesses and low-income households.  Following the approval by CoSLA Leaders of the distribution methodology, Renfrewshire was awarded £2.654 million to be used to support economic recovery activity.

The report set out proposals for the allocation of this funding in Renfrewshire

DECIDED:

(a) That the allocation of funding to Renfrewshire Council be noted; 

(b) That the proposed use of this funding be approved;

(c) That it be delegated to the Heads of Policy & Commissioning and Economy & Development to flexibly manage budget changes; and

(d) That it be noted that a final report outlining actual spend would be presented to a future meeting of this Board.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to the award of funding to Engage Renfrewshire in relation to its role as third sector interface in Renfrewshire to support the capacity and resilience of the voluntary and community sector.  The report intimated that this built on existing funding arrangements and related to the 2022/23 financial year only.  A grant support agreement in relation to this funding, and appended to the report, had been developed and performance against this agreement would be monitored.

In addition the report highlighted that in line with the Developing Communities review within the Right for Renfrewshire programme, all activity in relation to community empowerment and capacity building was being identified and options for future funding and commissioning of local services to support this work would be considered during 2022.

DECIDED: That grant funding of £360,610 to Engage Renfrewshire be approved to deliver the services outlined within the grant support agreement as appended to the report.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to the Council's Retail Improvement Scheme which had helped 58 Renfrewshire businesses and owners improve their commercial shop frontages, including enhancements to existing commercial properties and support to return 16 vacant units to beneficial use.

The report provided a summary of the scheme from 2016 to 2022 and noted that updates on future rounds of the scheme would be reported to the Board as appropriate.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to the recently-published National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) and its significance for Renfrewshire and the City Region as a whole.  The NSET set out the Scottish Government's 10-year vision for the Scottish economy with its main ethos being to deliver economic growth and to tackle other challenges such as structural inequality, the transition to net zero and securing a green recovery from the pandemic.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to additional awards of Regeneration Capital Grant Funding (RCGF) for the Paisley Learning and Cultural Hub and the Paisley Museum Reimagined project and to note the Chief Executive's acceptance of the grant award.

The report intimated that in 2016 and 2017 the Council had been awarded RCGF grants of £1.5 million and £4 million for the Paisley Learning and Cultural Hub and the Paisley Museum Reimagined project respectively with both projects being funded through multiple strands of external funding and capital commitment from the Council.

The report highlighted that following discussions with Scottish Government officials, applications for additional funding were made and it was noted that the Council had been awarded an additional £1.4 million for the Paisley Learning and Cultural Hub and a further £1.8 million for the museum and that a formal offer of these grants had been made and accepted by the Chief Executive.

DECIDED: That the acceptance by the Chief Executive of the offer from the Scottish Government Regeneration Capital Fund of £1.4 million for the Paisley Learning and Cultural Hub and £1.8 million for the Paisley Museum Reimagined project be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to the Council's review of OneRen's annual business plan, which was appended to the report.  

The report intimated that under the terms of the Service Agreement, Renfrewshire Leisure, now trading as OneRen was required to submit an annual business plan to the Council which set out priorities for the year and outlined how it would deliver the services specified in the service agreement.  The business plan set out the priorities and main actions that would be undertaken by OneRen during 2022/23 and that would support the delivery of its strategic objectives.

It was noted that the Head of Policy & Commissioning, who was the 'monitoring officer' for OneRen had reviewed the Plan and was satisfied that overall it met the conditions of the service agreement.  However, it was acknowledged that there were still areas of recovery as a result of the pandemic that would continue to impact on OneRen's operating model, including its support for the region's mass vaccination programme.

The report intimated that OneRen was also required to identify the expected expenditure to implement obligations under the service agreement and the Director of Finance & Resources was satisfied that OneRen's budget was prudent in its funding assumptions and expenditure.  However, with the impact on earned income due to ongoing recovery from the pandemic, the current challenging financial climate was likely to continue for the forseeable future and as in 2021/22 it was forecast that commercial income to OneRen would be under-recovered in 2022/23.  It was further noted that in preparing the 2021/22 financial accounts the OneRen Board would require to make active disclosures of the impact of the pandemic and the external auditor would seek appropriate assurances over the financial going concern of the Trust in the following 12-month period.  In order to meet this requirement, and as agreed by the Council in 2020 and 2021, a letter of support would require to be provided by the Council.

DECIDED:

(a) That OneRen's annual Business Plan for 2022/23, as appended to the report, and which met the terms of the service agreement, be agreed;

(b) That the monitoring arrangements in place by the Head of Policy & Commissioning (the OneRen Monitoring Officer) to undertake quarterly performance monitoring meetings with OneRen and provide six-monthly progress reports to this Board be noted; and

(c) That it be agreed, as outlined in section 6 of the report, that a letter of financial support be provided to OneRen from the Council as part of providing the necessary level of assurance to external audit for the closure of OneRen's 2021/22 accounts be agreed.

Under reference to item 17 of the Minute of the meeting of the Council held on 3 March 2022, there was submitted a report by the Chief Executive providing an update on the local response to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, with a specific focus on the recent development of schemes by the UK Government which allowed Ukrainian nationals to come to the UK to seek refuge.

It was noted that officers across the Council had worked at pace to prepare for the resettlement of refugees and that Renfrewshire had strong partnership networks which had supported refugees arriving through the Syrian and Afghan resettlement programmes, and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people's teams.  These provided foundations for building the support that would be required to support Ukranian people to settle in Renfrewshire. 

The report provided an overview of recent developments, including visa requirements; the homes for Ukraine scheme; the Scottish Government's super sponsor scheme; resource requirements; and the establishment of welcome hubs, three of which had been established at Glasgow and Edinburgh Airports and at Cairnryan Port.  It was noted that the Scottish Government had indicated that costs incurred by local authorities hosting welcome hubs would be met and agreement on the detail of this financial agreement was currently being progressed through CoSLA.

DECIDED:

(a) That the report be noted;

(b) That it be noted that the Council would have a role in the resettlement of refugees who might come to Renfrewshire via one of the visa schemes outlined in section 4 of the report;

(c) That the additional requirement for the Council to establish and manage welcome hub arrangements for refugees who entered via Glasgow Airport be noted; and

(d) That authority be delegated to the Chief Executive to put in place such arrangements and resources as may be required to support both the operation of the welcome hub and the resettlement and support of refugees from Ukraine within Renfrewshire.