Agenda and minutes

Venue: Chamber - Quadrant, The Silverlink North, Cobalt Business Park, North Tyneside, NE27 0BY. View directions

Contact: Yvonne Harrison  Email: democraticsupport@northtyneside.gov.uk

Note: (Due to Covid precautions anyone wishing to attend should first notify the contact officer) 

Items
No. Item

CAB25/21

Declarations of Interest and Dispensations

You are invited to declare any registerable and/or non-registerable interests in matters appearing on the agenda, and the nature of that interest.

 

You are also invited to disclose any dispensation in relation to any registerable and/or non-registerable interests that have been granted to you in respect of any matters appearing on the agenda.

 

Please complete the Declarations of Interests card available at the meeting and return it to the Democratic Services Officer before leaving the meeting.

 

Minutes:

Councillor K Clark declared a registerable personal interest in agenda Item 5: 2021-2022 Financial Management Report to 31 May 2021(CAB28/21), as she was a Director and Employee at Justice Prince CIC which had contracts with North Tyneside Council funded from the Housing Revenue Account (Working Roots).

 

 

CAB26/21

Minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meetings held on 28 June (Ordinary Meeting) and 15 July 2021 (Extraordinary Meeting) (previously circulated)

Minutes:

Resolved that the Minutes of the previous meetings held on 28 June (Ordinary Meeting) and 15 July 2021 (Extraordinary Meeting) be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

 

CAB27/21

Report of the Young Mayor

To receive a verbal report on the latest activities of the Young Mayor and Young Cabinet.

Minutes:

The Young Mayor reported on the following activities in which she and Young Cabinet Members and/or Youth Councillors had been involved:

 

·         Youth Council Committees had continued to work well, drawing interest from other young people in the borough and recruiting new members.

·         All youth councillors had broken up from school and were now enjoying the summer break after a tough year.

·         Youth councillors had taken part in a consultation around the Our North Tyneside Plan at their last meeting and had offered feedback about how to encourage teenagers to access libraries. Some of the youth councillors would meet library staff over the summer to further explore this.

·         The Young Mayor had taken part in the recruitment and selection of a Mental Health Participation Officer with Barnardos.

·         Member of Youth Parliament, Abi, and the Young Mayor had set challenges to the young people around their pledges as part of the holiday activity and food programme. Suzie’s focus was on being kind and Abi’s about caring for the environment. They would also visit some of these projects over the summer. Poppy, the Increased Opportunity Chair, was going to be a roving reporter and interview children at activities across the borough on how they were enjoying their summer.

·         The Enterprise Education Committee had finished their book and once printed it was hoped to set up a pop-up shop to sell this over the summer.

·         Member of Youth Parliament, Abi, had held a focus group session around financial education and youth employment with the Bank of England Youth Forum and would meet with senior members of the bank to discuss this in September.

·         Abi and the youth advisory group had helped to write a manifesto which would be delivered to the Government following the Youth Ocean Climate summit in June, on whether there were any things they could take and work on in North Tyneside.

 

The Elected Mayor thanked the Young Mayor and praised the important work of the young people including their work on behalf of the Authority.

 

CAB28/21

2021/22 Financial Management Report to 31 May 2021 pdf icon PDF 271 KB

To receive the first budget monitoring report for the current financial year which reflects the first indication of the potential revenue and capital position of the Authority at 31 March 2022.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cabinet considered the first monitoring report outlining the 2021/22 financial position. It provided an early indication of the potential revenue and capital financial position of the Authority as at 31 March 2022.

 

The report covered the forecast outturn of the Authority’s General Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) revenue budget including management mitigations where issues had been identified; an indication of the impact of Covid-19 on Collection Rates and on the Collection Fund; the implications of Covid-19 for the Authority’s cash position; the delivery of 2021/22 approved budget savings plans; and an update on the Capital Investment Plan

 

The net General Fund revenue budget for 2021/22 had been set by full Council at £150.154m.  This included £4.337m of savings to be achieved, all of which had been identified in previous years.

The forecast overall pressure was estimated at £5.850m against the approved net budget.  This was made up of a forecasted pressure of £1.847m on normal activities and £4.003m relating to the impact of Covid-19.  The pressure on normal activities in the services was driven mainly by Health, Education, Care and Safeguarding of £7.771m, reflecting the continued pressures in Children’s Services, partly mitigated by the contingency balances that had been created by Cabinet as part of the 2018/19 budget setting process and continued to be held centrally to reflect the ongoing pressures in social care being felt locally and nationally.

 

Included in this projection was £5.999m of pressures in Corporate Parenting and Placements, and £1.609m in Integrated Disability & Additional Needs. The drivers for these pressures continued from 2020/21 and arose from continued growth in demand in Children’s Social Care Services; growth in numbers of children with Education and Health Care Plans; the timing of delivery of some aspects of the Efficiency Savings Programme to the extent that achievement of some savings may be at risk; and increases in staffing costs.

 

It was anticipated that the outturn forecast for normal activities would improve over the course of the financial year as planned remedial actions began to impact on both expenditure and income.

 

With regards to the impact of Covid-19, the main drivers behind the £14.421m impact on services were also within Health, Education, Care and Safeguarding where £7.714m was for increased costs to the Authority.  Significant Covid-19 related pressures also existed in Environment, Housing and Leisure (£2.233m) and in Commissioning & Asset Management (£3.723m).

 

The report outlined new revenue grants which had been received during April

and May 2021.

 

The total planned deficit for schools in 2021/22 was £5.132m.  The Authority had been working with schools for a number of years with regard to the long-term strategic issue of surplus secondary places and the associated financial pressures, which continued to be compounded by rising employment costs.  The provisional outturn for the year ended 31 March 2021 showed a surplus of £3.721m, which reversed the trend of deficits over the previous few years.  The forecast trend going forwards, however, was increasing deficit balances.

 

As well as school balances being forecast to reduce overall,  ...  view the full minutes text for item CAB28/21

CAB29/21

Council Plan Refresh pdf icon PDF 294 KB

To seek approval for an updated Our North Tyneside Council Plan 2020-2024.

 

 

Minutes:

Cabinet considered a report seeking approval for an updated Our North Tyneside Council Plan 2020-2024, set out in Appendix 1 to the report, in light of the findings from engagement with residents and other key stakeholders, which was being undertaken in accordance with the approach agreed by Cabinet on 28 June 2021.

 

Details of the engagement undertaken to date were set out in the report. Engagement with residents, staff and other key stakeholders, including Overview, Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee had begun on 2 July and would run until 15 August 2021. Therefore, it may be necessary to provide supplementary information on the engagement findings after this Cabinet meeting. Updated information on the latest feedback from the engagement process had been circulated in a revised Appendix 2 after publication of the agenda for this meeting, which included feedback on the final proposals from a sub-group of Overview, Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee.

 

Feedback from the engagement process currently showed that the vast majority of participants agreed that the Our North Tyneside Council Plan priorities were the right ones to enable the Authority to work with its partners and residents to build a better North Tyneside.

 

Mr D Bavaird, on behalf of the business sector, thanked the engagement team and commented that the business community broadly supported and welcomed the refreshed Council Plan.

 

In response to a Member’s query, the Deputy Mayor undertook to consider reflecting in the refreshed Council Plan support for community infrastructure.

 

Cabinet considered the following decision options: to accept the recommendations set out in paragraph 1.2 of the report; or alternatively, to not accept the recommendations.

 

Resolved that (1) the updated Our North Tyneside Council Plan, as set out in Appendix 1 of the report be approved, subject to consideration of any supplementary information received as a result of the ongoing engagement process; and

(2) the Deputy Mayor be authorised to agree any final changes to the Our North Tyneside Plan in the light of any further responses received to consultation between the date of this Cabinet meeting and the end of the engagement process.

 

(Reasons for decision: the content of the updated Council Plan has been informed by the findings of a comprehensive engagement approach delivered in line with the Covid-19 restrictions. Approval of the updated Council Plan will enable a report to be taken to full Council on 23 September 2021, in advance of the Council’s budget setting process beginning.)

 

CAB30/21

Contributions Policy for Adult Social Care and Support Services pdf icon PDF 361 KB

To seek approval for the revised North Tyneside Council Contributions Policy for Adult Social Care and Support Services.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cabinet considered a report seeking approval for a revised Contributions Policy for Adult Social Care and Support Services following the outcome of a public consultation between 2 and 27 June 2021.

 

247 responses had been received. Of those who had responded 58% were members of the public, 29% were carers of someone accessing services and 6% were people who accessed services themselves. The findings of the consultation showed that 95% of people taking part supported the need for good quality adult social care. This was a position the North Tyneside Council fully supported.

 

The public consultation focused on two particular issues. These were the Pension Age and The Minimum Income Guarantee.

 

The Authority currently financially assessed people to be over pension age at the age of 60. However, following changes in Government regulations, an individual’s actual pension age was now 65, 66, 67 and 68 depending upon their date of birth. Other departments in the Authority, for example, Revenue and Benefits, already adhered to an individual’s actual pension age when carrying out assessments. The consultation had focused on changing the pension age used from 60 to an individual’s actual pension age.

Changing this would affect 109 clients by an average increase in charges of £44 per week.

 

The public consultation showed that 47% of people who responded supported the move to actual pension age. The reasons were that this was fairer and in line with Government regulations. Those who disagreed either felt they did not have enough information to comment or felt that people should not be charged for adult social care support. Most people were concerned that people should receive support regardless of their age.

 

In relation to the Minimum Income Guarantee, when undertaking a financial assessment there was a monetary threshold which was disregarded, to ensure individuals had a set amount of money to live on prior to the setting of a charge for their adult social care services.

 

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) set a defined rate, the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG). This was set out in a circular each financial year. Councils must disregard this amount of money, but they could consider setting a disregard above this rate.

 

North Tyneside were currently using different thresholds following a consultation in 2018. These rates were not financially sustainable and were not in line with neighbouring authorities. The consultation had therefore sought feedback on a proposal to adhere to the MIG as set out by DHSC or setting it at 5% above this. Both options would result in a lower threshold than was currently in place.

 

The consultation findings were that 20% of people felt it should be set at the same as the DHSC MIG, the reasons were that this would be in line with the Government and would be fair across the country.  60% felt it should be MIG plus 5%, the reasons for this were that it was felt that MIG was set too low and so should be set higher and  ...  view the full minutes text for item CAB30/21

CAB31/21

Cabinet response to Overview, Scrutiny & Policy Development Committee - Engie Sub-Group pdf icon PDF 306 KB

To consider a report seeking approval for the proposed response to the recommendations of the Overview, Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee’s study into the Equans (formerly known as Engie) Partnership.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cabinet considered a report seeking approval for the proposed responses to the recommendations of the Overview, Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee’s study into the Equans (formerly known as Engie) Partnership.

 

The report and recommendations had been presented to Cabinet at its meeting on 28 June 2021 (Previous Minute CAB15/21).

 

The Overview, Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee had a programme to undertake in-depth reviews into the out-sourced partnerships that delivered services on behalf of the Authority, with the aim to see if the Authority and its residents were receiving the service specified in the contracts.  The Committee had established the Engie Sub-group to undertake this work to gain a clearer understanding of the partnership and its operation.

 

The Sub-Group had made a total of three recommendations for Cabinet’s consideration, as set out in the report, and it was proposed that Cabinet accept all of the recommendations. A full response to those recommendations, including details of action to be taken, were set out at Appendix 1.

 

Cabinet considered the following decision options: to accept the recommendations set out in paragraph 1.2 of the report; or alternatively, to not accept the recommendations.

 

Resolved that (1) the recommendations of the Overview, Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee Engie sub-group in relation to its study into the Equans (formerly known as Engie) Partnership, as set out in paragraph 1.5.4 of the report, be accepted; and

(2) the actions to be taken in response to those recommendations, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report, be approved.

 

(Reason for decision: To gain a clearer understanding of the Partnership and its operation with the aim to see if the Authority and its residents are receiving the service specified in the contracts.)

 

CAB32/21

Exclusion Resolution

This is to give further notice in accordance with paragraphs 5(4) and 5(5) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012 of the intention to consider item 10 below in private.

 

Cabinet is requested to consider passing the following resolution:

 

Resolved that under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and having applied a public interest test as defined in Part 3 of Schedule 12A of the Act, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.

 

Reasons for taking item (10) in private: The report contains information relating to any individual.

Minutes:

Resolved that under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) and having applied a public interest test as defined in Part 3 of Schedule 12A of the Act, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.

 

CAB33/21

Chief Officer Structure

To seek approval for a revision to the Authority’s Chief Officer structure.

 

Minutes:

Cabinet considered a report seeking approval to a revised Chief Officer structure comprising the adjustment of two Chief Officer roles, the change of the role held by the senior leader who was retiring and the creation of one new Chief Officer role.

 

In light of the retirement of the Chief Officer and having considered the priorities of the Mayor and Cabinet, feedback from the Local Government Association Corporate Peer Challenge in June 2019 and follow-up visit in June 2021 and feedback from the senior team, it was proposed to distribute the current responsibilities of the Chief Officer across four Chief Officer posts, as described in the report.

 

In designing the proposed structure, the Senior Leadership Team had discussed and agreed a set of principles for organisational design with a particular focus on the delivery of the new Council Plan as outlined in the report.

 

Following a delegated decision implemented on 22 June 2021, the report also described a revised approach to the wider senior structure and some proposed, consequent changes of delegations which would be dealt with through proper channels in due course.

 

The current and proposed senior structures were appended to the report at Appendix 1 and Appendix 2 respectively.

 

Cabinet considered the following decision options: to approve the proposed structure; or alternatively, to not approve the proposed structure and ask for further work to be done.

 

Resolved that(1) adjustments to the roles of the Director of Public Health and the Director of Regeneration and Economic Development be approved;

(2) amendments to the role of Director of Environment, Housing and Leisure be approved;

(3) the creation of a Chief Officer role of Director of Environment be approved; and

(4) the intention to change job titles for the tier of senior managers who report to the Senior Leadership Team over the coming months, with parallel work to review and revise Financial Standing Orders and the Scheme of Delegations, be noted.

 

(Reasons for decision: It represents a considered response to the leadership requirements of the Authority; it adds capacity and leadership in areas which are priorities for the Mayor and Cabinet; it reflects consultation and discussion with the teams involved; and represents value for money.)

 

CAB34/21

Date and Time of Next Meeting

Monday 20 September 2021 at 6.00pm.

Minutes: