Agenda and minutes

To be notified of the appointment of any Substitute Members.

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution the following Substitute Member was reported:

Councillor D Cox for Councillor J Montague as Chair.

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.

Councillor Liam Bones declared a Non-Registerable Personal in Item 6 Emergency Care In North Tyneside – Task and Finish group, he has a family member who is employed by North Tyneside Council.

Councillor Debbie Cox declared a Non-Registerable Personal in Item 6 Emergency Care In North Tyneside – Task and Finish group, family member receives adult social care.

Councillor Pat Oliver declared a Non-Registerable Personal in Item 6 Emergency Care In North Tyneside – Task and Finish group, family member receives adult social care.

Councillor Martin Murphy declared a Non-Registerable Personal in Item 6 Emergency Care In North Tyneside – Task and Finish group, he has a family member who is employed by North Tyneside Council.

Councillor Jane Shaw declared a Non-Registerable Personal in Item 6 Emergency Care In North Tyneside – Task and Finish group, she has a family member who undertakes work on behalf of North Tyneside Council.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 9 October 2023.

Resolved that the minute of the meeting held on 9 October 2023 be agreed.

The Elected Mayor began by thanking both the Elected Members and officers for their hard work, support and commitment to the improvement of the borough throughout the last year.

Following the refresh of the Council Plan and its focus on the five themes (a Thriving, Family-friendly, Caring, Secure and Green North Tyneside), the Elected Mayor set out the achievements and plans for these themes.

Thriving:

·         Preparation of regeneration master plans for North Shields and Wallsend, and the initiating of the same for the North West.

·         Completion of a draft Conservation Area Management Strategy for North Shields.

·         Improvements to a range of derelict land and properties.

·         The continuation of support for job creation and apprenticeships in Planning, as well as the publication of updated Employment Land Review.

·         The publication of a Cultural Plan and the establishment of a Boroughwide Cultural Partnership to drive it forward.

·         A diverse events programme that has seen visitor numbers continue to increase and support town centres.

·         Investment in The Exchange in North Shields, marking the beginning of the transformation of the area into a Cultural Quarter.

·         The new Transport Hub and town square in North Shields.

·         The redevelopment of Northumberland Square and Howard Street as part of North Shields Heritage Action Zone continuing.

·         Delivering the final year of the ‘Made in North Tyneside’ programme which provided support and guidance to start-up to businesses across the Borough.

·         The encouragement of individuals considering starting a business and supporting the growth of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises with consultancy and workshops.

·         Securing £750k to deliver a refreshed Business Factory to provide support to all types of businesses and supporting the Business Forum to deliver their programme of activity.

·         Working in partnership with Invest North East England and the North of Tyne Combined Authority to promote the area to potential investors.

·         Supporting the delivery of new, and affordable, homes in new developments like Rake Lane.

·         The Embankment Walkway project work is hoped to be completed in 2024.

·         Keeping all our leisure and library facilities open alongside continuing investment for the future.

·         The retention of blue and green flags for our parks and beaches.

Thriving Future Plans:

·         The 2024 opening of a new £4m sports hub at St Peters Playing field with external funding from the Football Foundation and Rugby/Football league.

·         Planning has commenced for North Shields 800 and a year of celebration in 2025.

·         Launching / delivering the first year of the new Business Factory programme

·         Continuing to work closely with Invest North East England and regional partners to attract new businesses and jobs.

Family Friendly:

·         The Mayor stated that the 0-19 Children's Public Health Service had received an overall good rating by the CQC and was rated as outstandingin the category ‘well led’. Breastfeeding and support for parent infant relationships was featured as an outstanding practice.

·         The childcare offer remained available to families across the borough, working with a range of schools and the private, voluntary and independent sector. Plans had also begun for the national expansion of  ...  view the full minutes text for item OV423

To receive and scrutinise the Authority’s performance and financial management report. The report provides a full overview of both the budget and service delivery performance position across the Authority as at 30 September 2023.

The Committee received a report that had been considered by Cabinet at its 27 November 2023 meeting.

The report set out the forecast outturn position to 31 March 2024 for both revenue and capital, and details of additional revenue and capital grants received up until 30 September 2023 for Cabinet to approve.

The Committee was informed that the General Fund will outturn with a pressure of £9.648m, which is an improvement of £1.662m from the previous report. The Authority’s key pressures were described as consistent with the expected areas of concern.

The report sets out the programme of work which is in place to manage and mitigate the 2023/24 budget pressures and form part of the 2024-2028 Medium Term Financial Plan.

In terms of performance, whilst service delivery remained strong there continued to be high levels of demand in children in need residential placements, Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) Needs Assessments, home care costs and nursing care placements.

The projected outturn position for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) is an underspend of £0.070m. The Housing Repairs service continues to face pressures through housing management costs and more specifically to the costs of utilities attached to sheltered accommodation schemes, but the overall spend for repairs is forecast to come in on budget. There is also an anticipated pressure due to the 2023/24 pay award that is expected to be greater than assumed in the HRA Business Plan.

It was Agreed that the 2023/24 Performance and Financial Management Report to 30 September 2023 be noted.

To receive a report of the Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordination and Finance Committee’s Scrutiny Task and Finish Group – Emergency Care in North Tyneside.

The Chair introduced a report prepared by the Emergency Care Scrutiny Task and Finish Group of the Overview and Scrutiny Finance and Co-ordination Committee (OSCFC). This Task and Finish Group had been formed in June 2023 specifically to examine matters relating to the provision of emergency healthcare for North Tyneside. This followed a Council motion on this matter, agreed by full Council on 16 March 2023.

The Chair explained that in Councillor Montague’s role as Chair of the OSCFC he had agreed to establish and chair this Task and Finish Group. Taking forward the matters in the Council motion around emergency healthcare through a Scrutiny route would allow sufficient rigour to the examination of the issues in the motion, and also for the findings and recommendations to be properly evidence based. Terms of Reference for the Emergency Care Scrutiny Task and Finish Group had been agreed by the OSCFC at the meeting of the Committee on 12 June 2023.

The Chair explained that the motion agreed at Council on 16 March about emergency healthcare covered important issues for all residents of North Tyneside. It was essential that membership of the Task and Finish Group was open to all non-Executive members. Councillor Montague, as Chair of OSCFC, had confirmed that all members on the Council who are not Cabinet members were invited to volunteer to be part of the Task and Finish group, and every member who expressed an interest was invited to participate in the Task and Finish Group. The Task and Finish group therefore comprised members drawn from the Labour, Conservative and Community Independent groups on the Council. The names of those members are shown in the report on p44.

The evidence, set out in section 3.2 of the report, demonstrated that both regionally and nationally, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is performing extremely well, ranked first in the country for accident and emergency care. On p33-34 of the Task and Finish Group’s report are two tables showing this performance and ranking of NHS Trusts. 

As explained in the report, the Task and Finish Group had met with senior officers from North Tyneside Council, and from Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, as well as the Integrated Care Board to scrutinise information relating to hospital location and performance. This was described in the report on p23. As set out in the report, the Chair explained that the model in place had been designed to optimise clinical outcomes by enhancing access to specialist medical staff and a large specialist and emergency care hospital gives advantages that might not be otherwise possible. Medical evidence shows that for some health conditions, earlier access to a specialist makes for much better clinical outcomes for patients. The Northumbria Specialist and Emergency Care Hospital (NSECH) at Cramlington had been designed to deliver optimal standards of emergency clinical care for patients. The Emergency Care Task and Finish Group found that this would be of benefit to all patients attending NSECH, including those from North Tyneside.  ...  view the full minutes text for item OV623

15 Jan 2024 at 6.00 pm

The next meeting will be held on 15 Jan 2024 at 6.00 pm.