Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest received at this point in the meeting.

The minutes of the Executive meeting held on 24 May 2021 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

The minutes of the Executive meeting held on 27 May 2021 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

The Mayor and Lead Member for Children’s Safeguarding, Adult Social Care and Public Protection and the Director of Adult Social Care and Health Integration submitted a report for the Executive’s consideration.  The purpose of the report was to request delegated powers for the Director of Adult Social Care and Health Integration and Chair of the Domestic Abuse Strategic Partnership, in consultation with the Executive Member for Adult Social Care, to undertake a needs assessment, revise strategy (see Appendix 2 of the submitted report) and allocate funding as per intervention/decisions to meet the statutory duties outlined in Domestic Abuse Bill.

The Government was introducing new statutory duties on local authorities ensuring that all victims, including children, had access to safety and support within safe accommodation when they needed it. In March, Middlesbrough’s share of the New Burden funding had been announced and published.

The funding had been awarded specifically to meet the cost of provision and support in safe accommodation, for victims and children, and the administrative new burden relating to local authority costs of delivering the new functions under the duty. Local authorities were expected to finalise plans for implementation of the duty, which would mean that victims should not be turned away from refuge and safe accommodation and be enabled to access life-saving support to help them recover and rebuild their lives.

To do that, Middlesbrough Council, with support from Middlesbrough Domestic Abuse Partnership Board, would conduct a needs assessment to determine the level of need for domestic abuse support for victims /survivors residing in safe accommodation and publish a revised version of the Preventing Domestic Abuse Strategy by August 2021.

ORDERED

1.     That the local needs assessment be undertaken based on the expectations set out in the Needs Assessment Template (Appendix 2).

2.     That the terms and conditions outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding be approved (Appendix 1).

3.     That the Director of Adult Social Care and Health Integration, in consultation with the Executive Member for Adult Social Care, receives delegated authority to sign off the needs assessment, the strategy and allocate funding for the project up to £394,865 per intervention/decision.

REASON

The Director of Adult Social Care and Health Integration was the Chair of the Middlesbrough Domestic Abuse Partnership and the officer who would be responsible for undertaking the needs assessment and revising the Preventing Domestic Abuse Strategy reports to Head of Prevention, Access and Provider Services in Adult Social Care.

The Mayor and Lead Member for Children’s Safeguarding, Adult Social Care and Public Protection and the Chief Executive submitted a report for the Executive’s consideration. The purpose of the report was to advise the Executive of progress against the 2020-23 Strategic Plan and COVID-19 Recovery Plan, and outline strategic risks at Year-End 2020/21.

The Council had refreshed its Strategic Plan during Quarter Four for the 2021-24 period to ensure that it remained current and reflective of major developments in the past year, in particular COVID-19 and the ongoing impact of Britain’s exit from the European Union.

The submitted report was therefore the last progress update on the 2020-23 plan, with future quarterly reports updating on progress against the new plan for 2021-24.

A COVID-19 Recovery Plan update was included in the submitted report at paragraphs 7 to 12. A summary of proposed changes and amendments to Recovery Action Plans was contained at Appendix 1 of the report.

Paragraphs 14 to 68 of the submitted report set out in brief the key headlines at year-end relating to the Council’s 2020-23 strategic priorities including, where available, current estimates of the impact of COVID-19 and future plans. The report covered the following areas:

·         People - tackling crime and anti-social behaviour head on (Mayoral priority); ensuring Middlesbrough had the very best schools (Mayoral priority); ensuring our town was an absolute leader on environmental issues (Mayoral priority); promoting the welfare of and protecting our children, young people and vulnerable adults / transforming Children’s Services; working with communities to improve local health and wellbeing / joining up health and social care and working with local communities to redevelop Middlesbrough’s disadvantaged estates (see paragraphs 14 to 40).

·         Place - Transforming our town centre (Mayoral priority); building more town centre homes - and protecting our green spaces (Mayoral priority); making Middlesbrough look and feel amazing (Mayoral priority); implementing our cultural strategy; improving Middlesbrough’s rail connectivity and developing Middlehaven as a residential, leisure and commercial centre (see paragraphs 41 to 49).

·         Business - Winning investment and creating jobs (Mayoral priority); introducing a new era of transparency and openness (Mayoral priority); creating positive perceptions of our town on a national basis (Mayoral priority); developing and delivering balanced budgets every year; making sure our management practices compare with those of the best and becoming recognised as a good employer (see paragraphs 50 to 68).

ORDERED

1.     That the progress in implementing the Council’s Strategic Plan 2020-23 at Year-End 2020/21, and the ongoing impact of COVID-19, be noted.

2.     That the proposed changes and amendments to COVID-19 Recovery Action Plans following Lockdown 3 (Appendix 1) be approved.

3.     That in light of the position outlined in the report, the Council’s updated Strategic Risk Register at Appendix 2 be noted.

4.     That it be noted that future quarterly updates would report progress on the revised Strategic Plan for 2021-24, approved by Council in February 2021, and that COVID-19 Recovery activity would be subsumed with the workplan underpinning the revised Strategic Plan, approved by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21/18

The Mayor and Lead Member for Children’s Safeguarding, Adult Social Care and Public Protection; the Director of Public Health; the Executive Member for Culture and Communities and the Director of Education, Prevention and Partnerships submitted a report for the Executive’s consideration. The purpose of the report was to provide an update on the Holiday Activities Fund (HAF) 2021, including Easter delivery and the plans for summer 2021.

Broadly, the requirements of the HAF programme 2021 were:

·        healthy (hot) meals to School Food Standards;

·        enrichment activities;

·        physical activity and nutrition education;

·        signposting and referrals to services and support that would benefit the children who attend their provision and their families (e.g. Housing Support Officers, Affordable Warmth Advisors);

·        inclusive and accessible provision;

·        at least 4 hours for 4 days a week - for 4 weeks in the summer, and for a week in Easter and Christmas; and

·        Ofsted registered providers, where appropriate

Information was provided on Easter 2021 delivery (see paragraphs 10 to 13 of the submitted report), management and co-ordination (see paragraphs 14 to 16) and summer 2021 delivery (see paragraphs 17 to 24).  In respect of summer 2021 delivery, the timetables for progressing each element of work were detailed in the submitted report.

ORDERED

That the content of the report be noted.

The Executive Member for Environment and Finance & Governance and the Director of Finance submitted a report for the Executive’s consideration. The purpose of the report was to advise the Executive of the Council’s financial position at Year-End 2020/21, including the effect of Covid-19 on the Council’s finances.

Information on the Council’s Revenue Budget Outturn 2020/21 was included at paragraphs 5 to 52 of the submitted report. The split by Directorate of the final year end revenue outturn position for 2020/21 was shown in the table below paragraph 8. The detail of the variances was set out in paragraphs 11 to 52. At year-end, 36 areas had spent +/- £150,000 of the agreed budget.

That when added to the Covid-19 pressures of £416,000, detailed in paragraphs 54 to 85 of the submitted report, resulted in a total revenue outturn pressure at year-end 2020/21 of £61,000. That was a reduction of £2.735m from the £2.796m total projected revenue outturn pressure reported at Quarter Three.

In terms of progress against budget savings, a total of £6.4m of budget savings for 2020/21 had been approved by Council on 26 February 2020 as part of the 2020/21 budget setting. It had not been possible to achieve a number of budget savings due to Covid-19 and those were detailed in paragraph 74 of the submitted report. There were a further £674,000 of budget savings (shown in the table below paragraph 53) which it would not be possible to achieve in 2020/21. Those had been accounted for in the year-end outturns for the directorates and formed part of the overall total year-end outturn for 2020/21.

Information on the Council’s Capital Budget Outturn 2020/21 was included at paragraphs 92 to 121 of the submitted report.

The split by Directorate was shown in the table below paragraph 99, which also showed the “real” projected outturn variance if all of the additional new schemes, increased schemes, reduced schemes, and transfers between directorates were excluded. Explanations for variances of +/- £150,000 across 14 schemes were set out in paragraphs 100 to 114 of the submitted report. Those variances required movement within the Council’s four-year Investment Strategy, but did not affect the overall investment or cost of borrowing.

Paragraphs 115 to 121 of the submitted report provided information on the Council’s borrowing and prudential indicators and paragraphs 122 to 124 contained information on the Council’s reserves.

ORDERED

1.      That the transfer to Reserves, as detailed in the report and summarised in paragraph 123 of the report, be approved.

2.      That the 2020/21 revenue budget final year-end outturn of a £355,000 (-0.3%) underspend on non-Covid-19 elements (subject to above approval of transfers to reserves), and the financial effect of Covid-19 in 2020/21 of £416,000 be noted.

3.      That the transfer of the £355,000 underspend on non-Covid-19 elements, to the General Fund Reserve, be approved.

4.      That the use of the General Fund Reserve, as approved by Council on 2 September 2020, to fund the £416,000 Covid-19 overspend in 2020/21, be noted.

5.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21/20

The Executive Member for Regeneration and the Director of Regeneration submitted a report for the Executive’s consideration. Middlesbrough Council was proposing to connect Hemlington Grange to the existing pedestrian and cycle network serving Coulby Newham with a new footpath/cycleway, allowing journeys between the two communities for retail, leisure and education to be made safely on foot and by cycle. The purpose of the report was to detail the results of the public consultation exercise carried out for the proposed scheme and to seek Executive approval for the scheme to proceed to the implementation stage.

As with all proposed highway improvement schemes, public consultation had been carried out in order to seek the views of key stakeholders.

Two consultation exercises had been undertaken and a total of 83 responses had been received, with 43 of those responding in favour of the proposed scheme and 40 against.

The main grounds for objection to the scheme were set out in the table below paragraph 20 of the submitted report, together with the response from Council officers in each case.

The results of the second consultation exercise were considered in more detail in Appendix 1 of the submitted report.

OPTIONS

The other potential decisions that had not been recommended included:

a)    Do nothing. That was not recommended, as it would not have provided a safe and direct pedestrian and cycle route that allowed residents of Hemlington Grange to access the retail, leisure and educational facilities in the Coulby Newham district centre by more sustainable alternatives to the private car.

b)    Reassessing the proposed route alignment. That was not recommended, as re-routing the footpath/cycleway via Ridgeway (as suggested by a number of the objectors) would have required pedestrians and cyclists to navigate a circuitous route through an industrial estate where pavement parking took place on a regular basis. Consequently, there were strong amenity, personal security and road safety arguments in favour of the proposed route.

ORDERED

a)    That the responses received during the public consultation exercise be noted.

b)    That the objections to the proposed scheme be considered and mitigations noted.

c)    That the proposed scheme be agreed and progressed to implementation during the 2021/22 financial year.

REASON

There were currently no cycle routes connecting the rapidly growing residential area of Hemlington Grange with the adjacent district centre of Coulby Newham, and the only existing pedestrian route was circuitous and involved negotiating the busy B1365 Stokesley Road via an uncontrolled crossing facility.

The proposed footpath/cycleway planned to address both of those issues and, by doing so, allowed the residents of Hemlington Grange to access local retail, leisure and educational facilities by more sustainable alternatives to the private car, in line with the policies set out in the adopted Middlesbrough Integrated Transport Strategy.