Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

In the event the fire alarm sounds attendees will be advised to evacuate the building via the nearest fire exit and assemble at the Bottle of Notes opposite MIMA.

The Mayor welcomed all those present to the meeting and explained the fire evacuation procedure.

To receive any declarations of interest.

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

To receive the minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the Executive meeting held on 3 September 2025 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

To receive any announcements from the Mayor.

The Mayor stated that the Executive agenda had been updated since the approval of the constitution at Council. The processes underpinning agenda items six and seven (questions from members of the public and elected Members respectively) were being developed and would be in place for the next meeting of Executive.

NOTED.

To receive questions from members of the public.

None.

To receive questions from elected members.

None.

To consider reports of Overview and Scrutiny Board following the Call-In process or Council following the Budget setting process.

None.

Executive Report for Decision.

Scrutiny Report to Note.

ORDERED that Executive:

1.    Notes the report of the People Scrutiny Panel into Children Missing Education and the accompanying recommendations; and

2.    Approves the Action Plan prepared by the service in response to the recommendations.

The former People Scrutiny Panel had undertaken a review entitled Children Missing Education. A copy of the full report was attached. The Scrutiny Panel had made six recommendations upon which a response was sought from the relevant service area.

The recommendations of the Scrutiny Panel were:

A.    Ensures that CME forms an integral part of Middlesbrough Council’s Draft Poverty Strategy. CME, and its impact, should be explicitly referenced and included in any performance regime underpinning the strategy. Members of the Children’s Scrutiny Panel should be briefed on how CME will feature within the Poverty Strategy no later than January 2026, or sooner if the strategy is available.

B.    Ensures that Education & Partnerships are fully prepared for the Children’s Wellbeing in Schools Bill, in particular the monitoring of Elective Home Education and the implementation of a single unique identifier (SUI) for children. The Children’s Scrutiny Panel should be briefed on the preparations, no later than December 2025.

C.   Establishes a Working Group between Primary Schools in the Central areas of Middlesbrough, Education and Partnerships, Stronger Communities and local Councillors to explore if further assistance can be provided in respect of the large transient community and the issues of school roll turnover. The Working Group should report back on its progress by March 2026.

D.   Establishes a Working Group between Education & Partnerships and Stronger Communities to understand the nature of the higher rate of CME in the Romanian community. The Working Group should produce an action plan to help reduce this number against the baseline average of 22, at the time of the review. The Working Group should provide a progress update against their action plan to the Children’s Scrutiny Panel by March 2026.

E.    An update be provided to the Children’s Scrutiny Panel that provides assurance to the on the ongoing work of assisting children at risk of permanent exclusion. This should happen no later than October 2026.

F.    An update be provided to the Children’s Scrutiny Panel on the new Alternative Provision and the restructure of the Inclusion and Outreach Model. This should happen no later than April 2026.

The Deputy Mayor and Executive Member for Education and Culture and the Interim Director for Education and Partnerships submitted a service response to the recommendations of the Scrutiny Panel. A copy of the action plan was appended to the report.

The Chair of the Children’s Scrutiny Panel introduced and presented the Scrutiny report and advised the review had been undertaken by the previous People Scrutiny Panel.

The Deputy Mayor and Executive Member for Education and Culture provided a response to the Scrutiny report and presented the Service Response.

The Deputy Mayor and Executive Member for Education and Culture commented that the work carried out by the Scrutiny was important and relevant to current developments.

The Mayor stated that this issue had been discussed extensively and remain an important matter. As such it was commented that an all-Member briefing be arranged to update all Members on the situation.

ORDERED that Executive:

1.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25/31

Executive Report for Decision.

Scrutiny Report to Note.

ORDERED that Executive:

1.    NOTES the content of the Environment Scrutiny Panel’s final report on Waste Management.

2.    APPROVES The action plan, as amended, developed in response to the Scrutiny Panel’s recommendations.

The Place Scrutiny Panel had undertaken a review entitled Home to School Transport Service. A copy of the full report was attached. The Scrutiny Panel had made seven recommendations upon which a response was sought from the relevant service area.

The recommendations of the Scrutiny Panel were:

A.    Investigate whether it would be cost effective to devolve the provision of Home to School Transport to individual schools, as they may be able to provide a more localised service. Ideally the funding could be passed directly to the schools making them responsible for controlling costs, ensuring there was no additional cost to the Local Authority.

B.    Review the eligibility requirements for free school travel, especially for post-16

students and for pupils who attend a school that is not in the catchment/nearest school by parental choice, but they meet the low-income criteria. There would need to be an option included for consideration of special circumstances.

C.   Ensure closer collaboration between Children’s Services, Schools and the Home to School Transport Unit to make certain that the most cost-effective and suitable transport arrangements are in place for each student, particularly in relation to students with SEND. The requirement for transport assistance should be included as a consideration in SEND assessments.

D.   Prioritise the promotion of independent travel to all parents and students, increase the number of travel trainers and bus buddies and encourage greater use of personal travel budgets.

E.    Introduce a spare seat scheme to offer discretionary transport assistance on existing transport for students who are not eligible for free travel assistance, with an option for part payment of the full cost.

F.    Investigate whether increasing the Council’s fleet of vehicles and reducing dependency on third party providers would be cost effective and whether this would enable better route planning.

G.   Explore whether entering into longer-term contracts with third party providers would provide for greater flexibility and consistency.

The Executive Member for Environment and Sustainability and the Director for Environment and Community Services submitted a service response to the recommendations of the Scrutiny Panel. A copy of the action plan was appended to the report.

The Chair Children’s Scrutiny Panel introduced and presented the Scrutiny report and advised the review had been undertaken by the previous People Scrutiny Panel.

Following a question from a Member in the public gallery, a conversation took place regarding eligibility criteria for children using Home to School Transport services. It was stated this area was complex, and while there was a hierarchy of need, each service user’s eligibility was assessed on a case-by-case basis. It was also commented that generalisations should be avoided when discussing the topic.   

In the absence of the Executive Member for Environment and Sustainability, the Mayor provided a response to the Scrutiny report and presented the Service Response.

It was queried what the impact would be if the Home to School Transport service was handed to Schools. It was commented that, while this would prove difficult, the Mayor stated it would be beneficial for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25/32

Report for Decision

ORDERED That Executive approves the Information Strategy 2025-2029.

The Mayor submitted a report for Executive consideration the purpose of which was to set out a proposed Information Strategy for the Council.

This was the second Information Strategy developed by the Council and built on the

progress made in the previous Strategy.

The Strategy would act as the basis for efforts to improve and exploit information for the benefit of Middlesbrough and its residents within an ethical framework. It also closely interlinked with the Council’s emerging Digital Strategy and

Transformation Strategy. Both of which relied on information being held appropriately

to enable improved services to customers to be delivered.

An effective Information Strategy would deliver the following benefits:

·         Enhanced decision making by ensuring accurate and timely decisions are taken, using excellent data and intelligence.

·         Improved operational efficiency through use of efficient information management to support activity to transform and streamline services through the Council’s transformation programme and business as usual performance management.

·         Ensuring good data security and compliance with information governance legislation, regulations and standards.

·         Improving the Council’s ability to use data to drive innovation.

·         The Information Strategy, found at Appendix 1 of the report, set out:

·         The legislative, regulatory and governance framework that the Strategy will operate within.

·         The vision of the strategy, which is that ‘the right information will be available to the right users, at any time, accessible and used ethically to support achievement of the Council Plan.’

·         The current position of the plan and its ambitions over the next four years

·         The key principles that underpin the Strategy which are derived from government’s seven information principles for the public sector and

·         The strategic objectives of the strategy.

Following adoption of the Strategy, progress would be overseen by the existing Information Strategy working group. This comprised representatives from ICT and Information Governance and was chaired by the Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO). This group would develop and deliver a detailed implementation plan for the key actions identified in the strategy. Progress against this Strategy would be reported annually within the Annual SIRO report to Audit Committee.

OPTIONS

The Council could choose to operate without a strategy, however codifying its activities against a stated vision provides the best chance of achieving that vision and improving outcomes for the residents and businesses of Middlesbrough.

ORDERED That Executive approves the Information Strategy 2025-2029.

REASONS

Having a strategy in place to manage information effectively was vital for a complex organisation. It enhanced decision-making, improved operational efficiency, ensured data security and compliance, facilitated collaboration, and supported innovation and growth. Prioritising information management would enhance the ability of the Council to achieve the Council Plan objectives.

Report for Decision.

ORDERED that Executive:

1.    Approves an amendment to the report so that recommendations in the report that reference delegated authority in consultation with the Mayor should also include “relevant Executive Member with portfolio responsibility” where applicable.  

2.    Approves the creation of the Local Authority Special Purpose Vehicle (LA SPV).

3.    Appoints the Director of Environment and Community Services as the Council’s Director on the Board of the LA SPV and authorises them and any successors; or any substitute or deputy appointed by the Director of Environment and Community Services should they be unavailable, to take all decisions on behalf of the Council as Director on the Board of the LA SPV for the good governance of the LA SPV and the Energy Recovery Facility.

4.    Authorises the Council to subscribe for shares in and to be a shareholder of the LA SPV; and to issue a Shareholder Resolution to approve and adopt the Articles of Association.

5.    Appoints the Section 151 Officer as the Council’s Shareholder Representative and Authorises that Shareholder Representative to appoint an alternative representative to act as their substitute or deputy and authorises the Shareholder Representative and their alternative to make decisions under the Shareholder Agreement, articles of association etc including the making of shareholder resolutions, including a shareholder resolution to approve and adopt the Articles of Association on behalf of the Council.

6.    Authorises the Council to enter into the Shareholders’ Agreement and Delegates Authority to Director of Environment and Community Services (in consultation with the Mayor and supported by the Monitoring Officer and Section 151 Officer) to finalise and agree and enter into the Shareholder Agreement.

7.    Delegates Authority to Director of Environment and Community Services (in

8.    consultation with the Mayor and supported by the Monitoring Officer and Section 151 Officer) to authorise the LA SPV to enter into the Shareholder Agreement.

9.    Authorises the LA SPV the enter into the Service Level Agreement and Delegates Authority to the Director of Environment and Community Services (in consultation with the Mayor and supported by the Monitoring Officer and Section 151 Officer) to finalise and agree the Service Level Agreement.

10.  Authorises the Council to enter into the Waste Supply and Support Agreement (“WSSA”) and Delegates Authority to the Director of Environment and Community Services (in consultation with the Mayor and supported by the Monitoring Officer and Section 151 Officer) to finalise, agree and enter into the WSSA with the LA SPV.

11.  Delegates Authority to the Director of Environment and Community Services (in consultation with the Mayor and supported by the Monitoring Officer and Section 151 Officer) to authorise the LA SPV to enter into the WSSA.

12.  Authorises the LA SPV to award the Contract, enter into the Project Agreement with the successful Contractor and to enter into the 50 year lease with Teesworks for the site and Delegates Authority to the Director of Environment and Community Services (in consultation with the Mayor and supported by the Monitoring Officer and Section 151 Officer) to  ...  view the full decision text for item 25/34

Report for Decision.

ORDERED that Executive approve the proposed changes, listed below, to the Household Support Fund (HSF) delivery plan for 2025/26 previously approved by Executive on 14 May 2025, which would be delivered between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026, as set out in Table 1 (paragraph 4.9) of the report and that it continued to target the same main groups as before.

·         An increase of £10 per child for those in receipt of income based free school meals, Council Tax Reduction (CTR), Universal Credit (UC) or Housing Benefit (HB)

·         Widen the criteria for pensioner support to include all on CTR (previously had to have Pension Credit Guarantee Credit as well) and increase the payment from £50 to £100

·         Increase the amount provided to singles / couples in receipt of benefits from £45/£55 to £75/£100

·         An additional £38,000 to Community Support to assist with crisis applications

·         An additional £17,000 allocated to the provision of third-party support

The Executive Member for Finance submitted a report for Executive consideration the purpose of which sought approval for changes required to the Household Support Fund (HSF scheme previously approved for the 2025/26 financial year).

On 30 October 2024, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions announced that the HSF would be extended for a further 12 months from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026.

Each Local Authority was required to prepare a local scheme to determine how the funding would be provided and allocated. The grant amount allocated to Middlesbrough was £2,914,447.24.

Government guidance required Local Authorities to clearly advertise the scheme to residents, including publication on the Council website. The value of the individual awards was to be determined by Local Authorities in accordance with the parameters set out in the guidance.

The current scheme was approved by Executive on 14 May 2025 and was based on the Council’s previous successful HSF schemes. The original 2025/26 scheme included a payment amount for pensioners who were no longer eligible for the state Winter Fuel Payment under the changed criteria introduced in 2024. This would have meant that those in receipt of Council Tax Reduction (CTR) or Attendance Allowance who were not eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment from the Government could have received an equivalent amount to the Winter Fuel Payment in full from Middlesbrough Council’s HSF of £300 or £200 depending on age. £340,000 was allocated to enable this to happen.

On 9 June 2025 the Government amended the criteria for the Winter Fuel Payment again, meaning that pensioners with incomes of less than £35,000 would now be eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment. This had reduced the number of pensioners ineligible to benefit from it with a consequent reduction in the number who would be eligible under the previously agreed scheme for the £300 or £200 HSF payment, depending on age. As a result, the HSF funding required in the Council’s scheme to meet the reduced need had been reviewed and the changes proposed to increase other expenditure by £330,000 were detailed in the report.

Those pensioners in receipt of CTR or Attendance Allowance who remained ineligible for the Winter Fuel Payment or were subject to clawback through HMRC would still be eligible for the same level of payment under HSF of £300 or £200, depending on age. Pensioners who were eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment and not subject to clawback may still have been eligible for a payment of £100 from HSF, depending on their circumstances, the rate having been increased from £50 under the amended scheme.

The scheme remained designed to support vulnerable residents and low-income households which include children, pensioners, people with disabilities and other households who may be experiencing financial difficulties brought about by the continuing economic challenges.

The Mayor queried how residents would be made aware of the revised scheme. It was clarified that in addition to press releases and wider communications those individuals whose details were known to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25/35

Report for Decision.

ORDERED that Executive approves the establishment of a new central assessment site to support safe and effective care.

AGREED that Executive:

·         NOTE the revenue impact in the Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP) from year two onwards and that these will be considered for approval by Council as part of the budget setting process;

·         NOTE the capital implications on the Levelling Up Partnership funding secured for Live Well East and;

·         NOTE the process and timescales to progress the preferred option and ensure continuity of service during library redevelopment.

The Executive Member for Public Health submitted a report for Executive’s consideration. The purpose of the report sought Executive approval for the reconfiguration of Recovery Solutions delivery sites, ensuring safe, accessible, and compliant service provision.

Nationally, Middlesbrough had one of the highest levels of need in relation to substance use, highlighted by the prevalence of both drug and alcohol-related deaths. This linked to the considerable levels of deprivation locally with Middlesbrough having high numbers of people engaged with our services.

The Council currently had ambitious government targets, including to further increase both numbers accessing treatment and those completing treatment successfully. To meet those challenging targets, Council services needed to be able to work collaboratively with key partners and be open and accessible to those who needed support.

Recovery Solutions currently operated from three sites:

·         Live Well East (Berwick Hills) – this was currently the main assessment centre; served between 700-750 clients. Changes to the building usage and enforcement presence had compromised care and restricted the opportunity for the site to offer the necessary capacity required;

·         Live Well West (Ayresome Green Lane) - served approximately 400 clients and had limited capacity;

·         Live Well South (Hemlington) - served between 180-200 clients; offered adequate capacity and has improved the engagement rate.

The proposed relocation of the Neighbourhoods team into the LWE library introduced a significant police presence, which was unsuitable for substance use client group. The presence of Police and enforcement staff in close proximity to a substance misuse treatment service would place the service in breach of critical CQC regulations under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. This risk was escalated substantially if they were within a shared space, which would be the case with the space constraints introduced at LWE.

The new plans for LWE also introduced physical space reductions. This further impacted service delivery capacity, which resulted in the service not being able to accommodate the necessary range of roles and support key partner organisations to work into the setting. This severely restricted the ability to provide a full, person-centred treatment and recovery offer.

A new central site, Park House, on Park Road North, had been identified. This was located adjacent to Parkside Mental Health Resource Centre and both buildings were owned by Tees Esk and Wear Valley (TEWV) NHS Foundation Trust. Public Health and the substance misuse services worked in partnership with TEWV across South Tees as the services share many clients.

The TEWV Care Programme Board had approved in principle the plan for Public Health South Tees to utilise their building.

Collaborative substance use and mental health services were vital because they improved patient outcomes. This was achieved by providing integrated, co-ordinated care for complex co-occurring issues, moving away from siloed systems. The integrated approach in South Tees enhances treatment engagement and recovery, leading to reduced severity of symptoms, lower rates of hospitalisation and a decrease in people falling into the cracks between services.

Levelling Up Partnership funding of £1.15 million was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25/36

None.

The decision(s) will come into force after five working days following the day the decision(s) was/ were published unless the decision(s) become subject to the call in procedures