Agenda and minutes

ORDERED that, in accordance with Council Procedure Rule No 5, the committee agreed to vary the order of business.

ORDERED that the following items be considered as shown:

The Chair approved a request presented by the Chair of the Economic Development, Environment and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel that the item be referred back to the scrutiny panel. The proposal planned to enable the scrutiny panel to review the content of its final report and consider the inclusion of additional information.

The Mayor and the Chief Executive submitted a report for the Executive’s consideration. The purpose of the report was to advise of corporate performance at year-end 2021/22 and where appropriate seek approval of any changes.

Overall, at year-end, there had been a slight improvement in performance from the quarter three reported position, with progress towards expected performance standards (as set out in the Council’s risk appetite) achieved in three out of seven areas.

In terms of the progress in delivering Executive actions, at year-end, 39 of 51 live actions (76.5%) were reported as on target to be delivered by the agreed timescales, with 7 proposed amendments set out at Appendix 1 of the submitted report. All remaining Executive actions were expected to be achieved within their approved timescales. Further information was detailed at paragraphs 8 to 10 of the submitted report.

In terms of progress in delivering the Strategic Plan 2021-24, at 2021/22 year-end, 10 out of 24 (41.7%) of the Strategic Plan outcomes were either improving or static against the quarter three position, with 10 (41.7%) worsening. As some measures were updated annually, there was no trend information available for 4 (16.7%) outcome measures at the present time. At 2021/22 year-end, performance against the Strategic Plan workplan was exceeding the corporate target of 90%. Further information on outcomes, the workplan and the Strategic Risk Register was detailed at paragraphs 11 to 25 of the submitted report.

In terms of progress in delivering directorate priorities, at 2021/22 year-end, 60% (65) of directorate priorities were completed, which was below the expected standard of 90%. Performance in delivering mitigating actions associated with high or medium risks on Directorate Risk Registers was 90% and 93% respectively, above the performance standard of 90%. Further information on progress in delivering directorate priorities was detailed at paragraphs 26 to 28 of the submitted report.

ORDERED

1.      That the proposed amendments to Executive actions, outlined at Appendix 1, be approved.

2.      That the achievement in implementation of the Strategic Plan 2021-24 at 2021/22 year-end, detailed in Appendix 2, be noted.

3.      That in light of the position outlined in the report, the Council’s updated position in relation to Strategic Risk be noted.

4.      That the 2021/22 year-end achievement in delivery of the 2021/22 directorate priorities, detailed in Appendix 3, be noted.

REASON

To enable the effective management of performance and risk in line with the Council’s Local Code of Corporate Governance.

The Executive Member for Finance and Governance and the Director of Finance submitted a report for the Executive’s consideration. The purpose of the report was to provide information on the Council’s financial position at year-end 2021/22, including the effect of Covid-19 on the Council’s finances.

As reported in previously, the Covid-19 pandemic had impacted significantly on the Council’s financial position during 2021/22 and would continue to in a number of areas in future years. That had made the management of the Council’s finances more difficult due to the constantly evolving situation and also the level of uncertainty regarding the financial effects of Covid-19 in 2021/22 and future years. Covid-19 financial pressures were being monitored separately from the normal non-Covid-19 financial position.

The 2021/22 revenue budget for the Council was £116,492,035. During quarter one there had been a number of transfers of services between directorates due to managerial changes, and the financial position was reported against the new directorate budgets. The overall final year-end revenue outturn position for 2021/22 for non-Covid19 expenditure was a £2,325,000 underspend. The details of that were shown in the table below paragraph 10 of the submitted report, including the split by directorate.

It was proposed that the £2,325,000 underspend on non-Covid19 expenditure be initially transferred to the General Fund Reserve. The level of reserves remaining after the use and creation of those reserves was shown in the ‘Reserves and Provisions’ section of the submitted report (see paragraphs 158 to 163) and in Appendix 2.

In terms of directorate variances, those were set out at paragraphs 23 to 83. At year-end, 38 areas had spent +/-£150,000 of the agreed budget. Where appropriate, the on-going effects of variances would be considered as part of future updates of the Council’s MTFP.

The financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021/22 was summarised in paragraphs 84 to 111 of the submitted report. There had been a financial pressure due to Covid-19 of £390,000 in 2021/22.

In terms of the capital budget outturn 2021/22, following a further review and the inclusion of new additional schemes (see paragraphs 125 and 126 of the submitted report), increases to existing schemes, and the reductions to existing schemes (as detailed in paragraph 123), the Council had spent £56.899m at year-end. The reasons for the underspend to the revised capital budget for 2021/22 and any changes required to the Investment Strategy were provided in the paragraphs 122 to 150. The revised Investment Strategy to 2024/25 was included at Appendix 1.

The Council’s total borrowing increased from £205.2m at 30 December 2021 to £208.8m at 31 March 2022. Further information on borrowing and prudential indicators was detailed at paragraphs to 151 to 157.

ORDERED

1.      That the 2021/22 revenue budget initial year-end outturn, of a £2.462m overspend on non-Covid-19 elements, be noted.

2.      That the implementation of the Flexible Use of Capital Receipts Strategy totalling £5.017m in 2021/22, as approved by Council on 20 October 2021, be noted.

3.      That the transfer of £230,000 of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21/8

The Executive Member for Regeneration and the Director of Regeneration and Culture submitted a report for the Executive’s consideration. The purpose of the report was to provide information on the next steps to deliver the Council’s aim for an exciting and transformational new £3.7m Community and Sport Centre, which planned to help regenerate East Middlesbrough and greatly improve the lives of local people.

The report recommended that Executive approved a further £900,000 towards the new Southlands Centre project. The investment planned to see a total of £2.1m spent on phase one and a further £1.5m would deliver new and improved outdoor sport facilities built on the site and demonstrate the Council’s ongoing commitment to sports provision in the town.

It was planned that the Sporting Hub would include the creation of new grass pitches, a new Third Generation Football Turf Pitch (3G FTP), the refurbishment of an existing 3G pitch and the Unity City Academy changing rooms, additional new changing rooms and extra car parking to deliver an exemplar facility.

In addition to the £1.7m Council funding already committed to the project, further sums of £600,000 and £500,000 had been secured from the Football Foundation and Towns Fund respectively to demonstrate the Council’s commitment to partnership working to deliver positive outcomes for the town.

The preferred location for the centre had been originally identified as land that could be used to mitigate for the loss of playing pitch provision to facilitate the development of new, high quality, family housing at Marton Avenue. To overcome the issue, the Council had engaged positively with Sport England to develop a solution that planned to meet the needs for playing pitch provision and could allow the housing development to progress.

A planning application was expected to be submitted in August 2022 with construction of the centre due to start in November 2022.

The submitted report’s recommendations satisfied the requirements of the local community and Sport England and met the aims and objectives of the Council.

Representations were made by local community groups in support of the proposal to develop the Community and Sport Centre in East Middlesbrough, the positive feedback received was acknowledged and valued.

OPTIONS

The preferred site for the new Community Centre at the Southlands had been initially identified as the location for the re-provision of lost playing fields due to the housing development at Marton Avenue.

An alternative recommendation could have looked to re-provide the playing pitches in that location, allowing the planning condition to be achieved without the need to provide any additional sporting facilities as identified within the Southland Vision Document (see Appendix 1).  However, that recommendation would have required a new site location to be sourced for a new Community Centre, which would not likely meet the local community’s preferences.

In addition, any alternative location for the centre would have potentially required Middlesbrough Council to re-provide lost playing fields or pitches, should the new location fall within Sport England classifications. If that was the case, new facilities would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21/9

The Deputy Mayor and Executive Member for Children's Services and the Executive Director of Children’s Services submitted a report for the Executive’s consideration. The purpose of the report was to provide information on the progress made against the Children’s Services Improvement Plan, with particular reference to the findings of Ofsted’s Monitoring Visit on 29/30 March 2022.

Ofsted had undertaken a Monitoring Visit to Children’s Services on 29/30 March focusing on matching, placement and decision-making for children in care and planning and achieving permanence (forever homes) for children. The letter reporting Ofsted’s findings, which were generally very positive, was published on 6 May 2022. A brief overview of Ofsted’s findings was detailed in the main body of the submitted report.

The most significant risks to continued improvement and delivering against the Children’s Services Improvement Plan were:

·         The challenge of recruiting permanent experienced social work staff. Currently, 26% of social work staff were agency workers with the resulting additional staffing costs. However, 52% of those staff members had been working in Middlesbrough for over one year. That in itself brought some stability into the workforce and mitigated against changes of social workers for children.

·         Maintaining the pace of improvement despite financial constraints, for example continuing to fund the Practice Leads and colleagues from Audit to Excellence.

Ofsted was due to return for the next Monitoring Visit in July 2022. It was envisaged that the visit would focus on the Council’s Early Help Service, the Multi-Agency Children’s Hub (MACH) and the Assessment Service.

OPTIONS

It was not appropriate to retain the status quo, as Children’s Services would not have been meeting the needs of Middlesbrough’s most vulnerable children.

ORDERED

1.     That the progress made to improve outcomes for Middlesbrough’s vulnerable children, as set out in our Children’s Services Improvement plan 2020/2023, be noted.

2.     That the effect of the work on Children’s Services’ mission, namely ‘Our Mission to Show Middlesbrough Children that they Matter’, be noted.

REASON

Although a decision was not required, if Children’s Services did not make the required improvements as set out in the Children’s Services Improvement Plan, at pace, the Council would not improve life chances for Middlesbrough’s vulnerable children and increase its Ofsted judgement from its current ‘Inadequate’ status.