Agenda and draft minutes

The minutes of the OSB meeting held on 28 March 2023 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

The minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting held on 18 April 2023 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

The minutes of the Ad Hoc Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 23 February 2023 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

Members were advised that, following OSB’s decision on 18 April 2023 to change the structure of the Council’s Scrutiny Panels, OSB would carry out reviews that previously fell within the remit of the Ad Hoc Scrutiny Panel. 

ORDERED that the Homelessness review started under the Ad hoc Scrutiny Panel be continued by OSB. A work plan for the review be submitted to the next meeting of OSB.  

Following the decommissioning of the Culture and Communities Scrutiny Panel in April 2023, the Minutes from the Panel’s meeting of the 23 March 2023 will be submitted to OSB for consideration.

Members were advised that following OSB’s decision of 18 April 2023 the Culture and Communities Scrutiny Panel had been retired. As such OSB were required to consider the minutes from the final meeting of the Culture and Communities Scrutiny Panel.

The minutes of the Culture and Communities Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 23 March 2023 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting the Chair thanked the previous Chair of OSB, Councillor Mick Saunders, for his stewardship of the Board over the previous four years.

NOTED

** SUSPENSION OF COUNCIL PROCEDURE RULE NO. 5 - ORDER OF BUSINESS

ORDERED: that in accordance with Council Procedure Rule No. 5, the Committee agreed to vary the order of business to consider agenda item 11, Any Other Business, as the next item of business.

A proposed schedule of meeting dates for the Overview and Scrutiny Board for the 2023/2024 Municipal Year was submitted for Members’ consideration.

The Chair advised that to ensure all Members of OSB could attend future meetings the time of OSB meetings be 4.30pm.

ORDERED: that the proposed meeting dates for 2023/2024 be approved.

The Deputy Mayor and Executive Member for Education and Culture will be attendance to provide an overview of her portfolio.

The Chair welcomed the Executive Member for Education and Culture and invited her to make her presentations.

The Executive Member identified that, within the Education and Partnerships element of her portfolio, there were several opportunities that could be capitalised on. These included working with schools whereby a constructive dialogue could be created to understand local need. This principle also applied to working with special schools to address SEND needs.

There was also a need to support and challenge schools on their exclusion policies to promote inclusion as well as improving outcomes for young people in the town.

There was also an opportunity to maximise Family Hubs which could engage with families and work with them to break down access barriers. The Hubs could also be useful in actin as a link between Health and Education priorities.

Youth Just was another important opportunity within the Education and Partnerships element of the Executive Member’s portfolio. This included driving the delivery of the Youth Justice Plan and strengthening partnerships that could support delivery of shared agendas.

The Executive Member proceeded to outline the priorities within her portfolio area. These included supporting schools to improve the attendance of all children particularly the most vulnerable. There was also a priority to increase the number of SEND children and young people in mainstream settings as well as improving parenting support and the home learning experience to support children’s learning and development.

A key priority was the establishment of the permeant Outwood Riverside School.

The Executive Member invited questions from the Board.

A Member queried how the Council would ensure a permeant school for Outwood Riverside. It was clarified this would be achieved, primarily, by working with the Department for Education (DfE). When questioned about the timescale required the Executive Member confirmed it was important that the Secretary of State expedited the process as the confirmed start date for the permeant school was to be 2026.

A Member commented the Council was not directly responsible for all Primary and Secondary schools in Middlesbrough. The Member queried how the Council could contribute to improved Ofsted ratings. The Executive Member responded that reducing the number of exclusions was a high priority as this would help young people but the schools themselves.

Members queried how many students were currently occupying the temporary Outwood Riverside site, currently located on Russell Street. It was confirmed 445 students were on the current site. The Chair commented that despite the difficult circumstances the school received positive Ofsted ratings and the teaching staff at Outwood Riverside should be congratulated for this.

Regarding how the increase in SEND provision would work in practice the Executive Member advised there was a need for mainstream schools to offer SEND provision. The rationale behind this lay in the number of children excluded with who had additional needs. Therefore, by encouraging mainstream schools to increase their SEND provision it was hoped the number of exclusions could be reduced. It was also confirmed there was some funding available for young people  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23/7

The Chief Executive submitted a report which identified the forthcoming issues to be considered by the Executive, as outlined in Appendix A to the report. The report provided the Overview and Scrutiny Board with the opportunity to consider whether any item contained within the Executive Forward Work Programme should be considered by the Board or referred to a Scrutiny Panel.

OSB agreed the Forward Plan be submitted to them electronically on a weekly basis. The Chair advised members that any questions about the Forward Plan could be raised with him in the first instance.

ORDERED that:

1.    The Executive Forward Plan be circulated to OSB on a weekly basis; and

2.    The information presented in the report be noted.  

The Head of Legal Services (People) will be in attendance to provide a verbal update on Middlesbrough’s Boundary Review 2023.

The Chair welcomed the Head of Legal Services (People) and invited her to deliver her presentation.

OSB was advised the Local Government Boundary Commission looked at electoral arrangements for a local authority. This included the number of Councillors, polling places and so on.

One of the reasons Middlesbrough was undergoing the review was due to electoral inequality. This was the result of population changes since the previous review with the review examining if the number of electors per Councillor was still relevant. There were some wards that had experienced significant population changes including Stainton and Thornton.

A Member queried how population variation affected the review. The Head of Legal Services explained population variance was not an exact science and considered different factors in the area. It was agreed that the presentation slides would be sent to OSB.

It was explained the Boundary Review was spit into two phases. The first phase was a data gathering exercise and included statistical data collection including number of Councillors and a geocoded electoral register. This process was at a preliminary stage and needed to be submitted to the Boundary Commission by the end of October 2023.

OSB’s role in the Boundary Review was also explained to Members. One of the first tasks for OSB would be to consider the report containing the result of the data gathering exercise. The report would consider several factors including the role of a Councillor in Middlesbrough, the Council’s Committee Structure and Electorate Projections.

Members were also advised there was a guidance document about the review that had initially been circulated following an all-Member briefing. The Head of Legal Services agreed to circulate this to OSB following the meeting.

It was suggested that Phase two of the Boundary Review could cause the most issues, and it would be this phase where OSB needed to actively engage with the process. Members were advised that any recommendations would come into force in 2027.

The first draft of the Phase one submission would be brought to OSB on the 20^th September with the final draft being submitted at the 18^th October meeting of OSB.

A Member queried what work was being done to include residents on the electoral register. It was confirmed a lot of work had been undertaken in the lead up to the election as well as the usual annual canvass. It was also discussed that non-registration was a significant problem in some parts of the town. It was also discussed that this was a problem nationally.

The Head of Legal Services was asked if the Council’s budgetary constraints played a factor in this process. It was explained that the Council’s budgetary position was not a consideration for the Boundary Commission. However, until the data had been gathered and analysed it was impossible to know how the results of the review would impact on the Council’s financial position.

It was discussed if the final proposal would contain different proposals or several proposals.

The Chair commented the recommendations of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23/9

Adult Social Care and Services Scrutiny Panel

Councillor J. Walker (Chair)

Children & Young People’s Scrutiny Panel

Councillor E. Clynch (Chair)

Environment Scrutiny Panel

Councillor J. Ryles (Chair)

Health Scrutiny Panel

Councillor J. Banks (Chair)

Regeneration Scrutiny Panel

Councillor I. Blades (Chair)

The Chair advised OSB that Scrutiny Panel Chairs were expected to attend all meetings where possible in order to deliver their respective Scrutiny Chair’s updates. In the event Scrutiny Chairs could not attend the relevant Vice Chair would be expected to attend on their behalf to deliver the update.

The Chair of the Adult Social Care and Services Scrutiny Panel advised OSB that the Panel had met in July and received an overview of the Service Area by officers. The Chair commented the Panel was surprised at the breadth of services offered by Adult Social Care and Health Integration. At its next meeting on September 12^th the Panel would be setting its work programme with many suggested review topics coming from Councillors. One topic was social housing, of which there was a shortage, which was exacerbated for older people. The Panel was keen to explore how older people could be independent in their own homes for longer.

As Vice Chair of the Health Scrutiny Panel, the Chair of OSB advised Members the Health Scrutiny Panel had met on 15^th June and received the South Tees Trust’s Quality Accounts. The Trust had been rated “Good” in a lot of areas by the CQC which was a significant improvement on its previous rating. The Panel had also met on 10^th July where representatives of the Foundations Trust were in attendance to discuss the notice that had been served on the Foundations Practice and what impact this would have on residents, especially those with substance misuse issues. While it was concerning the service would be lost, it was confirmed there were provisions in place to fill the service gap. The Panel also received a wide-ranging overview of services from Public Health and the Integrated Care Board.

The Chair of the Regeneration Scrutiny Panel advised Members the Panel had met on 19^th July where it had received a service update from the Director of Regeneration. The Panel learned the Regeneration department covered a wide range of services including Planning and Economic Growth as well as creative partnerships. The Panel had not agreed on topics as these would be discussed at the panel’s next meeting. The Panel had agreed to discuss the Local Plan and what would be contained in it.