The Mayor will be in attendance to provide an update on the CQC inspection of Adult Social Care and the 2025 Local Government Association Peer review.
Minutes:
The Chair welcomed the Mayor, the Chief Executive and the Interim Director of Adult Social Care and Health Integration to the meeting.
The Chief Executive provided Members with an overview of the Local Government Association (LGA) Peer Challenge that had been undertaken. As part of the overview the Chief Executive made the following points:
· The Peer Challenge process was well established and happened every five years or so.
· External reviewers assessed the Council against several established areas.
· The report had been received and circulated to OSB and was available on the LGA website.
· The report would also be discussed at the next Council meeting on 26 March.
· The Peer Challenge had been conducted in parallel with the work of the Middlesbrough Independent Improvement Advisory Board (MIIAB).
· The Peer Challenge team would visit the Council again in 12 months’ time.
· There was nothing in the Peer Challenge report that was surprising.
· While the Council still had work to do, the Peer Challenge recognised the Council was emerging from a difficult financial and cultural position.
· The recommendations of the review included developing a long-term vision for the town in co-production with residents and partners.
· While the Council Plan was recognised as a plan for the Council it was also recognised there needed to be a plan for the town.
· One of the benefits of having clear objectives for the town was it made Middlesbrough more attractive for business and investors.
· The Peer Challenge also asked for a redefinition of strategic partnership as there had been a lessening of engagement with some strategic partners.
· There was a need to improve and strengthen the relationships between the Council and Tees Valley Combined Authority.
· A strengthening of equality and diversity was required, including around the Council’s workforce and community engagement. Middlesbrough had a complex set of communities, and the Council needed to be better at engaging with those communities.
· In terms of improving financial resilience and ensure savings targets were met, the MIIAB were impressed with the work the Council had carried out. There was more work to do in this area, and there was a need for scrutiny and audit to play a role in this.
· There was a need to re-shape the Council’s approach to transformation given the Council’s improved financial position.
· There was a need to continue the work of the MIIAB after it was disbanded.
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internal audit procedures, scrutiny processes
and support to the Executive function.
· A need to strengthen internal audit procedures, scrutiny processes and support to the Executive function were all identified as part of the Peer Challenge report.
The Chief Executive commented there was nothing surprising as part of the report, and the creation of an action plan to monitor the recommendations would provide a valuable mandate to carry out improvement work.
The Chair commented that, while the outcome of the report was not surprising to officers, he queried if politicians were surprised at the outcome of the report. The Mayor responded that the improvement journey had allowed the Council to assess its position correctly. Importantly, the Council’s focus needed to shift to outside considerations and not just internal considerations. The Mayor also commented there was an opportunity for the Council to be more involved in, and return to, strategic housing.
A Member queried if the Mayor’s intention was to bring more housing stock back within Council control. The Mayor responded this was an aspiration, provided relevant assessments were carried out. One of the factors to consider was potential changes to the Local Government Housing Revenue Account which would allow the Council to possess more Council houses. There was also a fund available to trial a forced purchase route with an example of a property in east Middlesbrough being cited.
A discussion took place about how the Council would engage with communities around Equality, Diversity and Inclusion matters. It was commented the Council needed to take communities with it on decisions. A recent example of this was the Communities Fund and how allocations from that fund were decided by a panel made up of different communities. When the neighbourhood model of working became active it would mean Council services were placed within communities. There was a need for proportionality in Middlesbrough Communities to understand this.
It was also commented that discussions of the neighbourhood model included the realisation those participating in the riots in August 2024 were not necessarily driven by far-right motives but instead were disaffected individuals. There was a degree of disconnectedness on the part of the Council and the neighbourhood model would help to rebuild relationships with communities.
It was stated the reports of the Peer Challenge and the MIIAB would be available for the full Council meeting on the 26 March.
The Chief Executive recognised and expressed his thanks to junior staff members for their work during the Council’s improvement journey.
The Interim Director of Adult Social Care advised the Board she was attending the next meeting of the People Scrutiny panel and would be providing a detailed overview of the Council’s CQC inspection and resulting action plan. As the Council was close to a “good” rating, future inspections would be light touch which likely included a quarterly update to the department of health and social care. Some of the issues identified in the CQC inspection were brought out in the Peer Challenge.
A discussion took place about CQC inspections nationally. It was commented that at the point Middlesbrough’s CQC inspection was made public approximately half of Councils had been rated as “needs improvement “and half were rated as “good”. It was also commented that the CQC was working to new inspection processes.
The Chair thanked the Mayor, Chief Executive and Interim Director of Adult Social Care for their attendance.
NOTED