Decisions

The Mayor considered a report regarding the Impact Assessment Policy. The purpose of the report was set out revisions to the Impact Assessment Policy.

The Mayor considered a report regarding the Impact Assessment Policy. The purpose of the report was set out revisions to the Impact Assessment Policy.

 

Regular reviews of policies were required to ensure that they continued to meet the needs of the organisation, reflect case law that impacted on impact assessment processes and continue to reflect best practice.

 

The Impact Assessment policy was scheduled for review every three years. It was not yet due to be reviewed, however an interim review was proposed to enable the Council to systematically assess the impact of its decision-making on its underpinning ambition of reducing poverty, which cut across all of the Council Plan ambitions.

 

This was one of the actions identified from a recent poverty sprint, held by the Council with partners, to identify the steps that could be taken to maximise whole-Council, cross-policy, cross-strategy action to drive real change to poverty in Middlesbrough.

 

Steps had also been taken to amend the committee report format template to ensure it contained a section which would set out the impact of proposed decisions on the reducing poverty aim.

 

OPTIONS

 

The Council could choose not to amend the Impact Assessment Policy. however, it would be missing an opportunity to embed an approach that would champion a consistent, considered approach that would support delivery of its aim of reducing poverty.

 

ORDERED that the Mayor:

 

1.    APPROVES the revised Impact Assessment Policy

 

REASONS

 

Putting in place a systematic approach to assessing the impact of the Council’s decision-making on its ambition to reduce poverty, would ensure that there was an improved focus on this within decision-making processes.

The purpose of the report was to seek approval of the minor amendments to the Out of Hours Registrars offer to reflect the needs of the community and to continue to deliver best value.

 

The Mayor considered a report regarding the Out of Hours Register Offer.

 

The purpose of the report was to seek approval of the minor amendments to the Out of Hours Registrars offer to reflect the needs of the community and to continue to deliver best value.

 

The decision required Single Member Executive approval as it was a ‘minor variation to an existing policy or procedure’ as per Section 6.38.2(a) of the constitution.

 

The Out of Hours Registrars offer, as set out in the Registration & Bereavement Services Charter, currently offered an on-call service of two hours each Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 11am. The cover for this call-out was provided by a rota of Registrars.

 

The charter stated that the Registrar would be on call on a Saturday & Sunday morning between the hours of 9:00am and 11:00am (excluding bank holidays & festive holidays) to issue any paperwork for any urgent faith burials / cremations or an ‘Out of England Order’. Contact Tel 01642 726050 and asked to be connected to the Registrar on call service.

 

There are three main circumstances in which the on-call service would be required by members of the community, namely Certificate for burial or cremation before registration (commonly known as “Green Forms”), Out of England Order and Urgent marriages and civil partnerships.

 

The most common requirement for the on-call service in Middlesbrough is around the green forms. In September 2024 the process for death registrations was changed by the introduction of the Medical Examiner.

 

As a result of the ME system being introduced, the Registration Service had been monitoring the impact of this change, particularly in terms of lead times between dates of death and registration dates and looking at the calls into the weekend on call service.

 

Since the introduction of the ME System there had not been any calls to the on-call service on Sundays and only three on Saturdays. Data was not kept pre-September 2024 regarding the number of calls for the purpose of comparison, however the number of calls, particularly on Sundays had always been minimal.

 

OPTIONS

 

Remove the out of hours option for both Saturdays and Sundays – this change would have brought Middlesbrough out of line with other Local Authorities in the area and would not have best met the needs of the community in terms of being able to respond to any urgent requests.

 

ORDERED that the Mayor

 

1.    APPROVES the changes to the Out of Hours Registrars offer as set out in the Registration & Bereavement Services Charter, namely to remove the offer of an on call service on Sundays and to provide clarification around the introduction of the Medical Examiner process.

 

REASONS

The Out of Hours Registrars offer, as set out in the Registration & Bereavement Services Charter, currently offered an on-call service of two hours each Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 11am. The cover for this call-out was provided by a rota of Registrars.

 

Since the Medical Examiner changes in September 2024, which were set out in Section 4 of the report, the use of this service had been monitored as part of an informal review of its impact. Within that six-month period, no calls had been received on Sundays.

 

The proposed change to the offer would bring Middlesbrough in line with other Local Authorities in the region.

 

Although this reduction would not result in a significant financial saving, it provided Best Value as the service was not being used significantly within the community and would have a significant benefit for the wellbeing of the Registrars Team. An Equality Impact Assessment had been completed which concluded that the amendment to the on-call offer would not negatively impact on any specific groups or individuals.

 

The duty appointment slot would remain available each weekday and the service would continue to work within the guidance of the General Register Office handbook.

 

Other options had been considered but have been discounted for the reasons as set out below in Section 5, primarily due to not meeting the needs of the community, and/or additional cost.

 

All decisions will come into force after five working days following the day the decision(s) was published unless the decision becomes subject to the call in procedures.

The purpose of the report was to set out the proposed direction of travel in relation to the Council’s Recover, Reset, Deliver transformation programme.

ORDERED that Executive:

 

1.    APPROVES the proposed changes to the structure of transformation themes as outlined below.

2.    APPROVES the realignment of transformation themes with the Council Plan 2024-27.

3.    APPROVES the recruitment of a Head of Transformation.

4.    APPROVES the establishment of Continuous Improvement Team.

 

 

AGREED that the Executive:

 

1. NOTES that the transformation of Council services remained critical to achieving service improvements from a lower cost base to stabilise the Council’s financial position and achieve financial sustainability over the medium to long term.

The purpose of the report was to seek approval of the Council’s involvement with Thrive at Five as detailed in the report. The decision required an Executive decision in line with the constitution at section 6.38.1 (b).

 

ORDERED that Executive:

 

1.    APPROVES the amendment to recommendation three of the report from an annual update to a bi-annual update.

2.    APPROVES the investment into the partnership model with Thrive at Five.

3.    APPROVES in principle, to enter into the five-year Partnership Agreement with Thrive at Five subject to legal and finance review and approval.

4.    APPROVES, in accordance with the agreed amendment; to receive a bi-annual update of progress.

The former Environment Scrutiny Panel had undertaken a review entitled Waste Management. 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.

 

 

ORDERED that Executive:

 

1.    APPROVES the amendments to the action plan (Appendix two) to include an update on relevant legislative changes and timescales on the forthcoming waste transfer station. Such updates would also be communicated to the relevant Scrutiny Panel.

2.    NOTES the content of the Environment Scrutiny Panel’s final report on Waste Management (Appendix one).

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

 

ORDERED that Executive:

 

1.     APPROVES the governance arrangements for the £4.367m Middlesbrough Priorities Fund

2.     APPROVES the proposed allocation of the Middlesbrough Priorities Fund between an allocation for elected Ward Councillors (£0.235m) with the remaining amount for initiatives proposed by the Mayor (£4.132m)

3.     APPROVES the following initial list of initiatives proposed by the Mayor totalling £0.680m with details being provided in paragraphs 4.16 to 4.27 of the report, namely Childhood Enrichment Team (£0.250m); Youth Group seed funding (£0.100m); Shop fronts improvements scheme (£0.180m) and Grass verges replacement (£0.150m).

4.     APPROVES the process for identification and approval of future initiatives proposed by the Mayor, including the requirement for the Executive to approve budget allocations for future initiatives from the Middlesbrough Priorities Fund.

The purpose of the report was to seek approval for the introduction of a Neighbourhood Model as a key part of the Council’s core operating model and to agree the funding to support its introduction.

ORDERED that Executive:

 

1.     APPROVES the introduction of the Neighbourhood Model within Middlesbrough.

2.     APPROVES the Transformation Programme funding from the flexible use of capital receipts to fund the following posts for a 2 year period at a cost of £1.021m per annum:

a.     8 Neighbourhood Navigators to take on a caseload (2 in each of the 4 areas) - Grade K

b.     8 Community Development workers to build community capital and engage with the community, schools, voluntary and community sector and local businesses (2 in each of the 4 areas) - Grade J o Community Safety Co-ordinator - Grade K

c.     4 Neighbourhood link workers to be embedded on rotation within partner organisations such as schools and hospitals.

3.     APPROVES a capital allocation of up to £5m for improvements to the neighbourhood focused community hubs funded by Transformation Programme funding from the flexible use of capital receipts.

4.     APPROVES that an analysis of IT requirements takes place in respect of both infrastructure and reporting/ management programmes and that this is fed into the IT refresh requirements.

5.     APPROVES that annual reports are submitted to Executive to inform them of its achievements and any further development requirements.

The purpose of the report was to seek Executive’s approval to support Children’s Services change in its approach to one which focused on prevention and that the remaining capital funding of £3.253m identified for 2026/27 would no longer be required.

 

ORDERED that Executive:

 

1.    APPROVES a change in approach to focus on prevention

2.    APPROVES that Capital of £3.253m in 2026/27 is no longer required.

The purpose of the report was to approve the Interim Funding Arrangement Policy which would enable the Council to secure repayment of the short-term loan provided in respect of residential care fees, whilst providing assurances to the resident that their care home fees were being fully covered.

ORDERED that Executive:

 

1.    APPROVES the Interim Funding Arrangement Policy to take effect from 7 May 2025.

2.    APPROVES the delegated authority to the Director of Adult Social Care and Director of Finance and Transformation in consultation with the Executive Member of Adult Social Care and Executive Member for Finance to make any future minor revisions / modifications to reflect the financial / economic climate and / or statutory guidance changes.