Meeting documents

Chairman:  Councillor R Waltham MBE
Venue:  Virtual Meeting via Microsoft Teams
Time: 4pm
E-Mail Address:   richard.mell@northlincs.gov.uk

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AGENDA

1. Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and Personal or Personal and Prejudicial interests.
2. To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 27 January 2020.
3. Financial Outturn 2019/20 - Report of the Director: Governance and Partnerships.
4. North Lincolnshire Council COVID-19 Update - Report of the Director: Governance and Partnerships.
5. COVID-19 Response: Public Health - Report of the Director of Public Health
6. COVID-19 Response: Governance & Partnerships - Report of the Director: Governance and Partnerships.
7. COVID-19 Response: Business Development - Report of the Director:   Business Development.
8. COVID-19 Response: Operations (Deputy Chief Executive) - Report of the Deputy  Chief Executive and Executive Director: Commercial.
9. COVID-19 Response: Adults & Community Wellbeing - Report of the Director: Adults and Community Wellbeing.
10. COVID-19 Response: Learning Skills & Culture - Report of the Director: Learning, Skills and Culture.
11. COVID-19 Response: Children & Community Resilience - Report of the Director: Children and Community Resilience.
12. Report of the Children and Education Scrutiny Panel – Action Plan – Childhood  Emotional Health & Wellbeing Action Plan - Report of the Director: Children and Community Resilience.

13. Any other items which the Chairman decides are urgent by reason of special circumstances which must be specified.

MINUTES

PRESENT: –  Councillor Waltham MBE in the Chair.

Councillors Hannigan (vice-chair), J Davison, Marper, Ogg, Poole, Rose and C Sherwood.

Councillors Ali, Allcock, Armitage, Bainbridge, Briggs, Clark, A Davison, L Foster, Grant, Gosling, Kirk, O’Sullivan, Rayner, N Sherwood, Southern, Walshe, Wells, Wilson, Yeadon also attended the meeting.

Denise Hyde, Simon Green, Mick Gibbs, Becky McIntyre, Helen Manderson, Karen Pavey, Penny Spring, Peter Thorpe, Will Bell, Alex Seale (CCG) and Richard Mell and Tanya Davies attended the meeting.

The meeting was a remote/virtual meeting through Microsoft Teams.

1360   CHAIR’S REMARKS - COUNCILLOR D LONGCAKE AND COVID-19 IN NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE - The chair referred to the recent sad death of Councillor Derek Longcake who had died because of the Covid-19 virus. The Mayor paid tribute to Councillor Longcake’s work as a councillor, his dedicated public service and on behalf of all councillors, expressed their thoughts for his family. He also asked the Cabinet and those present at the meeting to remember all the residents of North Lincolnshire who had also sadly died of the Covid-19 virus.

The Cabinet then observed a minute’s silence in memory of Councillor Longcake and all residents who had sadly died of COVID-19 in North Lincolnshire.

The chair then wished to place on record his sincere thanks to everyone working for the Council in partnership with the public sector for keeping people safe in North Lincolnshire, especially the vulnerable during the current pandemic. He also wished to thank those working in schools supporting children of key workers and to local business for their continuing briefing updates, their work in response to the Covid-19 virus especially keeping communities connected and fed, and as they continued or recommenced their activities as lockdown measures began to ease.

1361   DECLARATIONS OF DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTERESTS AND PERSONAL OR PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS - There were no declarations of interest declared.

1362   MINUTES – Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of Cabinet held on 27 January 2020 having been printed and circulated amongst the members, be taken as read and correctly recorded and be signed by the chair.

1363    FINANCIAL OUTURN 2019/20 REPORT - The Director: Governance and partnerships submitted a report informing Cabinet of the Council’s financial performance in 2019/20 and provided a summary explanation with regard to -

• Revenue investment plan of £143.2m, 1.1% spend above budget;
• Capital investment plan of £39.5m, 81.4% delivery against the plan;
• Collection Fund £1.2min year deficit, £2.2m cumulative surplus, and
• £2.7m use of council reserves.

The report also gave an update on the impact of the outturn on future financial years, and on changes to the annual Accounts process.

The Director in her report explained that the full impact of the COVID-19 and the Council’s response to fulfilling its public health responsibilities would not be known for some time, but the 2019/20 outturn provided a firm financial base and adequate level of resilience to withstand a certain level of financial shock as a result of COVID- 19.  Monitoring systems had been enhanced to enable a full understanding and analysis of the impact on the in-year budget and the future funding assumptions. The position would be updated and reported to the Cabinet in July 2020.

The Council aimed to present a draft set of accounts to the July meeting of the Audit Committee, which was earlier than the revised statutory timeframe because of COVID-19 but allowed work to commence with audits where they were able to.

Resolved - (a) That the final revenue investment of the council for 2019/20 be noted; (b) that the final capital investment of the council for 2019/20 be noted; (c) that the position on the Collection Fund for 2019/20 be noted; (d) that the council’s reserves position for 2019/20 be noted, (e) that the changes to the Accounts timetable for 2019/20 as set out in paragraph 3.1.5 of the report be noted, and (f) that the Director: Governance and Partnerships and her team, together with all Directors be thanked for producing robust and balanced accounts during challenging times, and especially acknowledge delivering a balanced budget with a people focussed perspective.

1364 NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE COUNCIL - COVID-19 UPDATE - The Director: Governance and partnership submitted a report updating Cabinet on the Council’s response to COVID-19 and the arrangements for recovery planning.

The report explained that the Council’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak had been managed in accordance with Civil Contingencies Act and Humber Local Resilience Forum (LRF) governance arrangements and local business continuity planning frameworks, which included recovering from emergencies. The response had been guided by legislative frameworks and national guidance issued in the period March 2020 to date and framed under strategic priorities.

The Director in her report set out how the Council continued to operate business continuity arrangements as part of its COVID-19 crisis response whilst concurrently planning for recovery and renewal at both sub-regional and place level. In the context of COVID-19 ‘recovery’ was an umbrella term used to describe the process of moving through a series of transitions and phases. The Council’s approach to recovery and renewal was set in the context of the government’s recovery strategy document Recovery Strategy ‘Our Plan to Re-build’, published 11th May 2020.

Resolved - (a) That the Council’s response to COVID-19 and the recovery and renewal framework as outlined in the Director’s report be noted, and (b) that the Chief Executive and all her Senior Leadership Team be sincerely thanked by the Cabinet for the significant and successful hard work carried out, and being carried out in response to all the challenges presented due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.

1365  COVID-19 RESPONSE - PUBLIC HEALTH - The Director of Public Health referred to minute 1364 and submitted a report outlining the Council’s Public Health response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Director explained that the Council’s approach to its business continuity response to the COVID19 outbreak and actions taken to implement government guidelines have been rooted in the values, principles and ambitions of the council plan, and furthered through the strong partnerships within North Lincolnshire, framed under the following priorities: keeping staff safe and well; protecting the vulnerable; enabling communities to remain resilient, and protecting the local economy.

Public health national advice and guidance had been incorporated into the local response. This has enabled the implementation of preventative measures in a number of key settings to protect the population of North Lincolnshire from COVID-19 transmission. The most important public health messages with the greatest impact on preventing COVID-19 infections during the response were and continue to be, Social Distancing, Hand Hygiene and Respiratory Hygiene. A vaccine to prevent COVID-19 was in development and providing if it was safe and effective it would protect populations in the future from contracting COVID-19. On 4th April 2020, the Government published its scaled up testing programme for COVID-19 and its ‘five pillars’ would  continue to be introduced and supported in North Lincolnshire.

The Director’s report provided statistical information on the COVID-19 situation in North Lincolnshire and also summarised how the Council’s commissioned services were innovating to ensure business continuity. She also highlighted how the development of new initiatives and different ways of working enabled people, families and communities to manage during ‘lockdown’, how Public Health continued to enable organisations to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and summarised how Public Health would work moving forward into recovery locally ensuring that staff, residents and communities were safe, well and protected.

Resolved - (a) That the Council’s  Public Health response to COVID-19 as outlined in the Director’s report be noted, and (b) that the Director of Public Health and her team be thanked for their hard work in response to COVID-19, which together alongside all partners has been extremely effective in managing ‘outbreak control’ across North Lincolnshire.

1366   COVID-19 RESPONSE: GOVERNANCE AND PARTNERSHIPS - The Director: Governance and Partnerships submitted a report outlining the Council’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak across functions within Governance and Partnerships.

The report explained that the Council’s approach to its business continuity response to the COVID-19 outbreak and actions taken to implement government guidelines had been rooted in the values, principles and ambitions of the council plan, and furthered through the strong partnerships within North Lincolnshire, framed under the following priorities: keeping staff safe and well; protecting the local economy; enabling communities to remain resilient, and protecting the most vulnerable. Whilst at the same time ensuring good governance and sound financial practice across the Council.

National advice and guidance had been incorporated into the local response as it had become available. The enactment of the Coronavirus Act 2020 had led to certain relaxations of statutory requirements and the introduction of new powers and statutory instruments.

Teams across Governance and Partnerships had and continued to demonstrate great resilience and flexibility during the COVID 19 outbreak. An early assessment based upon business continuity plans enabled some colleagues to volunteer to support the council’s response to government initiatives such as Shielding and Business Support Grant processing. Other functions made swift adaptations to systems, processes and professional practice to enable business as usual to continue to ensure organisational assurance and sustainability, including responding to the change in requirements for publishing draft accounts and Annual Governance Statement and application of procurement guidance in use of direct award and modification of contracts as part of the dynamic response needed.

Key headlines in Governance and Partnership’s response to Covid-19 were summarised in the report under four headings aligned to the council priorities.

Resolved - (a) That the Council’s Governance and Partnership response to COVID-19 as outlined in the Director’s report be noted, and (b) that the Director and her team be thanked for their hard work, flexibility and adaptability in response to COVID-19.

1367    COVID-19 RESPONSE: BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT - The Director: Business Development submitted a report outlining the Council’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak across Business Development.

The report explained that Council’s approach to its business continuity response to the COVID-19 outbreak and actions taken to implement government guidelines had been rooted in the values, principles and ambitions of the council plan, and furthered through the strong partnerships within North Lincolnshire, framed under the following priorities: keeping staff safe and well; protecting the vulnerable; enabling communities to remain resilient, and protecting the local economy.

National advice and guidance had been incorporated into the local response as it had become available. The enactment of the Coronavirus Act 2020 had led to certain relaxations of statutory requirements and the introduction of new powers and statutory instruments. Many council functions had been sustained throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, notably through pre-existing and novel online facilities, however some face to face functions were suspended towards the end of March 2020.

Teams across Business Development had demonstrated great resilience and flexibility during the COVID 19 outbreak, supporting both functional business continuity and the council response to national programmes such as Shielding and Business Support Grants. The service had made swift adaptations to systems, processes and professional practice to enable business as usual to continue to ensure organisational assurance in respect of welfare and safety of the workforce.

Key headlines in Business Development’s response to Covid-19 were summarised in the report under four headings aligned to the council priorities.

Resolved - (a) That the Council’s Business Development response to COVID-19 as outlined in the Director’s report be noted, and (b) that the Director and her team be thanked for their hard work, flexibility and adaptability in response to COVID-19.

1368    COVID-19 RESPONSE: OPERATIONS - The Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director Commercial submitted a report outlining the Council’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak across Operations.

The report explained that Council’s approach to its business continuity response to the COVID-19 outbreak and actions taken to implement government guidelines had been rooted in the values, principles and ambitions of the council plan, and furthered through the strong partnerships within North Lincolnshire, framed under the following priorities: keeping staff safe and well; protecting the vulnerable; enabling communities to remain resilient, and protecting the local economy.

Many council functions had been sustained throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. Nevertheless, from 20 March it was necessary to suspend or restrict some community facilities to the public. Large parts of the workforce      subsequently stepped forward for new roles in support of the council’s priorities, demonstrating incredible willingness and the ability to work agilely from home and for a large number of roles within Operation had continued to work in the community.

Key headlines in Operation’s response to Covid-19 were summarised in the report under four headings aligned to the council priorities.

Resolved - (a) That the Council’s Operations response to COVID-19 as outlined in the Director’s report be noted, and (b) that the Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director Commercial and his team be thanked for their hard work, flexibility and adaptability in response to COVID-19.

1369    COVID-19 RESPONSE: ADULTS AND COMMUNITY WELLBEING – The Director: Adults and Community Wellbeing submitted a report outlining the Council’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak across Adults and Community Wellbeing.

The report explained that Council’s approach to its business continuity response to the COVID-19 outbreak and actions taken to implement government guidelines had been rooted in the values, principles and ambitions of the council plan, and furthered through the strong partnerships within North Lincolnshire, framed under the following priorities: keeping staff safe and well; protecting the vulnerable; enabling communities to remain resilient, and protecting the local economy.

Adults and Community Wellbeing continued to review support arrangements, develop new services and maintain business continuity to ensure that the most vulnerable were prioritised and supported so they were safe and well during this period. This had meant teams working differently, not only internally but with partners too.  Key headlines in the Adults social care response to Covid-19 were summarised under the following headings -

• People leave hospital in a timely manner;
• People living with care and support needs;
• Supporting care providers, and
• Partnership working.

Resolved - (a) That the Council’s Adults and Community Wellbeing response to COVID-19 as outlined in the Director’s report be noted, and (b) that the Director and her team be thanked for their hard work, flexibility and adaptability in response to COVID-19 especially working with partners to care for some of the the most vulnerable residents.

1370    COVID-19 RESPONSE: LEARNING SKILLS AND CULTURE – The Director: Learning, Skills and Culture submitted a report outlining the Council’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak across Learning Skills and Culture.

The report explained that Council’s approach to its business continuity response to the COVID-19 outbreak and actions taken to implement government guidelines had been rooted in the values, principles and ambitions of the council plan, and furthered through the strong partnerships within North Lincolnshire, framed under the following priorities: keeping staff safe and well; protecting the vulnerable; enabling communities to remain resilient, and protecting the local economy.

National advice and guidance had been incorporated into the local response as it had become available and reflected in ongoing risk assessments. The enactment of the Coronavirus Act 2020 had led to certain relaxations of statutory requirements, including to the Children and Families Act 2014 in respect of children with education health and care plans. Similarly, relaxations had been made to regulatory requirements across Ofsted and CQC inspected provisions.

Many council functions havd been sustained throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, notably through pre-existing and novel online facilities.  Nevertheless, from 19 March it was necessary to suspend community facilities to the public. Large parts of the workforce subsequently stepped forward for new roles in support of the council’s priorities, demonstrating incredible willingness and the ability to work agilely and from home. This was especially true in responding to the requirements to support clinically vulnerable people shielding from COVID-19 and residents made vulnerable through circumstance.

Key headlines in the Learning, Skills and Culture’s response to Covid-19 were summarised under the following headings -

• Education and Inclusion functions, and
• Community functions;

Resolved - (a) That the Council’s Learning, Skills and Culture response to COVID-19 as outlined in the Director’s report be noted, and (b) that the Director and his team be thanked for their hard work, flexibility and adaptability in response to COVID-19 especially working with partners to care for some of the most vulnerable residents.

1371    COVID-19 RESPONSE: CHILDREN AND COMMUNITY RESILIENCE – The Director: Children and Community Resilience submitted a report outlining the Council’s response to the Covid-19 Children and Community Resilience (including Children’s social care and Safer Neighbourhoods).

The report explained that Council’s approach to its business continuity response to the COVID-19 outbreak and actions taken to implement government guidelines had been rooted in the values, principles and ambitions of the council plan, and furthered through the strong partnerships within North Lincolnshire, framed under the following priorities: keeping staff safe and well; protecting the vulnerable; enabling communities to remain resilient, and protecting the local economy.

The Director in his report stated that Children and Community Resilience continued to help and protect children, families and vulnerable adults, prioritising the most in need, whilst supporting and protecting its workforce.  Staff had continued to work hard and show incredible resilience, flexibility and innovation in the response to Covid-19. Staff when necessary also continued to work in the community.

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 remained unchanged and the service continue to work creatively to meet statutory and regulatory responsibilities.  This was evidenced through daily monitoring of practice standards, with leadership and management oversight, scrutiny and challenge, leading to enhanced practice and future planning. The Adoption and Children Act regulations provided flexibilities for the Council in meeting existing legal obligations during the pandemic.  Overall the local position remained as current practice arrangements would be maintained, virtual technology where permissible would be used and timescales and practice standards would be adhered to where ever possible.

The response to the most vulnerable adults also continued with the Care Call service maintaining its work and with the Safer Neighbourhood Team undertaking business as usual within the current context and given parameters.

Resolved - (a) That the Council’s Children and Community Resilience response to COVID-19 as outlined in the Director’s report be noted, and (b) that the Director and his team be thanked for their hard work, flexibility and adaptability in response to COVID-19 especially working with partners to care for some of the most vulnerable residents.

1372    REPORT OF THE CHILDREN AND EDUCATION SCRUTINY PANEL -ACTION PLAN - CHILDHOOD EMOTIONAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING ACTION PLAN - The Director: Children and Community Resilience submitted a report on work achieved to date between North Lincolnshire Council and North Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to review and implement recommendations of the Children and Education Scrutiny Panel’s report on ‘Childhood Emotional Health and Wellbeing’ published in the Autumn 2019. A joint action plan was appended to the Director’s report.

The report explained that nationally, each CCG was required to publish a Local Transformation Plan (LTP) which set out local areas’ priorities for children’s emotional health and mental well-being. The timely publication of the scrutiny panel’s report, enabled the majority of the recommendations to be incorporated into this wider strategic plan, which is available on North Lincolnshire’s CCG website, https://northlincolnshireccg.nhs.uk/publications/action-plans.

 Through the alignment of the plans, the scrutiny panel’s recommendations now form part of the wider strategic vision for children and young people and enable a single accountability framework, in line with North Lincolnshire’s Integrated Children’s Trust (ICT) Board arrangements, led by North Lincolnshire Council’s  Director of Children and Community Resilience.

The Director: Children and Community Resilience and Alex Seale, Chief Operating Officer (CCG) both commented on the progress of the joint action plan.

Resolved – That the joint action plan and progress be acknowledged, endorsed and that a further review report be submitted to the Cabinet in approximately one year.