Agenda and minutes

The Mayor welcomed all members and officers to the meeting. He referred to the recent sad death of former Councillor Bernard Regan and on behalf of all councillors expressed their thoughts for his family at this sad time. The council observed a minute's silence in memory of Bernard Regan.

The Mayor then summarised recent events he had attended over the past few months and in particular encouraged and welcomed members to attend his Christmas concert to be held at Normanby Hall on 8 December 2022 and participate in his charity Christmas draw. He also thanked the Deputy Mayor Councillor Janet Longcake for her support over another busy period.

Declarations of personal interests were indicated as follows –

Resolved - That the minutes of the Ordinary Meetings of the Council held on 18 October 2022, having been circulated amongst the members, be taken as read and correctly recorded and be signed by the Mayor.

Report of the Director: Governance and Communities

The Director: Governance and Communities submitted a report requesting the council to consider and approve the council tax base to be used for each part of the council’s area for formula grant and tax setting purposes.  The key points in the report were to note the council tax base for grant purposes as submitted to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), to set a tax base for setting Council Tax for the council, local parishes and major precepting authorities, and to confirm the implementation of the empty property surcharge for properties empty for longer than ten years from 2023/24.

The Director in her report explained the above key points, analysed options, addressed financial implications and set out associated information in appendices 1, 2 and 3.

Resolved – (a) That the council tax base for grant purposes set out in Appendix 1 of the report be noted; (b) that the council taxbase for the Council and other precepting bodies in 2023/24 be set at 51,270.5 band D equivalents as detailed in Appendix 2 and 3 of the report, and (c) that the empty property surcharge increased to 300% for properties empty for longer than ten years from 2023/24.

Report of the Director: Governance and Communities

The Director: Governance and Communities submitted the treasury management mid-year report for the financial year 2022-23.  The report attached as an appendix provided an overview of the council’s treasury performance during the first six months of 2022-23 and set out national factors that affect the council’s treasury activity.

The report fulfilled the authority’s legal obligation under the Local Government Act to have regard to both the CIPFA Code and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), previously Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, Investment Guidance.  The CIPFA Code required that Council received a report at the start of the financial year, mid-year and year end. The Audit Committee also received regular updates regarding treasury activity, providing assurance on the effectiveness of the council’s treasury management arrangements.

The Director highlighted the key points of the mid-year report stating that –

·                    Investment returns in the first six months of the year amounted to £317k due to increases in interest rates.

·                    Interest Rates were forecast to continue to rise in the short term as the bank of England seeks to manage inflation.

·                    Borrowing remains comfortably within the control levels set and no new borrowing was undertaken.

·                    Treasury activity was compliant with the Prudential Indicators set for the financial year.

Resolved – That the Treasury Management Mid-Year Report 2022/23 be received and noted.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive

The Deputy Chief    Executive submitted a report asking the Council to support draft proposals for devolution for Greater Lincolnshire and to enter into negotiations with Government to seek a devolution deal at the earliest opportunity.

The Deputy Chief Executive in his report explained thatthe levelling up white paper sets out the Government’s ambitions for devolution across England and provided the framework for devolving powers to local economic geographies.  The white paper was being enshrined in legislation through The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill currently in Parliament. A first wave of new devolution deals was being negotiated between the Government and upper tier councils with deals already announced in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and North Yorkshire. A second wave of deals was expected to be negotiated in 2023 and would provide upper tier councils with an opportunity to seek the transfer of a range of new powers and budgets from Government that can be targeted to local need, used to boost growth in the local economy and level up Greater Lincolnshire.

The report stated that working together, Lincolnshire County Council, North Lincolnshire Council and North East Lincolnshire Council, the seven district councils across Greater Lincolnshire, business and key stakeholders had developed options for a devolution deal for the economic geography of Greater Lincolnshire. This has been informed by:

·                    Collaboration across all 10 Councils in Greater Lincolnshire to develop a long-term vision for greater Lincolnshire to deliver a better future for the communities, visitors, and businesses of Greater Lincolnshire. A copy of the vision document was attached as Appendix B to the report,

·                    Business Engagement through the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership to gauge the interest, understanding and desire for devolution from local business,

·                    Involvement of all 10 Councils in Greater Lincolnshire including discussions with council leaders and a series of meetings of chief executives to refine proposals for devolution to meet the needs of all parts of the historical county, and

·                    Officer level workshops to explore the detail of skills, innovation, investment and infrastructure asks and principles for devolution.

The Deputy Chief Executive confirmed that engagement across Greater Lincolnshire had informed the development of proposals for devolution set out in the draft Devolution Greater Lincolnshire: Growth | Energy | Food document attached to Appendix B of the report. The proposals sought to achieve the maximum level of devolution for Greater Lincolnshire to bring greatest benefit for Greater Lincolnshire’s residents and deliver on the area’s ambitious strategies for growth across key sectors that would lead to more high skill, high wage jobs. The focus of the proposed deal would be to:

·                    Boost growth and productivity in key sectors and supply chains by levelling up infrastructure to create high skill, high wage jobs,

·                    Increase living standards and opportunity by levelling up skills and access to employment and new high skill, high wage jobs, and

·                    Target investment to level up our towns and places to deliver sustainable growth.

Key sectors of the Greater Lincolnshire economic geography were also of strategic importance to the UK and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2887.

Report of the Director: Children and Families

The Director: Children and Families submitted a report informing Council of the outcomes of the recent Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services, in which Ofsted judged North Lincolnshire to be outstanding across all areas and with no identified areas for improvement. The full report by Ofsted was attached as an appendix to the report.

The Director in her report explained that The Inspection of North Lincolnshire’s Local Authority Children’s Services took place between 3 and 14 October 2022.  Following a period of quality assurance, the final inspection report was published on 25 November, in which the formal judgement grades were confirmed.  This is the first judgement for North Lincolnshire’s local authority children’s services since 2017.  

The outcomes of the Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services were that Ofsted judged North Lincolnshire to be outstanding in all areas, as follows: 

·                     the impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families

·                     the experiences and progress of children who need help and protection

·                     the experiences and progress of children in care and care leavers; and

·                     overall effectiveness

The report Ofsted report highlighted that: 

·                    Social workers worked hard to listen to children and their families when they needed extra help. They worked well with children, parents and carers to help families find their own solutions and only step in when it was really needed,

·                    There was a lot of work done by social workers and other professionals to help and support children to stay at home and be cared for by their parents. Sometimes this was not always possible and social workers acted quickly and took care to ask children where they would like to live. This meant that most children in care lived with foster families or with a member of their family,

·                    When children lived in foster families, many children said that they felt safe and well cared for and quickly felt like part of a family,

·                    Children and young people were supported to do their very best at school and achieve whatever they wanted to after they left school,

·                    Leaders had made sure that when young people left care they could still be supported as adults by children’s services and for as long as they needed to, which really showed how the council cared for children and young people throughout their lives,

·                    Leaders and politicians worked well together to make North Lincolnshire a great place to live. They talked to parents, young people and children and listened to their views about how to make things better. Often it was children’s views that were used to make positive changes, and

·                    The council were working hard to make North Lincolnshire a place where social workers wanted to stay and work so that children could keep the same social worker.

Members congratulated the Director: Children and Families and her team for the outstanding Ofsted report.

Resolved - That the outcomes of the Inspection of Children’s Services undertaken in October 2022 be noted. 

Resolved - That Dr Daphne Whiteoak be appointed as a Statutory Co-opted Member – Church of England Representative on the Children and Education Scrutiny Panel.

Planning Committee -

(7 September, 5 October and 2 November 2022)

Licensing Committee -

(22 September, 13 October, 3 November and 10 November 2022)

Standards Committee -

(27 September, 25 October and 9 November 2022)

Governance Scrutiny Panel

(17 November (x2) 2022)

Places Scrutiny Panel

(4 October 2022)

Children and Education Scrutiny Panel

(27 September 2022)

Health and Wellbeing Board

(26 September 2022)

Resolved - That the minutes of the meetings of the Planning Committee held on 7 September, 5 October and 2 November 2022 be received with the exception of minute 2284a -

With regard to the excepted portion it was -

Moved by Councillor N Sherwood and seconded by Councillor C Ross -

That the minute be received.

                                                                                                                          Motion Carried

Resolved - That the minutes of the meetings of the Licensing Committee held on 22 September, 13 October, 3 November and 10 November 2022 be received.

Resolved - That the minutes of the meetings of the Standards Committee held on 27 September, 25 October and 9 November 2022 be received.

Resolved - That the minutes of the meetings of the Governance Scrutiny Panel held on 17 November (x2) 2022 be received with the exception of minute 122 –

With regard to the excepted portion it was -

Moved by Councillor D Robinson and seconded by Councillor T Gosling -

That the minute be received.

                                                                                                                          Motion Carried

Resolved - That the minutes of the meeting of the Places Scrutiny Panel held on 4 October 2022 be received.

Resolved - That the minutes of the meeting of the Children and Education Scrutiny Panel held on 27 September 2022 be received with the exception of minute 106 –

With regard to the excepted portion it was –

Moved by Councillor T Foster and seconded by Councillor L Yeadon-

That the minute be received.

                                                                                                                           Motion Carried

Resolved - That the minutes of the meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board held on 26 September 2022 be received.

The following question was asked by Councillor S Armitage:

“How many Humberside Fire Authority meetings have each of our four North Lincolnshire Council representatives attended since May 2019 matched against the maximum number possible? Furthermore, how many of the scheduled training sessions have each of the four members attended to compliment them in carrying out their role as Humberside Fire Authority representatives?”

Councillor R Waltham MBE (Member of the Humberside Fire Authority) replied stating that as soon as he had all the information requested, he would forward this on to Councillor Armitage. He emphasised that members of the Fire Authority had a wide range of roles and responsibilities which impacted on the meetings they were requested to attend alongside any associated suggested development. Some members also had different responsibilities within their own member council’s and this together with the impact of Covid19 on local responsibilities determined which meetings they were able to attend during unprecedented times.

The Mayor permitted a short supplementary question and answer from the above members for overall clarification.