Agenda and minutes

Councillor Rose declared a personal interest as a member of CPRE North Lincolnshire and Yorkshire and Humber CPRE.

MINUTES - Resolved - That the minutes of the meeting of Cabinet held on 28 March 2022 having been circulated amongst the members, be taken as read and correctly recorded and be signed by the chair.

Report of the Director: Governance and Communities.

The Director: Governance and Communities submitted a report which informed the Cabinet that the Council had set a revenue investment budget of £162.8m for 2021/22 for delivery of its functions and strategic priorities and explained that funding for capital investment in 2021/22 was set at £47.3m although the net effect of additional investment and rephasing to future years reduced this to £43.9m as reported to full Council in February 2022.

            The budget policy framework set out the investment plans for each priority intended to achieve the outcomes for North Lincolnshire. Appendix 1 to the report provided further analysis in respect of financial performance and highlighted areas of impact the investment has made. The council had also been able to strengthen its financial resilience and contributed £2.2m to reserves in 2021/22. Appendix 3 provided the reserves account in detail.

            The report also stated that the Medium-Term Financial plan approved in February 2022 included the capital programme 2021/25 totalling £137m. This was now updated to reflect actual investment in 2021/22 as set out at Appendix 4 of the report.

            The Director also explained that by law, the annual accounts must now be published in draft by the end of May each year and a final audited version published by the end of July. The Government had recognised the combination of impact of the COVID 19 pandemic and capacity pressures in the external audit sector and had again amended this timetable to end of July 2022 for draft accounts and end of November 2022 for publication of the final audited accounts.

            Councillor Marper, Cabinet Member Finance, Governance and Veterans thanked the Director for her report and work carried out by her officers and highlighted, summarised and commented upon key aspects of its content.

            Resolved – (a) That the financial position for 2021/22 against the budget policy framework set in February 2021 and the impact the investment has had on performance be noted; (b) that the latest position in respect of the Council’s financial resilience through its useable reserves statement be noted; (c) that the changes to the timescales for publication and audit of the Council’s Statement of Accounts for 2021/22 be noted, and (d) that the final capital investment for 2021/22 be noted and the virement and movement between years on the budget profile from 2021/22 to future years as detailed in Appendix 4, including the allocation of funding for the Brigg Allotment Scheme be approved.

Report of the NHS Place Director North Lincolnshire.

The Leader welcomed Alex Seale, NHS Place Director to the meeting. The NHS Director submitted a report informing Cabinet of the newly established Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership Integrated Care System (ICS) and the creation of the Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) and provided an overview of the responsibilities of the ICS/ICB and relationship with North Lincolnshire Council and wider partners. As part of the new arrangements each area within the ICS was required to establish Place Based Partnerships. The North Lincolnshire Place Partnership had developed a Strategic Intent and the Cabinet was requested to endorse the NL Strategic Intent and confirm the membership of the partnership as set out in the report.

            The Director in her report explained that he Health and Care Bill which had put ICSs on a statutory footing, had now been enacted and ICSs formally came in to being on the 1st July 2022, at which point Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) were formally dissolved. ICSs had two statutory components: integrated care boards (ICBs) and integrated care partnerships (ICPs). ICBs took on the commissioning functions of CCGs and were responsible for developing integration and collaboration, and for improving population health across the system. ICBs were accountable for NHS expenditure and performance within the system. They could exercise their functions through place-based arrangements. ICPs were a statutory committee bringing together all system partners to produce a health and care strategy. The Integrated Care Board for Humber and North Yorkshire was established on 1st July 2022. The ICS governance arrangements and decision map were shown in Appendix 1.

            The Humber and North Yorkshire ICS comprised six Places (East Riding of Yorkshire, Hull, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire, and City of York) and five Provider Collaboratives (primary care; community health and care; mental health, learning disability and autism; acute services; and the voluntary and community sector). Places would be key to driving forward the local ambitions and priorities for the six geographies and would receive delegated resources to enable this.

            The report stated that the statutory duties previously conferred on CCGs and some duties of NHS England transferred across to the ICB on the 1st July 2022. This included statutory duties such as Continuing Health Care, SEND and Safeguarding. Statutory NHS responsibilities would be delegated through the ICB executive to key ICB personnel at Place including the NHS Place Director and Place Nurse Director and Finance Director. This would ensure senior capacity was available to the Place to enable the discharge of these functions with key partners such as the local authority.

            The Humber and North Yorkshire ICP was responsible for developing an integrated care strategy (attached at Appendix 2) to set out how the wider health and wellbeing needs of local populations would be met and reflected the core aims of the ICS: improving our population’s health; addressing inequalities; and contributing to the wider socioeconomic challenges such as unemployment and securing inward investment.

            The ICP core leadership included Place Lead  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1479.

Report of the Director: Adults and Health.

The Director: Adults and Health submitted a report which recommended Cabinet to support the Adults Voice Partnership request for the council to sign the North Lincolnshire Vulnerable Adults Pledge ‘Experts Together’ and encourage partners to do the same.

            The Director in her report explained that North Lincolnshire Council was committed to listening to the voice of people with lived experience. To support this, a number of  voice partnership groups provided insight and feedback on what life was like for them in North Lincolnshire and offered advice on what would make life better.  The various voice partnership groups were attended by people with lived experience, carers and officers of the council. These groups brought people together to share their lived experience, to work with the council and its partners to co-produce solutions to the issues they may face in everyday life. 

            The voice groups had come together to create the pledge, the broad content of which was described in appendix A of the report. They had also shared the pledge with the various partnership groups for consultation and presented it at the Adult’s Partnership board on 13th June 2022. The adult experts would be approving the final design which would be launched at a signing event to be held in October 2022.

            The report stated that the pledge would enable vulnerable people, to hold organisations accountable in enabling and supporting them to live the lives they wished to live. Acting upon their views would enable coproduction of service design to ‘get it right first time’ across the council.

            Councillor Hannigan, Cabinet Member Deputy Leader and Adults and Health thanked the Director for her report and work carried out by her officers, together with partners and highlighted, summarised and commented upon key aspects of its content.

            Resolved – That the Adults Voice Partnership request for the council to sign the North Lincolnshire Vulnerable Adults Pledge ‘Experts Together ‘and encourage partners to do the same be approved, which will support the council and its partners to understand what is important to vulnerable people who live in the area and how they wish their lives to be.

Report of the Director: Children and Families.          

– The Director: Children and Families submitted a report informing and seeking the Cabinet’s approval of the revised ‘Placement Sufficiency Strategy for Children in Care and Care Leavers 2022- 2024’.

            The Director in her report explained that the statutory guidance on securing sufficient accommodation for looked after children (2010) requires local authorities to take steps to secure, as far as reasonably practicable, sufficient accommodation within the authority’s area which meets the needs of its children in care, (‘the sufficiency duty’). The Children in Care and Care Leavers Sufficiency Strategy 2022-24 attached as appendix 1 to the report was underpinned by our One Family Approach and the ambition and the belief that children should be in their families, in their schools and in their communities.

           The Children in Care and Care Leavers Sufficiency Strategy 2022-24 was based upon thorough knowledge of our children in care and care leavers and ensuring that the council had the best care available to meet the needs of children who need to be cared for. The strategy also complemented and works in conjunction with the ‘Multi-Agency Children in Care and Care Leavers Plan 2022-2024’

            The report stated that the strategy detailed the progress made in delivery sufficient high-quality provision to meet the needs of children in care and care leavers and included the ‘Sufficiency Delivery Plan 2022-2024’ detailing the plans, developments and actions to continue to provide sufficiency and choice during the lifetime of the plan.

            As children in care numbers continued to reduce, and the vast majority of children in care were placed locally, the report summarised commitments made to build on this success and continue to meet the needs of children in care and care leavers through achieving the key aims in relation to placement sufficiency.

            The Leader on behalf of Councillor Reed, Cabinet Member Children and Families who was unable to attend the meeting, thanked the Director for her report and work carried out by her officers and partners, and highlighted, summarised and commented upon key aspects of its content.

           Resolved – (a) That the positive review of the strategy be welcomed, and (b) that the revised Children in Care and Care Leavers Sufficiency Strategy 2022-2024 be approved.

Report of the Director: Children and Families.

– The Director: Children and Families submitted a report informing and seeking the Cabinet’s approval of the reviewed and revised Multi-Agency Children in Care and Care Leavers Plan 2022-2024.

            The Director in her report explained that the Multi-Agency Children in Care and Care Leavers Plan 2022-2024 which was attached as an appendix set out the council’s key priorities, promise and commitment to children in care and care leavers and built upon its successes setting out an ambitious agenda for further improvement.

            For those very few children who need to be in the care of the Council the council would continue to invest in family-based care to achieve stability and permanence. This meant working to keep children within their family networks, help them to return home, or within high quality family placements where this was not possible. The Multi-Agency Children in Care and Care Leavers Plan 2022-2024 also complemented and worked in conjunction with the ‘Children in Care and Care Leavers Sufficiency Strategy 2022-2024’.

            The report summarised how the Multi-Agency Children in Care and Care Leavers Plan 2022-2024 made progress made in improving outcomes for our children in care and care leavers in line with the Council priorities of Safe, Well, Prosperous, Connected and how the plan was underpinned by is underpinned by a longstanding and effective approach to Corporate Parenting overseen by the Corporate Parenting Board. Shared commitment across partner organisations meant that the council and its partners work together as a Corporate Family to ensure that children in care and care leavers were a priority and had priority access to services.

            The Leader on behalf of Councillor Reed, Cabinet Member Children and Families who was unable to attend the meeting, thanked the Director for her report and work carried out by her officers and partners, and highlighted, summarised and commented upon key aspects of its content.

            Resolved – (a) That the positive review of the plan be welcomed and (b) that the revised Multi-Agency Children in Care and Care Leavers Plan 2020-2022 be approved.

Report of the Director: Economy and Environment.

– The Director: Economy and Environment submitted a report highlighting the success of recent employability and skills events to date and set out an option for a programme of events in 2023 to build on this success and the outcomes it delivers.

            Recent events over the past twelve months had been organised with partners and delivered with a clear purpose and target audience identified. These were -

            Jobs Expo: involving all those of working age in either unemployment or looking for a career change encouraged to attend. 50-60 businesses attended each Jobs Expo with live vacancies they were looking to recruit to. The next Jobs Expo would be held on 21 September 2022 at the Baths Hall, Scunthorpe.

            Discover: showcasing careers and skills opportunities for young people aged 5-12 years through a free, fun and interactive hands-on event specifically designed for children. The next Discover was scheduled for 24th September 2022.

            Careers Fest: showcasing careers and skills opportunities to residents from 13 years old, up to retirement age with a specific emphasis on 13–18-year-olds by welcoming businesses and education providers to attend to provide advice and guidance. To encourage the younger audience to attend a festival atmosphere approach was incorporated through live music and activities.

            The report stated that feedback indicated that the Jobs Expo’s and Discover had proved to be hugely popular with both attendees and businesses/providers who had attended. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. The Careers Fest, although a successful event, required further consideration for the future. The council would continue to work to ensure that ie engaged with the hard-to-reach younger audience.  Work had begun on engaging with businesses, schools and education professionals to move this forward.

            All future events would provide opportunities for residents to benefit from holding events that bring information on skills and learning, careers and job availability, and also support North Lincolnshire businesses to promote and recruit to job vacancies.

            The Leader and Cabinet Member Place Shaping and Connectivity thanked the Director for her report and work carried out by her officers and partners, and highlighted, summarised and commented upon key aspects of its content.

            Resolved – (a) That Cabinet recognises and welcomes the success of the previous year’s programme of events and supports the proposed new programme moving forward as outlined in the report, and (b) that following events a report focussing on successes and outcomes be submitted to a future meeting.

Report of the Director: Economy and Environment.

– The Director: Economy and Skills submitted a report updating Cabinet on the work being carried out on the Skills Eco-System and Skills Framework for North Lincolnshire and outlined the next steps for the production of a new Skills Plan for North Lincolnshire.

            The Director explained that the council had carried out an analysis on skills demand and supply in North Lincolnshire in 2021 and provided a complete picture of the current and future skills landscape. The information provided a sound evidence base on which the council, partners, training providers, businesses and those looking to invest in the area could base decisions regarding skills, training and development moving forward. The report summarised the conclusions from the study and set out a number of recommendations emerging from it.

            Subsequently, a Skills Transformation Board had been convened by North Lincolnshire Council as a partnership which had representatives from both the public and private sector with ambitions to drive economic regeneration and economic inclusion. It also had oversight of the Skills Eco-system and framework work being undertaken.

            The report stated that in order to help assess the skills eco-system in North Lincolnshire, the focus had been on reviewing the relationship between people, employers and education and skills infrastructure and resources. The review had also considered the variables that were present through national, regional and sectoral labour markets and skills initiatives and challenges.  From the work and engagement undertaken to date, several headline opportunities and areas of broad agreement were starting to emerge and these were highlighted in the report. Arising from this work a ‘skills framework’ was starting to develop and provide the basis for the development of a skills plan for North Lincolnshire. The framework was also detailed in the report.

           The work that had taken place to date formed a strong evidence base document for the development of a ‘skills plan’ for North Lincolnshire.  The skills plan would also form a vital part of the new North Lincolnshire Economic Growth Plan (EGP) which was currently being developed.  The timeframe for the development of the skills plan and how it fitted into the wider EGP was set out in the Director’s report.

            The Leader and Cabinet Member Place Shaping and Connectivity thanked the Director for her report and work carried out by her officers and partners, and highlighted, summarised and commented upon key aspects of its content.

            Resolved – (a) That the report and the work taking place to support the development of a strong skills system and plan for North Lincolnshire be noted, and (b) that the ‘Launch of new Economic Growth Plan including supplementary plans (including Skills Plan)’ as set out in the timeframe for the development of the Skills Plan and Economic Growth Plan in paragraph 2.8 of the Director report be amended to March 2023 (instead of April 2023).

Report of the Director: Economy and Environment. 

– The Director: Economy and Environment submitted a report requesting Cabinet to approve and adopt the North Lincolnshire Litter Plan, which was attached as an appendix.

            The Director in her report explained that North Lincolnshire Council was committed to delivering the priority ‘Enabling Resilient and Flourishing Communities’ and the North Lincolnshire (NL) Litter Plan brought together all the Transformation, Implementation and Improvement into one document with a clear vision, principles and aims to build upon the excellent strength of our volunteer litter pickers in North Lincolnshire.

            Key to the success in reducing litter was changing the behaviour of those who currently feel that it was acceptable to drop litter. The development of an effective litter plan needed to combine our aims of transformation, engagement and education and infrastructure optimisation and design. The council must link understanding the problem with enforcement, so they complement each other’s approach but also sending the right message and precedent to residents and businesses that the proper depositing of litter is an important priority for North Lincolnshire.

            The report stated that the council’s vision was ‘To create a cleaner, greener, healthier, more sustainable, and attractive North Lincolnshire’ and highlighted the plan’s principles and aims.

            The Cabinet Member Environment and Strategic Planning thanked the Director for her report and work carried out by her officers and partners, and highlighted, summarised and commented upon key aspects of its content.

            Resolved – (a) That the North Lincolnshire Litter Plan be approved and adopted which will:- (i) Be tough on enforcement and publicise prosecutions (ii) Encourage people to act responsibly (iii) Increase the number of bins and increase capacity by removing all bins on posts and replace with bins of at least 110 litres in size, and (iv) Where and when necessary, increase the frequency of emptying bins, and (b) that quarterly progress reports on the implementation of the plan and associated outcomes be submitted to future meetings of the Cabinet.

Report of the Director Governance and Communities. 

– The Director: Governance and Communities submitted a report on progress of the North Lincolnshire Armed Forces Covenant in respect of the Government’s Armed Forces Covenant Legislation 2022.

           The Director in her report explained that the Armed Forces Covenant was introduced nationally in 2011 and was an agreement between the Armed Forces community, the nation and the Government. Forthcoming legislation would be laid before Parliament by September 2022 to place a duty on local authorities, and other public bodies, to uphold the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant in the areas of Health, Housing and Education. The covenant’s twin underlying principles were that members of the Armed Forces community should face no disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public and commercial service; and that special consideration was appropriate in some cases, especially for those who had given the most, such as the injured and bereaved.

            The North Lincolnshire Council Armed Forces Covenant currently had a dual approach, strategy and partnerships and community delivery. Within strategy and partnerships there was infrastructure that upholds the covenant principles through the North Lincolnshire Armed Forces Partnership (NLAFP) and internal council processes such as staff training, the Armed Forces staff network and participation in the wider agendas of Health, Housing and Education. This work has enabled the council to be a place leader for the covenant, supporting other public organisations to provide a local, consistent approach.

           The report summarised how the council would be ready for and meet its responsibilities and standards expected in accordance with the statutory requirements of the new legislation. The current framework and ongoing staffing commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant meant that North Lincolnshire Council was well placed to meet the statutory duty in 2022 through the arrangements in place.

            Councillor Marper, Cabinet Member Finance, Governance and Veterans thanked the Director for her report and work carried out by her officers and highlighted, summarised and commented upon key aspects of its content.

            Resolved – (a) That the progress of the Armed Forces Covenant in North Lincolnshire be noted, and (b) that the council continues (i) its support for the Armed Forces Community, and (ii) the promotion, coordination, and support to practical actions in the delivery of the covenant and the duty.

Report of the Director: Governance and Communities

– The Director: Governance and Communities submitted a report informing cabinet on the current principles and practice of safe spaces in public facilities and outlined the next steps in the development of community hub safe spaces.

            The Director in her report explained that North Lincolnshire community hubs and public facilities were safe spaces for people of all ages. They provided a safe haven for someone who may feel vulnerable in the community should they need advice, support, reassurance or help. It was recognised that some people may need more help and support to feel safe in their local community. Community hubs provided an environment for anyone who may feel vulnerable in the community to be able to go to should they need advice, support, reassurance, or help.

            Spaces and facilities that were available and accessible included: confidential, spaces located on ground floor, dementia and autism friendly environments, toilet facilities and safe spaces for residents of all ages to use facilities and engage in activities.  Community hub spaces were open, welcoming, and free to use, providing space for a diversity of users across all ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Alongside community hubs, the council operated a range of other public facilities such as leisure centres, cultural venues and visitor attractions and community libraries. All of these facilities offered access to general facilities such as toilets, a warm and welcoming space, enabling digital inclusion through free public Wi-Fi, information on local/national support agencies and networks displayed, e.g., on public information screens.

            The report stated that the development of a local safe spaces scheme for domestic abuse was a key work strand of the Domestic Abuse Partnership Board. There was a strategic link and line of sight between the Domestic Abuse Strategy Board, Safeguarding Adults Board and the Protection & Accountability Subgroup, Safe Organisations Group.

            The Director proposed that the council’s community hubs and children’s centres/family hubs would be more activity promoted as safe spaces for general low level all-age access, as well as a space where vulnerable adults could disclose safeguarding concerns - including domestic abuse. This would include the design and delivery of a campaign of awareness of domestic abuse in North Lincolnshire to encourage those experiencing domestic abuse to seek support, together with an improved public communication to share the general pledge of both the support available and how the facilities would actively promote and support all public to be part of our ‘Safe Spaces’ policy.

            Councillor C Sherwood, Cabinet Member Safer, Stronger Communities - Rural thanked the Director for her report and work carried out by her officers and highlighted, summarised and commented upon key aspects of its content.

            Fayiza Islam, North Lincolnshire’s Member of the Youth Parliament attended the meeting and commented upon associated work of the Youth Council, and the Youth Parliament and commented upon key elements of developing the priority of supporting children and young people within the principles and practice of safe spaces provided by the council in its public facilities.

            Resolved – (a) That proposals within  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1487.

OPEN WATER SAFETY – This item was considered urgent by the chair so that the recent Humberside Fire and Rescue Service’s educational awareness video on open water safety could be brought to the immediate attention of the Cabinet, and to outline the council’s ongoing approach with multi-agency partners for promoting open water safety.

              The Cabinet was shown a video of Humberside Fire and Rescue Service hosted on the YouTube platform which highlighted the dangers of unsupervised open water swimming. 

              The Deputy Chief Executive then briefly summarised the council’s ongoing committed approach with multi-agency partners for promoting open water safety. This included ‘education and informing’ young people and adults through schools, colleges and social media, providing an enhanced presence, signage and safety infrastructure at various sites, together with any required enforcement measures.

              The cabinet and members present then engaged in a discussion on open water safety at sites across North Lincolnshire.

              Resolved – That the Humberside Fire and Rescue Service video be welcomed and supported and the service be thanked for their ongoing commitment and work as a key partner of the council in promoting open water safety.