Agenda, decisions and minutes

Keith Ireland (Chief Executive) was welcomed to his first meeting of the Executive.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors R G Davies (Executive Councillor for Highways, Transport and IT), E J Poll (Executive Councillor for Commercial and Environmental Management) and Mrs S Woolley (Executive Councillor for NHS Liaison and Community Engagement).

There were no declarations of interest.

It was highlighted that Richard Wills (Executive Director for Environment and Economy) had recently announced that he would be retiring at the end of September 2018. 

The Executive Director was thanked for all he had achieved over the 18 years at the County Council and for acting as Head of Paid Service in recent months.

The Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health and Children's Services was pleased to announce that Canwick House Care Home had recently been awarded two prestigious national awards for two inspiring projects at the Care Home Awards on 27 June 2018.  The Executive congratulated the Care Home on receiving these awards.

The Executive Councillor for Culture and Emergency Services advised that firefighters, including pumps, from Lincolnshire had been deployed to assist with the blaze at Winter Hill near Bolton, Lancashire. 

The Leader of the Council congratulated both the Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health and Children's Services and the Executive Director of Children's Services on being awarded OBEs in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for 2018.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting of the Executive held on 5 June 2018 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

(To receive a report from the Executive Director of Finance and Public Protection, which identifies progress made by the Council on commissioning commercialisation)

(1)  That the content of the Commissioning Strategies which have been considered by the relevant Scrutiny Committee, as set out in the form of the Highlight Reports attached at Appendix B to the report, be approved;

(2)  That a further report before approving the Commissioning Strategies which are yet to be considered by the relevant Scrutiny Committee and which are itemised at Appendix C to the report once they have been to scrutiny, be received at a future meeting;

(3)  That the Commercialisation Strategy, as detailed at Appendix D to the report, be approved;

(4)  That the Executive Director of Finance and Public Protection be delegated authority to set a target for the generation of income collection, in consultation with the Leader, the Executive Councillor for Commercial and Environmental Management and the Chief Executive, as part of the budget setting process.

Consideration was given to a report from the Executive Director of Finance and Public Protection, which identified progress made by the County Council on commissioning commercialisation.  The report sought approval of the content of the Commissioning Strategies, as detailed at Appendix B to the report, and sought approval of the Commercialisation Strategy, as detailed at Appendix D.

The Chief Commercial Officer presented the report to the Executive.  It was advised that the strategies contained in Appendix B to the report, which had not yet been considered by their respective scrutiny committees, would be presented to the scrutiny committees in the autumn of 2018.  A further report would then be presented to the Executive seeking approval of those strategies.

The Executive welcomed the introduction of an income generation target, which would enable the County Council to understand what income it could reasonably expect to generate over the short and medium term and what the resourcing implications of that would be.

The Vice-Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board advised that the Board had considered the report at its meeting on 28 June 2018 and had agreed to support the recommendations in the Executive's report.  The Board also endorsed the Executive receiving a further report before approving the Commissioning Strategies that were yet to be considered by the relevant Scrutiny Committee.  The comments of the Board were tabled at the meeting, which incorporated some suggested changes in wording.  The Executive supported the suggested changes in wording.

The Vice-Chairman also advised that there was a need for early member involvement to enable officers to understand the views of councillors.  The Executive supported this view.

It was requested that a review of the County Council's procurement processes was undertaken.  Furthermore, it was suggested that a programme of forthcoming procurement activity was established, as this would provide a useful tool for tracking procurement activity.

RESOLVED

(1)  That the content of the Commissioning Strategies which have been considered by the relevant Scrutiny Committee, as set out in the form of the Highlight Reports attached at Appendix B to the report, be approved;

(2)  That a further report before approving the Commissioning Strategies which are yet to be considered by the relevant Scrutiny Committee and which are itemised at Appendix C to the report once they have been to scrutiny, be received at a future meeting;

(3)  That the Commercialisation Strategy, as detailed at Appendix D to the report, be approved;

(4)  That the Executive Director of Finance and Public Protection be delegated authority to set a target for the generation of income collection, in consultation with the Leader, the Executive Councillor for Commercial and Environmental Management and the Chief Executive, as part of the budget setting process.

(To receive a report from the Executive Director of Finance and Public Protection, which describes the Council's financial performance in 2017/18)

(1)   That the carry forwards, as set out in paragraphs 1.100 to 1.102 and paragraph 1.105 of the report, which are made in line with the Council's Financial Regulations be noted;

(2)   That the proposals in paragraphs 1.103, 1.104 and 1.107 of the report relating to the treatment of underspends in excess of 1.0% be recommended to full Council for approval;

(3)   That the transfers to and from reserves carried out in 2017/18, as set out in Table E of the report, be noted; and

(4)   That the financial performance in 2017/18, including Flexible Use of Capital Receipts and the Prudential Indicators, be noted.

Consideration was given to a report from the Executive Director of Finance and Public Protection, which described the Council's Financial Performance in 2017/18; identified and explained variances from the Council's revenue and capital budgets; reported the use made of flexible capital receipts to fund revenue expenditure on transformation during 2017/18; made proposals on the carry forward of over and under spendings into the current financial year; and reported Prudential and Financial Performance Indicators for 2017/18.

The County Finance Officer presented the report to the Executive.  It was highlighted that net revenue spending had amounted to £429.809m, excluding Schools Budgets.  Net capital spending had totalled £53.087m.

Existing policies allowed all over and underspendings on capital, schools budgets and shared services to be automatically carried forward.  The carry forwards and transfers to and from earmarked reserves had been proposed in accordance with existing policy.  General reserves stood at £15.200m with a further £60.735m in earmarked reserves.

The Vice-Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board advised that the Board had considered the report at its meeting on 28 June 2018 and agreed that the treatment of underspends and overspends was appropriate and prudent for managing the financial challenges facing the Council.  It was advised that the Board had supported the recommendations included in the report and agreed not to pass any comments.

RESOLVED

(1)   That the carry forwards, as set out in paragraphs 1.100 to 1.102 and paragraph 1.105 of the report, which are made in line with the Council's Financial Regulations be noted;

(2)   That the proposals in paragraphs 1.103, 1.104 and 1.107 of the report relating to the treatment of underspends in excess of 1.0% be recommended to full Council for approval;

(3)   That the transfers to and from reserves carried out in 2017/18, as set out in Table E of the report, be noted; and

(4)   That the financial performance in 2017/18, including Flexible Use of Capital Receipts and the Prudential Indicators, be noted.

(To receive a report from the Executive Director of Children's Services, which seeks approval of the Looked After Children and Care Leavers Strategy 2018-21, detailed at Appendix A to the report)

That the Looked After Children and Care Leavers Strategy, as detailed at Appendix A to the report, which had been developed in consultation with relevant partner agencies and following consultation with young people, be approved.

Consideration was given to a report from the Executive Director of Children's Services, which sought support and approval for the new Looked After Children Care Leavers Strategy to identify how the County Council would seek to fulfil the role of corporate parenting, as amended. Appended to the report was a copy of the Lincolnshire Looked After Children and Care Leavers Strategy 2018 – 2021.

The Corporate Parenting Manager presented the report and highlighted that Lincolnshire County Council had a responsibility to the children it looked after and its care leavers.  And that following a change in legislation, which had come into effect from the 1 April 2018, the Council's duty had widened, as it now had a duty to provide support to all care leavers up to the age of 25, if they required support.

The Executive was advised that in order to achieve the desired outcomes for Looked After Children and Care Leavers, the strategy had been developed to contain a number of guiding principles, which had been developed locally and these were shown on page 135 of the report. 

The strategy also set out Lincolnshire County Council's seven key priorities to continually improve on, over the next three years.  These were shown on pages 135 and 136 of the report presented.

It was advised that the strategy was a key document for the Council and its partner organisations. The Executive was advised further that the strategy had been developed in consultation with many key groups, elected members and young people.  It was noted that an executive summary of the strategy had been produced aimed at young people, which would be circulated to the Executive.

During consideration of the item, the following points were noted: -

·         It was confirmed that all seven district councils had signed up to the strategy in principle, with formal adoption planned subject to Executive approval.  Furthermore it was advised that the district councils had all committed to prioritising care leavers for housing needs and become an exemption for council tax;

·         It was advised that there were currently circa 600 looked after children; and circa 350 care leavers.  However, owing to the changes in legislation it was anticipated that the number of care leavers would gradually increase over time up to circa 900, as the Council's obligations increased until they reach the age of 25 years old; and

·         In relation to the extension of support to care leavers to the age of 25, it was queried what had been done to communicate this to care leavers and encourage them to take up the offer.  Officers reported that they were in the process of contacting as many as possible of the retrospective 21-25 year olds, but some were proving difficult to track down.  Amongst other things, advertisement through social media was being used.

The Chairman of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee advised that the report had been considered by the Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 8 June 2018 and unanimously supported the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

(To receive a report from the Executive Director of Finance and Public Protection, which invites the Executive to note and consider 2017/2018 Quarter 4 performance and approve the proposed changes to reporting, as set out in this report)

(1)  That the 2017/2018 Quarter 4 Performance be noted.

(2)  That the proposed changes to reporting, as detailed in the report, be approved.

A report from the Executive Director of Finance and Public Protection was considered, which presented an overview of performance for Quarter Four against the Council Business Plan. 

The Performance and Equalities Manager presented the report to the Executive and advised that out of all of the 17 commissioning strategies reported in Quarter Four: 4 had performed really well (all measures reported in Quarter Four had achieved the target); 10 had performed well (all measures except 1 had reported in Quarter Four had achieved the target; 3 had mixed performance (some measures had achieved and some measures did not achieve the target in Quarter Four).

The Vice-Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board advised that the Board had considered the report at its meeting on 28 June 2018 and agreed to support the recommendations included in the report. The comments of the Board were tabled at the meeting.  The Vice-Chairman highlighted the increase of 51 primary fires (19 of which were deliberate fires of cars and 10 deliberate house fires) as an area of concern.  The Vice-Chairman advised that the Public Protection and Communities Scrutiny Committee would receive an item on this matter from The Arson Task Force at a future meeting.

The Executive was advised that the Quarterly performance against the Council Business Plan was currently available on the Lincolnshire Research Observatory (LRO).  The Council's contract with the host of the LRO was due to end in 2019.  It was advised that Wordpress would be the new platform to host Council Business Plan performance data from Quarter 1 2018/19 onwards.  It was confirmed that the data currently held on the LRO would be held by the County Council.

In response to the Board's comments relating to the performance of the Public Services Network connection compliance, it was confirmed that the item concerning the Access to the Public Sector Network, as detailed at Minute 15, would address those concerns.

In response to a question, it was hoped that the planned improvements to the County Council's website would improve the accessibility of information for carers, thus improving the performance of this measure.

RESOLVED

(1)  That the 2017/2018 Quarter 4 Performance be noted.

(2)  That the proposed changes to reporting, as detailed in the report, be approved.

(To receive a report from the Executive Director for Environment and Economy, which sets out the options for securing continued access to the Public Sector Network and seeks approval to secure such access through an extension to the existing contractual arrangements procured and delivered through the East Midland Public Sector Network companies, as explained in the report)

(1)  That approval be given to the Council continuing to secure access to the Public Sector Network through a continuation of the existing arrangements delivered by KCom secured by an extension of the existing Infrastructure Agreement between KCom and EMPSN Infrastructure Limited to 31 October 2022.

(2)  That the Executive Director of Environment and Economy be delegated authority, in consultation with the Executive Councillor for Highways Transport and IT, to the taking of all steps and the approval of all documentation necessary on the part of the Council to give effect to the above decision.

Consideration was given to a report from the Executive Director of Environment and Economy, which set out the options for securing continued access to the Public Sector Network and sought approval to secure such access through an extension to the existing contractual arrangements produced and delivered through the East Midlands Public Sector Network companies, as detailed in the report.

John Wickens (Chief Digital Officer) presented the report to the Executive and in doing so, advised that the existing arrangements for accessing the Public Sector Network through the EMPSN regional arrangements were considered to work well and represented value for money for both the County Council and schools.  Under those circumstances, the continuation of those arrangements through the existing right to extend would secure an element of the Council's IT infrastructure, which was stable and reliable whilst other issues concerning existing performance and future development of those services were addressed. 

An extension of three years would also allow the County Council to assess future options for securing network services, especially in the areas of health and social care.

In response to a question, the Chief Legal Officer advised that from a legal point of view he was content with what the report proposed.

The Vice-Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board advised that the report was considered by the Board at its meeting on 28 June 2018.  The Board agreed that the current arrangements had offered good value for money and the proposals included in the report were a good outcome.  The comments of the Board were tabled at the meeting.

RESOLVED

(1)  That approval be given to the Council continuing to secure access to the Public Sector Network through a continuation of the existing arrangements delivered by KCom secured by an extension of the existing Infrastructure Agreement between KCom and EMPSN Infrastructure Limited to 31 October 2022.

(2)  That the Executive Director of Environment and Economy be delegated authority, in consultation with the Executive Councillor for Highways Transport and IT, to the taking of all steps and the approval of all documentation necessary on the part of the Council to give effect to the above decision.