Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors C E H Marfleet, H Spratt and E W Strengiel.

None received.

RESOLVED:

That minutes of the meeting held on 17 June 2021 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman. 

There were no announcements.

None received.

None received.

(To consider a report from Karen Tonge, Treasury Manager, on the Treasury Management Annual Report 2020/21)

Consideration was given to a report from the Treasury Manager, on the Treasury Management Annual Report 2020/21. The report had been prepared in accordance with the reporting recommendations of the CIPFA Code of Practice 2017 and detailed the results of the Council's treasury management activities for the financial year 2020/21. The report compared this activity to the Treasury Management Strategy for 2020/21, approved by the Executive Councillor for Resources, Communications, and Commissioning on 20 March 2020.

The report outlined the following matters for the year 2020/21: Economic overview and interest rate review; Treasury investments - Treasury investment policy, risk appetite, treasury activity and return, comparing this with treasury strategy;  Long term borrowing - capital expenditure plans, borrowing requirement and activity, control of interest rate risk, debt rescheduling activity and internal borrowing position, comparing this with treasury strategy.

The main impact of the pandemic on treasury activity in 2020/21 was to cash flows, with normal cash flows disrupted by the injection of Government Support for Covid-19 measures throughout the year and extra Covid-19 expenditure measures taken to support businesses and individuals in Lincolnshire. The uncertainty of cash flow had required a larger proportion of investments to be held in liquidity instruments than normal, which were yielding the lowest return. The Council's risk appetite for its treasury investments remained low, as it prioritised security of capital and liquidity over return.  Both capital expenditure and hence its borrowing requirement for 2020/21 were significantly underspent in the region of £62m. This would be carried forward into 2021/22.

The Board was requested to review the contents of the report and pass any  comments onto the Executive Councillor for Resources, Communications, and Commissioning.

Members discussed the report, and during the discussion the following points were noted:

·    Interest base rates were currently 0.1% and were expected to remain low around this rate for some time due to the current economic situation. Significant rises were not expected in the next two years and any changes during that period were likely to be minimal.

·    Inflation was increasing and this was the direction of travel expected in the future.

·    It had been a rollercoaster year for the pension fund - the value at March 2020 was approx £2.2b and was currently approx £2.8b.

·    Future funding of local government was deemed to be at a higher risk than funding for protected sectors like the NHS for example. It was confirmed that the County Council had a well-established financial planning system in place to take into account a number of variables.

·    Government borrowing had increased during the pandemic and this was seen as not being sustainable in the long term at the current level. The prediction was that borrowing would plateau as receipts started to flow in.

·    Investments had been moved into liquid funds which attracted lower rates due to the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic.

·    In terms of Covid-19 impact on the investment performance, it was noted that Money Market Liquidity Funds returns in March 2020 had been 0.71% and had fallen  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

(To consider a report from Sophie Reeve, Assistant Director – Commercial, on a One Council Commissioning Framework which is being presented to the Executive on 6 July 2021. The views of the Board will be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item)

Consideration was given to a report from the Assistant Director – Commercial, on a One Council Commissioning Framework which was being presented to the Executive on 6 July 2021. The views of the Board would be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item.

The One Council Commissioning Framework outlined the Council's definition of  Commissioning and its vision, aim and principles. It had been presented to the Executive on 7 April 2021 when Executive Councillors had raised some points and asked for further work to be done and the report to be presented back to the new Executive for further consideration. As a result, changes had been made to the One Council Commissioning Framework which was set out in Appendix A of the report. The report recommended that the Executive approve the One Council Commissioning Framework as outlined in Appendix A of the report.

The proposed new Commissioning Framework created a vision and an ambition for Council commissioning closely aligned to the Corporate Plan which put residents at the centre. It retained the key strengths of the current approach and benefited from consideration of the approaches taken by other authorities.

Members discussed the report, and during the discussion the following points were noted:

·         All staff at the County Council would have access to a single commissioning process which would ensure a consistent One Council approach to commissioning. Staff groups were being set up to share best practice on contract management and peer support would also be available to colleagues in the Council.

·         There would be more clarity for officers across the Council on the commissioning process. Officers across the Council had been consulted on the process.

·         Innovation should only be undertaken when it was beneficial to do so and the amendment to the Commissioning Framework to reflect this was welcomed, particularly with regard to IT systems.

·         The increased emphasis on championing Lincolnshire and keeping commissioning local was welcomed. There was no target set for the number of local suppliers that would be commissioned as it would be difficult to measure due to different interpretations of what was meant by local, such as having a head office in Lincolnshire, or just employing staff in Lincolnshire. Training would be provided to local suppliers so that they could bid for contracts, and the length and complexity of the documents had been reduced which would make the process easier and more streamlined. Streamlining the process was welcomed.

·         It was recommended that there should be a promotion of future contracts to local suppliers to encourage more local bids. However, it was recognised that there was still a need to balance this with ensuring the Council was getting value for money for local residents. It was noted that contract regulations required requests for quotations to include a number of local suppliers for contracts below a value of circa £190,000. There could be further opportunities to review following changes to EU directives.

·         The reference to making the best use of the scarce public  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

(To consider a report fromTony Warnock - Head of Operations and Financial Advice, on a Review of Financial Performance 2020/21, which is being presented to the Executive on 6 July 2021. The views of the Board will be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item)

Consideration was given to a report from the Head of Operations and Financial Advice, on a Review of Financial Performance 2020/21, which was being presented to the Executive on 6 July 2021. The views of the Board would be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item.

The report described the Council's financial performance in 2020/21 and reported on the underspend of £28.746m on Council budgets and £13.976m on Schools budgets. It also identified and explained variances from the Council’s revenue and capital budgets and made proposals on the carry forward of over and under spends into the current financial year 2021/22 and reported Prudential and Financial Performance Indicators for 2020/21.

Net revenue spending amounted to £488.644m, excluding Schools Budgets. Net capital spending totalled £52.235m. Existing policies required all over and underspends up to 1% on service budgets and over and underspends on capital, schools budgets and shared services to be automatically carried forward. The carry forwards and transfers to earmarked reserves had been proposed in accordance with existing policy. The treatment of all other underspends and overspends was a matter for the full Council and the report set out proposals for how these should be dealt with. General reserves currently stood at £16.200m with a further £40.483m in the Financial Volatility earmarked reserve.

The report recommended that the Executive: Note the carry forwards set out in paragraphs 1.58 to 1.60 which were made in line with the Council's Financial Regulations; Recommend to the County Council that the proposals in paragraphs 1.61 to 1.65, relating to the treatment of underspends, be approved; Note the transfers to and from reserves carried out in 2020/21 as set out in Table F; Note the financial performance in 2020/21 as set out in Table A (Key Financial Performance Measures), Table B (Revenue Budget Final Outturn), Table C (Net Capital Programme Summary Outturn), Appendix N (Prudential Indicators).

Members discussed the report, and during the discussion the following points were noted:

·         Home to School Transport continued to create a cost pressure and was being closely monitored. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the summer term of 2020 had resulted in an underspend, but when schools returned in September the costs increased again. A re-base of £5m in the home to school transport budget took place for 2021/22 due to the higher costs per day for transport. This budget was volatile due to the pandemic impact and market pressures, and a constant high risk area to the Council. The 1% carry forward and the Covid-19 funding grants would be utilised to manage the cost pressure going forward. The revised budget, including the increase, seemed reasonable for the end of this current financial year, but would be monitored. A review of home to school transport to look at improvements, how to manage market providers and commissioning services, had been commissioned using independent consultants. This was now drawing to a close and would be brought to the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee for consideration.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

(To consider a report from Caroline Jackson, Head of Corporate Performance, and Jasmine Sodhi, Performance and Equalities Manager, on the Performance Reporting against the Corporate Plan Performance Framework 2020/21 - Quarter 4, which is being presented to the Executive on 6 July 2021. The views of the Board will be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item)

Consideration was given to a report from the Performance and Equalities Manager, on the Performance Reporting against the Corporate Plan Performance Framework 2020/21 - Quarter 4 (Q4), which was being presented to the Executive on 6 July 2021. The views of the Board would be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of the item.

The report recommended that the Executive:  Consider and note the Quarter 4 performance for 2020/21;  Approve the proposal to defer reporting of 2021/2022 Quarter 1 performance and to report Quarters 1 and 2 together in December as set out in the report.

The report mentioned that of the 53 activities with milestones due to be reported in Q4, 66% (35), were either on plan or ahead of plan. This was comparable with Q3 where 65% (22 out of 34) were either on plan or ahead of plan. In Q4 the impact of COVID-19 was evident. Five of the 18 activities (compared with seven out of 12 in Q3) that were behind plan had been impacted by COVID-19. There was positive performance overall and three of the four ambitions were on plan.

Members discussed the report, and during the discussion the following points were noted:

·         Healthy life expectancy for Lincolnshire residents – Healthy life expectancy varied across Lincolnshire and was linked to deprivation. Further information was requested on why the male and female figures were roughly the same in Lincolnshire when nationally the male life expectancy figures were usually much worse than the female life expectancy figures. The Chief Executive undertook to ask the Director of Public Health to provide a briefing paper on this to the Board.

·         Reduction in Killed and Seriously Injured on Lincolnshire roads – a 21% reduction was said to be due to the Covid-19 restrictions in 2020/21, most likely because people took fewer journeys and there was less traffic. Concerns were raised, however, about reports that speeding offences had increased during this period. Further information on the number of motorists prosecuted for speeding in Lincolnshire in 2020/21 compared to previous years was requested.

·         Residents' level of satisfaction with their area as a place to live and Residents' feedback on feeling safe and secure in their local area – concerns were raised that 1 in 5 residents were not satisfied with their local area and that only 71.5% felt safe in their local area. Additional information in future reports showing trends year on year and comparisons with neighbouring authorities would be useful as would comparisons between those living in urban and rural areas. It was highlighted that a Citizens Panel had recently been established with representatives of different communities. The Panel was being used to seek feedback on these areas and over time looking at emerging trends. The ambition was to compare the Council's performance over time. It was noted that it would be difficult to make direct comparisons with other local authorities due to social, economic and geographical differences.

·         Percentage of unclassified roads in good condition (minor roads)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

(To consider a report from Justin Brown, Assistant Director – Growth, on the Business Support Programme Reserve Funds which is being presented to the Leader of the Council for decision between 2^nd and 7th July 2021. The views of the Board will be reported to the Leader of the Council as part of his consideration of this item)

Consideration was given to a report from presented by the Head of Economic Development on behalf of the Assistant Director – Growth, on the Business Support Programme Reserve Funds which was being presented to the Leader of the Council for decision between 2^nd and 7^th July 2021. The views of the Board would be reported to the Leader of the Council as part of his consideration of this item.

The report reminded members that full Council approval had been given on the 19^thFebruary 2021 to create a Support for Business Reserve Fund of £12m to provide grant programmes designed to support Lincolnshire businesses who had been directly impacted by Covid-19 and to enable them to survive and adapt to the changing environment and grow once restrictions were lifted. On 19^thFebruary 2021 the Leader of the Council had approved the provision of four grant programmes. The grant programmes had been well received and in particular the Digital and Rural business grants had been substantially oversubscribed. This report requested approval to repurpose £1.5m from the initial £12m approved fund to help to meet the scale of demand. The report recommended that because the initial period of economic uncertainty resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic had now ended, that  the County Council's business support programme should close on Friday 13^thAugust 2021.

The report recommended that the Leader of the Council (Executive Councillor for Resources, Communications and Commissioning):- approve capping the amount to be distributed by way of Business Recovery Fund grants so that no applications were processed which would take the total funding distributed above £3.700m; approve increasing the total funding available through the Digital Voucher Scheme by £0.750m to £1.750m; approve increasing the total funding available through the Rural Business Grant Scheme by £0.750m to £1.750m; approve the closure of all four  programmes of the business support programme so that no payments were made in respect of any application which had not been approved by 5.00pm on Friday 13 August 2021.

Members discussed the report, and during the discussion the following points were noted:

·         Applications for funding had been dealt with on a first come first serve basis. For those applications which had missed out on the initial funding for the Digital Voucher Scheme and the Rural Business Grant Scheme, this was due to the timing of the submission of the applications and not because of any issues with the applications.

·         The Digital Voucher Scheme and the Rural Business Grant Scheme would not be opened up to new applicants or re advertised. Only those applicants on the waiting list would be invited to complete a full application for the additional funding, which would be allocated by working down the waiting list of applications in order of submission. If the applicant was unable to continue with their application, then the next applicant on the waiting list would be invited to complete a full application.

·         For the Digital Voucher Scheme, it was estimated that there would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

(To consider a report from John Wickens, Assistant Director - IMT and Enterprise Architecture, and Paul Elverstone, ICT Contracts and Licensing Officer on an Update on IMT Service Plan and Serco Contract Performance)

Consideration was given to a report from the Assistant Director - IMT and Enterprise Architecture, and the ICT Contracts and Licensing Officer on an update on IMT Service Plan and Serco Contract Performance.

The report noted that in recent months the focus had moved away from the re- engineering required to support “Home Working” and “Smarter Working” and resource had returned to key Portfolio projects such as the Azure Migration, Legacy Operating Systems, Telephony and the Modern Device Management work that had been undertaken to allow recommencement of the update of the Microsoft Office software on users devices to complete the experience of the migration to Office 365 in the cloud.

Regarding the Serco contract the general picture was one of good performance overall. It was notable that during the Covid-19 recovery and on-going lockdowns only two KPIs had failed to perform at green.

Members discussed the report, and during the discussion the following points were noted:

·         It was confirmed that contrary to what was outlined in the report the Council would continue to use MS Teams and not Skype.

·         A change in current legislation would be required for Councillors to be able to attend formal local government council and committee meetings via MS Teams. Virtual attendance during the pandemic had been permitted but this legislation had ended in May.

·         Gradual changes to IT infrastructure were preferred as this would enable an evolutionary approach to avoid expensive  and problematic pitfalls experienced by other organisations

The Board received assurances from the Assistant Director - IMT and Enterprise Architecture, that the two remaining workstreams were both on target to  complete before end October 2021. The workstreams were:

·         The Telephony Enablement project to upgrade the Avaya software and reconfigure the underlying platform to extend the working life of the existing investment and address a number of issues affecting the CSC.

·         Replacing the current version of Microsoft Office with Office 365.

RESOLVED:

That the Board noted the IMT Service's activities and projects and the performance of the Serco contract in relation to IMT, and was satisfied with the progress that had been made.

(To consider a report from Tony Kavanagh, Assistant Director Human Resources and Organisational Support, on HR Management Information and the Workforce Plan)

Consideration was given to a report from the Assistant Director - Human Resources and Organisational Support, on HR Management Information and the Workforce Plan.

The report noted that for data up to and including Q3 2020-21, there had been a small upward trend in the number of employments and FTEs. There had been a positive reduction in the use of agency workers overall alongside a recognition of the value and flexibility that agency usage provided to the organisation. Sickness absence had reduced particularly during the pandemic while a number of employees had been working from home. The health and wellbeing of the workforce remained a priority and although overall the number of cases had reduced, mental health issues remain a concern for some. In order to support the mental health of the  workforce, a significant amount of additional resources had been put in place ranging from information and advice to webinars, apps and online sessions, counselling and other talking therapies and a Mental Health First Aider training programme for staff. The regular review and monitoring of HR Management data at both Directorate Leadership Team (DLT) level and by Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) was enabling oversight of the workforce and HR performance at both a local level and for the organisation. This was enabling CLT and Directors to identify priorities and solutions required to address current and future workforce challenges, in particular to attract, recruit and retain skills in high risk areas.

It was planned that the next report to the Board in September 2021 would provide highlights from 2020/21 Q4 HRMI data and an introduction to the new People Strategy.

Members discussed the report, and during the discussion the following points were noted:

·         Some employees may be reluctant to categorise themselves as having a disability and therefore records may not be fully accurate. It was suggested that this issue should be highlighted to Government.

·         The proportion of employees from BAME backgrounds had decreased slightly in the last year and currently stood at 3.10%. The latest labour market data (2011) showed that 3.4% of Lincolnshire's working population were from BAME backgrounds. It was suggested that the Council should aim to improve on this area and the Board would be interested to learn whether measures put in place to address this had succeeded. There would be encouragement to ensure employees had updated their data and the newly formed Corporate Diversity Steering Group would be considering this issue.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted and it be recorded that the Board was reassured on the HR Management Information and was satisfied with the progress on corporate HR projects.

(To receive a report which enables the Board to note the content of its work programme for the coming year)

The Board received a report which enables it to note the content of its work programme for the coming year.

RESOLVED:

That the work programme be noted.

In accordance with Section 100 (A)(3) of the Local Government Act 1972, agenda item 16 has not been circulated to the press and public on the grounds that it is considered to contain exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended. The press and public may be excluded from the meeting for the consideration of this item of business.

RESOLVED:

That in accordance with Section 100 (A)(3) of the Local Government Act 1972, agenda item 16 had not been circulated to the press and public on the grounds that it was considered to contain exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended. The press and public were excluded from the meeting for the consideration of this item of business.

(To consider an exempt report from Sophie Reeve, Assistant Director – Commercial, on a Future Wide Area Network (WAN) Options Appraisal, which is being presented to the Executive on 6 July 2021. The views of the Board will be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item)

Consideration was given to an exempt report from the Assistant Director – Commercial, on a Future Wide Area Network (WAN) Options Appraisal which was being presented to the Executive on 6 July 2021. The views of the Board would be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item.

RESOLVED:

That the recommendations to the Executive as outlined in the report be supported and the views of the Board be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item.