Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillor E W Strengiel and Megan Machin (Parent Governor Representative).

It was reported that, under Regulation 13 of the Local Government (Committee and Political Groups) Regulations 1990, Councillor Dr M E Thompson had been appointed as a replacement for Councillor E W Strengiel and Councillor A M Hall had been appointed as a replacement for the Conservative Vacancy, for this meeting only.

There were no declarations of interest at this point in the meeting.

In relation to the minutes, it was questioned whether the increase in slips, trips and falls had any correlation to the fact that the Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service had continued to work throughout the pandemic.

RESOLVED:

           That minutes of the meeting held on 28 October be approved as a    correct record and signed by the Chairman. 

With great sadness the Chairman announced the passing of Councillor Bob Adams, who had been the Chairman of the Highways and Transport Scrutiny Committee and a member of the Board since 17 May 2019.  The Board held a minute’s silence in honour of Councillor Adams.

The Leader of the Council informed the Board that there had been an announcement on the Adult Care Reform which would have dramatic changes for Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) as the authority responsible for Adult Care. The three year budget settlement from the Chancellor had proposed levels of caps on council tax and extra money for local government which was expected to be taken up by the extra costs, but this would be dealt within the budget process. It was expected that councils would receive their settlement figures on 13 December 2021. A further update would be provided when details had been announced.

In relation to a white paper for Devolution , an announcement was expected before Christmas, which would set out any proposed future plans for Devolution  and Levelling Up.

None had been received.

None had been received.

(To receive a report by Caroline Jackson, Head of Corporate Performance, which invites the Board to consider a report on the 2021/2022 Corporate Plan performance as at 30 September 2021, which will be presented to the Executive on 07 December 2021. The views of the Board will be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item.

This report also sets out the performance of the service level performance indicator for 2021/22 Quarter 2 that is within the remit of the Board)

The Executive Director – Commercial introduced the report and highlighted the work that had been carried out to improve and support the delivery of the Corporate Plan Success Framework, including the introduction of Power BI which was part of the Microsoft suite of programmes which has allowed the Council to better understand and analyse data.  

The Head of Corporate Performance then invited the Board to consider the report on the 2021/2022 Corporate Plan performance as at 30 September 2021, which would be presented to the Executive on 07 December 2021.  The report also set out the performance of the service level performance indicator for 2021/22 Quarter 2 that was within the remit of the Board.

Of the 36 activities with milestones due to be reported, eight were ahead of plan and 28 were on plan.

There had been significant changes with the types of KPI being used in the reporting of the Corporate Plan, in particular a focus on measures which were ‘for context’ which meant that the delivery activity relating to these measures may not be within the direct control of the Council, but were a way of understanding the progress needed to achieve wider ambitions for the residents, communities, businesses and visitors of Lincolnshire.

It was hoped that the change would enable future iterations of the reporting to be developed with Executive Councillors and for agreement to be reached on which, if any, of the context measures require ambitions to be set in order to support targeted change.

Of the KPIs reported, six could be compared with a target that had been set for Quarter 2. Of the six KPI’s that were comparable, there was one KPI that had not met its target - Percentage of people who are unemployed (PI 11). Details were set out within the report.

The Board was advised that Covid-19 had impacted a number of the KPI’s, namely schools Ofsted rating as inspections were ceased during the Covid period. In addition, a number of KPIs were not able to be recorded as a result of Covid-19 and in particular because educational attainment data had not been released.

The relevant performance data had been updated on the Council’s website to provide the public with a more accessible account of performance information across the Council.  The Board received a short demonstration of the website.

The Board considered the report and during the discussion, the following points were noted:

·       In relation to the Government’s financial settlement, it was announced in October 2021 that £4.8bn would be spread fairly evenly over the three years of the spending review period. There were some specific funding announcements such as around supporting families and cyber security, and once these had been taken into account, the remaining amount was around £1.4bn. The Council usually received around 1% of the national funding announcement which would equate to about £14m.

·       There were numerous cost pressures facing the Council, which included Adult Care cost pressures of between £7m and £9m per year, increase in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74.

(To receive a report by Michelle Grady, Assistant Director – Finance, which invites the Board to consider a report on the Revenue Budget Monitoring Report 2021/22 - Quarter 2 to 30 September 2021 which is due to be considered by the Executive on the 7 December 2021. The views of the Board will be reported to the Executive as part of their consideration of this item)

During this item, Councillor Mrs J Brockway declared a personal interest as a member of her family accessed the Home to School Transport Service.

Consideration was given to a report by the Assistant Director – Finance, which invited the Board to consider the Revenue Budget Monitoring 2021/22 Quarter 2 report which was due to be considered by the Executive on 07 December 2021.

The Board was advised that the Council was forecasting an underspend of £5.760m (excluding schools and Covid-19), which mainly related to grants that had been received by the Council, particularly the grant of £1.4m for Domestic Abuse Services, as well as a net gain of £2m on the pool for business rates, both of which had not been accounted for when the budget had been set originally.

The impact of Covid-19 on the Council’s Revenue Budget was set out in Appendix K to the report and Appendix I set out the total number of grants that had been received from the government which related to the support for Covid-19 and Appendix L showed that all budget savings were on target to be delivered for 2021/22.

Members considered the report and during the discussion the following points were noted:

·       The extra funding of £1.445m for Domestic Abuse services was welcomed,  with the sharp increase in the number of reports of domestic violence particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.

·       It was confirmed that a Domestic Abuse Strategy was being drafted by officers which would be brought through the Public Protection and Communities Scrutiny Committee on 14 December 2021 before approval by the Executive Councillor for Children's Services, Community Safety and Procurement. The strategy would focus on supporting victims and signposting to support.

·       The lack of provision for male domestic abuse victims across the country was emphasised. The Chairman of the Environment and Economy Scrutiny Committee highlighted that he would raise questions to the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) on the policy of domestic violence at the meeting of the Police and Crime Panel on 26 November 2021. The Chief Executive further highlighted the work being undertaken with the PCC in terms of victim support and that she would investigate what support was provided to male domestic abuse victims. It was agreed that a briefing note on this issue would be circulated to the Board.

·       The budget setting process for 2021/22, which started back in October 2020, had been more difficult due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the budget approved in February 2021 had since been impacted by the Covid grants received from the Government. There was a need to maximise the grants received to the benefit of local tax payers and recycle the underspends for use elsewhere. 

·       The Public Health underspend of £1.283m had arisen due to redirecting resources into supporting the Covid-19 pandemic and these costs had been covered by the Covid grant which was causing an underspend in the core activity, such as track and trace and outbreak management.  For the 2021/22 financial year, Public Health and Wellbeing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 75.

(To receive a report by Michelle Grady, Assistant Director – Finance, which invites the Board to consider a report on the Capital Budget Monitoring Report 2021/22 – Quarter 2 to 30 September 2021 which is due to be considered by the Executive on the 7 December 2021. The views of the Board will be reported to the Executive as part of their consideration of this item)

Consideration was given to a report by the Assistant Director – Finance, which invited the Board to consider a report on the Council’s Capital Budget Monitoring for 2021/22, which was due to be considered by the Executive on 07 December 2021.

The Council was currently forecasting an underspend of £33.9m, a breakdown of which could be found in Appendix A to the report.

The largest underspend to the Capital Programme was currently for contingency planning, with £7.5m being allocated for contingency plans. The main variances across projects related to some of the major highways schemes, in particular the Spalding Western Relief Road which had been subject to some delays in land acquisition and design requirements.

The Board considered the report and during the discussion the following points were noted:

·       In relation to the Government’s financial settlement, it was announced in October 2021 that £4.8bn would be spread fairly evenly over the three years of the spending review period. There were some specific funding announcements such as around supporting families and cyber security, and once these had been taken into account, the remaining amount was around £1.4bn. The Council usually received around 1% of the national funding announcement which would equate to about £14m.

·       There were numerous cost pressures facing the Council, which included Adult Care cost pressures of between £7m and £9m per year, increase in inflation which was expected to peak at around 5% in 2022, and the potential ending of the public sector pay freeze. In addition, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government had recently started to indicate potential changes such as moving away from the localised business rates system which could open the door for a potential fairer funding review which the Council had lobbied for over the last six years due to the County’s rural and sparse nature. Different factors, such as deprivation, would need to be taken into account in a distribution formula. The general levels of reserves held by councils might also impact on a fairer funding distribution formula.

·       A lot of the capital programme expenditure was reliant on Government grants coming from the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Department for Education (DfE). These grants often did not line up with the Government’s announcements on the financial settlement which made it difficult to plan for these areas. The financial settlement for Highways maintenance in 2021/22 was reduced leading to the shortfall being backfilled with local money. There were currently no announcements in relation to the DfT’s settlement for 2022/23 but it was expected to be similar to the current year’s settlement.

·       The United States $1 trillion Infrastructure Bill could have a huge impact on global supply issues and inflation if agreed by the Senate. There were already supply issues impacting on the construction industry and IT, which was already leading to long waiting times for items such as cars and laptops due to the supply issues with chips. There was then the issue of the delivery of the supply  ...  view the full minutes text for item 76.

(To receive a report by Brendan Gallagher, Principal Planning Officer – Infrastructure, which invites the Board to consider a report on the Draft Infrastructure Funding Statement, which is being presented to the Executive on 07 December 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 by the Principal Planning Officer – Infrastructure, which invited the Board to consider a report on the Draft Infrastructure Funding Statement, which was due to be considered by the Executive on 07 December 2021.

The Draft Infrastructure Funding Statement, set out at appendix A to the Executive Report, provided financial and other contributions Lincolnshire County Council had secured and/or spent for the year ending March 2021 and fulfilled the obligations set out in the Regulations.

The Board was advised that there were three parts to the statement:

• A statement which was future looking
• A report which looked at the funding position for the previous year
• A report on the Section 106 monies received.

The Board was referred to Appendix B to the Executive Report, the draft web text, which set out a description of what the Infrastructure Funding Statement was for including on the Council’s website.

Members were advised that there were three districts in Central Lincolnshire which had moved forward with Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), which were, the City of Lincoln, North Kesteven and West Lindsey.

Within the current year, the Council had obtained approximately £700,000 in CIL Receipts by the relevant districts, which was used to pay back some of the investment in the Lincoln Eastern Bypass.

The Board was referred to page 123 of the report, which set out the Council’s Section 106 and highways agreements in further detail.

Consideration was given to the report and during the discussion the following points were noted:

·       There was no reserve pool of developer contributions held by Lincolnshire County Council to resolve small issues which a community would have liked addressed as part of the planning application, such as new footpaths or cycle paths to the new housing development. This was because the Section 106 money was requested through the district councils as and when required, following the guidance around its use. For those district councils which had CIL in place, the parish councils would receive a percentage of CIL, which was 15% by default and potentially 25% if they had a local neighbourhood plan. Therefore, in the areas of the county covered by CIL, the parish councils would have their own reserve pools to spend as they wish. It was highlighted that if an issue such as a footpath was wanted after planning agreements were in place, then there would need to be a bid for funding as a highways scheme. Under the statutes for Section 106 and CIL, the money requested from developers had to be justified, but it was suggested whether these rules and the law could be interpreted in different ways. It was recommended that the rules for developer contributions should be considered to determine whether a reserve pool could be created.

·       In terms of the long term impact for the Council once the legacy applications were out of the system and were not still chargeable, it was anticipated that the Council would receive approximately £1m of CIL receipts per  ...  view the full minutes text for item 77.

(To receive a report which sets out the work programmes of the Environment and Economy; Highways and Transport and Flood and Water Management Scrutiny Committee's, in accordance with the Board's agreed programme)

During this item, Councillor T J N Smith declared a non-pecuniary interest as a member of the Transport for North Board.

Consideration was given to a report by the Chairman of the Environment and Economy Scrutiny Committee, which provided an update on the recent work of the Committee and its future work programme, as set out on pages 134 – 142. As part of its recent work, the Committee had debated and expressed its views in relation to the invitation to join a Geological Disposal Facility Working Group in Eastern Lincolnshire and recorded its support towards being a part of the working group with a view to help the local community and shape any future decision in relation to the subject. As part of the consideration of this topic, the Committee welcomed the attendance and contribution to the discussion of the leader of a campaigners’ group. Another important topic that the Committee had the opportunity to consider and contribute to was in relation to the discontinuity of the Supplementary Waste Collection Services at Stamford and Mablethorpe. In relation to this, the Committee received a petition from a resident of Stamford and gave them the opportunity to attend the session and put on record their views and arguments.

The Chairman of the Environment and Economy Scrutiny Committee thanked Members and Officers involved with the Committee for their support during the current Council year.

The Board welcomed the consideration of the Tree Strategy and the planting of more trees across the County for visual and environmental reasons.

In relation to a question, the Board was advised that the largest benefit to Lincolnshire from the £96.1bn Integrated Rail Plan was the upgrades to the East Coast Mainline as well as the replacement of the flat level crossing in Newark, which was widely used by Lincolnshire residents and would see significant improvements for Lincolnshire’s rail services. The Local Transport Plan, which was currently out for consultation, identified a number of priorities around rail networks for Lincolnshire. The Council was working with Network Rail colleagues and it was hoped that Lincolnshire would benefit from improvements to rail services out of Kings Cross on the East Coast Mainline.

Consideration was given to a report by the Vice Chairman of the Highways and Transport Scrutiny Committee which provided an update on the recent work of the Committee and its future work programme, as set out on pages 143 – 147.

The Vice Chairman paid tribute to Councillor Bob Adams, and offered his condolences to his family, who had been the Chairman of the Highways and Transport Scrutiny Committee since May 2019.

It was suggested that the enforcement of double yellow lines could be put forward for future consideration by the Highways and Transport Scrutiny Committee.

The Board also requested that all Members be provided with an opportunity to comment on the Speed Limit Policy review.

Consideration was then given to a report by the Chairman of the Flood and Water Management Scrutiny Committee, which provided an update  ...  view the full minutes text for item 78.

(To receive a report by Karen Tonge, Treasury Manager, which invites the Board to consider a report which details the treasury management activities and performance for Quarter 2 of 2021/22 to 30 September 2021)

Consideration was given to a report by the Treasury Manager, which detailed the treasury management activities and performance for Quarter 2 of 2021/22 to 30 September 2021 against the Treasury Management Strategy for 2021/22.  

With regards to interest rates, the short-term base rate had remained flat over the period. There had been market expectations of an increase in the base rate by November, which had not materialised. The movement of Key Interest Rates in 2021/22 to date was set out at Appendix A to the report. The Council’s Treasury Advisors, Link Asset Services expected the next increase in interest rates to be of only 0.15%, meaning an expected interest rate of around0.25% for early 2022.

Long term rates remained volatile it was expected that there would be a gradual increase of long-term rates by around 0.1% per annum.

The Council was currently investing around £363m and further details of the Council’s investments were set out at Appendix B to the report.

Cash flows had stabilised following an unstable year due to the uncertainties faced with Covid-19 and no external borrowing had been taken in the year to date.

The Board was informed that the revised Treasury Management Code of Practice and Prudential Code would be issued in December with a proposed implementation by 2023. The Treasury Manager welcomed feedback on the recent training undertaken by the Board.

The Board considered the report and during the discussion the following points were noted:

• It was expected that interest rates would increase around February 2022. Increases often occurred following the quarterly inflation report from the Bank of England, but there were many other factors that could also influence rates. It was expected that rates would only rise by around 0.25%.
• The Board commended the informative training session that had been undertaken by the Board.
• Concerns were raised over the high levels of taxation that was currently imposed by the Government and suggested Councillors monitored the situation and write to MPs if necessary.
• There was no set formula that was used for the allocation of liquid assets which included call funds and money market funds. It was noted that money market funds provided instant access. Officers looked to maximise the return which comes with the longest period and to manage the period and take opportunities to maximise returns when they arose.

RESOLVED:

1. That the report be noted;
2. That the comments made by the Board be passed on the Executive Councillor for Resources, Communication and Commissioning for his consideration.

(To receive a report by Tony Kavanagh, Assistant Director – HR and Organisational Support, which provides an update on the HR Management Information (HRMI) and on corporate HR projects)

Consideration was given to a report by the Assistant Director – HR and Organisational Support, which provided an update on HR Management Information and Corporate HR Projects.

The Board was informed that following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, voluntary turnover had risen from around 6% to 8.34% at the end of Quarter 2 which was mainly due to attraction and retention of key roles prior to the pandemic and the effects of the pandemic. Officers were implementing the people strategy and action plans were in place to look to improve attraction and retention including the implementation of an attraction and retention framework.

Agency spend had increased due to challenges faced as a result of the pandemic and high turnover rates, particularly in Adult Care and Community Wellbeing and Children’s Services. It was possible that rates would continue to increase throughout the financial year. It was noted that agency spend had an important role to play in the stabilisation and support of services, particularly in early help and residential services.

There had been a slow reduction in sickness absence during the pandemic which was due to the restrictions in place. However, the easing of restrictions had seen a rise in sickness absence levels to 7.16% in Quarter 2, which was still below the Council’s target of 7.5%. There were many proactive measures in place to address issues with sickness absence, in particular an increase in mental health support with the launch of the Mental Health First Aiders Programme and other investments around employee support and counselling offers.

The Council was working hard on its apprenticeship offer and the Assistant Director – HR and Organisation Support was pleased to note that the number of apprenticeships was above target.

The Council continued to support apprenticeships through the levy transfer scheme and as at the end of October 2021, the Council had a total number of 312 apprenticeships active.

In response to a question, it was confirmed that the sickness absence was recorded in days, rather than percentages. Therefore, the level of sickness absence was around 7.5 days per employee per year, which equated to around 4%.

RESOLVED:

          That assurance be provided to the Board on the HR Management           Information and the progress on corporate HR projects.

(To receive a report by Michelle Andrews, Assistant Director – Corporate Recovery, which provides an update on Covid-19 in Lincolnshire)

Consideration was given to a report by the Assistant Director – Corporate Recovery, which provided an overview of the work by the Local Resilience Forum (LRF), partners, and Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) to manage Lincolnshire's response to the Covid-19 pandemic, since the last update to the Board on the 28 October 2021.

The Board was referred to the following data, which was detailed within the report:

•  Rate of Positive Cases per 100,000 Population is 404.4 per 100,000 (22^nd November 2021) in comparison to the 25^th October 2021, which was reported at 521.4 per 100,000.
• On the 22^nd November 2021, Lincolnshire Covid-19 cases reported in the last seven day period was 3,099, in comparison to the figure reported on the 25^th October 2021 which was 3,996.
• Deaths reported in the last seven day period up to the 24^th October 2021 for Lincolnshire was reported as seven, in comparison in the last seven day period up to the 21^st November 2021 it was reported as 16.
• Number of Covid-19 vaccines administered up to the 17^th October 2021 for Lincolnshire was 1,131,705, as of the 14^th November 2021 this was reported as 1,145,465.

As requested by the Board in October, data on cases in surrounding areas of the country to provide a comparison was included, which could be found on pages 3-4 of the report.

The – LRF, Recovery Strategic Coordination Group (RSCG) had received assurance presentations from the Business and Economy Group, Enforce, Engage, and Comply group, and a representative from Lincolnshire Event Safety Partnership  setting out the direction of travel.   All representatives had provided  a positive position and indicated stability in their respective sectors. Plans were in place to address the ongoing vulnerabilities and risks. 

The  vaccination programme continued to make good progress through the NHS. T in addition there had been confirmation that funding would continue to be provided until the end of March 2022, allowing the Council to deliver ongoing testing and tracing provision locally. This additional funding would provide support to deliver the ongoing response activity at a county level via the public health team.

The LRF has now come to the end of their forward plan for the oversight and assurance phase as part of the recovery 2021 arrangements   for the pandemic.  Providing that partners no longer needed any further assurance or coordination of recovery activity from the LRF, and the information and evidence provided assurance that recovery could be sustained within everyday core business activity, it was  likely that there would be a decision to stand down the existing recovery command structures. The Council’s Emergency Planning team would continue to support all of the necessary arrangements under the Civil Contingencies Act.

The Board considered the report and during the discussion the following points were noted:

• The Board requested that the outcome of the recovery strategic coordination group meeting be reported to the Board.
• The online booking system for vaccinations was an NHS function and using the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 81.

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

This item was for information only.