Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, County Offices, Newland, Lincoln LN1 1YL. View directions

Contact: Emily Wilcox  Democratic Services Officer

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Items
No. Item

15.

Apologies for Absence/Replacement Members

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors I Carrington, P M Dilks, C E H Marfleet and C S Macey.

 

It was reported that, under Regulation 13 of the Local Government (Committee and Political Groups) Regulations 1990, Councillor A M Key had been appointed as a replacement Member for Councillor C E H Marfleet and Councillor A J Baxter had been appointed as a replacement Member for Councillor P M Dilks. for this meeting only.

 

The Board also noted apologies from Councillor M J Hill OBE, Leader of the Council and Executive Councillor for Resources, Communications and Commissioning; Debbie Barnes OBE, Chief Executive and Glen Garrod, Executive Director – Adult Care and Community Wellbeing.

 

16.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

17.

Minutes of the meeting held on 26 May 2022 pdf icon PDF 661 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

 

        That minutes of the meeting held on 26 May 2022 be approved as a   correct record and signed by the Chairman. 

 

18.

Announcements by the Chairman, Executive Councillors and Chief Officers

Minutes:

The Chairman announced that he had attended the last meeting of the Executive on  7 June and presented the Board’s comments on the approval to procure contracts for temporary agency staff and the delivery of HR administration, payroll, exchequer, adult care finance and the Customer Service Centre (CSC). In relation to the temporary agency staff comments, the Chairman had highlighted the Board’s views that more priority needed to be given to reducing the reliance on agency staff, such as through ‘grow our own’.

 

The Executive was updated on the initiatives in place to “grow our own” staff, particularly in relation to Children’s Services. However, it was highlighted that it was not possible to add any financial clause to contracts requiring staff to stay with the authority after their training was completed.

 

19.

Consideration of Call-Ins

Minutes:

None had been received.

20.

Consideration of Councillor Calls for Action

Minutes:

None had been received.

21.

Corporate Plan Success Framework 2021/22 - Quarter 4 pdf icon PDF 392 KB

(To receive a report by Caroline Jackson, Head of Corporate Performance, which invites the Board to consider the Corporate Plan Success Framework 2021/22 - Quarter 4 which is due to be considered by the Executive on  05 July 2022.  The views of the Board will be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report by the Head of Corporate Performance, which invited the Board to consider a report on the Corporate Plan Success Framework 2021/22 – Quarter 4, which was due to be reported to the Executive on  5 July 2022.

 

Overall, performance against the corporate plan was progressing well. Of 39 activities with milestones due to be reported in quarter 4, 34 were progressing as planned, four were progressing within agreed limits and one was not progressing as planned. Further details were provided and could be found at Appendix A to the report.

 

Of the nine KPIs where an ambition had been set five had met their ambition, three had exceeded the ambition and one did not achieve the ambition, which were set out in the report.

 

It was noted that the Council did not hold data on sickness absence levels for agency staff and data would have to be obtained from each individual agency.

 

Members were advised that an increase in the number of complex cases considered within the customer service centre had led to a decrease in the early resolution of cases. Assurance was provided that building capacity within services to be able to respond quickly was a key priority and improvements had been made in this area.

 

The Board supported the proposals to the Executive and during the discussion the following points were noted:

 

·       In relation to concerns raised about the ambition “Enable everyone to enjoy life to the full” and how achievable this was for all residents in Lincolnshire, the Deputy Leader of the Council agreed to raise this with the Leader of the Council and recognised that this ambition would not be applicable to all residents in Lincolnshire but for those that needed additional support.

·       PI 44: Days lost to sickness absence per FTE - There had been an increase in mental health illness amongst Council staff since the Covid-19 pandemic. A range of measures had been put in place to support staff through staff networks, the Public Health team and HR. The Smarter Working Policy ensured bringing teams together could be maximised to help support colleagues. In addition, it was important to ensure that new starters to the Council were supported.

·       PIs 36 – 39: Waste & Recycling - The headline figures for household waste recycling indicate that recycling rates were falling which was a concern. This was a reflection of changing habits during the pandemic where people were more at home and their approach to managing waste had changed. The rollout of the separate paper and card collections in three district areas was bringing benefits in terms of an upturn in the recycling rates and improved quality of the waste. There was a need to continue to improve and look at other initiatives to increase recycling rather than have waste go through the Energy from Waste plant. The Environment Act would bring further expectations and responsibilities on the Council as the waste disposal authority and the districts as the waste collection  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

22.

For Lincolnshire County Council to jointly establish the Integrated Care Partnership with the Integrated Care Board pdf icon PDF 390 KB

(To receive a report by Alison Christie – Programme Manager, Public Health, which invites the Board to consider a report which considers the establishment of the Integrated Care Partnership, which is due to be considered by the Executive on 5 July 2022. The views of the Board will be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report by the Programme Manager – Public Health, which invited the Committee to consider a report which considers the establishment of an Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) with the Integrated Care Board (ICB) which was being presented to the Executive on 05 July 2022.

 

Members were advised that under the new Health and Care Act Lincolnshire County Council had a duty to jointly establish an Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) with the Lincolnshire NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) as part of the new landscape within the Integrated Care System (ICS) to be known locally as “Better Lives Lincolnshire.” Lincolnshire County Council and the Integrated Care Board would be coterminous and it was intended that the strategies of the ICB and the Health and Wellbeing Board be aligned.

 

The benefits of the partnership were outlined and included improved outcomes in population health and healthcare; the ability to tackle inequalities in outcomes, experience, and access; the ability to enhance productivity and value for money and helping the NHS support broader social and economic development.

 

The report proposed that the Executive Councillor for NHS Liaison, Community Engagement, Registration and Coroners, be appointed as the County Council’s representative on the joint committee.

 

The Board supported the recommendations to the Executive and during the discussion the following points were noted:

 

  • The Board acknowledged the benefits of one ICP and one Health and Wellbeing Board (as well as one ICB) for Lincolnshire, as this would be beneficial in reducing the complexities, which are expected in other health systems where there was more than one upper tier local authority. It was hoped that the ICP would reduce ‘silo’ working, which has been a tendency of the NHS in the past.   

·       There was an aim to align both the membership and the meetings of the ICP and the Health and Wellbeing Board as much as possible.  Under the legislation, the membership of the ICP was the responsibility for the ICP itself.  However, there was an intention to seek representation on the ICP from higher education and the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership.

·       In addition to the requirement to prepare an integrated care strategy, the initial focus of the ICP would be on prevention, exploring how the Council’s public health function can further support NHS colleagues, and making use of the opportunities presented.

·       Although the NHS Lincolnshire ICB would be in place from 1 July 2022, in effect replacing the Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group, acute hospital provider trusts would continue in their current form as separate NHS entities.  Thus, United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, and to a lesser extent North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, as well as others, would continue to provide acute hospital services to Lincolnshire residents.

 

RESOLVED :

 

1.    That the recommendations to the Executive, as set out in the report, be supported;

That a summary of the comments made be passed on to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item.

23.

Review of Financial Performance 2021/22 pdf icon PDF 405 KB

(To receive a report by Michelle Grady, Assistant Director – Finance, which invites the Board to consider a report on the Review of Financial Performance for 2021/22 which is due to be presented to the Executive on 5 July 2022. The views of the Board will be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report by the Assistant Director – Finance, which invited the Board to consider a report on the Review of Financial Performance 2021/22 which would be presented to the Executive on 5 July 2022.

 

The Board noted that the total service revenue spending, excluding schools, was underspent by £13.582m and the revenue spending for schools had also underspent by £17m, which would carry forward to 2022/23. The full revenue outturn position was set out at table C.

 

The net capital expenditure was £100.4m which was £50.049m less than planned due to slippage in the delivery of works. Further details were set out at table D.

 

It was proposed that the surplus underspend of £7.392m be transferred to the Development Fund earmarked reserve for Local Highways works in the four Highways areas (£5.000m) and carried forward to the 2022/23 contingency budget to help deal with inflationary pressures (£2.392m).

 

No further covid-19 funding was expected.

 

The Board supported the recommendations to the Executive and during the discussion the following points were noted:

 

·       Discussions on the allocation of underspends did not take place until the end of the financial year once the exact amounts and financial pressures were known. Each directorate would keep 1% of its underspend.

·       The loss of £24m of government funding over the last two years had impacted significantly on the Highways budget. The additional funding proposed for Highways was supported by the Board given the state of the roads and footpaths were a main area of concern for local residents and led to several claims against the Council for pothole damage. A number of roads needed significant investment, particularly in rural areas which were affected by large agricultural machinery and urban areas due to the volume of traffic. The Highways Asset Management Plan would help to determine where the funding should be allocated according to priority.

·       The Green Masterplan was a project included within the Development Fund. As part of the Green Agenda and in response to the rising cost of energy, the Council was investigating how it could get energy saving aids, such as solar panels PV and heat recovery, into the Council’s buildings.

·       The Council was facing considerable financial volatility and uncertainty due to inflation, on-going pay negotiations which were likely to be higher than budgeted for, higher energy costs when the current procurement deals for gas and electricity come to an end, and the increase in the national living wage which would impact on the Council’s contracts with providers.

·       The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government had announced at the Local Government Association Conference that there would be a consultation on a two-year financial settlement shortly. The fairer funding review, which was due this calendar year, may see limited redistribution across councils.

·       It was suggested that the ringfenced funding of £335,000 for civil parking enforcement and permitting should be used to employ more parking attendants across the county.

·       It was also suggested that some of the underspend proposed for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

24.

Procurement of LCC Telephony Service pdf icon PDF 380 KB

(To receive a report byLee Sirdifield, Assistant Director – Corporate and John Wickens, Assistant Director - IMT and Enterprise Architecture, which invites the Board to consider a report on the Procurement of the LCC telephony service, which is due to be considered by the Executive on 5 July 2022. The views of the Board will be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report by the Assistant Director – Corporate, which invited the Board to consider a report on the Procurement of LCC Telephony Service, which was due to be considered by the Executive on 5 July 2022.

 

Due to the development of cloud based telephony in recent years, and the  Council’s adoption of the use of Microsoft Teams and other inter-organisational communication methods, it was proposed that Lincolnshire County Council (LCC)  replaced the existing Avaya telephone system  with the Anywhere 365 cloud contact centre solution.

 

The benefits of switching to a cloud based system were highlighted and included increased choice, effective management of social media interaction and improving the ability for automated technologies. However, it was also recognised that there was still a need for customers to be able to speak directly with an individual in some circumstances.

 

The new software would allow calls to be made through Microsoft Teams and would enhance the performance reporting and service provision of the customer service centre, as well as make savings of around £1m over the next five years.

 

The Board supported the proposals to the Executive and during the discussion the following points were noted:

 

·       Members enquired about consequences from the long overdue “stabilisation upgrade” to the telephony system and queried why the upgrade was not carried out earlier as well as what could have been done to avoid implications by the delay. Officers explained that upgrade patches and version upgrades were deployed to ensure that software remained functional and up-to-date keeping systems functioning and technically compliant and this was the core purpose of that project. Numerous factors contributed to the delays including technical complexities in conjunction with the involvement of different organisations and key stakeholders, and more recently disruptions to the communications market during the pandemic. However, impacts to LCC had been well contained for many months now, including that the project had also provided an effective stabilisation of the existing software platform bringing service interruptions down limiting ongoing impact to LCC even whilst project completion was delayed in delivery. In addition, the target system had been available for some time with limited shortcomings to the requirements in the event LCC needed to perform an emergency migration away from the old system.  Any commercial impact of the delay was mostly borne by the supplier and at each review continuing the technical project offered the best risk/cost profile for LCC. Officers highlighted the benefit of a stable and functioning system ahead of transitioning to the new system. When explaining why now was seen as the time to move to the next generation of telephony, Officers explained the pandemic saw disruption to the telephony market as organisations moved on mass towards alternative technologies to communicate, such as Zoom or Teams. This change saw new suppliers gain prominence in the market and a greater focus on products integrating with other solutions, such as Microsoft Office and Teams and away from putting telephones on desks. This combined with the Councils Digital  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

25.

Overview and Scrutiny Management Board Work Programme pdf icon PDF 641 KB

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

 

Minutes:

This item was for information only.

 

 
 
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