Agenda and minutes

Venue: The Council Chamber, Lodge Road, Daventry, NN11 4FP

Contact: Tracy Tiff, Democratic Services 

Items
No. Item

24.

Declarations of Interest

Members are asked to declare any interest and the nature of that interest which they may have in any of the items under consideration at this meeting.

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

25.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 100 KB

To confirm the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 12 October 2022.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

26.

Chair's Announcements

To receive communications from the Chair.

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Colin Foster and Andrew Tagg from the Northamptonshire Children’s Trust to the meeting, who were in attendance to provide the Committee with an overview of the Children’s Trust Budget and its main cost drivers.

27.

Urgent Business

The Chair to advise whether they have agreed to any items of urgent business being admitted to the agenda.

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

28.

Budget Scrutiny

The Committee to commence its budget scrutiny process for 2022-23 with a particular focus on the Northamptonshire Children’s Trust Budget. 

Minutes:

The Committee received a presentation from the Chief Executive and the Director of Finance and Resources of the Northamptonshire Children’s Trust (NCT) which provided an overview of the Children’s Trust budget and its main cost drivers.

 

In introducing the presentation, the Chief Executive (NCT) outlined that the shared mission between West Northamptonshire Council and North Northamptonshire Council was to create a service capable of radically improving services for children, young people, and families across Northamptonshire. The present leadership of the trust acknowledged that the trust had emerged out of a very difficult set of circumstances with the former Northamptonshire County Council, however the new model had been set on a clear path towards improvement.

 

The Chief Executive (NCT) explained that a core ambition for the trust was to achieve a ‘Good’ rating in the next full Ofsted inspection scheduled for 2025, however the result of the recent inspection carried out over the autumn of 2022 would not be made public until late November 2022. Some of the key achievements of the trust so far included:

 

1)    Delivered 6,000 more placement days using approx. same funds as 2019/20

2)    Improved quality of social care practice and management oversight, which is helping to keep children safe, as evidenced in Ofsted visits and inspections, peer reviews and internal quality assurance

3)    More of our social worker posts are filled 15.8% social worker vacancies in June 2022 (England average 17%) compared with 22.28% in October 2019 and no unallocated cases

4)    Improved working with our partners and a stronger strategic approach to early help; improved early help assessment, step down process and timeliness of support

5)    An embedded quality assurance framework working alongside practitioners to collaboratively reflect on practice, celebrate good practice and identify learning, which is ‘improving children’s experiences’

6)    Achieved 100% supporting families PBR grant funds through improving practice 21/22 (previous best 37%)

7)    Reducing pressures in the system in the context of increasing demand

 

In outlining the key cost drivers behind the Children’s Trust budget, the Chief Executive (NCT) explained that these were an increase in children’s social care cases in the care system, and increased number of children in care, increased cost and reduced availability of placements, increasing independent fostering agency fees, and workforce pressures. In terms of additional pressures aside from the key cost drivers that were outlined, the contract negotiation also included the implementation of a staff pay award above the contract sum provision (£1.9m) based on the flat rate of increase of £1,925. There were also additional pressures related to demand growth in children’s placements (£4.380m), inflationary increases above the contract sum in placements (£2.062m) and transport (0.675m), the non-delivery of £1.2m o for the development of children’s homes which had been built into future savings forecasts following the confirmation of capital funding in October 2022, and a cost of £0.844m following a Local Government Ombudsman judgement relating to adoption.

 

In response to questions from the Committee regarding how the Trust was managing workforce pressures, the Chief  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

29.

Call-in of Cabinet Decision of 11 October 2022 - Agenda Item 13: Office Optimisation Stage 1 building adaptations budget and disposals pdf icon PDF 133 KB

Called in by Councillors:

 

Cllr Wendy Randall (originator)

Cllr Janice Duffy

Cllr Jamal Alwahabi

Cllr Keith Holland-Delamere

Cllr Catherine Russell

Cllr Danielle Stone

Cllr Kyriakoulla Jolley

Cllr Muna Cali

 

In accordance with 10.5.5 of the Council’s Constitution.

 

Cabinet – 11 October 2022 – Agenda Item 13: Office Optimisation Stage 1 building adaptations and disposals

 

Decision:

a)  Agree to the proposed new capital budget of £2 million to carry out Stage 1 of the Office Optimisation project and recommend to Council that the Capital budget is amended to reflect the proposed change.

b)  Authorise the Assistant Director Assets & Environment to procure and award the contracts to deliver the Stage 1 works.

c)  Authorise the Assistant Director Assets & Environment in consultation with the Executive Director Finance and Cabinet Member for Finance to dispose of the Lodge Road offices, in whole or part, by leasehold or freehold, for the best consideration reasonably obtainable.

d)  Agree that the Lodge Road offices be vacated by 31st March 2023 in order that the revenue savings and/or capital gains be achieved as quickly as practicable thereafter. 

 

Reasons for Call-in

·      That the financial implications and data associated with this decision requires further examination by Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

·      There was a failure to adequately consider alternative options with this decision.

·      There was failure to consider the impact this decision would have on the voluntary organisations currently based in the Abbey Centre and in turn the ramifications that would have on the local community.

 

On these grounds, this Cabinet decision contravenes clauses:

 

(a) “take into account all relevant considerations and ignore those which are irrelevant”

(d) “due consultation and proper advice is taken and consideration of alternative options before decisions are reached”

(n) “following best practice, securing best value and making the most efficient and effective use of resources”

 

Under section 1.22 “Principles of Decision Making” in the West Northamptonshire Council Constitution.

 

It is requested that this matter placed on the agenda for the next regular meeting of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee for consideration and review.

 

The alternative course of action requested of Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and in turn Cabinet, to take into consideration is keeping the Lodge Road offices open for staff that require desks and renting out any vacant space.

 

Minutes:

The Chair introduced the Call-In request and explained that, on the advice of the Monitoring Officer, the Call-In request had been through the appropriate channels and was deemed to be valid. The Chair then explained the procedure for the Call-In and invited the Call-In originator, Councillor Wendy Randall, to address the Committee and outline the reasons for the Call-In.

 

In outlining the reasons for the Call-In, Councillor Randall explained that the decision of Cabinet to proceed with Stage 1 of the Council’s office optimisation and building adaptation proposals, which included the closure of the Lodge Road Offices in Daventry and the establishment of a smaller office base in The Abbey Centre, had been taken without the appropriate consultation with staff having taken place, inadequate consideration of alternative options, inadequate consideration of the impact the decision could have on voluntary organisations based in The Abbey Centre, and also a lack of consideration to the CCTV system operated by Daventry Town Council, the cabling for which was linked to the Lodge Road building.

 

Councillor Randall questioned why no business plan or forward plan had ever been produced and shared with all Councillors prior to the taking of this decision and explained that it was of vital importance that Councillors be fully consulted not only on this decision, and all decisions of such magnitude in the future.

 

In outlining the possible impact of the Cabinet decision on staff based at Lodge Road, Councillor Randall expressed disappointment with the fact that the announcement of this decision was shared with all staff via email with no prior warning for the affected staff, though noted the Chief Executive’s explanation that this had to be done quickly and decisively to quash inaccurate rumours. As part of the Call-In, Councillor Randall  also requested further information on the effect of this decision on office-based staff at Lodge Road, who it was claimed were now facing additional costs associated with more regular home working or travelling to the Council’s other office buildings in Northampton and Towcester.

 

Members of the Committee had no questions of the Call-In originator.

 

In response to the Call-In, the Executive Director – Place and Economy sought to explain the rationale behind the office optimisation project, which was to ensure that the Council’s core buildings were used in the most efficient and effective way, taking account of changes to working practices and building requirements following the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular the introduction of worker types for all staff across the organisation. 

 

The work behind the office optimisation project had reviewed the Council’s core buildings for the best use and space, monitored the occupancy levels of the buildings, sought to understand the future space and storage requirements of all services, and considered the current costs, age, flexibility, usage, and local context of all core buildings.

 

The Executive Director – Place and Economy explained that the project would facilitate the creation of local hubs, which would be based out of The Abbey Centre in Daventry, The Forum in Towcester,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

30.

Review of Committee Work Programme pdf icon PDF 85 KB

To review and note the Committee Work Programme.

Minutes:

The Committee considered its work programme and no changes were proposed.

 

Resolved

 

(1)  That the Committee Work Programme be noted.