Full Cabinet 31 March 2015

PRESENT:- Councillor Briggs (vice-chairman) in the chair.

Councillors Poole, C Sherwood and N Sherwood.

Councillors Allcock, Barker, Bunyan, Clark, Collinson, Evison, L Foster, T Foster, Glover, Gosling, Ogg, K Vickers, Whiteley and Wilson also attended the meeting.

Simon Driver, Frances Cunning, Mick Gibbs, Denise Hyde, Becky McIntyre, Karen Pavey, Peter Thorpe, Mike Wedgewood and Mel Holmes also attended the meeting.

The meeting was held at the Civic Centre, Scunthorpe.

1137 DECLARATIONS OF DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTERESTS AND PERSONAL OR PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS – There were no declarations of interest.

1138 MINUTES – Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of Cabinet held on 28 January 2015, having been printed and circulated amongst the members, be taken as read and correctly recorded and be signed by the chairman.

1139 (31) OUTSTANDING ACTION FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS – The Director of Policy and Resources submitted a report which contained a schedule of outstanding issues on which cabinet had requested reports to future meetings.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

1140 ANNUAL PUBLIC HEALTH REPORT – The Director of Public Health gave a detailed presentation in connection with the Annual Public Health Report.  Copies of the report would be available shortly for distribution.

Resolved – That the Director of Public Health be thanked for the presentation.

1141 (32) PUBLIC HEALTH OUTCOMES FUND – The Director of Public Health submitted a report updating cabinet on the outcomes of the initiatives funded by the Public Health Outcomes Fund 2013 and 2014/2015.

In October 2013, services were asked to submit applications for funding to support initiatives that would make a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of the North Lincolnshire population.  Applications were submitted to the Director of Public Health (DPH).  The applications identified information as detailed in paragraph 2.2 of the report and each initiative lead was then asked to present their proposal to the DPH and identify any further output and outcome measures that were to be used to  measure the success, or otherwise of the scheme.  A number of issues were identified at these meetings including the need to bring together a number of schemes with similar outcomes, such as leisure schemes, and the need to be more specific about the indicators and values used to measure success.  The timing of the funding was also discussed and leads were asked to ensure that expenditure was made in the correct year.

18 schemes were accepted in addition to the community grants scheme and these were detailed in paragraph 2.4 of the report.  The progress of the schemes had been monitored on a six monthly basis via reports to the DPH and the council’s management team.  The funding for these schemes via the Public Health Outcomes Fund would cease for the majority of projects at the end of March 2015, but a number of schemes would continue using existing mainstream funding.

The report summarised the position of the 18 projects with the individual reports identifying that there had been a significant number of outputs already achieved by the schemes which were detailed in paragraph 2.6.

The report contained further information in relation to this matter.

Resolved – That cabinet notes and welcomes the outcomes achieved by the Public Health Outcome Funded Schemes.

1142 (33) “JOINING THE DOTS” – AN OFSTED GOOD PRACTICE REPORT INTO EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP OF CHILDREN’S SERVICES – The Director of People submitted a report, introduced and commented on by the Chief Executive informing cabinet that North Lincolnshire had been included in the Ofsted report “Joining the Dots” published in March 2015.  The report was the conclusion of a good practice survey by Ofsted into the effective leadership of children’s services.

North Lincolnshire had been selected by Ofsted to be part of the good practice survey.  The key purpose of the survey was to explore the ways in which successful leadership of children’s services leads to better practice and improves the lives of children and young people.  Areas of focus included –

• Leadership style.

• How successful senior leaders oversee safe and effective professional practice.

• Workforce overview.

• Performance Management.

• Listening to children, young people and their families.

• Leadership and management structures.

• Local Partnerships.

• Relationships between politicians and professionals.

• Readiness for innovation.

North Lincolnshire had been visited by a team of Her Majesty’s Inspectors in August  2014 who undertook a range of fieldwork including case tracking, interviews with  frontline social workers, an interview with the cabinet member, interviews with  leaders at all levels within the local authority, interviews with individuals from  partner organisations including the local Safeguarding Childrens’ Board and  conversations with young people and their parents and carers.

Ofsted surveys cover a number of local authorities and this exercise had not been an  inspection of children’s services within North Lincolnshire.  Nevertheless, the  methodology was a probing and robust test of local arrangements.  The combined  findings of Ofsted’s survey were published in March 2015 in the “Joining the Dots”  report.  A full copy of the report was attached at an appendix to the report.

The bulk of the “Joining the Dots” report focussed on the generic findings from across all nine local authorities involved in the survey.  In short, key features of councils that provided effective leadership of children’s services included a number of key issues which were detailed in paragraph 2.4 of the report.  Where there was practice that Ofsted found to be particularly effective in individual local authorities this had been exemplified through that report using brief cameos.  North Lincolnshire Council had been specifically identified for various pieces of effective practice which were set out in paragraph 2.5 of the covering report and in the full report.  Further details were explained within the report.

Resolved – That cabinet notes the effective practices within North Lincolnshire that had been highlighted with the “Joining the Dots “ report by Ofsted.

1143 (34) THE PROMOTION OF TOURISM IN NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE –  REPORT OF THE PLACES SCRUTINY PANEL – The Director of Policy and  Resources submitted a report in relation to the Promotion of Tourism in North  Lincolnshire.

At its meeting held on 18 March 2015, the Places Scrutiny Panel had approved its draft report on the Promotion of Tourism in North Lincolnshire.  The report was referred to cabinet for consideration of the recommendations with a view to the eventual preparation of an action plan.

In carrying out its review, the panel had focussed on a number of key issues these were to determine –

• The existing nature of tourism in North Lincolnshire.

• The existing strategies and resources for marketing tourism.

• The potential for increasing tourism in North Lincolnshire.

• The role of the council in delivering regional tourism strategies.

A copy of the full report of the panel was attached as an appendix to the report.

Resolved – (a) That the report and recommendations be approved and adopted, and (b) that the relevant members and officers prepare an action plan in response to the recommendations for submission to cabinet in June/July, 2015.

1144 (35) REGENERATING NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE – INTERIM REPORT  OF THE CORPORATE SCRUTINY PANEL – A report was submitted by the  Director of Policy and Resources which considered an interim report of the Corporate  Scrutiny Panel in relation to Regenerating North Lincolnshire.

At its meeting held on 19 March 2015, the Corporate Scrutiny Panel had approved its draft interim report in relation to Regenerating North Lincolnshire.  The report had been referred to cabinet to be noted and welcomed at this stage in the knowledge that when the report was finalised it would contain a number of recommendations.

The panel had agreed to undertake this work in order to assess how the council and its partners were attempting to unlock all the potential for regeneration within North Lincolnshire.

A copy of the interim report was attached as an appendix to the report.

Resolved – That the panel continue to explore future work streams as part of its review into Regenerating North Lincolnshire with a view to submitting a final report with recommendations.