Cabinet 30 January 2018
Chairman: Councillor R Waltham
Venue: Council Chamber, Civic Centre, Scunthorpe
Time: 4 pm
E-Mail Address: richard.mell@northlincs.gov.uk
AGENDA
1. Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and Personal or Personal and Prejudicial interests.
2. To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of cabinet held on 4 December, 2017.
3. Forthcoming Action from Previous Meetings – Report of the Director: Governance and Partnerships.
4. Grenfell Tower Fire – Update on the Local Response
(i) Oral update from Ongo Homes and Humberside Fire and Rescue Service
(ii) Report of the Director : Operations
5. North Lincolnshire Annual Education Report 2017 – Report of the Director: Learning, Skills and Culture.
6. Festival of Skills and Opportunities-Report of the Director: Business Development.
7. Tour of Britain 2017 – Report of the Director: Business Development.
8. Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) – Report of the Director: Governance and Standards.
9. Any other items which the Chairman decides are urgent by reason of special circumstances which must be specified.
MINUTES
PRESENT:- Councillor Hannigan (vice-chairman) in the Chair.
Councillors J Davison, Marper, Poole, Rose and C Sherwood.
Councillors Armiger, Bainbridge, Briggs, Collinson, A Davison, Ellerby, L Foster, T Foster, Godfrey, Gosling, Kataria, Ogg, K Vickers, Wilson and Wells also attended the meeting.
Denise Hyde, Simon Green, Becky McIntyre, Helen Manderson, K Pavey, Penny Spring, Peter Thorpe, Peter Williams, Steve Hepworth, Nick Tharratt and Richard Mell also attended the meeting.
The meeting was held at the Civic Centre, Scunthorpe.
1289 DECLARATIONS OF DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTERESTS AND PERSONAL OR PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS – Councillor Briggs declared a personal interest in relation to agenda items 4(i) and (ii) (minute 1292 refers) as a member of Humberside Fire Authority.
1290 MINUTES – Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of Cabinet held on 4 December 2017, having been printed and circulated amongst the members, be taken as read and correctly recorded and be signed by the chairman.
1291 (20) FORTHCOMING ACTION FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS – The Director: Governance and Partnerships submitted a report which contained a schedule of forthcoming issues on which Cabinet had requested reports to future meetings.
Resolved – That the report be noted.
1292 (21) GRENFELL TOWER FIRE – UPDATE ON LOCAL RESPONSE – Oral Update from Humberside Fire and Rescue Service and Ongo Homes, and report of the Director: Operations – Pursuant tominute 1267, Nick Tharratt – Humberside Fire and Rescue Service and Steve Hepworth – Ongo Homes attended the meeting and updated the Cabinet on the ongoing work being carried out by their organisations as part of the local response to the Grenfell Tower disaster in North Lincolnshire. Nick Tharratt summarised the following work –
· Level 1 and 2 Audits of high rise premises;
· Developing and implementing action plans with Ongo Homes;
· Supporting and welcoming Ongo Homes installation of the sprinkler systems being introduced into their high rise premises;
· Supporting associated fire prevention systems and mechanisms to reduce risk;
· Ongoing work with local communities on fire awareness, and
· Referred to the interim report of the Hackitt Inquiry published on 18 December 2018 and Humberside Fire and Rescue Service’s initial response to it.
Steve Hepworth summarised the following work –
· Review of all fire safety and fire stopping at their high rise premises;
· Independent testing of all cladding used;
· Installation of £800,000 sprinkler systems at high rise premise commenced on 15 January 2018;
· Review of all staff training for response to fires, together with inspection of fire alarms and equipment;
· Fire Risk Assessments in every flat, including all safety doors, and
· Ongoing work with Humberside Fire and Rescue Service and North Lincolnshire Council.
In addition to the above, the Director: Operations also submitted a report which summarised further action taken locally following the fire resulting in 71 fatalities. He explained that North Lincolnshire Council had continued to receive requests from Government departments for information on local buildings, with significance placed on the following issues –
· The presence of ACM cladding panels.
· The importance of Fire Risk Assessments that specifically take account of a building’s cladding.
· Elevated risk associated with buildings above 18 metres or four to six storeys in height.
· Elevated risk associated with buildings that have a residential use.
The council did not operate any buildings that fall into the high risk categories highlighted in the above requests and as such had submitted nil returns. Ongo Homes have submitted information as required relating to the four residential tower blocks located in North Lincolnshire.
The Director’s report also referred to the above work already outlined by Humberside Fire and Rescue Service and Ongo Homes and commented on the ongoing monitoring of the local response by the council’s Governance and Standards Scrutiny Panel. Reference was made to the ongoing Hackitt Inquiry, its interim report and the expected final report due in the spring of 2018.
Nick Tharratt and Steve Hepworth then responded to members questions.
Resolved – (a) That the information set out in the Director’s report be noted; (b) that the Cabinet continues to support the positive action taken locally by the council and both Ongo Homes and Humberside Fire and Rescue Service following the Grenfell Tower fire; (c) that the Cabinet receives a further report following completion of the installation of sprinkler systems and the publication of Hackitt Inquiry’s final report, and (d) that the council’s unanimous cross-party support of the ongoing excellent response locally to this tragic incident by council officers, Humberside Fire and Rescue Service and Ongo Home be welcomed.
1293 (22) ANNUAL EDUCATION REPORT 2017 – The Director: Learning, Skills and Culture submitted a report presenting the Annual Education Report 2017, which was attached as an appendix.
The council had a statutory duty to ensure area-wide standards and educational excellence.In line with the council’s role as an enabler and facilitator of sector-led improvement, the council had set the ambition of attaining top-quartile outcomes for children and young people by all measures. By 2020, North Lincolnshire would be amongst the best local authority areas in England for:
· attendance and inclusion
· the quality of provision
· learning outcomes.
The council had prioritised improving education outcomes for all children and young people. Additional investment had been made for improving the quality of provision and the effectiveness of leadership and governance in schools and other settings.
The Annual Education Report provided a summary of the progress made with the implementation of the Education and Skills Plan: ‘All Our Children 2020’ published in July 2016, together with a synopsis of its impact on education outcomes for children and young people. The report identified the key areas for action, with the purpose of provoking debate about how to address local education priorities. Headlines for 2017 were highlighted on page 2 of the annual report. This drew attention to significant achievements in further raising standards for children and young people, which were also summarised in paragraph 2.4 of the Director’s report.
The Annual Education Report for 2017 had already been approved for publication by the Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Learning.
Resolved – That the North Lincolnshire Annual Education Report for the academic year 2016/17 be noted.
1294 (23) FESTIVAL OF SKILLS AND OPPORTUNITIES – Further to minute 1279, the Director: Business Development submitted a report updating cabinet on the success of the Festival of Skills and Opportunities 2017. This was the third year of the festival which was popular across all ages and continued to go from strength to strength.
The Director in her report summarised a series of successful events which included the ‘Open Doors’ event hosted by the Department for Work and Pensions and Baths Hall which over 800 people attended, the Careers Event supported by the Careers Enterprise Service which 1500 young people attended from 14 local schools, and the Discover event at the Pods attended by over 240 primary school children. Three other events specifically targeted high profile skills gap – WiME (Women into Manufacturing and Engineering) Women returning to work and This Ability an event to encourage employees to employ persons with disabilities.
Social media successfully promoted the events resulting in over 3000 people attending. The events illustrated to business North Lincolnshire’s commitment to growth and industry, as well to residents the council’s role in facilitating them to access training, courses and employment.
Resolved – That the success of the Festival of Skills and Opportunities 2017 be noted.
1295 (24) TOUR OF BRITAIN 2017 – Further to minute 1280, the Director: Business Development submitted a report on the success of Stage 3 road race of the Tour of Britain 2017 hosted by North Lincolnshire on 5 September 2017. The race had attracted 20 grand tour international cycling teams, high profile riders and show cased North Lincolnshire as the ‘best place’ experience by 200,000 spectators on the day.
The report summarised the involvement of communities, schools, and spectators on the day especially local competitions and the Race Village and Promo Zone, with specific praise by the race organisers to the over whelming level of volunteering and commitment by the people of North Lincolnshire, which would be shared as best practice for future years and stages.
The Director also highlighted the economic impact assessment of the Tour of Britain hosted by North Lincolnshire and associated qualitative feedback. Her report also referred to legacy activities to build on the place marketing opportunities created by the event coming to North Lincolnshire and to promote further the area as a location to visit and stay.
Resolved – That the success of the Tour of Britain for North Lincolnshire be noted.
1296 (25) REGULATION OF INVESTIGATORY POWERS ACT 2000 (RIPA) – The Director: Governance and Partnerships submitted a report seeking approval of the council’s 2018/19 RIPA policy, and updated members on RIPA activity.
IPA created a regulatory framework to govern the way public authorities handled and conducted covert investigation. This included covert surveillance directed at a person(s), the use of a “covert human intelligence source”, which involved the establishing of a relationship for the covert purpose of obtaining information and access to communications data such as telephone subscriber details and itemised phone logs.
The Council’s main use of RIPA relating to lawful surveillance activities between the period 1 February 2017 to 1 February 2018, following authorisation of a number of RIPA applications were set out in paragraph 2.5 of the report. In accordance with the legislation and the RIPA policy, all applications were authorised internally and also by the Magistrates Court.
The Director as the council’s Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) with responsibility for the oversight of the RIPA process, explained that the council’s RIPA Policy was attached as Appendix 1 to the report and no amendments had been made to the policy. RIPA also formed part of the Counter Fraud Strategy which was approved by the Audit Committee as surveillance may be necessary to investigate potential fraud in certain cases.
Resolved – (a) That the 2018/19 RIPA Policy be approved, and (b) that the content of the update report be noted.