northlincs.gov.uk

330 (60) SECTIONS 43 AND 47 LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE ACT 1988 SECTION 1 LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND RATING ACT 1997 – The Service Director Finance submitted a report considering the level of Business Rate relief to be awarded to 17 ratepayers in North Lincolnshire.

The Policy Committee agreed the legal position and administrative practices for dealing with rate relief on 22 January 1996.

The Corporate Services Cabinet Member on 20 February 2005 (minute 128 refers) agreed to adopt a scoring system based on set criteria for the awarding of discretionary rate relief. The Corporate Services Cabinet Member on 7 February 2005 (minute 233 refers) agreed to amend the criteria. The Corporate Services Cabinet Member on 21 December 2006 agreed to update the criteria and gave approval to the Service Director Finance to authorise relief where the level of relief remained unchanged.

There was no discretion about granting mandatory relief.

Resolved – That the level of rate relief be awarded to each applicant as set out in the schedule attached to the report.

331 (61) VIREMENTS 2009 – 2010 – The Service Director Finance submitted a report seeking approval for changes to the revenue budget for 2009-10.

On 25 February 2009 Council approved the revenue and capital budgets for 2009/2010 financial year (minute 1690 refers). Since then various developments had been approved which needed to be reflected in the budget to assist proper financial control. The report gave details of virements approved by the Service Director Finance under delegated powers and those that required Cabinet Member approval.

Resolved – (a) That the virements at paragraph 3.1 of the report, approved by the Service Director Finance under delegated powers be noted, and (b) that the permanent virements outlined in paragraph 3.2 of the report be approved.

333 (63) WORKSMART STRATEGY – The Deputy Chief Executive submitted a report seeking approval of a strategy for the development and roll out of WorkSmart principles across the council.

The council’s Strategic Plan established WorkSmart of one of the four transformation themes. WorkSmart was about making better use of the council’s accommodation, technology and people to improve performance, provide better services and secure efficiencies. A three to five year programme was anticipated, during which time WorkSmart principles would be rolled out across the council to improve the efficiency in the use of buildings, IT and back office functions.

To improve efficiencies some services had begun to develop WorkSmart, other areas had also begun to think about and implement the principles in their operations.

The report set out main findings and recommendations, including financial implications, of the WorkSmart outline business case, along with a proposal for the core strategy.

Resolved – (a) That the three-part strategy, as set out in paragraph 4.2 of the report, be approved, (b) that the WorkSmart Board press forward with the development of a corporate WorkSmart plan, and (c) that update reports on progress be submitted to the Corporate Services Cabinet Member at regular intervals.

334 (64) “EXPERTS BY EXPERIENCE” – The Service Director Adult Social Care submitted a report outlining Adult Social Services requirement and commitment to improve engagement and involvement of vulnerable adults across North Lincolnshire, and seeking endorsement to develop and trial “Expert by Experience” posts.

Adult Social Services had commenced its “Fit for the Future” project looking at the structures and culture required into the future. One of the key challenges for local authorities was to listen actively to their citizens, placing them more in control of their own lives, supporting real involvement and control over policy setting and service delivery at national and local levels.

Adult Social Services had used a range of different approaches across North Lincolnshire to improve the involvement of vulnerable adults in service planning, delivery and evaluation. No formal payment had been made to citizens who had worked in partnership with Adult Social Services to improve local support structures and services.

There had been a move over more recent years towards acknowledging citizens who had been recipients of services as being “Experts by Experience”, whose skills to be effective partners should be recognised and supported more formally and increase the user voice in shaping the future. The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) initiated an “Expert by Experience” project in early 2006. The project recruited and trained people who had experience of social care services from diverse backgrounds to become active in a range of service inspections.

It was proposed that five “Experts by Experience” be recruited by Adult Social Services. The overall role of the posts would be to advise, support and guide the Strategic Commissioning and Performance team to engage and involve citizens effectively in planning, reviewing and monitoring the quality of the services commissioned.

Resolved – That the creation of the “Experts by Experience” posts, as set out in the report, be approved.

335 (65) FUTURE JOBS FUND DELIVERY – The Head of Strategic Regeneration, Housing and Development submitted a report seeking approval for the establishment of 30 new temporary six-month posts funded through the Future Jobs Fund (FJF).

The FJF was launched in May 2009 by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), in partnership with the Department for Communities and Local Government. The fund would provide £1billion to create new jobs for long term unemployed young people and others who lived in unemployment hotspots, facing significant disadvantage in the labour market.

A consortium bid submitted on behalf of the partners of the Hull and Humber Ports City Region had been successful in securing funding for the creation of 350 new posts. It was proposed that 60 would be based in North Lincolnshire, with both the council and the Voluntary and Community Sector.

The initial contract received from the DWP required jobs to commence by the end of March 2010, however, the bid committed to delivering jobs until the end of October 2010. The contract would be held by North East Lincolnshire Council on behalf of the City Regional partners, with 145 jobs to commence across the City Region by 31 March 2010.

The report gave details of the conditions that the posts must meet in order to be eligible for funding through the FJF.

Resolved – That the creation of 30 new temporary posts, funded through the Future Jobs Fund, as set out in the report, be approved.

336 (66) BUILDING SCHOOLS FOR THE FUTURE ICT AGENT – The Service Directors Asset Management and Culture and Transition and Development submitted a joint report seeking approval for the creation of a new fixed term post of ICT Agent to support the delivery of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme within North Lincolnshire.

Following the securing of funding to rebuild and modernise secondary schools in Scunthorpe via the BSF initiative. The programme was underpinned by a vision to transform learning by combining inspirational building and facilities, flexible learning spaces and information and communication technologies (ICT).

The BSF programme included a major investment in ICT offering the opportunity to create a common digital platform. This allowed all secondary and primary schools to take advantage of the major capital investment.

To support the delivery of the major investment in ICT, specialist additional resources were required in the form of an ICT Agent. The purpose was to operate as an ICT interface agent between all internal and external contracted ICT parties contributing to the delivery of the BSF programme.

Resolved – (a) That the establishment of a new fixed-term post of ICT Agent – Building Schools for the Future, as set out in the report, be approved, and (b) that initially the post be advertised for internal applicants only.

The following items contain exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

337 (67) PROPERTY TRANSACTION SCHEDULE – The Service Director Asset Management and Culture submitted a report for consideration, and where necessary approval, of a schedule containing the terms of all recently negotiated property transactions.

Resolved – That the schedule appended to the report be approved.

338< (68) REGRADING AND REDESIGNATION WITH EXTENDED SERVICES TEAM – The Service Director Children and Young People’s Service submitted a report seeking approval for the re-grading application and redesignation of the Administrative Officer (Extended Services) to the title of Operational Support Officer.

The role of the existing postholder had dramatically increased as a result of changes to the extended services agenda. The existing postholder had taken on additional responsibilities supporting across many differing agendas/initiatives and as such the job description for the role had been reviewed to reflect these changes.

The title of the role had also changed to bring it into line with similar roles within Community Services and Younger Children service area.

Resolved – That the regrading and redesignation of the post of Administrative Officer (Extended Services), as set out in the report, be approved.

339 (69) ADULT EDUCATION SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM REVIEW – The Service Director Children and Young People’s Service submitted a report seeking to implement a restructure of the senior management team in Adult Education in order to address outstanding leadership and management issues arising from the inspection of the service carried out in September 2008.

The Ofsted Inspection report on North Lincolnshire Council Adult Education Service undertaken in September 2008 (published 06/11/08) identified failings within the leadership and management. The subsequent Notice to Improve delivered by the Learning and Skills Council triggered support from the Learning and Skills Improvement Service starting in December 2008.

The report gave full details of the review of interim management arrangements, including financial implications.

Resolved – That the proposals contained in the report be approved.

Note: Reports are in Portable Document Format (PDF) and therefore require a suitable reader to view them. A reader can be downloaded free from the Adobe website (full instructions for downloading the reader are provided on the site).

Where there is no report this is because it is exempt, as it contains information which is considered to be of a confidential nature, as detailed in the Local Government (Access to Information) Act.