Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Moncur.

Members are requested at a meeting where a disclosable pecuniary interest or personal interest arises, which is not already included in their Register of Members' Interests, todeclare any interests that relate to an item on the agenda.

Where a Member discloses a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest, he/she must withdraw from the meeting room, including from the public gallery, during the whole consideration of any item of business in which he/she has an interest, except where he/she is permitted to remain as a result of a grant of a dispensation.

Where a Member discloses a personal interest he/she must seek advice from the Monitoring Officer or staff member representing the Monitoring Officer to determine whether the Member should withdraw from the meeting room, including from the public gallery, during the whole consideration of any item of business in which he/she has an interest or whether the Member can remain in the meeting or remain in the meeting and vote on the relevant decision.

Councillor Doyle declared a disclosable pecuniary interest in relation to Agenda Item 6, Procurement of Sefton Integrated Homeless Services, Minute No. 43 by virtue of her position as Board Member and Trustee of the Bosco Society Ltd. and Board Member and Trustee of New Start Homes.  Councillor Doyle left the room during the consideration of the item.

Minutes of the meeting held on 29 July 2021.

Decision Made:

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 29 July 2021 be approved as a correct record.

Report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer.

The Cabinet considered the report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer seeking to appoint an elected Member as a Governor of the Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust University Hospital Council, following the resignation of Councillor J. J. Kelly from that position.

Decision Made:

That Councillor Steve McGinnity be appointed as the Sefton Council representative to the Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust University Hospital Council of Governors, with immediate effect, until 24 June 2024.

Reasons for the Decision:

The Cabinet has delegated powers, as set out in Chapter 5, Paragraph 40 of the Constitution, to appoint the Council’s representatives to serve on Outside Bodies.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

None.

Report of the Director of Public Health.

The Cabinet considered the report of the Director of Public Health indicating that in April 2018 the Living Well Sefton Service (LWS) was awarded a contract to provide community-based health and wellbeing services to people living in the most deprived areas of Sefton. The contract was awarded for 3 years with an option to extend for a further 2 years. The current contract had a period of April 2018 to March 2022, plus an option of 2 further years.

In compliance with the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules and dictated by the value associated with the proposed optional 2 years, approval was required from the Cabinet to approve the award for the optional 2-year contract period and retain the contracted service until March 2024, as outlined in the current contract.

Consideration was now required on exercising continuation options as the initial 3-year award within the main contract was due to expire on 31March 2022.

Decision Made:

That authority be granted to exercise the option to extend the current contract for a period of two years from 1April 2022 to 31 March 2024.

Reasons for the Decision:

The current contract is from 1 April 2018 to 31March 2022, with the option to extend for a further 2 years.  Approval is sought by Cabinet to extend the current commission of the LWS Service by an additional two years to March 2024.

This option would provide the following:

·       a longer period of service stability and continuity

·       essential pandemic support

·       recovery support

·       enhanced focus on health improvement issues such as obesity, mental health and lifestyle behaviours which have been negatively impacted during the pandemic

·       opportunity to enhance the partnership and whole system approach

·       opportunity to develop integrated pathways such as the obesity pathway through the Integrated Care System (ICS) whilst maintaining local early intervention and prevention and maintenance of healthy weight. This would enable robust clinical and non-clinical pathway development through the ICS

·       reduced costs to the Council from engaging in a procurement exercise

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

The available options are:

i)      Exercise one-year extension / continuation option. This option would provide a degree of continuity and stability. However, any continuity / stability derived from exercising this option would be limited to twelve months at which point the Council would still need to consider exercising the second extension / continuation option or re-tender the service.

ii)     Conducting a full procurement exercise would not bring about any significant benefits for Sefton Council or for users for the LWS service.

(Councillor Doyle left the Meeting for the following item of business)

Report of the Head of Economic Growth and Housing.

The Cabinet considered the report of the Head of Economic Growth and Housing seeking authorisation to complete a procurement process to replace Homeless and Housing Related Support contracts with an Integrated Homeless Service from July 2022 onwards.

Decisions Made:    That

(1)      authority be granted to the Head of Economic Growth and Housing to complete a light touch regime open procurement exercise to replace Homeless and Housing Related Support contracts that are due to expire on 30June 2022 with an Integrated Homeless Service provision with an initial contract term of five years to commence from 1^st July 2022, with the option to further extend for a period of up to five years (1+1+1+1+1) subject to satisfactory performance of the successful Providers and the required budget being available;

(2)      authority be granted to delegate the procurement process, service specification and tender evaluation criteria and final award of contracts to the Head of Economic Growth and Housing in consultation with the Cabinet Member - Communities and Housing;

(3)      authority be granted to delegate the awarding of any subsequent extensions of contract, beyond the initial five-year contract period, to the Head of Economic Growth and Housing in consultation with the Cabinet Member - Communities and Housing subject to the required budget being available; and

(4)      authority be granted to delegate the decision to approve a one-off uplift in funding from 2027 onwards over the remaining 5 years to the Head of Economic Growth and Housing in consultation with Cabinet Member - Communities and Housing subject to any additional cost being contained within the existing budget for the Economic Growth and Housing Service or from additional external funding if available.

Reasons for the Decisions:

Homeless and Housing Related Support contracts with an annual value of £877,824 expire on 30 June 2022 and any replacement contracts must be procured in compliance with Public Contract Regulations.

The services covered by these contracts are important services for the delivery of the Council’s Homelessness & Rough Sleeping Strategy 2018-23.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

The Council could determine to only provide statutory homeless services and to cease provision of wholly discretionary and preventive service. Implications of deciding not to procure replacement services would be:

·      A reputational and financial risk to the authority by the potential failure to perform its statutory duty to homeless applicants. This could result in expensive litigation including judicial review proceedings.

·      An increase in the cost of the Council having to provide temporary accommodation for homeless people in expensive B&B placements that we currently rarely use.

·      A potential increase in rough sleeping in the Sefton Borough; the accommodation services provide accommodation for residents who would otherwise be street homeless.

(Councillor Doyle returned to the Meeting)

Report of the Executive Director of Children’s Social Care and Education.

The Cabinet considered the report of the Executive Director of Children’s Social Care and Education seeking agreement to additional posts within the structure of Children’s Social Care. The additional posts outlined within the report aimed to provide some further injection into the workforce and begin further improvements in practice for children, as well as addressing costs.

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care, Councillor Doyle welcomed the report and the proposals contained within it and highlighted that the proposals should deliver service improvements within the Department whilst also delivering a model of invest to save.

Decision Made:

That in consultation with the Cabinet Member – Children’s Social Care and Cabinet Member – Regulatory, Compliance and Corporate Services, delegated authority be granted to the Executive Director of Children’s Social Care and Education Excellence and the Executive Director Corporate Resources and Customer Services to proceed with adaptations to the model of the department.

Reasons for the Decision:

Sefton Metropolitan Council is committed to delivering the best services for our most vulnerable children and families. There is a commitment by Members and Officers to make rapid improvement in the delivery of these services. There is a shared ambition for good and outstanding rated services.

Over the last 6 months a significant amount of diagnostic work has been undertaken and triangulation of the quality of services has been informed through the OFSTED focused visit of March 2021 and previous inspections into children’s services and the experience of children in receiving those services. The Council accepts the issues raised by OFSTED in their visit and wishes to improve outcomes for children and families.

The Improvement notice issued by the Department for Education (DfE) in June 2021 has led to the establishment of an Improvement Board, with an Independent Chair. The notice lasts for 12 months and is supported by a DfE Advisor. The activity and recommendations are not limited to this 12-month notice because the request and design of the services aims to provide long term sustainability, continuous improvement and capacity to manage increased demand for services. The recommendations are based upon “what good looks like” and to address critical issues in the delivery of successful outcomes for children.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

N/A.

Report of the Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services.

The Cabinet considered the report of the Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services informing the Cabinet of:

1.       The current financial implications of COVID-19 on the 2021/22 Budget;

2.       The current position relating to the 2021/22 revenue budget;

3.       The current forecast on Council Tax and Business Rates collection for 2021/22;

4.       The monitoring position of the Council’s capital programme to the end of July 2021:

·       The forecast expenditure to year end;

·       Variations against the approved budgets and an explanation of those variations for consideration by Members; and

·       Updates to spending profiles and proposed amendments to capital budgets necessary to ensure the efficient delivery of capital projects are also presented for approval.

The Cabinet Member for Communities and Housing, Councillor Hardy, referred to paragraph 7.7 of the report in relation to the Disabled Facilities Grant and more specifically the recruitment to the vacancies in the Home Improvements and Occupational Therapy teams.

The Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services reported that interim measures had been put in place to address the current back log of work.  He undertook to ascertain the current position in relation to recruitment to the vacant positions and to confirm the timeline.

The Cabinet Member for Education, Councillor Roscoe referred to the impact of the COVID pandemic and the ring fencing of funding/grants in relation to the “carry over” of budget for specific projects.

The Executive Director of Corporate Resources and Customer Services reported that, as far as he was aware, where an extension of time was required, in relation to the funding of the delivery of a project, to his knowledge a flexible approach had been applied by the awarding body and the Council.  

Decisions Made:    That

Revenue Budget

1)       the current financial implications of COVID-19 on the 2021/22 Budget together with the key issues that will influence the final position, be noted;

2)       the current position relating to the 2021/22 revenue budget be noted;

3)       the financial risks associated with the delivery of the 2021/22 revenue budget be recognised and it be acknowledged that the forecast outturn position will continue to be reviewed to ensure a balanced forecast outturn position and financial sustainability can be achieved;

Capital Programme

4)       the spending profiles across financial years for the approved capital programme, as outlined within paragraph 7.1of the report, be noted;

5)       the Council be recommended to approve a supplementary capital estimate of £1.875m for the development of Southport Town Deal projects, as outlined within paragraph 7.10 of the report;

6)       the Council be recommended to approve a supplementary capital estimate of up to £2.500m for the pre-development phase of the Marine Lake Events Centre, subject to the bid to the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to fund the works being successful, as outlined within paragraph 7.10 of the report;

7)       the latest capital expenditure position as at 31 July 2021 of £9.316m, as outlined within paragraph 7.3 of the report, together with the latest full year forecast of £45.475m, as outlined  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.