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Shirehall
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Shropshire
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Agenda and minutes

Venue: THIS IS A VIRTUAL MEETING - PLEASE USE THE LINK ON THE AGENDA TO LISTEN TO THE MEETING. View directions

Contact: Julie Fildes  Committee Officer

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Items
No. Item

86.

Apologies for Absence and Substitutions

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Alan Mosley and Les Winwood.

87.

Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

Members are reminded that they must not participate in the discussion or voting on any matter in which they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and should leave the room prior to the commencement of the debate.

 

Minutes:

No disclosable pecuniary interests were declared.

88.

Minutes of the meetings held on 10th June and 8th July 2020

To consider the Minutes of the Performance Management Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 10th June and 8th July 2020. [To follow]

Minutes:

Consideration of the minutes of the meetings held on 10th June and 8th July 2020 were deferred to the next meeting of the Committee.

89.

Public Question Time

To receive any questions, statements or petitions from the public of which members of the public have given notice.  Deadline for notification for this meeting is 11am on Monday 27th July 2020.

Minutes:

There were no public questions.

90.

Member Question Time

To receive any questions of which members of the Council have given notice.  Deadline for notification for this meeting is 4.30pm on Friday 24th July 2020.

Minutes:

There were no questions from Members.

91.

Update on the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Local Area Inspection pdf icon PDF 605 KB

To receive a report from the Director of Children’s Services, Interim Acting Chief Executive. [Report attached, Appendix A to follow]

 

Contact:  Karen Bradshaw  Tel 01743 254201

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Acting Interim Chief Executive, Director of Children’s Services presented her report and introduced Claire Parker, Director of Partnerships, NHS Shropshire CCQ and NHS Telford and Wrekin CCQ, and Zara Bowden, Chair of the Parent and Carers Council [PACC] who were in attendance. Members noted the significant areas of strength identified by the Inspectors during the recent Joint SEND CQC and Ofsted Inspection, as well as the areas identified for improvement.  In response to a Member’s observation, she confirmed that joint working between the Council and local stakeholders had undergone significant recent improvement and that the appointment of Claire Parker as SEND Health Lead, had further strengthened the strategic and operational aspects of the working relationship.  This was endorsed by Ms Parker.

 

Members attention was drawn to section 5.6 of the report where areas of improvement were identified.  The Director of Children’s Services confirmed that Officers were aware of these areas prior to the inspection and work had already started to address the issues raised.  The Inspectors had identified a lack of robustness and the need to improve methods of measuring outcomes in the Action Plan and a Written Statement of Action [WSoA] had been requested.  The WSoA was in the process of being redrafted and Ofsted had agreed with the Local Authority and the CCG that it would be published on the 25th September 2020. 

 

In response to a Member’s question the Director of Children’s Services confirmed that the Action Plan would be considered by the People Overview Committee after PACC, Ofsted and the CQC and had had the opportunity to make comment. The People Scrutiny Committee would have oversight of the delivery of the Action Plan once agreed with the CCG and PACC. 

 

Referring Members to section 5.9.1 of the report which set out the six key findings of the Inspection, Ms Parker observed that the inspection had occurred before the outbreak and limitations of the Covid-19 Pandemic which had significantly changed working practices due to the restrictions and the need to adopt new technology.  She cited the example of the Speech and Language Therapy [SaLT] Service which at the time of the Inspection had long waiting lists.  Processes had been reassessed and the backlog had been significantly reduced.

 

Members noted that Shropshire had higher levels of school exclusions for children with special education needs than many other local authority areas.  The Director of Children’s Services explained that this was a complicated area and no one factor could be identified as the cause of this.  She continued that a whole system approach was required to support schools.  The Team Manager, Education Access Services explained that due to the Covid-19 crisis it was difficult to currently assess the effectiveness of the support provided. Ms Bowden added that the issue was not only about the inclusivity of schools but crossed over into many other areas of health provision and wrap around services and welcomed the improved relationships between education and health services. 

 

The Director of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 91.

92.

Climate Change pdf icon PDF 324 KB

To consider the Climate Change report. [Report to follow]

 

Contact:  Mark Barrow  Tel 01742 358676

Minutes:

The Planning Policy and Strategy Manager introduced the report.  He advised that he was the Leader of the Climate Task Force which had been established in November 2019.  Members were reminded that Council declared a climate emergency in May 2019 and had approved the Climate Strategy Framework in December 2019, with the objective that the Council corporately would achieve net zero carbon by 2030. The Climate Strategy Framework set out how this would be achieved.

 

The Director of Place confirmed that carbon reduction policies ran through much of the work of the Council and the Council had a leadership role within the local communities to promote wider carbon reduction.  He continued that despite the importance of this work, central Government provided few formal grants for the work to be undertaken.  The Climate Task Force was promoting a better integrated narrative with Government.

 

The Planning Policy and Strategy Manager agreed that early investment to reduce carbon emissions would result in longer term savings through improved energy performance, he continued that it was now possible to begin measuring and quantifying benefits although this was still complicated.  The Sustainability Commissioning Officer added that emphasis was put on embedding renewable projects which were energy efficient and developing clear strategies with technical interventions to achieve these.

 

In response to a Member’s question, the Director of Place confirmed that planned changes to the use of Shirehall were being underpinned by a staff survey to assess the impact these would have on staff as well as work to fully understand the environmental impact of this change.

 

Members asked for further information on how the Covid-19 Pandemic had impacted on the Active Travel Strategy. The Director of Place confirmed that The Active Travel Strategy featured in LTP4 submissions to central government in applications for funding to provide electric buses.  Experimental transport regulation orders had been put into place which accelerated the increase in cycling and walking in Shrewsbury. 

 

Members noted a number of other initiatives in the areas of waste management, Marches Energy Agency, housing development and energy generation. 

 

The Planning Policy and Strategy Manager explained the meaning of Scope 1,2 and 3.  Which were terms derived from international greenhouse gas emissions and were standard definitions across the world.  With Scope 1 being emission produced by the Council’s own activity and Scope 3 was carbon emissions produced on the Council’s behalf by contractors.  He added that it was important to include all scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions when assessing carbon production. 

 

In response to a Member’s question, the Planning Policy and Strategy Manager confirmed that an extensive amount of work had been undertaken since the declaration of a climate emergency to embed and normalise climate change considerations in the Council’s strategies and corporate governance systems across the Council. Members noted the example of how the Climate Change Policy had been incorporated into the new Local Plan and other planning policies, as well as the other projects set out in the report.

 

The Director of Place responded to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 92.

93.

Financial Strategy pdf icon PDF 1 MB

To receive a report on the Financial Strategy from the Director of Finance, Governance and Assurance and to consider the impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic. [Report attached]

 

Contact: James Walton  Tel 01743 258915

 

Minutes:

The Director of Finance, Governance and Assurance introduced the Medium-Term Financial Strategy report.  Member noted that the Financial Strategy had been set and approved in February 2020 before the onset of the Covid-19 crisis and has subsequently been updated as it was effectively out of date before the start of the financial year.  Further funding had been made available from Government after the updated report had been published. 

 

The Director of Finance, Governance and Assurance outlined the main points of the report and explained that the financial pressures caused by the Covid-19 crisis were being carefully monitored with a report being produced at the end of every month detailing the expenditure and grants received.

 

In response to a Member’s question regarding progress of the Government’s Fair Funding review, the Director of Finance, Governance and Assurance anticipated that this would be delayed due to the Covid-19 crisis and funding would be based on what had been received previously.

 

A Member asked for further information on a Government announcement that lost income would be re-reimbursed and the resources available for the establishment of recovery teams.  The Director of Finance Governance and Assurance explained that the Income Guarantee was a complex formula with the first 5% of expenditure being the responsibility of the Council.  The Government had defined the types of loses covered and these were funded up to 75% of expenditure. He continued that Council finance officers were working through the guidance to establish what was included in the scheme to enable the return to be completed.

 

The Director of Place added that two task force teams had been established to address recovery and the social impact on economic development in the County.  He continued that the Growth Hub had been able to give advice on accessing finance to local businesses.  Projects had also been accelerated that would benefit the local economy.

 

In response to a Member’s question the Director of Place agreed that it was important that all stakeholders in the local economy worked with the Council on the recovery, matching needs to providers and sectors. 

 

RESOLVED:

 

That the Medium Term Financial Strategy – July 2020 – 2020/21 to 2025/26, be noted.

 

 

94.

Future Work Programme pdf icon PDF 493 KB

To consider the future work programme of the Committee. [Report attached]

 

Contact: Danial Webb  Tel. 01743 258509

Minutes:

The Scrutiny Officer reminded Members that the other Overview Committees that had been suspended at the start of the Covid-19 crisis were restarting work in September 2020.  Members commented that they had enjoyed considering topics outside the usual remit of the Committee and this had given an insight on partnership working during the Covid-19 crisis and the impact this had had on performance.  Members observed that new working methods had brought improvements in working practices, as well as problems caused by more agile working.

 

RESOVLED:

 

That the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership [LEP] be invited to report to the September meeting.

 

 

95.

Date/Time of next meeting of the Committee

The Committee is scheduled to next meet on 16th September 2020,

Minutes:

Members noted that next meeting of the Committee would be at 2.00pm on Wednesday 16th September 2020.

 

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