Agenda and minutes

To receive declarations of interest from Members in respect of items listed on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive questions relating to items of business on the agenda from members of the public or press who are present at the meeting.

There were no questions from members of the public or press.

To consider whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of any part of the agenda.

Resolved: -

That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for agenda item 8, SEND Sufficiency Development Phase 3, if reference is made to the exempt appendences attached to the report on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 (financial and business affairs) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

Cabinet Portfolio: - Corporate Services and Finance

Strategic Directorate: - Finance and Customer Services

Consideration was given to a report that was submitted for pre-decision scrutiny ahead of the Cabinet meeting scheduled for 23 November 2020 in respect of the Medium-Term Financial Strategy. The Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services, the Strategic Director for Finance and Customer Services and the Assistant Director - Financial Services attended the meeting to present the report.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services advised that the report provided a review and update of the Council’s Medium-Term Financial Strategy up to 2022/23. It was noted that the report provided an interim review and that it would be revised further in advance of the Council Budget setting meeting in March 2021 in order to take account of the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2021/22 and budget policy proposals on council tax, fees and charges and any budget investment.

The Cabinet Member advised that the review of the Medium-Term Financial Strategy, along with the latest Financial Monitoring report were predicting that there would be a balanced financial outturn position achieved for 2020/21. The Cabinet Member also noted that the current position would enable £4.3m top-up to reserves, as detailed in the Budget and Medium-Term Financial Strategy to be made, as well as preserving the £4million budget contingency and savings that had arisen in 2020/21 to be used to support the 2021/22 budget.

The Strategic Director for Finance and Customer Services noted the challenges that the Council continued to face with regards to the financial impact and ongoing uncertainty related to the pandemic and noted that the review of the Medium-Term Financial Strategy had incorporated adjustments to the assumptions previously made as a response to the ongoing uncertainty. The Strategic Director advised however that the improved position relating to the Council’s reserves, the level of which had increased from £11million to £25million over the last few years put the Council’s finances in a much stronger position than would have been the case had the level of reserves not increased.

Members welcomed the report and the assurances that the Council was predicting a balanced budget 2020/21 and 2021/22. Members also noted with approval that the Council was also in a position to increase its levels of reserves held at this difficult time. Members also noted the difficult financial situation that faced the country after the pandemic and their concerns on the impact of a prolonged recession and the return of austerity on the Council’s finances.

The Chair asked for further information on the confidence levels regarding the assumptions that had been included in the report that were predicting a balanced budget for 2020/21. The Strategic Director advised that the assumptions that had been included in the Medium-Term Financial Strategy had high confidence levels, having been based on the current challenging financial situation. The Strategic Director advised however that there were risks surrounding increased social care costs and around savings targets not being met, emphasising the importance of these savings being made in order to support the ability of the Council to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 247.

Cabinet Portfolio: - Corporate Services and Finance

Strategic Directorate: - Finance and Customer Services

Consideration was given to a report that was submitted for pre-decision scrutiny ahead of the Cabinet meeting scheduled for 23 November 2020 in respect of September Financial Monitoring 2020/21. The Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services, the Strategic Director for Finance and Customer Services and the Assistant Director – Financial Services attended the meeting to present the report.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services advised that the report was the latest in a series of financial monitoring reports and noted that the current report detailed the Council’s the financial position as at the end of September 2020. The Cabinet Member stated that as at September 2020, the Council had a forecast year-end overspend of £23.7m on the General Fund, this  however was mitigated in part by the Governments provision of COVID-19 emergency support grant and a Sales, Fees and Charges Income Compensation scheme that meant that the net forecast budget outturn was showing a £2.3m overspend was being forecast.

The report provided a full and detailed analysis on the current budget position (as at September 2020) for each of the Council’s directorates as well as current information regarding the Council’s Housing Revenue Account and Capital Programme.

Members asked for further information on how changes to how the NHS funded discharge packages would impact the Adult Care budget. The Assistant Director – Financial Services noted that changes to how care packages were funded made earlier during the pandemic, where care packages that in normal times would have been funded by the Council had been funded by the NHS had created savings in the Adult Care budget. The Assistant Director advised that with the change of how care packages had been funded, taken  alongside the additional support being provided by the Government to support essential Council services throughout the winter period, it was anticipated that any changes to how the NHS funded care packages would not have a significant impact on the Adult Care budget.

Members asked for assurances that the Council had the procedures in place to continue to manage the significant financial impacts of the pandemic. The Strategic Director for Finance and Customer Services noted that a significant challenge surrounding budget management was managing changes to processes and funding made as a result of frequent changes of Government policy. The Strategic Director advised that the rigorous financial control, reporting and oversight procedures that had been implemented at the start of the pandemic had been hugely beneficial in enabling effective budget management and control at the Council during a very challenging period. The Strategic Director assured members that the learning from pandemic would be analysed and reviewed in order to take forward improved ways of working.

Members asked for the further information on the projected overspend of £9.4milion in the Regeneration and Environment budget and whether an increased use of agency staff had contributed to the overspend. The Strategic Director assured members that the use of agency staff was reducing across the Council and advised that the majority  ...  view the full minutes text for item 248.

Cabinet Portfolio: - Corporate Services and Finance

Strategic Directorate: - Assistant Chief Executive

Consideration was given to a report that was submitted for pre-decision scrutiny ahead of the Cabinet meeting scheduled for 23 November 2020 in respect of the report Equalities Review – going for “Excellent” accreditation. The Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services and the Head of Policy, Performance and Improvement attended the meeting to present the report.

In introducing the report, the Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services reaffirmed the Council’s commitment to reducing inequality and in creating a Borough that was based on equality and social justice where all residents had a good quality of life and were able to achieve their potential. 

The Cabinet Member stated that the report being submitted for consideration brought forward a comprehensive and wide-ranging programme of action that had been structured around achieving a nationally accredited status for equalities. The Cabinet Member advised that the proposed activities would be closely aligned with a range of measures to tackle inequalities, discrimination and prejudice in  Rotherham, and that these would be carried out in partnership with other organisations and communities across the Borough as set out in the Council’s Year Ahead Plan.

The Head of Policy, Performance and Intelligence advised that in order to work towards achieving the “Excellent” accreditation under the “Equality Framework for Local Government” that a multi-faceted programmed approach would be employed. It was noted that the work that would be carried out to obtain the accreditation would move the Council away from a process driven approach to managing equalities and towards a fresh approach that was based on outcomes.

The Head of Policy, Performance and Intelligence advised that the work that would be carried out in order to work towards the accreditation would look at what the Council already did well with regard to equalities as well as where it could improve. It also noted that the review would seek to ensure that considerations surrounding equality issues were central to everything that the Council did by creating a wider understanding of equality issues right across the Council. An action plan and full details of the activities that would be undertaken in order to achieve the “Excellent” accreditation were included in the officer’s report.

The Head of Policy, Performance and Intelligence noted that a wide consultation process would be conducted as part of the planned activities that would enable different groups from across the communities of Rotherham to contribute to the co-design of the processes that improve equality and social justice across the Borough.

Members welcomed the proposed review and the central role that community groups and voluntary organisations across the Borough would have in the proposed activities. Members asked for further information on the Council’s relationship with different voluntary  and community groups through Voluntary Action Rotherham. The Head of Policy, Performance and Intelligence advised that the Council had a an excellent working relationship with voluntary organisations, noting that this relationship had been strengthened by the work of the Council’s Community Hub throughout the pandemic that had demonstrated the effectiveness and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 249.

Cabinet Portfolio: - Children's Services and Neighbourhood Working

Strategic Directorate: - Children and Young People’s Services

Consideration was given to a report that was submitted for pre-decision scrutiny ahead of the Cabinet meeting scheduled for 23 November 2020 in respect of the SEND Sufficiency Development Phase 3. The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Neighbourhood Working, the Strategic Director for Children and Young People’s Services and the Joint Assistant Director - Commissioning, Performance and Inclusion attended the meeting to present the report.

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Neighbourhood Working in introducing the report noted the report and recommendations would address two key issues that were faced in Rotherham in relation to sufficiency of education for children with special education needs and disabilities that were:

·       The lack of designated social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) educational provision in the Borough.

·       The Newman Special School building being in need of extensive work in order to bring it to the required standard to effectively deliver education for children and young people with disabilities. 

The Joint Assistant Director - Commissioning, Performance and Inclusion noted that the current proposals were the part of the Council’s ongoing SEND Sufficiency Development Strategy, and advised that Phase 3 and subsequent phases would continue to deliver on the Council’s commitment to improve outcomes for children and young people across the Borough while also ensuring the provision of services were financially sustainable into the future.

The Joint Assistant Director noted the current challenges of increased demand for services, the lack of suitable specialist educational provision in the Borough and the physical limitations of current facilities created for the effective provision of education for children with special education needs and disabilities. The Assistant Director advised that following an in-depth analysis of the current situation, four different options had been identified as potential ways forward to address the need to develop and improve specialist educational provision in the Borough. The Joint Assistant Director summarised the strategic appraisal of the different options that had been considered. The full strategic options appraisal was included in the officer’s report. Members were assured that the appraisal process had been robust and thorough in its execution.

The Joint Assistant Director advised that following the options appraisal it was proposed that the option that would best support children and young people with special education needs and disabilities to achieve improved outcomes  was through the development of new, modern, and well-designed provision on the former Dinnington College site, noting that the site had sufficient space and resources to meet the needs of the children who would attend there.  The Joint Assistant Director advised that the former college buildings would provide the opportunity to open a new special school that was dedicated to educating children and young people with social, emotional and mental health needs, and would also provide safe, modern and well-planned new buildings for children and young people who attended Newman Special School to receive their education in. It was also proposed that the upper school at the Newman School would also move to the Dinnington  ...  view the full minutes text for item 250.

The Chair introduced a report that detailed the outcomes of a meeting of a sub-group of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board on the Council’s approach to equalities.

After considering the report members agreed that report “Equalities Review – going for “Excellent” accreditation” that had been considered earlier in the meeting in advance on the Cabinet meeting on 23 November, be supported.

Resolved:  -

1.    That Cabinet be advised that the recommendations be supported.

2.    That an agenda item pertaining to Equalities be added to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board agenda on a two-monthly basis.

3.    That a fact-finding Equalities sub-group convene on a monthly or as-needed basis to discuss Equalities workstreams and lines of inquiry with a view to bringing outcomes to present at Overview and Scrutiny Management Board for further scrutiny.

4.    That the Equalities sub-group be comprised of a core group of Members with at least one member representing each of the scrutiny commissions, and that Members be invited to submit to this sub-group their questions or topics for discussion related to Equalities.

To consider the Board’s Work Programme.

The Board considered its Work Programme.

Resolved: -

1.    That the Work Programme be approved.

2.    That an item on Radicalisation of young people and extremism be added to the Work Programme.

To review and identify items for pre-decision scrutiny from the Forward Plan of Key Decisions.

The Board considered the Forward Plan of Key Decisions 1 November 2020 – 31 January 2021.

Resolved: -

That the Forward Plan be noted.

To consider any issues referred for call-in from recent Cabinet meetings.

There were no call-in issues.

To determine any item which the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no items of urgent business.

The next meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board will be held on Wednesday 2 December 2020 at 11am as a MS Teams meeting.

Resolved: - That the next meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board will be held at 11am on Wednesday 2 December 2020 as Microsoft Teams meeting.