Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors P. Ezhilchelvan and P. Jackson.

Unless already entered in the Council’s Register of Members’ interests, members are required where a matter arises at a meeting;

1. Which?directly relates to?Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (‘DPI’) as set out in Appendix B, Table 1 of the Code of Conduct, to disclose the interest, not participate in any discussion or vote and not to remain in room. Where members have a DPI or if the matter concerns an executive function and is being considered by a Cabinet Member with a DPI they must notify the Monitoring Officer and arrange for somebody else to deal with the matter.? 

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2. Which directly relates to the financial interest or well being of a Other Registrable Interest as set out in Appendix B, Table 2 of the Code of Conduct to disclose the interest and only speak on the matter if members of the public are also allowed to speak at the meeting but otherwise must not take part in any discussion or vote on the matter and must not remain the room.

3. Which directly relates to their financial interest or well-being (and is not DPI) or the financial well being of a relative or close associate, to declare the interest and members may only speak on the matter if members of the public are also allowed to speak. Otherwise, the member must not take part in discussion or vote on the matter and must leave the room.

4. Which affects the financial well-being of the member, a relative or close associate or a body included under the Other Registrable Interests column in Table 2, to disclose the interest and apply the test set out at paragraph 9 of Appendix B before deciding whether they may remain in the meeting.

5. Where Members have or a Cabinet Member has an Other Registerable Interest or Non Registerable Interest in a matter being considered in exercise of their executive function, they must notify the Monitoring Officer and arrange for somebody else to deal with it.

NB Any member needing clarification must contact monitoringofficer@northumberland.gov.uk. Members are referred to the Code of Conduct which contains the matters above in full.?Please refer to the guidance on disclosures at the rear of this agenda letter.

Councillor M. Murphy declared that she was on the board for Advance. She confirmed that she would remain present during the item but would not contribute.

Minutes of the meetings of the Corporate Services and Economic Growth OSC held on 11^th April 2022, as circulated, to be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Corporate Services and Economic Growth Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 11 April 2022, as circulated, be confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chairman.

To note the latest Forward Plan of key decisions.? Any further changes made to the Forward Plan will be reported to the Committee.

The Forward Plan of forthcoming Key Cabinet decisions was reported to the Committee.  (Report enclosed with the signed minutes as Appendix A). 

RESOLVED that the Forward Plan of key decisions be noted

The purpose of this report is to: 

• Provide an annual position statement in relation to strategic workforce related areas of assurance, workstreams/associated action plans and progress to date within key areas for Northumberland County Council for the full financial year of 2021/22. 
• To provide assurance to the Corporate Services and Economic Growth Overview & Scrutiny Committee that there is provision and monitoring in place to achieve necessary Key Performance Indicators relating to the workforce on an ongoing basis. 

• To provide elected members with an overview of the strategic direction for the Council’s workforce related matters as part of the Covid-19 recovery plans for the county as these continue to evolve. 
• To provide members with an overview of the monitoring and actions taken during the period from 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022 in accordance with the Council’s Whistleblowing Policy for employees.  Members are asked to note that other aspects of Whistleblowing which are not employee related are logged and maintained by the Council’s Monitoring Officer. 

Councillor Richard Wearmouth, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Corporate Services is required to attend for this item.

L. Furnell, Service Director, introduced the HR & OD annual update for workforce report to the committee.  The following parts of the report were highlighted to Members:- 

• It was confirmed that following a short-term strategy which was in place until April 2021 in recognition of the need to focus on staff health and wellbeing.  A wider People Strategy 2021-24 has since been implemented to realise our ambition to continue to be an employer of choice in a post-pandemic era. 
• The strategy was a 5-pillar strategy and each pillar had workstream leaders to oversee it. 
• The Authority had successfully TUPE’d over 623 NHS staff.  There was a lot of preparation involved for a smooth transfer including inductions to make staff welcome.  There had been no complaints from staff that Officers were aware of. 
• Officers highlighted that there were 600 apprenticeships across the Authority. It was noted that these ranged from level 1-7.  There were also 2 graduate programmes and an MBA programme available in the Authority.  It was noted that the pandemic had affected the apprenticeship programmes. 
• The labour market was challenging.  The Authority had recently created a recruitment task and finish working group to improve the market position for Northumberland County Council. 
• The whistleblowing policy had been reviewed in April 2022 and renamed raising concerns at work policy.  It was confirmed that Members concerns were to be reported to the Monitoring Officer, whereas staff concerns would be reported through the channels explained within the policy. 
• The equality and diversity networks were working really well and there were two new networks created: Armed Forces and Apprenticeships. 
• A new leadership programme had been introduced called ‘Living Leader’ it had a train the trainer approach and had been very successful so far. 

The following comments were made in response to Member’s questions:- 

• Members noted that Service Directors and Heads of Service were given the opportunity to use the Work Smart reviews in a way which met the needs of their service.  It was noted that it was not a one size fits all approach.  The general desk ratio for County Hall was 3 to 10 and service leads had delegated responsibility to structure this in the best needs of the service. 
• It was confirmed to Members that the membership to Stonewall was historical and there were no membership fees being paid currently. 
• Members were assured that although the completion of performance appraisals would never achieve 100%, those who had been missed due to sickness or maternity leave would be picked up at another time. Support meetings with service leads were in place to improve compliance in areas that had struggled. 

• Members were assured that through talent management and recruitment drives that the apprenticeship uptake would be improved.  It was important to illustrate to prospective employees that apprenticeships offered were not just at entry level.  The Authority were striving to recruit apprentices for an onward career path within the Council. 
• The wage for apprenticeships had been raised at a JCC meeting, although the Authority was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The purpose of this report is to provide the Corporate Services and Economic Growth Overview and Scrutiny Committee with information relating to the level of outstanding debt owed to the Council so that the Committee may satisfy itself as to the efficiency and effectiveness of its collection and recovery policies and systems. 

Councillor Richard Wearmouth, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Corporate Services is required to attend for this item.

J. Willis, Section 151 Officer, introduced the report to the Committee.  It was acknowledged that there were still repercussions from the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.  The report gave an overview of debt recovery by the Authority including write offs, sundry debts and Council Tax payments. 

The following comments were made in response to Member questions: 

• Members were informed that there were a number of prescribed phrases that had to be included in the debt recovery process to comply with legislation, including the ‘committal to prison’ option for non-payment of Council Tax. However, it was anticipated that the legislative process was due for review. 
• Officers confirmed that there was an assumption made about debt recovery when budgeting.  Annually the Authority outperform that assumption and any surplus money was then shared between Council Services.  This did not include Business rates which were pooled nationally. 

RESOLVED that the information in the report be noted.

To provide an update on the Green Homes Grant delivery and advise of progress since the funding approval in November 2021.

Councillor Glen Sanderson, Leader and Lead Member for Climate Change is required to attend for this item.

The Leader of the Council introduced the report.  M. Roberts, Senior Climate Change and Sustainability Manager and N. Johnston, Project Manager then gave an overview of the report.  The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy introduced a series of funding streams to improve energy efficiency of low income and low energy performance homes with a focus on energy performance certificate (EPC ratings of E, F or G).  This would help reduce fuel poverty and delivery towards the UK’s commitment to net zero by 2050, and the NCC’s commitment for net zero by 2030.

The Council had been successful in drawing £11.8 million across four rounds of funding to support domestic retrofit.  The first round of funding known as Local Authority Deliver Round 1B (LAD1B) had been partially delivered by Eon as a turnkey solution.  The future delivery of the scheme would be managed in-house with a collaborative approach between the Climate Change Team and the Housing Team.  The in-house approach would allow NCC to work directly with residents and communities to identify the best solutions to support them.

The initial phase of work delivered energy saving measures into 137 low-income, energy inefficient homes with Eon.  The funding that the climate change team had brought in could facilitate another 853 homes by 31st March 2023.

The following comments were made in response to Member questions:

Members were assured that there was enough demand to meet all the funding that had been secured.  The services were still working on marketing campaigns to increase uptake.  Officers confirmed that the programme benefitted from Members highlighting those areas and residents who would benefit from the scheme.

Advance confirmed that they were ready and willing to help with the scheme and would liaise with Officers from the climate change team.

Officers acknowledged concerns over the uptake from private landlords.  It was noted that it was a national problem and other councils were faced with the same problem, but no solution had yet been agreed.

Eligibility for the scheme included having an EPC rating of D or below and having a combined household income below £30,000.

RESOLVED that the information be noted.

The Committee is asked to review and note the Corporate Services and Economic Growth Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme for the 2022/23 council year.

The Committee received an update on its Work Programme for the 2022/23 council year.? 

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RESOLVED that this information was noted.

ADVANCE NORTHUMBERLAND LTD AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES–REQUEST FOR RESERVED MATTER APPROVAL 

J. Willis, Section 151 Officer, introduced a report this report (attached with signed minutes).  The day to day running of Advance Northumberland Ltd and its subsidiaries was the responsibility of the Board of Directors, but there were certain matters of corporate governance that could not be executed by the Directors without the consent of the Shareholder.  These matters were known as “Reserved Matters”.  The Shareholder of Advance Northumberland Ltd was Northumberland County Council, but the exercise of Shareholder rights and powers was an Executive function and so it was for Cabinet to give approval of “Reserved Matters”.  The report requested Cabinet to approve a new set of Articles of Association, the key public governance document. 

The following comments were made in response to Member questions: 
 

• Members were assured that the Shareholder representative would not be part of the decision-making process but would be present to express shareholders views to board members.  Members suggested that the clause in appendix G be amended to clarify that board members would be the decision makers. 
• It was explained that Directors of the company were duty bound to act in the best interest of the company.  
• Members felt that it was beneficial for a shareholder representative to be present at meetings and express the views of shareholders. They also expressed their contentment at Senior Officers working collaboratively with Advance. 
• Advance Ltd was the holding company for Advance Northumberland which was split into five subsidiary companies.  The board of Advance Ltd can give direction to the subsidiary companies. 
• The reserved matters was not a different system but would stop the current system getting clogged up.  It would help ensure there was stronger governance over the wholly owned company which was highlighted in the Caller report. 

• Members asked if mechanisms were in place to ensure the proposal could not be overridden in the future.  Although there was no guarantee that it would not be overridden in the future there was a need for appropriate member scrutiny and greater transparency. 

RESOLVED that Cabinet be advised that the Committee supported the recommendations contained in the report on the condition the following are included: 

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1. With regards to the Shareholder Representative Role Profile, the wording be amended to provide greater clarity on the role the Shareholder Representative should carry out at board meetings.  Members suggested the wordings to be:? 

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3. To attend and play an active role at board meetings of the Company whilst recognising the authority to make decisions lies with the board of the Company.? 

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2. The Committee would like a further report in 6 months, if appropriate, to review the implementation of the proposed new Articles of Association and the Shareholder Representative Role Profile.

The Committee is invited to consider passing the following resolution:

(a)    That under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item on the Agenda as it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the 1972 Act, and

(b)    That the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure for the following reasons:-

Agenda Items          Paragraph of Part I of Schedule 12A

12                             3 - Contains information relating to business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) 

AND                            The public interest in maintaining this exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure because disclosure could adversely affect the business reputation or confidence in the person/ organisation and could adversely affect commercial revenue.

The purpose of the report is to ensure that the Cabinet is informed of the current financial positions of its trading companies and of any relevant issues arising.

Councillor Richard Wearmouth, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Corporate Services is required to attend for this item.

The confidential report, which was considered by Cabinet on 6 June 2022, was introduced to the Committee by J. Willis, Section 151 Officer.

Members welcomed the report and the improvements in evaluations due to improvements in commercial valuations post pandemic.  It was noted that Advance was undergoing a strategic review to ensure financial arrangements align with an effective Business Model.

Members were reminded that the loan arrangements between Advance and Northumberland County Council were interest only.  The Council was required to offer commercial loans and it was unlikely that Advance could access a loan from a third-party company for a better rate.

It was confirmed to Members that NEHL was dormant and not trading at the time. Following the S114 and Caller report it was highlighted that there was a need for transparency and strong governance.  Cabinet had asked for a report regarding the future of the company which could also be presented to this Committee.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.