(Members Code of Conduct – Part 4A of the Constitution)

To receive disclosures of interests from members and co-opted members on matters to be considered at the meeting. The disclosure must include the nature of the interest.

An interest must also be disclosed in the meeting when it becomes apparent to the member during the meeting.

Notes:

(1)       Members must consider their interests, and act according to the following:

(2)       Disclosable pecuniary interests relate to the Member concerned or their spouse/partner.

(3)       Members in arrears of Council Tax by more than two months must not vote in decisions on, or which might affect, budget calculations, and must disclose at the meeting that this restriction applies to them.  A failure to comply with these requirements is a criminal offence under section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. 

(4)       Officers must disclose interests in accordance with Council Standing Order 44.

No disclosures of interest in matters under discussion were made.

Recommended –

That the minutes of the meeting held on 5 September 2023 be signed as a correct record (previously circulated).

(Yusuf Patel / Louis Kingdom – 07970 411923 / 07890 416570)

Resolved –

That the minutes of the meeting held on 5 September 2023 be signed as a correct record.

(Access to Information Procedure Rules – Part 3B of the Constitution)

Reports and background papers for agenda items may be inspected by contacting the person shown after each agenda item.  Certain reports and background papers may be restricted. 

Any request to remove the restriction on a report or background paper should be made to the relevant Strategic Director or Assistant Director whose name is shown on the front page of the report. 

If that request is refused, there is a right of appeal to this meeting. 

Please contact the officer shown below in advance of the meeting if you wish to appeal. 

(Yusuf Patel / Louis Kingdom – 07970 411923 / 07890 416570)

There were no appeals submitted by the public to review decisions to restrict documents.

The following recommendation has been received from the meeting of the Shipley Area Committee held on 2 August 2023:

CITIZENS' JURY CLIMATE CHANGE REPORT

Resolved –

That the report be referred to the Executive Committee of Bradford Council and the WYCA Climate, Energy and Environment Committee in order to share the objectives and recommendations of the Citizen’s Jury.

Action: Shipley Area Co-Ordinators

 (Yusuf Patel / Louis Kingdom – 07970 411923 / 07890 416570)

The following recommendation had been received from the meeting of the Shipley Area Committee held on 2 August 2023:

CITIZENS' JURY CLIMATE CHANGE REPORT

Resolved –

That the report be referred to the Executive Committee of Bradford Council and the WYCA Climate, Energy and Environment Committee in order to share the objectives and recommendations of the Citizen’s Jury.

Action: Shipley Area Co-Ordinators

Note: In receiving the above recommendation the Leader stated that Executive Members had received a copy of the report and             that the Executive note its contents.

(Councillor Duffy)

The Strategic Director Children’s Services will submit a report

(Document “O”) which details the outcome of the Ofsted Monitoring Visit of Children’s Social Care Services which took place on the 18 and 19 July 2023.

Recommended –

For continued oversight and monitoring of improvements across all aspects of children’s services including support and oversight relating to all improvement activity, in line with the council’s statutory duties and responsibilities, in partnership with Bradford Children’s Trust.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee:  Children’s Services

(Picklu Roychoudhury - 01274 436064)

The Strategic Director Children’s Services submitted a report (Document “O”) which detailed the outcome of the Ofsted Monitoring Visit of Children’s Social Care Services which took place on the 18 and 19 July 2023.

The Children and Families Portfolio Holder introduced the item and stated that she welcomed the continued improvements being made, despite the transition from Children’s Services to the Children’s Trust, this had not created too many upheavals. She however ascertained what the position/progress was in respect of workforce stability and the engagement of the Police; issues which had been particularly highlighted in the Ofsted report.

In response the Chief Executive of the Children’s Trust stated that collectively with Children’s Services, she was happy with the outcome of the first Ofsted monitoring visit since the establishment of the Trust.  In terms of workforce stability there was a recruitment shortfall in Social Workers nationally and this was no different in Bradford and the consequent reliance on agency staff was well documented, therefore the Trust had taken responsibility to stabilise the recruitment process, building on the strong work already underway in Children’s Services prior to transition, and this new cohort of Social Workers would give us a strong workforce that would transition into mainstream roles over time, with a particular focus on strengthening management and other senior roles to ensure better retention and stability going forward. 

In terms of Police engagement and progress, it was stressed that a number of issues had been flagged up during the monitoring visit and how in particular we work with the Police in relation to the scale of notifications that they send to us about potential concerns, some of which don’t meet the thresholds for which action is required; so work was ongoing on how we can triangulate those better, so that we know which cases are for information only and which cases need action; in addition concerns were expressed around our daily referral management meetings, which it was felt had more of an adult case focus and not featuring strongly on the welfare of the child, this had now been taken on board and appropriate mechanisms put in place to strengthen this aspect in consultation with partners.

The Children’s Service Director welcomed the progress made and the excellent partnership work with the Trust, and she hoped that this work would continue to bring about continued improvements.

Resolved –

For continued oversight and monitoring of improvements across all aspects of children’s services including support and oversight relating to all improvement activity, in line with the council’s statutory duties and responsibilities, in partnership with Bradford Children’s Trust.

ACTION: Strategic Director Children’s Services

Overview and Scrutiny Committee:  Children’s Services

(Councillor Ross-Shaw)

The Strategic Director Place will submit a report (Document “P”) which updates Executive on the progress of the Squire Lane Leisure, Community, Health and Well Being Centre and presents a revised proposal to ensure that the scheme can be delivered within existing financial constraints.

Recommended –

(1)       That the revised project scope which results in a capital budget requirement of £34.9m to be funded by £20m of LUF Grant, and £14.9m of Council capital financing be approved.

(2)       That the associated future year revenue budget implications for proceeding with the Squire Lane project (subject to DLUHC approval of its continued funding) as outlined in section 4.3 to Document “P” be noted.

(3)       That officers continue to seek to identify measures to reduce the revenue budget gap.

(4)       That a further report be presented to Executive for approval following confirmation of the council’s 2024/25 financial settlement and when final scheme costs are determined.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee: Regeneration and Environment

(Angela Blake - 01274 431735)

The Strategic Director Place submitted a report (Document “P”) which updated Executive on the progress of the Squire Lane Leisure, Community, Health and Well Being Centre and presented a revised proposal to ensure that the scheme can be delivered within existing financial constraints.

The Strategic Director Place stated that the report was not asking whether or not you proceeded with the project, but that this was very much about appraising the Executive on the revised scope of the project, details of which were set out in the report, which was intended to give a flavour of the most favourable path, the project should take in the context of affordability and deliverability against the needs of our communities, and the background context of spiralling construction and borrowing costs also impacting on the project; therefore the project had been significantly rescoped to reduce cost, but still achieve the desired outcomes.  He added that this investment would also help provide a much needed facility as well as address health inequalities in our district.

The Regeneration, Transportation and Planning Portfolio Holder acknowledged that construction inflation had impacted on many projects locally and nationally both in the public and private sectors and he welcomed efforts by officers to drive down costs, whilst maintaining quality through incorporating sustainability design elements into projects the Council was delivering.

The Health and Wellbeing Portfolio holder added that the Squire Lane project had very much been part of our long-term strategy for providing pool space and that the impact this type of provision would have in improving mental and physical wellbeing, was well documented. She also commended officers for their continued hard work on ensuring deliverability of the project, despite the loss of a health partner.

Resolved –

(1)      That the revised project scope which results in a capital budget requirement of £34.9m to be funded by £20m of LUF Grant, and £14.9m of Council capital financing be approved.

(2)      That the associated future year revenue budget implications for proceeding with the Squire Lane project (subject to DLUHC approval of its continued funding) as outlined in section 4.3 to Document “P” be noted.

(3)      That officers continue to seek to identify measures to reduce the revenue budget gap.

(4)      That a further report be presented to Executive for approval following confirmation of the council’s 2024/25 financial settlement and when final scheme costs are determined.

ACTION: Strategic Director Place

Overview and Scrutiny Committee: Regeneration and Environment

To receive the minutes of the meetings of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority held on 27 July 2023 (Please click on the date to launch minutes).

That the minutes of the meetings of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority held on 27 July 2023 be received.