Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies received.

Members of Cabinet are asked to consider whether they have an interest in any of the matters of the Agenda and, if so, to formally declare that interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

Questions are invited from members of the public about the work of the Cabinet.

Notice of any question must be given to Democratic Services by midday on Monday, 12 December 2022. Approximately 30 minutes will be set aside for Public Question Time, if required.

There were no public questions.

Questions are invited from Elected Members about items on the Cabinet agenda. 15 minutes will be set aside for Member Question Time, if required.

Notice of any Member question must be given to the Monitoring Officer by midday Friday, 9^th December 2022.

The following question was submitted in advance of the meeting by Councillor Jack Rydeheard:

Will the Council be preparing a bid for the Greater Manchester Combined Authority Culture Fund, starting from 2023, or if it has already prepared one, may the Cabinet Member responsible share the details of the bid?

Responding, Councillor Morris reported that the Council had not made an application as Local Authorities were not eligible to apply for the two ‘pillars’ that were open, but that two of our cultural partners, the Met and Lancaster Fusiliers, had applied.

The Greater Manchester Culture fund has been refreshed over recent months, following sector-wide engagement in which Bury Council was actively involved in. The revised fund has 5 pillars to support delivery of the city-region’s culture strategy ‘Grown in Greater Manchester. Known Around the World’. The Strategic pillar is being managed through the Combined Authority and Bury has benefited from this previously as the region’s inaugural Town of Culture. In November, applications for the Spirit and Sustain pillars opened, and on the 7th November these were promoted to cultural partners in the Borough. These pillars were for cultural organisations delivering as part of Greater Manchester’s cultural ecosystem.

The Inspire and Collaborate strands will open in the new year. The inspire pillar is made up of one off development grants to support practitioners, freelancers and community organisations and will be promoted through the community hub network. The Collaborate strand provides funding for organisations in the region to form consortia to deliver on the GM Strategy. The Council will review the full guidance for these pillars once they are published and determine the most appropriate opportunities to maximise the benefit of this funding for the Borough, and the Council’s role within this, e.g. supporting awareness/ development of proposals where these need to be led or submitted by an organisation other than a local authority.

Minutes from the meeting held on 16^th November 2022 are attached.

It was agreed:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 16 November 2022 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Corporate Affairs and HR is attached.

Councillor Tahir Rafiq, Cabinet Member for Corporate Affairs and HR, presented the report which provided a detailed update on the implementation of the Transformation Strategy through the three programmes of work in the Let’s Do It! Strategy and the parallel digital strategy, and the ways in which the work has evolved since the launch of the Strategy in July 2021. Members discussed the report, noting the challenging context and the need for everyone to work together to set achievable targets and to ensure the Council realised them.

Decision:

Cabinet:

1.    Noted the delivery of planned activity against the three strands of the programme in 2022/23 and 2023/24;

2.    Endorsed work to deliver the remaining savings for 2023/24 including staff consultation where required;

3.    Recognised the savings achieved from the work to date, including the in-year mitigations;

4.    Approved the request to remove Procurement as a savings target to be removed from the Transformation Strategy, recognising that the £1m gap that this will create will be added to the overall financial gap of the Council which will be addressed as part of setting a balanced budget for 2023/24 and beyond; and

5.    Agreed that the programme is now re-defined into the respective workstreams of digital and estates transformation as proposed.

Reasons for the decision:

N/A

Alternative options considered and rejected:

N/A

Report of the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People is attached.

Councillor Lucy Smith, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, presented the report which provided an update on the remediation programme and set out a proposal to expand capacity at Millwood in order to meet increasing demands for local specialist provision. In response to Members’ questions it was noted that the initial contractors were being used as this reflected the best route to achieve speed of delivery without compromising on quality. In terms of timescales, it was noted that there was an aspiration completion date in 2024, but this would depend on the views and needs of the school and its current pupils.

Decision:

Cabinet:

1.    Noted the progress made to date in relation to the roof remediation scheme; and

2.    Approved the submission of a business case to the North West Construction Hub (NWCH) requesting that a direct award be made to ISG for the Millwood expansion project.

Reasons for the decision:

There are extenuating circumstances applicable in this situation that support proceeding with this method. These are outlined in the body of the report.

Alternative options considered and rejected:

It would not be possible to have two main contractors on site simultaneously from a health and safety perspective, site management, and the efficient running of the school during construction works.

If this project was not awarded to ISG the new build accommodation works would not be commenced until 2025 and completed until 2026, this does not respond to the urgent need for the additional accommodation.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People is attached.

Councillor Lucy Smith, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, presented the report which sought approval in principle to progress to formal consultation with affected staff on the next phase of the transformation of Children’s Services, setting out proposed changes to the Education Directorate. In response to Members questions it was noted that new posts in phase 2 should be faster to fill as there was no national recruitment issues for these posts.

Decision:

Cabinet:

1.    Agreed in principle the commencement of consultation with affected staff in January 2023 on the proposed structural changes to the education division, as set out within the body of this report;

2.    Noted that this agreement is subject to identification of sufficient recurrent funding upon receipt of the Local Government Settlement in late December; and

3.    Delegated authority to the Executive Director of Children and Young People and the Cabinet Members for Children’s Services and HR and Corporate Affairs , in consultation with the Director of People and Inclusion and Monitoring Officer and S151 Officer to consider responses received from the consultation and produce a final version of the structure.

Reasons for the decision:

The proposal sets out a plan of transformation of Children’s Services, necessary to both integrate and align services to improve the delivery of our statutory education responsibilities across education and SEND.

Alternative options considered and rejected:

The rationale for the proposal is driven by the requirement upon Bury Council to improve Children’s Services, which includes the need to ensure compliance with statutory legislation and to align and strengthen our services around SEND and statutory duties in relation to Elective Home Education, Children Missing in Education, attendance and exclusions.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Corporate Affairs and HR is attached.

Councillor Tahir Rafiq, Cabinet Member for Corporate Affairs and HR, presented the report which set out amendments to the appointments made at the Annual Meeting of the Council held on 25th May 2022. In response to Members’ questions Jacqui Dennis, Director of Law and Democratic Services, advised that the costs from Counsel for their advice concerning this appointment would be shared with Members one available, and that this Panel was discharging formal functions and the appointment had been made in consideration of political proportionality across the Council.

Decision:

Cabinet noted the appointments and amendments to appointments made since the Annual Meeting of Council as set out in the report.

Reasons for the decision:

N/A

Alternative options considered and rejected:

N/A

To consider the minutes of meetings of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority held on 28 October 2022.

It was agreed:

That the minutes of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority meeting held on 28 October 2022 be noted.

Any other business which by reason of special circumstances the Chair agrees may be considered as a matter of urgency.

The Leader thanked officers across the Council for their work over 2022, including Democratic Services and the Exec Team. He also thanked his fellow Cabinet Members, Opposition Members and all Councillors for their engagement with Cabinet business over the year.