Agenda and minutes

None.

RESOLVED - that the minutes of the meeting held on 23 June 2022 be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

The Independent Inquiry, that published its report into child sexual exploitation on Tuesday 12 July 2022, highlighted the pain and distress victims and survivors had gone through.

The Leader thanked them for sharing their experiences with the Inquiry; their tenacity and resilience in speaking up was extraordinary. 

The Leader stated the Council was deeply sorry for the pain and suffering that had been caused.

He also thanked The Sunday Mirror and Geraldine McKelvie for shining a light on child sexual exploitation in Telford and supporting the victims and survivors in telling their personal and harrowing stories.

Additionally, the Council acknowledged the hard work of the Inquiry chair, Tom Crowther QC, and his team who worked on the Inquiry. 

The report, commissioned by the Council, dated back to 1989 and it heard evidence dating back to the 1970s.

In 1989, the Leader was 3 years of age. He was proud to come from Telford and it had been a wonderful place to grow up.

However, it clearly was not the same for many children and young people. This brought great sadness.

As a Telford dad and a corporate parent, the Leader was more determined than ever to make this a safe and happy place for future generations. 

The report had found areas where more could have been done over the last three decades to support victims and survivors and their families.

Even though the Inquiry acknowledged significant and transformational improvements since 2016, and the inquiry specifically stated that services today were good, the Council fully accepted and would act on all of the Inquiry’s recommendations in full. 

It was for all; every elected Member, Council officer, and every partner to ensure these recommendations were fully implemented. 

The Leader would be speaking to the Conservative and Liberal Democrat group leaders and the Police & Crime Commissioner about how they could work together to take the recommendations forward.

One early concern  from victims and survivors was the funding of the CATE team, the team of dedicated professionals who were at the forefront of the response to tackling child sexual exploitation, and who were commended throughout by the Inquiry. The report proposed that the team was properly funded for the next 5 years. The Leader made a commitment that funding would be protected, not just for the next 5 years but also beyond as long as Labour led the Council. 

The Leader was humbled and thankful in equal measure that survivors Holly Archer and Scarlett Jones had agreed to be part of the implementation process moving forward. Working together, they would co-design the Council’s response to the Inquiry’s recommendations; to make sure it was doing the very best it could for those people who needed it the most. 

He thanked Scarlett and Holly for holding the Council to account and for agreeing to be part of the Authority’s journey moving forward.

Together, everybody could ensure that a future that we can be proud about is built, a future that ensured that  ...  view the full minutes text for item CAB-161

The report had not been produced for two years as a result of Covid-19, however, those two years had shone a light on the Borough’s health inequalities. Health inequalities had begun to widen further as a result of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis. The report highlighted what the Council and partners were doing to combat inequalities and what more needed to be done.

Members agreed that the issues faced by Telford & Wrekin were not just local but national issues and required government intervention. Members also stated the need to work with communities to co-design services, highlighting local needs.

The leader of the Conservative group sought an update on maternity services. The Director: Health & Wellbeing stated that as she had not prepared to discuss the topic she would seek to arrange a meeting to discuss the matter.

The leader of the Liberal Democrat group echoed the statement that the government needed to do more on health inequalities.

RESOLVED – that Cabinet endorse the following recommendations

a)         The Health & Wellbeing Board should ensure that the Health Inequalities plan is refreshed in 2022/23 and that future Health & Wellbeing Strategy maintains a commitment to tackle health inequalities.

b)        The Health & Wellbeing Board should ensure that there is a clear ‘Best Start in Life’ priority in the next Health & Wellbeing Strategy.

c)         NHS partners should work with the Council and partners, as part of the Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin ICS, to identify and implement placed-based programmes to improve the physical and mental health and associated inequalities of our children & young people.

d)        The Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin Integrated Care System should ensure that their plans to roll out NHS prevention programmes and the delivery of services that tackle healthcare inequalities (as defined by NHS England) are prioritised, resourced and delivered to those communities most in need.

e)         The Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin Covid vaccination programme should ensure that the necessary resources and capacity are appropriately directed to reduce vaccine inequalities, specifically encouraging people from deprived communities, those from black and minority ethnic backgrounds and other groups with low uptake to get vaccinated.

f)          The Council’s Insight team, working with intelligence teams in the NHS and partner organisations, should continue to develop the intelligence base to more fully understand the ‘picture’ of inequalities within the borough to both inform and monitor our inequalities programme of work.

g)        The Health & Wellbeing Board should explore ways of ensuring work to tackle health inequalities is recognized and visible across our multiple partnerships – this could entail becoming a ‘Marmot Borough’.

The Cabinet Member for Leisure, Public Health and Well-being, Equalities and Partnerships presented the report of the Director: Communities, Customer and Commercial Services.

The previous report to Cabinet in December 2021 had proposed a four year inclusion strategy, a clear commitment and vision for diversity and inclusion in the Borough. The objectives in that strategy had all been supported by an action plan. However, the Council had wanted to ensure the community and employees had more involvement. To this end, independent facilitators had been engaged and carried out a range of engagement activities with a range of individuals and organisations, giving people and opportunity to get involved.

Following consultation, an updated strategy was created and this was contained within the appendices of the report.

Cabinet noted the importance of the strategy and of engaging with residents on the policy.

The leader of the Liberal Democrat group welcomed the report.

The Leader of the Council noted the link between the strategy and the previous report on health inequalities, noting that ‘hard to reach’ was something of a misnomer and that by deliberately taking consultations and services to people you could reach them.

RESOLVED – that Cabinet

a)         Notes the changes to Appendix A - the updated Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Strategy, and approve this as a final version.

b)        Notes the results of the community engagement exercise in Appendix C and approves the publication of this document alongside the Strategy once it has been finalised.

c)         Grants delegated authority to the Director: Communities, Customer and Commercial Services in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Leisure, Public Health and Well-Being, Equalities and Partnerships to take the necessary steps to implement the EDI Action Plan moving forward.

The Deputy Leader and the Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Green Spaces, Natural and Historic Environment and Cultural Services presented the report of the Director: Neighbourhood & Enforcement Services.

The strategy was an important part of the Council’s net-zero 2030 pledge and came at a time of increased focus on electric vehicles (EV) both nationally and locally. Since 2018, the number of EV charge points across the Borough had doubled to 46, 599 home charge points and 51 workplace-charging sockets had been fitted since 2014. The demand for ultra-low emission vehicles had risen 800% since 2017.

In developing the strategy, the Council had carried out a thorough demand analysis to be able to understand the rollout of charging.

The Council aimed to lead by example and to that end had bought electric vehicles for its own fleet and was encouraging partners to do so. New NuPlace homes were being fitted with charging points in the hope of pushing other developers to do so.

Transport was an important aspect of the move to net zero and having a better-developed charging infrastructure gave people the option to switch to electric more easily.

Members noted the wider climate crisis and the need for more action from government to tackle the issue.

The leader of the Liberal Democrat group welcome the report and the forward thinking approach taken with NuPlace.

The leader of the Conservative group expressed the need to stay ahead of the curve on the matter given the rate at which electric vehicles were being taken up.

RESOLVED – that Cabinet

a)         Approves the adoption of the Public Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy attached at Appendix A.

b)        Endorse the proposals and approve plans to proceed to procurement of a delivery partner.

c)         Delegate authority to the Director: Neighbourhood & Enforcement Services, in consultation with the Deputy Leader & Cabinet Member: Housing, Enforcement & Transport to refresh the Public Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy as required to support the emerging Local Transport Plan.

The Deputy Leader and the Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Green Spaces, Natural and Historic Environment and Cultural Services presented the report of the Director: Neighbourhood & Enforcement Services.

The Council continued to invest in infrastructure for more active modes of travel, such as foot and cycle paths. The plan was a working document that looked to enable residents to take up more active travel. Other parts of the plan included Bikeability courses, bike rides to encourage people to cycle more, and changing cycling signage to say the time journeys take rather than just the distance to a place.

The report presented put the Council in the best position to bid for any future national funding for such works.

The leader of the Conservative group stated his support for the Bikeability scheme in particular. It was also noted that officers should consult with planners when looking at schemes.

Bikeability’s popularity was noted by the Leader of the Council who also stated that the Council was keen to increase the capacity of the courses.

RESOLVED – that Cabinet

a)         Approves the adoption of the Local Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) attached in Appendix A.

b)        Delegate authority to the Director: Neighbourhood & Enforcement Services, in consultation with the Deputy Leader & Cabinet Member: Housing, Enforcement & Transport to refresh the existing 2017 Cycling and Walking Strategy to support the emerging Local Transport Plan.

c)         Endorse the proposals to engage with stakeholders including Town & Parish Councils as part of continued development and delivery of the Local Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Plan.

d)        Note progress to date in delivering cycling and walking across the borough including improvements to the A518, Silkin Way and on-going investment into our Public Rights of Way network.

The report of the Director: Finance & Human Resources was presented by the Cabinet Member: Finance, Governance and Customer Services.

This was the first financial monitoring report of the year 2022/2023. Projections indicated an overspend of around £550,000; this would be covered by the Council’s general contingency fund.

Capital programme schemes had spent 87% of their budget allocation.

It was stated that council tax collection was slightly behind the target.

The budget contained a £3.95m contingency to cover any shortfalls, the position at the time of meeting left £3.4m for any further pressures. In addition an allowance for the 2022/23 pay award was held and £3.5m contingency for inflationary pressures.

RESOLVED – that Cabinet

a)    Notes the 2022/23 revenue budget position and approve the allocations of the contractual inflation contingency detailed at Section.

b)   Notes the position in relation to capital spend.       

c)    Recommends that Full Council approve the changes to the capital programme detailed in Appendix C.       

d)   Notes the collection rates for NNDR, council tax and sales ledger.

The Cabinet Member: Finance, Governance and Customer Services presented the report of the Director: Policy & Governance.

The report sought delegated authority to consider nominations to outside bodies.

RESOLVED – that Cabinet

a)         Notes the outside bodies to which the Council historically has nominated to, as set out in Appendix 1 of this report; and

b)        Delegates authority to the Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Cabinet Member: Finance, Governance and Customer Services to consider which bodies to nominate to and which Councillor is nominated.