Apologies were received from Councillors Dean Carroll and Cecilia Motley.

Members are reminded that they must declare their disclosable pecuniary interests and other registrable or non-registrable interests in any matter being considered at the meeting as set out in Appendix B of the Members’ Code of Conduct and consider if they should leave the room prior to the item being considered. Further advice can be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.

None were declared.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 19^th October 2022, to follow

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 19 October 2022 be confirmed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 19 October 2022 be confirmed as a correct record.

To receive any questions from members of the public, notice of which has been given in accordance with Procedure Rule 14. Deadline for notification is not later than 5.00 pm on Thursday 3^rd November 2022.

A public question had been received from Peter Gilbert, on behalf of Sustainable Transport Shropshire in relation to an update on motions from Council from 21st September regarding reductions in car journeys.

The full text of the questions and written answers provided are available from the web page for the meeting: Agenda for Cabinet on Wednesday, 9th November, 2022, 10.30 am — Shropshire Council

To receive any questions from Members of the Council. Deadline for notification is not later than 5.00 pm on Thursday 3^rd November 2022.

A Member question was received from Councillor Kevin Pardy in relation to the Together4Children report and the breakdown of age/disabilities of adopted children.

Councillor Pardy thanked the Portfolio Holder for Children and Education for the answer and the Adoption Team for the work they do.

The full text of the questions and written answers provided are available from the web page for the meeting: Agenda for Cabinet on Wednesday, 9th November, 2022, 10.30 am — Shropshire Council

There were no scrutiny items.

Lead Member – Councillor Gwilym Butler – Portfolio Holder for Finance and Corporate Resources

Report of James Walton – Executive Director of Resources

RESOLVED:

i)                To note the contents of the report; particularly noting:

Good progress has been made during 2021/2022 on managing health and safety across the Council.

·       Reportable employee accidents to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) have decreased and minor accidents have increased compared to last year’s figures.

·       Service Areas and the Health & Safety Team work well together.

·       The Council continues to maintain a good relationship with the HSE.

·       The Health & Safety Team were involved with various aspects of the floods, including advice, support and PPE advice.

·       The team started to resume business as usual activities to a pre-pandemic level as restrictions started to ease. The team had some capacity issues this year due to staff changes from a retirement and also some significant absence issues.

ii)               That the work programme was also noted.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Corporate Resources presented the report which provided a review of the health and safety performance for 2021/22, detailing the key health and safety challenges for the Council, progress on last year’s Annual Report and identifies key priorities for 2022/23. He thanked Carol Fox and her team for the work they have done in keeping the council and its staff safe in the ever-changing environment we find ourselves.

Questions were raised on the safety and testing of lighting columns, the data relating to stress related absence, site security at TMBSS Bridgnorth and the reduction of Health Visitors in North Shropshire from twelve to three. The Portfolio Holder confirmed that he had been advised that appropriate safety measures had been put in place by the Highways team to look at similar models of streetlamps across the county for incidents of internal corrosion with some already being replaced. With regards to the data, he advised that it was not possible to compare to the previous year as this was during lockdown and therefore any comparison should be to 2019 for more accurate figures. With regards to the site security at TMBSS, it was felt that this should be risk assessed and form part of the school’s budget based on its need in comparison to other budgetary pressures. Finally, with regards to staffing cuts, it was acknowledged that these were difficult times and there would be an opportunity for each party to re-evaluate budget priorities in the coming months.

RESOLVED:

i)                To note the contents of the report; particularly noting:

Good progress has been made during 2021/2022 on managing health and safety across the Council.

·       Reportable employee accidents to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) have decreased and minor accidents have increased compared to last year’s figures.

·       Service Areas and the Health & Safety Team work well together.

·       The Council continues to maintain a good relationship with the HSE.

·       The Health & Safety Team were involved with various aspects of the floods, including advice, support and PPE advice.

·       The team started to resume business as usual activities to a pre-pandemic level as restrictions started to ease. The team had some capacity issues this year due to staff changes from a retirement and also some significant absence issues.

ii)               That the work programme was also noted.

Lead member: Portfolio Holder for Children and Education

Contact: Tanya Miles, Executive Director - People

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet considered the information in the report and supported the work of Shropshire’s Fostering Services (as set out in more detail within the Appendix) in fulfilling the Council’s statutory and regulatory requirements.

The Portfolio Holder for Children and Education presented the report which provided an overview of the activity, data and performance of Shropshire Council’s Fostering Services known as Children’s Placement Services from the 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022.

Members expressed their gratitude for the work the team had done and thanked those foster carers who continue to support children in need.

Following a question regarding the recruitment of foster carers, Sonya Miller, Associate Director of Children’s Services and Safeguarding acknowledged the aging population of mainstream foster carers and connected carers in Shropshire. She advised that there was a recruitment strategy in place and a new marketing campaign would be launched in the new year. A benchmarking exercise had also been carried out to review the fees and allowances for foster carers to bring these in line with neighbouring authorities.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet considered the information in the report and supported the work of Shropshire’s Fostering Services (as set out in more detail within the Appendix) in fulfilling the Council’s statutory and regulatory requirements.

Lead member: Portfolio Holder for Children and Education

Contact: Tanya Miles, Executive Director – People

Report to follow

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet considered the information in the report and supported the work of the T4C Regional Adoption Agency in fulfilling the Council’s statutory and regulatory requirements.

The Portfolio Holder for Children and Education presented the report which provided an overview of the activity, data, and performance of the Shropshire Adoption service as part of our Regional Adoption Agency, Together 4 Children (T4C) from the 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022.

Members noted the three priority areas as outlined in the national Adoption Strategy; adoption recruitment, the child’s journey and adoption support. In addition, the Together 4 Children partnership has secured funding to work pan-regionally on the embedding of early permanence, the impact of this work will be seen in the next reporting year.

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet considered the information in the report and supported the work of the T4C Regional Adoption Agency in fulfilling the Council’s statutory and regulatory requirements.

Lead member: Portfolio Holder for Children and Education

Contact: Tanya Miles, Executive Director - People

RESOLVED:

To approve the Annual Corporate Parenting Report for 2021-2022.

The Portfolio Holder for Children and Education presented the report which, following the Children and Safeguarding Service and wider Council achieving a ‘GOOD’ outcome from the Ofsted Inspection of Local Authority Services (ILACS) in February 2022, highlighted the areas of good and outstanding practice, together with key issues and challenges.

Members noted that the local authority and Corporate Parenting Board is working closely with health partners to address the pathways for the emotional and mental health needs of children and young people to be identified early and timely interventions put in place. Our Early Help offer is also being revised to ensure families can receive the right support at the right time, preventing higher levels of need.

It was noted that there was no information regarding who is coming into Shropshire via the asylum-seeking programme. It was confirmed that Shropshire Council is part of the Government National Transfer Scheme for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children which is carried out on a rota basis and that further updates would be brought to a future meeting.

RESOLVED:

To approve the Annual Corporate Parenting Report for 2021-2022.

Lead member: Portfolio Holder for Children and Education

Contact: Tanya Miles, Executive Director - People

Report to follow

RESOLVED:

That Members noted the content of the Annual Report.

The Portfolio Holder for Children and Education presented the report which outlined the work of the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), a statutory role overseeing complaints and enquiries as to concerns raised about individuals who pose a risk or are a risk to children in roles which are a position of trust.

The Leader felt it was important to note that the role was not just confined to Shropshire Council managed care facilities and that the report covered care facilities across the county.

RESOLVED:

That Members noted the content of the Annual Report.

Lead member: Portfolio Holder for Climate Change, Environment and Transport

Contact: Mark Barrow, Executive Director – Place

RESOLVED:

·       To agree the use of £0.6m of match funding from Council budgets for a contract to install an additional 270 electric vehicle charge points in 40 locations across Shropshire.

·       To note the receipt of £0.903 million in grant from the Government’s On-street Residential Charge-point Scheme.

·       To authorise the entering into of an installation contract between the Council and Connected Kerb, the basic terms of which are set out in this report.

The Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Climate Change, Environment and Transport introduced the report which, following Shropshire Council receiving one of the largest grant awards from the Government’s On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) 2022-23, sought authority from Cabinet to enter into the contract for the installation work as a matter of urgency. If approved, this would result in an additional 270 electric vehicle charge points being installed in 40 locations across Shropshire, bringing the total to 320 EV chargers across the county.

Thanks were given to Jason Hughes and Adrian Cooper for securing the grant.

It was confirmed that the choice of locations for the charging points was data driven.

It was questioned as to whether charging points would be considered for park and ride sites. Members were reminded that this report focussed on charging points for residents without off-street parking but that this was an ambition in the future for installing points in all car parks and park and ride facilities.

RESOLVED:

·       To agree the use of £0.6m of match funding from Council budgets for a contract to install an additional 270 electric vehicle charge points in 40 locations across Shropshire.

·       To note the receipt of £0.903 million in grant from the Government’s On-street Residential Charge-point Scheme.

·       To authorise the entering into of an installation contract between the Council and Connected Kerb, the basic terms of which are set out in this report.