To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on14 February 2024.

Decision

The Executive approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting on 14 February 2024.

Report of the Chief Executive attached

The Executive considered a report of the Chief Executive which provided an update on key areas of progress against the Our Manchester Strategy – Forward to 2025 which reset Manchester’s priorities for the next five years to ensure the Council could still achieve the city’s ambition set out in the Our Manchester Strategy 2016 – 2025.

The Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure reported that Manchester had been recognised by UNESCO as a City of Lifelong Learning.  The recognition meant Manchester joined an international network of 356 cities around the world - the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities - that each successfully promoted lifelong learning across their communities and shared inspiration, know-how and best practice with each other.  As part of this partners across the city would now be looking to revitalise learning opportunities within families and across communities, as well as facilitating learning opportunities within workplaces.

The Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure also reported that Manchester had been selected as the host of this year’s prestigious MTV Europe Music Awards (the EMAs), billed by its organisers as “music’s biggest global celebration.”  The awards, would be held at Co-op Live which would become the UK’s biggest indoor arena with a capacity of 23,500 when it opened next month.  The event on Sunday 10 November 2024 promised to attract international and home-grown stars and would be broadcast in 150 countries, boosting Manchester’s visitor economy and providing another showcase for the city. 

The Executive Member for Healthy Manchester and Adult Social Care reported that detailed evaluation was taking place of the impact of the strengths-based, practice-led Better Outcomes, Better Lives programme which concluded at the end of last year.  Work had taken place over three years to support behaviour and culture change around care practitioners working in a ‘strengths-based’ way, which meant identifying the strengths of the person what was important to them and the strengths in their existing network and expand the use of shorter-term support that enabled independence. This had been achieved through investing in and expanding the Reablement Service, increasing the number of people accessing the service, and promoting the use of TEC. 

The Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure reported that the “Generator”, a new enterprise hub in the city centre, opened last month to provide businesses and freelancers with affordable and flexible workspaces as well as free access to multi-faceted business information support.  The hub was designed to help drive economic growth and innovation in Manchester by creating a space where pre-start and start-up businesses could work, learn, network, and grow. It was situated in the Town Hall Extension on St Peter’s Square, making it a convenient location for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and hybrid workers.  The project had been made possible by funding from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) working with Manchester City Council.

The Executive Member for Housing and Development reported that progress was being made on three key developments which together, would help shape  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

Report of the Deputy City Treasurer attached

The Executive considered a report of the Deputy City Treasurer and Director of HR OD and Transformation, which provided an update on the work undertaken to replace its legacy SAP HR and Finance system (also referred to as an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system), which was implemented in 2006 and would no longer be supported after 2027.

The Executive Member for Finance and Resources advised that since 2006, the existing legacy system had been heavily be-spoked, making development and upgrades both expensive and time consuming. The implementation of a new system presented an opportunity to upgrade not just the organisation’s software, but also the manually intensive ways of working in place alongside the current system.  Following the decision to procure a new system, a business case was developed that would take the programme into its next stages of development.   The business case requested an implementation budget of £17.4m, spread across four financial years, to cover the implementation period of the programme.  This work included the procurement and cost of the new system, the cost of licensing, implementation, change management and post-live support.  This was to be funded from the ICT Investment reserve and £2m per year increase budget for on-going subscriptions, licence and running costs.

Following the decision to select a preferred bidder, the programme had entered a period of contract finalisation with the preferred bidder which had ended at midnight on 11 March 2024.  The Deputy City Treasurer reported that the contact had been awarded to HCL Tech as the preferred bidder.

The next step included an Executive Kick-off between the preferred bidder’s team and the Council, to start engagement on a collaborative note. Once the contract was sealed, the onboarding and mobilisation of the new partners as well as the additional internal resources into the programme would begin, and the programme would move into its ‘design’ phase.

Work to align the current programme plan with the suggested programme plan of the preferred bidder had begun. This allowed the programme to adopt the ways of working of the implementation partner, whilst also ensuring the pre-design work already created by the programme was aligned with the implementation partner’s own timeline and expectations. 

The go-live date of the new system was still expected to coincide with the beginning of the new financial year in April 2025 but would be subject to confirmation and joint planning with the preferred bidder’s programme team during the design phase. The option of a phased go-live approach was being explored by the programme to ensure core services were prioritised for this go-live date and would remain unaffected by any timeline-related risks to the programme.

A significant amount of work had gone into the pre-design and discovery work of the programme to identify the needs and requirements of the organisation as it moved to a new system. For a programme of this nature it was noted that there were risks that additional needs and requirements may fall into the scope of the programme, these would be identified  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

Report of the Strategic Director (Education and Children’s Services) attached

The Executive considered a report of the Strategic Director (Children’s and Education Services), which set out a draft education strategy for Manchester from 2024 to 2030.

The Executive Member for Early Years, Children and families advised that the Strategy brought together the Council’s early years settings, school system and post 16 provision to ensure a strong and coherent education offer continued to be available to children and young people which met the collective ambition and priorities of the City.  The Strategy also set out the role of the Local Authority as a system leader, place shaper and advocate for children and young people within the education system.

The strategy supported the ambition of the City to become a UNICEF Child Friendly City, specifically article 28 the right to education and article 29 the goals of education to ensure education develops every child’s personality, talents and ability to the full.

The priorities within the Education Strategy had been taken from the wide ranging engagement which was completed with children and young people during Our Year 2022 and the discovery phase of the Child Friendly City work. It had also been developed in discussion with education leaders over the last 18 months.

Overview and governance of the Strategy would be with the Strategic Education Partnership which had representation from all sectors of Education and other services which supported the system.  Many aspects of the Strategy such a Read Manchester, Skills for Life, our Education Carbon Reduction Plan already provided updates to this board.  There was also a joint meeting with the Work and Skills Board twice a year to consider overlapping workstreams.

The report had been considered by the Children and Young Peoples Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 6 March 2024  and it was noted that the Committee had endorsed the strategy approval by the Executive.

Councillor Johnosn sought clarification that, amongst other things, the Strategy would look to tackle the appropriate provision of SEND support and school attendance.

Decisions

The Executive:-

(1)       Approve and endorse the content of the proposed Education Strategy.

(2)       Agree the next steps.

Report of the Strategic Director (Education and Children’s Services) attached

The Executive considered a report of the Strategic Director (Children’s and Education Services), which provided an update on progress that the Council had made following the formal announcement at Full Council on 31 January 2024, that Manchester was working with UNICEF UK's Child Friendly Cities and Communities programme to put children's rights into practice.

The Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Families advised that the Council was now in its ‘development phase’ of the programme.  This was the phase where an Action Plan to progress and deliver each of the chosen ‘badges’ were to be considered and agreed.  The action plan(s) would demonstrate how the Council would progress and evidence progress against each respective badge.

The badges were chosen after a record breaking consultation which saw over 11,000 children and young people take part.  The top three badges identified by Manchester’s children and young people for the city to focus on were Safe, Secure and Place and Healthy.  In addition to these the city would focus on a further three core badges - Culture, Communication and Co-operation and Leadership.  The Council had also committed to ensuring that the Equal and Included badge was a cross-cutting golden thread across all that it did.

It was also reported that the city’s bid for UNICEF recognition would now see the Council and local partners putting children’s rights into practice over the coming years, as organisations worked together towards a shared goal for Manchester to be a UNICEF Child Friendly City.

The report had been considered by the Children and Young Peoples Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 6 March 2024  and it was noted that the Committee had endorsed the Action Plan for  approval by the Executive.

Decisions

The Executive:-

(1)      Support and endorse the chosen badge and supporting action plan(s).

(2)      Pledge a continued support to championing children’s rights within specific political portfolios and priorities.

(3)      Request an annual progress report and/or key milestones in the city’s journey to be a UNICEF UK Child Friendly City’.

Report of the Director of Public Health attached

The Executive considered a report of the Director of Public Health, which detailed the Annual Report of the Director of Public Health for 2023/24.

This year the report focussed on HIV and sexual health.  This included a look back to how the city responded to the emerging HIV and AIDS crisis in the 1980s/1990s and how that response had informed the services now operating in the present day.  In addition, the Director of Public Health had set out some of the issues Manchester would need to consider from 2024/5 onwards.

The Executive Member for Healthy Manchester and Adult Social Care strongly welcomed the report and thanked all of those who had contributed to its production.

The Leader also placed on record her thanks to the Director of Public Health and all those involved in producing the report.  She stated that whilst it was important the report identified challenges for the future, it was equally important to reflect on the present position and the challenges that Public Health had faced against a backdrop of cuts to funding and rising demand and note that it was important to continue to challenge ourselves and push ambitions for the city further and at pace

Decision

The Executive endorse the Annual Report.

Report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) attached

Due to the large size of the appendices, these are available on the Council’s website (link address below) and paper copy on request.

Weblink address: 

https://democracy.manchester.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=147&MId=4341&Ver=4

The Executive considered a report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development), which sought approval to endorse the adoption of Places for Everyone Joint Local Plan (PfE) and for Council to formally adopt the PfE - incorporating the Main Modifications, amendments to the Policies Map and Additional Modifications - in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 (as amended) (“2012 Regulations”) and the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (as amended) (“2004 Act”).

The Executive Member for Housing and Development advised that the Places for Everyone Plan was the strategic spatial plan for the nine constituent Greater Manchester boroughs Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan) and as such sets out a collective strategic planning policy framework covering 2022 to 2039.  As this was a strategic plan it did not cover everything that Manchester’s Local Plan would.  Therefore, Manchester’s emerging Local Plan would set out more detailed policies including both strategic and non-strategic policies, as appropriate, reflecting local circumstances.

With respect to the legal aspects of the plan, the legislative and constitutional requirements for the preparation of a joint Development Plan Document (DPD) set out in the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (“2004 Act”) and the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 (“2012 Regulations”) had been complied with.

Having considered the consultation responses to the Main Modifications, the Inspectors’ Report was published by the GMCA on behalf of the nine local authorities on 15 February 2024. The Report concluded that subject to inclusion of the Main Modifications, the Plan was sound, complied with all relevant legal requirements and provided an appropriate basis for the planning of the nine boroughs.

The adopted Plan continued to feature specific policies and an allocation that directly relate to Manchester included:-

·            Delivery of a minimum of around 60,000 new homes; and over 2 million square metres of office floorspace in Manchester by 2039;

·            Policies to deliver growth and regeneration across the City;

·            Seeking to achieve a carbon neutral city no later than 2038;

·            Inclusion of the requirement to deliver biodiversity net gain in line with national policy;

·            Policies across a range of other themes including flood risk, water resources, air quality, economic and housing matters, heritage, culture, education and skills, health, and sport and recreation;

·            Specific allocation identified in the plan for Manchester for new jobs at Wythenshawe Hospital.

·            Within the Manchester Local Plan process, approximately 17,000 affordable homes to be delivered in the period that covered PfE.  This was based on the 50,000 affordable homes expected to be delivered across the PfE plan area, as part of the overall delivery of 175,000 homes in GM (except Stockport).  This was a similar percentage to the target set out in the Manchester City Council Housing Strategy.

It was note that the housing and employment figures in the adopted plan reflected the fact that the plan had been extended to a period from 2022 to 2039 meaning an additional year of housing and employment development  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

Report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) attached

The Executive considered a report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development), which sought endorsement of the Council’s new Manchester Tree and Woodland Action Plan (TAWAP).

The Executive Member for Environment and Transport advised that the new TAWAP, together with a comprehensive suite of studies and strategies would help increase the Council’s understanding of biodiversity needs and nature-based solutions and connect the tree and woodland agenda across other thematic priorities, such as climate resilience, health and wellbeing and air quality, over the course of ten years instead of five years.

The TAWAP would allow a focus to be given to trees, helping to ensure that they continued to be planted in Manchester selectively and appropriately, with due regard given to location, landscape character and sustainability and would be an integral part of the Green and Blue Infrastructure Strategy Implementation Plan enabling more detail to be provided regarding how the City’s tree assets could be cared for not just by the Council but by a range of stakeholders.

Projects identified within the TAWAP would either rely on collaborative funding bids being developed or have been identified as part of existing budget provision.  In relation to the Council's commitments, project funding could come from prioritising or reallocating existing resource, while external bids to grant schemes such as Government’s Urban Tree Challenge Fund would need to be driven locally by operational leads in parks, arboriculture and neighbourhoods teams.

Decisions

The Executive:-

(1)       Notes the results from the public consultation on the draft Manchester Tree and Woodland Action Plan.

(2)       Endorse the Manchester Tree and Woodland Action Plan as an integral part of the Green and Blue Infrastructure Stakeholder Implementation Plan.

Report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) attached

The Executive considered a report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development), which provided an update on the advancement of This City, the successful application for £10m of brownfield grant funding and the opportunity to scale up the delivery of around 1500 new low carbon, mixed tenure homes.  The report also sought approval to progress procurement of a private sector funding partner based on the conclusions of a comprehensive market testing exercise which had assessed the merits of potential investment and delivery partnership models.

The Executive Member for Housing and Development advised that the purpose of This City was to act as a commercial entity, capable of delivering much needed Manchester affordable rent housing to the people of Manchester.  The objectives of This City aligned with the Our Manchester Strategy 2016-2025 as well as the recently refreshed Housing Strategy (2022-2032).

Phase 2 of the original Business Plan (as approved by the Executive in December 2021) envisaged procurement of an investor partner to scale up funding to enable the delivery of a larger scale of new homes and to lessen the requirements of Council financial risk – particularly in relation to borrowing via Public Works Loan Board.  Soft market testing had confirmed that there was interest from the market to invest capital into the residential Private Rented Sector and appetite to fund the delivery at scale of the This City Phase 2 pipeline.  Any financial proposal, land transaction and commercial arrangements would be subject to approval by the Executive at a later date following the conclusion of negotiations with the preferred partner.

Given the timescales required to comply with the Brownfield Land Funding conditions and in parallel with the negotiations to find a preferred partner, site investigations and preliminary design works needed to begin during Spring 2024.

It was estimated that a budget of £0.75m would be required for this work, to develop all of the potential schemes through the initial stages to RIBA stage 1 design.  This work would support the discussions with the ultimate partner on the sites, and the site investigation works would be required by the Council to support any development on the sites, not just the This City proposals.  The intention would be that the works would form part of the Council’s investment into the final delivery vehicle for the sites.

It was also proposed to broaden the use of the existing £2.4m budget allocated to initial works on the Postal St site, approved by Executive in September 2022, to cover all the initial phase 2 sites and therefore enable it to be used for the site investigations and preliminary design work.

Through the development of the This City proposition and refinement of the business case, a number of key risks had been highlighted, and a mitigations tracker has been developed.

Councillor I Robinson (Ancoats and Beswick Ward) commented on the progress of construction of the homes at Rodney Street and the positive impact these will have for the area once completed and with people living  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached

The Executive considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer, which provided an overview of the operation and delivery of heat and power Manchester Energy Network since trading commenced in July 2021.  The report also outlined priorities for the Network for the 2024/25 financial year, with a business plan for the next 12 months being brought forward for approval.

The Executive Member for Environment and Transport advised that the Manchester Energy Network, formally known as Civic Quarter Heat Network, had been developed to provide heat and power to buildings within the Civic Quarter using a highly efficient Combined Heat and Power (CHP) engine.  A key objective of the Network was to assist with the decarbonisation of assets within the Civic Quarter which were difficult to address through other means due to the historic nature of the buildings and/or the restrictions around development/alterations to buildings.  At present, the CHP was fuelled by natural gas but there was ongoing work to put in place a decarbonisation strategy for the Network.

In 2018 a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) was established to operate the Network.  The Network was wholly owned by the Council, with a blend of equity and debt funding provided by MCC to be repaid over a 30-year term. In addition to the initial MCC funding, a grant was also received via the government administered Heat Network Investment Project (HNIP) in 2018.  The business model for the Network was structured in a way to provide heat and power to customers whilst ensuring sufficient revenue was generated to operate the company, as well as repaying the principal debt and interest to the Council.

The Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer advised that the Network commenced trading to customers in 2021. Since this time, the fortunes of the Network had been mixed given the recent turmoil in the international energy markets, coupled with the delay of the connection of the Town Hall, which was set to be a significant off taker and was a key element of the overall commercial case for the Network. 

Since trading commenced, the Network had been reporting annual deficits and significant work had been undertaken to stabilise the business following this period of volatility, with the 2024/25 business plan acting as a strong foundation for the Network to operate from.  A further £1.7m had been made available, following approval by the Executive in February 2024, to the SPV to draw upon, if required.  An element of the funds would be utilised to assist with company cashflow.

It was to be noted that this additional finance would be recovered through an extension to the loan currently provided by the Council to the SPV.  In order to set a prudent budget for 2024/25, there had been a line by line budgetary analysis undertaken on all income and expenditure of the SPV to present a comprehensive picture of the costs of the business.

It was reported that there was a strong governance and accountability framework in place for the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

The Leader placed on record, hers and the Executive’s sincere thanks and appreciation to Carol Culley (Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer) and David Regan (Director of Public Health) for their exemplary and dedicated work for Manchester City Council which had ensured the Council had continued to deliver a balanced budget against years of continued government cuts to its budget and also ensured the Council and Manchester residents had been fully supported through an unprecedented global pandemic.

The officers consider that the following item or items contains exempt information as provided for in the Local Government Access to Information Act and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. The Executive is recommended to agree the necessary resolutions excluding the public from the meeting during consideration of these items. At the time this agenda is published no representations have been made that this part of the meeting should be open to the public.

Decision

The Executive agrees to exclude the public during consideration of the following item which involved consideration of exempt information relating to the financial or business affairs of particular persons and public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer attached

The Executive considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer, which sought approval of the Manchester Energy Network priorities for 2024/25 and its associated Business Plan for implementation in its capacity as 100% owner and ultimate Shareholder.

The report had been considered by the Resources and Governance Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 7 March 2024  and it was noted that the Committee had not endorsed the report and business plan for approval by the Executive.

Decision

The Executive approve the Manchester Energy Network 2024/25 Business Plan in capacity of 100% Shareholder of the Special Purpose Vehicle