To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 5 November 2024.

Decision

That the minutes of the meeting held on 5 November 2024 be approved as a correct record.

Report of the City Treasurer

This report provides a high-level overview of the latest budget position for the Council in respect of its 2025/26 budget. Each scrutiny committee is invited to consider the officer developed options which are within its remit and to make recommendations to the Executive before it agrees to the final budget proposals in February 2025.

The Committee considered the report of the City Treasurer that provided a high-level overview of the latest budget position for the Council in respect of its 2025/26 budget.

The Executive Member for Finance and Resources referred to the points and themes in the report which included:

·       Noting that the Council was forecasting an estimated budget shortfall of £101m in 2025/26, £126m in 2026/27, and £164m by 2027/28;

·       Mitigations approved in previous budget rounds included approved savings of £32m, the use of c£18m smoothing reserves in each of the three years, and a Council Tax increase of 4.99% (c£11m) a year. After these mitigations the gap reduced to £29m in 2025/26, £41m in 2026/27 and £77m by 2027/28;

·       Noting that councils faced a funding gap of £6.2 billion over the next two years, and this needed to be considered in the context of an estimated £24.5 billion in cuts and efficiencies in service spending that councils had made since 2010/11;

·       Noting that over the same period the Council had delivered over £440m of savings;

·       The 2023/24 outturn position reported to Executive 5 June 2024, reported an overspend of £5.3m. The second monitoring report of 2024/25 was considered by Executive on 13 November, reporting a forecast overspend of £20m. The ongoing implications of this overspend must be considered as part of the budget setting process;

·       Consideration of the Government’s Autumn Statement, noting that a key headline for Local Government was that Core Spending Power would increase by 3.2% in real terms in 2025/26;

·       Noting that Ministers had indicated additional funding would be targeted through a deprivation-based approach; and

·       A summary of the budget position, noting that the final budget position for 2025/26 would be confirmed at February 2025 Executive. This would be after the Finance Settlement was received and key decisions confirming the Council Tax and Business Rates tax base to be used to determine the collection fund position had been made in January.

Key points and queries that arose from the Committee’s discussions included:

• To thank officers for their work over years of under-funding and austerity;
• To welcome the real-term increase in funding, the move to multi-year settlements, which would assist the Council with planning, the continuation of the Household Support Fund and the return to a needs-based assessment by the national Government; and
• Noting that, while there was cause for optimism, there was still some uncertainty about funding and the Council was still facing budget pressures in a number of areas.

The Executive Member for Finance and Resources acknowledged that there was still uncertainty about the Council’s funding allocation and the formula to be used, noting that the provisional settlement would be announced in two weeks’ time, and that a lot of work was needed to address long-term funding issues in Adult Social Care, homelessness and external residential placements for Looked After Children.  He advised that the budget item would return to scrutiny in February 2025, when the Council would be in a more informed position.

In response to a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

Report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development)

This report provides a high-level overview of the latest position and officer developed options to contribute to the balancing of the overall Council budget.  Final options will be proposed following the announcement of the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement, expected prior to Christmas.

The committee is invited to consider the current proposed changes which are within its remit and to make recommendations to the Executive.    This committee will have the opportunity to review proposals in the context of the financial settlement again in February and make final recommendations for the Executive to consider on 19^th February 2025 when the final budget decisions will be made.

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) which set out an overview of the services within the Growth and Development Directorate and their key priorities, along with details of the other services under the remit of this Committee.  It provided a further update to the Committee on the proposed 2025/26 budget, including details of savings and investment proposals based on the latest overall budget position.

The Committee was invited to consider the officer-developed options which were within its remit and to make recommendations to the Executive before it agreed to the final budget proposals in February 2025.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• Service overview and priorities;
• Service budget and proposed changes;
• Commissioning and procurement priorities;
• Workforce implications;
• Equality and anti-poverty impact; and
• Future opportunities, risks and policy/strategy considerations.

Key points and queries that arose from the Committee’s discussions included:

• To request clarification on the proposals in relation to LED street lighting;
• The impact of the recently-announced 2029 deadline for resolving building safety issues on the Building Control team;
• The impact of the Government’s plans for leasehold reform on the Council’s income as the freeholder of residential properties; and
• The importance of funding for the Manchester Adult Education Service (MAES) and requesting clarification on the reference to diversifying income.

The Director of Highways clarified that the proposal was to dim street lighting, not to switch lights off or reduce the hours that they were lit.  He advised that the proposal was to dim all street lighting by one classification across the whole city, although it was also possible to implement this in certain areas.  

The Strategic Director (Growth and Development) advised that there were a number of new building safety regulations and requirements which were having a big impact on Building Control and other parts of the Council including Housing Operations and Strategic Housing and that work was taking place to build staff resources and upskill staff to deal with these.  She advised that these assumptions were built into the budget and that, while there were challenges, including having to compete with the private sector to recruit to vacant posts in Building Control, the Council was confident that it could address the new requirements.  She informed Members that income from residential freehold was only a small part of the income from the investment estate and that, while an assessment would need to take place of the impact of any changes, it was not expected to have a significant impact on the overall budget for the investment estate.  She acknowledged the pressures on the MAES budget and advised that the service was looking at additional provision, for example, additional English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses and diversifying, highlighting the internal training courses that it was now providing.

Decision:

To note the proposed changes which are relevant to the Committee’s remit.

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive

This report provides an update on the development of the new Our Manchester Strategy for the city covering the period 2025 to 2035. It builds on a previous report to Scrutiny Committees in July 2024. This report summarises the second round of engagement activity, the findings that are most relevant to the work of the Committee, and includes an overview of the new strategy.

The Committee considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive that provided an update on the development of the new Our Manchester Strategy for the city covering the period 2025 to 2035. It built on a previous report to the six scrutiny committees in July 2024.

Key points and themes in the report included:

·       Providing an introduction and background, noting that The Our Manchester Strategy 2025 was the ten-year strategy for the city and was due to expire in 2025;

·       Providing a summary of the second round of engagement activity;

·       The findings that were most relevant to the remit of the Committee;

·       An overview of the new strategy, noting that the OMS would focus on twelve priorities over the next ten years; and

·       Following formal approval, the OMS 2025-2035 would be launched in April 2025.

Key points and queries that arose from the Committee’s discussions included:

• That 12 was quite a high number of priorities and the challenge of communicating these so that they were memorable and could be understood by residents;
• Ensuring that preventing young people from becoming NEET (not in Education, Employment or Training) and supporting those who were NEET be reflected in the Strategy, including noting the importance of sufficiency in post-16 education;
• To welcome that work had been undertaken to mitigate the under-representation of some groups, such as young people and Asian communities, and whether there were any lessons learnt from this;
• Making the Strategy more specific to Manchester;
• The importance of better income levels and well-paid jobs in improving living standards and that earning levels should be referenced in the priority “Have a growing economy that provides jobs and opportunities for everyone”;
• Reviewing the scrutiny report templates to reflect the refreshed Strategy;
• To welcome the commitment to plain text and readability; and
• Timescales for this work.

The Head of City Policy reported that the intention had been to have a manageable number of priorities, while reflecting the complexity of the city and the range of issues that people had raised in the engagement, commenting that the first Our Manchester Strategy had had 64 priorities under five themes.  He reported that a key outcome from the stage 1 consultation was that people wanted to participate and be supported to engage with what was happening in the city and consideration was being given to how to do this, noting that there was a lot of good practice already taking place in Manchester, for example, in relation to Community Health Equity Manchester, Child Friendly City and Making Manchester Fairer.  He reported that his service was working with the Communications Team to think about the wording and ensure the use of Plain English, advising that they were looking at having a public-facing document and other documents aimed at partner organisations.  In relation to the comment about NEET young people, he advised that each priority would have more detailed information below it so this point could be made more explicit there.  He agreed to review the wording of priority 8  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

Report of the Director of Highways.

This report provides a broad overview of lessons learned from the delivery of recent Highways Projects. It seeks to highlight the challenges experienced and, through establishing key themes that have been identified through feedback, sets out measures to be implemented aimed at improving future project delivery.

The Committee received a report of the Director of Highways which provided a broad overview of lessons learned from the delivery of recent Highways Projects. It sought to highlight the challenges experienced and, through establishing key themes that had been identified through feedback, set out measures to be implemented aimed at improving future project delivery.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• Recognising positive aspects of delivery;
• Projects considered and key themes, which were:
  • Improved communication and engagement;
  • Strengthened governance for better decision-making;
  • Realignment of Highway Service functions;
  • Greater understanding of project roles, responsibilities and powers; and
  • Enhanced project processes;
• Challenges and issues in relation to these five themes; and
• Measures and actions to be implemented in relation to these themes.

Key points and queries that arose from the Committee’s discussions included:

• To welcome that the service was taking steps to address issues that had arisen in previous projects, in particular the integration of design and delivery, and work to improve communications and embed a continuous learning process, noting that the Committee would monitor progress in future reports;
• The importance of straight-forward, Plain English communication;
• Communication with contractors and the use of enforcement and penalties for contractors;
• The importance of officers being approachable and willing to listen to concerns; and
• The importance of officers having an overview of the wider context of all the schemes happening in an area, rather than just one specific project, so that they could respond fully to residents’ questions.

The Director of Highways acknowledged Members’ points.  He recognised the importance of the specialist knowledge of officers in this area as well as the need for wisdom in the approach taken, advising that training and development for officers would focus on ‘Our Manchester’ behaviours.  He outlined the intention to make communications an integral part of highways projects, through the creation of a Highways Communication Team.  In response to a Member’s question, he advised that post-implementation reviews were currently carried out on an ad hoc basis but in future would be built into every major project.  He recognised Members’ comments about the wider context of other highways schemes, broader strategic transport aims and influencing culture change and advised that the Highways Communication Team would be responsible for communicating with and getting buy-in from residents and businesses in relation to strategic transport as well as highways.  In response to a Member’s question, he advised that Environmental Impact Assessments were carried out and that further information could be provided.  He informed Members that staff training and development would include their role in enforcing contractual conditions and that contractual conditions had been strengthened in relation to the removal of contractors from lists and sites when they were not performing to the required standard.  In response to a question about the vacant Head of Service for Highways Projects post, he advised that the intention was to advertise the vacancy early in the new year.  In response to a question from the Chair, he informed Members that there was a handover  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

Report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development)

This report provides the Committee with an evaluation of the recent public consultation undertaken in areas within Cheetham, Crumpsall, Harpurhey, Longsight, Miles Platting & Newton Heath and Moss Side to establish whether the designation of a Selective Licensing scheme is required in these areas.

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) which provided an evaluation of the recent public consultation undertaken in areas within Cheetham, Crumpsall, Harpurhey, Longsight, Miles Platting & Newton Heath and Moss Side to establish whether the designation of a Selective Licensing scheme was required in these areas.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• Selective Licensing rolling programme to date;
• Public consultation and the analysis of survey responses;
• Formal representations;
• The evidence base;
• Property condition;
• Next steps; and
• Future Private Rented Sector (PRS) licensing schemes.

Key points and queries that arose from the Committee’s discussions included:

• To welcome the report, the proposals and the future direction of travel;
• Concern about the condition of some homes in the PRS, the impact on people’s mental health and physical health of living in poor conditions and the powerlessness of tenants;
• That more areas would benefit from Selective Licensing, for example, in the Fallowfield and Withington wards;
• Enforcement action and criminal prosecutions;
• Waste disposal, including whether information on this was provided in other languages; and
• That the proposed license conditions should include gender-neutral pronouns (‘they’) when referring to landlords and should specify that homes should be free from damp and mould.

The Executive Member for Housing and Development reported that Selective Licensing gave the Council powers to proactively inspect homes in the designated areas where there were known to be issues with housing conditions, rather than relying on tenants to make a complaint, noting that tenants might be worried about retaliatory evictions if they complained.  He welcomed the Renters Rights Bill which was going through Parliament and would protect tenants from retaliatory evictions.  He recognised the importance of addressing damp and mould issues and confirmed that the Council would use the Selective Licensing programme to address this. 

The Compliance and Enforcement Specialist reported that, following an enforcement notice being served, this progressed to a civil penalty, which could be a charge of up to £30,000, or prosecution, and the Council was committed to pursuing these further actions where appropriate.  In response to a question about support for tenants, she reported that there were Community Engagement Officers within the Housing Compliance and Enforcement Team who provided support, in particular for vulnerable tenants who struggled to engage with processes, and that advice services were commissioned through Shelter, with consideration now being given to the further development of advice services with the introduction of the Renters Rights Bill.  

The Head of Compliance, Enforcement and Community Safety reported that a significant amount of work was taking place in relation to communications on waste disposal and ensuring that the messages were accessible for all residents, either through translations or pictorial messages, and that this would be linked in with the work on Selective Licensing.

The Chair reported that the Committee had consistently supported Selective Licensing.  He advised that a strong case had been made for the introduction of Selective Licensing in the areas set out in the report and he recognised the work of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

Report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit

This report provides the Committee with details of key decisions that fall within the Committee’s remit and an update on actions resulting from the Committee’s recommendations. The report also includes the Committee’s work programme, which the Committee is asked to amend as appropriate and agree.

A report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit was submitted. The overview report contained key decisions within the Committee’s remit, responses to previous recommendations and the Committee’s work programme, which the Committee was asked to approve. 

Decision:

That the Committee note the report and agree the work programme.