Agenda Document Pack - Policy and Strategy Committee - 05/12/2024
North Lanarkshire Council · 5 December 2024
Back to Policy and Strategy Committee — 5 December 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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26 November 2024 Members of the Policy and Strategy Committee Chief Executive’s Office Archie Aitken Chief Officer (Legal & Democratic) Civic Centre, Windmillhill Street, Motherwell ML1 1AB www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk Notice is given that a Meeting of the Policy and Strategy Committee is to be held in the Council Chamber, Civic Centre, Windmillhill Street, Motherwell, ML1 1AB on Thursday, 05 December 2024 at 14:00 PM which you are requested to attend. The agenda of business is attached. Archie Aitken Chief Officer (Legal & Democratic) Members : Clerk Name: Mark Hamill Clerk Telephone: 07811294702 Clerk Email: hamillm@northlan.gov.uk J Logue, T Fisher, L Roarty, C Barclay, A Beveridge, H Brannan-McVey, A Bustard, T Carragher, C Costello, P Di Mascio, K Duffy, W Goldie, D Johnston, J Leckie, G Lennon, H Loughran, M McBride, M McPake, L Nolan, G Robinson, A Smith, A Stubbs, R Sullivan, S Watson, G Woods. Page 1 of 216
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Agenda 1 Declarations of Interest In Terms of the Ethical Standards In Public Life Etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 Minutes 2 Appointment Sub-Committee - Minutes Submit the minutes of the meetings of the Appointment Sub-Committee held on 29 August 2024, 9 September 2024 and 4 November 2024 for approval 7 - 12 3 Audit and Scrutiny Panel - Minutes Submit the minutes of the meetings of the Audit and Scrutiny Panel held on 29 August 2024 and 31 October 2024 for approval. 13 - 22 Operational 4 Member Officer Working Group on the Third Sector and Communities - Recommendations Submit report by Chief Officer (Strategic Communication and Engagement ) seeking approval and implementation of the recommendations from the Member Officer Working Group on the Third Sector and Communities 23 - 32 5 One Workforce Annual Update Submit report by Chief Officer (People Resources) setting out progress on the Council's One Workforce Plan and strategic workforce priorities to 2028. 33 - 62 6 One Service Programme of Work Submit report by Chief Officer (Strategic Communication and Engagement) providing an update on six of the eight deliverables contained within the responsibilities of the One Service Programme of Work. 63 - 74 Page 3 of 216
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7 Leadership & Operating Model - Phase 2 Progress Update Submit report by Chief Officer (Strategic Communication and Engagement) summarising the range of developments, future plans and strategic journey to date and seeking approval of the proposed plans for 2025 geared towards the new build community hub. 75 - 100 8 Review of Non-School Hospitality Catering Across NLC Submit report by Chief Officer (Community Operations) providing an update on the outcome of the Review of Non-School Hospitality Catering Across North Lanarkshire and setting out options for the future operating model. 101 - 126 9 Corporate Property Reinforced Aerated Autoclaved Concrete (RAAC) Submit report by Depute Chief Executive detailing the final proposals for properties where Reinforced Aerated Autoclaved Concrete has been identified and the affordability envelope contained within the agreed capital plan. 127 - 146 10 Council Tax Strategy Submit report by Chief Officer (Finance) detailing the potential budget scenarios and the impact on the Council's budget setting in February 2025. 147 - 164 11 Community Investment Fund – Annual Update Submit report by Chief Officer (Finance) setting out annual update on Community Investment Fund and reflecting the Council Tax growth over the last year. 165 - 178 12 Community Learning & Development Prioritisation Exercise / Savings 2024/25 & 2025/26 Submit joint report by Chief Social Work Officer (Children, Families, Justice and Integrated Practice and Chief Officer (Community Operations) providing an overview of the appraisal process undertaken, together with the savings options explored and the preferred option which is underpinned by a SWOT analysis 179 - 204 Page 4 of 216
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Contracts 13 Transforming Places - Gartcosh Community Hub Contract Award Submit report by Chief Officer (Assets and Procurement) detailing the status of the contract pricing and commercial activities for Gartcosh Community Hub and seeking approval to progress to Contract Award for the project. 205 - 210 14 Transforming Places - St Stephens Community Hub Contract Award Submit report by Chief Officer (Assets and Procurement) detailing the status of the contract pricing and commercial activities for St Stephens Community Hub and seeking approval to progress to Contract Award for the project. 211 - 216 EXCLUSION OF PUBLIC The Sub-Committee is asked to consider passing the following resolution: "That under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 11 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A of the Act". 15 Review of Pay and Grading Model Submit report by Chief Officer (People Resources) setting out the proposed approach to reviewing the Council's pay and grading model Page 5 of 216
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Appointments Sub-Committee - Thursday, 29 August 2024 1 Thursday, 29 August 2024 at 10:00 AM. A Meeting of the APPOINTMENTS SUB-COMMITTEE PRESENT Councillor Logue, Convener; Councillor Roarty Vice-Convener; Councillors Carragher, Fisher, Lennon, Smith, A Stubbs and Watson. CHAIR Councillor Logue (Convener) presided. IN ATTENDANCE Chief Executive, HR Business Partnership Manager and Democratic Manager 1 Declarations of Interest In Terms of the Ethical Standards In Public Life Etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 The Sub-Committee noted that there were no declarations of interest. EXCLUSION OF PUBLIC It was agreed in terms of Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, that the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A of the Act. 2 Recruitment Pack There was submitted a recruitment pack which had been provided to applicants and made available via the myjobscotland recruitment portal. Thereon, the Chief Executive provided an overview of the skills, experience and knowledge demonstrated in each application form. There was submitted application forms received in respect of the post of Chief Officer (Audit and Risk). Decided: that applicants 4,5,6 and 7 proceed to interview. 3 Arrangements for Interviews The Sub-Committee considered the appropriate arrangements for the interview of candidates. Decided: that a pre-meeting take place on Monday, 9 September 2024 at 9.30am, and the interviews take place on Monday, 9 September 2024 at 10am. Item 2 Page 7 of 216
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Appointments Sub-Committee - Monday, 09 September 2024 1 Monday, 09 September 2024 at 10:00 AM. A Meeting of the APPOINTMENTS SUB-COMMITTEE PRESENT Councillor Logue, Convener, Councillor Roarty, Vice-Convener; Councillors Carragher, Fisher, Smith, A Stubbs and Watson. CHAIR Councillor Logue (Convener) presided. IN ATTENDANCE Chief Executive, HR Business Partnership Manager and Democratic Manager APOLOGIES Councillors Lennon and Williams. 1 Declarations of Interest In Terms of the Ethical Standards In Public Life Etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 The Sub-Committee noted that there were no declarations of interest EXCLUSION OF PUBLIC It was agreed in terms of Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, that the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A of the Act. 2 Schedule of Interviews - Audit and Risk There was submitted the recruitment pack and application form for each candidate to be interviewed for the post of Chief Officer (Audit and Risk). Decided: that candidate 6 be offered the post of Chief Officer (Audit and Risk). Page 9 of 216
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APPOINTMENTS SUB - 4 NOVEMBER 2024 1 Monday, 4 November 2024 at 1.30pm. A Meeting of the APPOINTMENTS SUB-COMMITTEE PRESENT Councillor Logue, Convener; Councillor Roarty, Vice-Convener; Councillors Beveridge, Carragher, Fisher, Smith, and Watson. ALSO PRESENT In accordance with Standing Order 64(A) Councillor Robinson attended as substitute for Councillor A Stubbs. CHAIR Councillor Logue (Convener) presided. IN ATTENDANCE The Chief Executive; Depute Chief Executive; HR Business Partnership Manager, and Democratic Manager. APOLOGIES Councillors Lennon and A Stubbs. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST IN TERMS OF THE ETHICAL STANDARDS IN PUBLIC LIFE ETC. (SCOTLAND) ACT 2000 1. The Sub-Committee noted that there were no declarations of interest. EXCLUSION OF PUBLIC It was agreed, in terms of Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, that the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A of the Act. RECRUITMENT OF CHIEF OFFICER (LEGAL AND DEMOCRATIC) – SHORTLEETING Recruitment Pack 2. There was submitted a recruitment pack which had been provided to applicants and made available via the myjobscotland recruitment portal. There was submitted application forms received in respect of the post of Chief Officer (Legal and Democratic). Thereon, the Chief Executive provided an overview of the skills, experience and knowledge demonstrated in each application form. Decided: that applicants 2, 3, 5 and 6 proceed to interview. Page 11 of 216
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APPOINTMENTS SUB - 4 NOVEMBER 2024 2 Arrangements for Interviews 3. The Sub-Committee considered the appropriate arrangements for the interview of candidates. Decided: that a pre-meeting take place on Monday, 25 November 2024 at 9.30am, and the interviews take place on Monday, 25 November 2024 at 10am. RECRUITMENT OF CHIEF OFFICER (FINANCE AND TECHNOLOGY) – SHORTLEETING Recruitment Pack 4. There was submitted a recruitment pack which had been provided to applicants and made available via the myjobscotland recruitment portal. There was submitted application forms received in respect of the post of Chief Officer (Finance and Technology). Thereon, the Chief Executive provided an overview of the skills, experience and knowledge demonstrated in each application form. Decided: that applicants 1 and 2 proceed to interview. Arrangements for Interviews 5. The Sub-Committee considered the appropriate arrangements for the interview of candidates. Decided: that a pre-meeting take place on Thursday, 28 November 2024 at 9.30am, and the interviews take place on Thursday, 28 November 2024 at 10am. RECRUITMENT OF CHIEF OFFICER (EDUCATION) – SHORTLEETING Recruitment Pack 6. There was submitted a recruitment pack which had been provided to applicants and made available via the myjobscotland recruitment portal. There was submitted application forms received in respect of the post of Chief Officer (Education). Thereon, the Depute Chief Executive provided an overview of the skills, experience and knowledge demonstrated in each application form. Decided: that applicants 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10 and 11 proceed to interview. Arrangements for Interviews 7. The Sub-Committee considered the appropriate arrangements for the interview of candidates. Decided: that a pre-meeting take place on Monday, 2 December 2024 at 8am, and the interviews take place on Monday, 2 December 2024 at 8.30am. Page 12 of 216
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Audit and Scrutiny Panel - Thursday, 29 August 2024 1 Thursday, 29 August 2024 at 14:00 PM. A Meeting of the AUDIT AND SCRUTINY PANEL PRESENT Councillor Watson, (Convener), Councillor B McCulloch, (Vice Convener), Councillors Brannan-McVey, Dunbar, Fisher, Hughes, Hume, Johnston, Leckie, McLaren, Robinson CHAIR Councillor Watson (Convener) presided. IN ATTENDANCE Acting Chief Officer (Audit & Risk), Business Strategy Manager, Corporate Risk Manager, Strategic & Performance Manager, Principal Auditor; Democratic Services Manager; J Boyd and P Murrary, Audit Scotland. 1 Declarations of Interest In Terms of the Ethical Standards In Public Life Etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 The meeting noted that there were no declarations of interest. 2 Strategic Performance Framework - Performance Reporting Schedule Quarterly Performance Assurance Review There was submitted a report by the Chief Officer (Business and Digital) (1) providing the Panel with the outcome of the latest quarterly performance assurance review which was undertaken on performance reports submitted to Council Committees during Cycle 2 of 2024; (2) attaching, as Appendices to the report, (a) Chief Officer individual performance reviews submitted to Service Committees in line with the Strategic Performance Framework, and (b) Chief Officer Service specific reporting which takes place each year to meet business and/or statutory obligations. During discussion on this matter, a number of questions were asked in respect of which Officers committed to respond outwith the meeting. "In relation to Housing Services - a tenant is not satisfied with overall service, can you provide further information on the areas where tenants are dissatisfied as this doesn't align with the indicators which are given?" (Councillor Robinson) "In respect of the net cost of refuse collection per premise, can further clarification be provided?" (Councillor Hume) "In relation to the pressure on the Council Housing Stock, would it be possible to have "Void re Lets" – Average Number of days to re-let properties be taken as a scrutiny item?" (Councillor Robinson) Item 3 Page 13 of 216
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Audit and Scrutiny Panel - Thursday, 29 August 2024 2 Decided: (1) that the composite overview of performance reporting provided in Appendices 1 and 2, to maintain an awareness of each report within the Performance Reporting Schedule for 2024 to 2025, be reviewed, and (2) that were there are any significant issues arising from the composite performance overview presented in the attached Appendices, that the Panel considers requires additional scrutiny and a further report be submitted from the respective Chief Officer to a future meeting of the Panel (following review through the Scrutiny Assessment and Prioritisation Process). 3 Best Value Thematic Audit: Workforce Innovation There was submitted a report by the Chief Officer (Business and Digital) (1) providing the outcome of the Best Value thematic audit on workforce innovation, specially on how the Council was responding to current workforce challenges through building capacity, increasing productivity, and innovation; and (2) setting out the three audit recommendations for improvement, which include management responses in respect of the planned actions. During discussion on this matter, two questions were asked in respect of which Officers committed to respond outwith the meeting. "In respect of point 19 “Trade Union Engagement”, can further information be provided in relation to the gaps in consultation by specific Council services?" (Councillor Robinson) "In respect of the turnover of staff, can a comparison with other Local Authorities be provided?" (Councillor Robinson) Decided: that the report be remitted to the Policy and Strategy Committee to enable Elected Member oversight. 4 Audit and Risk-Related Items Action Log There was submitted a report by the Acting Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) enabling the Panel to track implementation of requests and recommendations made by it in respect of Audit and Risk related items, with the action log, attached as an Appendix to the report, recording those requests and recommendations made by the Panel, and when these had been addressed and/or were expected to be addressed. Decided: that the content of the report be noted. 5 Internal Audit Progress Report There was submitted a report by the Acting Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) providing an overview of Internal Audit activity; (2) reporting the results of the Internal Audit outputs finalised since the last update to the Panel in May 2024; (3) highlighting the most significant issues arising from the completed audit work; (4) updating the Panel on other aspects of the work of Internal Audit: and (5) attaching, as an Appendix to the report, a brief summary of the scope and key findings of each substantive planned audit, together with a summary pack containing copies of those reports. Decided: (1) that the findings, conclusions and recommendations of completed Internal Audit reports, together with the associated management responses, be noted; Page 14 of 216
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Audit and Scrutiny Panel - Thursday, 29 August 2024 3 (2) that the Chief Officer (People Resources) be invited to the next meeting of the Panel to discuss the suitability of the I-Trent system and the actions put in place to deal with duplicate overtime payments and the recovery of overpayments; (3) that the Acting Chief Officer (Audit and Scrutiny) submit reports to future meetings of the Panel on progress being made in implementing agreed management actions in relation to all Audit recommendations categorised as high or medium; and (4) that the contents of the report be otherwise noted. 6 Internal Audit Follow up of Actions previously agreed by Management in Response to Audit Recommendation There was submitted a report by the Acting Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) (1) detailing the extent to which management had implemented actions previously committed to in response to recommendations contained within Internal Audit reports, where those actions were due to be completed by the end of June 2024; (2) advising that Internal Audit had concluded that 18 of the 37 actions agreed in response to relevant Internal Audit recommendations during the period had been fully completed, with 17 having been assessed as partially implemented; (3) explaining that of the 11 actions due in respect of external outputs, 7 had been completed, 2 were partially implemented, 1 was not yet due and 1 was considered no longer relevant; (4) attaching, as an Appendix to the report, a commentary from management with details of proposed management actions, together with the revised target dates for completion of those outstanding audit recommendations where Internal Audit had assessed the residual risk as high or medium; and (5) attaching, as Appendices to the report (a) Internal Audit recommendations: management actions assessed as not yet completed in this cycle; (b) residual risk rating definition, and (c) outstanding Internal Audit recommendations at the June cycle where the revised implementation was not yet due. Decided: (1) that the contents of the report be noted; and (2) that the recommendations made by Internal Audit in Appendix 1 to the report be noted; and (3) that the updates provided by management in Appendix 2 to the report be noted. 7 Internal Audit Charter There was submitted a report by the Acting Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) (1) explaining that the Internal Audit Charter was an important document which sets out the purpose, authority and principal responsibilities of the Council's Internal Audit Section; (2) seeking approval of the Internal Audit Charter, attached in Appendix 1 to the report, which had recently been reviewed and revised in line with best practice to ensure that it remained up to date and reflected the Council's current arrangements and expectations and that it was consistent with the requirements of the Public Sector Internal Audit Standards (PSIAS) and the associated Local Government Application Note (LGAN); (3) advising that there were no material changes to the proposed Charter for the purpose, authority and principal responsibilities of the Council's Internal Audit Section from that approved by the Panel in 2021, and (4) highlighting that an opportunity had been taken to update the Council's standard template and job titles to reflect the current structure, as narrated within the report. Decided: (1) that the Internal Audit Charter, attached in Appendix 1 to the report, be approved. Page 15 of 216
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Audit and Scrutiny Panel - Thursday, 29 August 2024 4 8 Risk Management Update including Corporate Risk Register 2024-2025 There was submitted a report by the Acting Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) providing an update on key risk management developments, with a particular focus on the results of the recent annual review of the Corporate Risk Register, and, providing a snapshot of the highest current residual risks within Service Risk Registers; (2) explaining that the Corporate Risk Register is formally reviewed annually to ensure completeness and continuing alignment to the Council’s strategic objectives; (3) updating the Panel on the results of that annual review process and presenting the Corporate Risk Register for 2024-25, which has already been approved by the Council’s Corporate Management Team; (4) indicating that the Risk Team had engaged with services to consider whether any risks within Service-level risk registers merited escalations to the Corporate Risk Register; (5) indicating that all corporate risks identified and agreed as meriting inclusion in the Corporate Risk Register are subject to regular monitoring and review by relevant Senior Management and periodic review and consideration of individual risks by both the Corporate Management Team and the Panel in line with their respective Governance roles; (6) explaining some of the changes to individual risk scores arising out of the recent review; (7) noting that, due to the application of the new risk ratings and thresholds as approved in the revised Corporate Risk Management Strategy, approved by the Policy and Strategy Committee in March 2023, the Corporate Risk Register profile looks somewhat different than previous versions in terms of the scoring and RAG ratings, and (8) attaching, as Appendices to the report, (a) the 2024-25 Corporate Risk Register; (b) current strategic risks and issues facing the Council as at May 2023, and (c) service risks with the highest residual risk scores. During discussion on this matter, a question was asked in respect of which Officers committed to respond outwith the meeting. "Can an update on the Procurement Risk be provided?" (Councillor Hume and Councillor Robinson) Decided: (1) that the agreed Corporate Risk Register for 2024/25 in Appendix 1, which incorporated the changes outlined in Section 2 of the report, be noted; (2) that the information contained within the report in respect of risk management arrangements within Services (including the summary of those risks with the highest residual risk scores) be noted; and (3) that an update on Procurement Risk be incorporated in to the next update report to the Panel on 7 November 2024. Page 16 of 216
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AUDIT AND SCRUTINY PANEL - 31 OCTOBER 2024 1 31 October 2024 at 2pm. A Meeting of the AUDIT AND SCRUTINY PANEL PRESENT Councillor Watson, Convener; Councillor B. McCulloch, Vice-Convener; Councillors Hughes, Hume, D. Johnston, Leckie, M McCulloch, McLaren, Quigley and Robinson. CHAIR Councillor Watson (Convener) presided. IN ATTENDANCE The Chief Officer (Business and Digital); Chief Officer (Finance); Acting Chief Officer (Audit and Risk); Employment and Policy Manager; Employee Service Centre Manager; Finance Manager; Business Strategy Manager; Strategy and Performance Manager, and Corporate Risk Manager. ALSO IN ATTENDANCE John Boyd and Pauline Murray, Audit Scotland. APOLOGY Councillor Duffy-Lawson DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST IN TERMS OF THE ETHICAL STANDARDS IN PUBLIC LIFE ETC. (SCOTLAND) ACT 2000 1. There were no declarations of interest. ANNUAL ACCOUNTS 2023-24 – LETTERS OF REPRESENTATION 2. There was submitted a report by the Chief Officer (Finance) (1) providing information on the Letter of Representation required to be submitted to Audit Scotland in respect of the Council’s Annual Accounts and the Council’s Charitable Trust Accounts for 2023-24 (2) informing that Local Authorities are required to appoint an officer who has responsibility for the administration of their financial affairs, the Section 95 Officer, and that International Standards on Auditing requires External Audit to request a written representation from the Accountable Officer providing written assurance on all aspects of the Council’s Financial Statements and Charitable Trusts and Education Trust Accounts, including the judgements and estimates made in their preparation; (3) explaining that the letters of representation had been signed by the Section 95 Officer and a copy of these in respect of the Council and the Trustee for the Charitable Trust and Educational Trust were attached as Appendices to the report; (4) describing that, as in previous years, the letters set out the representations of management and confirms that the accounts are free from material mis-statement; (5) intimating that, during the course of the audit, the External Auditors highlighted a number of mis-statements within the Council’s Financial Statements which had been adjusted for the audited accounts where these are considered to be material, and (6) indicating that the list of items which have arisen relating to the Council’s accounts and the Charitable Trust and Educational Trust accounts are contained within the External Audit Annual Audit Report. During discussion on this matter, a question was asked to which Officers committed to responding outwith the meeting. Page 17 of 216
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AUDIT AND SCRUTINY PANEL - 31 OCTOBER 2024 2 “Can the aims of the charitable trust be reviewed?” (Councillor Robinson) Decided: that the Letters of Representation provided to Audit Scotland be noted. ANNUAL ACCOUNTS 2023/24 – EXTERNAL AUDITORS REPORT TO THOSE CHARGED WITH GOVERNANCE ON THE 2023/24 AUDIT 3. There was submitted a report by the Chief Officer (Finance) (1) reminding the Panel that the Accounts Commission appointed external auditors to Local Authorities in order to carry out the audit of financial statements in accordance with International Standards on Auditing; (2) intimating that the objectives of the Auditors was to communicate with those charged with governance the responsibilities of the Auditor in relation to the Financial Statement Audit and the scope and timing of the audit, to obtain from those charged with governance information related to the audit, to provide those charged with governance with timely observations arising from the audit, and to promote effective two way communication between the auditor and those charged with governance; (3) informing the Panel that the review of the 2023/24 accounts by Audit Scotland was now complete and the final version of the accounts would be considered at this meeting; (4) reporting that, following the completion of their audit, Audit Scotland produced reports to those charged with governance on the 2023/24 Audit, for both the Council and North Lanarkshire Council Charitable Trust in Educational Endowments, which will be considered at this meeting; (5) indicating that a full annual report has been prepared by Audit Scotland and would be considered at this meeting, and (6) attaching, as Appendices to the report (a) Audit Scotland Report to those charged with governance on the 2023/24 Audit – North Lanarkshire Council, and (b) Audit Scotland Report to those charged with governance on the 2023/24 Audit – North Lanarkshire Council Charitable Trust in Educational Endowments. Thereon, J. Boyd, Audit Scotland, spoke in respect of the report by Audit Scotland and took the opportunity to thank Council Officers for the hard work and their support in terms of the audit process. During discussion on this matter, a question was asked to which Officers committed to responding outwith the meeting. “Can the latest figures on the buildings impacted by RAAC be provided and the impact that this has on the Council?” (Councillor Hume) Decided: (1) that the report by Audit Scotland, and the overall information provided by J Boyd, Audit Scotland, be noted, and (2) that the submission of a bi-annual tracking report to the Panel, on progress of the recommendations outlined within Appendix 1 to the report, be approved. AUDIT SCOTLAND 2023/24 ANNUAL AUDIT REPORT 4. There was submitted a report by the Acting Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) (1) presenting the Annual Audit Report produced by the Council's appointed External Auditors, Audit Scotland, in respect of the audit of the Council for year ending 31 March 2024, and (2) attaching, as Appendix 1 to the report, the External Auditor's Annual Audit Report which summarises the audit work completed and presents the main findings arising from the audit and contains audit recommendations and responses, including planned actions, which had been agreed by management. Decided: (1) that the External Auditor's Annual Audit Report be noted, and Page 18 of 216
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AUDIT AND SCRUTINY PANEL - 31 OCTOBER 2024 3 (2) that monitoring of the implementation by management of actions agreed in response to External Audit's recommendations be undertaken through reports to the Panel from Internal Audit. ANNUAL ACCOUNTS 2023/24 (AUDITED) 5. There was submitted a report by the Chief Officer (Finance) (1) presenting the Council’s final 2023/24 Annual Accounts, which provides Elected Members with the background on their need to consider matters raised by Audit Scotland in respect of its examination of the accounts; (2) indicating that the Local Authority Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2014 require the Council to prepare an Annual Statement of Accounts in accordance with proper accounting practices and that these regulations also require that, as a Committee of the Local Authority whose remit includes audit or governance functions, the Panel should meet to consider the audited annual accounts with the aim to approve these for sign off and publication by 31 October; (3) reminding the Panel that the Accounts Commission has appointed external auditors to Local Authorities in order to carry out the audit of financial statements in accordance with International Standards Auditing; (4) reporting that the review of the 2023/24 accounts by Audit Scotland was now complete, with the final version of accounts attached as an Appendix to the report; (5) advising that a full annual report has been prepared by Audit Scotland and would be considered at this meeting. Thereon, E. Kemp took the opportunity to thank her team for the hard work undertaken in respect of production of the annual accounts. The Convener also thanked officers for their hard work in compiling the annual accounts. Decided: (1) that the contents of the report be noted, and (2) that the final accounts for signing and publication be approved. OVERTIME DUPLICATE CLAIMS – PROGRESS UPDATE 6. There was submitted a report by the Chief Officer (People Resources) (1) providing an update on the Duplicate Overtime Claims processed on the Itrent system; (2) setting out the significant work undertaken and implementation of corrective actions by the Service to prevent duplicate claims from occurring; (3) advising that the approach, whilst resource intensive, had been effective in preventing any further duplicate claims; (4) informing of the steps taken to recover historical overpayments and associated challenges; (5) summarising the options currently being assessed in the development of a long term system led solution and the costs associated, and (6) proposing additional measures to be undertaken in strengthening manager awareness and compliance with the core processes. Decided: (1) that the significant work undertaken within People Resources to implement an effective interim control solution, which prevented the payment of duplicate claims, be noted; (2) that the costs, progress and further work required, to establish a longer-term system solution to prevent duplicate claims occurring at source, be noted; (3) that the approach agreed for recovery of historical overpayments and the associated challenges be noted; (4) that the strengthened approach to holding managers accountable for repeated breaches of the Time and Expenses approvals process be approved. AUDIT AND RISK RELATED ITEMS: ACTION LOG Page 19 of 216
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AUDIT AND SCRUTINY PANEL - 31 OCTOBER 2024 4 7. There was submitted a report by the Acting Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) (1) enabling the panel to track implementation of requests and recommendations made by it in respect of Audit and Risk related items within the action log and (2) attaching, as an appendix to the report, the action log, recording the requests and recommendations by the Panel, and when these had been addressed and/or were expected to be addressed. Decided: that the contents of the report be noted. INTERNAL AUDIT STRATEGY 8. There was submitted a report by the Acting Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) (1) setting out the strategic objectives and delivery of the Council’s Internal Audit section; (2) advising that the Internal Audit Strategy had been reviewed and revised, giving consideration to how the Internal Audit team best meet their audit objectives, and (3) seeking approval of the updated Internal Audit Strategy for 2024/25 to 2026/27, attached at Appendix 1 of the report. Decided: that the Internal Audit Strategy 2024/25 to 2026/27, attached in Appendix 1 to the report, be approved. INTERNAL AUDIT PROGRESS REPORT 9. There was submitted a report by the Acting Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) (1) providing an overview of Internal Audit activity; (2) reporting the results of the Internal Audit outputs finalised since the last update to the Panel in August 2024; (3) highlighting the most significant issues arising from the completed audit work; (4) updating the Panel on other aspects of the work undertaken by Internal Audit, and (5) attaching, as Appendices to the report, (a) A Summary of Internal Audit Assignments Completed within the Period; (b) Audit Gradings and (c) Internal Audit Performance Framework. Arising from discussion, it was agreed that the Chief Officer (Education) submit a report to the next meeting of the Panel, providing an update on the School Fund Compliance Arrangements. Decided: (1) that the findings, conclusions and recommendations of completed Internal Audit reports, together with the associated management responses, be noted; (2) that the Chief Officer (Education) be invited to the next meeting of the Panel to discuss the School Fund Compliance Arrangements; (3) that the Acting Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) submit reports to future meetings of the Panel on progress being made in implementing agreed management actions in relation to all Audit recommendations categorised as high or medium, and (4) that the contents of the report be otherwise noted. INTERNAL AUDIT: FOLLOW UP OF ACTIONS PREVIOUSLY AGREED BY MANAGEMENT IN RESPONSE TO AUDIT RECOMMENDATIONS 10. There was submitted a report by the Acting Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) (1) detailing the extent to which management had implemented actions previously committed to in response to recommendations contained within Internal Audit reports, where those actions were due to be completed in the period July to the end of September 2024; (2) advising that Internal Audit had concluded that 6 of the 14 actions agreed in response to relevant Internal Audit recommendations during the period had been fully completed, with 8 having been assessed as partially implemented; (3) explaining that of the 11 actions due in respect of external outputs, 8 had been completed, 2 had been partially implemented, and 1 was considered no longer relevant; (4) attaching, as an Appendix to the report, a commentary from Page 20 of 216
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AUDIT AND SCRUTINY PANEL - 31 OCTOBER 2024 5 management which details proposed management actions, together with the revised target dates for completion of those outstanding audit recommendations where Internal Audit had assessed the residual risk as high or medium; and (5) attaching, as Appendices to the report (a) Internal Audit recommendations reported as outstanding in previous cycles now assessed as ‘complete’; (b) Internal Audit recommendations: Management actions assessed as ‘not yet complete’ in this cycle, and (c) Residual Risk Rating Definition. Decided: (1) that the contents of the report be noted; (2) that the recommendations made by Internal Audit in Appendix 2 to the report be noted and (3) that for those actions, still outstanding after one year, the requirement that the respective Chief Officer attends the Panel to provide an update be noted. NATIONAL FRAUD INITIATIVE (NFI) 11. There was submitted a report by the Acting Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) (1) informing of the requirement for the Council to participate in the forthcoming National Fraud Initiative 2024 (NFI 2024); (2) advising that the NFI is a data matching exercise, organised by Audit Scotland, undertaken every two years and widely recognised as an important tool in detecting and preventing fraud, and involves comparing different data sets using defined criteria, allowing for the identification of inconsistencies and anomalies, indicative of possible fraud and/or error, and (3) attaching as Appendices to the report the (a) Audit Scotland’s Self-Appraisal Checklist and (b) NFI 2024 – Data Sets for Local Authorities. Decided: (1) that the positive outcome of the self-assessment of the Council’s arrangements in respect of NFI, as outlined in Appendix 1, be noted, and (2) that the Council’s ongoing participation in the NFI exercise, as outlined within the report be endorsed. RISK MANAGEMENT UPDATE 12. There was submitted a report by the Acting Chief Officer (Audit and Risk) (1) providing an update on key risk management developments, with a particular focus on corporate risks for the review completed during the reporting period; (2) explaining that the Corporate Risk Register is formally reviewed annually to ensure completeness and continuing alignment to the Council’s strategic objectives; (3) advising that the Corporate Risks included on the CRR are subject to regular monitoring and review by senior management, and periodic review by the Council’s Corporate Management Team and the Panel in line with their respective governance roles; (4) indicating that the Risk Team had engaged with services to consider whether any risks within Service-level risk registers merited escalation to the Corporate Risk Register; (5) explaining that some of the changes were due to the residual risk scores for some Corporate Risks as set out within the report, and (6) attaching, as Appendices to the report, (a) the 2024-25 Corporate Risk Register; (b) current strategic risks and issues facing the Council as at May 2023, and (c) service risks with the highest residual risk scores. Decided: that the information contained within the report in respect of the Corporate Risk Register for 2024/25, as detailed in Appendix 1 and Section 2 of the report be noted. STRATEGIC PERFORMANCE FRAMEWORK – PERFORMANCE REPORTING SCHEDULE QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE ASSURANCE REVIEW Page 21 of 216
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AUDIT AND SCRUTINY PANEL - 31 OCTOBER 2024 6 13. There was submitted a report by the Chief Officer (Business & Digital) (1) providing the Panel with the outcome of the latest quarterly performance assurance review which was undertaken on performance reports submitted to Council Committees during Cycle 3 of 2024; (2) attaching, as Appendices to the report, (a) Chief Officer individual performance reviews submitted to Service Committees in line with the Strategic Performance Framework, and (b) Chief Officer Service specific reporting which takes place each year to meet business and/or statutory obligations. Decided: that the composite overview of performance reporting provided in Appendices 1 and 2, to maintain an awareness of each report within the Performance Reporting Schedule for 2024 to 2025, be noted. STRATEGIC FRAMEWORKS ANNUAL POSITION STATEMENT 14. There was submitted a report by the Chief Officer (Business and Digital) (1) reminding the Panel that the inter-related strategic frameworks focussed on ensuring a corporate “one Council” approach in respect of policy, governance, performance, self-evaluation, project management and demonstrating improved outcomes for communities; (2) explaining that these frameworks are key to assessing the success of The Plan for North Lanarkshire and ensuring its delivery through the Programme of Work as appropriately aligned, planned, guided, implemented and governed; (3) advising that, to ensure that these frameworks remain aligned to The Plan for North Lanarkshire, and to support delivery of the Programme of Work, each subject to regular review and refresh; (4) reminding the Panel that, since 2020, an annual position statement has provided an independent review of the Council’s governance, risk management, performance and control frameworks, and (5) reiterating that various reports in respect of these frameworks had been considered by the Panel during the previous year and that this composite annual position statement report aimed to provide a high level summary and up to date position by setting out the background, current position, and next steps for each framework. Decided: (1) that the annual position statement for each framework, and the next steps to ensure each remains aligned to The Plan for North Lanarkshire, and delivery towards achieving the overall vision is appropriately aligned, planned, guided, implemented, governed and monitored, be acknowledged; (2) that it be noted that a corresponding Review Programme supports each framework which ensures that all relevant matters are kept under review, updated as required, and reported to the relevant Committee for Elected Member oversight and scrutiny, and (3) that it be noted that, as all Frameworks are now well established and embedded into everyday activities with all relevant interconnections made therein, future update reports in respect of each will be carried out in a way that allows a more specific focus on the changes and enhancements to each Framework that further support the Council in demonstrating progress in delivering the Programme of Work and achieving the vision set out in The Plan for North Lanarkshire. Page 22 of 216
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Policy and Strategy Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref SP Date 05/12/24 Member Officer Working Group on the Third Sector - recommendations From Stephen Penman, Chief Officer (Strategic Communication and Engagement) E-mail penmanste@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07947997750 1. Background 1.1. As part of the review of the Grant Awards Programme approved by Council in February, it was agreed to establish a short-life Member Officer Working Group on the Third Sector to exmine the relationship and dependencies between the council, the third sector and communities and to consider how the longer-term sustainability of the third sector could be supported. 1.2. The MOWG met on six occasions between March and October. The membership was: Councillors Cllr A Khan – Chair Cllr H Brannan-McVey Cllr M McPake Cllr G Woods Cllr D Johnston Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to provide the Policy and Strategy Committee with recommendations from the Member Officer Working Group (MOWG) on the Third Sector for approval and implementation. Recommendations It is recommended that the Policy and Strategy Committee: (1) Endorses the work carried out by the MOWG and; (2) Approves the recommendations of the MOWG for implementation The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Enhance participation, capacity, and empowerment across our communities Ambition statement (19) Improve engagement with communities and develop their capacity to help themselves Programme of Work All Programmes of Work Item 4 Page 23 of 216
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Cllr M Hughes Cllr A Smith Cllr L Nolan Cllr G Lennon Cllr A Beveridge Officers who contributed to the work of the group included: Chief Officer (Housing Solutions) Chief Officer (Strategic Communication and Engagement) Chief Social Wok Officer Chief Officer (Planning, Performance and Quality Assurance) Community Partnership Managers Senior Manager, Quality Assurance Enterprise Manager The group was supported by the Democratic Manager and Democratic Co-ordinator. 1.3. At its first meeting, the MOWG agreed the terms of reference at Appendix 1 to this report. 2. Report 2.1 The MOWG heard presentations and evidence from a number of stakeholders during the course of its meetings, including from council and Health and Social Care Partnership officers, external experts, third sector groups (individually and collectively) and from Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire (VANL), the third sector interface. The group also considered examples of good practice from other local authority areas. A list of those giving evidence is at Appendix 2 to this report. Funding 2.2 It was recognised at the outset that third sector services and groups are under similar pressures with respect to both rising demand and diminishing resources. While funding is available through both the council’s Grant Awards Programme and through the health and social care partnership’s Community Solutions – as well as external funders – the MOWG heard from third sector groups that funding applications can be complex with short lead-in times and a need to often provide the same information routinely. Recommendation 1: council and partnership officers to work together to identify ways in which funding opportunities, including external funding beyond that available from the partner agencies, can be communicated to third sector groups earlier, and provide updated advice on securing additional and future funding. In line with commitment made through the review of the Grant Awards Programme, the council and partners should work to develop a ‘tell us once’ blueprint approach, capturing the default details of applicants with a view to reducing the complexity and burden of repeatedly providing this information. Public sector partners should also examine the potential to develop a consortium approach to assist third sector groups, or combinations of them, in procuring expertise for specific programmes. The council will work with VANL to create a bank of information, resources and seminars aimed at assisting third sector groups in bidding for contracts with the public sector, aligned with the principles of Buy Social Scotland. Page 24 of 216
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CommonHealth Catalyst research 2.3 The MOWG heard from Professor Michael Roy from Glasgow Caledonian University’s CommonHealth Catalyst, who detailed the extensive work his research group had carried out on the third sector in Lanarkshire. From his research, he was able to identify a number of North Lanarkshire-specific lessons learned. Professor Roy underlined the importance of understanding how third sector groups interface with statutory services and suggested that, particularly in North Lanarkshire, there were gaps in this understanding. 2.4 Professor Roy’s research suggested that the third sector needs to be treated more as an equal partner in service and policy design. An opportunity exists, with the adoption of the CommUnity Agreement and Fair Funding Charter by the North Lanarkshire Community Planning Partnership, ongoing work on Local Outcome Improvement Plans with Community Boards and implementation of the Community Wealth Building Statement, to ensure that the third sector is meaningfully and directly involved in decision-making. Awareness of Third Sector service and groups as partners 2.5 The MOWG saw evidence of East Ayrshire’s Vibrant Communities approach. While Vibrant Communities is essentially a branded communication campaign, bringing together all elements of work with communities, the third sector and partners, an opportunity exists both to promote third sector services and celebrate the successes of the sector alongside local initiatives and outcomes. Recommendation 2: that the council and VANL lead a time-limited mapping exercise across the community planning partnership to capture the ways in which third sector services interface with statutory services and the council’s Programme of Work so that duplication can be identified and opportunities to facilitate the growth and sustainability of the sector can be exploited. Recommendation 3: that the Community Partnership Team lead a review of council policies with a view to identifying further opportunities for participatory funding of the third sector. As part of a refreshed Framework for Working With Communities, the Community Partnership Team should also work with the sector on the creation of a Community Empowerment Toolkit for use across the council aimed at identifying opportunities for third sector groups to be involved in the development of policy and strategy aligned to The Plan for North Lanarkshire. The toolkit and the mapping outcomes from recommendation 2 should be launched at a Third Sector Conference organised by the council but with input from the sector. Page 25 of 216
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Other activity 2.6 Community Boards are North Lanarkshire Partnership rather than council structures. However, Community Boards are currently undertaking significant self-assessment work, which includes a Community Board conference in the coming months, and the council has a role to play in supporting any improvement actions arising from this work. Next steps 2.7 While the work of the MOWG, and its recommendations, are owned by the council, their successful implementation necessarily involves considerable input, and in some cases partial ownership by a range of others, including VANL, the other community planning partners and representatives of the third sector. 2.8 Because of these dependencies, it is essential that the formal and informal structures in places are utilised to firstly, increase awareness of the work of the MOWG and, secondly, ensure that the actions required to ensure successful implementation are well understood by all stakeholders. It is therefore proposed to share the recommendations to the first available meeting of the North Lanarkshire Partnership’s Strategic Leadership Board, the Integrated Joint Board and Community Boards. 2.9 It is considered appropriate that progress against the recommendations is reported as required to the Communities Committee as the committee with responsibility for oversight of the council’s work with communities and the third sector. 3. Measures of success 3.1 Successful implementation of the MOWG recommendations will lead to better understanding of the sector by the council, its partners and the public and will lead to increased opportunities for the sector to grow and prosper, enabling it to continue to provide vital supports to the communities of North Lanarkshire. Recommendation 4: Strategic Communication and Engagement should work across the service (Corporate Communications, Community Partnership and Leadership and Operating Model, which has responsibility for the council’s development of community and town hubs) to update the Framework for Working with Communities. This update should include a branded, major ongoing campaign to work with third sector organisations to highlight their services and initiatives, and celebrate their successes and should contribute to growing the sector. The branding assets should be subject to testing with focus groups made up of sector representatives. This campaign, which will be jargon free and focused on tangible outcomes, will be continuous and will utilise the results from the mapping exercise described above, as well as existing work with the third sector. It will necessarily involve input from third sector organisations themselves as well as community planning partners. Recommendation 5: that the council ensures that actions arising from the Community Boards’ self-assessment work is embedded in the other recommendations outlined above. Page 26 of 216
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4. Supporting documentation 4.1 Appendix 1 – Terms of reference Stephen Penman Chief Officer (Strategic Communication and Engagement) Page 27 of 216
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5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☒ No ☐ The Third Sector Conference, mapping exercise and campaign have potential one- off costs which will be met within existing budgets. 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 28 of 216
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5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The campaign elements will require extensive communications planning. 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☐ No ☐ Appendix 1 Page 29 of 216
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Third Sector Member/Officer Working Group Terms of Reference 1. Purpose The Third Sector Member/Officer Working Group will examine local and national evidence about the third sector and its interface with the council and make recommendations about how the sector can build on its status as a key provider in the delivery of services that benefit people, communities, the economy and the environment. The group will also make recommendations about how the council can build on its relationships with the Third Sector and help to ensure the longer-term sustainability of the sector. 2. Membership Cllr Ayeshah Khan LAB Cllr Heather Brannan-McVey LAB Cllr Michael McPake LAB Cllr Geraldine Woods LAB Cllr Denis Johnston SNP Cllr Margaret Hughes SNP Cllr Adam Smith SNP Cllr Lorraine Nolan CON Cllr Greg Lennon PCNL Cllr Alan Beveridge IND Officers Communities Leanne Pollock Communities Matt Costello Enterprise (CWB) Yvonne Weir Health and Social Care Morag Dendy, Maria Williamson Resilient People board interface Alison Gordon/Stephen Llewellyn Communities Stephen Penman Additional stakeholder representatives will be invited to attend for specific agenda items Page 30 of 216
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3. Key Objectives The key objectives will be to: - Gather local and national evidence about approaches to the sector, including by other local authorities; - Consider what equitable supports can be introduced or further developed to sustain the sector; - Consider where council initiatives or approaches would benefit from extended input or partnership working with the sector, e.g. Programme of Work delivery, development of the Leadership and Operating Model, Community Wealth Building, - Based on this work, make recommendations to the Policy and Strategy Committee for decision; - Consider how the recommendations could be implemented, including what consideration of these would be required at partnership level. 4. Reporting Arrangements The group will report to the Policy and Strategy Committee in December 2024. 5. Measures of Success Sustainable recommendations are considered by the Council which contribute to delivery of The Plan for North Lanarkshire and meet the purpose described in section 1 of this terms of reference. 6. Frequency of Meetings TBC Page 31 of 216
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Appendix 2 The following individuals and groups gave evidence (written and oral) to the MOWG: Chief Officer (Housing Solutions) Enterprise Manager Professor Michael Roy, CommonHealth Catalyst Teresa Aitken and Christine McNally, Glenboig Development Trust Collette Donald, Health and Wellness Hub Community and Voluntary Sector Partnership Group David Wood, Chief Executive, Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire Page 32 of 216
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Policy & Strategy Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☐ Yes ☒ No Ref: FW Date 05/12/24 One Workforce Annual Update From Fiona Whittaker, Chief Officer (People Resources) E-mail Whittakerf@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07973 728628 Executive Summary Following Policy and Strategy Committee approval of the One Workforce Plan in December 2023, this report provides an annual update on progress towards delivery of the commitments within that plan, underpinned by a continued focus on ensuring that the Council has the required workforce capacity and capability to deliver on our strategic aims and objectives both now and in the future. This is in context of continued workforce risks and challenges in our wider environment, most recently highlighted in the national report on Scotland’s Local Government Workforce published jointly by SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives), SPDS (Society of Personnel and Development Scotland) and the Improvement Service in September of this year (Local Government Workforce Report). Aligned to this, and through our One Workforce Plan, the Council continues to take proactive steps to manage the impact of a difficult workforce environment, placing a strong emphasis on workforce planning with a range of actions to address gaps, including setting out detailed service level workforce plans with an agreed bi-annual cycle, led by Chief Officers across all services. The strength of this approach was most recently audited and endorsed as part of our Best Value Workforce Innovation Audit with the outcomes reported to Policy and Strategy in September of this year. This means we are in a good position to demonstrate that we have effective plans in place to manage, where possible, the many workforce risks now apparent and ongoing. The remainder of this report sets out a full progress update on our One Workforce Plan and strategic workforce priorities to 2028. There are several areas where we have made good broad progress, and these are highlighted in the body of the report against each priority. In addition, we have included some new areas of work, aligned to the recommendations for improvement within the Best Value Audit, and these will further support our continued efforts to build and maintain the Council’s workforce to meet both our ongoing operational requirements and our future strategic aims and ambitions. Recommendations It is recommended that Policy and Strategy Committee: (1) Recognise and acknowledge the continued workforce and wider labour market challenges and associated risks the Council is facing. Item 5 Page 33 of 216
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1. Background 1.1 Over the last 12 months, the Council’s services have continued to experience a range of pressures in building and maintaining their workforce capacity, and accordingly our corporate HR risk level of 16 continues to reflect these challenges. 1.2 North Lanarkshire’s local labour market has also maintained a difficult profile, with numbers of unemployed (available for work) residents continuing to sit at its lowest level in over 10 years and indeed dropping further from 6,100 to 5,400 over the last 12 months. It should be noted whilst low levels of unemployment are on one hand a positive measure, they also reflect a concerning shortage of available local labour and this particularly impacts on our ability to recruit staff to many of our larger frontline services, several of which already have an aging workforce profile. 1.3 Additionally, like other Local Authorities, we continue to deal with wider financial pressures which impact directly on our ability to build and maintain our workforce capacity and capability, and there is no sign of this abating in future years. These pressures include budget savings requirements, ringfenced budgets and temporary funding, which continually force staffing level reductions and restricted recruitment across services, even in the face of increased service demand. 1.4 These combined pressures are now creating challenging conditions within some of our services who must meet demand for critical frontline support in our communities, with some services having to consider alternative workforce sources to maintain service levels, including the increased use of agency workers and high levels of additional staff overtime with associated cost burdens and further risks around staff burnout and increased levels of sickness absence. 1.5 With respect to wider pay pressures, and the aspiration of the Trade Unions to achieve a £15 minimum rate of pay in future years, it is hoped that recent larger increases at the lower end of our pay spine will help to attract staff for lower graded positions from other sectors such as retail and transport who have recently begun to offer these rates of pay. 1.6 Compression at the upper end of our pay spine however has had the opposite effect on our ability to recruit to mid and senior level professional positions, including lawyers; accountants; architects; all IT disciplines; procurement professionals and project managers, who are all now attracting a much higher salary in the private sector and elsewhere. (2) Note continued good progress against the Council’s One Workforce Priorities to 2028, their associated strategic aims and the rolling plan of work which supports the delivery of these aims. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Improve North Lanarkshire's resource base Ambition statement (23) Build a workforce for the future capable of delivering on our priorities and shared ambition Page 34 of 216
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1.7 Aligned to our One Workforce Plan, we are now starting to take forward the revision of our pay and grading model, and an update on this work is provided within this paper and in a separate report to Policy and Strategy in this Committee. Given the risk profile, cost and complexity of this work however, we expect that it will take several years to complete, and with another heavily differentiated pay award being implemented this year, we will continue to see our competitiveness and attractiveness as an employer decline, particularly for higher graded positions. It is hoped that with a reducing inflation profile, we will see an easing in private sector pay inflation over the coming year taking some pressure off our mid-level and higher graded positions. 1.8 Despite the complex and continuing mix of workforce pressures and demands we face; Elected Members should be reassured that the Council is maintaining a strong focus on workforce planning as well as proactively progressing actions required to address gaps and identify more sustainable ways to build workforce capacity in key service areas. This includes work we are involved in at both a regional and a national level working with key partners to develop solutions for known workforce gaps. 1.9 The Council’s proactive work in this area was fully endorsed as part of the recent Best Value Thematic Audit undertaken by Audit Scotland and reported to Policy & Strategy in August (Best Value Audit Workforce Innovation) The report identified several areas of good practice including the fact that service workforce plans are robust, covering key service challenges, gaps, and how the service needs to adapt, with references to the council’s strategic priorities and how they will support delivery of the Programme of Work. 1.10 Additional work will also be undertaken this year to further strengthen our workforce planning approach with a revised process due to be launched in early 2025 to enable a full biannual refresh of our current service workforce plans. This will include enhanced tools and training around workforce capacity and demand planning, including heatmaps for hard to fill roles and service considerations around possible alternatives to overtime and the use of agency workers. 1.11 Our workforce plans will also consider other areas of potential workforce change and transformation, including our digital ambitions and the increasing incorporation of AI technology to drive efficiencies and improvement in our services. It should be noted that the impact of AI incorporation on roles and staffing across the Council is expected to augment and improve the work of our employees rather than directly replacing what our staff do. This was clearly set out in the recent report to Policy & Strategy on the Councils Automation and Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) Framework which was approved by Policy & Strategy in September 2024. Document.ashx 1.12 As our Digital NL work, including AI and automation progresses within services, we will work closely with our employees and our trade unions to progress this work and assess the impact on our services and our staff. 1.13 A need to further build on our digital skills approach is also highlighted in the Best Value report along with many other areas of important work aligned to our existing One Workforce Plan, including the Council’s focus on building stronger workforce capacity in critical professional and statutory roles such as Planning and Social Work, and a further update on good progress being made in these areas is included in the update on our priorities below. Page 35 of 216
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1.14 The Best Value report has 3 areas for recommended action as set out below. Some of these are already encompassed within the One Workforce Plan, with work underway and others will be included as a priority in this next phase of work: Issue /Risk Recommendation 1. Acting on staff engagement feedback As the council develops its staff engagement approach, it should ensure that as well as providing information to staff on council decisions, it also incorporates the views of staff and trade unions to support transparent decision making, and evidence how it is acting on findings from the Summer 2024 Roadshow sessions. 2. Hybrid working policy The council should continue to monitor the impact of its hybrid working approach. It should continually assess the impact of increasing the number of office days, in terms of performance, staff wellbeing, and recruitment and retention. 3. Temporary workforce The council should include data reporting on its temporary workforce as part of published workforce data, and once available it should include data on agency workers. 1.15 Work is already well advanced as part of our One Workforce Plan to cover recommendations 1 and 2, and a focus on our temporary workforce and the use of agency workers, at set out in recommendation 3, will be included in our next iteration of service workforce plans to be taken forward in early 2025. 1.16 Finally, it should be noted that anticipated future changes in employment legislation, aligned to the introduction of the Employments Rights Bill in October 2024 (Employment Rights Bill overview), will also impact on how the Council engages with temporary workers going forward, and we will begin to consider the impact of these changes in early 2025 with the UK government expected to start consulting on associated legislative reform around that time. 2. Report 2.1 One Workforce Priorities In the current challenging context, and to ensure a continued focus on making progression towards the delivery of our future operating model, our workforce priorities set out below in figure 1 remain fully valid and aligned to the key areas of workforce change and risk that we need to progress. Set out in the remainder of the report below are the key highlights in terms of progress against these priorities and a further update on our rolling delivery plan is provided in appendix 1. Page 36 of 216
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Figure 1 – Our Strategic Workforce Priorities 2.2 Priority 1 - Managing Workforce Transition Our strategic aims for this priority are: • To deliver effective workforce change and transition to our future operating model, managing service realignments and re-structures, including the establishment of new structures and roles; the delivery of workforce changes arising from savings implementations; digital skills and new ways of working and any relevant local or national policy changes which will impact on our workforce model over the next 5 years. • To undertake an ongoing mapping exercise to define how our services will evolve their workforce service delivery models over the next 5 years, agreeing a clear transition plan, and relevant supports and policies to achieve this through the One Service programme of work. • To maintain a strong ongoing focus on effective workforce planning, and the delivery of ongoing actions to address gaps and risks, with fully refreshed bi-annual workforce plans and updates on risks and the progression of agreed actions. • To complete a detailed review and full realignment of our pay and grading model to mitigate against pay compression, recruitment risks and to simplify grades and structures in line with our future operating model. • To ensure that all relevant workforce policies, processes and terms and conditions are appropriately reviewed and re-aligned where required to support our future operating model and overall workforce ambition. 2.3 Priority 1 - Progress Update 2.3.1 All budget savings with a direct workforce impact aligned to decisions taken in prior years by the Council have been fully progressed in line with the Council’s managing workforce change policies. This includes the full conclusion of the early year’s workforce transformation and the recent progression of the service review in Waste. 2.3.2 It should be noted that the progression of some of these savings and reviews has been complex and challenging for all concerned, and a key element of their successful Page 37 of 216
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delivery has been strong partnership working with our trade unions who have fully engaged with us to progress the best outcomes for all within the constraints set. 2.3.3 Through the One Service Board all Chief Officers have now presented their plans to progress their own service model and associated workforce transitions to our future operating model, and an update on this is included in the One Service Programme of Work update to Policy and Strategy included in this committee. 2.3.4 A further update report outlining progression towards our operating model is also included in the Policy and Strategy agenda for December and this includes the progression of new structures and roles which will enable the successful operation of our Community Hubs going forward. This includes the establishment of the new Hub Coordinator Role which will be critical to developing an effective multi service delivery model within our hubs going forward. 2.3.5 People Resources fully supports this work, including the shaping and job evaluation of new roles and engagement with staff and trade unions colleagues on these changes. We will continue to work through the One Service Board and with the Operating Model Delivery Manager and services to successfully manage all workforce transitions as they arise going forward as progress and to accelerate the progress of this work in future years. 2.3.6 As set out in a separate paper to Policy & Strategy in this committee, the Council will begin a review of its full pay and grading model in January 2025. The overall review will be led by a Project Board chaired by the Deputy Chief Executive and will follow recent changes at Chief Officer level within the Chief Executive’s service. 2.3.7 It should be noted that the work will be complex and detailed, and it is expected to take several years to complete, and consequently it will be broken into several phases. The first phase will begin in January 2025, with a focus on the initial realignment of our pay spine to the COSLA pay scale and the revision of our grades NLC15 to NLC18 to align with the removal of a further Chief Officer role within the Chief Executive’s service, and the consequential reorganisation of activities underneath this level. 2.4 Priority 2 - Pathways for Progression Our strategic aims for this priority are: • To maintain a strong leadership, development and progression offer to staff, including, learning and development, supported qualifications, graduate apprenticeships and other supported development and skills pathways which enable onward progression and promotion. • To continue to work with services, and nationally with key partners, to identify new opportunities for traineeships and other funded skills and qualification pathways including new graduate apprenticeships for key areas of skills shortage. • To become an accredited inclusive recruiter, fully adopting the SCQF Qualification Framework to enable the Council to incorporate a formal “work towards” and qualifications equivalency approach into our grading and recruitment processes. • To significantly improve the speed and effectiveness of our recruitment processes to ensure we are not disadvantaged in the labour market. • To continue to work closely with our Employability service and Routes to Work ALEO, to offer and expand where possible our number of work placements and Page 38 of 216
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other entry level employment opportunities offered within the Council to local unemployed or underemployed residents and those furthest from the labour market. 2.5 Priority 2 - Progress Update 2.5.1 Despite having limited funding to invest in the development of our leaders, we have maintained a leadership offering for staff and this was highlighted within the recent Best Value report with a continued offer in our Foundation and Influential Leadership Programmes. 2.5.2 We also support a bespoke leadership development offering for Education & Families and a newly developed dashboard on Learn NL for Social Work, which provides a comprehensive programme of development for all staff within Social Work. This dashboard provides access to the latest learning in the profession as well as access to masterclasses and professional development activities. This dashboard will grow and evolve with the service to ensure staff have access to learning which seeks to enhance their role. 2.5.3 In addition, the implementation of a new mentoring programme was agreed with Corporate Management Team in September of this year, with the creation of a new mentoring Hub on our Learn NL platform as illustrated in figure 2 below. Figure 2 2.5.4 The programme will offer a step-by-step process for requesting mentorship or requesting to become a mentor. This process includes: • Step 1 – Read the Introduction to Mentoring Guide • Step 2 – Complete the Mentoring Expression of Interest Form • Step 3 – Choose a mentor (mentees only)/Book mentoring training (mentors only) • Step 4 – Commence the mentoring process. 2.5.5 As highlighted above, a key step in becoming a mentor is the requirement to undertake the appropriate development. To support this, we will roll out bespoke training to support mentors to develop the right skills and approach to become an effective mentor. This will ensure there is a standard level of quality, consistency and effectiveness of mentoring delivery across the organisation. Page 39 of 216
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2.5.6 It is hoped that the mentoring programme will help to accelerate the development of staff to enable them to progress to higher levels roles, and this approach has already been piloted in some services for example it has recently been used in Housing to accelerate the development of NLC7 staff into NLC10 Housing Officer roles, which have proved difficult to fill in recent years. 2.5.7 Excellent progress has been made in the development of our Graduate Apprenticeship (GA) schemes particularly in roles that have been increasingly hard to fill in recent years with key highlights which include: • The finalisation of our GA in Town Planning with the University of the West of Scotland (UWS), with our first student starting the 2 year accelerated pathway in January 2025, and further students expected to take up the 4 year programme in September 2025. • Confirmation from the Scottish Funding Council that the GA in Social Work will be available for an initial student intake from August/September 2025, with both UWS and the Open University offering this programme in the first instance. 2.5.8 It should be noted that through our current Social Work Hub we have also continued to invest in the development of Social Worker capacity within the Council and this has resulted in a reduction in the number of vacancies to a much lower level than has been seen in previous years. The hub oversees a number of critical capacity building programmes including those in the table below: Programme Description Trainee Social Worker Programme In 2022, the Council reinstated its Trainee Social Worker programme. The programme offers existing staff the opportunity to study with the Open University to gain a BA (Hons) in Social Work whilst continuing to work for the Council. This programme is currently running with 9 staff who are training to become fully qualified Social Workers however its size is limited by the fact that the cost of the degree needs to be fully funded by either the Council or the Trainee or a combination of both and costs are substantial (in the region of 12k). Social Work Student Hub The Practice Learning team within Talent and Leadership Development manage the Student Hub which supports approximately 100 students per year who are in either their 3rd or 4th year of a Social Work Degree. The Hub provides students with placements across the service as well as a robust and extensive learning programme to develop their skills as a Social Worker. Newly Qualified Social Worker Programme (NQSW) Following a pilot programme (led by North Lanarkshire Council and the SSSC) all NQSWs are required to undertake a supported year before going out to practice. This programme was developed by North Lanarkshire Council and has now been adopted across Scotland. To date 36 NQSWs have completed their first year in practice and we currently have 62 currently going through their supported year. 2.5.9 Crucially, the introduction of the Graduate Apprenticeship in Social Work will be open to both existing and new staff and all qualification costs will be fully covered by the Apprenticeship Levy. The Council plans to offer at least 6 opportunities per year for the GA programme with the expectation that all successful applicants will gain Page 40 of 216
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employment at the end of the four-year programme. This will enable is to expand the size of the current Trainee Social Worker Programme and build a pipeline of staff to address gaps and an aging demographic. 2.5.10 The programme will be particularly appealing to those staff who are currently completing modules with the Open University as they can be easily transitioned onto the programme. It will also be promoted to school leavers or college students studying a Health and Social Care qualification. A pathway of progression for the GA will be created which will ensure they are ready to apply for a position as a Social Worker on completion of their qualification. 2.5.11 The total number of students from January – December 2024 was 60 students; 9 Trainee Social Workers; 46 staff on pathways; 36 NQSW completed and 62 in progress. 2.5.12 Positively, the service has also reported that the recent initiative to increase grades for both qualified Social Workers to an NLC11 and Senior Social Workers to an NLC13 have been very impactful in terms of both retention and attraction of Social Workers into the Council. 2.5.13 Over and above the good progress made on these crucial GA’s the Council has a further 67 staff currently progressing through Graduate Apprenticeships from a range of Council roles and across a variety of frameworks. A summary of this is set out in appendix 2. 2.5.14 A significant amount of work is underway to enable the Council to review and identify opportunities for us to improve our recruitment processes. This includes systems improvements and work to develop an improved recruitment policy with more streamlined processes. An update paper will be provided to Audit & Scrutiny Panel in February 2025 detailing all of the work underway and the expected improvements. 2.5.15 The Council’s Workforce Resourcing Team have continued to work closely with partners in Employability and Routes to Work to facilitate access for those who are furthest from the labour market to gain work skills and employment. In 2023/24, 10 employees were funded through shared prosperity funding with placements in central admin teams and to date, 2 of the employees have been successful in newly promoted posts within NLC, and another 2 are currently in the recruitment process hoping to secure employment as temp clerical assistants. 2.5.16 Further work is underway for 24/25, funded through Prospects for Parents funding to secure positions within wider frontline services including, 5 positions, made up of 3 Facility Support Workers (NLC3) and 2 Locality Support Workers (NLC4) and it is hoped that we will be able to grow this work subject to funding being available to support additional places. Page 41 of 216
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2.6 Priority 3 - Next Generation Council Workforce Our strategic aims for this priority are: • To continue to support a strong Modern Apprenticeship (MA) offering, particularly aligned to areas where we have known workforce gaps and an aging workforce profile. • To scale up our summer placements programme across all services and building on the good work already underway. • To investigate the use of foundation apprenticeships, student placements and a graduate scheme as a route to engaging talented young people in a career in Local Government. • To build linked pathways directly from school into these programmes with onwards progression to more senior roles within the Council. 2.7 Priority 3 - Progress Update 2.7.1 A full summary of the Council’s modern apprenticeship programme is set out in appendix 3. The programme continues to progress well, with 33 Modern Apprentices recruited successfully in the summer intake of this year and winter recruitment for 2024/25 progressing with the intention to take a similar number of apprentices. 2.7.2 Our summer students programme was very successful this year with 128 students commencing placements across NLC and external partners. Planning is now underway for our 2025 summer placement scheme, building on the success of the 2024 programme, and we are hoping to scale up the number of placements in our Built Environment Sector programme working through the Brighter Futures programme of work. 2.7.3 Work continues to explore how the Council could make use of existing foundation apprenticeships, and although the existing available frameworks are not fully aligned to what we need, we will further explore how these can be adapted to join up with our summer placement scheme. 2.8 Priority 4 - Vibrant & Flexible Workplace Our strategic aims for this priority are: • To establish and implement a final Hybrid Working Scheme for all staff currently in scope, within a wider framework linked to our operating model and focused on building a vibrant mixed use offering of office and community-based workplace environments across North Lanarkshire. • To invest in, develop and promote our town and community hub and other flexible community-based workspaces for all staff, engaging with different employee groups to help shape and design how these will evolve as we transition to our future operating model and over the next 5 years. • To build a digitally enabled, skilled and knowledgeable workforce, who can work efficiently and flexibly within our community-based locations, linked to our broader Digital North Lanarkshire, and Resilient People programmes of work including the roll out of our Trauma Informed Practice workforce culture. Page 42 of 216
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• To maintain a strong offering of HR policies and other supports which continue to support staff to work flexibility, as an employer of choice and in line with the new Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill, and associated changes which will be introduced in 2024. 2.9 Priority 4 - Progress Update 2.9.1 The operation of our new hybrid model is progressing well with no significant issues. Due to office refurbishments and moves within Civic Square some teams are not yet operating the full model, however all work is expected to be complete by the end of the year with the full hybrid model in place and working by early 2025. 2.9.2 A further hybrid working survey will be issued to staff once the policy has been fully in place for six months, and the outcomes of this will be reported to Corporate Management Team and the council’s Joint Consultative Committee in the second half of 2025. 2.9.3 Under our digital skills programme which is overseen by the Digital NL Programme of Work, we have a number of key deliverables namely: • Utilising information from the digital skills survey to identify digital skills gaps as well as working on a follow up to the survey • Creating and developing digital leadership skills to create a culture of digital first approach with competent and capable leaders to support digital development • Invest in upskilling our staff to enhance their digital capabilities. 2.9.4 We currently have limited funding to invest in this area however our projects include: • Access to resources on LearnNL covering all areas of digital skills development • Working with early adopters to give staff access to a platform for digital development which will enhance existing skillsets across all groups of staff • Working on a self-assessment tool for staff to identify their current level of digital skills and identify development for the future • Work to map a digital leadership profile with key competencies. 2.9.5 We are also investing in Digital Diplomas with: • A number of staff who have accessed a qualification in Digital Applications to develop and enhance their digital skills. • Digital Bootcamps – all of our Business Support MAs attended the Digital Bootcamps run by QA to enhance and develop their skills 2.10 Priority 5 - Employee Engagement & Wellbeing Our strategic aims for this priority are: • To build on our previous IIP survey approach, by developing a broader staff survey and engagement plan, which fully engages our staff at all levels, aligned to our Programme of Work, our One Service programme and linked to our responsibilities as a fair work employer under the key pillar of effective voice. • To continue to deliver the aims and objectives within both our Mental Health Strategy, and Managing Attendance Policy, including maintaining a strong health Page 43 of 216
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and wellbeing offering to all of our employees and through our service based mental health groups. • To maintain a strong wider staff support and benefits offering under our Workwell NL banner, providing staff discounts and other health and wellbeing supports to help with cost-of-living challenges, including our salary sacrifice schemes. 2.11 Priority 5 - Progress Update 2.11.1 We have now developed a draft revised survey for the Council which is fully aligned to the Fair Work Framework and in particular the key elements of that framework as set out in the national policy including: • Effective Voice - Effective voice is much more than just having a channel of communication available within organisations. It requires a safe environment where dialogue and challenge are dealt with constructively and where employee views are sought out, listened to and can make a difference. • Opportunity - Fair opportunity is more than the chance to access work. Attitudes, behaviours, policies and practices within your organisation reflects the value placed on fair opportunity. Supportive practices to promote opportunity involve robust recruitment and selection procedures, training and development and promotion and progression practices that are open and equally attainable by all. • Security - Security of employment, work and income are important foundations of a successful life. Predictability of working time is often a component of secure working arrangements and whilst no one has complete security and stability of employment, particularly in our current challenging financial environment, income and work security is an important aspect of fair work. • Fulfilment - Fulfilment is not only giving your workers the opportunity to use existing skills but the chance to exercise some control and to make a difference. Giving them the scope to be appropriately challenged, access to training to maintain skills and learn new things will give them opportunities for personal growth and for career development. Fulfilment can also arise from positive and supportive workplace relationships that promote a sense of belonging. • Respect - Fair work is work in which people are respected and treated respectfully, whatever their role and status. Respect involves recognising others as dignified human beings and recognising their standing and personal worth. At its most basic, respect involves ensuring the health, safety and well-being of others. 2.11.2 Our revised approach is key to supporting the Council to meet its commitments under the Scottish Government’s Fair Work First policy and in particular the expectations now placed on public bodies to meet the “employee voice” criteria encompassed within this framework. 2.11.3 It is believed that the Council already offers a positive experience across many of these of these key dimensions, however there will be room for improvement, and we are particularly keen to engage with frontline staff and services. The survey will also allow for service specific questions to be tailored and included to ensure that the outputs are relevant and useful. Page 44 of 216
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2.11.4 Key links to the programme of work, and recent roadshows are also included within the employee voice element of the survey, and these will be further strengthened as the approach is developed and in line with the recommendations set out in the Best Value report. 2.11.5 Next steps will be to engage with trade unions to share our draft questions and get their initial input and views prior to piloting and further refining our approach. It is intended that a final paper setting out the approach for our new survey will be discussed and approved by CMT during 2025. 2.11.6 A full refresh of the Council’s Mental Health & Wellbeing Strategy was shared with Finance and Resources Committee in September (Mental Health & Wellbeing Strategy) and work will now be taken forward aligned to the priorities as set out in the report. 2.12 Priority 6 - Equality & Inclusion Our strategic aims for this priority are: • To deliver on the actions set out in our newly integrated Equalities Delivery Plan, which includes all strands of our work and to measure our progress through our corporate action plans and established Equality Outcomes Performance Framework. • To refresh our Equality Strategy and Outcomes in 2024/25 to ensure that they continue to be aligned with our ambition in this area. • To ensure going forward that all of our HR and workforce policies are inclusive and reflective of our equalities commitments. • To continue to support and drive the work of the Equalities Board, and associated service Champions and their Service Equality Plans. • To ensure clear oversight, governance and strong sponsorship of our Equalities & Inclusion agenda, through our Elected Member Equalities Champion, our Executive Sponsor for Race and regular reporting to the Wellbeing & Tackling Poverty Committee. 2.13 Priority 6 – Progress Update 2.13.1 Our integrated equalities delivery plan is in place and working well and work is progressing well across all programmes with a number of key events held in 2024, including the completion of a British Sign Language Plan for Lanarkshire and the re- accreditation of the Council at Bronze for our Equally safe at Work accreditation. 2.13.2 The Council has also launched a number of key policies in 2024 which fully support our equalities agenda including our Menopause and Hormonal Change and Sexual Harassment policies. A disability policy is also in development and is being taken forward with input from our disabled employees. This will be brought forward for approval during 2025. 2.13.3 A full launch of our Sexual Harassment Policy was undertaken in August 2024 with an anonymous line for staff to be able to safely report concerns, and campaign across all of our Council locations , with newly created content on MyNL detailing the full range Page 45 of 216
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of supports for employees. (Gender Based Violence – Support for Employees – My NL). Training for employees and managers has also been included as part of the launch and our focus in the next 12 months will be on ensuring that we get good levels of engagement with the training. 2.13.4 This work puts the Council ahead of newly introduced legislation in this area, with a new duty under the Equality Act 2010 which requires employers to take “reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their employees. New protections from sexual harassment come into force - GOV.UK 2.13.5 Good progress has also been made on the re-drafting of our Equalities Outcomes and Equalities Strategy both of which are due to be refreshed in 2025. Specific work has been undertaken, with good input from all services, to ensure that our outcomes full reflect our ambitions under the Plan for North Lanarkshire and the Programme of Work. 2.13.6 Importantly the strategy will also incorporate recent equalities information now released for North Lanarkshire from the 2022 census data which shows that our demographic profile within our communities is changing. We have also seen positive shifts in our employee profile as a result of our focused action on our equalities agenda and the full revised strategy and outcomes will be brought forward for approval at the Wellbeing & Tackling Poverty Committee in the first half of 2025. 2.14 New Work 2.14.1 Strong partnership working with our trade unions plays an integral part in the progression of our One Workforce Plan and in recognition of this we have now agreed to undertake a joint review of our trade union agreement including our facility time and JCC constitution which have not been reviewed for some considerable time. This is with a view to ensuring these arrangements remain fit for purpose and ensure strong continued partnership working. 2.14.2 The review will be agreed and overseen by the Joint Consultative Committee during 2025 with approval sought from the Committee in December 2024 to begin the work. The review will be jointly led by officers within People Resources and our lead trade union representatives from Unison, GMB and Unite. 2.14.3 This new piece of work will be added to the rolling plan of work to support the One Workforce Plan under our Priority 5 - Employee Engagement and Wellbeing with progress reported to Policy & Strategy in the 2025 annual update. 3. Measures of success 3.1 Progress against priorities and actions identified within the One Workforce Plan and associated rolling delivery plan. 3.3 Continued strong workforce planning and associated delivery of actions to manage and mitigate ongoing risks and close identified gaps in our current workforce. 3.4 Positive ongoing survey feedback from staff regarding their engagement in the overall programme of work and as the council transitions its operating model in the coming years. Page 46 of 216
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4. Supporting documentation 4.2 Appendix 1 – One Workforce Rolling Delivery Plan 4.3 Appendix 2 – Graduate Apprenticeships Summary 4.4 Appendix 3 – Modern Apprenticeships Summary Fiona Whittaker Chief Officer (People Resources) Page 47 of 216
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5. Impacts ( http://connect/report-template-guidance ) 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality-and-fairer- scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? All policy impacts have been taken forward with full input from People Resources and trade unions. 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☒ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☐ No ☐ The report sets out a number of employment legislation changes which will impact the Council’s workforce arrangements over the next 12 months and these will be fully managed in line with the plan. 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e-mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 48 of 216
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5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? Workforce risks have been fully captured in the Corporate HR risk and are also reflected in service risk registers. 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex-Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☒ No ☐ Page 49 of 216
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Appendix 1 One Workforce Plan – Annual Progress Update December 2024 1 Last updated 25/10/24 Rag Key: Complete. In progress, on track. In progress, requires focused action. Paused or not started. 1. Managing Workforce Transition Actions Description Lead Officer RAG Status Comments 1.1 Support the delivery of all ongoing workforce and structure changes arising from agreed service revisions and savings exercises. Full HR support for the delivery of workforce changes linked to agreed and future savings, along with ongoing service realignments linked to our future operating model and One Service programme of work. HR Business Partnership Manager Progression of agreed budget workforce related savings is complete across all services, and in line with agreed workforce change policies. Service reviews, agreed at the February 2023 budget with workforce implications are currently being progressed and will be concluded before the end of 2024. 1.2 Continue with organisation and workforce mapping to identify transition plans for future workforce models and structures as these evolve over the next 3-5 years. An ongoing process of mapping and improving our service models and structures, including digital transformation and where and how staff will work to deliver our services as we evolve to a hub-based community delivery model. HR Business Partnership Manager/Operating Model delivery Manager All services have now presented their service model and workforce transition plans to the One Service Board to set out future plans for ongoing service redesign and transition towards our future operating model. Going forward, governance and progression of this work will be aligned with and reported through the One Service Board as set out in the December update to Policy & Strategy on the One Service Programme of Work. 1.3 Complete a full review of the Council’s single status pay and grading model and implement approved changes. Successive differentiated pay awards have resulted in significant compression of the Council’s single status pay and grading model, which is now required to undergo a full review of all grades. A full review Employment and Policy Manager A longer-term plan of work has been scoped and the first phase actions, including required funding have been agreed and incorporated within the medium-term financial plan. Page 50 of 216
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Appendix 1 One Workforce Plan – Annual Progress Update December 2024 2 Last updated 25/10/24 of the model is expected to take a number of years to complete. A report detailing next steps, including the establishment of a formal Pay & Grading Model Review Project Board will be presented to Policy & Strategy Committee in December for oversight and approval. 1.4 Progress actions from 23/24 Service Workforce Plans in 2024/25 with a full refresh of plans in 2025/26. Given known workforce challenges and risks, a robust ongoing process for workforce planning requires to be in place across all services to manage known risks. Detailed actions must be in place to support these plans with a focus on the progression of actions to address current and future gaps. Talent & Leadership Development Manager/Business Partnership Manager Following the achievement of a positive report on the robustness of our workforce plans as part of our recent Best Value audit, which was shared with Policy & Strategy in September 2024, Best Value Audit Workforce Innovation, we will continue to work with services to follow up on their agreed actions. A refreshed workforce planning process toolkit is nearing completion, and this will include further enhancements around service workforce capacity planning and the impact of digital transformation on the Councils workforce profile. This will be launched in early 2025, along with refreshed manager training, to support a full update of our service workforce plans to 2027. 2. Pathways for Progression Actions Description Lead Officer RAG Status Comments 2.1 Maintain our leadership and learning and development offering The Council has limited funding to allocate to leader and staff development however we have maintained where possible our leadership and learning and Talent & Leadership Development Manager The Council has maintained a full ongoing learning and development offering under Learn NL for all staff and has developed and maintained a bespoke leadership offering for Page 51 of 216
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Appendix 1 One Workforce Plan – Annual Progress Update December 2024 3 Last updated 25/10/24 for all staff within budget constraints. development offering through Learn NL. Going forward we will look for additional work-based development opportunities to grow staff through rotational placements and other development opportunities including mentoring. both Education and Families and Social Work over the last 12 months. We have also recently agreed the roll out of a Council wide mentoring programme which will be used to support and enhance succession planning and accelerated development across services. 2.2 Maintain and extend our Graduate Apprenticeship Scheme. The Council’s graduate apprenticeship scheme has been running successfully since 2018 with 96 staff in progress or having completed their qualification. The operation of the scheme will be critical going forward to help address identified shortages in key professional and specialist areas. Talent & Leadership Development Manager Of the 97 staff who have started a Graduate Apprenticeship, 30 have now graduated with either a degree or honours degree in their chosen subject. Our current program has 67 active students across seven cohorts. Two new GA frameworks are coming online which the Council will offer to staff. A GA in Town Planning will be available from January 2025 and a GA in Social Work from September 2026. 2.3 Complete a review of our higher duties policy arrangements The Council’s higher duties guidance supports employees to take on new and promoted remits on a temporary basis. This now needs to be reviewed to support and align with our programme of work and to more easily enable staff to take on development opportunities and contribute to projects and programmes. Business Partnership Manager/ Employment & Policy Manager A full review of our higher duties guidance is now complete and will be considered and approved by CMT late 2024/early 2025. This will be rolled out in 2025 with additional guidance and support for managers on our MyNL Portal. 2.4 Incorporate the SCQF (Scottish Qualifications & Credit Framework) qualifications into our job grading and Incorporation of the SCQF framework will allow the Council to become an inclusive recruiter, providing us with the ability to undertake qualifications equivalency and recognise relevant experience where ESC Manager A working group to progress our journey to become an inclusive recruiter is now underway and training will be rolled out for HR staff and managers in late 2024 and early 2025. Its is thought that this work will take a number of Page 52 of 216
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Appendix 1 One Workforce Plan – Annual Progress Update December 2024 4 Last updated 25/10/24 recruitment processes to become an inclusive recruiter. people fail to meet the required qualification on the essential criteria. This will help to widen our potential pool of candidates for key supervisory and manager shortage areas such as in Waste and Fleet. years to complete as we work through key services areas where this approach will be advantageous in attracting a wider field of potential candidates. 2.5 Improve the speed and effectiveness of our recruitment processes. Work is required to improve the speed and effectiveness of our recruitment processes to ensure that we are not disadvantaged in the recruitment market. Business Partnership Manager/ESC Manager Work is well underway to implement an improved approach to recruitment across the Council with work focused across several areas including: • A refreshed stand-alone recruitment policy, with supporting guidance and training for managers. • Core systems improvement, including work required to make the current i-Trent recruitment system more efficient and user friendly. • End to end process mapping to improve the customer experience and identify gaps and further areas for improvement. A full report will be brought to Finance and Resources in the first half of 2025, including our revised recruitment policy for review and approval. A detailed report will also be taken to Audit and Scrutiny in February 2025 outlining work underway and positive changes proposed to our overall approach. Page 53 of 216
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Appendix 1 One Workforce Plan – Annual Progress Update December 2024 5 Last updated 25/10/24 2.6 Extend our engagement with Employability and Routes to Work to fill vacant and hard to fill roles at entry level. Over the last 2 years, the Council has worked successfully with Routes to Work to place unemployed residents into temporary entry level roles within the Council. In a number of areas this has resulted in permanent roles being offered with onward promotion prospects. ESC Manager Following a successful programme in 2023/24 for 10 placements, further work is underway for 24/25, funded through Prospects for Parents monies to secure positions within wider frontline services including, 5 positions, made up of 3 Facility Support Workers (NLC3) and 2 Locality Support Workers (NLC4). 3. Next Generation Council Workforce Actions Description Lead Officer RAG Status Comments 3.1 Continue with our Modern Apprentice programme to support service workforce plans. The Council has continued to extend and grow its modern apprenticeship programme particularly to support known and ongoing workforce gaps across our services. Talent & Leadership Development Manager/Business Partnership Manager Our MA programme continues to be successful with another 33 new starts in September 2024. This will be increased in the winter recruitment campaign commencing in November. A paper has been submitted to CMT to increase the MA rate of pay to be in line with the Real Living Wage making the programme more attractive to young people and it is expected the programme will be fill on an annual basis up to 56 placements. 3.2 Extend our annual work placements scheme for senior phase pupils and school leavers to align to workforce plans and gaps. Our 2023 summer placement scheme has been very successful with around 30 senior phase and school leaver pupils taking up a six-week placement across a range of services. Talent & Leadership Development Manager/Business Partnership Manager/Brighter Futures Manager Our summer students programme was very successful this year with 128 students commencing placements across NLC and external partners. An update paper was provided to Policy & Strategy in June 2024. Summer Placements Planning is now underway for our 2025 summer placement scheme, and we are hoping to maintain the success of the 2024 programme. Page 54 of 216
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Appendix 1 One Workforce Plan – Annual Progress Update December 2024 6 Last updated 25/10/24 3.3 Explore the use of Foundation Apprenticeships for key areas of the Council workforce where there are known shortages and to build pathways direct from school. The Council does not currently offer Foundation Apprenticeships within our own services, and this is a priority area which has been identified for 2024. There are currently a range of Foundation Apprenticeship frameworks which are relevant to areas identified within our workforce plans. Talent & Leadership Development Manager/Brighter Futures Manager Work continues to explore how the Council could make use of existing foundation apprenticeships, and although a review of existing available frameworks suggests that they are not fully aligned to what we need, we will further explore how these can be adapted to join up with our summer placement scheme. 4. Vibrant & Flexible Workplace Actions Description Lead Officer RAG Status Comments 4.1 Develop and implement the Council’s final Hybrid Working Scheme. Following a number of years of interim arrangements, the Council will now to move to the implementation of its final Hybrid Working Scheme which impacts around 1300 previously office-based staff. Employment & Policy Manager Manager/Business Partnership Manager Our revised scheme is now fully agreed and in place. We will follow up with a planned survey of our hybrid arrangements in the second half of 2025 and as agreed within the actions from the Best Value thematic Audit Report. 4.2 Develop our community-based workplace settings, promoting and tracking staff usage of our community hubs as these develop and expand. We will continue to support the further development of our community-based workplace offering aligned to our leadership and operating model and under our One Service programme of work. Business Partnership Manager/Operating Model delivery Manager Work will be ongoing through 2024/25 to continually survey the usage of our current facilities and encourage and promote staff, including those who are hybrid working, to increase the use of our community facilities. The work will be monitored under the One Service Board. Page 55 of 216
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Appendix 1 One Workforce Plan – Annual Progress Update December 2024 7 Last updated 25/10/24 5. Employee Engagement & Wellbeing Actions Description Lead Officer RAG Status Comments 5.1 Build from our current IIP staff engagement approach by developing a broader staff survey strategy which supports our programme of work and engages staff at all levels. The Council needs to establish a broader staff survey approach which allows us to engage staff at all levels in our programme of work and our future ambition and operating model. This will be taken forward linked to the One Service programme of work and aligned to the Councils wider commitments under fair work. Talent & Leadership Development Manager A draft framework for the new Fair Work survey has been developed alongside a full set of questions. These will be shared with the trade unions in early 2025 for early input and discussion with a view to running a pilot survey in the first half of 2025. 5.2 Continue with our current programme of work designed to continue to provide staff support for mental health & wellbeing and reduce levels of mental health related absence. Our levels of mental health related absence have materially reduced in recent years through targeted action and support; however, this area remains our most significant reason for absence overall. Good progress has been made on the development and implementation of our wider mental health strategy with service-based groups now established across all services. Occupational Safety & Wellbeing Manager/Employme nt & Policy Manager A full refresh of the Council’s Mental Health & Wellbeing Strategy was shared with Finance and Resources Committee in September (Mental Health & Wellbeing Strategy) and work will now be taken forward aligned to the priorities as set out in the report. 5.3 Maintain and extend where appropriate our successful range of staff benefits We continue to get good engagement with our staff benefits under our Workwell NL platform which includes staff discounts and a range of salary sacrifice schemes. Occupational Safety & Wellbeing Manager/ESC Manager/ Talent & Leadership Our Green Car scheme has now fully launched and has proved very popular with staff. Uptake in the first year has been significantly higher than estimated with 136 staff now Page 56 of 216
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Appendix 1 One Workforce Plan – Annual Progress Update December 2024 8 Last updated 25/10/24 and supports through our Workwell NL offerings. Development Manager having taken up the scheme since its launch in January of 2024. 5.4 (New Work) Undertake a joint review of our current trade union consultation and collective agreement arrangements The scope of the review will include facility time, the constitution and operation of the JCC and other linked service based consultation arrangements. The work will be taken forward in partnership with Unison, GMB and Unite colleagues. Employment & Policy Manager Initial discussions have now taken place with full time branch officials and local representatives from Unison, Unite and GMB around the proposal to jointly review arrangements and feedback has been positive with the trade unions keen to engage in this work. A paper will be taken to the JCC Committee in early December to approve the initiation of this work and thereafter a joint working group of officers and trade unions representative will meet to conduct the review during early 2025. Updates and proposals will be shared with the JCC as this works progresses. 6. Equality & Inclusion Actions Description Lead Officer RAG Status Comments 6.1 To implement our integrated Equalities Delivery Plan which now includes all strands of our work under one plan. Our Equalities Delivery Plan and associated framework of measures will ensure the progression of all of our Equalities programmes including our commitments under the Race at Work Charter, Equally Safe at Work and Disability Confident Leader. Equalities Manager Our integrated equalities delivery plan is in place and working well. Work is progressing well across all programmes with a number of key events held in 2024. Good progress has also been made in the review and redrafting of our equalities outcomes which will be encompassed within our refreshed equalities strategy which is currently being developed. Page 57 of 216
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Appendix 1 One Workforce Plan – Annual Progress Update December 2024 9 Last updated 25/10/24 6.2 To continue to support the work of our Equalities Board. Our Equalities Board was established in early 2023 and has representation from all services across the Council. The work of the Board involves oversight of the plan, and more importantly, establishing and driving service level equalities plans in each of our services and the sharing best practice. Equalities Manager Good progress has been made on the drafting of our equalities strategy which will be brought forward for approval at Policy & Strategy in the first half of 2025. This will include recent equalities information for North Lanarkshire from the 2022 census data. 6.3 To ensure going forward that our HR policies and relevant and inclusive and that they support our equalities outcomes. Our HR policies are critical to supporting our equalities plan and desired outcomes and will be kept under review to ensure that they are aligned. Where required new policies will be developed to support our delivery plan. Equalities Manager/ Employment & Policy Manager During 2024, two new policies were launched in the areas of Menopause and Hormonal Change and Sexual Harassment. Both of these represent progressive new policies which support our equalities agenda. A disability policy is also in development and is being developed with input from our disabled employees. This will be brought forward for approval during 2025. Page 58 of 216
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Graduate Apprenticeships Overview of our current programmes Student support programme includes: a work placed mentor, work place assessor, academic writing guidance, IT skills, exams & revision and reflective practice 2018 Cohort 1 (17 GAs + 21 CP) 2019 Cohort 2 (14 GAs) 2020 Cohort 3 (3 GAs) 2021 Cohort 4 (5 GAs) 2022 Cohort 5 (10 GAs) 2023 Cohort 6 (9 GAs) 2024 Cohort 7 (applications to date) BA (Hons) Business Management 16 students: • CE 2 • E&C 14 • E&F 1 BA (Hons) Business Management 9 students: • CE 5 • E&C 4 BA (Hons) Business Management 2 students: • CE 1 • E&C 1 BA (Hons) Business Management 2 students: • CE 1 • E&C 1 BA (Hons) Business Management 6 students: • E&C 4 • E&F 2 BA (Hons) Business Management 6 students: • CE 2 • E&C 4 BA (Hons) Business Management 3 students: • E&F 1 • E&C 2 BA (Hons) Business Management with Project Mgt 4 students • CE 1 • E&C 1 BSc (Hons) Construction & the Built Environment 1 student: • E&C BSc (Hons) Construction & the Built Environment 3 students: • E&C (all Quantity Surveying) BSc (Hons) Construction & the Built Environment 1 students • E&C BSc (Hons) Construction & the Built Environment 1 student • E&C BSc (Hons) Construction & the Built Environment 2 students: • E&C 2 (1 Quantity Surveying, 1 Building Surveying) BSc (Hons) Construction & the Built Environment 3 students: • E&C (Building Surveying) BSc (Hons) Construction & the Built Environment 2 students • E&C (1 Building Surveying and 1 quantity surveying) Non GA funded by E&F BA (Hons) Childhood Practice 21 students • E&F MSc Cyber Security 1 student • CE MSc Cyber Security 1 students • CE BSc (Hons) Civil Engineering 1 student • E&C MA (Hons) IT: Management for Business 1 student • CE BSc Data Science 1 student • CE Appendix 2 Page 59 of 216
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Overall Demographics cohorts 1 -7 49% 51% 0 5 10 15 20 <21 yrs 21-29 yrs 30-39 yrs 40-49 yrs 50+ GA Age Range Age Range NLC2 6 NLC3 5 NLC4 6 NLC5 9 NLC6 5NLC7 7 NLC9 14 NLC10 9 NLC11 2 NLC12 3 NLC13 1 67 participants Average age = 33 Academic Partners NLC GA Students* 13 25 15 1 8 *5 universities to be confirmed for 2024 Page 60 of 216
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Modern Apprenticeships Overview of our current frameworks Modern Apprentice support includes: An early careers supervisor, a work place manager, work place buddy, and a college assessor Business Support Children & Young People (Inclusion) Customer Service Digital Business Administration SCQF Level 5 4 apprentices based within: • 2x Chief Executives Office • 2x Education & Families Business Administration SCQF Level 6 11 apprentices based within: • 5x Chief Executives Office • 3x Education & Families • 3x Enterprise & Communities Social Services (Children & Young People) SCQF Level 7 2 apprentices based within ASN Schools Customer Service SCQF Level 6( 1 apprentice based within the Customer Service Hub Digital Applications Support SCQF Level 6 2 apprentices based within CEO – ESC Workforce Systems Team Digital Technology Technical (Data Analytics) SCQF Level 8 1 apprentices based within CEO – ESC Workforce Analytics Team Early Learning & Childcare Housing Health & Social Care Regulatory Services Social Services (Children & Young People) SCQF Level 7 8 apprentices based with Family Learning Centres and Nursery Classes. Housing Technical Officer at SCQF Level 6 1 apprentices based within housing localities. Social Services & Health Care SCQF Level 6 1 apprentice based within Health & Social Care, Assisted Technology Team . Regulatory Services at SCQF Level 7 2 apprentices based within Protective Services, Trading Standards Team Appendix 3 Page 61 of 216
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MA 2024/25 programme – by cohort Summer Intake 64% 36% Average Age = 19 Summer intake (2024)- 33 SCQF L5 4 SCQF L6 16 SCQF L7 12 SCQF L8 1 10 13 8 2 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 <18 yrs 18-20 yrs 21-22 yrs 23-24 yrs 25+ yrs MA Age Range Age Range Page 62 of 216
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Policy and Strategy Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☐ Yes ☒ No Ref SP/LJ Date 05/12/24 One Service Programme of Work From Stephen Penman, Chief Officer (Strategic Communication & Engagement) E-mail penmanste@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07947 997750 Executive Summary Members of the Policy and Strategy Committee are aware that the Programme of Work is key to achieving the shared ambition set out in The Plan for North Lanarkshire. The detailed delivery plan for the Programme of Work (POW) to 2028 was approved at this Committee in March 2024. One of the seven priorities for the PoW to 2028 is One Service, which has the aim of ensuring that services are delivered, regardless of owner in a streamlined, efficient and supportive model. This programme is a key enabler in delivering the other programme of work priorities and ensuring the council delivers services (regardless of structures or the alignment of functions) in line with the overall vision of inclusive growth and prosperity for all. This report provides an update on six of the eight deliverables contained within the responsibilities of the One Service Board. Recommendations It is recommended that the Policy and Strategy Committee: (1) Acknowledge the contents of this report. (2) Recognise the updates provided for six of the eight deliverables contained within the One Service Programme of Work. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement (24) Review and design services around people, communities, and shared resources Programme of Work One Service Item 6 Page 63 of 216
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1. Background 1.1. In September 2023 Policy and Strategy Committee approved the Programme of Work to 2028 which would focus on the following priorities: • Transforming Places • Invest in North Lanarkshire • Sustainable Futures • Resilient People • Brighter Futures • Digital North Lanarkshire • One Service 1.2. Furthermore, in March 2024, Policy and Strategy Committee approved a report “The Plan for North Lanarkshire – Delivering the Programme of Work to 2028. This report provided details of the Single Integrated one council Delivery Plan for the Programme of Work to 2028. Once approved, the Delivery Plan would be formally in place for 2024/25 onwards and provides details of all deliverables for each of the seven themes outlined above. 1.3. The One Service Programme of Work (PoW) contains eight such deliverables: 1 Deliver the continued roll out of the Leadership and Operating Model to ensure an effective community leadership approach working with partners, as the hub approach develops. 2 Align the asset rationalisation strategy with the Leadership and Operating Model to ensure coherent phasing and maximise efficiency. 3 Further develop workforce plans to ensure appropriate succession planning and alignment to the overall Programme of Work. 4 Work with other Boards to support delivery of priorities across the Programme of Work. 5 Ensure practical implementation of the Change Management Framework. 6 Lead engagement with staff, trade unions and partners about the Programme of Work to ensure understanding and alignment. 7 Explore opportunities for shared services both within the council and with partners, where appropriate to maximise efficiency. 8 Maintain oversight of public sector reform developments and ensure co- ordinated response to external decision making which has a bearing on council service delivery. 1.4 Deliverables 1 and 2 above are the subject of separate reports to this Committee. Therefore, this report focusses on Deliverables 3-8. 2. Report 2.1 One Service is defined within the Programme of Work to 2028 as “the programme which acts as an enabler for all other Programmes of Work, to enhance the place- based approach throughout North Lanarkshire as it responds to the needs of communities and drives improvements in our aim for inclusive growth and prosperity for all”. 2.2 The One Service PoW Board consists of 4 sub-groups: (a) Leadership and Operating Model; (b) One Workforce; (c) Working with Other Boards and (d) Shared Services and Page 64 of 216
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Public Sector Reform 2.3 This report provides Committee with an overview of progress regarding several activities contained within the One Service Action Plan. One Workforce – Deliverable 3 2.4 As set out in the One Workforce report presented to Policy & Strategy Committee on 7 December 2023, within the context of ongoing challenging workforce pressures, and the Council’s medium term financial challenges, all services across the Council are thinking creatively about their future operating models and how they redesign to deliver services that meet the needs of our communities in the future. 2.5 Between April and November 2024, Chief Officers presented their workforce transition plans, to support the future operating model, at the One Service Board. This enabled peer support and challenge on proposals set out and further opportunities to be discussed or proposed. Through this process all services identified which of their functions could be operated in a more streamlined, integrated and placed based model and which should remain within a more corporate or North Lanarkshire wide service delivery footprint to maximise economies of scale and efficiency of service delivery. 2.6 Further analysis of the outcome of the presentations and their collective impact on the Leadership and Operating Model is underway and will be presented to a future meeting of the One Service Board. In addition, further detail on the next iteration of our workforce plans will also be outlined in the One Workforce Update Report which is included in the agenda for this meeting of the Committee. Working with Other Boards – Deliverables 4 - 6 2.7 The purpose of the One Service - Working with Other Boards sub-group is to have an overview of the work being carried out within all Programme of Work Boards to deliver the requirements of the Programme of Work to 2028. 2.8 This is to ensure that all strategic cross-council/cross Board change programmes are aligned and that there is strategic oversight of the effectiveness of these changes ensuring that the outcomes and benefits of those are realised, sustained and embedded. 2.9 Oversight of the dependencies and interdependencies across the full Programme of Work is under development. A proof of concept (poc) has been developed for Sustainable Futures and is currently being evaluated for “value add” ahead of roll out to the remaining Boards. 2.10 The governance arrangements for managing, monitoring and reporting on the effective delivery of the Programme of Work have been finalised with details of “hotspots” which will impact on the expected delivery and the resource requirements being reported quarterly to the One Service Board. 2.11 A review of the council’s Benefits Realisation matrix commenced in September 2024. A short-life working group of service and Board representatives has been stood up with a focus on updating the Benefits Management Approach and the associated tooling. 2.12 The Council’s Change Management Toolkit has been developed under the Digital North Lanarkshire PoW and will be launched during December 2024. This toolkit has been developed in conjunction with all services to ensure all business change and service Page 65 of 216
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redesign tools are captured and available for use in a consistent and cohesive manner. 2.13 A series of 75 Programme of Work roadshows were held earlier this year, with 2630 staff attending. In addition, 50 people attended the session for community boards, with eight councillors attending the session for elected members. In addition, a business breakfast for 100 companies took place. 2.14 Feedback showed that the overwhelming majority of staff who attended a session found it informative, interesting and relevant to their role. Detailed feedback is being considered to ensure that staff communication about the overall Programme of Work remains relevant and informative. Shared Services and Public Sector Reform – Deliverables 7 – 8 2.15 In September 2023, SOLACE and the Improvement Service launched the Transformation Programme which is designed to help councils reform how they deliver services. The programme focusses on developing proposals for a future operating model for all councils and options for delivery of sustainable council services. 2.16 The Transformation Programme, still in the early stages, is structured around six key anchors: Unlocking community action Tackle inequality and meet the needs of all citizens Enabling a functioning, trusted local and central government relationship Design for people’s needs Create digital design and technology enabled transformation Lead council and cross-sector partnerships 2.17 In January 2024 six short-term (12-18 months) projects aimed at helping councils achieve savings, identify longer-term solutions and set the foundation for collaboration and joint working across local authorities were announced: i) Collaboration within the local government sector on procurement ii) Analysis of local government’s statutory and discretionary services iii) Full implementation of The Crerar Review (published in 2007) for Local Government iv) Development of a Digital-To-Be State for Scottish Local Government v) Identification of new digital shared services that could be delivered nationally or regionally vi) Repository of examples of active communities/participatory design 2.18 In March 2024, a round-table discussion attended by twenty-eight of the thirty-two councils took place with Chief Executives/Chief Officers from Local Government (including COSLA), Scottish Government, NHS, Scottish Fire and Rescue and the enterprise agencies. The aim of the round table was to ignite the conversation around the future of the public sector and the reform required to create a sustainable public sector. Further discussions are being led through SOLACE. North Lanarkshire Position 2.19 A number of managers are participating in the Leadership Practitioner Forum, set up by the Improvement Service in October 2023 to facilitate collaboration on the Transformation Programme and provide governance for the anchors outlined above. The latest meeting of the Forum took place on 11 October 2024 with progress outlined Page 66 of 216
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as follows: 2.20 Group 1 – Collaboration on Procurement The Procurement Workstream is currently supported by 20 councils and focusses on three specific areas - Waste; Fleet; and Digital, each with its own sub-group. The high- level objective is to go further than any existing collaborative procurement to deliver true transformational change and improve outcomes for services and communities with work progressing as follows: Waste – This workstream has engaged the Waste Managers Network and has agreed objectives which focusses on a two phase approach: • Phase 1 – is to establish a centralised contract co-ordination data hub for waste management contracts, this is currently under development as a short-term quick win. • Phase 2 - this will be a collaborative approach to collection, treatment and disposal of bulky waste. It is anticipated that this is a medium-term activity due to the complex nature of the work involved. Fleet – Engaging with the ‘Fleet Managers Network’, agreement has been reached that cost savings, efficiencies and improvements can be achieved through fewer vehicle variations and standard specifications. Phase 1 will standardise the specification for electric transit vans under 3.5 tonne. Digital – There is recognition of the significant costs attached to delivering services digitally. Current thinking is that national systems have the potential to reduce spend through centralised management and associated efficiencies. To demonstrate this, the sub-group has identified two specific areas for collaboration: a single Fleet Management system; and a single Housing Management system. A business case for each will be developed in due course. 2.21 Group 2 – Statutory and Discretionary Services This project has been designated the reference point or "spine" for the other projects. A review of statutory and non-statutory functions is underway with the first activity being the data collection phase from each organisation on how statutory and discretionary services are delivered, this is now complete. The second activity will be prioritisation of that data and developing next steps which due to commence in the latter part of 2024/25. 2.22 Group 3 – Crerar Review A workshop was held in July 2024 to gather information from interested organisations on the progress with the Crerar Review to date. This information has been collated into a report which was presented to the SOLACE branch for comment and feedback in October 2024. Details on the next steps are awaited by the project team. 2.23 Groups 4 - Digital To-Be The aim of the Digital To-Be sub-group is to develop a shared vision for how digital can transform local government. It is important that a common purpose that can drive action, collaboration and partnership working is developed. Page 67 of 216
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To aid discussion in this area, representatives from Business and Digital took the lead in developing the draft To Be Target Operating Model. The draft was submitted to the sub-group in late September 2024. Feedback is scheduled for early November 2024. 2.24 Group 5 - Digital Shared Services The starting point for digital shared services was a common solutions mapping and digital products exercise. The outputs from the exercise were utilised in Summer 2024 to identify areas where quick wins would be available from developing common processes for service delivery. The first such process selected for review and development is Blue Badge Applications, this development work has commenced. Further exploratory work is underway in the undernoted areas: • Better use and utilise full capabilities of current digital shared services (Myaccount, Parentsportal.scot, Bisaccount and Data Hub). • Gazetteer Managed Service. • Citizen Notification Service – via Tellme Scotland. • Local Government Licensing – standardise and improve online journey. • Food Standards Scotland – national self-service solution for businesses. 2.25 Group 6 - Repository of examples of active communities/participatory design A multi-disciplinary team explored the current eco-system for community action in local government in Scotland and identified three strands: • Community Leadership role. • What works now – investment and infrastructure. • Where we need to get to and what will help. A report was submitted to the SOLACE branch that summarised the conclusions and recommendations from the discovery phase and highlighted that “Councils in their current form are not sustainable with unprecedented challenges facing 'unprotected' services and in order to raise awareness of the scale and significance of these issues, greater emphasis must be given to the involvement of service users, communities, and partners to redesign and deliver new ways of working”. Four outputs are now underway including the development of a “to be” model that encompasses new ideas for the future, building on the characteristics of an enabling council. Next steps 2.26 The next steps are as per the agreed deliverables, progress against which will be reported to the Committee in line with the previously agreed reporting schedule for the One Workforce Programme of Work. 3. Measures of success 3.1 Continued progress against the agreed deliverables for the One Service Programme of Work. Page 68 of 216
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4. Supporting documentation 4.1 Appendix 1 - Democracy Matters 2 – Consultation Questions Stephen Penman Chief Officer (Strategic Communication and Engagement) Page 69 of 216
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5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☒ No ☒ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 70 of 216
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5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 71 of 216
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Appendix 1 Democracy Matters 2 – Consultation Questions The following 16 open questions were included in the Democracy Matters Phase 2 consultation paper. Q1. How could your community use these types of powers to achieve its ambitions, now and into the future? Q2. What other powers should be added, and are there some which should be retained by existing decision-makers? Q3. When thinking about who might be part of new decision-making bodies, what are the best ways to ensure they truly reflect their communities and enhance equality? Q4. Thinking about your own community, what groups would you like to see represented through other selection methods, and what should these methods be? Q5. What would the role of local elected representatives be, and what would incentivise other people to take on/be part of decision-making? Q6. What do you think are the best ways to ensure new decision-making bodies are accountable to their community? Q7. Are community events a good way to involve local people in scrutinising progress and setting future direction? Q8. What other mechanisms would help achieve high levels of community participation in local decision-making processes? Q9. What else should this process include to provide new community decision- making bodies with a strong locally agreed mandate? Q10. Are there ways to ensure new bodies are still wanted – for example by making them time-bound and subject to renewal ballots? Q11. How do you think community decision-making bodies should be resourced? Q.12. Are these the right set of standards to provide reassurance that new community decision-making bodies will be effective and treat everyone with dignity and respect? Q13. How could a charter be designed to best ensure a positive relationship between community decision-makers and their partners in national and local government and the wider public sector? Q14. What types of support might communities need to build capacity, and how could this change the role of councils and public sector organisations? Page 72 of 216
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Q15. Are there specific additional powers and resources which would help public sector organisations to work effectively in partnership with new community decision- making bodies? Q16. Thank you for considering these questions. When sending us your views, please also tell us about anything else you think is important for us to know at this stage. Questions used in facilitated conversations The seven facilitated conversations and several of the community conversations held by participants used a shorter version of the questionnaire. This focused on six wider themes encompassing the consultation questions. Q1: What powers do communities need to take democratic action? Q2: How would people be selected, and how can people best reflect their communities? Q3: How can we make sure any new structures are accountable to the community? Q4: How can the wider community participate in decision-making? Q5: What resources and standards are required for democratic involvement? Q6: How can we share and grow skills and knowledge for local democracy Page 73 of 216
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Policy and Strategy Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref SP/ST Date 05/12/24 Leadership & Operating Model – phase 2 progress update From Stephen Penman, Chief Officer (Strategic Communication and Engagement) E-mail penmanste@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07947 997750 Executive Summary As outlined in the leadership and operating model report presented to committee on 6th June 2024, the delivery plan within the approved One Service programme of work aims to facilitate the Council’s transition over three phases within the next 10-15 years towards a fully integrated town and community hub operating model. This progress report sets out a range of developments and future plans. It summarises the strategic journey to date, progress made since the last report to committee and the proposed plans for 2025 geared towards the new build community hubs and seeks approval for the forward plan and direction set out. Recommendations It is recommended that Committee: 1. Acknowledge the progress made since the last update to Committee on 6th June 2024 2. Approve the direction set out in the report that is also linked to the recent approval of the SARIS report approved by committee on 26th September 2024 to take forward tests of change through targeted investment should smaller sums of additional funding become available to facilitate more hubs through the existing estate 3. Promote the Community Hub and associated plans for 2025 and beyond to help build presence and understanding of the hubs and their benefit to the local community and inspire greater involvement from local people and community organisations in line with local outcome improvement priorities (LOIPs) 4. Recognise that a further report on progress will be presented to Committee in June 2025. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement All ambition statements Programme of Work One Service Item 7 Page 75 of 216
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1. Background 1.1 This report is an update on the Leadership and Operating Model delivery plan discussed at Policy and Strategy Committee on 6th June 2024. 1.2 Our transition towards a new operating model for town and community hubs aims to facilitate a more community led approach and, where local expertise is available, reduce dependency on council services and help people to help themselves. Providing early advice, guidance and support to address problems quickly and avoid the need for escalation to more costly, intensive or crisis interventions is a key focus of the operating model and approach to community hubs. This has also been reinforced by insights gained from community co-design work on getting it right for everyone (GIRFE) over the last 12 months, carried out in partnership with Adult Social Work and presented to the HSCP Integrated Joint Board on 23rd October 2024. The co-design work highlighted the issues some people have in accessing advice and support, navigating the system, having to explain their circumstances repeatedly and recognised a need for improved ways of working and sharing information across Council services, partners and agencies to provide a more integrated approach. 1.3 Consequently, new and more integrated place based service delivery models means that we need our assets to work differently aross a community, particularly with a declining school age population and rising elderly adult population, whilst meeting the needs of a more distributed workforce working across communities and within people’s homes. This means providing the ability for identified teams, supports and services to be consolidated into or delivered from hubs and other assets to have a greater impact on improving equity and health outcomes across North Lanarkshire. Community hubs, in line with the council’s approved strategy, should act as a gateway for support and services and for early intervention, preventative support and targeted activities based on local needs (this includes community and council-run activity). This was further reinforced within the strategic asset review and investment strategy (SARIS) report approved at Committee on 26th September 2024. 1.4 Members will recall from the June meeting what phase 2 of the approved three phased Leadership and Operating Model programme sets out to achieve (see Appendix 1). Within this phase and to support the One Workforce approach, all council services are in the process of completing service reviews and redesigning their delivery models taking cognisance, through a data led approach, of how our face to face customer service offer is changing in line with demand, in response to national policies and reform and as we push more services online digitally through the approved Digital NL programme of work. 1.5 Underpinning the Council service reviews and redesign remains the ability to connect with and respond to needs locally to support people’s most important issues whether that be in the community, in people’s homes or via the community hubs. As such, the community hubs aim to assist individuals to resolve their query at an intial point of contact or provide a pathway to more specialist advice if this is required – providing us with an opportunity to deploy resources and offer contact time for individuals and families relative to core areas of support (as shown in Appendix 2) which fit with and have the potential to be embedded within the hub model of delivery and as the hub model scales. 1.6 The hub provision and modern well equipped spaces offered for community use should also support delivery of the local outcome improvement priorities (LOIP’s) that are facilitated through the community board structure, locality partnership teams and locality planning groups. The introduction of three community hub co-ordinators to pilot Page 76 of 216
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a new approach over the next 2-years is a fundamental step forward in our transition, enabling more detailed research as to how the hubs are helping and benefiting people across three geographic areas, each incorporating the community board structure. 2. Report 2.1 This report provides an update on the elements of the operating model accelerated following Committee on 6th June 2024. 2.2 The report focuses on three main areas: • A reminder of the journey to date including previously approved direction on linked activity from Committee • The progress made since June to accelerate phase 2 • Forward plan of next steps for this phase, also tied to the strategic asset review and investment strategy recommendations approved at Committee on 26th September 2024 Journey to date and approved direction 2.3 The Council’s target operating model vision and detailed design approach sets out an investment programme for the digital transformation needed for the Council to make significant and meaningful change to the way it delivers services, connects communities and enables businesses. The foundations have been set that underpin the vision for the front office of the Council’s operating model (see Appendix 3) with the introduction of the customer services hub, new council website, self-service portal and current project to implement a new Council wide corporate booking system. 2.4 Policy and Strategy Committee approved the hub strategy, guiding principles and prioritisation matrix (see Appendix 4) linked to the Town and Community Hub programme at the meeting held on 19th March 2020. The principles and prioritisation matrix continue to guide our approach and forward plans as we transition to the future operating model. The strategic asset review and investment strategy (SARIS) presented to Policy and Strategy Committee on 19th September 2024 outlined the hub programme and how it seeks to support the operating model through greater integration of Council assets within local areas, providing opportunities for communities to access earlier and more inclusive support and services. 2.5 The Leadership and Operating model phased approach (Appendix 1) was approved at Policy and Strategy Committee in December 2021, with progress and planned direction approved at the meeting on 16th March 2023 and again on 6th June 2024. Phase 1, which included the introduction of integrated hubs across the existing estate and the introduction of the council’s hybrid workforce policy was completed, and the programme is now in phase 2. The revised hybrid working arrangements were approved at Finance and Resources Committee on 28th February 2024 with plans to accommodate the revised model across our asset portfolio being implemented. 2.6 A fundamental part of the work of the delivery team in the last 12 months has been working to strengthen connections and linkages between the operating model, one workforce plan, the wider council programme of work and hub design and delivery. Our place-based approach is critical as we transition the operating model through phases, as services redesign and adopt new delivery models responding to the challenges presented by the financial landscape and public sector reform implications. Service plans were presented to the One Service board between April and November setting out their planned transition. The priorities, progress and forward plan for the Operating Page 77 of 216
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Model work is illustrated in Appendix 5, with additional context in sections 2.6.1 to 2.6.4 below. 2.6.1 The ambition for our community hubs is to enable the delivery of more integrated services to communities which need them most, bringing organisations together to work in different ways and connect with the community. Consequently, we must make sure that any provision in and around our community hubs is in line with community needs through a co-design process, that we continue to review and understand how people are accessing supports and services using what data and intelligence we have and that we deploy the resources we do have effectively and efficiently as service reviews are carried out and services redesign. Including acknowledging the landscape faced by the community and voluntary sector and the public sector reform that lies ahead. 2.6.2 There is significant work underway across multi disciplined teams to align the work around ‘early and inclusive family support’ approved by the Education & Families Committee and the work approved at Adult Social Work and Care Committee on 19th September 2024 including the redesign of home support, implementation of self-directed support and national development of home first to help people maintain their independence. These developments provide a specific focus on improving equity and health outcomes, enabling people to live well within their community and are facilitating a more formal identification of how the community hubs can enable the delivery of place-based supports and services in line with community needs and demand. 2.6.3 From the work set out above we have identified through community co-design work that communities need and want to live well in their community, be active, healthy and socially included with access to local community place making or regeneration activity. They also wish to have easy and early access to health, financial, employment and housing advice, with a willingness to access this online provided it was easy or that they were supported to get online. Being able to connect with each other, form new relationships and share knowledge, as well as access new learning opportunities/activities was an area that came through strongly. The provision of youth activities was also a key theme due a perceived gap felt through antisocial behaviour and for parents with young people attending schools within hubs at weekends and summer holidays. The perception of community hubs as schools was an area suggested that needs to be overcome through more independent coordination and leadership of the hubs and their activity, either through non-education staff or community, voluntary sector involvement or leadership. In addition to this, with Business Gateway enterprise services moving into the council, there is an opportunity to use hubs to meet clients and provide community and start-up workshops. 2.6.4 These developments have formed the basis for an accelerated phase 2, integrating teams and functions in a way which provides access to a range of services and provides direct delivery of supports and interventions. It will support staff to work in agile ways within communities and enhance their ability to deliver services in people’s homes. The operational aspects of the hub being managed by a dedicated Coordinator will further strengthen our approach and enable a focused understanding of who accesses them, how they are used, and in what ways community and voluntary sector organisations can contribute and benefit to support delivery of the plan for NL and local outcome improvement priorities. Page 78 of 216
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Progress within phase 2 since June 2024 The introduction of Community Hub Coordinator role 2.7 The Hub Coordinator role is a key step forward for phase 2 now that three new development community hubs are established and operational across North, Central and South areas. The role, whilst being responsible for ensuring smooth day-to-day operations of the hub, will work across council services and partners delivering a range of ‘needs based’ support, information and advice services and activities in the hub, in the community or in people’s homes. The remit includes being the main point of contact in the hub for individuals, preparing the hub activity programme and communication plan, coordinating monitoring and evaluation processes and linking with community connectors and volunteers. All of this will ensure that the right services are provided within the right location using all the information and intelligence available. 2.8 The recruitment process for the Hub Coordinator roles is underway. While the coordinators will initially be based in a hub site, they will provide flexibility to take on more locations as more hubs are established and services review and redesign their own delivery models. An illustration of the support pathway is set out below. based on existing processes and depending on intensity, to engage and connect individuals is set out below. Introduction of the Hub Coordinator and how it will work in a hub Formal identification of council and partner services providing a core offer that will be piloted through three community hubs in 2025 2.9 Building on the work detailed in sections 2.7 the formal identification of Council and partner services that will operate via the community hubs is set out below. As recognised by Audit Scotland in their Best Value thematic audit on workforce innovation: “The council’s workforce planning approach is integrated with The Plan for Page 79 of 216
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North Lanarkshire... the development of hubs will present further opportunities for collaborative working.” 2.10 Subject to the approval of the core offer set out below and the introduction of the Hub Coordinators a more formal timetable of contact time and activity for each hub will be worked up for 2025 in partnership with services and the communications team. An illustrative weekly calendar is shown in Appendix 6. Tackling poverty team 2.11 The team have increased their presence in the hubs during 2024 and in line with the new hybrid model have staff located out of the hubs some of the week where they carry out their day-to-day business. The intention for 2025 is to: • Continue operating from hubs to be based within the community • Provide a face-to-face service through interviews relative to income maximisation, money advice, and form filling/assisted self-service • Establish a diarised appointment service for mandatory reconsiderations and appeals • Deliver financial education sessions • Enable greater collaborative working with other Council Services and Partners • Work locally with new voluntary and third sector groups in the community that haven’t been engaged previously Education & Families early and inclusive family support at universal level 2.12 The universal service ‘Families Here and Now’ was launched in April 2024 from the Newmains and St Brigid’s community hub to align with developments to integrate services around the new operating model. They have provided direct 1:1 support, practical help, group support, drop in at the hub, family days out and activities during school holidays. The Neurodevelopmental Family Support team, within the community & voluntary sector, are also co-located across hubs some of the week to build presence, relationships and support early prevention as part of the approach. 2.13 The Families Here and Now service worked with 24 families between April and July, whilst concurrently building their resource capacity to scale the service across North Lanarkshire. During this time nine families were successfully diverted from social work intervention. Two themes have emerged in this first phase i.e. 12 of the families’ faced issues with school attendance and school relationships, and the impact of poverty is prevalent. The service being able to co-locate in the hub provides closer relationships with the school-based staff and community family support engagement workers to resolve issues and get the right help to families swiftly. The capacity for Barnardo’s to make direct payments to families as part of the cash first approach within the tackling poverty strand of the Resilient People Programme of Work is also being progressed. Appendix 7 provides practical examples of how families have experienced support and who otherwise would have struggled on until their problems became unavoidable. Housing support 2.14 The Housing service have embraced a new and more integrated approach towards service delivery that optimises the use of new digital technologies in support of the target operating model detailed in section 2.3. Actions to support this include: Page 80 of 216
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• Anti-social online service allows tenants to report any incidents online, as well as download advice and guidance on the process. • Rents online service - council tenants can now make rent payments online, view a rent balance, set up a Direct Debit and download a rent statement. • Service restructure operational since 19th August which is delivering a housing service more suited to accommodate the HUB/One Service Operating Model principle. 2.15 In addition to this and to work towards the planned transition to fulfil the ambition of the Community Hubs, Wishaw/Shotts locality team are using the Newmains and St Brigid’s Hub to facilitate weekly void meetings. To date this has worked well for all parties involved (Housing Services, Property Services and Mears). A solution is being considered to overcome issues connecting to the Housing Services Management Services system (HSMS). 2.16 Given the advantages of using the Newmains and St Brigid’s Hub for team business, the intention is for the Wishaw/Shotts locality team to deliver more housing related functions from the Hub including: • Homes First client reviews • Chairperson’s quarterly meetings • Housing surgeries, both locality management and central rents teams • Financial assessment & income maximisation 2.17 These functions have been identified based on knowledge of demand and they set out to deliver support to our highest priority communities whilst addressing the challenges presented by the current financial landscape. This will also help move away from the perception that the function of our community hubs is school based only. 2.18 It is hoped that these functions will be rolled out to the Chryston and Riverbank Hubs dependent on the feedback and evaluation from the Newmains/St Brigid’s site. The appointment of the Hub Coordinator working in partnership with council services will ensure resources are used effectively and efficiently and allow for shared knowledge across teams, particularly with the plans for the introduction of the integrated digital zones. Employability support 2.19 All of our hubs and their spaces have been designed to provide partnership opportunities and routes into further and higher education as well as employment. Routes to Work plan to have a more consistent presence in the community hubs following work to increase outreach resource capacity. This would be to run information sessions at set times for residents, in partnership with Council services, and to book residents in for support appointments attended at the hub. This supports the local employability partnership model, and the aim is to have a key focus on target groups that are economically inactive such as: • 50+ • Lone Parents • Carers • Long term health conditions • 16-18 not in receipt of benefits Page 81 of 216
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For the greatest impact on employability outcomes i.e. to increase employment and reduce unemployment/economic inactivity, this increased integration and alignment with council teams within the operating model will support the engagement of residents from these target groups. This approach will be developed in the coming months as part of the 2025 plans. Health and wellbeing in partnership with health and social care and health improvement 2.20 The HSCP continues to promote the council’s target operating model. This has been evidenced in how the partnership has radically changed the way assets are used and the progression of digital healthcare solutions and the assistive technology strategy across communities. This has included the deployment of health and social work employees to new facilities and using much of the existing assets to develop shared space with a range of Council services including Housing and Civic functions in Bron Way, Cumbernauld, Buchanan Centre in Coatbridge and Dalziel Building in Motherwell. The use of hubs is also being promoted by Home Support Teams with work underway to secure parking facilities and welfare access for teams and provide enhanced accommodation at priority locations as the service redesigns. This includes access in the evening and at weekends and working with the operating model team and Facilities Support to scope options for remote access, which if successful will be rolled out more widely across hubs. 2.21 Plans for 2025 include supporting the ‘Enabling Approach’ to the delivery of community- based Health and Social Work services in more responsive and creative ways. As such a scoping session took place early December with the operating model team, Healthy Communities Manager and NHSL Health Improvement colleagues as to how the community hubs can better provide a platform to target the four major health screening areas including increasing screening information, provision of clinics, weight management classes and community events in conjunction with VANL, Community Boards and the well-established locality planning groups to make a greater contribution towards health indicators and improve locality health profiles. Business support 2.22 Business Gateway plan to use our Community Hubs to meet clients and provide community and start up workshops during 2025. Community Learning and Development 2.23 Community Learning & Development (CLD) deliver services to young people, adults and families across North Lanarkshire, with a specific focus on those with greatest needs. Provision is targeted at individuals, groups and communities with the most barriers, including identified geographic communities (via intelligence such as SIMD data) or communities of interest (where there are similar shared needs). Geographically, CLD services are provided across all nine Community Board areas to ensure that provision is fully community-based, and that local needs, assets, opportunities and partnerships are considered throughout the process of planning and delivering programmes. 2.24 As CLD provision is fully community-based, it requires suitable delivery spaces for learners and participants in addition to staff workspaces, storage areas, facilities, etc. that allow collaboration with other local staff / partners and are ideally located as close Page 82 of 216
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as possible to public delivery venues. Both the delivery of frontline services and the provision of staff facilities can be, and currently are, delivered through shared space or hub arrangements. 2.25 CLD staff can operate within multi-disciplinary hub spaces for much of their working week, coupled with a requirement for part of their time (majority) to be spent in publicly accessible hub delivery spaces and part of their time (minority) to be spent in shared staff work hubs. In some cases, protected private spaces are required by staff to have sensitive personal discussions with members of the public, volunteers or staff. When delivering support and learning in public spaces, consideration is required with regards to partnership working and the ability to build community capacity within new and existing community groups. Where delivery spaces are to be used in a hub environment, in most cases, they require to be bookable by the public and partner organisations (third sector and private sector) to ensure that local provision can grow and develop. Current provision within community facilities is an example of this equal approach to the booking of space and the ability to dovetail CLD provision with community-led provision. It is critical therefore, to ensure that front-facing delivery spaces or rooms are designed to facilitate the growth of partnerships. Forward plan 2.26 The learnings from operationalising the three new hubs at Newmains & St Brigid’s, Riverbank and Chryston will carry forward into the plans for 2025, and along with the work detailed in this report will apply to new hubs in design and construction, where possible and within available budget. These learnings were outlined in the report presented to Policy and Strategy Committee on 6th June 2024. 2.27 The three new Hub coordinators will be introduced at our new build Community Hubs supported by a robust induction and training plan. It is expected the posts will start by the end of the year in readiness for taking forward 2025 plans. 2.28 A data analysis exercise will be carried out both in terms of customer demand on council services and community use/letting of spaces across assets. This analysis will enable an up-to-date understanding around main areas of enquiry and demand as well as who is using our assets, for what and when to aid future planning. 2.29 Ongoing implementation of the single telephony solution, which is critical to the front end of the operating model in terms of both improving the customer experience and providing intelligence on what and who is accessing support and services and building our internal capacity to work in new and more efficient digital ways to respond to customer demand. The telephony solution is equally important to get it right for people who may present at the hub for a gateway to other supports and services. 2.30 Following approval of the Strategic Asset Review and Investment Plan at Policy and Strategy Committee in September 2024 work will continue with the hub strategy team to progress options identified for tests of change at Airdrie, Bellshill and Kilsyth should funding become available. While hubs are not simply schools, the cost of building is no different to that of a school; the construction of hubs fulfils the policy commitment to replacing or refurbishing every school built prior to 1996. 2.31 Ongoing delivery of the corporate asset management plan and approved rationalisation responding to the implications of RAAC, ensuring that we deliver creative asset solutions across the portfolio to enable supports and services to be delivered in new ways with prioritised investment through the Strategy Capital Delivery plan. Page 83 of 216
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2.32 An implementation group will be established to take forward the new Community Asset Management and Ownership policy. There is opportunity for the Hub Coordinators to work to support implementation of the policy and through the Resilient People POW will continue to link work of the operating model with the Community Wealth Building plan. 2.33 The remaining service workforce plans will be presented through the One Service board with areas for further consideration or review discussed and approved through the board e.g. review of initial customer contact roles linked to the evolution of the Customer Services hub and vision for council target operating model, as well as consideration to back-office roles. Workforce modelling will also be completed based on information provided by services as to how they intend to distribute their workforce across hubs as the model develops and linked to the data analysis outlined in 2.28 above. 2.34 Continue with the phased approach to implementing integrated digital technologies in our hubs in support of digital inclusion priorities through the introduction of the Council wide corporate booking system and two new inclusive digital zones as we continue to push more services online and provide blended support to people in our communities. 2.35 Continue to strengthen linkages with the Transforming Places POW, the Open Space Strategy and the Local Development Plan 2 (NLLDP2) preparation including bringing together consultative and participatory feedback across communities, introduction of trauma design guidance linked to place standards and joint work on asset mapping to set out our investment programme and more closely connect the work of the operating model transition as we shape places to improve health equity and outcomes. 3. Measures of success 3.1 Several measures are outlined in the project brief against the three phases of delivery to show how we are delivering for communities through improved outcomes and support the management of risk/mitigate impacts of adverse events. Each Hub Coordinator will work with services and partners to develop an impact framework given the local context. Examples are: • Hub usage data and user feedback • Level of integrated working/partnerships evidenced in hub delivery plan • Access and engagement by target groups • No. of contacts/people supported relative to general advice, financial inclusion/debt money advice, literacy/language skills/qualifications, employability, digital inclusion etc. • Social media reach/user feedback • Occupancy and usage of hub spaces • Reduction in demand for additional/intensive statutory services • Number of organisations applying for/receiving grant funding contributing to delivery • Number of people accessing assisted self-service in the hubs • Number of volunteering or placement opportunities available in hubs • Number of hub volunteers who achieve accreditations/qualifications/employment • Comparison of usage across buildings within NLC (will feed into development of new builds and potential future use) Page 84 of 216
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• Progress of LOIP’s and outcomes agreed as part of future hub delivery plans that contribute to the outcomes set in the plan for North Lanarkshire The programme overall: • Provides an operational focus point for other projects and programmes to realise their financial and non-financial benefits e.g., shared asset rationalisation, service reconfiguration, service re-design proposals for integrated provision. Progress against delivery will be reported by the One Service board to the Policy and Strategy Committee. 4. Supporting documentation • Appendix 1 - Leadership & Operating Model, three approved phases of the delivery plan • Appendix 2 - Operating model for Newmains & St Brigid’s Community Hub incl. core areas of support • Appendix 3 - Target operating model 2019 – annotated as at today • Appendix 4 - Hub guiding principles and prioritisation matrix • Appendix 5 – Progress and forward direction of the Leadership and Operating Model under One Service • Appendix 6 – Illustrative weekly calendar to show what supports and services are currently running from hubs and what is planned for 2025 • Appendix 7 – Case studies based on the Families Here and Now service and Neurodevelopmental support team operating from the hubs Stephen Penman Chief Officer (Strategic Communication and Engagement) Page 85 of 216
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5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The implementation of town and community hubs and ambitions to reduce the inequalities caused by socio economic disadvantage align with the requirements of the Fairer Scotland Duty. The EQIA for phase 2 has been completed and EQIA’s are completed for required projects and in partnership with services. If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☒ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The strategic capital investment programme allocation is a key factor, investment in town and community hub programme and towards delivery of approved asset rationalisation is critical to ensure hubs are designed or reconfigured as the vehicle for delivery of community services. 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The impact of any workforce changes emerging during phases of the programme will be dealt with in line with the council’s Managing Workforce Change - Framework Guidance. We must ensure that any changes to approaches as our future workplace model matures are reviewed and supported by policies and guidance. Full engagement with Trade Unions will be taken forward as required. Safety and wellbeing implications around access, safety and security and also safeguarding. Safety and security guidance is continually updated and made available on the future workplace section of myNL. The safety and wellbeing team will continue to work with local teams to advise appropriate measures are in place at a local level around safety, security, fire safety and first aid. Communications and engagement with management teams of key workforce groups will also take place as appropriate, and toolbox talks encouraged with staff as necessary. Furthermore, Page 86 of 216
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the approach taken is intended to have a positive impact on mental health and wellbeing and TU’s will be engaged as appropriate through existing channels. The safety and wellbeing team are engaged on the POW steering group and continue to advise and guide through phases. 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Extending our use of hub spaces to public sector partners in phase 2 required a Memorandum of Understanding to be in place to support objectives of this agreement and to ensure consideration towards insurance liabilities and statutory requirements around safeguarding. This was supported by legal colleagues who will continue to be engaged through delivery phases – particularly relative to the impacts of public sector reform . 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☒ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? There is a specific set of digital requirements if the operating model is to achieve its ambitions. A number of these are already in place and need to be maintained or are in development. There is currently work to pull together emerging requirements and detailed work with the business and digital team on this additional capability and digital infrastructure will be required in support of the model – plans for this are underway and the appropriate governance structures will be applied. Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Page 87 of 216
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Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Enabling staff to work locally has a positive impact on the environment and an individual’s carbon footprint around commuting, as well as potential positive health impacts by enabling greater choice and flexibility to how people work. The shift side to that is the utility use/office energy consumption through a work local approach (although within the wider context of shared assets, asset rationalisation and investment in more energy efficient buildings and hubs positive benefits should be realised over time) 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? There is significant impact around communication and engagement with communities and with staff – the programme continually has a requirement to align with the emerging direction of our approaches. Communication and engagement plans are developed throughout each stage of the POW and colleagues from Strategic Communications and Community partnership team continue to be involved throughout phases of delivery 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? The project risks are captured in the project risk register and managed through the programme and projects, as well as linked POW’s own risk registers and actions. The main risks at present are around: • Finance – capital review and ability to deliver against ambitions, risk to savings not being realised through service redesign for a new model • Digital – ability to meet the infrastructure and technical support needs either through lack of resources, lack of funds, or alignment of pace • Political unknowns – implications of savings decisions and public sector reform • People – challenge of culture change to underpin the success of the model • Communities – ensuring full involvement of communities and realising the ambition of the Community Boards. 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other residents in the provision of public services. Page 88 of 216
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• Our approach to participation planning to ensure that all residents with lived experience are included in co-design/co-creation of services, and we engage with relevant organisations • Completion of the EQIA 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Approach to early help and inclusive support outlined in the report. An overarching CRWIA has been completed as part of the preparation for the new Children’s Services Plan 23-26. The Children’s Services Plan 23-26 includes priorities and actions on how the Children’s Services Partnership will further children’s rights and UNCRC in NL. If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☒ No ☐ Page 89 of 216
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Appendix 1 - Leadership & Operating Model, three approved phases of the delivery plan Page 90 of 216
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Appendix 2 - Operating model for Newmains & St Brigid’s Community Hub incl. core areas of support Page 91 of 216
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Appendix 3 - Target operating model 2019 – annotated as at today Page 92 of 216
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Appendix 3 continued… Page 93 of 216
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Appendix 4 – Hub guiding principles and prioritisation matrix Page 94 of 216
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Appendix 5 – Progress and forward direction of the Leadership and Operating Model under One Service Page 95 of 216
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Appendix 6 – Illustrative weeks calendar setting out support & services currently being/to be delivered from Hubs* Day of week Hub Monday Tuesday Weds Thurs Friday Chryston Families Here & Now- connecting with services Housing support** Routes to work employability information session & booked appts** Neurodevelopmental Family Support Workers Tackling Poverty Team – weekly base & booked appointments Housing support** Neurodevelopmental Family Support Workers Teen talk counselling & support Dance Academy Families Here & Now – drop in / tea & coffee Tackling Poverty team – 2 in 4 base & booked appointments Business Gateway - monthly workshop** NHS physio leads meeting Families Here & Now – drop in / tea & coffee Tackling Poverty team – 2 in 4 base & booked appointments Newmains & St Brigids Families Here & Now- connecting with services Art Attack Family CLD Neurodevelopmental Family Support Workers Phoenix Futures addictions support peer group Tackling Poverty Team – weekly base & booked appointments Housing support** LAMH Tackling Poverty team – weekly base & booked appointments Housing support** Business Gateway - monthly workshop** Active NL Zumba Dinwoodie AA group meeting Active NL Yoga Multi agency review meeting SW Families Here & Now – drop in / tea & coffee Routes to Work employability information session & booked appts** LAMH Neurodevelopmental Family Support Workers Riverbank Families Here & Now- connecting with services Tackling Poverty team - 1 in 2 base & booked appointments Housing support** Bushido Karate Tappy Toes Lanarkshire Enable Scotland Families Here & Now – tasters & group activities Tackling Poverty team – 1 in 4 base & booked appointments Routes to Work employability information session & booked appts** CLD Parents Group Drama Tuition Business Gateway - monthly workshop** Neurodevelopmental Family Support Workers Sense of Wonder group sensory play Voluntary Action NL Practice for Yoga Tackling Poverty Team – 3 in 4 base & booked appointments Housing support** Neurodevelopmental Family Support Workers Families Here & Now – tasters & group activities Tackling Poverty team – 2 in 4 base & booked appointments AC School of dance Local band Coatbridge CC @ St Andrews HS Family Contact Angel of Love and Light Bipolar Scotland Tackling Poverty Team – 2 in 4 & booked appointments AA group meeting Asia Women Social Group Woman & Mens Group Mens Space older men’s group Tackling Poverty Team – weekly base & booked appointments Creche Enable Youth Group Our Zone play group Catching Confidence Group Tackling Poverty Team – weekly base & booked appointments Police Scotland Community Our Zone play group Art Group Tackling Poverty Team – 2 in 4 base & booked appointments AA group meeting Scouts Group Page 96 of 216
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Small integrated hubs within existing facilities Calderhead, Shotts Families Here & Now- connecting with services Tackling Poverty team - 1 in 2 base & booked appointments Tackling Poverty Team – weekly base Families Here & Now – drop in / tea & coffee Tackling Poverty team – 1 in 2 staff base Tackling Poverty team – 1 in 4 staff base Broadwood integrated hub*** Tackling Poverty team - 1 in 4 base & booked appointments Tackling Poverty Team – weekly base & booked appointments Tackling Poverty Team – weekly base & booked appointments Tackling Poverty Team – 1 in 4 base & booked appointments *Over and above what’s set out here CLD have a presence across Hubs (excl. Broadwood) most of the week either using the staff areas or delivering business as usual scheduled activities. Social work and other agencies are present through existing work with children, young people & families this is at additional or intensive level as required and through the Cluster arrangements. This calendar does not show nursery/school specific activity. It does show C&VS organisations booking regular community lets and running evening activities (not Sat/Sun).A holistic activity calendar for each Hub will be brought together when capacity increases in the team and the Hub Coordinators are hired. Finally, note that wider Council teams use the hubs within their agile or hybrid roles e.g. roads, corporate services, community operations, social work. **Proposed, still to be finalised with the team(s) and based on resource capacity and access to space in the hub under review ***Broadwood will offer more capacity when phase 2 works are completed to add meeting room(s) Page 97 of 216
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Appendix 7 – Case study based on Families Here and Now service providing support from hub setting About individual Page 98 of 216
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Appendix 7 – Case study based on neurodevelopmental support from hub setting Page 99 of 216
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Policy and Strategy Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref LR/AH/Review Hospitality Date 05/12/24 Review of Non-School Hospitality Catering Across NLC From Lyall Rennie E-mail RennieLy@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07855193500 Executive Summary Following the outcome of the 2024/25 budget motion, approved by Council on 15 February 2024, a full review of the Hospitality Service has been undertaken to ensure best value in service provision. The review has considered a number of key factors, specifically: • A site-by-site financial performance review. • Staffing review. • Menu and supplier review. • Consultation with customers and stakeholders. • Consultation/Benchmarking with other Local authorities, Colleges, and Universities. The purpose of this report is to present the outcome of the review along with a number of options for service provision. The report also includes a recommendation for a future operating model. Recommendations It is recommended that the Policy and Strategy committee: (1) Acknowledge the work undertaken as part of the review. (2) Agree to the implementation of the recommendations set out in Table 8 of the report, as outlined in section 2.11. (3) Acknowledge the service will prepare an update report to the Policy and Strategy Committee in June 2025. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement (24) Review and design services around people, communities, and shared resources Programme of Work Invest in North Lanarkshire Item 8 Page 101 of 216
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1. Background 1.1 The 2024/25 budget motion, approved by Council on 15 February 2024, instructed officers to conduct a series of service reviews which should include identifying savings options or income generation opportunities. 1.2 Facility Support Services delivers the following catering services: School Meals, Children’s Homes, Adult Day Care Services (Social Work), Lunch Clubs and Hospitality Catering Services. The provision of catering within both school and areas within the social work environment are a statutory requirement. Therefore, this review will focus on the Hospitality Service which provides a catering service for both internal and external customers including staff canteens and cafes within leisure facilities and other cultural and park locations throughout North Lanarkshire. The service also provides internal and external functions. 1.3 Section 2 of this report outlines the work undertaken as part of the review and presents a number of possible options. 2. Report 2.1 The aim of the review is to consider the current operating model for the hospitality service to ensure that this represents Best Value for the Council. This will include consideration of savings options and income generation opportunities to identify a future operating model that achieves full cost recovery. 2.2 Through this review, a deep dive exercise covered the following areas: • A site-by-site financial performance review. • Staffing review. • Menu and supplier review. • Consultation with customers and stakeholders. • Consultation/benchmarking with other local authorities, colleges, and universities. 2.3 Areas of Service Provision included in the Review. 2.3.1 Leisure Facilities The Tryst, Broadwood, Wishaw and Ravenscraig sports centres all have cafes where many parents and children enjoy healthy snacks and parents can sit within the café environment whilst children are enjoying classes and clubs. These are intrinsic to the experience and both daytime and evenings generate healthy levels of income. Currently, provision at the Time Capsule is by a private contractor on a lease basis. This operating model was in place prior to insourcing into North Lanarkshire Council. 2.3.2 Country Parks Drumpellier, Strathclyde and Colzium Parks also have cafés and members may be aware we recently allowed patrons with dogs to enter the cafés at Drumpellier and Colzium and the change to a dog friendly approach has been a success. Customer consultation has been undertaken across all sites and full detail is provided later in the report. The consultation has highlighted that these cafes are important to the visitor experience and spending time in cafes is almost expected by customers as part of their time visiting. Page 102 of 216
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2.3.3 Museums and Libraries The café at Summerlee Heritage Centre is a busy unit that is integrated into the heritage site. The consultation also highlighted that this cafe is a particularly crucial element to the visitor experience. Wishaw library sits within the Houldsworth Centre in Wishaw and provides a service to visitors attending the health centre and library and also any passing by custom. Before COVID-19 the site was extremely busy but since changes to the operational model of GP surgeries, the site has witnessed a decline in income over the last few years. 2.3.4 Staff Cafes Both the Dalziel and Civic catering pods provide a convenient option for staff in key Council offices. Both do very well both in regular customer uptake and visitors to the offices. The civic has a small area for staff to sit in and get away from their desks, whilst the Dalziel pod caters for take away only. 2.3.5 Functions/Hospitality The section also provide catering for internal/external business purposes and caters for larger functions for example Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinners. 2.4 List of Sites Table 1 below outlines the lists of sites considered under this review, their location, and operating hours for each site. Table 1 - List of Catering Venues throughout North Lanarkshire Unit Location Times of Operation Tryst Sports Centre Café Cumbernauld Mon-Fri 09.30-18.30 Sat-09.00-14.00 Sun 08.45-14.00 Broadwood Café Cumbernauld Mon-Fri 09.30-16.30 Sat - 08.45-16.30 Sun 09.00-16.30 Ravenscraig Café Wishaw Mon-Thurs 09.30- 19.30 Fri 09.30-16.00 Sat/Sun 09.00-16.00 Wishaw Sports Centre Café Wishaw Mon -Fri 10.00 -19.00 Sat/Sun 09.00-17.00 Colzium Café Kilsyth Mon-Sun-10.30-15.00 Civic Café Pod Motherwell Mon-Fri 08.00-15.00 Dalziel Café Pod Motherwell Mon-Fri 08.30- 15.00 Airdrie Town Hall Airdrie Mon-Fri 08.00-15.30 Wishaw Library Café Wishaw Mon-Fri 10.00-15.00 Summerlee Café Coatbridge Mon-Sun 10.00- 15.30 (School Holidays close 16.30) Drumpellier Coatbridge Mon-Sun 10.30-16.00 Strathclyde Park-Pod Motherwell Mon- Sun 10.30-15.00 Page 103 of 216
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Strathclyde Park Café Motherwell Mon-Sun 10.00-15.30 2.5 Review As outlined in section 2.2, in order to ensure a thorough review of service provision a number of elements were within scope of the review and the outcome of each is detailed below. 2.5.1 Financial Information 2023/24 In order to provide information for a full financial year, analysis was undertaken of financial information relating to 2023/24. Table 2 below outlines for each site the total income achieved for 2023/24. Table 2 - Income generated per site. Site Name 2023/24 Income Catering - Broadwood £183,505 Catering - Ravenscraig £311,031 Catering - Tryst SC £104,262 Catering - Wishaw SC £113,211 Special Events £272,750 Civic Pod £138,239 Colzium Café £23,488 Dalziel Building Pod £81,831 Drumpellier Park Café £228,610 Miscellaneous Catering £12,249 Strathclyde Park Café £107,335 Strathclyde Park Pod £70,580 Summerlee Café £211,702 Vending £128,170 Wishaw Library Café £112,644 Grand Total £2,099,607 Table 3 below outlines a breakdown of the total expenditure for the same period, 2023/24. At year end 2023/24, hospitality catering out turned a financial position of - £590,353. Table 3 - Total Expenditure Breakdown 2023/24 Page 104 of 216
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2024/25 To ascertain how well each site is actually performing, a profit and loss exercise has been undertaken against each site for 2024/25. This included reviewing key financial performance for each of the following: • Income – cash sales over the counter and any hospitality catering at each site and included any vending income. • Expenditure – employee costs, food costs, property costs, supplies and services, transport and plant, and admin costs. Profit and loss calculations were set out to rate each site for performance. Table 4 below outlines a summary of the profit and loss profile against each site for 2024/25 and projected new expenditure. Those highlighted in red are projected to be over budget for 2024/25. It is projected that taking account of net income / expenditure in 2024/25, hospitality catering will require additional income of £528,588 which is unlikely to be achieved. This figure is based on a Total Expenditure Budget of £2,452,371 and a Total Income Budget of £1,923,783. In reviewing the last 2 financial years, it is demonstrated that the service is operating at a financial loss. The sites highlighted in red in table 4 below, are sites where staffing, food costs and overall expenditure require review to reduce costs, if they are to break even. EMPLOYEE COSTS 1,566,070 PROPERTY COSTS 32,663 SUPPLIES & SERVICES 1,073,275 TRANSPORT & PLANT 687 ADMINISTRATION COSTS 14,065 PAYMENTS TO OTHER BODIES 3,200 TOTAL EXPENDITURE 2,689,960 CATEGORY 23/24 Spend Page 105 of 216
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Table 4 – 24/25 Projected Outcome 2.5.2 Staffing Review The hospitality function was insourced from Culture NL in 2021, and the staffing model has not been reviewed since this time. Historically, the base establishment, of 34 FTE Catering Assistants (NLC03) has been supplemented at peak times (e.g. school holidays) by a significant level of casual staff. Casual staff have been recruited for busy periods, but no financial profit or loss has been undertaken to determine how this aligns to the financial position. The section is managed and supported by a team of 7 FTE. The service has received an application from an employee for VERA which has been approved at the Workforce Steering Group held on 30 August 2024. This post is a CNL11 and will become vacant on 1 January 2025. In addition, a further employee (CNL4) has formally notified the Council of their intention to retire on 1 January 2025. These vacancies will allow an opportunity to review the management and support structure. 2.6 Menu & Price Review A benchmark exercise was undertaken to review the menus for each site. Although there is commonality from site to site there are also differences and individual costs due to the customer base. Each site has been reviewed and work has been undertaken to understand potential improvements. The review has focused on: • a cost analysis to see if food costs could come down by streamlining the menu choices. • a review of prices to see what percentage increase is compatible with what customers will pay at locations across the council. Page 106 of 216
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Each site has a captive audience and although customers are not directly attending each site for the café specifically, there is the opportunistic view that customers will pay a certain amount for food and drinks they want within reason. Work was undertaken to review these prices, and a percentage increase was agreed upon and is detailed further in the report at section 2.10.3. 2.7 Supplier Review The service main aims are to ensure that local SMEs are utilised to deliver the best produce and at competitive prices. Work was undertaken to ensure that local bakeries could be used to provide bread and rolls. Whilst the service still uses Brakes for the main staples of the menu, cakes and breads are locally supplied. Following a review, it was identified that different suppliers were being used by various café facilities, as the product quantities are minimal the cost per items were much higher. 2.8 Stakeholder Consultation Stakeholder consultation is a key component and statutory requirement of a best value service review. Therefore, extensive, and robust research to engage with our key stakeholders as part of Facility Support Services hospitality review was undertaken. A link to the extensive consultation reports will be made available under a separate cover for elected members of the committee. This consultation was designed to gain an insight into the various stakeholder groups views, comments, opinions, and rating criteria for the service. Importantly, this provides invaluable information on how well the service is performing and where it needs to improve. Various methods were used to promote awareness and to encourage completion of the surveys amongst the various stakeholder groups including QR codes promoted within establishments, online survey links via email / Chief Executive’s newsletter and paper surveys on site. The surveys were conducted from mid-July to end September 2024. The individual groups of stakeholders consulted were: • Service User / Customer Consultation (leisure, cultural and park locations) o It is essential that we understand the expectations of customers therefore research was undertaken to evaluate current user satisfaction, views and comments identifying ideas and proposals to improve service delivery from their perspective. • Service User (Staff) Consultation (staff coffee pods / cafes) o This consultation was undertaken to evaluate employee satisfaction, views, and comments on staff café’s available within the Civic Centre and Dalziel Building, seeking to identify ideas and proposals to improve service delivery from their perspective. • Frontline Catering Staff o This element of research was undertaken to ensure appropriate engagement with staff to draw on their views, comments, ideas, and experiences, providing invaluable first-hand information on how well the service is performing and identifying trends and emerging challenges. Page 107 of 216
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• Partners managing facilities where cafes / hospitality facilities are based. o It is crucial to survey the views of our service partners as our principal provision is a complimentary key component of their core service provision and will therefore also impact their customer, client, and staff base. The surveys are specifically designed to gain both positive and negative feedback about service likes and dislikes to help identify the most significant factors determining the customer experience. 2.8.1 Consultation Results Service User/Customer Consultation A total of 230 online or paper surveys were completed by customers visiting on-site cafes within leisure, culture, and park locations. Survey results were extremely positive – 80% of respondents confirmed that they found their overall experience of their visit to the café as Excellent/Good with only 4.3% respondents rating it Poor/Very Poor. 86% found the opening hours convenient to them with only a small percentage, 12.6%, saying they were not convenient, with most comments received looking for hours to be extended. High ratings ranging from 72% - 90% were received for the current menu, ease of ordering, price, staff friendliness, speed of service and the quality, taste, freshness, and portion size of food. A number of respondents praised the efficiency, helpfulness and customer care provided by the catering staff. The café environment received high ratings over 80% for the display counter, layout, cleanliness, and family friendliness, however, a slightly lower rating of 68% was received for the décor / design. Where respondents expressed their dissatisfaction, criticisms included comments about the variety / choice available. Service User (Staff) Consultation – Civic / Dalziel Coffee Pods A total of 169 responses were received from staff using the coffee pods within the Civic and Dalziel Buildings. Survey results were extremely positive for the hot and cold drink options offered within the pods receiving 85% and 90%, respectively. High satisfaction ratings ranging from 73% - 99% were also received for ease of ordering; quality, taste, and freshness of food; staff friendliness; speed of service and the provision of a loyalty card. A number of staff praised the efficiency, helpfulness and customer care provided by the catering staff. However, lower satisfaction ratings of 68.6% were given for price / affordability. Although 55.6% respondents felt the opening hours were convenient, 43.8% felt they should be extended. Where respondents expressed their dissatisfaction, criticisms included comments about variety / choice available and the opening hours. Frontline Customer Catering Staff Consultation A total of 30 responses were received from frontline catering staff demonstrating strength of opinion and desire to contribute to the engagement and feedback process. Survey results were extremely positive relating to the current menu selection with high levels of satisfaction received ranging from 86% to 100%. Catering staff also confirmed they are either ‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’ with the pricing, food quality and display Page 108 of 216
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counters. However, areas for consideration, with lower satisfaction ratings ranging from 36% - 57%, were received for the menu display, kitchen equipment, seating area and décor. Service Partner Consultation A total of 14 online surveys were completed by service partners within leisure, cultural, parks and office establishments. Of these responses, 92.9% felt the provision of a catering service in their establishment was either ‘very important’ or ‘important’ with only 7.1% service partner rating it ‘not very important.’ Positive comments received related to visitor experience, social hubs, and provision of hospitality / additional selling point. Survey results were positive for the hot and cold drink options offered receiving 85.8% and 92.9% respectively, however, low ratings were received for hot food (42.9%) and cold food (35.7%) options. Where partners expressed dissatisfaction with the hot / cold food options, comments included the provision of healthier options / more variety. The café environment received high ratings over 70% for cleanliness, layout / seating, staffing, and speed of service, however, low satisfaction ratings were received for pricing (35.7%) and café service hours (50%). Comments received related to longer opening hours, pricing, and layout / décor. The majority of positive comments received relate to the catering staff on site, however, negative comments covered main areas such as operating hours and price and menu choice. A summary of the key findings for each of the consultations can be found in Appendix 1 to this report with full results being made available for elected members of committee. 2.9 Consultation with Other Local Authorities, Colleges, and Universities Work was undertaken to analyse what operating models’ other local authorities, colleges and universities had in place. This was to find out if the catering service was in-house, franchised, leased out or some form of partnership working. Positively from the 32 local authorities contacted, 21 responded. Table 5 outlines the responses returned. A more detailed breakdown is included at Appendix 2. Table 5 – Other Local Authority Catering Types of Hospitality No. of Local Authorities providing services (Total of 21 Respondents) Commercial 12 Cultural & Libraries 2 Functions 16 Parks Cafés 5 Pods 1 Sports & Leisure 5 Staff Canteens 13 Other 4 Page 109 of 216
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The information gathered demonstrates different approaches by each local authority. North Lanarkshire Council operate a hospitality service across a wider range of functions than most respondents. From the data gathered there are currently no local authorities who operate their catering facilities with a franchise, lease, or partnership and from the data returned, none have any future plans to do so. A total of six colleges and universities were contacted to gather data. Unfortunately, only New College Lanarkshire responded. They confirmed that they provide commercial and staff canteens and provision is in-house. 2.10 Potential alternative operating models Following conclusion of the review, a number of options require consideration to ascertain best value for the Council. Five potential options have been identified and are outlined below. These are: 2.10.1 Option 1 - Do nothing. The financial analysis detailed in section 2.5.1 has highlighted that for the last 2 financial years the service has been working at a loss, with a projected shortfall in income of £528,000 for 2024/25. Therefore, to do nothing in the current challenging financial climate is not a viable option and work has to be undertaken to reduce or eliminate the strain on the budgets. 2.10.2 Option 2 - Cease to provide hospitality services. A large proportion of the catering service provided by Facility Support Services is statutory, however, the hospitality element is not. As outlined in point 2.5.1, at the current time the hospitality service is working at a loss. Cessation of services would mean that this financial position is removed along with the complexity of managing a service with various different components. However, there are various negative effects of the removal of this service. Of key importance, is the view of the residents of North Lanarkshire. The outcome of the customer consultation, outlined in section 2.8.1, clearly demonstrates the value placed on this service by its customers. This also highlighted that cafes are important to the visitor experience and spending time in cafes enhances their experience of the venue. Additional negative effects of cessation are: • Staffing implications • No café provision for staff in key Council offices • Potential impact on visitor numbers to key leisure and cultural facilities • Reputational damage • Impact on small local suppliers • No catering provision for in-house functions 2.10.3 Option 3 - Implement Full Cost Recovery Through the review of service delivery, there are various elements that can be implemented to work towards full cost recovery over a 3-year period, which are outlined below. Page 110 of 216
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Rebranding – Coffee Shop Model As outlined in section 2.6 a comparison was undertaken with commercial operators who are significantly successful due to the consistency in menus with a balance between sufficient choice for the customer but limited manual input and fluent and efficient service delivery. This, along with current food costs has highlighted the need to move towards a slimline menu, moving from a café to a coffee shop model removing many of the unhealthy options. This change in focus will require a full review of food and drink options, increasing the choices of hot drinks, self-service, and quick turnaround items. This will reduce food costs and ensure service delivery is swift and in line with what customers are looking for as reflected in the customer consultation. If this option is accepted, the service will work with Corporate Communications to promote the new operating model. Review of Staffing The proposed move to a coffee shop model will allow for a different approach to staffing. In addition, whilst reviewing the profit and loss figures it became clear that the current level of staffing could not be maintained while working to achieve full cost recovery. As outlined in section 2.5.2 of the review, the current base establishment is subsidised by casual staff. The implementation of the coffee shop model will result in a reduction in the manual input of the catering team which will reduce staffing requirements. It is the view of the service that this can be achieved through the reduction in the use of casual staff over the next 3-year period, without impacting on substantive employees. As outlined in section 2.5.2, 2 posts within the management and support structure will become vacant in January 2025, this allows the opportunity to review provision and reduce costs. Due to staffing costs, there is no intention, at the moment, to increase operating hours and the level of income at off peak times does not cover costs. This will be reviewed year on year to monitor progress. Over the last few years local authority employees have received significant pay rises. A full cost recovery approach would require this cost to be met by price increases to ensure the service is not operating at a loss. These staff savings have been built into the projections outlined in Table 8, demonstrating projected figures for the 3-year period while working towards full cost recovery. Currently, there is no requirement to delete any permanent staff posts, however this will be kept on review. Price increase A review was undertaken of current prices, and it is proposed to implement a phased increase in charges over the next 3 years. Following approval of the Council’s Discretionary Fees and Charges Policy at Policy and Strategy Committee on 28 September 2023, discretionary fees and charges will be uplifted by 5% annually. In addition, services are expected to review their charges with a view to moving towards full cost recovery as outlined in the Council’s Revenue Resources Budget Strategy. Page 111 of 216
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Table 7 highlights the proposed price increase for the next 3 years with 8% in years 1 & 2 & 10% proposed in year 3. This may need to be adjusted if required to meet full cost recovery. If projections change this will mainly be due to staff pay award increases and the service will have to incorporate appropriate price increase to ensure full cost recovery is achieved. The plan would be to implement the price increase from January 2025. The proposed price increases still ensure prices remain within range and continue to provide the public with a high-quality service at reasonable prices, but most importantly would assist along with reduction in staffing to work towards full cost recovery. Table 6 – NLC Proposed Increase in Prices 8% - 10% Menu item Current prices Price increase 2025/26 Price increase 2026/27 Price increase 2027/28 Roll sausage £2.60 £2.80 £3.00 £3.30 Roll bacon £2.60 £2.80 £3.00 £3.30 Sparkling water £1.60 £1.70 £1.85 £2.05 Bottled juice (i.e. diet coke) £1.30 £1.40 £1.50 £1.65 Iced Latte £4.00 £4.30 £4.65 £5.10 Brownie/home baking £2.50 £2.70 £2.90 £3.20 Americano £2.70 £2.90 £3.15 £3.45 Latte £2.80 £3.00 £3.25 £3.60 Cappuccino £2.80 £3.00 £3.25 £3.60 Mocha £3.00 £3.25 £3.50 £3.85 Hot Chocolate £2.80 £3.00 £3.25 £3.60 English Breakfast Tea £1.70 £1.85 £2.00 £2.20 Green Tea £1.80 £1.95 £2.10 £2.30 Chicken wraps £3.90 £4.20 £4.50 £4.95 Ham & Cheese Toastie £4.70 £5.00 £5.45 £6.00 *These prices are examples only and will be reviewed each year to ensure they are viable. If approved, due to the location of the cafes, it is thought that there would not be a drop in customer uptake considering the prices of other competitors and, although there are a number of regular customers, there are also a much larger customer base that are occasional visitors who, it is assumed, would pay the 8% to 10% price increase. The application of the proposed price increase has been incorporated in the forecast for the period 2025-2028, outlined in table 7 below. Suppliers Page 112 of 216
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Part of this review was to consider annual spend on food and supplies to ensure best value and to also explore if there are further local suppliers that can be utilised. However, this must be in line with the Councils Procurement framework. If agreed, over the next 18 months, following the implementation of a reduced menu, it is proposed to review all current suppliers and move all products purchased to the same contractors. This will ensure a consistent approach across all venues, enabling the service to procure for higher quantities of products, resulting in reduced costs to the council. Overview of proposed operating model for full cost recovery In summary, Section 2.10.3 outlines what could be achieved if the full service was approved to move to a full cost recovery model. Full cost recovery can be achieved by reduction and monitoring of staffing, increasing prices over the next three years of between 8% & 10%, reducing food costs and monitoring suppliers’ prices. Over a three- year period, this would turn around the current negative position and allow the service to operate at full cost recovery. Table 8 provides projected expenditure/income over the 3-year period from 2025/26 to 2027-28 and a RAG status indicating movement towards full cost recovery. Facilities which have a green RAG status are currently profitable, those highlighted as amber move to a profitable status during the 3-year period and those categorised as red do not achieve profit. Table 7 – Forecast of Expenditure/Income for 3-year period As indicated in Table 7, 5 of the current facilities are unlikely to become profitable in the 3-year period due to the level of staffing required to maintain service delivery requirement. However, the overall projection for the service will ensure full cost recovery. We will continue to monitor and where possible implement further corrective actions to reduce costs associated within these facilities. Page 113 of 216
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As indicated in table 7 option 3 allows full cost recovery over a 3-year period. This also ensures that none of our current cafes are closed, which should minimise any impact on the reputation of the Council. In addition, this option allows a consistency in service provision over the 3-year period and will allow for a period of staff stability. In terms of the feedback from customer consultation, the proposals ensure that we can maintain current levels of satisfaction. There will also be limited impact on local suppliers. However, it should be noted that there are risks associated with this approach including cost of living salary increases, food inflation, impacts of any changes within the venues, for example the planned closure of Strathclyde Park in 2025/26. While the move to a coffee shop approach does allow for continued provision within all venues, this will be a reduced service in relation to food choice, for example unhealthy options. It is expected that the changes in service provision will allow for increased efficiency within the cafes, however, there is a potential risk of queuing at peak times. 2.10.4 Option 4 - Lease out to other Partner Providers. A further option identified as part of the review is the possibility of outsourcing the provision of hospitality services to an external commercial provider. A positive element to this option is a reduction of costs for the Council. A lease arrangement would allow the council to place most costs associated with service provision on the provider, with building costs remaining. In addition, this type of arrangement would lead to a regular income of £400-£600 per month, per site. However, this would result in a lack of control over the operation and could result in reputational issues. Key areas of concern would be the availability of healthy menu options and pricing. As highlighted through customer consultation, Council cafes are valued by residents and outsourcing provision may impact on quality and customer experience. A similar arrangement is currently in place at the Time Capsule and feedback has indicated that, on renewal of the lease in 2022, it was difficult to find a replacement provider which may indicate a limited market. Initial discussions with colleague in legal services have highlighted that, if this arrangement was pursued, TUPE would apply. In line with TUPE regulations, staff would have the right to transfer to the new supplier. This could present a barrier to success in light of increased salaries and on costs including pension provision. However, if this option is approved then further work is required to investigate how this model could be achieved with minimum risk to the council. 2.10.5 Option 5 - Reduced Service Delivery – Vending As outlined in table 4, vending within leisure centres is currently profitable, with a yearly income of £105,952 projected for 2024/25. Dependant on the leasing arrangement, vending has limited expenditure and can generate income. The provision of a vending service would have no staffing costs associated with it. This would be likely to increase profitability. The Councils current vending provision is limited to drinks and snacks, however, there are opportunities to consider a wider range including sandwiches etc. This option would maintain a level of service delivery; however, this would be greatly reduced in comparison to current provision. Whilst this may mitigate some of the Page 114 of 216
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negative impacts of a full removal of the service, it is likely that these would still apply to some extent, specifically: • Staffing implications • Negative impact on customer experience • Reduced provision for staff in key Council offices • Potential impact on visitor numbers to key leisure and cultural facilities • Reputational damage • Impact on small local suppliers • No catering provision for in-house functions To progress with this option, further investigation would be required as this approach may not be suitable in all facilities, for example Summerlee. 2.11 Summary and recommendation Having carefully considered the various options following a full review of the hospitality service, taking account of positive and negative factors relating to each option, it is recommended that as a first phase we adopt a hybrid model of a number of the above options. This would reduce the risk, allow the service to further investigate some of the options such as leasing/franchising and at the same time utilise the methods stated in the report to reduce costs and attempt to bring many of the sites into full cost recovery. Table 8 below outlines the recommendations for each site. Table 8 – Recommended Options for Approval. SITE RECOMMENDED OPTION(S) Tryst Sports Centre Café Option 3 & 5 – Full cost recovery and additional vending Broadwood Café Option 3 & 5 – Full cost recovery and additional review of vending Ravenscraig Café Option 3 & 5 – Full cost recovery and additional review of vending Wishaw Sports Centre Café Option 3 & 5 – Full cost recovery and additional review of vending Colzium Café Option 4 – Lease to Private Provider Civic Café Pod Option 3 & 5 – Full cost recovery and additional vending Dalziel Café Pod Option 3 & 5 – Full cost recovery and additional vending Airdrie Town Hall Option 3 & 5 – Full cost recovery and additional vending Wishaw Library Café Option 3 & 5 – Full cost recovery and additional vending Summerlee Café Option 3 & 5 – Full cost recovery and additional vending Drumpellier Option 4 – Lease to Private Provider Strathclyde New Food and Drink Space Option 4 – Lease to Private Provider Strathclyde Park-Pod Option 3 & 5 – Full cost recovery Within the 3 parks of Drumpellier, Colzium and Strathclyde there is an opportunity to promote further footfall with a branded franchise restaurant or within Colzium a SME for a café or coffee shop. In a first phase towards this the service will investigate further about how this process operates and identify a pathway towards working towards this and timescales for completion. Within Strathclyde Park this is an excellent opportunity Page 115 of 216
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due to the upcoming closure and investment in capital works and would be a further attraction if a branded food chain could take over a premium spot to increase footfall into the park. The same for Drumpellier. The rationale behind this recommendation is due to the rising costs of providing a service such as this in house, due to the escalating staff costs and food inflation. Investigating this model in the parks setting is ideal due to the fact that it is set in locations where a lease could bring added value and footfall, whilst reducing costs to the council. In the remaining sites the service will work towards a 3-year plan to introduce full cost recovery and also investigate more vending into sites which have low expenditure with higher levels of income that would help support the remaining sites. The service will also review as stated previously current prices and ensure that in implementing these we balance this to avoid the risk of driving customers away. As outlined, this option is not without risk, therefore, if approved, progress will be reviewed on an ongoing basis, with a further update provided to the Policy and Strategy Committee in June 2025 to report back on progress. 2.12 Next Steps Following approval, the service will continue to work on outcomes that have arisen from the review, and these are currently being compiled as an Action Plan for implementation over the next 12 months which includes the following: • Implement post consultation plan to ensure that feedback is incorporated in planning and that feedback is provided to stakeholder groups who participated in the process. • Rebranding from Café to Coffee Shop status in 8 of the sites • Work with Corporate Communications to promote the new operating model and utilise marketing to promote the services to customers. • Period by period financial monitoring of all sites and performance. • Reduction and Monitoring of staffing across all sites • Implementation of price increases by 8% over the next 2 years and 10% in year 3. As stated earlier in the report this may need to fluctuate to ensure that full cost recovery is the outturn. • Changes to menu to reduce food costs. • Further investigation into sites for leasing working with colleagues in partnership across the council to find an appropriate route to market. The team will continue to meet on a monthly basis to ensure that actions are being implemented and monitored for success. 3. Measures of success 3.1 A thriving and sustainable council service which supports the delivery of culture, sport, leisure, and community facility services. 4. Supporting documentation 4.1 Appendix 1 Consultation Executive Summaries Page 116 of 216
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This appendix provides a brief Executive Summary of the research undertaken with a link to the extensive consultation reports being made available under a separate cover for elected members of the committee. 4.2 Appendix 2 Local Authority Consultation Outcomes Lyall Rennie Chief Officer Community Operations Page 117 of 216
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5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Financial impact of proposals have been included within report. 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Any subsequent action taken will be in line council policy and procedures. 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? We are advised that there are no legal implications to Option 3, however legal services will be contacted if the service move to any closures of cafes for advice on setting up leases. 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 118 of 216
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If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? . 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? There are risks around potential challenges in not meeting the financial target, however mitigating action will be supported and put in place. 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ Page 119 of 216
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If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 120 of 216
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APPENDIX 1 – Summary of Key Consultation Findings Key Findings – Executive Summary (Customers) 1. A total of 230 online or paper surveys were completed by customers visiting on-site cafes within leisure, culture, and park locations. This includes cafes within: Broadwood Stadium Colzium Drumpellier Park Houldsworth Café Ravenscraig RSF Strathclyde Park Summerlee Museum Tryst Sports Centre Wishaw Sports Centre 2. The highest percentage of customers (59.1%) visit their choice of café on a weekly basis. Of the 230 responses, 198 (86.1%) found the opening hours convenient to them. 3. Customers were asked to identify their satisfaction levels with the current menu in the café. The following details the satisfaction levels (including very satisfied / satisfied): • 80.8% satisfied that the Menu was Clearly on Display • 77.3% satisfaction with Hot Food Options • 71.8% satisfaction with Cold Food Options • 89.6% satisfaction with Hot Drink Options • 88.8% satisfaction with Cold Drink Options 4. Around 88% customers were happy that our menu accommodates their dietary needs with 39.6% (91) responding that it met their needs ‘very well’, 25.7% (59) ‘well’ and 19.1% (44) ‘adequately’. 5. 177 (77.0%) found the menu to have something for everyone. 6. Customers were then asked to identify their satisfaction levels with the service provided. The following details the satisfaction levels (including very satisfied / satisfied): • 90.1% satisfaction with ease of ordering • 76.1% satisfaction with price / affordability • 87.8% satisfaction with the staff friendliness • 83.1% satisfaction with the speed of service • 82.7% satisfaction with quality of food • 82.6% satisfaction with the taste of food • 81.3% satisfaction with the portion size • 80.5% satisfaction with freshness of food 7. As part of the consultation, customers were also asked how satisfied they were with the café environment. The following details the satisfaction levels (including very satisfied / satisfied): • 83.4% satisfaction with the display counter • 80.9% satisfaction with the layout of tables Page 121 of 216
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• 68.3% satisfaction with the décor / design • 81.8% satisfaction with the cleanliness • 84.9% satisfaction with family friendliness. 8. 81.7% would recommend the café to family / friends. 9. Around 80% customers rated their overall experience of their visit to the café as either excellent or good. Page 122 of 216
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Key Findings – Executive Summary (Service Users (Staff) Consultation) 1. A total of 169 online surveys were completed and returned by North Lanarkshire staff visiting / using the on-site office coffee pods / cafes. Of the 169 responses, 76.3% visited the Civic Coffee Pod / Café and 23.7% the Dalziel Coffee Pod / Café. 2. Respondents were then asked to identify how often they used the coffee pods with the highest percentage (43.7%) visiting several times a week. 3. When asked how important they felt the provision of a coffee pod / café was within their office building, 98.2% said it was extremely important / important to them. 4. 94 (55.6%) felt the opening hours were convenient, however, 74 (43.8%) felt the hours should be extended. 5. Staff were then asked to identify what they visited the coffee pod / café for in terms of purchasing Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, Hot drink, or Cold Drink. This question allowed staff to select all options that apply with the highest percentages visiting either for lunch (26.0%) or a hot drink (28.5%). 6. Respondents were asked to identify their satisfaction levels with the current menu selection in their establishment. Of the 169 who responded, the following details the satisfaction levels (including very satisfied / satisfied): • 56.2% satisfaction with Hot Food Options • 58.0% satisfaction with Cold Food Options • 89.9% satisfaction with Hot Drink Options • 85.1% satisfaction with Cold Drink Options 4. Staff were then asked to identify their satisfaction levels with the service provided and menu / food items within their establishment. The following details the satisfaction levels (including very satisfied / satisfied): • 97% satisfaction with ease of ordering • 68.6% satisfaction with price / affordability • 75.1% satisfaction with quality of food • 75.7% satisfaction with the taste of food • 81.0% satisfaction with freshness of food • 99.4% satisfaction with the staff friendliness • 93.5% satisfaction with the speed of service • 73.3% satisfaction with the provision of a loyalty card. 5. Of the 169 respondents, 147 (87%) would recommend the coffee pod / café to colleagues, however, a small percentage 18 (10.6%) would not. Page 123 of 216
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Key Findings – Executive Summary (Frontline Customer Catering Staff) 1. A total of 30 surveys were completed and returned by on site Facility Support Services catering staff. 2. Staff were asked to identify their satisfaction levels with the current menu selection in their establishment. Of the 30 who responded, the following details the satisfaction levels (including very satisfied / satisfied): • 90% satisfaction with Hot Food Options • 86.7% satisfaction with Cold Food Options • 100% satisfaction with Hot Drink Options • 96.7% satisfaction with Cold Drink Options 3. Several questions were then asked of staff to give us their feedback / views on several areas including: • What menu items work well / do not work well. • Specific food / drink items or dishes they would like to see added to the menu. • Anything about food options they would improve. • Anything about drink options they would improve. • Anything about facilities they would improve. • Suggestions or ideas to improve counter sales. Comments received for each question above are detailed in the main body of the report and have been grouped under each establishment to assist with any developments / issues within each premise. 4. Staff were then asked to identify their satisfaction levels with the menu and café environment within their establishment. Of the 30 who responded, the following details the satisfaction levels (including very satisfied / satisfied): • 70% satisfaction with pricing • 80% satisfaction with food quality • 36.6% satisfaction with menu display, however, 52.4% were dissatisfied. • 76.7% satisfaction with the display counter • 56.6% satisfaction with kitchen equipment, however, 26.7% were dissatisfied. • 46.7% satisfaction with the seating area, however, 36.7% were dissatisfied. • 40.1% satisfaction with the décor, however, 36.6% were dissatisfied. Page 124 of 216
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Key Findings – Executive Summary (Service Partner Consultation) 1. A total of 14 online surveys were completed by service partners with on-site cafes within their establishments. This includes cafes within: Broadwood Stadium Ravenscraig RSF Tryst Sports Centre Wishaw Sports Centre Summerlee Colzium Strathclyde Park Drumpellier Park Houldsworth Centre Civic Centre Pod Dalziel Pod 2. Of the 14 responses, around 93% (13) felt that the provision of a catering service in their establishment was either ‘very important’ or important’. The remaining 7% (1) did not find it important. 3. Service partners were asked to identify their satisfaction levels with the current menu in their cafés. The following details the satisfaction levels (including very satisfied / satisfied): • 42.9% satisfaction with the Hot Food Options, however, 35.7% were dissatisfied. • 35.7% satisfaction with the Cold Food Options, however, 35.7% were dissatisfied. • 85.7% satisfaction with the Hot Drink Options, and • 92.9% satisfaction with the Cold Drink Options. 4. Partners were then asked to identify their satisfaction levels with the service provided. The following details the satisfaction levels (including very satisfied / satisfied): • 50.0% satisfaction with café service hours, however, 28.6% were dissatisfied. • 35.7% satisfaction with pricing, however, 57.2% were dissatisfied. • 78.6% satisfaction with the cleanliness in the café • 71.4% satisfaction with the layout / seating • 64.3% satisfaction with the décor / design • 85.7% satisfaction with the staffing, and • 71.4% satisfaction with the speed of service. 5. When asked for any positives or negatives service partners had regarding catering provision, a total of 12 positive comments were received and 12 negative comments which can be found detailed within the main body of the report. 6. Overall, around 57% service partners were either ‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’ with the catering provision in their establishments although 24% were dissatisfied. Page 125 of 216
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Appendix 2 – Local authority consultation outcome Local Authority If other, please advise Who operates your catering facilities Commercial Cultural & Libraries Functions Schools Parks Cafes Pods Sports and Leisure Staff Canteens Other Aberdeenshire Council School Catering Local authority Argyle & Bute Council Local authority Argyle & Bute Council Local authority Dumfries & Galloway Council Local authority East Ayrshire Council Local authority East Ayrshire Council Local authority East Lothian Council Statutory school meals and Homes for Older People meals Local authority East Renfrewshire Council We only provide catering to council departments Local authority Edinburgh City Council Local authority Edinburgh City Council Local authority Falkirk Council Local authority Fife Council Care Homes, Community Cafes, Out of school food provision (cafe Inc),Nursery and Schools, MOW Local authority Moray Council Local authority North Ayrshire Council Staff meetings & training, external lunch clubs, Council Young People's Homes, Council Respite Centre, private nurseries, Local authority Renfrewshire Council One coffee shop in main headquarters Local authority Scottish Borders Council Local authority Shetland Islands Council Local authority South Ayrshire Council Local authority South Ayrshire Council Sports & Leisure currently provide their own catering teams for Golf South Ayrshire. Staff canteen in County Buildings is a Selecta Micro Market Local authority West Dunbartonshire Council Schools Partnership West Lothian Council Local authority What types of catering/hospitality services do you offer within your local authority? Page 126 of 216
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Corporate Property Reinforced Aerated Autoclaved Concrete (RAAC) North Lanarkshire Council Report Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref AM Date 05/12/24 From Andrew McPherson (Depute Chief Executive) E-mail McPhersonA@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07939 280467 Executive Summary Following an inspection of the council’s corporate estate over a 24 month period, Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) was identified within five council-owned properties: • Ravenswood Primary School, Cumbernauld • Pivot Community Centre, Moodiesburn • Former Housing Office, 124 Main St, Coatbridge • Rear Annexe- Caldervale High School, Airdrie • Motherwell Civic Theatre & Concert Hall, Motherwell One property, Ravenswood Primary School, remains in operational use, as it was possible to implement a RAAC management plan to introduce controlled measures to manage the presence of the RAAC due to a range of specific local circumstances. This is not the case for the remaining facilities due to the scale and nature of findings to date. This report provides final proposals for matters to be taken forward for properties where RAAC has been identified within the affordability envelope contained within the agreed capital plan. Recommendations It is recommended that Policy and Strategy Committee: (1) Recognise the current position with RAAC across the Council estate. (2) Recognises the financial pressures, risks and complexities associated with dealing with RAAC. (3) Acknowledge the decision of the Strategic Capital Delivery Group to provide funding for the replacement of the roof structure at Ravenswood Primary School. (4) Approves the recommendation within paragraph 2.34 to provide funding for the replacement of RAAC at the Pivot Community Centre and the demolition of the other three affected premises at 124 Main Street Coatbridge, Annexe facility within Caldervale High School and Motherwell Civic Theatre and Concert Hall; and (5) Recognises that a future cultural offering will be fully considered as part of the proposed Ravenscraig Hub. Policy and Strategy Committee Item 9 Page 127 of 216
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The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Improve North Lanarkshire's resource base Ambition statement (22) Facilitate a North Lanarkshire wide approach to asset rationalisation, including with communities and partners Programme of Work Statutory / corporate / service requirement 1. Background 1.1 RAAC is a lightweight, bubbly form of concrete which was often used in construction from the mid-1950s to the mid-1990s (although recent information has suggested it may have been in use as early as 1930). 1.2 It is usually found in roofs and occasionally walls and floors and it can be problematic as it can be weaker than traditional concrete and in certain circumstances, can pose a risk to the structural integrity of a property. 1.3 The UK Government, Department for Education issued updated guidance in August 2023 on what property owners should do in terms of RAAC. The guidance can be viewed at the attached link. This guidance is for responsible bodies and education settings with confirmed RAAC. It states that responsible bodies should vacate and restrict access to spaces with confirmed RAAC until appropriate mitigations are in place even where they would have been deemed “non critical” previously. 1.4 The updated guidance provides principles and approaches in relation to managing public buildings and the mitigating actions necessary to ensure continuity of provision of services and outlining a categorisation methodology that is applied to determine a property’s condition. 1.5 The council’s 2024/25- 2028/29 Capital Investment Programme was agreed at the Policy & Strategy Committee on 14 March 2024 and a contingency fund of £14.7m was provided to support demolitions resulting from our asset rationalisation plans alongside addressing issues relevant to RAAC. No other funding is available for RAAC, including Scottish Government, and accordingly any works associated with RAAC must be accommodated from within this budget line. 1.6 This report provides an update on the current position across the corporate estate and the planned projects to be taken forward. It does not cover the Council’s Housing estate and a further report outlining the position of RAAC across this area will be provided to the Housing Committee in February 2025. 2. Report 2.1 Over a 24-month period, a full assessment/survey process has been undertaken across the council's education and wider operational property estate. During this exercise 5 council owned properties have been identified as having RAAC present. • Ravenswood Primary School, Cumbernauld • Pivot Community Centre, Moodiesburn • Former Housing Office, 124 Main St, Coatbridge • Rear Annexe- Caldervale High School, Airdrie • Motherwell Civic Theatre & Concert Hall, Motherwell Page 128 of 216
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2.2 The following section provides further detail on each of these establishments together with a recommendation on the future of each property. Each recommendation is based on a number of factors including how the recommendation fits with the Council’s Strategic Asset Review and Investment Strategy (SARIS), available capital funding, the future operating model of the Council and how any proposal fits with the various Programmes of Work supporting the overall Plan for North Lanarkshire. Ravenswood Primary School, Cumbernauld 2.3 The survey of the school identified RAAC panels in the roof of the main hall which were categorised as Low to Medium risk which allowed for the introduction of a RAAC management plan within these premises. Interim structural works and props allowed the premises to remain in full operational use. However, this arrangement cannot be viewed as a long-term solution and replacement of the school roof has been identified as the only viable option. 2.4 In addition to the main school building, the isolated plant room associated with the school was categorised as High to Critical risk. Alternative controls are in place to both limit access and manage the risk associated with the RAAC panels in this area and they are also subject to a regular inspection regime 2.5 Capital costs to the value of £3m are estimated to progress the necessary remedial works. The Technical & Design Team are progressing a specification and a strategy on how the works can be undertaken as these will impact on the school’s operations and off-site teaching and learning provision may be required to allow works to be undertaken. If it is agreed to progress with the remedial works then further discussions will be undertaken with the school and Education service to minimise the disruption to the children and their learning experience. 2.6 At present there is no option to merge Ravenswood Primary School with another school within the area and accordingly it is recommended that appropriate remedial works are approved to replace the existing RAAC roof structure. With that in mind, the Strategic Capital Delivery Group, in line with its delegated authority, has been required to agree to allocate £3m of the capital programme’s contingency budget to support these costs. The Pivot Community Centre, Moodiesburn 2.7 Following the identification of RAAC in October 2022, the premises remained in operational use until April 2024 as measures could be put in place to manage its presence, however, during the bi-annual inspection of the premises on 9 April 2024, it was identified that the RAAC panels had deteriorated further, and the panels showed concerning signs of water ingress and the premises were re-categorised as High to Critical risk. This required immediate closure of the premises. 2.8 The community facility supports many community groups and activities, and since the closure of the centre 71% of users have been relocated to other facilities, 12% have cancelled or moved outwith the Council area and the service continues to work with the remaining 17% to find a suitable alternative. 2.9 In comparison to other community facilities, the centre has the third highest usage across North Lanarkshire. Due to the localised community demands, and the confirmation that there is no alternative community offering within this area with no immediate plans to replace the facilities as part of the hub delivery programme, it is the Page 129 of 216
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recommendation of officers that the RAAC is replaced, thereby bringing the premises back into operational use. 2.10 Capital costs to the value of £4m are estimated to progress the works. The Technical & Design Team are progressing a specification and a strategy on how the works can be undertaken with the facilities remaining closed until the RAAC panels are removed and replaced (subject to agreement). Former Housing Office-124 Main St, Coatbridge 2.11 These premises have not been in operational use for a considerable period with no market interest in leasing the premises since the outgoing tenants vacated the site in 2012. 2.12 The consultants’ survey of the premises identified significant water ingress and categorised the premises as High to Critical risk. Temporary roof supports have been installed to allow the shops on the lower level to continue to operate in a safe manner in the short term. 2.13 The recommendation is to demolish the premises as there is no operational requirements for the site or market interest. The land would then be included within the overall action plan for the town centre and repurposed in accordance with the proposals within the plan. 2.14 Capital funds to the value of £350k are required to progress the demolition of the premises. 2.15 Wider discussions would be required with North Lanarkshire Properties as this decision will impact on the five business premises on the lower level of the building. The lease terms for each tenant will determine the termination requirements with alternative options for relocation to be explored, although it may not be possible to relocate all within the immediate vicinity. Rear Annexe- Caldervale High School, Airdrie 2.16 The rear annexe is physically isolated from the wider operations of the school. The area previously housed the Council’s Digital Support Team who have now been successfully relocated across the estate with limited impact on their operations. 2.17 The consultant’s survey of the premises identified significant damage to the RAAC panels which have been over-clad during a historical modernisation programme of the school. 2.18 The consultants have classified the condition of the RAAC as High to Critical risk. 2.19 Due to the absence of any operational requirement for this building following actions under 2.16, it is recommended that the annexe is demolished. It is estimated that a capital allocation of £250K would be required to allow demolition. Civic Theatre & Concert Hall, Motherwell 2.20 Following an inspection of the Motherwell Civic Theatre & Concert Hall in September 2023, significant evidence of RAAC was identified in the roof area. Due to the identified Page 130 of 216
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condition of the RAAC panels, the premises were required to close immediately. Further detailed information on the subsequent inspections and considerations around the future of the facility are attached as Appendix 1 to this report, with the paragraphs below providing an overall summary. 2.21 The independent technical opinion from the initial and subsequent survey, indicated that numerous RAAC panels showed damage including signs of water ingress that could weaken the load bearing capacity of the roof structure and increase the probability of a failure. Areas of exposed reinforcement were also visible on a number of planks. 2.22 The presence of water within RAAC panels is considered as a key factor in determining the condition of panels. As with all concrete elements, water ingress can cause corrosion of the reinforcement which eventually leads to future failure of the element. The condition of the RAAC within the premises has been categorised as High to Critical risk. 2.23 Unlike other properties across the authority which remain in operational use following the discovery of RAAC, it is not possible to install temporary supports or introduce an inspection regime within this property due to both the scale of the RAAC present on the site, the height of the premises and the limitations to undertake future inspections of the area due to the services and suspended ceilings obstructing access to the RAAC panels. 2.24 It is estimated that capital funds of between £10.5m and £11.65m would be required to replace and repair the roof section of the building where RAAC has been identified, however significant risks associated with these types of works have been highlighted from other live projects where RAAC replacement has taken place in neighbouring authorities: • Contract management • Budgetary control • Exposure to external elements during construction works • Contractor capabilities • Integrity of existing structure • Ability to decommission/re-commission specialist equipment • Timescale for delivery • Operational impact to the operations within the Civic Centre • Recovery period 2.25 Due to the risks associated with this type of work and the age profile of the Civic Theatre & Concert Hall, it is recommended that the building is demolished at an estimated cost of £1.65m. 2.26 Any demolition will be conditional on the agreement of Historic Environment Scotland (HES). The Civic Complex in its entirety has been assigned Category B listed status by HES. The Concert Hall and Civic Theatre are included within this listing and consequently, any proposal would have to include this within its consideration. In anticipation of a decision needing to be taken, an initial meeting has been undertaken with HES. In summary, HES have advised that they would approach any consideration in line with the guidance associated with listed buildings within National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4). The council will require to demonstrate that that the cost of the repair and reinstatement work required is not economically viable and a case made that the concert hall and theatre cannot be marketed for the existing or an alternative use. Page 131 of 216
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2.27 Should the recommendation to demolish be agreed, then continued discussion will take place with HES so any future action is in line with the listed status of the complex. This will include any consideration of the alteration of the remaining elements of the civic complex and how they could be altered and enhanced to make best use of the space available for its intended civic purpose, improving use for members, staff and public including options to better integrate the civic centre and civic square facilities. 2.28 The last full year of activity within the Concert Hall and Theatre was 2022/23, and the annual costs of operating the Concert Hall and Theatre were higher than the income received from customers, and consequently, the Council is required to provide a recurring subsidy to support the facility. Whilst the budgeted subsidy for 2022/23 was £0.234m, the actual full year subsidy was £0.268m based on observed operational activity during this period. 2.29 Since the closure of the facility in September of last year, the Active and Creative Communities team have attempted where possible to reallocate demand elsewhere within the corporate estate. At the initial stages it was expected that around 36% of existing events would be able to be accommodated, however, recent sales of tickets for Airdrie Town Hall have been better than expected, and there is a further review of what additional venues could be delivered through the corporate estate in line with the SARIS review and further positive discussions have now taken place with promoters on what alternative venues would be appropriate. It is fully expected therefore that the 36% value would very much be a worst-case scenario. 2.30 If the Concert Hall and Theatre were to permanently close, staffing costs will remain the same as they will be deployed to support operational and event-based activity that has been realigned to other venues within the Council e.g., Airdrie Town Hall / Ravenscraig etc. However, this will be offset against the absence of any running costs associated with the Concert Hall and Civic Theatre. 2.31 On balance therefore, although the future financial position is subject to significant uncertainty with changing demand and cost profiles, it is anticipated that the full-year transfer of functions and shows from the Motherwell Concert Hall & Theatre to other Council venues would result in a similar revenue outturn position – a recurring subsidy of around £268K. Therefore, the key financial consideration in evaluating options regarding the future use of the venue is linked to the cost and funding availability for capital works. 2.32 Further to the above, and as is clearly demonstrated within the additional information at Appendix 1, the vast majority of people attending the concert hall and theatre come from the Motherwell area. It is accepted that the closure of this facility will therefore have a detrimental impact on the cultural offering within this area and although events may be hosted elsewhere this may be outwith the Motherwell area. To reflect this, it is also proposed that as part of the proposed investment in and around the new Ravenscraig hub facility, that options are presented to a future committee on what cultural offering could be included within this proposal to mitigate the loss of the Motherwell Concert Hall & Theatre. The scale of the offering will obviously be determined by the budget available but also by what size and design would deliver the best all round offering for residents within the Motherwell and surrounding areas as part of an integrated approach to all community assets. 2.33 Should it be agreed to pursue this approach, the Town & Community Hub team will work with community operations to commission design studies to understand what cultural offering could be provided on the Ravenscraig site, and what the estimated cost would Page 132 of 216
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likely be. The output from the design studies will be presented to the town & community hub steering group for their consideration and approval with a further report brought to Committee in Cycle two of 2025 outlining the overall the proposal. Summary Position 2.34 In light of the information provided above, the table below provides an overall summary position as to the recommendations as to how the RAAC issues are addressed across the corporate estate: Site Estimated Cost To Replace RAAC Proposed Action Estimated Costs for Proposed Action 1.Ravenswood Primary School, Cumbernauld £3m Repair £3m 2.The Pivot Centre, Moodiesburn £4m Repair £4m 3.Civic Theatre & Concert Hall, Motherwell £10.9m Demolish £1.65m 4.124 Main St, Coatbridge £2.5m Demolish £350k 5.Caldervale High School, Airdrie (Annexe) £900k Demolish £250K Total £21.8m £9.265m 3. Measures of success 3.1 Retaining assets for operational use where required and also managing and addressing the health & safety issues associated with RAAC. 4. Supporting documentation 4.1 Appendix 1- Motherwell Civic Theatre & Concert Hall briefing note. Andrew McPherson Depute Chief Executive Page 133 of 216
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5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The closure of facilities will has an impact on both community and cultural interests. If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☒ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? All works associated with the corporate estate will require to be funded within the parameters of the overall capital programme. 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Localised staffing issues associated with the closure of buildings is being managed by line managers. 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Statutory compliance with Building Standards will be required. Page 134 of 216
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5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes If Yes, ☐ has a Data No Protection Im ☐ pact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The demolition of any property will assist in reducing the council’s carbon footprint 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? A significant communications exercise will be introduced, supported by all key services and users. 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? The issues associated with RAAC are being managed locally by services in relation to service and operational impact. RAAC management plans have been adopted for all relevant buildings where operations continue. The wider risks associated with RAAC across the property estate remain under review until all aspects and condition of RAAC is fully understood. Page 135 of 216
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Risks are considered, frequently reviewed, and recorded on project-specific risk registers and included within the councils corporate risk register. Risks with an inherently high score are escalated to project board/service level. There are a number of risks that must be considered and managed as part of this activity, including: Operational – Manage the risk of reduced service delivery where buildings require to close and operations are being relocated. Strategic – Management of risks associated with the wider ambitions of the organisation e.g Town Centre regeneration. Economic – The costs associated with the issue are unknown as yet, and as such remain a financial risk. Legal/ Statutory – The main areas of legal risk for the Council are as the owner and occupier of public buildings. Reputational – The risk to council if the process and operational aspects of this issue remain significant and should be considered alongside each of the other key risk types. Commercial Risk- As the assessment/survey programme develops across the commercial estate, the presence of RAAC has the potential to impact on traders and operators from our commercial premises and any other properties directly associated with council premises. 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 136 of 216
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Appendix 1 Briefing Note-Motherwell Civic Theatre & Concert Hall Executive Summary Following an inspection of the Motherwell Civic Theatre & Concert Hall complex in September 2023, Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) was identified as the material used for the construction of 95% of the roof area. It was further established that a number of RAAC panels showed damage including signs of water ingress that could weaken the load bearing capacity of the roof structure and increase the probability of a failure. Given this information, a decision was taken to close the building with immediate effect to all but essential staff and the building has remained closed since this date with all scheduled use of the Civic Theatre & Concert Hall being relocated to alternative venues or cancelled indefinitely. The purpose of this briefing report is to outline the options available to the council when considering the future of the complex, taking into account the costs associated with any proposed remediation works and the cultural and staffing impact should a decision be taken not to proceed with any remediation and move to demolition. 1. Background 1.1 Following the 2019 publication of the safety alert “Failure of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) Planks”, the Service commissioned an external specialist consulting structural engineer (G3) to identify any properties containing RAAC across the council’s non-domestic property estate. This has involved an assessment process of over 400 corporate properties with a further 1000 properties across the commercial estate still requiring to be assessed. 1.2 The assessment aims were to identify any properties with RAAC present, and to then record various parameters such as deflections, cracks, moisture content, reinforcement condition and support locations, within each plank. These parameters, when considered together, will form an independent objective assessment of each plank's robustness in terms of its potential risk of future failure. These assessments are then reviewed together with officers from Asset & Procurements Technical & Design Team and the independent structural engineers with the aim of developing an action plan for each affected property. 1.3 Following a high-level assessment of each property, a prioritisation system was applied to the order of surveys and inspections, with particular emphasis being placed on the early review of the education and cultural estate. Included within this early assessment was Motherwell Civic Theatre and Concert Hall. 2. Report Initial Action 2.1 On Tuesday 12th September 2023, during a planned survey and inspection, Reinforced Autoclave Aerated Concrete (RAAC) in the form of Siporex was identified across 95% Page 137 of 216
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of the roof structure for the Motherwell Civic Theatre & Concert Hall. Surveys of the adjoining and adjacent buildings at the Civic Centre and Square confirmed that there were no visible signs of the material. 2.2 The immediate opinion from the survey indicated that numerous RAAC panels showed damage including signs of water ingress that could weaken the load bearing capacity of the roof structure and increase the probability of a failure. Areas of exposed reinforcement were also visible on a number of planks. Given this information, a decision was made to close the building with immediate effect to all but essential attendees and the building has remained closed since this date with all scheduled use of the Civic Theatre & Concert Hall being relocated to alternative venues or cancelled indefinitely. 2.3 A further survey was undertaken the following day in the presence of officers from North Lanarkshire Council’s Technical & Design team that revealed more areas of immediate structural concern, confirming the decision to close the building was the correct course of action. The published survey results further confirms the findings and outlines the recommendations and immediate action required. 2.4 In engineering terms, the original design of the Civic Theatre & Concert Hall is very complex, with highly specialised mechanical and electrical systems being present that are dependent upon the structural stability of the building to fully operate and function. Additional capital investment since its construction, such as the introduction of new sophisticated air handling and lighting systems, have added to this complexity. 2.5 Further to this, the listing of the Civic Complex by Historic Environment Scotland (HES) in 2020, of which the Civic Theatre and Concert Hall are a part, simply adds a further dimension to the considerations. 2.6 Immediate solutions to implement a RAAC management plan are limited at this site due to the RAAC condition, accessibility, actual use of the premises and the requirement to have visual sight without obstruction within both the Civic Theatre and the Concert Hall. 2.7 Unlike the other property across the authority which remains in operational use following the discovery of RAAC, it is not possible to install temporary supports or introduce an inspection regime due to both the scale of the RAAC present on the site and the limitations to undertake future inspections of the area due to the services and suspended ceilings obstructing access to the RAAC panels. 2.8 The Civic Theatre & Concert Hall has been closed since 12 September 2023 with the majority of performances relocating successfully to alternative provision both within, and outwith North Lanarkshire, however, not all performances have necessarily been delivered to the same scale and frequency that the Civic Theatre & Concert Hall could offer. 2.9 Active & Creative Communities have successfully relocated the main cultural events previously provided by the council from the Civic Theatre to alternative locations, however, activities provided from the Concert Hall setting have been more challenging, simply due to the nature and scale of the activity provided from this type of facility. 2.10 In addition to the alternative cultural facilities at the Airdrie Town Hall and The Theatre, Cumbernauld, the Service are currently reviewing the availability of alternative cultural space available across the secondary school estate. This is an option to support smaller performances, make better use of the school and community estate, further Page 138 of 216
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improve the cultural experience within the teaching and learning environment and contribute towards the Strategic Asset Review and Investment Strategy (SARIS). Further Assessment 2.11 In view of the complexities surrounding the future of the building, the Asset and Procurement Service commissioned the services of an external consultant to design and cost the removal of the RAAC, replacement of the roof and all associated works to allow the reopening of the facility so that this could inform the options appraisal process for the future of the building. 2.12 The council’s appointed consultants carried out three visual, non-intrusive spot inspections of the RAAC roof at Motherwell Civic Theatre & Concert Hall to determine its overall condition and have provided guidance on remediation works required. 2.13 The Health & Safety Executive issued a Standing Committee on Structural Safety (SCOSS) Alert on RAAC planks, recommending that pre-1980 planks of this type are now beyond their expected service life and that consideration should be given to replacement. The RAAC panels on this building are over 50 years old. The Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE), Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) Investigation and Assessment – Further Guidance April 2023 has been followed which provides risk guidance on RAAC affected buildings. 2.14 The presence of water within RAAC panels is considered as a key factor in determining the condition of panels. As with all concrete elements, water ingress can cause corrosion of the reinforcement which eventually leads to future failure of the element. In the case of RAAC, the risk is elevated as the concrete is porous (aerated) and the reinforcement relies primarily on a bituminous or a cement latex coating to the steel. This coating has been proven to be ineffective at protecting against corrosion. Due to the significance of this risk, water ingress is the key factor considered and is used to determine the risk of RAAC failure. Further key risk factors are the presence of cracking in the proximity of plank end bearings, historic alterations/builders work details and narrow plank bearings. 2.15 Based on the IStructE “Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) Investigation and Assessment – Further Guidance”, the following risk categorisations are determined: - Medium risk or higher- Signs of water ingress. - High risk- Water ingress and minor cracking or spalling within 500mm of support. - High to critical risk- No extensive intrusive investigation of plank bearings can be carried out. - Critical risk- Cut or modified panels, including where cut panels are supported on historic proprietary hangers. 2.16 With the above factors considered, it is the opinion of the consultants that sufficient visual inspection has been carried out to date to determine the overall risk of the building and it is unlikely that further investigations would provide any justification to reduce the risk category for this property which has been classified as high to critical risk. 2.17 Due to the building being assessed as high to critical risk, the introduction of an ongoing maintenance/ monitoring regime is not a viable proposal and accordingly only one of Page 139 of 216
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two options is available – to remove and replace the roofing and associated supports for the complex or demolition. Option 1- Remove & Replace RAAC 2.18 The consultant’s report outlines the design options to remove and replace the RAAC associated with this building. An early costing exercise with a neighbouring authority who have recently undertaken similar type works would indicate estimated costs will be in the region of £6.3 to £7.9m. This is based on a simple area calculation, however, due to the complex and unpredictable nature of the works and the risks outlined within the consultant’s report, it would be prudent to estimate further contingency funds in the region of £3m to be allocated to this type of project with actual costs requiring to be confirmed from a live procurement exercise. 2.19 Within section 6 of the report, a number of further investigations also require to be considered in addition to the RAAC related works associated with the building in relation to specialist technical & mechanical equipment, the internal furnishings, electrical infrastructure and the risks associated with the age of the building when undertaking these types of works. It has been further confirmed and outlined within the consultant’s report that additional contingency funds would be required as the costs to commission/de-commission or replace these items is an unknown at this time and replacement should be assumed with estimated costs in the region of £750K. 2.20 The report further highlights within section 6 that the building is believed to have been built circa 50 years ago; therefore, its theoretical design lifetime has already passed, and further intrusive concrete testing of the site would be required. 2.21 In addition to the consultant’s report, discussions with the neighbouring authority further identified other key factors and risks that require to be considered for these types of works: • Contract management. • Budgetary control. • Exposure to external elements during construction works. • Contractor capabilities. • Integrity of existing structure. • Ability to decommission/re-commission specialist equipment. • Timescale for delivery. • Operational impact to the operations within the Civic Centre. • Recovery period. 2.22 Should it be determined that the building complex should be retained, it would be prudent to further assume that due to its Category B listing by HES, any works may incur additional costs to ensure the original features and characteristics of the building are retained. Further details of the listing of the entire Civic Complex can be found at the attached link: https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB52545 2.23 Considering all the comments detailed above, the total minimum financial costs for any replacement of the roof structure are estimated to be anywhere between £10.5M and £11.65M with many other factors still to be quantified and which will only be known after the conclusion of a formal procurement process. Option 2- Demolition Page 140 of 216
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2.24 Whilst the facility is part of the wider Civic Complex, it also operates independently and any demolition can be considered in isolation of the other buildings, however, as with any proposed remediation works, any demolition works of the Civic Theatre & Concert Hall will require consultation with Historic Environment Scotland (HES). The listing of the building was prior to the identification of RAAC and was not a considering factor in the assessment process when listed. 2.25 Costs associated with the demolition of the Civic Theatre & Concert Hall have been estimated at £1.65m, however, this would be subject to a formal procurement exercise and assumptions have been made in relation to the potential asbestos content that will require to be disposed. 2.26 Any future options for use of the area would be limited due to site restrictions at the location, however, it would be anticipated that the site would be utilised to create much needed parking provision and external break out space. Impact on Cultural & Service Provision 2.27 Following the closures associated with the pandemic, against national predictions, the venue and the overall service recovered strongly, and in the first full year since the lockdowns, the team have been able to work against initial hesitation from the public to attend live events to record an attendance of 196,204 in year 2022/23. In that same year the venue hosted 678 events/ productions plus numerous small meetings and rehearsals. An overall improvement of 169% on the previous year. 2.28 Household names appear regularly at the venues, resulting in easier access for the community who no longer need to travel far for quality entertainment which is aligned towards the council aim of improving the health and wellbeing of our communities, under the ambition statement of helping to encourage the health and wellbeing of people through a range of social, cultural, and leisure activities. The aim is to enhance participation, capacity, and empowerment across our communities through live events and entertainment shows. Approximately £2.6m of the overall £18m income target for Active & Creative Communities is associated with delivery of our cultural programme. 2.29 As noted above, all bookings were cancelled with the closure of the venue in late 2023. However, based on known bookings for 2024 and the option to now use Airdrie Town Hall following the departure of the NHS, work is underway to consider which bookings may be able to be accommodated. 2.30 There are three categories of bookings within the venue: Community Hires 2.31 Based on expected bookings, we anticipate the following outcomes: Dance School Lets 2.32 Audience capacity and dressing room availability are critical to support these performances and we anticipate 20% of performances will transfer to alternative venues within the authority with other groups requiring to find alternative accommodation either in other council facilities or outwith the Council area. 2.33 Initial projections suggest that this will reduce from 195 to 41 business days, retaining 21% of forecast business at alternative council venues. Page 141 of 216
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Amateur Dramatic Organisations 2.34 Whilst it would be expected that the remaining cultural provision will continue to support the localised activity and rehearsal element of these organisations, discussions require to continue with the groups to relocate their annual performances to the Airdrie Town Hall with the consideration of other large school events being integrated within the cultural offering within the existing secondary school estate. Conferences & Awards Ceremonies 2.35 Due to the large number of attendees associated with such functions, these would require relocating to alternative larger venues. Whilst the council jointly hosts several high-profile annual events with other neighbouring authorities, options within and outwith the authority would require to be costed and considered. Professional Shows 2.36 Professional shows are delivered over an 80-day period and on reviewing future scheduled performances, it is anticipated that with exception to high profile shows and standing music concerts, all other performances can be accommodated at alternative Council venues: • High Profile Shows (> 650 attendees) – Performances require to relocate to other large venues • Standing Music concerts – Performances require to relocate to other large venues • Tribute Acts – Transfer to Airdrie Town Hall • Drama Performances – Transfer to Airdrie Town Hall • Theatre & Comedy – Transfer to smaller venues • Children’s Shows – Transfer to smaller venues • Original Music Artists – Transfer to smaller venues 2.37 The requirement to relocate the larger performances will reduce to 58 performing days, retaining 72% of forecasted business. This will be contingent on the agreement of professional acts agreeing to moving to Airdrie Town Hall. Overall Impact 2.38 Ticket sales at Airdrie Town Hall are performing very well and significantly better than originally expected. We have also seen increased interest from promotors who are keen to bring a range of performance options to this site. While this increase in activity will ensure a varied culture offer to the people of North Lanarkshire, it is recognised that we will be unable to accommodate many of the larger events previously held in the Concert Hall. 2.39 Across both Community Hires and Professional Shows, we expect a minimum of 36% of previous business could be accommodated within the wider Council estate with the remainder rebasing themselves within other facilities within North Lanarkshire or within neighbouring local authorities. Whilst we have limited information on the alternative cultural facilities being utilised outwith the authority, geographically, Hamilton Town House and Lanark Memorial Hall are the closest alternatives for those events with several performances now continuing at these locations. Page 142 of 216
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Pantomime Provision 2.40 The summary above does not include attendance or delivery of the annual Christmas pantomime. The pantomime is the biggest event to take place in the Civic Theatre and is well supported by the community, local schools and community/voluntary groups. In 2023, the Christmas pantomime was successfully relocated to the Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility with over 31,567 attendees. Whilst this is a reduction from the previous year of 37,685 attendees, relocating to alternative premises both impacted on the advertising campaign and mobilisation of the event. 2.41 As the pantomime attracts many school groups, Airdrie Town Hall has restricted parking options. Taking such concerns into consideration, the pantomime is scheduled to return to Ravenscraig Regional Facility for 2024 and the foreseeable future or until a point when a decision is made on the future of the Civic Theatre & Concert Hall. Although this decision may restrict some leisure users, alternative venues are available during these periods. The larger capacity of the Ravenscraig venue may allow for a shorter pantomime season to be offered, thus maintaining projected income levels while minimising disruption in the Regional Sports Facility as much as possible. The Spring Pantomime, as a significantly smaller event, will be delivered from Airdrie Town Hall. Historic Environment Scotland 2.42 As detailed previously, the Civic Complex in its entirety has been assigned Category B listed status by Historic Environment Scotland (HES). The Concert Hall and Civic Theatre are included within this listing and consequently, any proposal would have to include this within its consideration. 2.43 In anticipation of a decision needing to be taken, an initial meeting has now been undertaken with HES and their formal response is being considered by officers. In summary, HES have advised that they would approach any consideration in line with the guidance associated with listed buildings within National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4). The relevant sections within NPF4 state: a) Development proposals with a potentially significant impact on historic assets or places will be accompanied by an assessment which is based on an understanding of the cultural significance of the historic asset and/or place. The assessment should identify the likely visual or physical impact of any proposals for change, including cumulative effects and provide a sound basis for managing the impacts of change. Proposals should also be informed by national policy and guidance on managing change in the historic environment, and information held within Historic Environment Records. b) Development proposals for the demolition of listed buildings will not be supported unless it has been demonstrated that there are exceptional circumstances and that all reasonable efforts have been made to retain, reuse and/or adapt the listed building. Considerations include whether the: (iii) repair of the building is not economically viable and there has been adequate marketing for existing and/or new uses at a price reflecting its location and condition for a reasonable period to attract interest from potential restoring purchasers. 2.44 Discussions are now continuing with HES and a copy of all surveys, financial information etc have now been shared. Page 143 of 216
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Financial Impact of Closure 2.45 The last full year of activity within the Concert Hall and Theatre was 2022/23, and the table below summarises the budget and actual outturn position for the facility during this period: Subjective Classification Budget £m Actual Outturn £m Employee Costs 0.738 0.789 Property Costs 0.118 0.090 Supplies & Services 0.976 0.981 Transport & Plant 0.002 0.006 Admin Costs 0.137 0.109 PTOBs 0.002 0.001 Gross Expenditure 1.973 1.976 Customer Income (1.739) (1.708) Funding Gap 0.234 0.268 Council Subsidy (0.234) (0.268) 2.46 This information highlights that the annual costs of operating the Concert Hall and Theatre are higher than the income received from customers, and consequently, the Council is required to provide a recurring subsidy to support the facility. Whilst the budgeted subsidy for 2022/23 was £0.234m, the actual full year subsidy was £0.268m based on observed operational activity during this period. 2.47 Since the closure of the facility in September of last year, the Active and Creative Communities team have attempted where possible to reallocate hires elsewhere within the corporate estate. As detailed previously, at the initial stages it was expected that around 36% of existing events would be able to be accommodated, however, recent sales of tickets for Airdrie Town Hall have been better than expected, there is a further review of what additional venues could be delivered through the corporate estate in line with the SARIS review and further positive discussions have now taken place with promoters on what alternative venues would be appropriate. It is fully expected therefore that the 36% value would very much be a worst-case scenario. 2.48 If the Concert Hall and Theatre were to permanently close, staffing costs will remain the same as they will be deployed to support operational and event-based activity that has been realigned to other venues within the Council e.g., Airdrie Town Hall / Ravenscraig etc. However, this will be offset against the absence of any running costs associated with the Concert Hall and Civic Theatre. 2.49 On balance therefore, although it is impossible to accurately predict any future financial position, it is anticipated that the full-year transfer of functions and shows from the Motherwell Concert Hall & Theatre to other Council venues would result in a similar revenue outturn position – a recurring subsidy of around £268K. Therefore, the key financial consideration in evaluating options regarding the future use of the venue is linked to the cost and funding availability for capital works. Staffing Impact 2.50 The operations team at Motherwell Civic Theatre & Concert Hall is made up of 16.97 FTE. At present, whatever the option taken on the future of the venue, we do not Page 144 of 216
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anticipate that any employees will be at risk of redundancy or require to be redeployed and will work in Airdrie Town Hall and other locations throughout the corporate estate which will become our primary delivery vehicle for cultural activities. Summary and Recommendation 2.51 The Civic Theatre and Concert Hall have been an integral part of the Council’s cultural offering over the past 50 years and its closure over the past 9 months has obviously impacted on the events delivered within the Motherwell area. The decision on whether to close the facility permanently or fund any remediation works must therefore be based on a balance between the cultural impact of closing the venue and the financial cost associated with the remediation works. 2.52 As described above, the financial impact of closing or refurbishing the facility is very much based on the availability of capital funding. This is estimated at anywhere between £10.05M and £11.65M – but with many other factors still to be quantified and which will only be known after the conclusion of a formal procurement process. At present there is insufficient capital allocation within the Council’s five-year programme to cover this cost, and if a decision was taken to commit to the refurbishment, then other areas of the capital programme would have to suffer as a result. 2.53 The cultural impact that would be associated with any closure is at present not fully known. It is accepted that there has been a significant impact immediately following the closure last September, and this position has not been helped due to the uncertainty surrounding the long-term future of the facility. Although an immediate assessment of the impact estimated that around 36% of current events would be able to be accommodated, this was done at a time when the long-term future of the facility was unknown and in the absence of a long-term strategy for the cultural offering in its absence. 2.54 Ticket sales within Airdrie have been much better than expected and a further review of the current corporate estate (community hubs etc) is now being considered in line with the SARIS review. Conclusion 2.55 The recommendation from Officers would be: (1) That the costs associated with the refurbishment of Motherwell Concert Hall and Theatre are at a level which is not financially viable. (2) That steps are now taken to move towards the demolition of the facility through talks with Historic Environment Scotland and the submission of an application for Listed Building Consent. (3) That a future offering is considered as part of the future Hub Delivery Programme. Page 145 of 216
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Policy and Strategy Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☐ Yes ☒ No Ref EK/KS Date 05/12/24 Council Tax Strategy From Elaine Kemp, Chief Officer (Finance) E-mail KempE@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07939 280 601 Executive Summary In setting the Revenue Budget in February 2024 it was recognised that this Council has one of the lowest levels of council tax in Scotland. Therefore, reflecting on the forecast challenging financial environment in which the Council operates, the Chief Officer (Finance) was requested to undertake an analysis of options in relation to a future Council Tax Strategy to explore opportunities to protect vital public services valued by local communities given past, present and future financial forecasts for public sector funding. Council tax Band D represents the average council tax bill for householders in Scotland. This Council’s Band D rate for 2024/25 is £1,320.78, compared to the Scottish average of £1,418, and places North Lanarkshire Council 28th lowest in terms of the Band D rate across all 32 Scottish Local Authorities. This is despite North Lanarkshire ranking 6th out of 32 authorities in terms of deprivation based on the most up to date published statistics, which creates significant demand across services that support and address the challenges around poverty and deprivation. Efforts by this Council to keep council tax charges as low as possible for as long as possible are acknowledged. However, recognising that council tax charges represent the only significant means of generating income within council control, and against a backdrop of an extremely challenging financial outlook, it is now considered essential for the Council to review the Band D position as part of a suite of solutions to ensure balanced budgets can be set annually, while continuing to protect and invest in vital community, family and person-centred services. In determining the Council Tax Strategy, it is considered important to keep in mind that those people in receipt of Council Tax Reduction benefit, and therefore those with the lowest incomes, will not be affected by any increase in council tax. While it is considered essential to utilise any increase in council tax to address revenue budget challenges, it is also acknowledged that any additional income could be used to help prioritise the acceleration of The Plan for North Lanarkshire by augmenting the Community Investment Fund. This report outlines 4 potential scenarios for members consideration. Scenarios A and B aim to bring North Lanarkshire Council Band D charges in line with the Scottish average, over one and three year, timeframes. Scenario C is based on a 10% per annum increase for three years then 5% thereafter. Scenario D outlines the position if council tax increases Item 10 Page 147 of 216
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were set at a level to close the estimated budget gap as indicated in the Medium Term Financial Plan approved in June 2024, for years one to three, then 5% thereafter. A number of assumptions have been made to model these scenarios, which are subject to change. Table 1 below summarises the council tax increases that would be applicable for each of the scenarios; Table 1 Using the latest Medium Term Financial Plan position as the baseline, Table 2 below summarises the net additional income generation for each of the scenarios after assuming the first 1% per annum continues to be ringfenced for the Community Investment Fund and absorbing consequential additional cost impact on Council Tax Reduction (CTR) benefit. Table 2 Members will appreciate the financial benefit of implementing a strategy based on any of the scenarios above would be significant. For example, the 2025/26 budget gap could be reduced by between £10.884m and £21.560m, the three year gap by between £28.982m and £61.976m, and the five year gap by between of £42.183m to £73.531m. To support members with planning and decision making the Section 95 Officer recommends, for illustrative purposes only, that future Financial Outlooks and CIF modelling will reflect Scenario C, a 10% Council Tax increase, which is the scenario closest to the average increase of all four scenarios for year 1. The Council Tax level will ultimately be a decision for members when setting the budget, with the financial impact that differs from such illustrations also reflected. The impact of a 10% increase on all bandings for this Council are summarised below, which shows an increase ranging between £1.69 to £6.22, per week. However, Members should note that the Council has around 161,000 total chargeable properties and c. 80% are band A to D, and 20% band E to H, with over 71,000 entitled to a discount or exemption, for example the single person discount or disabled person relief. In addition, more than 35,000 chargeable properties on average are in receipt of CTR (approx. 65% are of working age and 35% of pension age). Scenario 2025/26 2026/27 2027/28 2028/29 2029/30 A 12.49% 5.00% 5.00% 5.00% 5.00% B 7.44% 7.44% 7.44% 5.00% 5.00% C 10.00% 10.00% 10.00% 5.00% 5.00% D 13.76% 13.78% 11.58% 5.00% 5.00% Scenario2025/26 2026/27 2027/28 2028/29 2029/30 Total 3 year total £m £m £m £m £m £m £m A 19.422 3.356 6.204 6.465 6.736 42.183 28.982 B 10.884 9.313 9.915 5.442 6.735 42.289 30.112 C 15.210 13.404 14.591 4.632 7.144 54.981 43.204 D 21.560 21.320 19.095 3.815 7.741 73.531 61.976 Net Additional Financial Impact Page 148 of 216
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Recommendations It is recommended that the Policy and Strategy Committee; (1) Considers the scenarios set out in this report. (2) Acknowledges their potential impact on setting the Council’s budget in February 2025. (3) Recognise the Section 95 Officer recommends, for illustrative purposes only, that future Financial Outlooks and CIF modelling will reflect Scenario C, a 10% Council Tax increase, which is the scenario closest to the average increase of all four scenarios for year 1. The Council Tax level will ultimately be a decision for members when setting the budget, with the financial impact that differs from such illustrations also reflected. (4) Acknowledge the next steps as outlined in paragraphs 2.18 to 2.20. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement (25) Ensure intelligent use of data and information to support fully evidence based decision making and future planning Programme of Work Statutory / corporate / service requirement A B C D E F G H No. Of Dwellings 52,502 38,084 20,509 18,291 17,524 10,491 3,163 170 Increase per week 1.69 1.97 2.25 2.53 3.33 4.12 4.96 6.21 Page 149 of 216
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1. Background 1.1. Members are aware that councils have a legal duty to set a balanced budget. This means that a council’s funding and income must equal the anticipated expenditure. Financial projections as outlined in the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan have identified anticipated budget shortfalls which will require the approval of solutions to bridge these budget gaps. Potential solutions will include approval of savings to be implemented in the course of the next three financial years or income generation opportunities, including council tax increases. Financial Outlook 1.2. An update on the Council’s forecast Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) is presented annually to Policy and Strategy Committee. The most recent update was approved in June 2024, outlining an envisaged forecast budget gap over a five-year period to 2029/30 of £100.084m. The budget gap over the next three financial years was forecast at £61.976m. 1.3. When approving the budget for 2024/25 in February 2024, it was acknowledged that the Council continues to take a strategic approach to managing the ongoing challenging financial position to help ensure financial sustainability. However, given the continued scale of the challenges that lie ahead it was also acknowledged that further action will be required to address significant forecast future budget shortfalls. To help address this the Chief Executive was instructed to undertake a series of service reviews to include identifying savings options or income generation opportunities. The outcome of these reviews will be reported to the appropriate Committees in due course. 1.4. In addition, the Council recognised that it has one of the lowest levels of council tax in Scotland. Therefore, reflecting on the forecast challenging financial environment in which the Council operates, the Chief Officer (Finance) was instructed to undertake an analysis of options in relation to a future Council Tax Strategy. This report updates Committee on the outcome of that review and provides a recommendation focused on improving the Council’s forecasted budget position. Council Funding 1.5. The chart below summarises the Council’s 2024/25 revenue resources which largely consists of government grant, Aggregate External Finance (government grants plus non- domestic rates), equating to approximately 83% of total funding. Council Tax income is the only other main source of income available to councils and currently provides approximately 16%, or £168.9m, of funding for North Lanarkshire. Page 150 of 216
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722.8 71% 121.0 12% 6.9 1% 168.9 16% Council Resources £m Government Grants Non-Domestic Rates Use of Balances & Reserves Council Tax 1.6. Over recent years, most increases in government funding have been ringfenced or directed towards delivery of Scottish Government priorities and initiatives. Over this period, both the cost of delivering services and demand for them have increased significantly, resulting in the requirement to consider difficult decisions to deliver savings in order for the Council to set a balanced and sustainable budget. 1.7. The Scottish Government last published a Resource Spending Review in May 2022, which set out high-level parameters for future Scottish budgets up to 2026/27. This confirmed a flatlining of resource funding for Local Government at 2022/23 levels, to 2025/26, with a small increase forecast in 2026/27. An updated strategy from Scottish Government is awaited. However, the most recent UK Government budget on 30 October 2024 has outlined additional funding for Scotland for financial years 2024/25 and 2025/26, with the impact for Local Government in Scotland to be confirmed in the Scottish Government budget on 4 December 2024. Despite the latest UK Government announcements many commentators have indicated that given the likely favourable position of some spending areas, unprotected Departments such as Local Government, can expect real terms cuts post 2025/26. 1.8. It is acknowledged that this Council has endeavoured to keep bills for residents as low as possible, for as long as possible. However, recognising that council tax charges represent the only significant means of generating income within Local Authorities’ control, and against a backdrop of an extremely challenging financial outlook, it is now considered essential for the Council to review the Band D position as part of a suite of solutions to ensure balanced budgets can be set annually whilst continuing to protect and invest in vital community, family and person-centred services. 1.9. Committee is aware that in recent years, the ability of councils to set council tax charges has been limited by Scottish Government policies to apply a cap to the increase applicable and, in some years, impose a council tax freeze. Restrictions were lifted for 2023/24, with another freeze imposed for financial year 2024/25. While the importance of council tax as an income generating lever for councils has been acknowledged more widely in the last year, there remains an ongoing risk that the Scottish Government may enforce a cap or freeze in the future. 1.10. North Lanarkshire Council currently funds 16% of services from Council Tax. In other local authorities this figure is higher, demonstrating there is scope to reduce the Council’s reliance, however marginally, on Scottish Government funding settlements. Page 151 of 216
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2. Report Council Tax Banding Analysis 2.1. Council Tax Band D represents the average council tax bill for householders in Scotland. The annual Council Band D charge for 2024/25 in North Lanarkshire Council is £1,320.78, which equates to £25.33 per week, or £110.07 per calendar month. Appendix 1 summarises the current Council Tax bandings in Scotland. 2.2. Table 3 below shows the Band D charges for each Scottish council ranked in order from highest to lowest. This shows North Lanarkshire Council is currently placed 28th out of 32, charging £97.22 per annum less than the Scottish average, with a 7.36% increase required to reach the average. When compared with the highest Band D charge of £1,547.01, the North Lanarkshire charge is £226.23 less per annum, with a 17.13% increase required to charge an equivalent sum. Should the Council’s band D be equal to the current Scottish average this would generate net additional annual income in perpetuity of £9.887m and around £23.000m at a level equivalent to the highest Band D charge. Table 3 Rank Authority 2024/25 Band D 2024/25 Band D per week 2024/25 Band D per mth (over 12) 2024/25 Band D per mth (over 10) 1 Inverclyde £1,547.01 £29.67 £128.92 £154.70 2 Midlothian £1,514.73 £29.05 £126.23 £151.47 3 Glasgow city £1,499.00 £28.75 £124.92 £149.90 4 Aberdeen City £1,489.55 £28.57 £124.13 £148.96 5 East Ayrshire £1,487.44 £28.53 £123.95 £148.74 6 Dundee City £1,486.43 £28.51 £123.87 £148.64 7 Stirling Council £1,481.50 £28.41 £123.46 £148.15 8 Argyll & Bute £1,479.20 £28.37 £123.27 £147.92 9 South Ayrshire £1,453.16 £27.87 £121.10 £145.32 10 North Ayrshire £1,452.12 £27.85 £121.01 £145.21 11 City of Edinburgh £1,447.69 £27.76 £120.64 £144.77 12 Renfrewshire £1,436.17 £27.54 £119.68 £143.62 13 East Lothian £1,435.62 £27.53 £119.64 £143.56 14 Moray £1,430.69 £27.44 £119.22 £143.07 15 Highland £1,427.19 £27.37 £118.93 £142.72 16 East Dunbartonshire £1,415.66 £27.15 £117.97 £141.57 17 East Renfrewshire £1,415.22 £27.14 £117.94 £141.52 18 Clackmannanshire £1,410.96 £27.06 £117.58 £141.10 19 Perth and Kinross £1,403.69 £26.92 £116.97 £140.37 20 West Dumbartonshire £1,398.98 £26.83 £116.58 £139.90 21 Aberdeenshire £1,393.42 £26.72 £116.12 £139.34 22 West Lothian £1,390.96 £26.68 £115.91 £139.10 23 Fife £1,385.18 £26.57 £115.43 £138.52 24 Orkney Islands £1,369.21 £26.26 £114.10 £136.92 25 Falkirk £1,363.82 £26.16 £113.65 £136.38 26 Scottish Borders £1,356.11 £26.01 £113.01 £135.61 27 Dumfries & Galloway £1,334.85 £25.60 £111.24 £133.49 28 North Lanarkshire £1,320.78 £25.33 £110.07 £132.08 29 Angus £1,316.68 £25.25 £109.72 £131.67 30 South Lanarkshire £1,300.81 £24.95 £108.40 £130.08 31 Na h-Eileanan Siar £1,290.75 £24.75 £107.56 £129.08 32 Shetland £1,260.61 £24.18 £105.05 £126.06 Scottish Average 1418 £27.20 £118.18 £141.81 Council Band D Ranked Page 152 of 216
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2.3. Despite ranking 28th for Band D Council Tax, North Lanarkshire has the sixth-highest levels of deprivation in Scotland (SIMD 2020). Table 2 shows the six most deprived councils, their ranking for Band D Council Tax and current Band payment per week. Table 4 Council SIMD ranking Council Tax Band D ranking Band D £/week Glasgow City 1 3 £28.75 West Dunbartonshire 2 20 £26.83 Inverclyde 3 1 £29.67 North Ayrshire 4 10 £27.85 Dundee City 5 6 £28.51 North Lanarkshire 6 28 £25.33 Council Tax Income Budget, Council Tax Reduction Benefit & Chargeable Properties 2.4. For context, the 2024/25 budget for council tax income is £168.900m. This is generated from a combination of direct payments from chargeable households and from Council Tax Reduction (CTR) benefit. Residents may be eligible for CTR if they are on a low income or claim benefits, with the potential for their council tax being reduced by up to 100%. 2.5. It is important to note that the CTR benefit assessment takes individual circumstances into account to determine how much council tax a household is eligible to pay, regardless of the charge applicable. Therefore, if council tax charge rises, CTR claimants continue to pay the same amount, and in most cases, this is £nil. This position was widely reported when the Scottish Government imposed a council tax freeze for the current financial year, indicating that such a decision does little to protect the poorest households; rather it proportionately benefits wealthier households. 2.6. North Lanarkshire Council had just under 161,000 total chargeable properties (c. 80% band A to D and 20% band E to H) for council tax as at 1 April 2024, with over 71,000 entitled to a discount or exemption, for example the single person discount or disabled person relief. In addition, more than 35,000 chargeable properties on average are in receipt of CTR (approx. 65% are of working age and 35% of pension age). The total estimated cost of CTR for 2024/25 is £26.300m, with just under £25.000m or c. 94% applicable to bands A to D properties. More than 96% of all CTR awards relate to chargeable properties in Bands A to D, and around 82% of all awards receive 100% benefit, offsetting their council tax bill in full at a cost of just over £23.000m. The remaining 18% of recipients receive CTR benefit of more than 52% of their chargeable bill, on average, at a cost of £3.300m. A summary of CTR accounts and awards across all bandings as at 1 April 2024, is shown in Appendix 2. These figures will vary throughout the year. 2.7. After adjusting for discounts, exemptions and CTR, around 61% of council tax income (£value) is generated from band A to D chargeable properties, with approximately 39% generated from bands E to H. Page 153 of 216
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Council Tax Strategy 2.8. Four potential scenarios are outlined below for consideration, with the first two aiming to align the Council’s Band D charge with the Scottish average (2024/25 £1,418) over different timeframes, and that position is assumed to be maintained going forward. Scenario A aims to align with the average within 1 year and Scenario B over 3 years. Scenario C assumes a 10% per annum increase for 3 years between 2025/26 and 2027/28 and a 5% increase thereafter. Scenario D models the council tax increases required to close the three-year forecast budget gap outlined in the MTFP in June 2024, and a 5% increase thereafter. 2.9. The main assumptions in modelling all scenarios are: • all other authorities apply an increase of 5% annually for the next five years. • this Council continues to commit to an increase of 1% in support of the Community Investment Fund (CIF). • no account has been taken of any increases in household growth • the estimated net additional income generated is modelled after accounting for the 1% increase ring fenced for CIF and the incremental consequential increase in CTR costs, already built into the Medium Term Financial Plan. • the mix and £value of chargeable households in receipt of a council tax discount/ relief or CTR, remain broadly the same. To allow for proper assessment of the impact on CTR costs, these have been estimated one year in arrears. Any additional in-year impact is assumed to be managed from reserves. • council tax collection rates remain at existing levels. Although it is recognised that subject to the scale of council tax increases, there is a potential for a decrease in the collection rate and ultimately an increase in the requirement for a bad debt provision, no estimate has been made for this at this stage. A sensitivity analysis is provided at paragraph 2.17 below. • review is over a timeframe of five years. Scenario A – Scottish average in one year 2.10. Aligning the Band D charge to the Scottish average in one year will require an increase in charge of 12.49% in 2025/26, and a 5% increase per annum thereafter. • The Council would move to 18th place out of 32 for Band D council tax (the Scottish average) in 2025/26 (£1485.77), maintaining that position thereafter. • Band D charges would rise by £2.91 per week in 2025/26 or £12.65 per calendar month, in addition to the 1% already assumed. • The total increase in Band D charges would be £3.16 per week in 2025/26 or £13.75 per calendar month. • This scenario would materially reduce the budget gap in 2025/26 by an estimated £19.422m, the three-year gap by £28.982m and the gap over five years by £42.183m. • The cumulative additional income generation by financial year 2029/30 is estimated at £148.811m, in perpetuity. This scenario is the equivalent of 473.9 FTE average NLC single status jobs in 2025/26 and 1,029.2 FTE over five years. Scenario B – Scottish average over three years 2.11. Aligning the Band D charge to the Scottish average over three years, will require an increase in each of the next three years of 7.44%, and a 5% increase per annum Page 154 of 216
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thereafter. • The Council would move to 18th place out of 32 for Band D council tax (the Scottish average) in 2027/28, maintaining that position thereafter • Band D charges would rise by £1.63 per week in 2025/26 or £7.09 per calendar month, in addition to the 1% already assumed. • The total increase in Band D charges would be £1.88 per week in 2025/26 or £8.19 per calendar month. • This scenario would materially reduce the budget gap in 2025/26 by an estimated £10.884m, the three-year gap by £30.112m and the gap over five years by £42.289m. • The cumulative additional income generation by year 2029/30 is estimated at £139.034m in perpetuity. This scenario is the equivalent of 265.5 FTE average NLC single status jobs in 2025/26 and 1031.8 FTE over five years. 2.12. Scenarios C and D below outline alternative scenarios which will have a more material financial impact to help manage the financial challenges the Council faces. Scenario C – 10% for three years, 5% thereafter 2.13. This scenario assumes an increase in Band D council tax of 10% for the next three financial years, and a 5% increase per annum thereafter. • The Council would move to 24th place out of 32 in year one, above average in 2026/27, and 2nd place in years three to five. • Band D charges would rise by an additional £2.28 per week in 2025/26 or £9.91 per calendar month, in addition to the 1% already assumed. • The total increase in Band D charges would be £2.53 per week in 2025/26 or £11.01 per calendar month. • This scenario would materially reduce the budget gap in 2025/26 by an estimated £15.210m, the three-year gap by £43.204m and the gap over five years by £54.981m. • The cumulative additional income generation by year 2029/30 is estimated at £189.846m in perpetuity. This scenario is the equivalent of 371.1 FTE average NLC single status jobs in 2025/26 and 1341.5 FTE over five years. Scenario D – budget gap per MTFP June 2024 fully closed 2.14. This scenario shows the impact of a strategy to fully close the forecast budget gap as reported in the MTFP for the next three years (13.76%,14.54%, 12.39%), and a 5% increase per annum thereafter. • The council would move to 14th place out of 32 for Band D council tax in year one, first place by 2026/27, and maintaining that position thereafter. • Band D charges would rise by an additional £3.23 per week in 2025/26 or £14.04 per calendar month, in addition to the 1% already assumed. • The total increase in Band D charges would be £3.48 per week in 2025/26 or £15.14 per calendar month. • This scenario would materially reduce the budget gap in 2025/26 by £21.560m, the three year gap by an estimated £61.976m and the gap over five years by £73.531m. • The cumulative additional income generation by year 2029/30 is estimated at £265.739m in perpetuity. This scenario is the equivalent of 526.0 FTE average NLC single status jobs in 2025/26 and 1794.1 FTE over five years. Page 155 of 216
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2.15. Appendix 3 shows the additional impact of the scenarios above, after accounting for 1% for CIF and in total, on Band D weekly, monthly and annual charges. Appendix 4 summarises the cumulative additional income and FTE impact across all scenarios. 2.16. Table 5 below summarises the estimated net additional financial impact for each of the scenarios: Table 5 2.17. Members are reminded that the financial modelling is based on a number of variables, the outcome of which is hugely uncertain, not least of all the assumption that all other authorities will increase their charges by 5% per annum. Should members agree to adopt a strategy in line with any of the potential scenarios outlined, or any other scenario, the modelling will require to be reviewed annually to reflect actual outcomes, for example the increases agreed by other local authorities, to ensure the position for the Council is flexed accordingly, in order to achieve the aim of aligning with the average. An annual update report will be provided to elected members in this regard. 2.18. An illustration of the impact of each of the scenarios on the envisaged gap reported in the Medium Term Financial Plan is provided in the table below. For example, this shows that the budget gap in 2025/26 of £21.561m could potential be reduced to £2.139m, £10.677m, £6.351m or £nil m, for Scenarios A, B, C & D, respectively. The three year gap could be reduced to £32.994m, £31.865m, £18.772m or £nil m, for Scenarios A, B, C & D, respectively. Table 6 Other Considerations 2.19. For 2025/26, while it is considered prudent to utilise the additional income from council tax increases to address revenue budget challenges, members will appreciate that any future additional income generation from council tax increases could be utilised for a Scenario 2025/26 2026/27 2027/28 2028/29 2029/30 Total 3 year total £m £m £m £m £m £m £m A 19.422 3.356 6.204 6.465 6.736 42.183 28.982 B 10.884 9.313 9.915 5.442 6.735 42.289 30.112 C 15.210 13.404 14.591 4.632 7.144 54.981 43.204 D 21.560 21.320 19.095 3.815 7.741 73.531 61.976 Net Additional Financial Impact 2025/26 2026/27 2027/28 2028/29 2029/30 Total 3 year total £m £m £m £m £m £m £m 21.561 21.320 19.095 19.433 18.675 100.084 61.976 Scenario A 2.139 17.964 12.891 12.968 11.939 57.901 32.994 Scenario B 10.677 12.008 9.179 13.991 11.940 57.795 31.865 Scenario C 6.351 7.917 4.504 14.801 11.531 45.103 18.772 Scenario D 0.000 0.000 0.000 15.618 10.934 26.553 0.000 MTFP ENVISAGED GAP @ June 2024 Adjusted MTFP Gap; Page 156 of 216
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combination of revenue challenges and to help prioritise acceleration of the Plan for North Lanarkshire, requiring significant capital investment. 2.20. For context the last Community Investment Fund (CIF) update to Policy & Strategy Committee assumed an investment factor of £1.000m of revenue resources supports £17.763m of capital expenditure. Assuming the same investment factor, the financial cost of ring fencing an additional 1% or 2% in 2026/27 for example, is estimated to cost between £1.816m and £3.845m, funding capital investment between £32.253m and £68.299m depending on the additional ringfenced percentage and which of the scenarios is ultimately adopted. See summary in Table 7 below. It should be noted that ring fencing more of any council tax increase for capital investment would impact the position shown in Table 6 above, and the percentage increase applicable, particularly Scenario D which aims to close the budget gap. Such a scenario would require a greater increase in council tax charges. Table 7 2.21. It is recognised that depending on the scale of the increases there is a potential for a decrease in the collection rate for council tax and ultimately increase the requirement for a bad debt provision, neither of which have been estimated in the modelling. This would be monitored, and any impact reflected in future financial planning updates. For context, a 1% increase or decrease on the income collected in 2023/24 equates to £1.748m. Next Steps 2.22. To support members with planning and decision making the Section 95 Officer recommends, for illustrative purposes only, that future Financial Outlooks and CIF modelling will reflect Scenario C, i.e. a 10% Council Tax increase, which is the scenario closest to the average increase of all four scenarios for year 1. The Council Tax level will ultimately be a decision for members when setting the budget, with the financial impact that differs from such illustrations also reflected. 2.23. This report should be considered alongside the Community Investment Fund – Annual Update report also included on this agenda. 2.24. An updated Financial Outlook will be provided to the next member budget briefing session, which will incorporate any financial consequences arising from this report. Risks and Uncertainty 2.25. All activities undertaken by the Council are subject to a degree of risk and uncertainty, which are recorded in the Service/ Corporate risk registers. The current economic climate such as insufficient government grant funding, the rising forecast of pay and non-pay inflation, the cost of living crisis and other external factors, all have the potential to impact upon the Council’s ability to provide quality services within approved budget levels, and 1% Allocated to CIF 2% Allocated to CIF Scenario 2026/27 2026/27 2026/27 2026/27 £m £m £m £m A 1.901 3.802 33.769 67.539 B 1.816 3.631 32.253 64.506 C 1.859 3.718 33.021 66.043 D 1.922 3.845 34.149 68.299 Estimated Capital Expenditure Page 157 of 216
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remaining financially sustainable. As such the Council continuously reviews and updates its Medium Term Financial Plan incorporating future planning scenarios. However, as outlined in the report, it is incumbent upon the council to consider all financially sustainable solutions to set a balanced budget to maintain sustainable services. 3. Measures of success 3.1 The Council continues to review the assumptions within the Medium Term Financial Plan. A policy on Council Tax uplifts will give more certainty in forecasting future income generation and therefore the impact on future budget gaps. 4. Supporting documentation Appendix 1 2024/25 Council Tax for all bandings across Scotland Appendix 2 Council Tax Reduction Statistics at 1 April 2024 Appendix 3 Band D rates across five financial years, by scenario Appendix 4 Cumulative Income Generation & FTE Equivalents Elaine Kemp Chief Officer (Finance) Page 158 of 216
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5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☒ No ☐ Financial impacts have been outlined within the report. 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 159 of 216
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5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 160 of 216
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Appendix 1 COUNCIL TAX BY BAND 2024-251 Scotland Average Band D Council Tax (based on total Band D Equivalents) £1,418 Band A Band B Band C Band D Band E Band F Band G Band H Valuation Band Range (as at 1991) Under £27,000 £27,001 to £35,000 £35,001 to £45,000 £45,001 to £58,000 £58,001 to £80,000 £80,001 to £106,000 £106,001 to £212,000 £212,000 and over Ratio to Band D 240/360 280/360 320/360 360/360 473/360 585/360 705/360 882/360 Aberdeen City £1,489.55 £1,158.54 £1,324.04 £1,489.55 £1,957.10 £2,420.52 £2,917.04 £3,649.40 Aberdeenshire £928.95 £1,083.77 £1,238.60 £1,393.42 £1,830.80 £2,264.31 £2,728.78 £3,413.88 Angus £877.79 £1,024.08 £1,170.38 £1,316.68 £1,729.97 £2,139.61 £2,578.50 £3,225.87 Argyll & Bute £986.13 £1,150.49 £1,314.84 £1,479.20 £1,943.50 £2,403.70 £2,896.77 £3,624.04 City of Edinburgh £965.13 £1,125.98 £1,286.84 £1,447.69 £1,902.10 £2,352.50 £2,835.06 £3,546.84 Clackmannanshire £940.64 £1,097.41 £1,254.19 £1,410.96 £1,853.84 £2,292.81 £2,763.13 £3,456.85 Dumfries & Galloway £889.90 £1,038.22 £1,186.53 £1,334.85 £1,753.84 £2,169.13 £2,614.08 £3,270.38 Dundee City £990.95 £1,156.11 £1,321.27 £1,486.43 £1,953.00 £2,415.45 £2,910.93 £3,641.75 East Ayrshire £991.63 £1,156.90 £1,322.17 £1,487.44 £1,954.33 £2,417.09 £2,912.90 £3,644.23 East Dunbartonshire £943.77 £1,101.07 £1,258.36 £1,415.66 £1,860.02 £2,300.45 £2,772.33 £3,468.37 East Lothian £957.08 £1,116.59 £1,276.11 £1,435.62 £1,886.25 £2,332.88 £2,811.42 £3,517.27 East Renfrewshire £943.48 £1,100.73 £1,257.97 £1,415.22 £1,859.44 £2,299.73 £2,771.47 £3,467.29 Falkirk £909.21 £1,060.75 £1,212.28 £1,363.82 £1,791.91 £2,216.21 £2,670.81 £3,341.36 Fife £923.45 £1,077.36 £1,231.27 £1,385.18 £1,819.97 £2,250.92 £2,712.64 £3,393.69 Glasgow City £999.33 £1,165.89 £1,332.44 £1,499.00 £1,969.52 £2,435.88 £2,935.54 £3,672.55 Highland £951.46 £1,110.04 £1,268.61 £1,427.19 £1,875.17 £2,319.18 £2,794.91 £3,496.62 Inverclyde £1,031.34 £1,203.23 £1,375.12 £1,547.01 £2,032.60 £2,513.89 £3,029.56 £3,790.17 Midlothian £1,009.82 £1,178.12 £1,346.43 £1,514.73 £1,990.19 £2,461.44 £2,966.35 £3,711.09 Moray £953.79 £1,112.76 £1,271.72 £1,430.69 £1,879.77 £2,324.87 £2,801.77 £3,505.19 Na h-Eileanan Siar £860.50 £1,003.92 £1,147.33 £1,290.75 £1,695.90 £2,097.47 £2,527.72 £3,162.34 North Ayrshire £968.08 £1,129.43 £1,290.77 £1,452.12 £1,907.92 £2,359.70 £2,843.74 £3,557.69 North Lanarkshire £880.52 £1,027.27 £1,174.03 £1,320.78 £1,735.36 £2,146.27 £2,586.53 £3,235.91 Orkney Islands £912.81 £1,064.94 £1,217.08 £1,369.21 £1,798.99 £2,224.97 £2,681.37 £3,354.56 Perth & Kinross £935.79 £1,091.76 £1,247.72 £1,403.69 £1,844.29 £2,281.00 £2,748.89 £3,439.04 Renfrewshire £957.45 £1,117.02 £1,276.60 £1,436.17 £1,886.97 £2,333.78 £2,812.50 £3,518.62 Scottish Borders £904.07 £1,054.75 £1,205.43 £1,356.11 £1,781.78 £2,203.68 £2,655.72 £3,322.47 Shetland Islands £840.41 £980.47 £1,120.54 £1,260.61 £1,656.30 £2,048.49 £2,468.69 £3,088.49 South Ayrshire £968.77 £1,130.24 £1,291.70 £1,453.16 £1,909.29 £2,361.39 £2,845.77 £3,560.24 South Lanarkshire £867.21 £1,011.74 £1,156.28 £1,300.81 £1,709.12 £2,113.82 £2,547.42 £3,186.98 Stirling £987.67 £1,152.28 £1,316.89 £1,481.50 £1,946.53 £2,407.44 £2,901.27 £3,629.68 West Dunbartonshire £932.65 £1,088.10 £1,243.54 £1,398.98 £1,838.10 £2,273.34 £2,739.67 £3,427.50 West Lothian £927.31 £1,081.86 £1,236.41 £1,390.96 £1,827.57 £2,260.31 £2,723.96 £3,407.85 Excludes Water and Sewerage Source: As reported by the Local Authorities on the statistical return Council Tax Assumptions 2024 1 Footnote: Subsequent to the original publication of this data on 26 March 2024, Argyll and Bute council froze their council tax rates for 2024-25 and the figures above now reflect this. Inverclyde was the only council to raise rates for 2024-25 however this increase will be reduced in the form of a rebate to Inverclyde residents. Page 161 of 216
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Appendix 2 Band A Band B Band C Band D Band E Band F Band G Band H Total % Total Council Tax Reduction Accounts 18,869 9,605 3,874 1,564 784 326 89 5 35,116 100 Total Accounts at 100% award 16,370 7,677 3,024 1,148 468 167 50 4 28,908 82% Total Accounts at less than 100% award 2,499 1,928 850 416 316 159 39 1 6,208 18% North Lanarkshire Council Council Tax Reduction Statistics as at 1 April 2024 Page 162 of 216
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Appendix 3 24/25 Rates £ Rank £ Rank Add'l Wkly Increase Add'l Mthly Increase Add'l Annual Increase £ Rank Add'l Wkly Increase Add'l Mthly Increase Add'l Annual Increase £ Rank Add'l Wkly Increase Add'l Mthly Increase Add'l Annual Increase £ Rank Add'l Wkly Increase Add'l Mthly Increase Add'l Annual Increase £ Rank Add'l Wkly Increase Add'l Mthly Increase Add'l Annual Increase Scotland Average 1,418.11 1,486.06 1,560.36 1,638.38 1,720.30 1,806.32 Scenario A £1,320.78 28 1,485.77 18 2.91 12.65 151.78 1,560.06 18 4.08 17.73 212.73 1,638.06 18 5.32 23.11 277.26 1,719.96 18 6.63 28.80 345.55 1,805.96 18 8.01 34.82 417.81 Scenario B £1,320.78 28 1,419.05 27 1.63 7.09 85.06 1,524.63 24 3.40 14.78 177.30 1,638.06 18 5.32 23.11 277.26 1,719.96 18 6.63 28.80 345.55 1,805.96 18 8.01 34.82 417.81 Scenario C £1,320.78 28 1,452.86 24 2.28 9.91 118.87 1,598.15 11 4.81 20.90 250.82 1,757.97 2 7.62 33.10 397.17 1,845.87 2 9.04 39.29 471.46 1,938.16 2 10.55 45.83 550.01 Scenario D £1,320.78 28 1,502.49 14 3.23 14.04 168.50 1,721.00 1 7.17 31.14 373.67 1,934.21 1 11.00 47.78 573.41 2,030.92 1 12.59 54.71 656.51 2,132.47 1 14.27 62.03 744.32 24/25 Rates £ Rank £ Rank Total Wkly Increase Total Mthly Increase Total Annual Increase £ Rank Total Wkly Increase Total Mthly Increase Total Annual Increase £ Rank Total Wkly Increase Total Mthly Increase Total Annual Increase £ Rank Total Wkly Increase Total Mthly Increase Total Annual Increase £ Rank Total Wkly Increase Total Mthly Increase Total Annual Increase Scotland Average 1,418.11 1,486.06 1,560.36 1,638.38 1,720.30 1,806.32 Scenario A £1,320.78 28 1,485.77 18 3.16 13.75 164.99 1,560.06 18 1.42 6.19 74.29 1,638.06 18 1.50 6.50 78.00 1,719.96 18 1.57 6.83 81.90 1,805.96 18 1.65 7.17 86.00 Scenario B £1,320.78 28 1,419.05 27 1.88 8.19 98.27 1,524.63 24 2.02 8.80 105.58 1,638.06 18 2.18 9.45 113.43 1,719.96 18 1.57 6.83 81.90 1,805.96 18 1.65 7.17 86.00 Scenario C £1,320.78 28 1,452.86 24 2.53 11.01 132.08 1,598.15 11 2.79 12.11 145.29 1,757.97 2 3.07 13.32 159.82 1,845.87 2 1.69 7.32 87.90 1,938.16 2 1.77 7.69 92.29 Scenario D £1,320.78 28 1,502.49 14 3.48 15.14 181.71 1,721.00 1 4.19 18.21 218.51 1,934.21 1 4.09 17.77 213.21 2,030.92 1 1.85 8.06 96.71 2,132.47 1 1.95 8.46 101.55 Potential Band D Rates per Scenario in Total 25/26 Rates 26/27 Rates 27/28 Rates 28/29 Rates 29/30 Rates 29/30 Rates 28/29 Rates27/28 Rates 26/27 Rates North Lanarkshire Council Potential Band D Rates per Scenario after 1% for CIF 25/26 Rates Page 163 of 216
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Appendix 4 Scenario 2025/26 2026/27 2027/28 2028/29 2029/30 £m £m £m £m £m A 19.422 42.199 71.181 106.628 148.811 B 10.884 31.080 61.191 96.745 139.034 C 15.210 43.824 87.028 134.865 189.846 D 21.560 64.441 126.417 192.207 265.739 Scenario 2025/26 2026/27 2027/28 2028/29 2029/30 Total A 473.9 81.9 151.4 157.7 164.4 1,029.2 B 265.5 227.2 241.9 132.8 164.3 1,031.8 C 371.1 327.0 356.0 113.0 174.3 1,341.5 D 526.0 520.2 465.9 93.1 188.9 1,794.1 Cumulative income generation FTE Equivalents Page 164 of 216
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Policy and Strategy Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☐ Yes ☒ No Ref EK / GT Date 05/12/23 Community Investment Fund – Annual Update From Elaine Kemp, Chief Officer (Finance) E-mail KempE@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 01698 302408 Executive Summary In September 2018, the ‘We Aspire – A Shared Ambition for North Lanarkshire’ report presented to Policy and Resources Committee outlined proposals for the establishment of the Community Investment Fund (CIF). The ambition was to target the creation of additional resources of £500m over a 10-year period to support new capital expenditure in North Lanarkshire’s communities. The investment would be funded through ring-fencing elements of future council tax income associated with the growth in housing and top slicing an element of future council tax increases. The previous update presented to Policy and Strategy Committee in September 2023 highlighted a revised estimate of the potential funding available of £472.974m over the 10- year period. This position was reflective of the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on the cost of borrowing and was incorporated into the Council’s resource planning for the new 5-year Strategic Capital Investment Programme from 2024/25 to 2028/29 approved at Policy and Strategy Committee in March 2024. This report provides an update to reflect Council Tax growth over the last year, anticipated future growth in the Council Tax base and the impact of up-to-date projections on the costs of borrowing. As a result of these factors, a prudent estimate of available CIF resources over the original 10-year period to 2029/30 is now £480.523m, a modest increase of £7.549m from the previous assessment. This annual update goes a stage further in using 2024/25 as a revised Year 1 of a new 10- year Community Investment Fund projection to 2033/34 which projects total Community Investment Fund from its inception of £793.104m; representing an additional £300.130m available to 2033/34. As members will be aware, earlier in this Committee agenda the Council Tax Strategy paper highlighted that to support members with planning and decision making the Section 95 Officer recommends, for illustrative purposes only, that future Financial Outlooks and CIF modelling will reflect Scenario C, a 10% Council Tax increase, which is the scenario closest to the average increase of all four scenarios presented for year 1. The Council Tax level will ultimately be a decision for members when setting the budget, with the financial impact that differs from such illustrations also reflected. Therefore this report includes more detailed scenario analysis to project the impact on the Community Investment Fund of Council Tax increases of 10% from 2025/26 to 2027/28 in Item 11 Page 165 of 216
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1. Background 1.1 In September 2018, the ‘We Aspire – A Shared Ambition for North Lanarkshire’ report presented to Policy and Resources Committee outlined proposals for the establishment of the Community Investment Fund (CIF). The ambition was to target the creation of additional resources of £500m over a 10-year period to support new capital expenditure in North Lanarkshire’s communities. The investment would be funded through ring- fencing elements of future council tax income associated with the growth in housing and top slicing an element of future council tax increases. 1.2 The CIF aims to support the Council’s aspiration to make North Lanarkshire the place to Live, Learn, Work, Invest and Visit, with a shared ambition for inclusive growth and prosperity for all. Investment linked to CIF will be targeted towards tackling the barriers to growth by unlocking the potential in the most deprived areas, breaking the cycle of poverty and opening up opportunities to create more equal communities. 1.3 The new investment aims to accelerate the delivery of ambitious plans for community investment and service delivery underpinned by community involvement and line with the Section 95 Officer’s recommendation. This provides a projection of overall funding rising to £894.351m, a further increase of £101.247m. Finally, the impact of setting aside 2% of Council Tax from 2025/26 to 2027/28, instead of the previously anticipated 1%, is modelled. This increases total anticipated Community Investment Fund to £1,006.081m to 2033/34, representing a further increase of £212.976m from the baseline projection to 2033/34. The updated CIF projections will be incorporated into planning for the annual Strategic Capital Investment Programme budget updated for the 2024/25 to 2028/29 programme due to be presented to Policy and Strategy Committee in March 2025. Recommendations It is recommended that the Policy and Strategy Committee: (1) Acknowledges the updated assumptions highlighted in the report and the increase in available CIF resources of £7.549m over the original 10-year period to 2029/30, (2) Acknowledge the scenario analysis of Council Tax rises and the percentage allocation of Council Tax rises on the availability of funding for the Community Investment Fund to 2033/34, and (3) Acknowledge that the updated funding profile will be incorporated into planning for annual Strategic Capital Investment Programme budget updated for the 2024/25 to 2028/29 programme due to be presented to Policy and Strategy Committee in March 2025. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Improve North Lanarkshire's resource base Ambition statement (21) Continue to identify and access opportunities to leverage additional resources to support our ambitions Programme of Work Statutory / corporate / service requirement Page 166 of 216
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partnership whilst supporting the generation of future budget savings and supporting economic regeneration activity throughout North Lanarkshire. 1.4 Several updates have been presented to Policy and Strategy Committee with the most recent update provided in September 2023. That update highlighted a revised estimate of the potential funding available of £472.974m over the 10-year period. The position at that time was reflective of economic uncertainty associated with the Covid-19 health pandemic and the impact of the increased cost of borrowing following successive increases in the Bank of England base rate. 1.5 Successive Council budgets from 2019/20 to 2023/24 set aside the equivalent of 1% of Council Tax increases to support CIF ambitions and following the Scottish Government’s Council Tax freeze in 2024/25 the Council’s budget continued to set aside the equivalent of a 1% increase to support CIF. As a result, the Community Investment Fund contributes around 57% of funding for the core strategic capital investment programme with the core capital grant contributing just 16%. 1.6 To date, the Community Investment Fund has been a major contributary factor in record investment across North Lanarkshire’s communities. A summary of the 2023/24 financial year programme delivery highlights in shown in Appendix 1. 2. Report 2.1 As previously highlighted, the Community Investment Fund has two main forms of funding: forecast growth in Council Tax income which is directly linked to the Council’s ambition for economic growth; and the ring-fencing of 1% of future Council Tax increases. Ring-fenced Council Tax 2.2 The decision of the Scottish Government to freeze Council Tax in 2024/25 has been reflected in the updated modelling. The lack of Council Tax rise in 2024/25 has reduced CIF funding over the remaining 10-year period because it has permanently limited the Council Tax base income. The impact was a reduction in funding available of £6.538m. 2.3 The Council’s current Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) was presented to Policy and Strategy Committee in June 2024 and continues to assume that 1% of future Council Tax rises will be set aside to support CIF. However, the MTFP also highlights a significant funding gap from 2025/26 to 2029/30 which will require Elected Members to make difficult decisions to obtain balanced budgets in the years ahead. It also assumes no further national policy interventions to support a Council Tax freeze. 2.4 The latest CIF projection revises the anticipated Council Tax increases from 3% to 5% to reflect the Section 95 Officer recommendation and anticipated strategy assumed for the Council for the 2024/25 to 2026/27 period prior to the Scottish Government’s Council Tax freeze. Council Tax Growth 2.5 In assessing the potential for future CIF resources, Finance uses a variety of tools to assess potential Council Tax growth. The following is a summary of the current analysis: Page 167 of 216
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Council Tax Monitoring 2.6 Finance produces monthly monitoring information on the movement in the Council Tax base using data from the Council Tax system on the numbers of properties at each band, adjusted for any exemptions and discounts applied. For ease of comparison, the total number of properties is represented as Band D equivalents. 2.7 As at July 2024, there has been lower than previously anticipated growth in the Council Tax base over the past twelve months. In the September 2023 CIF projections, Band D growth for the current financial year was assumed to be 1,612 based on anticipated housing completions over that period, but the latest figures indicate lower growth of 902. After taking into account the £1.000m additional income required to support the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan assumptions, there is £0.155m of funding to support the CIF investment programme for 2024/25, a decrease of £0.972m from previous assumptions. This decrease is likely as a result of the impact of significant inflationary pressures in the construction industry and the increased cost of borrowing impacting on housebuild completion costs and the demand for new housing. New Build Development Monitoring 2.8 The Place service has developed a suite of metrics to support the monitoring of new build development that includes the volume of planning applications granted, the numbers of building warrants granted by Building Standards (approval for construction) and the number of completion certificates issued by Building Standards. 2.9 It is worth noting that the trends in these areas would not ordinarily lead to an amendment of projected housing growth in the CIF modelling but could provide a sense of confidence in the housing market in North Lanarkshire. The information presented in the latest update has been reflected within the revised CIF modelling. 2.10 Housebuilders project that there will be annual completions averaging 1,343 units for the remainder of the CIF planning period to 2029/30. There also continues to be positive trends in the number of new units granted planning approval in 2023/24 and 2024/25 that point to the potential for increased activity being reflected in the Housing Land Audit in the future. This will be subject to ongoing monitoring and modelling as there’s more certainty on the timing of transition from planning approval to construction. 2.11 These projections are largely based on the housebuilding estimates prior to the establishment of the Council’s Invest in NL Team with an enhanced approach to support the pre planning application advisory service to streamline the overall planning process for developers. Investment Factor 2.12 As outlined in previous CIF update reports, one of the key factors in determining potential funding available is the investment factor. This investment factor is determined by considering the prevailing interest rates available to the Council and the length of time the borrowing is repaid. 2.13 In March 2020, the assumptions were updated to reflect the UK Treasury’s decision to increase the interest rate for Public Works Loans Board (PWLB) borrowing of 1.0%. The assessment at that time was that the Council’s overall borrowing would trend towards 3.25% resulting in an investment factor of 22.2084 (£1m of revenue expenditure would equate to £22.208m of capital expenditure). Page 168 of 216
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2.14 That assessment was made at a time when the Bank of England base rate was at just 0.10% and the Council was continuing to be able to reduce the cost of new borrowing. However, in the 2023 CIF update report, the projections reflected the peak Bank of England rate of 5.25% and a revised Council borrowing rate of 4.75% for the remainder of the CIF planning period. This reduced the investment factor to 17.7630 meaning that £1m of revenue resources will now support £17.763m of capital expenditure. 2.15 Although the Bank of England base rate has started to reduce from the peak of 5.25%, latest projections from the Council’s treasury advisors indicate that the cost of borrowing on the markets may stay stubbornly high and the Council is currently projecting the cost of borrowing to increase to 4.92% in 2028/29 and this has been reflected in the revised projections. This reduces the investment factor from 2028/29 to 17.3487. Impact on Capital Resources 2.16 In summary, the positive impact of revised Council Tax increase assumptions partially offset by the impact of the Council Tax freeze in 2024/25, lower than anticipated household completions in 2024/25 and marginal reduction in investment factor from 2028/29 onwards means there’s a slight increase in resources of £7.549m over the original 10-year period. Extension of CIF Period to 2033/34 2.17 The original CIF planning period was anticipated to end after 10 years in 2029/30, and the majority of this funding is already incorporated into the Council’s current 5-year Strategic Capital Investment Programme. However, given the success of the programme and the benefits realised across North Lanarkshire’s communities this update extends the CIF planning period to 2033/24 with the current financial year essentially becoming a new Year 1. 2.18 As members will be aware, earlier in this Committee agenda the Council Tax Strategy paper highlighted that to support members with planning and decision making the Section 95 Officer recommends, for illustrative purposes only, that future Financial Outlooks and CIF modelling will reflect Scenario C, a 10% Council Tax increase, which is the scenario closest to the average increase of all four scenarios presented for year 1. The Council Tax level will ultimately be a decision for members when setting the budget, with the financial impact that differs from such illustrations also reflected. 2.19 This recommended strategy has been reflected in the CIF financial modelling over 2025/26, 2026/27 and 2027/28 to show the longer-term impact of successive 10% rises but also, importantly, on a scenario where 2% of Council Tax rises are allocated to CIF instead of 1%. This longer-term approach supports longer-term capital planning for key Council projects such as the already committed City Deal programme and potential acceleration of the delivery of Town and Community Hubs. 2.20 Extending to 2033/34 with the current assumptions would increase CIF funding to £635.002 as shown in Appendix 2. This would represent additional funding of £162.029m compared to the September 2023 projection. 2.21 Appendix 3 highlights the impact of 10% Council Tax rises across 2025/26. 2026/27 and 2027/28. In this scenario CIF funding would be £736.249m; an increase of £263.275m from the September 2023 assumptions. With £34.513m additional in the current 5-year capital planning period. Page 169 of 216
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2.22 Appendix 4 demonstrates the impact of setting aside 2% of a 10% Council Tax rise for the three-year period from 2025/26 and shows total CIF resources of £847.979m; an increase of £375.005m from the September 2023 scenario. With £146.242m additional in the current 5-year capital planning period. Sensitivity Analysis 2.23 Given the number of variables affecting CIF modelling there are a number of risks and uncertainties associated with the various assumptions being made. A significant deviation from any of these assumptions could have an impact on the level of resources available. The following analysis illustrates the impact of changes in each of the factors: • Future increases in Council Tax To date, the Council has formally agreed to set aside 1% of Council Tax increases from financial years 2019/20 to 2023/24 with a Council Tax freeze in 2024/25. The setting aside of Council Tax increases is dependent on future decisions of the Council. A Council decision not to set aside 1% for CIF in 2025/26 would reduce available funding by £67.212m up to 2033/34. • The level of future housing growth The level of new housing development is significantly influenced by the strength of the economy. With the ongoing impact of cost-of-living pressures and higher cost of borrowing, there is an ongoing risk that this will have an impact on the level of new housebuilding. No Council Tax growth across the CIF planning period above the £1.000m required to support the Medium-Term Financial Plan would reduce available resources to 2033/34 by £252.171m. • Prudential borrowing factors The model assumes an average interest rate of 4.75% will apply to 2027/28 with an increase to 4.92% from 2028/29 for the remainder of the modelling timescale. This will be subject to a degree of volatility linked to the health of the economy, the availability of borrowing at PWLB rates (generally more attractive than the external market) and the ability for the Council to continue to proactively manage its loan debt profile. 2.24 An increase in the average rate of borrowing to 5.92% would reduce overall funding available by £51.579m. Alternatively, a reduction to 3.92% would increase CIF resources by £64.356m. 3. Measures of success 3.1 Success will be evidenced through the development of projects and programmes of activity funded through the Community Investment Fund and their impact on the communities of North Lanarkshire. Page 170 of 216
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4. Supporting documentation Appendix 1 – Community Investment Fund – 2023/24 Programme Delivery Highlights Appendix 2 – Community Investment Fund model – Updated 10-year Projection Appendix 3 – Community Investment Fund model – 10% Council Tax rise Appendix 4 – Community Investment Fund model – 2% Council Tax ring-fenced Elaine Kemp Chief Officer (Finance) Page 171 of 216
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5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The financial impacts are outlined throughout the report. The updated funding profile will be incorporated into the revised Strategic Capital Investment Programme 2024/25 to 2028/29 for consideration by this Committee in March 2025. 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 172 of 216
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5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? The sensitivity analysis outlined in the report highlights the impact of significant variations in the assumptions underpinning the CIF model. The governance and monitoring arrangements put in place will ensure that risk is managed across CIF programmes, including through the Council’s revenue budget, capital planning and treasury management strategies and consideration by the Council’s Strategic Capital Delivery Group. 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. Page 173 of 216
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5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 174 of 216
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Appendix 1 Community Investment Fund – 2023/24 Programme Delivery Highlights Assets and Procurement Place • Completion of the Chryston and Riverbank Community Hubs, • Commencement of the Orbiston Community Hub on site in December 2023, • Commencement of design development for Gartcosh and St Stephens Community Hubs, • Completion of toilet upgrades, roof replacements, require, fire stopping and decoration across 12 school, leisure, and community facility sites, • Carbon management works including boiler upgrades, solar panels, insulation, combined heat and power systems completed across around 40 sites, • Creation of integrated hubs at Caldervale High School, St Andrews High School and Broadwood Stadium, • Leisure developments including the completion of the Airdrie Pitch and Track Project, replacement of synthetic pitch at Keir Hardie Sports Centre, Broadwood gym upgrade and modernisation of front-line services at Broadwood Leisure Centre, • Creation of 6 digital classrooms, 7 outdoor cabin and 6 polytunnels, • ASN and Childrens House estate upgrades, • Management of school estate capacity pressures at Christ the King PS, Taylor HS and St Barbara’s PS with works progressing across other sites, and • Outdoor education spaces at St Aidans PS and Ravenswood PS. • Completion of the landmark purchase of Cumbernauld Town Centre to facilitate significant town centre regeneration, • Ongoing engagement with property owners with a view to acquiring key properties and parcels of land across various town centres, • Appointing the contractor for the delivery of regeneration of Braidhurst Industrial Estate, • Completion of the Muir Street, Motherwell project to improve public transport access to Motherwell Train Station, • Completion of the West Coast Main Line bridge with planning progressed for Airbles Road works, • Further procurement activity for Ravenscraig Infrastructure and East Airdrie Link Road investments, • Completion of Motherwell Active Tavel route, and • 126 projects completed or progressed including 7 flood prevention and surface water management projects, 19 bridge asset management projects, 83 road safety improvement projects, part time 20mph signs at schools and 10 active travel design, construction and strategy development projects. Community Operations Business and Digital • Cemetery improvement works at Bothwellhaugh, St Patricks, Old Monkland, Easfield and Cambusnethan, • Ash die back survey and planning, • Ongoing road improvement programme linked to prioritisation framework, • Wildflower planting, removal of invasive species, pond restoration and Nature Network surveys, • Play park improvements in country parks, • Completion of Bellshill Cycle Gateway car park, and • Landscape improvements in country parks including lighting, car parks and gateways. • Implementation of cyber incident responder service, • Progression of smart telephony solution including procurement of required handsets, • Progression of Adult Health and Social Care main system refresh, • Progression of procurement of corporate booking system, • Delivery of 2,315 new mobile devices and over 1,200 new laptops, • Immersive experience room at Muirfield completed with works progressing at Summerlee, • Eight servers and associated technology refreshed, • 72 cashless catering sites refreshed, • All sites migrated for digital connectivity with circa 164km of fibre deployed, and • Progression of procurement for community alarms and corporate scanning. Strategic Communications and Engagement • Completion of 47 projects including 16 play area projects, 14 community safety projects, 14 surfacing projects, 2 heritage projects and 1 environmental project. Page 175 of 216
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Appendix 2 Community Investment Fund model – Updated 10-year Projection Assumptions: 1. “As is” Growth – historically, the Council Tax Band D equivalent properties has averaged around 1,700 per annum. This model assumes this growth will reduce by 5% per annum 2. Growth from ambition – modelling assumes that additional housebuilding linked to the Plan for North Lanarkshire will be 300 (Band D equivalent) in Year 2, rising by an additional 10% per annum. 3. Reductions in growth applied to reflect anticipated slowdown associated with COVID-19, Brexit and Cost of Living economic impacts. 4. Council Tax will rise by 5% per annum in line with S95 Officer Recommendation linked to 2024/25 budget, with 1% ring-fenced to support CIF but this is subject to future Council decisions. 5. Council Tax collection rate assumed to be 97%. 6. Investment Factor assumed to be 17.7630 from 2024/25 to 2027/28 based on an interest rate of 4.75% over 40 years. This reduced to 17.3487 thereafter with an interest rate of 4.92% Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Prior Years 2024/25 2025/26 2026/27 2027/28 2028/29 2029/30 2030/31 2031/32 2032/33 2033/34 Total Raised from Ambition - Growth in Band D Equivalents: "As is" Growth 6,330 1,399 1,332 1,269 1,208 1,151 1,096 1,044 994 947 902 Growth from ambition 993 399 439 483 531 585 643 707 778 856 942 Impact of economic slowdown (3,510) (896) (38) 221 5 (375) (637) (200) (200) (200) (200) Anticipated Increase in Band D equivalents 3,813 902 1,733 1,973 1,745 1,360 1,102 1,551 1,572 1,603 1,643 18,996 Council Tax Charge for Band D 1,321 1,387 1,456 1,529 1,606 1,686 1,770 1,859 1,951 2,049 Total Additional Council Tax Income from growth (£000) 4,817 1,191 2,403 2,873 2,668 2,183 1,858 2,745 2,922 3,127 3,367 30,155 Less assumed 3% non-collection (£000) (145) (36) (72) (86) (80) (66) (56) (82) (88) (94) (101) (905) Less amount assumed in Long Term Financial Plan (£000) (3,678) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (13,678) Amount available for Community Investment Fund (£000) 995 155 1,331 1,787 1,588 1,118 802 1,663 1,834 2,034 2,266 15,573 Raised from Council Tax increases: Additional income from Council Tax increase 18,052 5,160 9,100 9,550 10,000 10,500 11,000 11,600 12,150 12,750 13,400 123,262 Amount available for Community Investment Fund (£000) - 1% set aside 6,017 1,720 1,820 1,910 2,000 2,100 2,200 2,320 2,430 2,550 2,680 27,747 Total estimated additional income for Community Investment Fund (£000) 7,012 1,875 3,151 3,697 3,588 3,218 3,002 3,983 4,264 4,584 4,946 43,320 Investment Factor (revenue funding converted to capital) 20.5510 17.7630 17.7630 17.7630 17.7630 17.3487 17.3487 17.3487 17.3487 17.3487 17.3487 Total Capital Funding Available 158,102 33,310 55,978 65,669 63,736 55,828 52,081 69,101 73,978 79,519 85,803 793,104 CIF Resources Assumed for 5-year Capital Programme 158,102 50,580 43,512 48,483 52,850 57,394 62,053 472,974 Difference 0 (17,270) 12,466 17,186 10,886 (1,566) (9,973) 69,101 73,978 79,519 85,803 320,130 Page 176 of 216
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Appendix 3 Community Investment Fund – 10% Council Tax rise from 2025/26 to 2027/28 Assumptions: 1. Same as Appendix 1 apart from 10% Council Tax increase assumed for 2025/26, 2026/27 and 2027/28. Thereafter it reverts to 5% annual increase. Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Prior Years 2024/25 2025/26 2026/27 2027/28 2028/29 2029/30 2030/31 2031/32 2032/33 2033/34 Total Raised from Ambition - Growth in Band D Equivalents: "As is" Growth 6,330 1,399 1,332 1,269 1,208 1,151 1,096 1,044 994 947 902 Growth from ambition 993 399 439 483 531 585 643 707 778 856 942 Impact of economic slowdown (3,510) (896) (38) 221 5 (375) (637) (200) (200) (200) (200) Anticipated Increase in Band D equivalents 3,813 902 1,733 1,973 1,745 1,360 1,102 1,551 1,572 1,603 1,643 18,996 Council Tax Charge for Band D 1,321 1,453 1,598 1,758 1,846 1,938 2,035 2,137 2,244 2,356 Total Additional Council Tax Income from growth (£000) 4,817 1,191 2,518 3,153 3,068 2,510 2,136 3,157 3,359 3,596 3,871 33,376 Less assumed 3% non-collection (£000) (145) (36) (76) (95) (92) (75) (64) (95) (101) (108) (116) (1,001) Less amount assumed in Long Term Financial Plan (£000) (3,678) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (13,678) Amount available for Community Investment Fund (£000) 995 155 1,442 2,059 1,976 1,435 1,072 2,062 2,259 2,488 2,755 18,697 Raised from Council Tax increases: Additional income from Council Tax increase 18,052 5,160 19,000 20,900 23,000 12,050 12,650 13,300 13,950 14,650 15,400 168,112 Amount available for Community Investment Fund (£000) - 1% set aside 6,017 1,720 1,900 2,090 2,300 2,410 2,530 2,660 2,790 2,930 3,080 30,427 Total estimated additional income for Community Investment Fund (£000) 7,012 1,875 3,342 4,149 4,276 3,845 3,602 4,722 5,049 5,418 5,835 49,124 Investment Factor (revenue funding converted to capital) 20.5510 17.7630 17.7630 17.7630 17.7630 17.3487 17.3487 17.3487 17.3487 17.3487 17.3487 Total Capital Funding Available 158,102 33,310 59,371 73,694 75,950 66,709 62,488 81,919 87,587 93,994 101,228 894,351 CIF Resources Assumed for 5-year Capital Programme 158,102 50,580 43,512 48,483 52,850 57,394 62,053 472,974 Difference 0 (17,270) 15,859 25,210 23,100 9,315 434 81,919 87,587 93,994 101,228 421,377 Page 177 of 216
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Appendix 4 Community Investment Fund – 10% Council Tax rise and 2% ring-fenced from 2025/26 to 2027/28 Assumptions: 1. Same as Appendix 1 apart from 10% Council Tax increase assumed for 2025/26, 2026/27 and 2027/28 with 2% ring-fenced from each of those years. Thereafter it reverts to 5% annual increase with 1% ring-fenced. Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Prior Years 2024/25 2025/26 2026/27 2027/28 2028/29 2029/30 2030/31 2031/32 2032/33 2033/34 Total Raised from Ambition - Growth in Band D Equivalents: "As is" Growth 6,330 1,399 1,332 1,269 1,208 1,151 1,096 1,044 994 947 902 Growth from ambition 993 399 439 483 531 585 643 707 778 856 942 Impact of economic slowdown (3,510) (896) (38) 221 5 (375) (637) (200) (200) (200) (200) Anticipated Increase in Band D equivalents 3,813 902 1,733 1,973 1,745 1,360 1,102 1,551 1,572 1,603 1,643 18,996 Council Tax Charge for Band D 5,021 1,321 1,453 1,598 1,758 1,846 1,938 2,035 2,137 2,244 2,356 Total Additional Council Tax Income from growth (£000) 4,817 1,191 2,518 3,153 3,068 2,510 2,136 3,157 3,359 3,596 3,871 33,376 Less assumed 3% non-collection (£000) (145) (36) (76) (95) (92) (75) (64) (95) (101) (108) (116) (1,001) Less amount assumed in Long Term Financial Plan (£000) (3,678) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (13,678) Amount available for Community Investment Fund (£000) 995 155 1,442 2,059 1,976 1,435 1,072 2,062 2,259 2,488 2,755 18,697 Raised from Council Tax increases: Additional income from Council Tax increase 18,052 5,160 19,000 20,900 23,000 12,050 12,650 13,300 13,950 14,650 15,400 168,112 Amount available for Community Investment Fund (£000) - 1% set aside up to 2024/25, 2% thereafter 6,017 1,720 3,800 4,180 4,600 2,410 2,530 2,660 2,790 2,930 3,080 36,717 Total estimated additional income for Community Investment Fund (£000) 7,012 1,875 5,242 6,239 6,576 3,845 3,602 4,722 5,049 5,418 5,835 55,414 Investment Factor (revenue funding converted to capital) 20.5510 17.7630 17.7630 17.7630 17.7630 17.3487 17.3487 17.3487 17.3487 17.3487 17.3487 Total Capital Funding Available 158,102 33,310 93,121 110,818 116,805 66,709 62,488 81,919 87,587 93,994 101,228 1,006,081 CIF Resources Assumed for 5-year Capital Programme 158,102 50,580 43,512 48,483 52,850 57,394 62,053 472,974 Difference 0 (17,270) 49,609 62,335 63,955 9,315 434 81,919 87,587 93,994 101,228 533,107 Page 178 of 216
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Policy and Strategy Committee cy and Strategy Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref AG/LR Date 05/12/24 Community Learning & Development Prioritisation Exercise / Savings 2024/25 & 2025/26munity /25 & 2025/26 From Alison Gordon, Chief Social Work Officer (Children, Families, Justice and Integrated Practice) Lyall Rennie, Chief Officer (Community Operations) E-mail GordonAl@northlan.gov.uk Renniely@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 01698 332001 Executive Summary During the council’s budget setting process, it was agreed at the Council meeting on 15 February 2024 that a ‘Review of Community Learning Development (CLD) service delivery, including the provision of youth diversionary activities’ be undertaken in order to achieve a 20% saving. This saving equates to a total of £1.046m from the current core budget of £5.1m, which is broken down to a saving of £163,000 within 2024/25 and a further saving of £883,000 in 2025/26. As part of this review, the Community Learning & Development team have met with staff and stakeholders to consider current provision, available intelligence on performance and impact and opportunities for improvement. This in turn has been considered within the context of both our statutory responsibilities and the aspirations of the Plan for North Lanarkshire and the associated Programme of Work in order to inform the service prioritisation and reconfiguration required to achieve the Year 2 saving of £883,000. The CLD team and its partners have subsequently worked through a range of options, using the Council’s options appraisal approach, as set out within the refreshed Strategic Self- Evaluation Framework (approved by the Audit & Scrutiny Panel 26/02/24). This report provides an overview of the appraisal process carried out with staff and partners, along with the savings options explored, and notes preferred option underpinned by SWOT analysis, scoring and risk management analysis. The report also provides further details on how savings would be delivered under this option and seeks approval to progress this. Recommendations It is recommended that the Policy and Strategy Committee: (1) Acknowledge the £163k in savings already made by the CLD team during financial year 2024-25 through management action. (2) Endorse the process of stakeholder engagement and options appraisal used to identify a further £883k in savings for financial year 2025-26. (3) Approve the recommendations set out below in 2.8.1, as informed by the options appraisal process, to achieve the required budget saving of £883k. Item 12 Page 179 of 216
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1. Background Service Profile: 1.1 As defined by the Scottish Government, the purpose of Community Learning Development (CLD) is to empower people, individually and collectively, to make positive changes in their lives and in their communities through learning. Within North Lanarkshire, the CLD service is managed thematically under three main service priorities of Adult Learning & Resettlement, Family Learning and Youth Work, with the Learning & Improvement team providing business and service improvement support. The work of the CLD team is set out within the NLC Community Learning & Development Action Plan 2022-2025. Wider approaches within the context of local partnerships are also set out within the North Lanarkshire CLD Partnership Plan 2021- 2024. The plans above contribute to the wider Plan for North Lanarkshire and the NL Programme of Work. 1.2 During 2023/24, the CLD team worked with 8,630 distinct individuals within recorded programmes (excluding those who attended one-off sessions or events). This number included 936 children (aged 0-7 years), 4,304 young people (aged 8-15 years) and 3,390 adults (aged 16+ years). Over 42% of these learners were from SIMD 1 and 2 data zones. Individuals were supported to achieve a total of 2,111 youth accredited learning awards (such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award and the Dynamic Youth Award), along with a further 651 wider national qualifications (such as Scottish Qualification Authority and Adult Achievement Awards) in the same period. Further details on performance in 2023-24 can be found in the CLD team’s annual progress report. Progress and achievements are also regularly communicated through the CLD team’s social media channels, newsletters and reports such as the examples below: CLD Newsletter – Summer 2024 CLD Report – Summer 2024 1.3 As set out in the Community Learning & Development Action Plan for 2022-2025, there are a number of cross cutting themes delivered across the service including equality, diversity, the environment and health and wellbeing. As part of CLD’s learning offer, a range of CLD opportunities are specifically designed to improve health and wellbeing, including the promotion of positive mental and physical health, in response to the needs of learners. 1.4 Across the CLD team, there is a strong focus on supporting communities most in need, with a particular emphasis on engaging children, young people, adults and families from the 20% most deprived Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) data zones. Diversionary youth work provision is delivered across North Lanarkshire to encourage participation and inclusion in local communities, particularly with those who are at risk of offending or are in conflict with the law. In addition, the CLD service works in partnership with Active and Creative Communities (ACC) to facilitate a range of physical activities and youth work opportunities for young people on Saturday evenings. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement (6) Raise attainment and skills for learning, life, and work to enhance opportunities and choices Programme of Work Resilient People Page 180 of 216
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1.5 The Saturday Night Project is a diversionary programme for young people offered across five venues every Saturday from 6:30pm to 9:30pm, 50 weeks of the year: Tryst Sports Centre (Cumbernauld), Airdrie Leisure Centre, Sir Matt Busby Sports Complex (Bellshill), Wishaw Sports Centre and Shotts Leisure Centre. Each venue has a coordinator and sports coaches, via ACC, with additional youth work support provided by CLD. All activities are provided free of charge, including equipment, fruit and water. Resourcing: 1.6 The CLD team contributes £171,000 per annum to the Saturday Night Project, which supports staffing, venue costs and materials. The CLD Youth Work staff who also support the project are funded through the CLD team’s core budget and are therefore not included in the £171k funding allocation. Similar diversionary programmes via ACC, funded by NHS Lanarkshire, such as the Friday Night Project and Street Soccer have ceased to operate as of 30th September 2024 due to a lack of available NHS funding. 1.7 During the council’s budget setting process for 2024/25, it was agreed at the Council meeting on 15 February 2024 that a ‘Review of Community Learning Development (CLD) service delivery, including the provision of youth diversionary activities’ be undertaken in order to achieve a 20% saving. This saving equates to a total of £1.046m from the current core budget of £5.1m, which is broken down to a saving of £163,000 within 2024/25 and a further saving of £883,000 in 2025/26. The Year 1 (2024/25) saving has been achieved by the deletion of clerical and administration vacancies. Furthermore, the service also ceased membership of Young Scot concluding that the fee no longer represented best value. This contributed a saving of £27,000 towards the total of £163,000. 1.8 In addition to the currently required savings of £1.046m, previous savings implemented between 2018 and 2021 totalling £2.5m have already been made from the core CLD budget. Given that the non-staffing budget, for materials and services, was already very limited, the majority of savings were therefore identified from staff budgets. Consequently, the current management and administration structures are lean, in addition there is some imbalance of resources across teams and geographical areas with savings also involving deletion of specialist Adult Literacy & Numeracy posts with increased reliance on temporary funding to deliver services across communities. The service also relies on a number of small-hours part-time positions to deliver much of its provision, which means a high headcount to FTE ratio in relation to managing staff. A full list of the current core establishment of the CLD team is shown below: Post Title Grade FTE CLD Manager NLC16 1.00 Thematic Managers (Adult Learning, Family Learning, Youth Work and Learning & Improvement) NLC14 4.00 Development Officers NLC12 2.60 Home School Partnership Officers NLC11 15.40 CLD Workers (Schools) NLC11 15.03 CLD Workers (Adult Learning) NLC11 6.01 CLD Workers (Youth Work) NLC11 11.80 CLD Worker (Duke of Edinburgh’s Award) NCL11 1.00 Homelink Workers NLC10 8.00 Admin & Finance Assistant NLC9 1.00 Page 181 of 216
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Learning & Improvement Officer NLC9 1.00 Support Workers (Youth Work) NLC7 13.87 Support Workers (Family Learning) NLC7 1.50 Support Workers (Adult Learning) NLC7 5.00 Admin Assistants NLC6 2.00 Clerical Assistants NLC3 1.57 Assistant Support Workers (Youth Work) NLC3 2.49 Assistant Support Workers (Adult Learning) NLC3 0.09 A full list of the current staffing from ACC who are employed to facilitate the Saturday Night Project is shown below: Post Title Grade FTE Employees Project Co-ordinator NLC7 0.57 5 Coach NLC6 1.83 15 Assistant Sports Coach NLC3 0.46 4 In addition to the above, a number of Casual Sports Coaches and Casual Assistant Sports Coaches supplement the staffing of the Saturday Night Project. 2. Report Context and Rationale for Options Appraisal 2.1.1 As a result of the Council’s budget decision, managers from the CLD service held initial meetings with staff and stakeholders to review the current provision, gather available intelligence and identify opportunities for improvement. A range of stakeholder engagements were undertaken with other council services and external partners seeking feedback on their priorities and the provision required to support those priorities. This engagement included development workshops, professional dialogue with relevant staff and meetings with Head Teachers, Heads of Centres, Social Work staff and NHS Lanarkshire team leaders. 2.1.2 This engagement was also supplemented by the gathering of relevant local and national information, including performance data, to produce details on key findings and opportunities for improvement. 2.1.3 Following a review of the information gathered during the initial review exercise, the CLD management team, supported by colleagues from other Council teams, considered potential options in relation to further review and analysis with internal and external partners. It was agreed to use the Council’s options appraisal approach, as set out within the refreshed Strategic Self-Evaluation Framework (approved by the Audit & Scrutiny Panel 26/02/24). 2.1.4 In order to best fulfil the review requirements, a two-stage approach was agreed as most appropriate: Part 1 - Stakeholder Engagement Workshop – a stakeholder engagement workshop where internal and external partners would have the opportunity to consider the future provision of youth diversionary activities, with particular focus on the Saturday Night Page 182 of 216
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Project. The results of which would then be used to inform the broader CLD Service wide options appraisal exercise. Part 2 - CLD Service Options Appraisal – an options appraisal exercise held with relevant council officers in relation to the wider CLD Service to consider options in terms of achieving the required 20% saving across the service. Key outputs from the stakeholder engagement workshop (Part 1) would be used to complement this aspect of the options appraisal. Part 1 - Stakeholder Engagement Workshop (Saturday Night Project) 2.2.1 A stakeholder engagement workshop was held with 20 representatives from across the council and external partners on the 15th of August 2024 to assess four options in relation to the future delivery of diversionary activities. Representatives from various Council teams, such as CLD, Active & Creative Communities, Social Work and the Chief Executive’s Office attended the workshop along with staff from NHS Lanarkshire, Police Scotland and Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire. The session was facilitated independently by colleagues from the Business and Digital (Strategy & Performance) team. 2.2.2 A Contextual Information Brief was distributed prior to the meeting, providing context to the delivery of diversionary activity and specifically to the Saturday Night Project, its funding and management arrangements, participant data, including Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) statistics and challenges with the current model. 2.2.3 Data showed that the average weekly attendance at the Saturday Night Project, totalled across all five venues, was 388 per week (Jan-Mar 2024) and 306 per week (Apr-Jun 2024). The majority of young people attending are aged between 11 and 13 years, however the provision caters for those aged 9 to 18 years. The majority of those attending live in either SIMD Quintile 1 or 2. 2.2.4 Four options were considered as part of the stakeholder engagement. Stakeholders were also provided with examples of how each of the options could be achieved: Option Description Achieved Via 1 Retain existing provision and delivery model (Saturday Night Project) with: 1a – Continued funding from CLD (no saving) 1b – Revised funding model (saving to be determined) 2 Retain existing delivery model (Saturday Night Project) with reduced operational hours to realise a minimum of 20% saving either through: 2a – Reduced operating hours 2b – Term time only delivery 2c – A combination of (a) and (b) 3 Cessation of current provision with a focus on redesigned diversionary supports through either: 3a – Focussed community-based youth work with young people at risk (supported within the wider prioritisation and redesign of CL&D) 3b – Development of a physical activity offer for younger children through ACC and targeted youth work offer from CLD for over 13s (would require to be accommodated within both ACC and CLD prioritisation) Page 183 of 216
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4 Cessation of current provision (full saving) 2.2.5 Following the conclusion of the appraisal process, whereby stakeholders completed a SWOT analysis for each option and scored each against five criteria, Option 3 was the preferred option (Cessation of current provision with a focus on redesigned diversionary supports). Option 3 scored highest in four out of the five criteria, with an overall score of 620 (10% higher than the next ranked option). 2.2.6 A full summary of the SWOT analysis accompanying Option 3 (Cessation of current provision with a focus on redesigned diversionary supports) is provided within the Stakeholder Engagement Synopsis (Appendix 1). This details the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats around the chosen option. Some of the strengths noted around Option 3 included the ability to target resources at those most in need and to co-produce new services with young people and their communities. Part 2 - CLD Options Appraisal 2.3.1 An options appraisal workshop was held on the 23rd of August 2024 to review and assess five options in relation to the CLD team’s delivery of Year 2 savings in 2025/26 (£883,000). Representatives from various Council teams including CLD, Social Work, Education, Employability, Tackling Poverty and the Chief Executive’s Office attended. 2.3.2 A Contextual Information Brief was distributed prior to the meeting, detailing key information on the background to the savings required, along with intelligence and feedback collated by each of the three main CLD delivery teams and the synopsis of results from the previous Stakeholder Engagement Workshop (Saturday Night Project), including the preferred option recommended by the workshop above. 2.3.3 Five options were considered as part of the options appraisal workshop. The appraisal team were also provided with examples of how each of the options could be achieved: Option Description Achieved Via 1 Apply a 20% saving across all areas of core funded CLD Service Functions (service prioritisation only within individual functions) This option would include all posts within the Community Learning & Development team at all levels. 2 The cessation of functions and activities in identified areas of the service to realise 20% saving (no redesign of delivery) This option would require the cessation of one or more of the thematic delivery teams within Adult Learning, Family Learning, Youth Work and Learning & Improvement. 3 Targeted prioritisation and redesign of Core CLD Service to achieve 20% saving This option would involve the prioritisation of specific posts across the CLD team in line with the new Programme of Work, performance data and intelligence gathering to ensure that services are still delivered to the most vulnerable in our communities. This would involve a redesign of one or more of the thematic teams. 4 Targeted prioritisation and redesign of Core CLD This option would be informed by the Diversionary Youth Work Stakeholder Page 184 of 216
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Service in combination with reduction in earmarked diversionary youth work spend (informed by separate Diversionary Youth Work stakeholder engagement) Engagement exercise. As a result of any savings identified by the Stakeholder Engagement, this would reduce the amount of savings required within the core CLD team. Similar to Option 3, this would be achieved through the prioritisation of specific posts across the CLD team, including a redesign of one or more of the thematic teams. 5 Targeted prioritisation and redesign of Core CLD Service in combination with cessation of earmarked diversionary youth work spend (informed by separate Diversionary Youth Work stakeholder engagement) This option would be informed by the Diversionary Youth Work stakeholder engagement exercise. As a result of the cessation of Diversionary Youth Work in its current format, this would reduce the amount of savings required within the core CLD team. The needs of our most vulnerable young people would, however, need to be met through the redesign of one or more of the core CLD functions. Similar to Options 3 and 4, this would be achieved through the prioritisation of specific posts across the CLD team, including a redesign of one or more of the thematic teams. 2.3.4 Following the conclusion of the appraisal process, whereby appraisal team members completed a SWOT analysis for each option and scored each against five criteria, Option 5 was the preferred option: Targeted prioritisation and redesign of Core CLD Service in combination with cessation of earmarked diversionary youth work spend (informed by separate Diversionary Youth Work stakeholder engagement). Option 5 scored the highest across in all five criteria, with an overall score of 317 (9% higher than the next ranked option). 2.3.5 A full summary of the SWOT analysis accompanying Option 5 is provided within the Options Appraisal Synopsis (Appendix 2). This details the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats around the chosen option. Some of the strengths noted around Option 5 included the lesser impact on core CLD services and the ability to target resources where needed as part of a wider redesigned CLD offer. Key Findings From Initial Information Gathering and Opportunities for Improvement 2.4.1 In addition to the compiling of scoring data and SWOT analysis (shown in Appendix 2), the facilitators of the options appraisal workshop also summarised some of the key findings from each delivery team’s information gathering exercises, along with opportunities for improvement. 2.4.2 The key findings from the initial intelligence and information gathering exercise were as follows: Adult Learning 2.4.3 The Adult Learning team works with vulnerable adults who experience a number of barriers and health inequalities, which can include but are not limited to those who are Page 185 of 216
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economically disadvantaged, those with low or no qualifications, those who have English as a second language, those experiencing poor mental and wellbeing or isolation. The key findings from the stakeholder and information gathering exercise were as follows: - The main priorities in this area are digital learning, resettlement, adult learning need (ALN), young adult offer, health and wellbeing, employability and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). With regard to employability, given that CLD adult learning works with the most disadvantaged adults, it is often the case that becoming work-ready can take some time. As a result, bespoke employability learning is key, however, there is often a need to work on other underlying areas first (such as mental and physical health issues). CLD adult learning is an active and leading participant in local and national planning and review, which is reflected in the successes at National Awards and requests for case studies and best practice from Education Scotland. Staff and stakeholders note that one of the best ways to inspire young people to value learning is for them to see the adults in their lives taking part in learning opportunities. The fast pace of technology development, along with many people now working until age 67 and beyond, means there is a greater and wider reaching demand for learning for 60+ age group, along with a need to include in-work learning and the CLD offer needs to reflect these needs Family Learning 2.4.4 The Family Learning team work alongside families and parents who have either been identified or self-identify as looking for learning opportunities in order to make changes within their family. Common concerns for families include lack of understanding of age and stages of child development, sleep strategies or child and adult anxiety. Opportunities are also provided to meet with and build relationships with other parents and families. The key findings from the stakeholder and information gathering exercise were as follows: - There was a recognition that the Family Learning team can use different approaches to build positive relationships with parents and families, which helps to acknowledge attachment, nurture, and the impact of trauma. Families are meaningfully involved in deciding what learning offer best suits their needs. It was noted that the Family Learning team was a skilled, knowledgeable, and well- trained group of staff delivering a learning programme which met the needs of families and was evidenced by positive changes and outcomes. The team deliver a range of evidence-based learning opportunities embedding accreditation opportunities for children and adults. The team also see families in a wider context, which enables staff to engage with vulnerable families who can often be viewed as hard to reach, help them develop coping strategies and support them to get more involved in their children’s learning and development. Youth Work 2.4.5 Early engagement with young people often commences around P7/S1 (aged 11 years), often in relation to enhanced transition from primary to secondary school, which enables young people to develop relationships with CLD staff and their own peer group. All young people who attend and participate in any youth work offer are able to achieve a variety of youth awards and accreditation, which varies depending on age, stage and needs of the young person (examples include the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and Living Life to the Full). Youth Workers use additional strategies of engagement and Page 186 of 216
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support with care-experienced young people, young carers, young people in conflict with the law and those at risk of exploitation. The key findings from the stakeholder and information gathering exercise were as follows: - CLD’s approach to nurturing positive relationships with young people and families is highly valued along with recognition for the unique delivery of national programmes. CLD’s flexible approach enables services to operate during daytime, evenings, weekends and school holidays creating consistent and persistent relationships. Some resources are allocated based on priority groups of young people and community demographics, however, there are opportunities to further improve this. Custom and practice had led to dedicating individual staff resource (Home School Partnership Officers) within specific secondary schools. Whilst this enables staff to be recognised as part of school culture and staffing arrangements, this also means reliance on an individual rather than the team approach. 2.4.3 The data gathered during the service wide review exercise enabled a number of opportunities to be identified across the three priority themes. These included: 2.4.4 Adult Learning To review the current delivery model of community-based adult learning to enable more flexibility around place-based delivery alongside potential for joining of work across localities to better utilise support workers across a wider area based on need and the management of support staff. To refocus on key priorities allowing the planning and delivery of accessible, relevant learning to the most vulnerable adults within our local communities. To improve links with the CLD Family Learning and Youth Work teams for joint delivery, bespoke learning and developing improved progression routes and pathways for learners. To review the provision for learners 60+ to develop a comprehensive learning offer that fits the needs of those learners. 2.4.5 Family Learning To promote and improve reach given some frustrations around families not being signposted or referred into the Family Learning team early enough. Linked to this need for earlier intervention, the Family Learning team and partners were keen to share more information on the types of support on offer. A requirement to make better use of and collaborate on improvement plans and the sharing of data. 2.4.6 Youth Work A need to reframe the narrative to confidently articulate and illustrate the impact being made on areas such as attainment, achievement, mental health and wellbeing etc. Prioritisation of services using a community-based approach which could improve key performance indicators, such as the targeting of SIMD 1 and 2 outcomes. Revised working arrangements with schools regarding the Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Award to clearly outline the return on investment and value that CLD provides. DofE models for delivery more widely shared and schools further supported to build capacity. Further work with schools and Social Work in order to build capacity and opportunities for priority young people through a range of youth accreditation (including SQA). Closer joint working between Youth Work, Family Learning and Adult Learning staff to share information locally to ensure the right approach at the right time. Page 187 of 216
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2.4.7 This analysis has been important in developing the plan for delivery around the preferred option to ensure appropriate prioritisation and best value, whilst also ensuring that the improvement opportunities taken mitigate the detrimental impacts of the reduction in service capacity. Savings Proposals 2.5.1 As noted above, the preferred option for Year 2 savings (£883,000) via the options appraisal process was Option 5: Targeted prioritisation and redesign of Core CLD Service in combination with cessation of earmarked diversionary youth work spend (informed by separate Diversionary Youth Work stakeholder engagement). 2.5.2 As detailed within the options appraisal, this option has been informed by the Diversionary Youth Work stakeholder engagement exercise. As a result of the cessation of Diversionary Youth Work through current Saturday Night provision, the amount of savings required within the core CLD team is reduced. To ensure that the needs of our most vulnerable young people and preventative support continue to be met, this will require the redesign of one or more of the core CLD functions. 2.5.3 The cessation of funding from CLD towards the Saturday Night diversionary youth work provision would result in a saving of £171,000 equating to the deletion of 2.86FTE within ACC (affecting 24 part-time staff) and the availability of work for casual workers who supplement the core staff group. The remaining balance of £712,000 is required to be saved within the core CLD team budget. This equates to approximately 14 FTE within CLD at grade NLC11. 2.5.4 A redesign of the CLD service should focus on frontline delivery. As outlined in previous sections of this report, management, administration and improvement functions have previously been reviewed to achieve significant savings. 2.5.5 The service employs a large pool of Assistant Support Workers (NLC3) and Support Workers (NLC7) who assist qualified CLD staff (NLC10/11) to deliver frontline services within communities. This cohort of staff are mainly employed part-time, including work at evenings and weekends, and are part of the wider training and development programme for local people and volunteers to gain pathways into employment within CLD and beyond. 2.5.6 The Adult Learning & Resettlement team is mainly made up of temporary, externally funded, posts. Only 6 FTE, NLC 11, CLD Worker (Adult Learning & Resettlement) posts exist within the core establishment. This equates to one worker for each of the six CLD locality areas. 2.5.7 The CLD service redesign to achieve the savings required will therefore focus on qualified staff (NLC10/11) within the Family Learning team and Youth Work team as these are the teams with the largest staffing resource. Any reduction in staffing, however, will inevitably impact on the teams’ ability to deliver frontline services. Youth Work Team 2.6.1 There are currently 27.5 FTE NLC11 posts within the core CLD establishment, made up of 15.5 FTE Home School Partnership Officers and 12 FTE CLD Workers (Youth Work). Page 188 of 216
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2.6.2 Home School Partnership Officers (HSPOs) deliver youth work programmes within secondary schools, with each secondary school allocated 0.5 FTE of support. Schools with Language and Communication Support Centres have received additional allocation, as have Additional Support Needs Schools, where appropriate. Custom and practice has led to the dedication of individual staff resource to establishments, regardless of school roll or deprivation indicators. 2.6.3 CLD Workers (Youth Work) deliver youth work programmes within communities, with a focus on the 20% most deprived data zones in Scotland situated within North Lanarkshire. CLD Workers (Youth Work) also line manage CLD Assistant Support Workers and Support Workers who deliver youth groups and a wide range of projects within communities. 2.6.4 Having a youth work team which is made up of HSPOs and CLD Workers creates a number of challenges. HSPOs are seen very much as part of schools’ culture and staffing arrangements. This can create a reliance on individual workers, rather than a team approach. The current structure of HSPO allocation can create pressures on some HSPOs due to working across two establishments, and in some cases across two localities, impacting on interventions and reporting. The current fixed structure can often restrict the ability to respond to emerging priorities and needs. 2.6.5 CLD Workers (Youth Work) work in our most vulnerable communities and the current demand for youth work provision outstrips the service that the team can deliver. 2.6.6 To achieve better synergies across the youth work offer, as well as meeting the savings set out above, rather than having two distinct groups of staff, with one focused on resourcing educational establishments and the other on communities, it is proposed that all staff should be focused on communities and the needs of our most vulnerable young people. The creation of one community-based Youth Work team would prioritise resources based on the needs of schools and local communities. Support and resources would be allocated based on SIMD data, Strengths and Difficulties data and information gathered through Youth Justice Early and Effective Intervention, Contextual Safeguarding Panels, Empowering Clusters and Local Partnership Teams. Support would also be provided through referrals and Requests for Assistance, within the GIRFEC framework. 2.6.7 To achieve this redesign of the Youth Work team, it is proposed that the current 15.5 FTE HSPO posts are deleted, with 6 additional CLD Worker (Youth Work) posts created. This would result in an overall deletion of 9.5 FTE NLC 11 posts. The redesigned Youth Work team would consist of 18 FTE NLC 11 posts, which is an average of 3 CLD Workers (Youth Work) within each of our six localities. 2.6.8 Under the revised model, community-based Youth Work staff, along with other members of the CLD team, will collaborate with schools, locality social work teams and other local partners to build capacity and opportunities for priority young people through a range of youth work methodologies. These approaches will include a range of nationally approved learning programmes, such as Living Life to the Full and Mentors in Violence Prevention, along with the use of youth accreditation where appropriate, such as the North Lanarkshire Challenge, Youth Achievement Awards and Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Provision will be available to young people all year round, including school holiday periods, and will continue to focus on key transition stages in the lives of young people. Family Learning Team Page 189 of 216
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2.7.1 There are currently 23 FTE posts at grades NLC10 and NLC11 within the core CLD establishment, made up of 8 FTE Homelink Workers (NLC10) and 15 FTE CLD Workers (Schools). 2.7.2 Homelink Workers provide support to the parents and families of pre-school aged children, particularly those from birth to three years, through the delivery of parenting programmes and family learning opportunities. These activities can take place within Early Years establishments and local community facilities, based on the needs of the participants. CLD Workers (Schools) also provide parenting programmes and family learning opportunities, but with a focus on families who have children of primary school age. 2.7.3 Both groups of staff within the Family Learning Team target their resources towards priority primary schools, Additional Support Needs schools and Early Years establishments, based on SIMD data and the allocation of free school meals and clothing grants. Family Learning staff are allocated using the local data noted above, with 20 primary schools and 5 ASN primary establishments receiving the dedicated support of a CLD Worker (Schools). There are currently 16 Early Years / Family Learning Centres receiving a priority allocation of Homelink Workers. 2.7.4 Support to families in other establishments and geographic areas is available, however, via a referral system, using the GIRFEC Request for Assistance (RFA) process. Referrals can be made by educational establishments, Social Work, NHS Lanarkshire and other local partner organisations. Parents and families can also self- refer as required. 2.7.5 Shifting the focus of the Family Learning Team to a community offer and removing the fixed support to the establishments that currently have dedicated staff time would provide greater synergy with the other thematic CLD teams, through a community- based approach, and remove the focus from resourcing particular establishments. 2.7.6 Through the Council’s Resilient People Programme of Work, the programme board is currently reviewing referral routes for families, including the way in which parents access services and interventions to achieve a more responsive, integrated approach to family support. All schools and establishments going forward would require to use the GIRFEC Request for Assistance process, creating one approach for all establishments based on need. Family Learning staff would focus on the needs of families rather than servicing the school or establishment that the child attends. This complements the direction of the programme board and the aspirations of The Promise and North Lanarkshire’s Children’s Services Plan. 2.7.7 Based on the approach above, through the deployment of community-based Family Learning resources rather than school-specific allocations, it is proposed that 3 CLD Worker (Schools) and 2 Homelink Worker posts be deleted. This would result in the retention of 12 FTE CLD Worker (Schools) and 6 FTE Homelink Workers, which is an average of 3 Family Learning Team posts within each of our six localities. Summary 2.8.1 To achieve the full saving required from the CLD service budget for 2024/25 and 2025/26 of £1.046m, the following actions are proposed: £163k in savings already made by the CLD team during financial year 2024-25 through management action. Page 190 of 216
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£171k in savings through the cessation of CLD funding to support the Saturday Night diversionary programme resulting in: The deletion of 0.57FTE (5 headcount) Project Co-ordinator (NLC7) The deletion of 1.83FTE (15 headcount) Coach (NLC6) The deletion of 0.46FTE (4 headcount) Assistant Sports Coach (NLC3) A reduction in availability of work for casual workers. The deletion of 15.5 FTE Home School Partnership Officer (NLC11). The deletion of 3 FTE CLD Worker (Schools) (NLC11) The deletion of 2 FTE Homelink Worker (NLC10) The creation of 6 FTE CLD Worker (Youth Work) (NLC11) 2.8.2 The changes above would result in a net reduction of 14.5 FTE posts within CLD at NLC10/11. The cessation of funding to support the Saturday night diversionary youth work programme will directly impact on the 24 part-time staff employed by Active & Creative Communities. These changes will, however, achieve the overall saving of £1.046m as agreed by the Council as part of the savings package for 2024-26. 3. Measures of success 3.1 Achieving the approved saving of £1.046m across 2024/25 and 2025/26. 3.2 Successful implementation of the redesign of the CLD Family Learning and Youth Work teams. 4. Supporting documentation Appendix 1 – Stakeholder Engagement Synopsis – Saturday Night Project Appendix 2 – Options Appraisal Synopsis – CLD (Service Wide) Alison Gordon Chief Social Work Officer (Children, Families, Justice and Integrated Practice) Page 191 of 216
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5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The savings option would result in an overall reduction in the CLD practitioner workforce and the reconfiguration of resource would focus the remaining service in a more targeted manner to support the Council’s One Plan approach aligned to the Programme of Work, The Promise and Tackling Poverty Strategy. The effect of this would be a greater focus on the most vulnerable families and communities particularly people with protected characteristics and suffering multiple impacts of poverty. If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☒ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? £1.046m reduction in the Community Learning & Development core budget. 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Workforce implications will be undertaken in line with the Council’s Workforce Change Policy. 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Page 192 of 216
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Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The CLD service will continue to work with colleagues from Corporate Communications to deal with any adverse communications in relation to the reduction / cessation of council services. 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Page 193 of 216
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Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). A reduction of 14.5 FTE posts across the service would have a serious impact on the team's ability to provide services within current schools, centres and community board areas given the already high service demand and individual worker caseloads. A restructure of current partnership arrangements with schools and centres would be required to take account of any reduction in services. If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☒ No ☐ Page 194 of 216
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Synopsis STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT APPRAISAL OF: Diversionary Youth Work (Saturday Night Project) OPTIONS TO BE APPRAISED: Option 1: Retain existing provision and delivery model (Saturday Night Project). Option 2: Retain existing delivery model (Saturday Night Project) with reduced operational hours to realise a minimum of 20%. Option 3: Cessation of current provision with a focus on redesigned diversionary supports. Option 4: Cessation of current provision (full saving). The workshop were also provided examples of how each of the options could be achieved: No Description Achieved via 1 Retain existing provision and delivery model (Saturday Night Project) - with existing hours. Continued funding from C&LD (no saving). Revised funding model (saving to be determined). 2 Retain existing delivery model (Saturday Night Project) - with reduced operational hours to realise a minimum of 20% saving. Reduced operating hours. Term time only delivery. A combination of reduced operation hours and term time delivery. 3 Cessation of current provision with a focus on redesigned diversionary supports - through other means. Focused community-based youth work with young people at risk (supported within wider prioritisation and redesign of CLD). Development of a physical activity offer for young children through ACC and targeted youth work offer from CLD for over 13s (would require to be accommodated within both ACC and CLD prioritisation). 4 Cessation of current provision (full saving). Cessation of current provision (full saving). APPRAISAL PROCESS: • July 2024 – development of options appraisal framework, appraisal criteria, process, and the options to be appraised. • 15th August 2024 - appraisal session with SWOT analysis, scoring of options and risks. • 23rd August 2024 – results of the stakeholder engagement workshop fed into the wider CLD service options appraisal. APPRAISAL TEAM: Senior Officer: NLC: Alison Gordon, Chief Officer (Children, Families, Justice and Integrated Practice). Independent Project Team: NLC: Kirsty Brown (Senior Project Officer), Tixiana Toledo (Developer Assistant) Appraisal Team participants: NLC: Liz Fergus, June Ford, David Young, Jennifer Lafferty, Alana McKibbin, Gayle Cunningham, Matt Costello, Nicholas Laughlin, Nicole Savage, Andrew Gillies, Heather Liddle, Lindsay Tierney, Patricia McGlinchey, Nathan Donnelly and Rebecca Loudon. NHS: Colin Anderson and Paul Campbell. VANL: Joyce Morgan. Police Scotland: Erica Baillie. CONTEXT AND RATIONALE FOR APPRAISAL: In North Lanarkshire, diversionary activities, including diversionary youth work, are delivered in partnership with the council’s Community Learning Development (CLD) and Active and Creative Communities (ACC) to facilitate a range of physical activities and youth work opportunities which encourage participation and inclusion in local communities, leading to improved outcomes for young people. Saturday Night Project Overview Within the profile of youth diversionary activities, Saturday Night Projects are currently operated across five venues: Tryst Sports Centre (Cumbernauld), Airdrie Leisure Centre, Sir Matt Busby Sports Complex (Bellshill), Wishaw Sports Centre and Shotts Leisure Centre. All 5 venues run every Saturday from 6:30pm to 9:30pm, 50 weeks of the year (closing as part of the festive break). Each venue has a coordinator from ACC Sports Development and sports coaches, with additional youth work support provided by CLD. All activities are provided free of charge to young people, including equipment, fruit and water. CLD contributes £171k to the Saturday Night Project, which supports staffing, venue costs and materials. The CLD Youth Work staff who also support the projects are funded through the CLD team’s core budget and are therefore not included in the £171k funding allocation. Saturday Night Project statistics The following weekly attendance figures were recorded: January to March 2024 April to June 2024 Centre Male Female Total Airdrie 18 19 37 Bellshill (Sir Matt Busby) 63 54 117 Cumbernauld (Tryst) 22 9 31 Shotts 26 23 49 Wishaw 56 48 104 TOTAL 185 (55%) 153 (45%) 338 Centre Total Airdrie 25 Bellshill (Sir Matt Busby) 109 Cumbernauld (Tryst) 25 Shotts 36 Wishaw 111 TOTAL 306 Further data analysis has highlighted that the busiest Saturday night project locations are in Bellshill and Wishaw and in most venues, there are more males attend than females. In terms of the age profile, the majority of young people attending are aged between 11 and 13 years. The majority of those attending live in either SIMD Quintile 1 or 2. Within Bellshill, Cumbernauld and Shotts, the largest quintile represented is Quintile 1, which is the 20% most deprived data zones areas in Scotland. Within Airdrie and Wishaw, the largest quintile represented is Quintile 2 (data zones between the 20 to 40% most deprived). While there is no specific data to evidence a reduction in community-based anti-social behaviour during the opening times of the Saturday Night Project, it can be observed that those attending the projects are not engaging in anti-social behaviour at these times. Challenges with the current model The diversionary activities are overseen by a management steering group made up of senior officers from the council’s CLD, ACC and Community Partnership Team alongside representatives from NHS Lanarkshire, Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. As the CLD team have been unable to increase the financial contribution towards the Saturday Night Project in recent years, the management steering group has raised concerns about meeting current staffing and venue costs. Various options, including a reduction in opening times, weeks or venues have previously been discussed by the group. In 2022, CLD led a self-evaluation of Saturday Night Project provision using the quality indicators from How Good is Our CLD 4 framework, with further guidance from Education Scotland HMIe colleagues. During this evaluation, the HMIe inspector shared they were not aware of any other diversionary activities of this scale taking place across the country. The projects have been running in their current format for over 15 years in North Lanarkshire. CLD budget In line with the council’s budget decision, a saving of £883k is required to achieve a year 2 (2025-26) within the CLD service, including the provision of Saturday night diversionary activities. In addition to the year 1 (2024-25) saving of £163k, this totals £1.046m from the current core budget of £5.1m (20% reduction). The 20% reduction was agreed as part of the 2024/25 budget setting process at the Council meeting on 15th February 2024 where it was noted as a ‘Review of CLD service delivery, including the provision of youth diversionary activities.’ As a result of the wider service review, the CLD team have been meeting with staff and stakeholders to review current youth diversionary activities provided through the funding of the Saturday Night Project. Future provision In light of the previous concerns raised by the management steering group, alongside the council’s decision in February to a 20% budget reduction in terms of CLD service delivery, which includes the provision of Saturday night diversionary activities, a stakeholder engagement workshop was recommended in order to consider options in terms of future service delivery. The outcome of this workshop would then inform the wider CLD service review. There were four options considered during the workshop (see above right for further details). Page 195 of 216
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HEADLINE SCORES: Following the conclusion of the appraisal process - whereby Appraisal Team participants completed a SWOT analysis for each option and scored each option against 4 criteria (i.e. policy fit, cost/savings, performance and in terms of whether the service targets the most vulnerable children, young people, adults, families and communities whilst also meeting and council’s obligations under the Requirements for CLD (Scotland) Regulations 2013), as well as against a fifth criteria for risk (which comprised a further set of 5 sub criteria) - the scores assigned by each of the 20 participants were combined. Figure 1 shows that, with an overall score of 620, Option 3 is the preferred option for the future provision of the Diversionary Youth Work (Saturday Night Project) Figure 2 shows the breakdown of the scores for each of the four options against each of the 5 criteria. This shows that Option 3 scored the highest against 4 of the appraisal criteria, with risk being the outlier. Page 196 of 216
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SWOT ANALYSIS [Highest scoring option) Option 3 – cessation of current provision, with a focus on redesigned diversionary supports. NEXT STEPS Strengths What are the strengths of this option? What unique aspects does it have? What advantages does this option have over the other options? What aspects of this option are within the council’s control? • Targeted provision in localities, where the services are most needed. • Better individual support for young people – multi-agency approach and other youthwork initiatives. • Bespoke offer through CLD. • Split provision towards a physical activity option for young people, under 12/13 years and a youth work option for older young people. • Opportunity to take a step back, review and look at better ways of meeting young people’s needs. • Involve young people in planning and targeting new services. • Targeted provision at those who are at risk of offending or being offended against. • Allows an opportunity to review holiday provision and whether it is always required for 50 weeks of the year. Potential to still build this onto the new model for continuity of support. • Maintains a place of safety for young people on a Saturday night, which would be open to families who need it and could better link in with other parental support staff (in CLD/Social Work). • Co-produce with young people and communities. • Flexible and responsive to the needs of the more vulnerable young people. • Funded via core budgets rather than year on year funding. • Opportunity for volunteering. • Provides an opportunity to raise attainment. • More development opportunities for staff. • Ability to focus on venue. • More likely to be politically acceptable. Weaknesses What are the weaknesses of this option? What benefits does it not bring to the council that other options do? What aspects of this option are not within the council’s control? • Loss of the current provision for young people. • Less opportunities for young people including access to free swimming and gym access. • Loss of provision for young people living in SMID 1 and 2 areas. • Reduction in numbers of young people who will access services. • Loss of access for young people to fruit and water. • Fewer people being to access. • Under 13s provision would still be an annual budget. • Consideration as to whether young people would go to other venues. • Current provision allows for a mixture of backgrounds, and would this potentially change? • Transition process required. • Territorial issues require to be explored. • Other partners not having the same resource to add. • Dependency on other areas of the council e.g. venues • Could be a stigma in moving to specific diversionary work. Leisure centres are open and neutral. • If current CLD/ACC staff are no longer required at current venues, then there are potential HR implications which need to be addressed and loss of income for existing staff. . The synopsis and recommendations from the stakeholder engagement workshop will now inform part of the wider evaluation and review process in relation to the overall CLD service. An options appraisal exercise in terms of the wider CLD service is scheduled for 23rd August 2024, following which recommendations will be submitted to committee in the third cycle of 2024. This will enable clear actions around the savings to be in place prior to the financial year 2025/26. Figure 3 shows the breakdown of the scores for each of the four options against each of the 5 sub criteria for risk. With the highest score reflecting the lowest risk, this shows that overall Option 1 scored the highest against the risk criteria thereby representing the option with the lowest risk to the council. Page 197 of 216
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Opportunities What opportunities are open to the council through this option? What internal or external factors are favourable and can be taken advantage of through this option How can the strengths of this option be turned into opportunities? • Look at the current CLD youth work offer and how to can be redesigned to support diversion. • Opportunity to redefine what is meant by diversionary work. • More detached youth work for those at risk of harm. • To look at what are the most effective interventions which will support young people. Targeted provision. • Would enable targeting of those most at risk, including those with behavioural/emotional/social issues who wouldn’t cope in big groups. • To meet the needs of young people/service priorities. • Be more inclusive. Could be an opportunity to target specific offers at certain age groups. • Look at indirect links to parents and families in a new model. • Improved offer for young people and growth of qualifications/awards. • Wider partnership collaboration e.g. volunteering. • More collaboration with voluntary organisations and community groups – more connectiveness. • Could attract new funding for a specific project. • Community Planning Partnership looking at funding for activities e.g. swimming. • Opportunity for staff to retrain, learn new skills, move into other areas of work and develop new career pathways. • Multi-skilled staff – back to basics, GIRFEC and C.S. • Use CLD youth work staff more effectively. Threats What threats are there that could potentially harm the council through this option? What external factors are beyond the council’s control in this option that could place the service at risk? What threats do the identified weaknesses expose in terms of this option? • Does CLD youth work have the capacity? • Can ACC fund an offer for young youth groups? • Reduced number of safe spaces. • Increased asks of anti-social behaviour. • Increased needs of young people e.g. mental health, isolation • Potential of young people/families engaging with other young people with multiple barriers, rather than a mixture. • Changing models may take time to implement. Page 198 of 216
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Synopsis OPTIONS APPRAISAL OF: Community Learning Development Service OPTIONS TO BE APPRAISED: Option 1: Apply a 20% saving across all areas of core funded CLD Service Functions (service prioritisation only within individual functions). Includes all posts within the CLD team at all levels. Option 2: The cessation of functions and activities in identified areas of the service to realise 20% saving (no redesign of delivery). Requires the cessation of one or more of the thematic delivery teams within Adult Learning, Family Learning, Youth Work and Learning and Improvement. Option 3: Targeted prioritisation and redesign of Core CLD Service to achieve 20% saving. Involves the prioritisation of specific posts across the CLD team in line with the new Programme of Work, performance data and intelligence gathering to ensure that services are still delivered to the most vulnerable in our communities. This option would involve a redesign of one or more of the thematic teams. Option 4: Targeted prioritisation and redesign of Core CLD Service in combination with reduction in earmarked diversionary youth work spend (informed by separate Diversionary Youth Work stakeholder engagement). Informed by the Diversionary Youth Work Stakeholder Engagement exercise. As a result of any savings identified by the Stakeholder Engagement exercise would then reduce the amount of savings required within the core CLD team. Similar to option 3, this option would be achieved through the prioritisation of specific posts across the CLD team, including a redesign of one or more of the thematic teams. Option 5: Targeted prioritisation and redesign of Core CLD Service in combination with cessation of earmarked diversionary youth work spend (informed by separate Diversionary Youth Work stakeholder engagement). Informed by the Diversionary Youth Work Stakeholder Engagement exercise. As a result of the cessation of Diversionary Youth Work in its current format, this would reduce the amount of savings required through the core CLD. The needs of our most vulnerable young people would, however, need to be met through the redesign of one or more of the core CLD functions. Similar to options 3 and 4, this option would be achieved through the prioritisation of specific posts across the CLD team, including a redesign of one or more of the thematic teams. APPRAISAL PROCESS: July 2024 – development of options appraisal framework, appraisal criteria, process, the options to be appraised, and stakeholders to be involved in the process with CLD senior managers. 15th August 2024 - stakeholder engagement workshop session with SWOT analysis, scoring of options and risks undertaken, with results provided to the overall CLD service-wide appraisal team (i.e. the options appraisal team for Part 2). 23rd August 2024 – appraisal session with SWOT analysis, scoring of options and risks with the options appraisal team for Part 2. 4th September 2024 – recap, review and consensus session with the appraisal team for Part 2. APPRAISAL TEAM: Senior Officer: NLC: Alison Gordon, Chief Officer (Children, Families, Justice and Integrated Practice). Independent Project Team: NLC: Kirsty Brown (Senior Project Officer), Tixiana Toledo (Developer Assistant) Appraisal Team participants: NLC: Liz Fergus, June Ford, David Young, BACKGROUND During the council’s budget setting process for 2024/25, it was agreed at the Council meeting on 15 February 2024 that a ‘Review of Community Learning Development (CLD) service delivery, including the provision of youth diversionary activities’ be undertaken in order to achieve a 20% saving. This saving equates to a total of £1.046m from the current core budget of £5.1m, which is broken down to a saving of £163,000 within 2024/25 (already achieved) and a further saving of £883,000 in 2025/26. As a result of the budget decision, officers from the CLD service held initial meetings with staff and stakeholders to review the current provision, gather available intelligence and identify opportunities for improvement. A range of stakeholder engagement was undertaken, including surveys with other council services and external partners seeking feedback on their priorities and the provision required to support those priorities, development workshops, professional dialogue with relevant staff and meetings with Head Teachers, Heads of Centres, Social Work seniors and health visiting team leaders. This engagement was also supplemented by gathering of relevant information and subsequent analysis/evaluation. RATIONALE FOR APPRAISAL Following a review of the information gathered during the initial review exercise, CLD senior officers considered potential options in relation to undertaking further review/analysis, additional engagement with internal and external partners and the process for examining available options and determining recommendations. After due consideration, the service determined that in order to best fulfil the review requirements, a two-pronged approach was most appropriate: Part 1 - Stakeholder Engagement Workshop – a stakeholder engagement workshop where internal and external partners would have the opportunity to consider the future provision of diversionary activities, with particular focus on the Saturday Night project. The results of which would then be used to inform the broader CLD Service wide options appraisal exercise. Part 2 - CLD Service Options Appraisal – an options appraisal exercise held with relevant council officers in relation to the wider CLD Service to consider options in terms of achieving the required 20% saving across the service. Key outputs from the stakeholder engagement workshop would be used to complement this aspect of the options appraisal. OVERVIEW OF CLD SERVICE As defined by the Scottish Government, the purpose of Community Learning Development (CLD) is to empower people, individually and collectively, to make positive changes in their lives and in their communities through learning. Within North Lanarkshire, the CLD service is managed thematically under three main service priorities of Adult Learning and Resettlement, Family Learning and Youth Work, with the Learning and Improvement team providing administrative and service improvement support. In addition to the key themes, there are also service-wide themes covering approaches such as Tackling Poverty, Attainment and Employability, Health and Wellbeing and Equality and Diversity. Across the CLD team, there is a strong focus on supporting communities most in need, with a particular emphasis on engaging children, young people, adults and families from the 20% most deprived Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) data zones. In addition, diversionary activities in North Lanarkshire, including diversionary youth work, is delivered in partnership with the council’s CLD and Active and Creative Communities (ACC) services to facilitate a range of physical activities and youth work opportunities which encourage participation and inclusion in local communities, leading to improved outcomes for young people. During 2023/24, CLD worked with 8,630 distinct individuals within recorded programmes (which does not include those who attended one-off sessions or events). This number included 936 children (aged 0-7 years), 4,304 young people (aged 8-15 years) and 3,390 adults (aged 16+ years). Over 42% of these learners were from SIMD 1 and 2 data zones. A total of 2,111 youth accredited learning awards (such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award and the Dynamic Youth Award), along with a further 651 wider national qualifications (such as Scottish Qualification Authority and Adult Achievement Awards) were achieved in the same period. STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT WORKSHOP – DIVERSIONARY ACTIVITIES (SATURDAY NIGHT PROJECT) Within the profile of youth diversionary activities, Saturday Night projects are currently operated across five venues: Tryst Sports Centre (Cumbernauld), Airdrie Leisure Centre, Sir Matt Busby Sports Complex (Bellshill), Wishaw Sports Centre and Shotts Leisure Centre. All 5 venues run every Saturday from 6:30pm to 9:30pm, 50 weeks of the year (closing as part of the festive break). Each venue has a co-ordinator from ACC Sports Development and sports coaches, with additional youth work support provided by CLD. All activities are provided free of charge to young people, including equipment, fruit and water. CLD contributes £171k to the Saturday Night project, which supports staffing, venue costs and materials. The CLD Youth Work staff who also support the projects are funded through the CLD team’s core budget and are therefore not included in the £171k funding allocation. To fulfil Part 1 of the options appraisal, a stakeholder engagement workshop was held with 20 representatives from across the council and external partners on 15th August 2024 to review and assess four options in relation to the future delivery of diversionary activities (Saturday Night project). The four options considered during this session were: 1. Retain existing provision and delivery model (Saturday Night Project) – within existing hours. 2. Retain existing provision and delivery model (Saturday Night Project) – with reduced operational hours to realise a minimum of 20% saving. 3. Cessation of current provision with a focus on redesigned diversionary supports – through other means. 4. Cessation of current provision (full saving). The outputs from the workshop included a SWOT analysis for each option and a score being allocated for each option against four criteria (i.e. policy fit, cost/savings, performance and in terms of whether the service targets the most vulnerable children, young people, adults, families and communities while also meeting and council’s obligations under the Requirements for CLD (Scotland) Regulations 2013), as well as against a fifth criteria for risk (which comprised a further set of 5 sub criteria). As a result of the scores allocated by the workshop participants, the preferred option from the workshop was option 3 - cessation of current provision with a focus on redesigned diversionary supports – through other means. Given the complexity of the overall review, a sensitivity analysis was carried out on the final combined scores to test how sensitive the preferred option was to changes. This calculation, which focuses on the criteria and switching values and weightings, had no impact on the preferred option. As such, a synopsis of the feedback from Part 1 was provided to the appraisal team for consideration within Part 2 (i.e. the CLD Service wide options appraisal exercise). OPTIONS APPRAISAL – CLD SERVICE In advance of the options appraisal session in relation to the CLD service review, the appraisal team were issued with a contextual brief which contained background information, details regarding the service and the options being considered during the appraisal. Also included within the brief were key findings and potential opportunities for improvement which had been identified by the service during an initial series of meetings with staff and stakeholders and supplemented by the gathering of relevant information and subsequent analysis/evaluation. A short summary of the information and intelligence gathered within this initial engagement exercise is contained below: Page 199 of 216
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Key findings from initial intelligence and information gathering exercise Adult Learning The Adult Learning team works with vulnerable adults who experience a number of barriers and health inequalities, which can include but are not limited to those who are economically disadvantaged, those with low or no qualifications, those who have English as a second language, those experiencing poor mental and wellbeing or isolation. The key findings from the stakeholder and information gathering exercise were as follows: - The main priorities in this area are digital learning, resettlement, adult learning need (ALN), young adult offer, health and wellbeing, employability and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). With regard to employability, given that CLD adult learning works with the most disadvantaged adults, it is often the case that becoming work ready can take some time. As a result, bespoke employability learning is key, however, there is often a need to work on other underlying areas first (such as mental and physical health issues). CLD adult learning is an active and leading participant in local and national planning and review, which is reflected in the successes at National Awards and requests for case studies and best practice from Education Scotland. Staff and stakeholders note that one of the best ways to inspire young people to value learning is for them to see the adults in their lives taking part in learning opportunities. The fast pace of technology development, along with many people now working until age 67 and beyond, there is a greater and wider reaching demand for learning for 60+ age group, along with a need to include in-work learning and the CLD offer needs to reflect these needs. Family Learning The Family Learning team work alongside families and parents that have either been identified or self-identify as looking for learning opportunities in order to make changes within their family. Common concerns for families include lack of understanding of age and stages of child development, sleep strategies or child and adult anxiety. Opportunities are also provided to meet with and build relationships with other parents and families. The key findings from the stakeholder and information gathering exercise were as follows: - There was a recognition that the Family Learning team can have a different often more successful relationship with parents and families, which helps to acknowledge attachment, nurture, and the impact of trauma. Families are meaningfully involved in deciding what learning offer best suits their needs. It was noted that the Family Learning team was a skilled, knowledgeable, and well-trained group of staff delivering a learning programme which met the needs of families and was evidenced by positive changes and outcomes. The team deliver a range of evidence-based learning opportunities embedding accreditation opportunities for children and adults. The team also see families in a wider context, which enabled an opportunity to look at wider needs and also play an important role in safeguarding families, including escalating and deescalating as required. Youth Work Early engagement with young people often commences around P7/S1 (aged 11 years), often in relation to enhanced transition from primary to secondary school, which enables young people to develop relationships with CLD staff and their own peer group. All young people who attend and participate in any youth work offer are able to achieve a variety of youth awards and accreditation, which ranges in the offer provided depending on age, stage and need of the young person (examples include the Duke of Edinburgh award and Living Life to the Full). Youth Workers use additional strategies of engagement and support with care-experienced young people, young carers, young people in conflict with the law and those at risk of exploitation. The key findings from the stakeholder and information gathering exercise were as follows: - The value of CLD’s unique approach to nurturing positive relationships with young people and families and recognition for the unique delivery of national programmes. CLD’s flexible approach enables services to operate during daytime, evenings, weekends and school holidays creating consistent and persistent relationships. Some resources are allocated based on priority groups of young people and community demographics, however, there are opportunities to further improve this. Custom and practice had led to dedicating individual staff resource (Home School Partnership Officers) within specific secondary schools. Whilst this enables staff to be recognised as part of school culture and staffing arrangements, this also means reliance on an individual rather than the team approach. Opportunities for improvement The data gathered during the service wide review exercise enabled a number of opportunities to be identified across the three priority themes. These included: Adult Learning Review of the current delivery model of community-based adult learning to enable more flexibility around place-based delivery. Potential for joining of work across localities to better utilise support workers across a wider area based on need and the management of support staff. Focus on key priorities allowing the planning and delivery of accessible, relevant learning to the most vulnerable adults within our local communities. Improve links with the CLD Family Learning and Youth Work teams for joint delivery, bespoke learning and developing improved progression routes and pathways for learners. Review the provision for learners 60+ to develop a comprehensive learning offer than fits the needs of those learners. Family Learning Some frustrations around families not being signposted or referred into the Family Learning team early enough. Linked to this need for earlier intervention, the Family Learning team and partners were keen to share more information on the types of support on offer. Requirement to make better use of and collaborate on improvement plans and the sharing of data. Youth Work A need to reframe the narrative to confidently articulate and illustrate the impact being made on areas such as attainment, achievement, mental health and wellbeing etc. Prioritisation of services using a community-based approach which could improve key performance indicators, such as the targeting of SIMD 1 and 2 outcomes. Revised working arrangements with schools regarding the Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Award to clearly outline the return on investment and value that CLD provides. DofE models for delivery more widely shared and schools further supported to build capacity. Further work with schools and Social Work in order to build capacity and opportunities for priority young people through a range of youth accreditation (including SQA). Closer joint working between Youth Work, Family Learning and Adult Learning staff to share information locally to ensure the right approach at the right time. This information, along with the synopsis from the stakeholder engagement workshop, set the context for the appraisal team to undertake the options appraisal exercise on the 23rd August 2024. Emma Clark, Andrew Gillies, Eleanor Rafferty, Gayle Cunningham, Iain Macaulay, Jill Woodward, John Campbell, Lesley Inglis, Lindsay Tierney, Maria Williamson, Michelle O'Halloran and Paul Kane. HEADLINE SCORES: Following the conclusion of the appraisal process - whereby Appraisal Team participants completed a SWOT analysis for each option and scored each option against 4 criteria (i.e. policy fit, cost/savings, performance and in terms of whether the service targets the most vulnerable children, young people, adults, families and communities whilst also meeting and council’s obligations under the Requirements for CLD (Scotland) Regulations 2013), as well as against a fifth criteria for risk (which comprised a further set of 5 sub criteria) - the scores assigned by each of the 16 participants were combined. Page 200 of 216
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Figure 1 shows that, with an overall score of 317, the preferred option for the future service wide saving provision is Option 5 - targeted prioritisation and redesign of Core CLD Service in combination with cessation of earmarked diversionary youth work spend (informed by separate Diversionary Youth Work stakeholder engagement). Figure 2 shows the breakdown of the scores for each of the five options against each of the 5 criteria. This shows that Option 5 scored the highest against all of the appraisal criteria. Page 201 of 216
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SWOT ANALYSIS [Highest scoring option) Option 5 - Targeted prioritisation and redesign of Core CLD Service in combination with cessation of earmarked diversionary youth work spend (informed by separate Diversionary Youth Work stakeholder engagement) NEXT STEPS Strengths What are the strengths of this option? What unique aspects does it have? What advantages does this option have over the other options? What aspects of this option are within the council’s control? Less reduction of core CLD service, resulting in reducing staff number. No contractual changes needed. Development of consistent and personal relationships. All of option 3, less of core team reduced. Maximum use of resources. Enhancing targeted groups in the community. Allows for resources to be put into redesign. Ability to align with other council initiatives and community resource – The Promise, contextual safeguarding More targeted approach Allows effective measuring of impact. The council have already stated in report to consider diversionary. Equitable and parity – no Friday and Saturday night provision. Weaknesses What are the weaknesses of this option? What benefits does it not bring to the council that other options do? What aspects of this option are not within the council’s control? Other initiatives (e.g. health) no longer offer services within these sessions already. Post code lottery. Raises questions around reach. High costs/value for money (e.g. areas of poor attendance). Dilutes the universal offer. Loss of funding and staff for internal partners. Loss of free access to sports centres. Young people not having access to some safe spaces. Reputational damage to council. Opportunities What opportunities are open to the council through this option? What internal or external factors are favourable and can be taken advantage of through this option? How can the strengths of this option be turned into opportunities? More community facing. Gives opportunity for a redesigned offer. Other services exploring other options/funding (e.g. free swims). Ability to review the community offer through a redesigned youth work team. Reframe what is meant by diversionary. Synopsis to be discussed at the recap, review, and consensus session scheduled for 4th September 2024. Figure 3 shows the breakdown of the scores for each of the five options against each of the 5 sub criteria for risk. With the highest score reflecting the lowest risk, this shows that Option 5 scored the highest against the risk criteria thereby representing the option with the lowest risk to the council. 8 7 7 11 10 4 5 17 7 8 13 14 11 11 12 15 16 7 11 12 17 16 11 17 20 5. Relative confidence that this option does not have detrimental impacts on ability of the council to deliver other linked or independent initiatives or realise any associated benefits. 4. Relative confidence that this option will enable the service to continue to meet legal and statutory responsibilities (e.g human resources, health and safety, data protection, equalities, carbon zero,… 3. Confidence of this option compared to other options that predicted timescales for delivery are achievable. 2. Confidence of this option compared to other options in terms of the future financial impact. 1.Ease / complexity of implementation of this option compared to other options in terms of the capacity and availability of resources/skills to deliver the future service. Figure 3. Options appraisal - score for each option against the risk criteria (highest=lowest risk) Option 1 Option 2 Option 3 Option 4 Option 5 Page 202 of 216
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To have trained staff who can identify needs of young people. To have closer links with the hub model based in communities. Increased opportunities for partners to fill the gap. Better connections with the justice team. Showcase and promote focused CLD/youth work provision. Allow CLD work to be prioritised and focus on key themes/issue based. Threats What threats are there that could potentially harm the council through this option? What external factors are beyond the council’s control in this option that could place the service at risk? What threats do the identified weaknesses expose in terms of this option? Could potentially have an impact on one route from volunteering into CLD employment. Access to facilities – a one service approach. Staff implications for Active and Creative Communities. Reputational damage – feedback from local residents. Potentially more young people on the streets as a result of ceasing of earmarked diversionary youth work. Could result in more anti-social behaviour. Page 203 of 216
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Policy and Strategy Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref JMcK/MMcB Date 05/12/24 Transforming Places – Gartcosh Community Hub Contract Award From James McKinstry, Chief Officer (Assets and Procurement) E-mail McBrideMark@northlan.gov.uk Telephone Mark McBride, Property Manager (Estate Development) 07583 094 928 1. Background 1.1 Gartcosh Primary School requires a new build primary school due to significant levels of house building in the Gartcosh area. The existing primary school is currently operating above capacity and this has impacted on both the occupancy and suitability Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to advise Committee of the status of the contract pricing and commercial activities for Gartcosh Community Hub and to seek approval to progress to Contract Award for the project. Recommendations It is recommended that the Policy and Strategy Committee: (1) Approve that the Property Manager (Estate Development) will conclude the contract activities to finalise the commercial costs necessary for contract award as described in Section 2 of this report for Gartcosh Community Hub. (2) Acknowledge the Design and Build Development Agreements with Hub South West for the design and construction of Gartcosh Community Hub as referred to in Section 2 of this report, on terms to be agreed by Chief Officer (Legal and Democratic) and subject to terms representing Best Value. (3) Approve the contract award in accordance with the contents of this report. (4) Acknowledge that regular Town and Community Hub programme updates are presented to the Education, Children and Families Committee. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement (10) Engage with children, young people, parents, carers, and families to help all children and young people reach their full potential Programme of Work Transforming Places Item 13 Page 205 of 216
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of the existing school and the school roll will continue to increase through further house building, as per the updated local development plan. 1.2 In 2019, the councils Policy and Strategy Committee approved the use of the existing Hub South West Scotland partnership agreement as the ‘preferred’ procurement route for the then Schools and Centres Investment Programme (now referred to as the Town & Community Hub Delivery Programme) where those projects comply with the qualifying criteria set out in the Territory Partnering Agreement and subject to a check against the prevailing regulations to ensure compliance. 1.3 The Hubco model is seen as a strategic long-term approach to the procurement of public sector based infrastructure projects across Scotland. By delivering value for money projects through Hub South West, the development timescales would be met while value for money could be ensured through a tested procurement route by early involvement of a Tier 1 contractor. As signatories to the Territory Partnering Agreement, the council contract with Hub South West and Hub South West contract directly with the successful tenderer. 1.4 The procurement strategy approved in 2019 was an interim procurement strategy and was subsequently reviewed in 2022 following a recommendation from audit. Policy and Strategy Committee in 2022, approved a further procurement strategy which recommended a Contract Strategy was prepared for the projects which had not yet been committed to Hub South West. Gartcosh Community Hub was already committed to Hub South West in the 2019 procurement strategy and therefore the project was procured via this route. 1.5 A New Project Request was issued by the council to Hub South West in March 2023 to design and deliver the Gartcosh Community Hub. Following a competitive tender process, the project was awarded to a team consisting of BAM (Tier 1 Contractor) and BDP (lead designer). 1.6 Gartcosh Community Hub will deliver new learning and teaching facilities for the young people and wider community in the Gartcosh area. The facilities are designed by use by the primary school age pupils during the day. The Community Hub will create a new Gartcosh Primary School, an Early Years Nursery class and a LCSC. The facility will provide a Multi-Use Games Area and staff touchdown zones which will be accessible to council staff and public sector partners who will be able to use this space when working within this locality. It will also include a community zone to replace the older Gartcosh Community Centre asset within the local area. 2. Report 2.1 A planning application for the development was approved in April 2024. 2.2 The Hub Delivery Team are currently reviewing Stage 2 information from Hub South West. This includes design information, market testing analysis and construction programme. The design and technical information is currently being checked for compliance and ongoing clarifications will be concluded by the end of September 2024. There are not anticipated to be any significant derogations or departures from the Authority’s Construction Requirements. 2.3 The tendered work packages were subject to competition. Only minor commercial queries remain as part of the overall Hub South West financial close process. A final contract price will be concluded by the end of November 2024. Page 206 of 216
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2.4 The project is due to start on site in January 2025. Enabling works were undertaken in advance of the main works to re-locate the water voles (which can only be done twice a year) and forming a temporary access for construction vehicles. 2.5 The current indicative construction contract value, subject to finalisation, is £32.5m. 2.6 The Gartcosh Community Hub project has a bespoke suite of community benefits proportionate to the scale of the project written into the Design & Build Development Agreement (DBDA) contract, placing a duty on Hub South West and their Tier 1 contractor BAM to deliver on their community benefit commitments. Regular Town & Community Hub community benefits progress updates are provided to the Education, Children and Families Committee 3. Measures of success 3.1 Delivery of projects in line with the guiding principles linked to this programme of work, which in turn are designed to deliver against the strategic priorities within the Plan for North Lanarkshire. 4. Supporting documentation 4.1 No supporting documentation. James McKinstry Chief Officer (Assets and Procurement) Page 207 of 216
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5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Budget available within the Town and Community Hub Programme’s capital budget. 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Legal and Democratic have been involved in the contractual negotiations to reach Financial Close with Hub South West. 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☒ Page 208 of 216
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5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Yes, existing technologies will be installed within the facility and there may be a requirement at a later date for the incorporation of any new technologies. Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☒ No ☐ Yes, the council’s net zero ambitions have been considered when developing this project. The Authority’s Construction requirements place ambitious energy performance targets on the design team e.g. adopting Passivhaus principles for building design, the community hub is powered by an all-electric heating system, a minimum of 10% of the buildings anticipated energy use is generated on site through the use of renewable technologies. 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? Details of residual project risks are recorded on project specific risk registers. 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ Page 209 of 216
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If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 210 of 216
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Policy and Strategy Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref JMcK/MMcB Date 05/12/24 Transforming Places – St Stephens Community Hub Contract Award From James McKinstry, Chief Officer (Assets and Procurement) E-mail McBrideMark@northlan.gov.uk Telephone Mark McBride, Property Manager (Estate Development) 07583 094 928 1. Background 1.1 St Stephens Primary School requires a new build primary school due to significant levels of house building in the Coatbridge area. This project was originally intended to be delivered as part of a joint campus on the site of the new Riverbank Primary School. Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to advise Committee of the status of the contract pricing and commercial activities for St Stephens Community Hub and to seek approval to progress to Contract Award for the project. Recommendations It is recommended that the Policy and Strategy Committee: (1) Approve that the Property Manager (Estate Development) will conclude the contract activities to finalise the commercial costs necessary for contract award as described in Section 2 of this report for St Stephens Community Hub. (2) Acknowledge the Design and Build Development Agreements with Hub South West for the design and construction of St Stephens Community Hub as referred to in Section 2 of this report, on terms to be agreed by Chief Officer (Legal and Democratic) and subject to terms representing Best Value. (3) Approve the contract award in accordance with the contents of this report. (4) Acknowledge that regular Town and Community Hub programme updates are presented to the Education, Children and Families Committee. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement (10) Engage with children, young people, parents, carers, and families to help all children and young people reach their full potential Programme of Work Transforming Places Item 14 Page 211 of 216
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However, levels of house building proposed in the local area necessitated a decoupling of the projects due to the future capacity needed for both schools. As a result, the new St Stephen’s Primary School is being constructed on the existing site and adjoining campus which was vacated by Sikeside Primary School when Riverbank Primary School opened. 1.2 In 2019, the councils Policy and Strategy Committee approved the use of the existing Hub South West Scotland partnership agreement as the ‘preferred’ procurement route for the then Schools and Centres Investment Programme (now referred to as the Town & Community Hub Delivery Programme) where those projects comply with the qualifying criteria set out in the Territory Partnering Agreement and subject to a check against the prevailing regulations to ensure compliance. 1.3 The Hubco model is seen as a strategic long-term approach to the procurement of public sector based infrastructure projects across Scotland. By delivering value for money projects through Hub South West, the development timescales would be met while value for money could be ensured through a tested procurement route by early involvement of a Tier 1 contractor. As signatories to the Territory Partnering Agreement, the council contract with Hub South West and Hub South West contract directly with the successful tenderer. 1.4 The procurement strategy approved in 2019 was an interim procurement strategy and was subsequently reviewed in 2022 following a recommendation from audit. Policy and Strategy Committee in 2022, approved a further procurement strategy which recommended a Contract Strategy was prepared for the projects which had not yet been committed to Hub South West. St Stephens Community Hub was procured via Hub South West as the project specific Contract Strategy determined that this was the most viable route to market. 1.5 A New Project Request was issued by the council to Hub South West in September 2022 to design and deliver the St Stephens Community Hub. Following a competitive tender process, the project was awarded to a team consisting of Morrison Construction (Tier 1 Contractor) and Ryder Architects (lead designer). 1.6 St Stephens Community Hub will deliver new learning and teaching facilities for the young people and wider community in the Coatbridge area. The facilities are designed by use by the primary school age pupils during the day. The Community Hub will create a new St Stephens Primary School, an Early Years Nursery class and a LCSC. The facility will provide a Multi-Use Games Area and staff touchdown zones which will be accessible to council staff and public sector partners who will be able to use this space when working within this locality. It will also include a community zone. 2. Report 2.1 A planning application for the development was approved in August 2024. 2.2 The Hub Delivery Team are currently reviewing Stage 2 information from Hub South West. This includes design information, market testing analysis and construction programme. The design and technical information is currently being checked for compliance and ongoing clarifications will be concluded by the end of November 2024. There are not anticipated to be any significant derogations or departures from the Authority’s Construction Requirements. Page 212 of 216
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2.3 The tendered work packages were subject to competition. Only minor commercial queries remain as part of the overall Hub South West financial close process. A final contract price will be concluded by the end of November 2024. 2.4 The project is due to start on site in March 2025. 2.5 The current indicative construction contract value, subject to finalisation, is £34.85m. 2.6 The St Stephens Community Hub project has a bespoke suite of community benefits proportionate to the scale of the project written into the Design & Build Development Agreement (DBDA) contract, placing a duty on Hub South West and their Tier 1 contractor Morrison Construction to deliver on their community benefit commitments. Regular Town & Community Hub community benefits progress updates are provided to the Education, Children and Families Committee. 3. Measures of success 3.1 Delivery of projects in line with the guiding principles linked to this programme of work, which in turn are designed to deliver against the strategic priorities within the Plan for North Lanarkshire. 4. Supporting documentation 4.1 No supporting documentations. James McKinstry Chief Officer (Assets and Procurement) Page 213 of 216
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5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Budget available within the Town and Community Hub Programme’s capital budget. 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Legal and Democratic have been involved in the contractual negotiations to reach Financial Close with Hub South West. 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☒ Page 214 of 216
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5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Yes, existing technologies will be installed within the facility and there may be a requirement at a later date for the incorporation of any new technologies. Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☒ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Yes, the council’s net zero ambitions have been considered when developing this project. The Authority’s Construction requirements place ambitious energy performance targets on the design team e.g. adopting Passivhaus principles for building design, the community hub is powered by an all-electric heating system, a minimum of10% of the buildings anticipated energy use is generated on site through the use of renewable technologies. 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? Details of residual project risks are recorded on project specific risk registers. 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ Page 215 of 216
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If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 216 of 216