Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber

Contact: Julia Cleary  Email: julia.cleary@wolverhampton.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for absence

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Asha Mattu.

2.

Declarations of interest

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cllr P Bateman declared a non-pecuniary interest as a member of the Canal and River Trust.

 

It was confirmed that there was no requirement for members do declare an interest if they were a governor at a local school.

3.

Financial Inclusion Strategy - Engagement and Consultation

[To receive a presentation from Alison Hinds, Deputy Director of Children’s Social Care and Kate Lees, Partnership Manager Children’s Services]

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Board welcomed Alison Hinds, Deputy Director of Children’s Social Care and Kate Lees, Partnership Manager Children’s Services, to the meeting.

 

Board considered the presentation, but it was resolved that due to not having had sufficient time to process the information contained in the presentation, that any discussion on the matter be deferred until a later date. It was noted that the full Financial Inclusion Strategy was scheduled to come before the Board on Tuesday 15 March 2022 as pre decision scrutiny.

 

Resolved:      That the item be deferred and considered at a subsequent meeting.

4.

Council Plan, Medium Term Financial Strategy and Performance Framework pdf icon PDF 1 MB

[To receive a presentation from Charlotte Johns, Director of Strategy; James Amphlett, Head of Insight and Performance; Claire Nye, Director of Finance and Alison Shannon, Chief Accountant]

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Scrutiny Board welcomed David Pattison, Chief Operating Officer; Claire Nye, Director of Finance; Charlotte Johns, Director of Strategy, Allison Shannon, Chief Accountant and James Amphlett, Head of Insight and Performance to the meeting.

 

Scrutiny Board considered the Council Plan, Medium Term Financial Strategy and Performance Framework. Scrutiny Board noted the aims and objectives highlighted in the Council Plan and what it would be seeking to achieve for residents, businesses, and the city. The Council Plan was linked and supported by a detailed performance framework setting out exactly how the Council would measure and evaluate the impact of the aims and objectives listed.

 

Scrutiny Board noted the importance of understanding and monitoring how the Council was performing in relation to the Plan objectives and how the Council’s finances were linking in and being used to support and promote the Plan objectives and framework.

 

Board considered the matter of digital by design and noted that it was also important to take into consideration the number of children who were living in poverty. It was agreed that a huge amount of progress had been made and a lot of good work done to help citizens be more digitally connected but that there were still issues with connectivity at home and with poor internet connections.  It was stated that driven by digital was a cross cutting theme in the Council Plan because it touched on every facet of life. Underpinning this was the forthcoming digital Wolverhampton Strategy that was currently being consulted on and had been considered as pre-decision scrutiny recently. This Strategy aimed to look at digital in the round and it was stated that the city had really pushed ahead in terms of digital infrastructure whether that be full fibre broadband in the ground or 5 G masts in the sky, it was vital to ensure that the infrastructure was in place.  Officers were however still very conscious of the challenges around inclusion and poverty and were taking care to ensure that people had got the means to access equipment and the skills and support required to be able to capitalise on the opportunities that digital could bring. 

 

Some members noted that even though the Council Plan was refreshed every year they struggled to see the benefits for residents and how it translated into positive outcomes for the city. The majority of Board members welcomed the new plan. The importance of having a council plan was welcomed as a way of bringing together the council’s strategic priorities which would then inform how the council aligned its budget and resources to deliver those outcomes whilst also linking in with performance and improvement issues. A key part of the Council Plan was about the monitoring of performance going forward and in the context of the Levelling Up White paper it was also an opportunity to articulate what levelling up meant in in the context of our city to support the ongoing conversations with central government

 

Board agreed that having a council plan was vitally  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.