The Cabinet of Knowsley Council met on Wednesday 04 December 2024 and agreed to all of the recommendations that were presented to them. This included the allocation of £1.4 million to buy properties to use as temporary accommodation for people experiencing homelessness, the adoption of a new strategic risk register, and the continued investigation into developing an anaerobic digestion plant to dispose of the borough's food waste.

Temporary Accommodation

The Cabinet approved the allocation of £1.4 million to buy privately owned properties to be used as temporary accommodation for people experiencing homelessness.

This funding was requested in a report prepared by the Executive Director (Regeneration and Economic Development), Dale Milburn, entitled Purchase of Privately Owned Properties for use as Temporary Accommodation). The report explained that this funding would be added to £0.163 million that was left over from a previous allocation for the same purpose that was agreed by the Cabinet in September 2023.

The report explained that Knowsley Council had a statutory duty under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996 to provide temporary accommodation to people they believe may be homeless. The report went on to explain that demand for temporary accommodation has been increasing in Knowsley, as it has in the rest of the country. On 29 October 2024, 89 households in Knowsley were living in temporary accommodation, up from only 17 households in April 2018.

Over the last 12 months, there was an average of 86 Knowsley households being temporarily accommodated. Over the same period, the lowest nightly demand was 72 households, and there was a peak of 100 households. There were nine weeks when demand exceeded 95 households.

To meet the increasing need for temporary accommodation, the Council has already increased its stock of temporary accommodation from 63 to 81 units, including 7 purchased from the private sector, since September 2023.

The report argued that because of the rules around how much money the Council can claim back from the Government in Housing Benefit payments, it was significantly cheaper to house people in council-owned or leased accommodation than in hotels.

The report claimed that this increase in council-owned temporary accommodation had already led to a reduction in the amount of money the council was spending on temporary accommodation. In the first six months of the 2023/24 financial year, the council spent £0.381 million more on temporary accommodation than it received back from the Government. In the same period of 2024/25, the council only spent £0.224 million more than it received back.

The Strategic Risk Register

The Cabinet agreed to adopt a new Strategic Risk Register. The register was presented to the meeting in a report, Strategic Risk Register, written by the Chief Executive, Mike Harden.

The report explained that the risk register is reviewed annually, and that it is used to identify and assess the risks and opportunities faced by the council as it implements the priorities set out in the Knowsley Council Plan 2022-2025.

In his report, the Chief Executive explained that the strategic risks identified in the register were those which will have a severe financial impact and/or significantly damage the reputation of the local authority.

The report explained that many of the risks faced by the council were outside of its direct control.

Many of the strategic risks included in the Strategic Risk Register are outside of the Council’s control and are significantly impacted by policy and funding decisions made by the Government. In addition, the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cost of living crisis, a lack of investment by the previous Government in public services, and the wider economic challenges facing the United Kingdom will continue to present significant risks to all local authorities for some time.

The updated register identifies 41 strategic risks, 4 of which are new, and 2 of which have been removed completely. In total 8 of the risks have had their risk rating changed since the last time the risk register was reviewed.

New Risks

The four new risks are:

• Ofsted Inspection of Children’s Social Care. This risk is rated as High and recognises the risk to the council's reputation, and the potential financial implications, of a negative Ofsted inspection.
• Care Quality Commission Inspection of Adult Social Care. This risk is rated as High and recognises the risk to the council's reputation, and the potential financial implications, of a negative inspection of Adult Social Care. The report explains that there are also concerns about how effective the new inspection regime will be, with other councils who have already been inspected complaining about the process.
• Challenges arising from the Council’s inter-dependencies with the National Health Service and partner organisations within the health sector. This risk is rated as High.
• Failure to influence partner agencies to act in terms of reducing health inequalities and improving mental health. This risk is rated as Medium.

Closed Risks

The two risks that have been removed from the register are:

• Effective Integration of Health and Social Care. This risk has been closed, and its previous rating of Medium removed from the register, and replaced by the new risk of Challenges arising from the Council’s inter-dependencies with the National Health Service and partner organisations within the health sector.
• Health and Social Care Covid-19 Response and Recovery. This risk has been closed and replaced by the broader risk of Future Pandemics and Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Changes to Risk Ratings

The risk rating of the following risks has been reduced from High to Medium:

• Ensuring Financial Stability for the Council in 2024/25. The report explains that this is because the council has already set aside enough money to balance its budget this year.
• The Lack of Clarity regarding the National Government’s Policy Agenda. The report argues that this is because the new Government's legislative agenda is being introduced through Parliament and is likely to present a wide range of opportunities (and related risks) for local authorities as part of the Government's stated intention toresetits relationship with the local government sector.
• Elections/Voter Identification. This is because the May 2024 local elections, which saw the introduction of voter ID requirements, were successfully delivered.

The risk rating of the following risk has been increased from Medium to High:

• Information Governance and Record Management. This is because the storage facilities used by the Council are currently inadequate to meet ongoing needs.

The risk rating of the following risk has been increased from Low to Medium:

• Inability to Maintain Current Levels of Business Support. This is because Knowsley Council will receive 40% less in the funding that will be used to replace the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which itself replaced EU funding.

The risk rating of the following risk has been reduced from Medium to Low:

• Failure to Implement the Council’s New Human Resources and Payroll System Successfully. The report explains that this is because the new system is now business as usual.

A Circular Food Waste System for the Liverpool City Region

The Cabinet endorsed the continued exploration by the Liverpool City Region Waste Partnership of the development of a new anaerobic digestion plant to process food waste.

The decision was requested in a report by the Assistant Executive Director (Neighbourhoods and Commercial Services), Denise Best, entitled Proposals for the Transition to a Circular Food Waste System for the Liverpool City Region.

The report explains that the Environment Act 2021 has placed a duty on all councils in England to start collecting food waste separately from other domestic waste by March 2026.

The report goes on to argue that while Knowsley Council already had a target of achieving Net Zero carbon emissions from its services and buildings by 2040, there were also good financial reasons to reduce the amount of food waste going to landfill or incineration. The report argues that:

food waste is currently sent to generate “energy from waste” as part of other general domestic waste at a cost of circa £100-£120 per tonne. Such significant costs are avoidable, as recycling food waste through anaerobic digestion is substantially cheaper at a cost of £20-30 per tonne – suggesting an annual average saving of circa £5.000m could be achieved across the City Region based on the current estimates that approximately 50,000 tonnes of food waste in the City Region are being sent to generate energy from waste.

The report goes on to explain that a recent study, commissioned by the Liverpool City Region Waste Partnership, which is made up of officers from all six of the councils in the Liverpool City Region, had concluded that the best way to achieve these aims was to develop an anaerobic digestion plant to process the City Region's food waste. The report explains that this would not only provide cheaper waste disposal for the councils, but also contribute to the circular economy by both generating green gas that could be used to power the bin lorries that collect the food waste, and fertiliser that could be sold. The report also argues that such a scheme would create jobs in the city region.

The report recognises that there are several risks associated with such a scheme. One risk is the eligibility criteria of the Government's Green Gas Support Scheme, which the report argues would provide a key source of funding for any anaerobic digestion plant, require the plant to be operational by 2028. The report goes on to explain that each of the City Region's councils will need to agree to support the scheme before any decision is made, and that a suitable location, which the report estimates would need to be around 2 hectares in size, would need to be found.