Transcript

Transcript

But are there any comments first, before we move on to the minutes? So we'll take those as agreed. Do I need to sign those now? Do I know? Questions for Cabinet? No questions for Cabinet have been received. So let's now move on to the matters for So further to the first meeting of the Council we agreed the new Cabinet members and we've asked the officers to task with a report Are there any comments? Okay I am going to take this formally as a vote All those in favour I know you're not but I just want it to be clear for the record so that's fine that's carried I'm now going to move on to the appointment for outside bodies and I'm going to ask I think it's Councillor Merpin Mr Chairman I'd like to propose the proposals I'll land in the paper although there is one amendment which is I'd like to propose that County Council Azar Ali gets moved on to the Nelson Nelson Town Board and Nelson Town Deal Any other comments? All those in favour? Now I'm going to move on to the proposed closure of the sixth form provision at Moorpark High School at Moorpark High School and Sixth Form Preston That's Cabinet Member for Education and Skills Councillor Matthew Salter Thank you Leader I do have a few comments to make on this item So in line with the DfE's statutory guidance the governing body of Moorpark High School and Sixth Form took the decision to undertake a statutory consultation process to discontinue their Sixth Form provision due to concerns about its financial and educational viability The Sixth Form at the school has very low student numbers and a comparatively narrow curriculum offer in its Sixth Form both of which are impacting on the financial viability of the school The governing body has made considerable subsidies from the funding for 11 to 16 year old pupils to maintain the Sixth Form provision and in the 2024 to 2025 financial year alone this has amounted to around £177,000 Following the publication of the statutory notice and proposal on the 13th of March 2025 the representation consultation period took place from the 13th of March to the 2nd of May 2025 The school wrote to a range of stakeholders to make them aware of the consultation They displayed the public notice at the school entrance in reception at the local library and in the local medical centre as well as ensuring it was published in the Langshire Evening Post at the start of the consultation period The meeting was held with the current Sixth Form students and the headteacher was available to discuss the proposed closure at the Year 11 parents' evening in April The County Council also published the public notice and proposal documents on our website Only one response was received during the consultation period There are a number of alternative providers within a reasonable travelling distance who between them offer a wide range of provision which cover the same court or subject area as the current offer at Moorpark High School in Sixth Form and over 80% of the Year 11 pupils at the school already choose to study these alternative providers I just would emphasise that this process was initiated by the governors at Moorpark The current Sixth Form numbers are unlikely to be sustainable No current Sixth Formers will be affected by this proposal and the school would be able to use the space that's currently occupied by the Sixth Form to expand student numbers in years 7 to 11 if this was to go ahead So I'm happy to take any questions on this but other than that I'm happy to move the report Councillor Azar Ali Thank you Councillor Salter for the report and for the introduction I know that there's a more comprehensive report coming to the July meeting setting out school places in Preston but could you just confirm that the students are in the second year at the Sixth Form that they'll continue to complete their education next year Through you, Leader yeah, Councillor Ali I'm very happy to confirm that that is the case all of the students who are currently there will be able to finish their education within the Sixth Form And if I may just add a comment obviously when before we're campaigning as a political party we said we put residents first in every decision we made from a financial point of view but I also think an impact on services if we can What's very interesting about this particular situation is that the school will complete that education so people have an interrupted Sixth Form education but also it can potentially free up school places subject to the school agreeing to it in that area of Preston where we do know there is an issue with school places so I think it really does put the residents front and centre is what is happening Okay so all those in favour That's carried We're now going to move on to the approval to allocate growing places funds money to Lancashire Combined County Authority and this is going to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Growth County Councillor Brian Moore Thank you Mr Chairman What this report is about is the Growing Places Fund which amounts to around about £19.4 million This money was originally allocated by government to the Local Enterprise Partnership however with the dissolution of the Local Enterprise Partnership the money then transferred into the County Council's bank account With the devolution paper that came through it was made clear by government that that money should transfer onto the Combined Council yeah the Combined County Authority the CCA and so this report is about making that transfer and making arrangements to delegate the transfer of staff or the staffing arrangements to maintain that fund as it's transferred to the Combined County Authority there are 30 pages to this report I don't intend to go page by page through it I'm happy to answer any questions if anyone has any any questions or comments okay all those in favour that's carried we're going to move on to the Cabinet Member for Health Improvement and Disparity Substance Use Additional Grant Programme and the Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing County Council Daniel Matchett will take this thank you Chairman so this came to my attention probably about last week I've had consultations with Dr Sackhey with regards to the allocations of monies from the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities seeking to approval here in Cabinet to approval of the allocation of drug and alcohol treatments and recovery improvements £10.6 million going to external bodies and a lot of companies that organisations that I've used in the community as a mental health nurse Maundy Relief Lancashire Women Red Rolls Lancashire these are already doing some really good work on the front line so I've absolutely no problem from looking through the report and discussing with Dr Sackhey the allocation of these funds thank you are there any questions or comments Councillor Azar Ali thank you chairman can I just start off by saying that this is a really excellent report it's welcome that year on year for the last couple of years we've had this grant from central government to continue the work that's needed out there in the community I think I can say as former cabinet member for health also listening to other practitioners around the country we've probably had one of the best treatment services in the country and we've probably got one of the best public health teams in the country and we're blessed to have that there's some really good stuff in here of people who've read the report but I just want to pick up particularly and I've raised this with Dr Satie as well is around the catamine crisis in places like Burnley I was with county councillor pick up and a number of other colleagues from Burnley last Friday were talking about this and there's a real need to learn from people who've gone through that experience and there are some really good initiatives like Arm to Hub etc and I would ask the cabinet member whether he would meet with myself and the councillors from Burnley to talk about that and how we can bring people together to learn from the experiences but also do more prevention work I think county councillor Daniel matches agreed to that he's just been nodding yes just to come back on that absolutely agree some of my frontline work in A&E we've got a massive influx of ketamine users and it's prevalent in festivals and everyday life young people becoming dependent on ketamine and it's a very sad thing to see it certainly needs some attention and some investment so I totally agree with that thank you and I've seen that Dr Sakt is in the chairs over there so obviously you can take that forward therefore we'll move the recommendation there in the report all those in favour that's carried we'll now move on to a supplementary procurement report that will be taken by the cabinet number for data technology customer and efficiency county councillor David Dwyer thank you leader cabinet is recommended to approve the commencement of two procurement exercises relating to highways activities and also the approval of a call-off contract for a framework agreement for the provision of equipment to enable people to be supported to live independently in their own homes in lieu of or in addition to traditional care support cabinet is recommended to approve the commencement of procurement exercises in respect of Chorley Botany Bay and Heartwood Roundabout using an open competitive procedure and street lighting maintenance using a council framework which consists of three separate lots and multiple contractors are expected to seek to join the framework and the appendix to the procurement routes recommended and the detail of the services to be provided and in respect of the community equipment service cabinet is asked to approve the award of a call off contract utilizing the Kent county council framework for the supply of community equipment services for an 18 month period the appendix sets out the reasons for this recommendation it is considered that this short term agreement will give the council a period of time to review service and supply arrangements and establish the best route to market for any future contract arrangements cabinet also asked to authorize the executive director of adult services in consultation with the relevant cabinet members for adult social care and myself to commence a further procurement exercise for the future provision of community equipment services in respect of all three of these items when the procurement processes are complete any order of contracts will be made under section 9.5251 of the council scheme of delegation to officers and the cabinet is asked to agree all these recommendations thank you are there any comments or questions okay we'll go to the vote all those in favour that's carried we now move on to the information item which was the urgent decision taken by myself are there any comments or questions okay we'll move forward onto item 12 which is the urgent items for business you'll be aware that there is a report circulated circulated and the purpose of this report is to ask the cabinet approval to start a Lancashire County Council efficiency review of the council's financial management procurement and associated governance arrangements our review will start as soon as the decision takes effect to ensure we can secure a continuous review and evaluation of the effectiveness of services in accordance with the value for money principles as this is an important responsibility of the cabinet as a new administration we're keen to prioritise efficiencies in ensuring value for money for the residents of Lancashire and delivering the required budget savings officers will be driving forward this key priority and we will set up a cabinet working group to oversee and support our officers to make sure we deliver I envisage a further report to cabinet in the autumn setting out the findings and next steps I therefore ask for the cabinet to agree the recommendations I set out in this report to commence the review and delegate section 151 officer in consultation with myself and the chief exec and monitoring officer to agree the detailed scope of the programme review and you've got the report and recommendation either on your comments councillor Ali yeah thank you for that I mean this normally takes place every year anyway it's a standard procedure from what I can remember and it's something that the council has done I think it's really important that when the stuff is coming forward that it appears before some form of scrutiny there used to be a budget scrutiny committee but I know at the political governance meeting we did talk about the possibilities of some changes and maybe public accounts scrutiny committee so that members across the council can look at some of the ideas and where we can work collaboratively together to make the savings and to make sure that council is on a level playing field great anybody no I'll just sum up obviously there's been a lot of noise about this doge process it is our intention to like any political party to engage with its national party but that will be done through proper process and procedure okay so we have the recommendation all those in favour if we move on to agenda item 13 which is the date of the next meeting is scheduled for Thursday the 3rd of July 2025 2pm and then we'll move on to a notice of intention to conduct business in private so therefore please could all people leave the room who shouldn't be here