That the Director of Regeneration and Place, having consulted the Chair and Spokespersons of the Economy, Regeneration and Development Committee, approves a three-month extension of the Business Support Services contract to 31 December 2021.

This report seeks approval for the appropriation of land owned by the Council to form part of the Milton Pavements development which is then to be developed by Wirral Growth Company.  The appropriation is in accordance with the Option Agreement between Wirral Borough Council and Wirral Growth Company.

That the Director of Regeneration and Place approves the appropriation of land comprising part of the Milton Pavements, Birkenhead development, as identified in paragraph 3.3 of this report, for planning purposes.

This report presents the Children, Young People and Education Committee with the School Improvement Strategy 2021-24. The COVID-19 pandemic has been the most challenging emergency the Borough of Wirral and the Council has responded to in recent times. The nature of the pandemic saw the Council and education settings react at speed to implement Government policy and local priorities to limit the spread of the virus, protect the health of all our residents and ensure that our children and young people could continue to access education. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education of young people and our educational institutions cannot be underestimated and it is essential that we now focus on a new era of change and support moving forward. The local authority is committed to provide schools with an enhanced school improvement service offer, in recognition of the reduced offer of school improvement, given the need to divert resources to focus on dealing with COVID. This School Improvement Strategy as attached at appendix 1 sets out the Council’s vision and ambition around school improvement. It forms part of a wider multi-factorial Education Strategy which will provide a new transformational and holistic approach to education across all areas, including early years, social care, early help and beyond. The report and strategy are aligned to proposed priorities of Wirral Council’s Plan 2026. -Brighter futures for all regardless of their background.

Resolved – That

1)  the School Improvement Strategy 2021-2024 be endorsed.

2)  the approach taken and ongoing support given to the school system by Wirral Council be noted.

3)  an update on progress towards implementation of the strategy be reported back to the Children, Young People and Education Committee in 6 months.

4)  the School Improvement Strategy is identified in the Council’s Corporate Risk Register as the mitigation of educational under attainment caused by the pandemic, the Committee therefore agrees that alongside the three year strategy, it is necessary to develop an 18-month Covid-19 Education Catch Up Plan, to identify key actions, resources, target groups and key performance indicators to ensure that the adverse impact on our children’s life chances that may be caused by the pandemic are minimised, with the plan being reviewed by this Committee in 2022.

Resolved – That additional funding of £195,112 be allocated from the Public Health Grant for activity to address the consequences of Covid-19.

This report provides the Adult Social Care and Public Health Committee with an update on funding received from national government by Wirral Council for Drug Treatment and Recovery services.

Wirral Council has received three funding allocations to achieve reductions in drug related deaths, offending and illicit drug use. These are:

1. £2.8 million as part of the ADDER/Accelerator programme for which funding has now been provided for a two-year period 2021-2023.

2. £111,364 to increase capacity for residential detox for drug misusers during 2021-22. This is the Wirral share of collective funding of £651,991 allocated to Cheshire and Merseyside. Wirral has been put forward as the named lead Council to receive this funding on behalf of the nine Cheshire and Merseyside councils.

3. £210,000 to deliver the Individual Placement Support (IPS) scheme, led nationally by Public Health England, supporting drug users into employment. This funding is for 2 years.

Resolved – That

1)  The planned proposals for spending the £2.8million ADDER/Accelerator Programme grant funding as set out within the report and in more detail in Appendix 2 be agreed.

2)  the £651,991 in-patient drug detox grant funding allocated on behalf of the 9 Cheshire and Merseyside councils and the £111,364 share for Wirral Council be accepted.

3)  the funding of £140,000 per annum for two years granted to Wirral Council to deliver the national Individual Placement Support (IPS) into employment scheme be accepted.

Resolved – That

1)  The Director of Public Health be authorised to re-commission the Wirral Information and Advice service totalling up to £2,332,898 (£1,166,449 per annum) for an initial one-year contract (1st April 2022 – 31st March 2023) with the option of a one-year extension.

2)  Delegated authority be given to the Director of Public Health to award the tender to the successful bidder following the tender process.

Resolved – That agreement be given to jointly commission with the Merseyside PCC, NHS England and Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton and St Helens Council a three-year contract (1st April 2022 – 31st March 2025) with the option of two one-year extensions, within the approved budget of £250,000 (£50,000 per annum) for the provision of a Merseyside Aftercare Service for Survivors of Rape and Sexual Assault.

Resolved:

That the Committee does not support the option presented in the report to procure a weed control contract for a term of up to 4 years and wishes to have more information before deciding on a long term option for weed control.

Committee would like further information on a fully integrated in-house service, covering all aspects of edge of highways and street maintenance including but not necessarily limited to grass cutting and weed control.

Committee therefore requests that the Director of Neighbourhoods reports back to the Committee as soon as possible with the above information. In the meantime the Committee agrees to the commencement of a tender process for the procurement of a weed control services contract for a period of one year with an option to extend for 1 year.

The Committee also agrees to give delegated authority to the Director of Neighbourhoods to award the one year contract with an option to extension for 1 year within approved budget and in accordance with the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) criteria.

Resolved - That the recommendations contained within minute 26 of the Policy and Resources Committee of 28 July 2021 be agreed in that:

The Treasury Management Annual Report for 2020/21 be agreed

Resolved – That the recommendations contained within minute 24 of the Policy and Resources Committee of 30 June 2021 be agreed in that:

(1) the additional year end re-profiling of £27.4m from 2020/21 to 2021/22 be noted;

(2) the financing of the Programme for 2020/21 be noted;

(3) the approval of the virements referred to in Appendix 3 of the report;

(4)  the Programme for 2021/22 and beyond be kept under review to ensure it is realistic, deliverable and affordable.

Resolved – That the recommendations contained within minute 23 of the Policy and Resources Committee of 30 June 2021 be agreed in that:

1.  Council approved the 2020/21 budget of £46.574m in relation to Covid-19 funding for Council use and note the additional £22.963m of funds that is to be made available to the Council for onward relay to other organisations as passported funding. This recommendation follows on from the recommendation made by Policy & Resources Committee on 17th February 2021, following the recent notification of additional funding; and 

2.  the debts in excess of £10,000 included within Appendix 2 be approved for write off against the Provision for Bad Debts.

The purpose of the report is to inform of the Director of Care and Health’s decision in respect of the Award of the Discharge to Assess Community beds following a procurement exercise.

Provider D  Lot 1 – 22 Nursing Beds

Provider B   Lot 2 – 8 Residential EMI beds

Resolved – That

1)  the award of the contract to the highest scoring tender within the approved budget and in accordance with the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) criteria be approved.

2)  the progression to give notice of the award of the contract be approved.