Agenda and minutes

Companies Governance Executive Committee
Tuesday, 23rd July, 2024 3.00 pm

Venue: Ground Floor Committee Room - Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham, NG2 3NG. View directions

Contact: Mike Carey  0115 876 3760

Items
No. Item

12.

Update on the Chair and appointment of Vice Chair

Minutes:

The Committee noted that appointment of Councillor Ethan Radford as Chair of the Committee for the remainder of the municipal year 2024/25.

 

Resolved to appoint Councillor Linda Woodings as Vice Chair of the Companies Governance Executive Committee for the municipal year 2024/25.

 

In the absence of Councillor Ethan Radford, Councillor Linda Woodings took the Chair for this meeting.

13.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

Councillor Ethan Radford – personal.

14.

Declarations of interests

Minutes:

None.

15.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 372 KB

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 21 May 2024.

Minutes:

16.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 188 KB

For noting and discussion.

Minutes:

17.

Futures Business Plan - Public Presentation pdf icon PDF 3 MB

Minutes:

This item does not contain any decisions eligible for call-in.

 

Jennie Willock, Chief Executive for Futures, presented the Futures Business Plan, highlighting the following points:

 

a)  Futures is a not-for-profit social enterprise, jointly owned by Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council, with a 30-year history of delivering careers advice. Previously known as Connexions, Futures is about empowering people, businesses, and communities to achieve more, with careers information and guidance as its core purpose;

 

b)  the business plan is centred around four strategic goals:

 

  i.  delivery and impact, providing a high quality service;

  ii.  our people and culture, providing a positive working environment;

  iii.  delivering excellence, maintaining a culture of continuous improvement;

  iv.  financial sustainability, while delivering value for money for commissioners of services.

 

c)  Three key themes run through the business plan:

 

  i.  simplicity, focusing on the core purpose of the organisation rather than trying to follow the funding too far from Futures’ area of expertise;

  ii.  high performance culture;

  iii.  customer centricity.

 

d)  Futures has a clear corporate intent, blending national programmes with more bespoke local provision, to provide a holistic customer journey for all their service users. The people Futures works with are often those furthest from education or employment, so no one single intervention is sufficient to complete their journey. Futures tries to use all services and funding streams to maximise an individual’s progress. This can be separated into three distinct areas:

 

  i.  careers, the core function of providing careers information, advice and guidance;

  ii.  targeted support, reaching out to vulnerable groups who face the most significant barriers to education, employment and training;

  iii.  skills, to help individuals who may be disengaged from the traditional academic pathway gain skills that are valued by employers and that will help them reach their goals.

 

In the discussion which followed, and in response to the questions of the Committee, the following points were made:

 

e)  you do not have to be in receipt of benefits or have a DWP referral to access support. Last year around 15,000 people accessed support through Futures, through a variety of different projects and funding streams. The National Careers Service, for instance, is a free universal service open to anybody aged 19 to 70, while some schemes have eligibility requirements, such as unemployment or earnings below a certain threshold;

 

f)  it is positive to see that Futures is going back to its core function, and that it works with hard-to-reach members of the community rather than focusing on ‘easy wins’. Futures plays a key role in supporting Nottingham City Council’s and Nottinghamshire County Council’s economic plans, drawing in funding that Councils may not be able to access directly and influencing how nationally commissioned programmes are delivered locally.

 

The Committee noted the presentation.

18.

Exclusion of the public

To consider excluding the public from the meeting during consideration of the remaining items in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the basis that, having regard to all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Minutes:

19.

Futures Business Plan - Exempt Discussion

Report of Corporate Director for Growth and City Development.

Minutes:

This item does not contain any decisions eligible for call-in.

 

Jennie Willock, Chief Executive for Futures, gave the exempt presentation on the Futures Business Plan.

 

Details of the report and subsequent discussion are set out in the exempt minute.

 

Resolved to note the Futures Business Plan 2024/25.

 

Jennie Willock and Tim Richmond left the meeting at the conclusion of this item.

 

20.

Exempt minutes

To confirm the exempt minutes of the meeting held on 21 May 2024.

Minutes:

21.

Futures Group Strategic Review

Report of Corporate Director for Growth and City Development.

Minutes:

Nicki Jenkins, Shareholder Representative for Futures, presented the report on the Futures Group Strategic Review. Details of the report and subsequent discussion are set out in the exempt minute.

 

Resolved to approve the recommendations as set out in the exempt report.

 

Nicki Jenkins left the meeting at the conclusion of this item.

 

22.

Review of the Companies Governance Handbook

Report of Corporate Director for Finance and Resources.

Minutes:

Kevin Barr, Finance Manager for Companies, presented the report on the Review of the Companies Governance Handbook. Details of the report and subsequent discussion are set out in the exempt minute.

 

Resolved to approve the recommendations as set out in the exempt report.

 

23.

Appointment of Non-Executive Director to Nottingham Highways Limited

Report of Corporate Director for Finance and Resources.

Minutes:

Kevin Barr, Finance Manager for Companies, presented the report on the Appointment of Non-Executive Director to Nottingham Highways Limited. Details of the report and subsequent discussion are set out in the exempt minute.

 

Resolved to approve the recommendations as set out in the exempt report.

 

24.

Companies' year end financial performance report

Report of Corporate Director for Finance and Resources.

Minutes:

This item does not contain any decisions eligible for call-in.

 

Kevin Barr, Finance Manager for Companies, presented the Companies’ year-end financial performance report. Details of the report and subsequent discussion are set out in the exempt minute.

 

Resolved to note the companies’ year-end financial performance report.