Agenda and minutes

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

(a)  To agree the minutes from the meeting of Cabinet on 6^th January 2026

(b)  Matters arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 6^th January 2026 were agreed and signed as a true record. There were no matters arising.

Report of the Director of Finance and Resources

Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Finance and Resources (Section 151 Officer), that advised of the forecast outturn position for revenue and capital expenditure and the Council’s treasury management activity as at the end of December 2025. The net revenue forecast position after management action was for spend in 2025/26 of £1.6m over budget. Whilst not a wholly comparable position, at the same point in 2024/25, there was a projected overspend of £7.0m. Appendices to the report provided: the Revenue Position - detailed service breakdown of forecast outturn position; the Capital Programme - Analysis of Budget/Technical Changes; the Capital Programme - Analysis of Programme Acceleration/(Rescheduling); and Prudential Indicators.

The Council continued to face budget pressures within Adults Social Care, Property Services and Development, City Services and Regeneration and Economic Development. These financial pressures are being caused by a combination of continued service demand, complexity and market conditions in social care, legacy inflation impacts, and income shortfalls due largely to the economic climate. 

The Council’s capital spending was projected to be £174m and included major schemes progressing across the city. The size of the programme and the nature of the projects within it continued to be fundamental to the Council’s role within the city. Although prevailing inflation rates looked to be stabilising, legacy inflationary pressures continued to affect capital projects. The position would continue to be monitored to ensure projects were delivered within available resources.

RESOLVED that Cabinet:

1)  Approves the Council’s third quarter revenue monitoring position.

2)  Approves the revised forecast capital outturn position for the year of £174m incorporating: £1.1m net increase in spending relating to approved/technical changes and £11.1m of net programme rescheduling of expenditure to future years.

Report of the Director of Children’s and Education Services

Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Children’s Services and Education that sought approval of the receipt of the Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies Programme Grant for April 2026 to March 2029, and associated spend.

The Council currently operated 8 Family Hubs to deliver place-based integrated offers to families across the city, including the offer from the buildings, through an outreach community model and a new digital offer.

Coventry City Council was selected as one of 75 Local Authorities to join the national Family Hub and Start for Life Programme, covering the period April 2022 to March 2025 (first 1001 days), including financial investment to strengthen its offer to babies, children and families, building on its previous achievements. The Programme was then extended for a further year, covering April 2025 to March 2026.

The Programme had already received £6m of grant funding from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Department for Education (DfE) across the 4 years 2022/23 to 2025/26 to deliver the Programme objectives. Coventry was also formally recognized as a trailblazer in this approach, one of only 13 sites across England, and had received many national ministerial and governmental visits and had contributed to national evaluations.

The Programme had been governed by a Family Hub Programme Board, supporting the work of 7 workstreams to ensure that all the national minimum expectation, and most of the “go furthers”, of the framework were delivered within the Coventry Family hub offer, in line with the MOU associated with this grant.  An annual review report was provided, as well as regular updates, to the Cabinet Member for Children and Young people, the Health and Wellbeing Board, and other forums on request.

Further funding had now been allocated to Coventry for financial years 2026/27 to 2028/29, with a provisional allocation of £6,117,000, subject to the Council meeting the current Programme expectations up to March 2026 and the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding to formalise the agreement to meet the new Programme expectations. Cabinet was requested to accept receipt of the grant into the local authority and associated spend, in order to deliver the Family Hub Offer in line with the Programme Guidance.

RESOLVED that Cabinet recommends that Council:

1)  Accepts the grant funding and agrees planned associated spend for the purposes outlined in the report in respect of the Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies Programme for the financial years 2026/27, 2027/28, and 2028/29.

2)  Delegates authority to the Director of Children’s Services and Education, following consultation with the Director of Finance and Resources (S151 Officer) and the Director of Law and Governance, to enter into the necessary legal agreements to accept the funding.

3)  Delegates the authority to the Director of Children’s Services and Education to grant funding to third parties in line with Programme expectations.

4)  Continues to agree that future reports on this grant and the Best Start Family Hub Programme are received by the Cabinet Member with responsibility for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 61.

Report of the Director of Regeneration and Economy

Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Regeneration and Economy on proposals for a creative industries strategy in Coventry. Appendices to the report provided: the Coventry Creative Industries Strategy 2026 – 2029; the Coventry Creative Industries Strategy Delivery Plan; and the Equality Impact Assessment (EIA).

Cabinet also considered a Briefing Note which outlined Scrutiny Co-ordination’s consideration of the report at their meeting on 5^th February 2026 and made recommendations for Cabinet’s consideration.

Whilst having nationally recognised strengths in creative industries, Coventry did not currently have an adopted creative industries strategy. This had become more pertinent following the publication of the Government’s Creative Industries Sector Plan in June 2025, including significant sector investment for 2026-2029. This included a £25m allocation to West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) to drive growth of the creative industries, aligning with the West Midlands Growth Plan which identifies creative industries as a priority sector.

Ahead of the Government sector plan, the Coventry City Council Culture and Creative Economy Team commissioned an independent Coventry Creative Industries Mapping Report in May 2025. The purpose was to provide fresh evidence about size of the sector, as well as to identify key opportunities and challenges. The mapping involved stakeholder consultation through roundtables and focus interviews. A public event was held on 24 June 2025 to share key findings and collect further sector evidence, followed by an All-Members Seminar on 6 October 2025. The report was published on the Council Website on 2 October 2025. 

The mapping report and its key recommendations had strongly informed the development of the creative industries strategy, which as a key decision, was submitted to Cabinet for adoption. The Strategy would provide a future roadmap for the development of creative industries in Coventry, as well as provide an opportunity to clearly articulate priorities to potential funders and other stakeholders. The adoption of the Strategy was time sensitive given the WMCA funding detail due to be confirmed by the end of March 2026. 

The Strategy was developed with stakeholders and partners by the Council’s Culture and Creative Economy team. There were no new and direct cost implications for the Council within the Strategy itself. The accompanying Delivery Plan was based on either existing funding or capacity, but with the ambition to secure further funding in the future, including potentially from the WMCA through alignment with West Midlands Growth Plan.

RESOLVED that Cabinet:

1)  Accepts the recommendations/comments from Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee.

2)  Approves the draft Coventry Creative Industries Strategy 2026 – 2029 set out in Appendix 1 to the report and the associated strategy delivery plan set out in Appendix 2 to the report.

3)  Delegates authority to the Director of Regeneration and Economy, following consultation with the Director of Law and Governance, the Director of Finance and Resources, and the Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, to:

a)  Finalise the Coventry Creative Industries Strategy 2026 – 2029 and associated strategy delivery plan and thereafter adopt the Coventry Creative Industries Strategy 2026 – 2029 and associated strategy  ...  view the full minutes text for item 62.

There are no outstanding issues

There were no outstanding issues.

There were no other items of public business.