Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 14 January 2026 were agreed and signed as a true record.  There were no matters arising.

Briefing Note of the Director of People and Facilities on:

(a)  Recruitment, Retention and Sickness

(b)  Diversity and Inclusion, Community Inclusion

The Board considered a briefing note and presentation which provided details of the current workforce analytics and where, possible, historical data had been included for comparison purposes, this gave Members a comprehensive overview of the workforce and related metrics.

The presentation covered:

·  Staff turnover

·  Staff numbers

·  Reported protected characteristics

·  Two-year absence comparison

·  Course attendance statistics and mandatory training completion data

·  Apprentices - data on standard and level

·  Recruitment information

·  Diversity and Inclusion

The Board questioned Officers and received responses on a number of matters relating to the presentation including:

·  Management of long-term sickness

·  Impact of staff turnover

·  Scope of the diversity and inclusion strategy

·  Range of apprenticeships offered.

RESOLVED that the Board note the contents of the report on current workforce data. 

Briefing Note of the Director of Finance and Resources

The Board considered a briefing note and presentation which provided an update on the distribution of Government funding covering both national and local funding changes and focusing on relative core spending power.

The presentation set out:

·  Fair Funding headlines

·  Council Tax equalisation

·  Core spending power including national change in 3-year CSP by authority type

·  Settlement 2026/27 and 3-year position

In summary:

·  Fair funding introduction was a positive for Coventry in terms of financial resources.

·  Core Spending Power still assumes all local authorities increase Council Tax by 5% every year.

·  The full benefit of Fair Funding will occur in 2028/29 once the transitional period finishes.

·  Coventry’s resources would increase year on year to reflect the transitional arrangements.

·  By 2028/29, Coventry would be significantly closer to the national average of Core Spending Power.

It was noted the Budget report would be publicly available from 16 February 2026.

RESOLVED that the Board note the presentation and briefing note.

Report of the Director of Law and Governance

The Work Programme was noted.

There were no outstanding issues.

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as matters of urgency because of the special circumstances involved

There were no other items of business.