Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED to vary the order of the agenda to accommodate those in attendance.

NOTED that the meeting was recorded.

RECEIVED apologies for absence from the meeting from Tracie Evans (Chief Operating Officer) and Councillor Gideon Bull.  The Committee wished Councillor Bull a quick recovery.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business. (Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with at item 15 below).

None.

Yvonne Denny declared a personal interest as a member of the Community Reference Group for St Ann’s Hospital Redevelopment.

None.

An opportunity to question the Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Social Inclusion and Sustainability , Councillor Joe Goldberg, on his portfolio.

RECEIVED a verbal update on the work of the Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Social Inclusion and Sustainability, Councillor Joe Goldberg, including:

·         plans to celebrate 50 years of the Council;

·         a report on Economic Growth had been presented to Cabinet in January detailing the Council’s plans to tackle unemployment and attract employers to the Borough.  The report would be circulated to the Committee;

Action: Clerk & Vicky Clark

·         Cabinet Members and Officers were working across services to define social inclusion;

·         continued working with partners such as Durham University on sustainability and encouraging green enterprise.

NOTED, in response to questions, that

·         the challenge of providing sites for economic development when there was such demand for housing sites was recognised.  Job density per square metre would be a focus for the Council as less employment land would be available in the future;

·         the success of economic growth would be measured by lower unemployment figures provided in national public statistics;

·         Haringey did not currently have an established Chambers of Commerce for local businesses to network and drive the local economy;

·         the importance of rate relief for small businesses was recognised and there were concerns that some small businesses did not serve the local population but benefitted from high rate relief.

·         the Council was focussing on supporting and developing skills in the textile industry, which had maintained a competitive advantage during recent difficult times;

·         labour shortages in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) were recognised and the Council would focus on promoting such skills to children at primary school to enable young people to compete in the job market and to encourage females in these areas;

·         ‘Prospects’ careers advisors were visiting schools to educate Year 7-9 children before they made GCSE option choices;

·         the Council was always looking to establish arrangements with employers for local job opportunities, particularly as part of procurement processes.  Developers were obliged to provide apprenticeships as part of regeneration and construction projects in Haringey in partnership with Knowledge Innovation Communities (KIC) and Imperial College to ensure high quality, clear pathways for apprentices;

·         a large engineering depot would be established in Hornsey by Siemens and would offer apprenticeship opportunities;

·         the recently established Employment and Skills Board would work with local employment providers to agree strategic direction but it was accepted that local businesses were required to commit to the process;

·         getting young people into employment was the main priority, followed by dealing with the barriers to employment for the long-term unemployed, including social inclusion.

RESOLVED to note the work of the Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Social Inclusion and Sustainability.

To receive a Powerpoint presentation from the Director of Strategic Development, Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trustupdating on the redevelopment of the St Ann’s Hospital site.

The Powerpoint presentation is available by email or in hard copy, please contact the clerk: Natalie.layton@haringey.gov.uk

RECEIVED a Powerpoint presentation by the Director of the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust, Andrew Wright on the redevelopment of St Ann’s Hospital site.  A copy of the presentation can be obtained by contacting Natalie.layton@haringey.gov.uk.

NOTED, in response to questions and discussions, that

·         many of the Victorian structures on the St Ann’s site would remain and be improved, including the mortuary, the water tower, the administration block, Orchard House and Mayfield House as well as the exit onto Mortises Road;

·         two thirds of the western part of the site would be sold for residential purposes and concerns were raised by the Committee that only 14% would be affordable housing;

·         for the redevelopment scheme to be viable the sale of the land needed to achieve £40m;

·         current facilities on the site were inadequate and the redevelopment would result in Haringey having the best facilities in the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust;

·         the planning application approved by Haringey Council on 16 March 2015 was only an outline application for the floor, template and height of the scheme and the Community Reference Group would continue to be consulted on the design.  ;

·         brass plaques and other artefacts would be relocated at a suitable site in the redevelopment.

RESOLVED to note the presentation.

To receive a presentation on the Council’s Libraries Review, from the Assistant Director for Customer Services, Revenues & Benefits Customer Services Business Unit.

RECEIVED the Powerpoint presentation by David Murray and Bernadette Brewster (Heads of Libraries), pages 1-26 of the agenda pack.

During questions from the Committee the following was noted:

a.         More than 1000 people had been consulted as part of the review, including 100 non-users and older people. Feedback included:

·         Older people valued having library services in the locality which they could walk to, where there were familiar faces and activities for older people and where they could meet people they knew in a safe place.

·         Older people said that they would like to see more activities which enabled libraries staff to spend more time with them, such as reading groups.

·         A member of the public in attendance highlighted that people also wanted the libraries to provide links to other services.

b.         The first floor areas of Muswell Hill and Highgate libraries were not fully accessible to wheelchair users.  An access audit had been conducted and the mobile library service would continue with large print and audio books being available.

c.         The Council’s Communications Service would be utilised to promote the activities provided by the libraries service.

d.         Each library will have an individual plan for improvement and it was emphasised that libraries’ opening hours would not be reduced.  Investigation would take place into more effective opening hours such as earlier opening to enable visitors on their way to work.

e.         Unused books were being removed from libraries and an ongoing programme of refreshing book stocks had started.  Officers were asked to ensure new children’s books were provided at St Ann’s library.

Action: Bernadette Brewster

f.          Customer service functions would move from Apex House (which was closing) to Marcus Garvey and Wood Green libraries.  Whilst there would not be a customer service function at St Ann’s library there would be access to some online services from St Ann’s library.

g.         The challenge of redesigning services within the available budget was recognised.

h.         Concerns were raised that the £80,000 being spent on a feasibility study for the future use of the Muswell Hill library could have been put towards installing a lift at the library. 

The feasibility study would explore possibilities for the whole site including selling the site in order to invest the capital receipt into other services and re-provision of the library on the same site.

RESOLVED to note the presentation.

To note an update from the Chief Executive of Homes for Haringey following the scrutiny review of under occupation in social housing completed in April 2014.

RECEIVED the updated service responses further to the scrutiny review of under occupation in social housing and housing benefit entitlement, completed in April 2014, introduced by Andrew Billany, Managing Director, Homes for Haringey, as laid out on pages 27-49 of the agenda pack. 

Mr Billany and Jim Brady, LB Haringey Revenue and Benefits Customer Services Manager answered questions from the Committee.

NOTED that

·         the prospect of the Affordable Homes Bill being amended to allow certain tenants to be exempted from the ‘bedroom tax’ depended on the result of the forthcoming election;

·         the Committee would receive an update on the numbers of tenants who have had to downsize as a result of the bedroom tax;

Action: Andrew Billany

Post-meeting note:

Our data shows that, since 1 April 2013,  there have been 168 tenants affected by the Bedroom Tax who have downsized and moved to a smaller home.  We work with the tenants to help find solutions to the Benefit shortfall, due to the Bedroom Tax, and moving home is one of the options which is explored.  Whilst the Bedroom Tax is a factor in prompting the wish to move, it is part of a series of influences, and we cannot confirm with certainty which of those 168 moves were brought about solely because of Bedroom Tax.

·         the HomeSwapper service, paid for by Haringey, had encouraged tenants to swap between different registered housing providers and not only between the Council’s housing stock.  More work could be done in collaboration with other providers to increase the number of tenants moving to smaller properties but the Council followed good practice in relation to its own stock using its lettings agency and housing allocation service;

·         Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) would be paid based on assessments of individual incomes and exceptional circumstances, for example where there was a gap in wages being paid due to changing jobs or where people did not want to move homes and take their children out of a local school;

• the Council had slightly overspent its £2.465m DHP government allocation this year and is funding the overspend.  Next year the DHP government allocation will reduce to £1.485m but demand for DHP spending was likely to exceed this;

·         the Council provided early intervention where tenants risked being evicted or were facing financial difficulty;

·         the housing service was focused on embedding practices for early intervention.  The number of benefit cap claimants had reduced by approximately 200 as a result of early interventions and more people were claiming working tax credits;

·         the Committee expressed concern at the cost of DHPs to the Council and the risk of increasing homelessness if DHPs were not made.

RESOLVED to note the updated responses to the recommendations as set out in the table in Appendix A of the report.

To receive a verbal update on progress.

NOTED a verbal update from Martin Bradford, Policy Officer, on the progress of the Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel review on the Council’s role in Housing Development. Further evidence gathering would take place and discussions with other local authorities on how they funded their housing build programmes before a final report was presented to the Overview & Scrutiny Committee in June 2015.

To receive a verbal update on progress.

NOTED a verbal update from Martin Bradford, Policy Officer, on the progress of the Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel review of the Job Support Market in terms of the Council’s offer to the long term unemployed. Evidence gathering and site visits had taken place and further work would continue before a final report was presented to the Overview & Scrutiny Committee in June 2015.

The Chair highlighted that the Panel was likely to recommend that a housing support desk be established within the Job Centre.

To receive the final Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel project report on Transition from Child Mental Health Services to Adult Mental Health Services.

RECEIVED the report of the Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel scrutiny review of Transition from Child Mental Health Services to Adult Mental Health Services (pages 51-94 of the agenda pack) introduced by Councillor Pippa Connor, Chair of the Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel and Caroline Swaile (Joint Commissioning Manager) as laid out in the report.

NOTED the seven recommendations on pages 61-62.  The Chair moved that the report and its recommendations be agreed and a discussion followed, including:

·         acknowledgement of the difficulties in engaging with young people during the review;

·         assurances that young people affected by mental health as well as other agencies and the wider community, would be involved going forward with the recommendations;

·         that the frequency of multi-disciplinary and multi-agency meetings, in recommendation 6, could be determined once the meetings were established.

RESOLVED that

(a)       the report, and any amendments made by the Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel at their meeting on 18 March 2015, be agreed; and

(b)       the recommendations in the final report be agreed.

To receive a verbal update on progress.

NOTED a verbal update from Councillor Kirsten Hearn, Chair of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel, on the progress of the scrutiny review into youth transition.  The review focussed on the challenges for young people in achieving their ambitions and further engagement with young people would be taking place and a report would be presented to the Committee in due Course.

To receive the final Environment and Community Safety Scrutiny Panel project report on Violence Against Women and Girls.

TO FOLLOW

RECEIVED the report of the Environment and Community Safety Scrutiny Panel review in to Violence Against Women and Girls (pages 1-32 of the supplementary agenda pack) introduced by Councillor Barbara Blake, Chair of the Scrutiny Panel.

NOTED the 13 recommendations on pages 9-10 setting a framework for further work.

The Committee discussed the report and the following comments were noted:

·         Stay Safe East, an organisation working around hate crimes and domestic violence against disabled people, as well as other charities, should be included in the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategic Group;

·         the definition of domestic violence should incorporate mention of disabled people and women including carers who were not necessarily family members;

·         concerns were expressed about legislation referring to coercive behaviour excluded people without capacity;

·         issues facing disabled women from different communities including the lack of accessible refuge beds for disabled people were raised;

·         the Committee generally agreed that professionals should be trained to ask questions about domestic violence at all opportunities.

Clerk’s note: Yvonne Denny left the meeting at this point (21:15 hrs)

RESOLVED that

(a)       the report be agreed; and

(b)       the recommendations contained in the final report be agreed.

None.

To receive a presentation from the Scrutiny Support Team. This is an opportunity for the Committee to reflect on the work of Overview and Scrutiny over the past year, to agree a process for work programme development for 2015/16, and to discuss any topics to be taken forward.

RECEIVED a presentation from Christian Scade and Martin Bradford (Policy Officers) on the work of overview and scrutiny.

NOTED the following time table:

·         14 May 2015 – Annual Council

·         Late May – Scrutiny Survey, Scrutiny Cafe, Planning for June/ July

·         8 June – first Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting to include membership and terms of reference for scrutiny panels

·         Late June/early July – first round of panel meetings, Q&A sessions with Cabinet Members, identifying future issues and timescales

·         27 July 2015 – Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting to confirm work plans

RESOLVED to note the presentation, including the timetable recorded above and to agree that officers set up a meeting with Scrutiny Panel Chairs to reflect on the work of the panels over the past year.

To receive and note the following Scrutiny Panel minutes and approve any recommendations:

a.         Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel – 22 January 2015

b.         Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel – 22 January 2015

c.         Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel – 22 January 2015

d.         Environment and Community Safety Scrutiny Panel – 27 January 2015

RECEIVED and NOTED the minutes of the following Scrutiny Panel meetings:

a.         Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel – 22 January 2015

b.         Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel – 22 January 2015

c.         Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel – 22 January 2015

d.         Environment and Community Safety Scrutiny Panel – 27 January 2015

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 26 January 2015 and the Special Call-in meeting held on 20 February 2015.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 26 January 2015 and the Special Call-in meeting held on 20 February 2015 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

To be confirmed

NOTED the following dates:

·         8 June 2015

·         27 July 2015

·         19 October 2015

·         30 November 2015

·         17 December 2015

·         25 January 2016

·         8 March 2016