Issue - meetings

The Chief Whip moved and it was agreed by the meeting that a personal statement be received from the Leader of the Council in relation to recent financial events reported in the press.

The Leader of the Council – Councillor Meehan read a statement in respect of the Council’s deposits in Icelandic banks.  He referred to the communication sent to all Councillors, and also communicated to all staff the previous Thursday – 9 October 2008 and he felt that it was now appropriate now to provide Council with the latest information available and what the Council is doing. (Copies of the statement were circulated to the meeting following it being read, and a copy was available on the Council’s web site).

In giving a detailed analysis of the situation the Leader stressed that the concerns expressed by local people about the situation, and the amount of money which was involved was fully recognised.  The Leader gave his assurance to everyone that the day to day running of Haringey’s essential front line services was not affected.  The Council was doing all that it possibly could together with other local authorities who had found themselves in a similar position, the Local Government Association and Central Government, to recover all of the money frozen by the Icelandic government and authorities. The Leader also reiterated that this situation was an unprecedented situation for the global economy, affecting institutions and business across the world.

The Leader of the Opposition responded to a number of the points contained within the statement and asked that assurances be given to a full independent  investigation  as to how this situation had arisen, with representatives of the opposition group sitting on such an enquiry, and that the findings of such be reported back to the Full Council for debate.  Other Members contributed to the comments expressed with regard to concerns of the workforce as to the possible non-payment of salaries, and the overall effect on the Council’s Pension fund.

The Leader responded to a number of points by referring to the contents of his statement, which clearly stated that the were no issue as regards to the non payment of workforce salaries, noting that the current pension fund investments were effected overall by the current global financial crisis but not by the particular investments in Icelandic Banks.

The Mayor thanked the Leader for his statement and the contribution of Members.