Issue - meetings

Briefing and answers to questions – The Leader, Councillor Claire Kober.

The Committee received the Leader’s portfolio briefing, advance questions submitted by Members and the written responses supplied. The following was noted, further to supplementary questions:

Re Q1 The Leader emphasised that the judgement in respect of the Wards Corner judicial review had been very clear on the narrow grounds on which it had succeeded and that there were very few circumstances where an application completely went away.

Re Q3 It was agreed that the link to the online version of Smart Talk be circulated to Members and it was suggested that future issues of Smart Talk include some of the suggestions arising from the staff suggestion scheme.

Re Q4 The Leader advised the Committee that Haringey People (HP) was not intended to replicate services offered by the local press in terms of advertising, and that the Council had to be careful with regards to who advertising space was offered to in HP as there was an expectation from the public that companies featured in HP were endorsed by the Council. Costs were being reduced by reducing the number of copies produced, and the number of pages, in particular the local pages.

Re Q8 The Leader outlined that challenges to marketing the policy bulletin format to other local authorities were that the policy bulletin was specifically tailored to Haringey, and this would need to be amended and that with the abolition of the CAA, it was felt that many in-house policy departments now had the capacity to develop similar formats and there would therefore be less market demand.

Re Q9 In response to a question regarding the condition of the housing market locally, the Leader stated that Haringey’s housing market had been robust, but that as an area with a high level of public sector employment, this may change going forward.

Re Q10 Stuart Young, Assistant Chief Executive, People and Organisational Development, reported that the Council was currently reviewing all discretionary payments. The amounts were decreasing as a result, but it was emphasised that such payments accounted for a very small proportion of the overall payroll.

Re Q11 The Leader advised that the target for reducing the number of consultants by the end of September 2010 had been met. The Committee was advised that there were a number of areas where it was essential for work to be carried out by an independent party, and therefore consultants with good working knowledge of the local area were needed. A report on the use of consultants would be brought to the Committee meeting on 2 December.

Re Q15 In response to a question on how Members could access the outputs of the Online Strategy Board, the Leader advised that any formal recommendations from the Board would be via the usual decision making processes such as the Cabinet or the relevant Committee but that the majority of the work of the Board was operational, and for action at officer level.

Re Q16 Regarding an opt-in e-communication or email strategy for residents, Mr Young advised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74