Issue - meetings

WELFARE BENEFIT & HRA PROJECT SCOPES AND PROJECT PLANS

Meeting: 22/10/2012 - Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Item 156)

156 IMPACT OF WELFARE REFORM PROJECT SCOPE - OSC PROJECT DISCUSSION PAPER pdf icon PDF 178 KB

The purpose of this briefing is to provide information to the Panel to enable them to discuss and agree the focus and objectives of this project.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received the report as set out in the agenda papers.  Melanie Ponomarenko outlined the following:

 

·                    The paper was a discussion paper for the Committee to consider the impact of the welfare reforms project.

·                    Discussion had taken place with several departments- Council Tax Benefits, Community Housing, Economic Regeneration, Public Health – to see where scrutiny may be able to add value.  Page 131 of the agenda pack outlined these areas.

·                    The Community Housing Service were currently looking at a policy about placing people unable to stay in the borough to other areas, due to the benefits cap.  This policy was due to be reported at the Cabinet meeting in December, with a roll-out in-March-April 2013.

·                    The changes to Council Tax benefits would be agreed by full Council in January 2013.  There were some elements that scrutiny could contribute to – categorising who is protected or enforcement and collection policies.

·                    There were many changes happening.  It would be useful to carry out a mapping exercise to identify any gaps in service, along with what services and advice were available.

·                    It was proposed that the project team held 3-4 meetings to consider the welfare reform project.  Timescales needed to be worked out, and these meetings should be in-sync with the significant milestones as outlined by the services.

 

The Committee discussed the report and made the following comments:

 

·                    This was a good piece of preliminary work to set out the most significant changes that the Council would have to deal with.  These changes would have a major effect on people living in the borough and it was important that the policies were scrutinised before they were implemented.

·                    A special OSC meeting was requested to meet before the December Cabinet meeting. 

·                    The Chair questioned whether OSC had the capacity to carry out detailed scrutiny work and suggested that it may be better to delegate this to a Scrutiny Panel.   However it was noted that cross cutting areas and benefits are in the OSC’s remit.

·                    The Chair agreed to meet with Policy Officers to discuss a way forward.  The Vice-Chair requested to attend the meeting also.

ACTION: Melanie Ponomarenko