Issue - meetings

Question and answer session with the Cabinet Member for Resources and Culture, Councillor Jason Arthur, including updates on libraries and culture.

RECEIVED a verbal update from Councillor Arthur on aspects of his Cabinet portfolio.

NOTED:

-           Customer services – officers have developed an online solution which will allow residents to perform key transactions via a dedicated secured website (‘My Account’).  The first phase was due to be launched in January 2016 and will contain two key areas – benefits and council tax.

-           Works were progressing on the redesign of Marcus Garvey Library, with constructors now on site.

-           Budget – it was a challenge when dealing with the scale of the cuts required (£24m), and to change delivery models at the same time.  There would be an overspend in the Adults and Childrens services, and it was hoped that this would be mitigated by using reserves, but this would have to be monitored by officers to ensure that the overspend was reduced by the end of the financial year.

In response to questions from the Committee:

-           Joint working with other boroughs – Councillor Arthur was due to attend a shared services meeting with Camden and Islington in January to explore the possibility of joint working with regards to ICT.  The Council currently utilised a number of pan-London / regional procurement frameworks, and was currently looking at ways where joined up working could work, however it would not be easy and would only work if Members were comfortable following that route.

-           Other ways to raise finances – there were discussions around raising the Council Tax by 2% to plug the Adult Social Care budget, however this would only raise around £1.2m.  The most obvious way for a Council to make money would be through growth.  The Autumn statement changed the rule that Councils could not sell capital assets to raise revenue, this may be a conversation that Members may have in the future.

-           Spending cuts in Adult Services and the impact on service delivery and service users – further information to be provided on the long term impact on services users of cuts to services such as day centres, and whether closing services now would have an effect on funding available to the Council further down the line.

ACTION: Chief Operating Officer

-           Council tax rise – there were a number of factors to consider, and the obvious benefit would be the increase in funds, however it was noted that Haringey had one of the highest council tax rates in London.   A decision would be taken by Cabinet and Council in February 2016.

-           How effective were the council at paying bills? – The Council currently could be doing better at paying bills.  A new payments system was introduced in 2014, and was meant to improve the payments.  However due to teething difficulties, it meant that at one point the Council owed around £30m.  This figure had since been reduced to £16m, £11m of which were invoices from the past 30 days, and £5m was in dispute.

-           Council tax collection – it was important to strike the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74