Issue - meetings

Verbal Update

The Panel undertook a question and answer session with Cllr Amin, the Cabinet Member for Corporate and Civic Services on her portfolio. The Cabinet Member gave a short verbal update:

·         The update and refit programme for Haringey’s libraries was underway and works had begun at Hornsey Library.

·         The Physical Activity and Sports Strategy was in the process of being implemented. This looked at how leisure facilities could be more accessible and included investment in green gyms in parks.

·         The Committee was advised that Haringey had been shortlisted for the London Borough of Culture.

·         Haringey was going through a redesign and restructure of its HR processes. This included a recruitment focus in supporting local people. Examples of this included the development of a local graduate trainee programme and working with local schools on apprenticeships.

The following arose from the discussion of this item:

a.    The Committee sought assurances around what meetings the Cabinet Member had with The Friends of Libraries groups, following the concerns raised about Marcus Garvey at OSC in July. In response the Cabinet Member advised that she met with the Friends of Marcus Garvey about every 2 months. The Cabinet Member commented that one of the issues raised at OSC was around staffing levels in the children’s library. There was now a member of staff focused on the children’s library. As part of a review of children’s library provision, the service had introduced a libraries promise and were meeting with children and parents to talk about how to improve provision. 

b.    The Committee enquired how access to leisure services and undertakings to improve physical activity levels, would be monitored. In response, the Committee was advised that there was significant monitoring and data available on this, particularly around take-up levels for the concessionary rate and engagement with the summer activity programme. Officers agreed to share a breakdown of the take-up for the concessionary rate for leisure facilities. (Action: Zoe Robertson).

c.    In response to a question around whether consideration had been given to bringing the Hays contract back in-house, officers advised that they were approaching the final year of this contract and discussions were ongoing around any potential future redesign of that service. However there were concerns around commercial sensitivity that prevented discussing this in a public forum.

d.    The Committee welcomed the previous use of autism-friendly colour-coding of library books in Marcus Garvey and enquired whether this could be brought back. In response, officers agreed to look into this and give further consideration about how to develop a consistent approach across Haringey libraries. (Action: Charlotte Pomery).

e.    The Committee raised concerns about the use of Wood Green and Marcus Garvey Libraries as customer service centres and sought clarification as whether Cabinet Member planned to continue with this policy. In response, the Committee was advised that significant capital resources had been invested into these sites to merge libraries and customer services. However, the Cabinet Member acknowledges some of the Committee’s concerns and advised that they were looking at ways  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9