Agenda and draft minutes

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The chair of the meeting has the discretion to terminate or suspend filming or recording, if in his or her opinion continuation of the filming, recording or reporting would disrupt or prejudice the proceedings, infringe the rights of any individual or may lead to the breach of a legal obligation by the Council.

The Chair referred Members present to item one on the agenda in respect of filming at the meeting and Members noted the information contained therein.

Apologies for absence were received from Yvonne Denny and Lourdes Keever

There were no items of urgent business.

None.

There were no deputations, petitions, presentations, or questions.

To agree the previous minutes as a correct record of the meeting.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the previous meeting on 8th June 2023 be agreed as a correct record.

To receive the 2022-23 provisional financial outturn report.

The report was introduced by Councillor Carlin, Cabinet Member for Finance and Local Investment as set out in the agenda pack at pages 13 to 52.

By way of introduction, the Panel was advised that the provisional financial outturn is completed every quarter and provided an analysis of departmental budget management performance and projections on where the department would be for the rest of the financial year.  The report presented was the provisional outturn for the fourth quarter and the outturn for the year 2022- 23.

The findings outlined that by the end of the financial year, the council had overspent just over £16million in Adult’s and Children’s Services which was tracked throughout the year and the forecasts were accurate.

The borough had high level of deprivation and was struggling with budgets. This was because of the overspend being primarily in Adult Social Care and it has been difficult to manage additional costs. However, prudent financial management resulted in ending the year just under budget.

The Council’s Corporate Management Team and Service Leads had undertaken a dedicated review of the budget over the previous two weeks, to look at what officers could do to manage the budgets going forward. Detailed proposals were received and were being reviewed.

The following arose during the discussion of this item:

1. The Chair sought clarification on table 1 on page 19 of the reports pack. The Chair suggested for the table to be clearer, easier to understand and more explanatory about what the figures mean. This would be particularly beneficial for new members coming on the Council. Josephine Lyseight, Assistant Director of Finance provided clarity on Table 1 – Revenue Budget Monitoring Provisional Outturn 2022-23 as set out in the agenda pack on page 19. The table outlined the impact of proposed movements to/from reserves on the final position and the movement from the outturn forecast at Qtr3. The first column set out the allocated budgets for 2022-23. Officers advised that the outturn should be identified before any transfers are made to/from reserves and this was reflected on the second and third column in the table. The revised outturn was shown on the 4^th column and the highlighted column outlines the revised outturn to budget variance and this was the key column which showed the current position. The overspend was highlighted as £16.381 M over budget. Corporate budgets, movements and contingency had brought the final underspend down and this could be seen from the general revenue total
2. In response to a question about thedelay in publishing the statement of accounts as it was noted that there was a mandatory requirement for the council to publish the document by May 2023. The Committee was advised that the delays were due to the lack of audit activity post pandemic and the accounts were not audited for about 2 years preventing the team from closing their accounts. Opening accounts were not reviewed or audited in the previous years. In terms of this issue being on a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Verbal Q&A

The Committee undertook a Q&A Session with the Cabinet Member for Finance and Local Investment. The following arose as part of this session:

a)    The Committee queried about plans in managing progress with the Haringey deal, participatory budgeting and enabling residents to have a say over their priorities.  In response the Cabinet member advised that the Council had been in austerity since 2010 and there are parameters that would be set by the officers. The team would have to stay focused on the priorities and commit to the manifesto commitments. This would be delivered for the residents and would have to be deliver within budgets.

b)    In response to a follow-up question, the Cabinet Member advised that in terms of participatory budgeting, residents don’t have a say in how the money is spent but officers are working on improving ways to involve residents in having an input with the way council spends money.  Officers are encouraged to engage with residents around certain pots of money.  However, it was commented that very few residents understand local authority finance and were not aware, for example, that the council spent 43-44% of its overall revenue budget on Adult Social Care and two-thirds of the budget on Adult’s and Children’s services.

c)    The Committee sought clarification on whether there would need to be cuts due to the overspend, as this issue had been raised by residents. The committee was advised that it would not be necessary to be cutting services, but instead looking at ways at running services in a different way. Officers had also been tasked to do this over the last two weeks. Ideas had been put forward from offices across different directorates about how things could be done better and in a more cost-effective way.

d)    In terms of scrutiny and ensuring savings are made, the Cabinet Member advised they would be looking carefully at the savings proposals.

e)    The committee asked for further information about costs around agency staffing. In response, the Cabinet Member acknowledged that temporary staffing costs were a concern and that the administration was looking at ways to bring this spend down. It had been difficult to recruit staff post Brexit in full time permanent positions.

f)     The Committee heard that at the time of budget setting, robust advice had been sought from external advisors and that nobody had foreseen the extent which interest rates would rise.

RESOLVED

Noted

To receive an update on leisure.

To follow.

The Committee received an update in relation to leisure services, and in particular provided background information to the decision to reconsider the provision of leisure services in Haringey, part-way through the existing 20-year contract with Fusion Lifestyle and following the successful insourcing of New River Sport and Fitness in August 2021. The report was introduced by Zoe Robertson, Head of Place, as set out in the secondary report pack at pages 1-5. Cllr Emily Arkell, Cabinet Member for Culture, Communities and Leisure was also present for this agenda item. The following arose during the discussion of this agenda item:

1. The Committee sought assurances around what was meant by the assertion in the report that the current contract was good for the Council financially and that it could not be replicated in the current market. In response, officers advised that it was recognised that the leisure industry had changed since the contract was signed, particularly in terms of the rise of budget gyms. Most of these types of facilities did not have swimming pools, which were very expensive to run, and had very few staff working there. A lot of staff were taken out of the Council leisure centres during the pandemic, which impacted their maintenance and repairs. The provisions of the existing contract could not be replicated in the current market and any changes made to the existing service provision had to be mindful of that.
2. In relation to a question about the source of water ingress, officers advised that the water had been tested and it was believed to be freshwater. Negotiations with Thames Water were ongoing.
3. In response to a question about what ran off the high-voltage electrical system that was still in operation, officers advised that this was mainly for the circulation of water in the swimming pool.
4. The Committee commented that there were significant equality implications in relation to the only pool in the east of the borough having been out of action for since 31^st December 2022. The Committee also highlighted the lack of access to pools for schools and emphasised the lifesaving skills that learning to swim provided to children and in particular children on the autism spectrum, who may be naturally attracted to water. The Committee sought assurances about when this facility would reopen. In response, officers advised that a tender process was underway for the works to the high-voltage system which was a very specialised field, and that once these works had begun the high-voltage supply would have to be switched on and all of the systems checked to see whether any damage may have been caused. In light of this it was expected to take several more months and that it would realistically be towards the end of the year before the pool was up and running again.
5. The Committee enquired as to what contingency plans had been drawn up to provide leisure facilities for those in the east of the borough, given it will have been out of action  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The Committee considered its work programme as set out at pages 53-82 of the agenda pack.

Members set out that they would like an update at a future meeting on the income raised from major events in Finsbury Park. The Members wanted to know what the additional income generated had been spent on at Finsbury Park, and whether there was any scope for residents to have a say in how this was spent in future. The Members also expressed an interest in whether the additional funding for Finsbury Park from events has meant that core funding has been redirected to other parks and green spaces in the borough. (Action: Clerk).

The following items were put forward for the October meeting:

·         Finance Q1 update

·         Performance Q1 update

·         The impact of the introduction of voter ID requirements on elections

The following items were put forward for the November meeting:

·         Parks – Income from Major Events

·         Leisure follow-up update.

RESOLVED

     I.        That the current work plan for 2022-24 was noted

    II.        That the Committee gave consideration to the agenda items and reports required to its meetings for 2023/24.

  III.        That a change of name for the Climate, Community & Culture scrutiny Panel to: Climate, Community Safety & Culture scrutiny Panel, was agreed.

N/A

·         12 Oct 2023

·         27 Nov 2023

·         9 Jan 2024

·         18 Jan 2024 (Budget)

·         11 March 2024

·         12 Oct 2023

·         27 Nov 2023

·         9 Jan 2024

·         18 Jan 2024 (Budget)

·         11 March 2024