Agenda and 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 agenda Item 1 as shown on the agenda in respect of filming at this meeting, and Members noted the information contained therein’.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Jogee and Yvonne Denny.

There were no items of Urgent Business.

Cllr Moyeed declared that he had a prejudicial interest in relation to the work plan at Agenda Item 15. The work plan report included a recommendation for the Committee to agree to transfer the Wards Corner Review from the H&R Panel to OSC. Cllr Moyeed advised that he had provided legal advice to a trader at Wards Corner, however this was against a third party rather than the Council. Cllr Moyeed advised that he would excuse himself for Agenda Item 15.

None.

To agree the minutes of the meeting from 30^th April 2019 as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting on 30^th April were agreed as correct record.

To receive and note the minutes of the following Scrutiny Panels and to approve any recommendations contained within:

Housing and Regeneration – 14^th March 2019

Environment and Community Safety – 8^th April 2019

The Committee received and noted the minutes of the Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel on 14^th March and the Environment and Community Safety Panel on 8^th April, and approved any recommendations contained therein.

RESOLVED

The Committee:

1. Noted the terms of reference (Appendix A of the report), Protocol (Appendix B of the report) and Call-in Procedure (Appendix C of the report) for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. 

2. Established the following Scrutiny Panels for 2019/20: 
   1. Adults and Health 
   2. Children and Young People 
   3. Environment and Community Safety 
   4. Housing and Regeneration 

3. Approved the terms of reference/policy areas and membership for each Scrutiny Panel for 2018/19 (Appendix D of the report)

4. Appointed Councillors Connor and Das Neves as the two Haringey representatives to the North Central London Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee for 2019/20.

Clerk’s note – The Committee agreed to take Agenda Item 10 before Item 9. The minutes reflect the order in which items were discussed rather than the order on the published agenda.

The Committee received a report which set out the final update related to the Corporate Plan priority dashboards. The report reflected the latest data available as at March 2019 and represented end of year performance for 2018/19. Moving forwards, the Committee would be receiving reports on a new performance framework measured against the new Borough Plan. The report was introduced by Charlotte Pomery, AD for Commissioning. 

The Committee was advised that a joint training session for all Scrutiny Members had been set up for the 24^th June that would set out the new performance and financial monitoring frameworks in more detail. The Committee noted that any further training needs around the performance framework could be raised with the Assistant Director. (Members to note).

RESOLVED

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

      i.    Noted the progress made against the delivery of the priorities and targets of the Corporate Plan, Building a Stronger Haringey Together to close off reporting against the Corporate Plan before the transition to reporting against the Borough Plan outcomes for 2019/20 and beyond.

    ii.    Noted that measuring progress against the new Borough Plan outcomes would start from a baseline set as at April 2019, with continued quarterly reporting to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee against the new measures via the creation of new Priority Dashboards which would be published on Haringey’s website.

Verbal update

The Committee received a verbal update from the Leader of the Council, Cllr Ejiofor, on his policy priorities for the coming 12 months. Zina Etheridge, the Chief Executive of the Council was also present. The Leader advised that the Borough Plan sought to demonstrate how the Council would work closely with stakeholders and the wider community to deliver its objectives. The priorities for the administration were closely aligned to the objectives of the Borough Plan.

The Leader set out key areas of delivery in the past 12 months, which also closely reflected Labour’s manifesto commitments.

·         To build 1000 new houses by 2022. The Leader advised that, as of the first year, there were 227 new homes in the pipeline and that there was a natural time delay between acquiring sites etcetera and those houses being delivered. It was anticipated that the majority of homes would be delivered in years three and four. The Committee was advised that the decamp of two blocks at Broadwater Farm was a key challenge  and had put additional pressures on the Council’s housing stock. The Leader identified that the Council had received £262m from the Mayor of London and that there was due to be nearly £1 billion investment scheduled for housing across Haringey, including renovating derelict homes.

·         Violent crime in the Borough – The Youth at Risk Strategy was taking a public health approach to tackle this. The Council had consulted widely on this strategy and had received significant buy-in from partners and local stakeholders. The Council received £1.5m from the Mayor’s Young Londoner’s Fund. As part of the Haringey Community Gold there was a dedicated team of outreach social workers in place to engage with young people at risk. The Leader also set out that the Council had added an additional £250k into the youth services budget.

·         Fairness Commission. 1500 people had contributed to the engagement work around the Fairness Commission. Work was continuing about how we would take the issues raised and tarry them up to the Borough Plan.

·         Making Council Tax fairer through the Council Tax Reduction scheme. The Leader advised that through this scheme the administration had taken 6000 people on the lowest incomes out of paying Council Tax.

For Year 2, the Leader set out the following five priority areas for his administration.

·         Insourcing. Following a number of changes to the portfolios of Cabinet Members, Insourcing had been centralised and would now be the responsibility of the Leader. The Committee noted a lot of other Councils were looking at similar undertakings. Insourcing provided the Council with a lot more flexibility and control over how the money was spent.

·         Community wealth building. This was around ensuring that as much of public sector spending stayed within the local economy in Haringey. The Leader advised that he had established a Cabinet Member for Local Investment and Economic Growth to push this agenda.

·         Housing. The administration was looking to build its first new homes in July at Templeton Road in Seven Sisters. The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

The Panel received a cover report along with the Overview and Scrutiny Annual

Report for 2018/19. As set out in the Constitution, the Overview and Scrutiny

Committee reports annually to full Council on their  Work programme. The

report was introduced by Rob Mack, Principal Scrutiny Officer.

The Chair thanked everyone for their hard work over the last twelve months

and advised that officers would be sending the report out to everyone on the

Scrutiny mailing list. (Action: Rob Mack).

RESOLVED

     I.        That the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report 2018/19 was

approved for submission to full Council.   

The Committee received a report which outlined the main issues arising from the new

statutory guidance on Overview and Scrutiny.  The report also referred to the outcomes

from the recent Scrutiny Stocktake. The report was introduced by Rob Mack, Principal

Scrutiny Officer as set out in the agenda pack. The following was noted in discussion of

the report:

1. The Committee noted concerns around a lack of clarity as to the role of cooptees on the Committee and the fact that what was expected of them did not appear to be clearly set out. In response, the Principal Scrutiny Officer agreed to circulate a review undertaken by CFPS from some time ago. (Action: Rob Mack).  
2. The Committee acknowledged the need to improve training and development for cooptees. It was suggested that this could be set out as part of the Scrutiny Protocol and that this would include setting out their role, term of office and appointment criteria. (Action: Rob Mack).  
3. In response to a question around how the outcomes from the stocktake and the statutory guidance would be picked up, the Committee advised that any changes to the constitution would require a report to full Council. However, an update to the Scrutiny Protocol would pick up the main points raised in the guidance and stocktake.
4. The Chair advised that she expected that the individual Panels would pick up this conversation around the role and content of the Scrutiny Protocol in their respective meetings. The Committee agreed to include some of the Panel Members in the wider discussion around the Scrutiny Protocol and to invite them to the workshop with Cabinet Members and senior officers. (Action: Rob Mack).  

RESOLVED

1. That a revised Scrutiny Protocol be developed on the basis outlined in the report and addressing the issues highlighted, with this process initiated by an independently facilitated workshop of Scrutiny and Cabinet Members and senior officers;

2. That the changes in working methods for Committee and its panels outlined in the report were approved and in particular:

·         More work to take place outside of meetings, particularly where the primary aim is information gathering;

·         Avoidance of excessive numbers of standing items on agendas; and

·         Consideration of how IT can be used to reduce reliance on formal meetings.

3. That the remits of the Committee and its four standing scrutiny panels be reviewed, with recommendations on any changes necessary to be made to the final  meeting of the Committee in the current Municipal Year;

4. That the Committee consider further the arrangements for scrutiny of the budget with the aim of developing a more iterative process and that recommendations on this be submitted to the next meeting of the Committee;

5. That regular briefings for Chairs on Performance, Finance and Risk to be set up once the new reporting framework for these has been finalised. 

The Committee received the Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel Review into Care Home Commissioning. The report was introduced by Cllr Connor, as set out in the agenda pack.

In response to questions around establishing a patient portal, the Committee was advised that the key point was that the portal aimed to ensure that client information from the social care system was aligned other medical information held by the NHS. This was in response to a feeling that mental health services didn’t have the same continuity that perhaps some medical services did. The aim of the portal was to ensure that information and assessments for individual patients was more accessible and that access to all information was available in one location.

RESOLVED

That the Committee agreed the Scrutiny Panel review report into Care Home Commissioning and the recommendations contained therein.

The Committee received the Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel Review in to Day Care Opportunities and Community Centre Provision in Haringey. The report was introduced by Cllr Connor as set out in the second dispatch agenda pack.

RESOLVED

That the Committee agreed the Scrutiny Panel review report into Day Opportunities and Community Centre Provision in Haringey and the recommendations contained therein.

*Clerk’s note – Cllr Moyeed, left the meeting at this point.*

The Committee received a report which sought approval of the work plans for the remainder 2018-20 for the Committee and its Panels. The report also sought the Committee’s agreement to transfer the Wards Corner review from the work plan of the Housing and Regeneration Panel to that of OSC.

The Committee noted that the Scrutiny Review into Business Support was ongoing, but was likely to be a lower priority in the work plan in light of Wards Corner.

RESOLVED

1. To note the work programmes for the main Committee and Scrutiny Panels atAppendix A of the report and agree any amendments, as appropriate.

2. That the Committee agree to transfer the Wards Corner review from the work plan of the Housing and Regeneration Panel to that of the parent committee, Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

N/A.

22 July 2019

1 October 2019

25 November 2019

14 January 2020 (Priority X)

23 January 2020 (Budget Scrutiny)

12 March 2020

Noted the future meeting dates:

22 July 2019

1 October 2019

25 November 2019

14 January 2020 (Priority X)

23 January 2020 (Budget Scrutiny)

12 March 2020