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 Agenda Item 1 as shown on the agenda front sheet, in respect of filming at meetings, and Members noted the information therein.

To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies for lateness were received from Cllr Alexandra Worrell, who joined the meeting from 7.17pm until the end of the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Sarah Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning.

Cllr Matt White reported that, although there were no new agenda items, a supplementary agenda pack had been circulated which included an updated version of the report on the Community Safety Scrutiny Review. This replaced the version of the report which had been included in the original agenda pack and would be considered by the Committee under Item 8 on the agenda.

Cllr White explained that the revisions to the original report had been required because there was a need to update and clarify of the recommendations and fully reflect the decision-making routes of the Council and the Police to ensure that there were no issues with the response and actions to be taken to take the recommendations forward. This had been agreed with the Chair of the Climate, Community Safety & Environment Scrutiny Panel and was accepted as a late item of business.

None.

None.

To consider the position at Quarter 3 (Period 9) of the 2024/25 financial year including General Fund (GF) Revenue, Capital, Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) budgets. The report focuses on significant budget variances including those arising from the forecast non-achievement of approved Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) savings. 

To follow.

Cllr Dana Carlin, Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services, introduced the report on the finance update for Quarter 3 noting that there wasn’t a substantial difference to the situation for Quarter 2, although there had been a slight deterioration in terms of the demand for and the cost of adult social care services and temporary accommodation. The Council was continuing with the measures previously put in place to reduce non-essential spending. Additional funds had been added to the Adult Social Care budget for 2024/25 but, due to the increase in demand, this money had not been sufficient. In addition, some savings had not been achieved over the course of the year and the detail of this was set out in the agenda papers.

Cllr Carlin, Taryn Eves, Director of Finance, other Council officers and Cabinet Members then responded to questions from the Committee:

• Cllr White commented that there appeared to have been some success in a number of areas but that the efforts to improve the financial situation had been more than offset by further deterioration in the adult social care position. Cllr Carlin responded that almost all local authorities had experienced increased pressures in Adult services, Children’s services and temporary accommodation. Taryn Eves explained that the position in the report was from December 2024 and that the impact of some of the spending controls might not be seen until Quarter 4 and would then have the biggest impact in the 2025/26 financial year as they became fully embedded. However, she added that there were still some areas of risk, including a rise in the figures for some demand-led services and for bad debt provision. The position set out in the report was before the use of corporate contingency and it was highly likely that it would be necessary to use Exceptional Financial Support from the government to balance the position for 2024/25.
• Cllr White commented that there could be further pressures caused by the increased global financial instability. Taryn Eves responded that the rates of inflation, interest rates and the cost of services were particularly relevant, particularly in relation to construction costs which could impact on the capital programme.
• Asked by Cllr White how much of the Exceptional Financial Support was likely to be needed, Taryn Eves said that it was not possible to put a precise figure on this until the outturn report had been produced, but acknowledged that it was highly likely that some Exceptional Financial Support would be required for 2024/25.
• Cllr Gunes requested an explanation of why a younger cohort of people required support from adult social care services. Cllr Lucia das Neves, Cabinet Member for Health, Social Care and Wellbeing, explained that a higher incidence of conditions such as autistic spectrum disorders had been seen in the Borough for some time and that some service development, such as the Autism Hub, had been in response to this trend. Other associated health conditions could add to complexity with recent estimates that there were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

To consider the latest performance information at Quarter 3 of 2024/25, as set out in the CDP performance framework 2024-26.

To follow.

Margaret Gallagher, Head of Performance & Business Intelligence, introduced the report for this item, which covered the Quarter 3 period from October to December 2024, and had previously been submitted to the Cabinet meeting on 18^th March 2025. She highlighted Appendix 3 to the report which provided full details of progress against the 188 activity lines in the Corporate Delivery Plan with 70% of the milestones being achieved and delivered on time. A summary KPI dashboard was also included in the papers to track the trends and the direction of travel from quarter to quarter with 92% of activities currently rated as Green or Amber. This was an improved position since Quarter 2 and there had been some notable achievements including delivering on new Council homes and bringing leisure services in-house. The 8% of Red ratings totalled 15 individual lines across the 8 themes.

Given the large number of individual lines, Cllr White proposed that the Committee should focus mainly on the Red rated lines.

Margaret Gallagher, other officers and Cabinet Members responded to questions from the Committee:

• Referring to paragraph 1.6 of the report, Cllr Connor noted that the first Young People Extraordinary Council had taken place in October 2024 and asked about the impact achieved so far. Jess Crowe, Corporate Director of Culture, Strategy & Communities, said that an example of impact had been a follow-up engagement event with the whole Cabinet which had taken place with the young people from the Council meeting and others from local schools. This had focused on developing the programme for the London Borough of Culture and exploring the kind of things that they would be interested in seeing. There was some specific funding to support the children & young people strand of the Borough of Culture programme, so the Council meeting had been timely in helping to shape the programme. She added that there would also be other examples of impact on issues such as climate change and SEND.

• Referring to paragraph 1.15 of the report, Cllr Connor requested further details on the review of internal governance processes including on timescales and oversight. Taryn Eves reported that she chaired the new Procurement Board which had met twice so far and was officer-led with representation from Legal, Procurement and each of the Directorates. It also had strong links to the Capital Board. Lead officers would be brought in as required for the different contracts being considered. The Board would test the value for money of the contracts, check compliance of the procurement processes and have an understanding of the pipeline of procurements expected in the coming years.
• Referring to paragraph 4.2 of the report, Cllr Connor noted that the point on the preparation for the CQC Assurance inspection, with the aim of achieving an outcome of ‘Good’, had been rated as Green although the outcome of the inspection had actually been ‘Requires Improvement’. Cllr das Neves emphasised that the Green rating reflected the preparation for the inspection which had included holding a mock inspection  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40.

Cllr White noted that, as explained at the beginning of the meeting, a supplementary agenda pack had been circulated which included an updated version of the report on the Community Safety Scrutiny Review. Cllr Buxton, Chair of the Climate, Community Safety and Environment Scrutiny Panel, reported that the Panel had held a one-off Scrutiny Review meeting on 11^th March 2025. Two members of the Youth Panel had been invited to attend the meeting which had also been attended by the Borough Commander, the Cabinet Member for Communities and Council officers. Discussions topics had included ward panel meetings, antisocial behaviour, stop and search and youth issues in the Borough. Recommendations from the report included:

• Closer working and better and more frequent communication between the Youth Panel representatives and Community Safety Panels.
• To review and strengthen the Ward Panel Meeting Structure as a main tool of communication between residents, local organisations and the Police.
• For the Community Safety Team to assist in communications and support residents finding venues.
• For Ward performance figures to be reported on a quarterly basis to the Ward Panel meetings.
• For antisocial behaviour reporting to be more prominent and user friendly.

Cllr Gunes requested further details on the recommendation for quarterly reporting to the Ward Panel meetings. Cllr Buxton explained that the Panel considered that it was not explained to Ward Panels how frequently Police officers were taken out of wards for various reasons.

Asked by Cllr Worrell for clarification about paragraph 3.9 in the supplementary report about the short-term nature of projects, Cllr Buxton explained that this was in response to issue about funding for Council projects being set for three years or less and the need for projects to have longer-term visions than this.

Asked by Cllr Connor about the links between the Police and schools, Cllr Buxton referred to the links with the Community Safety Partnership, co-chaired by the Borough Commander, as set out in paragraph 3.1 of the revised report. He added that this was on an infrequent basis, but that more frequent meetings could be pushed for.

Cllr White informed the Committee that some of the recommendations concerned specific actions for the Police and the Borough Commander who had been sent the report to consider. Although the recommendations were agreed at a meeting of the Climate, Community Safety and Environment Scrutiny Panel on 11^th March 2025, it was possible that minor technical amendments would be required following feedback from the Borough Commander. Cllr White therefore proposed that the report on the Scrutiny Review to be agreed subject to these minor amendments and that authority to approve the minor amendments be delegated to the Democratic Services and Scrutiny Manager in consultation with the Chair of the Climate, Community Safety and Environment Scrutiny Panel.

RESOLVED – That the report of the Scrutiny Review on Community Safety be approved subject to minor technical amendments following feedback from the Borough Commander.

RESOLVED – That the authority to agree these minor technical amendments be delegated to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

Cllr Buxton introduced a draft scoping document for a Scrutiny Review on the prioritisation of cyclists within the Walking and Cycling Action Plan. He noted that this had emerged following a discussion on cycling at the Scrutiny Café consultation event and other feedback from residents to Councillors regarding cycling infrastructure, particularly with regards to the increased use of e-bikes. There were plans for three scrutiny sessions, with residents, outside experts and focus groups as detailed in the draft scoping document. The Review would look at ways of improving cycling within the Borough and improve safety for cyclists and vulnerable road users.

Asked by Cllr Connor how the perspective of pedestrians would be captured in the Review, Cllr Buxton said that the Panel would reach out to local groups and that, while there was not a dedicated pedestrian groups, there were disabled groups and other organisations that represented vulnerable road users.

Cllr White observed that there were significant differences in terms of vulnerability and potential conflict between different types of bicycles such as e-bikes compared to pedal bikes. Cllr Buxton confirmed that these differences would be considered as part of the Review.

RESOLVED – That the draft scoping document for a Scrutiny Review on the prioritisation of cyclists within the Walking and Cycling Action Plan be approved.