Agenda and draft minutes

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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.

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To approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 12th February 2026 as an accurate record.

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as an accurate record. It was noted that the outstanding action points would be followed up with responses circulated.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 12^th February 2026 be approved as an accurate record.

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

- Children & Young People’s Scrutiny Panel – 15^th January 2026

The minutes of the following meetings were noted:

• 15^th January 2026 – Children & Young People’s Scrutiny Panel

Report to follow.

Cllr White reported that he had been informed that it had not been feasible for the Metropolitan Police to provide the report covering the statistical data requested by the Committee in time for this meeting. He reported that no formal explanation for this had been received by the Committee. He added that he had requested that the Police attend the meeting to provide a verbal update, given that the written report was not available, but this invitation had been declined.

Cllr White emphasised that this had been a straightforward request from the Committee about how group-based sexual exploitation crime was being recorded and classified in Haringey in order to determine whether the Committee should conduct further scrutiny work on this issue. Cllr White expressed his dissatisfaction that this information had not been provided, having originally been requested by the Adults & Health Scrutiny Panel in December 2025.

Cllr Connor also expressed disappointment that the Police were not present to provide an update on this issue. She highlighted the relevance of the Baroness Casey’s 2025 audit report on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse which made recommendations on the recording and categorisation of police data in this area and on joint partnership working locally. She proposed a recommendation that the 2026/27 Overview & Scrutiny Committee should consider conducting a Scrutiny Review based on the local data and Baroness Casey’s recommendations. She acknowledged that the membership of the Committee was likely to have changed by 2026/27 and that it would be for those Members to determine whether or not to proceed with this recommendation.

Cllr Gunes spoke in favour of this recommendation, citing the Council’s responsibility to children and young people in the Borough, particularly those to whom the local authority had a corporate parenting responsibility. She also suggested that a future Committee could choose to delegate this Review to a Scrutiny Panel as appropriate.

Cllr White noted that the remits of the Scrutiny Panels would be determined at the beginning of 2026/27 but that the recommendation could be included as part of a handover report summarising the issues considered in the 2024/26 work programme to the next version of the Committee.

RESOLVED – That the 2026/27 Overview & Scrutiny Committee should consider conducting a Scrutiny Review on the subject of group-based child sexual abuse, specifically to consider the data available regarding relevant offences in Haringey and how the findings of Baroness Casey’s recent audit report on this issue could be applied in Haringey.

To consider the Budget report on the Council’s financial position at the end of Quarter 3 of 2025/26.

The report included with this item was first published as part of the agenda papers for the Cabinet meeting on 10th March 2026.

Cllr Dana Carlin, Cabinet Member for Finance & Corporate Services, introduced the report for this item, which provided an update on the Council’s financial position at the end of Quarter 3 of 2025/26, and made the following points:

·       The overall position had improved since Quarter 1 when a £34m overspend had been projected. This had fallen to £23.4m at the end of Quarter 2 and had now been reduced further to around £19m at the end of Quarter 3.

·       There were around £8m of historic parking arrears and, while this was disappointing, it was not a service pressure that would impact on the following year’s budget.

·       The improvements in the service overspend were mainly in the areas of Adult Services and Temporary Accommodation.

·       There had been an improvement in the Housing Revenue Account with reduced overall expenditure of £1.3m, due to improved contractor performance management and lower capital financing costs.

·       Capital spend had been reduced and this would mean reduced revenue expenditure in future years. Capital spend was challenged throughout the year to ensure that anitwould deliver savings or income or was essential/emergency work.

·       The government had recognised the need for additional funding for Boroughs such as Haringey with an additional £25m in core spending over the next three financial years. There had been increases in areas such as homelessness grants and the government had also committed to fully covering the cost of SEND services in future which would help.

·       It was understood that the monthly financial reports received by officers had shown further improvements in month 10.

·       She acknowledged the hard work of officers in achieving these improvements but noted that there was a lot more to do for the Council to get to a point of financial sustainability.

Taryn Eves, Corporate Director of Finance & Resources, added the following points:

·       The £19m of projected overspend was expected to be reduced further by £8m of uncommitted corporate contingency. She clarified that the projected overspend was in addition to the £37m of Exceptional Financial Support

·       Certain factors had been included at the Quarter 3 stage rather than at the end of the financial year in order to provide a more accurate forecast. These factors included bed debts provision, use of reserves and external finance.

·       The improvements in the 2025/26 position could be partly attributed to the additional controls that had been put in place, further details of which were provided in Appendix 10. There had also been less volatility in the second half of the year and more accurate forecasting.

·       The Council was still carrying some risks in areas including parking, adult social care debt and commercial property.

·       The delivery of savings was still not being fully achieved and so this needed to be the focus of attention next year.

Cllr Carlin and Taryn Eves then responded to questions from the Committee:

·       Cllr White observed that much of the improvements in the 2025/26 position appeared to be due to the reduction in demand rather than reductions in price and asked about the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 98.

To consider the report on the Council’s progress against the actions outlined in the Corporate Delivery Plan (2024-26) as at the end of Quarter 3 of 2025/26.

The report included with this item was first published as part of the agenda papers for the Cabinet meeting on 10th March 2026.

At the outset of this item Cllr White noted that, due to a clash with the Staff Awards event, the senior service officers were not available to respond to relevant questions on the Corporate Delivery Plan. However, responses to any questions from the Committee could be provided in writing.

It was noted that Cllr Dana Carlin and Taryn Eves were available to respond to questions relating to their remits. Taryn Eves introduced the report noting that it provided the Quarter 3 performance update on the Council’s Corporate Delivery Plan (CDP). The information was presented by eight themes with detailed appendices to show the progress against 188 individual activity lines. She added that this would be the final performance update of the current CDP cycle because a new Corporate Delivery Plan would be developed following the May 2026 local elections. This would include a revised performance framework, a revised set of indicators and local outcomes framework metrics.

Regarding progress at Quarter 3, Taryn Eves made the following points:

·       There had been strong delivery progress with 93% of outcomes rated green or amber at the end of Quarter 3.

·       Eight activity lines were rated as red and explanations for each of these were provided in the report.

·       The ‘RAG’ (red/amber/green) ratings were subjective and a negative rating did not necessarily mean that nothing had been delivered but rather that parts of the commitment had not been met.

·       The majority of activity lines had remained stable since Quarter 2, 15% had improved and only six had declined.

·       In February 2026, the government had published a new Local Government Outcomes Framework which introduced a new outcomes-based set of measures. This Framework would be used to inform the development of the new CDP and provide the basis for the quarterly performance updates.

·       The Council’s aspired to develop more integrated reporting across finance, performance and risk into a single narrative in 2026/27.

Taryn Eves and Cllr Carlin then responded to questions from the Committee:

·       Cllr White noted that, due to the development of the previous CDP, Scrutiny had not had access to any performance data during this transition period and sought reassurance that this would not be the case again in 2026/27. Taryn Eves explained that the new CDP would have a new set of performance indicators based on the new national outcomes framework as well as local priorities. The timescales for the new CDP was anticipated to be Autumn 2026 but the national indicators were expected to be reported on earlier than this after the local elections in May 2026. It was therefore possible that there could be a period of hybrid reporting before the new CDP was fully established. Cllr White commented that these timescales would be satisfactory as they would fit broadly in line with the Committee’s previous work programmes but emphasised the importance of data being available for scrutiny by Autumn 2026. (ACTION) 

·       Cllr Connor highlighted a number of questions, some of which would require written responses:

o   Adults, Health & Welfare –  ...  view the full minutes text for item 99.

Report to follow.

Cllr White explained that the purpose of this item was to approve the new draft terms of reference for the North Central London Joint Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee (NCL JHOSC) which covered five Boroughs (Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington) The draft terms of reference had already been approved by the NCL JHOSC and, if approved by the Overview & Scrutiny Committee, would then be sent to full Council for ratification the following week. He noted that a key part of the report was on how the support for the NCL JHOSC would be resourced as Haringey had been providing the administrative support for several years without any financial contribution or contribution in kind from the other four Boroughs.

Cllr Pippa Connor, who was the Chair of the NCL JHOSC, added that an agreement had been reached on officer support by the Committee and that a letter, signed by all NCL JHOSC members was to be sent to the Chief Executives of each of the Boroughs regarding the details of how this could be done.

Cllr Connor observed that there were two recommendations for the Committee in the main cover report for this item. The first of these was to approve the terms of reference and the second was to note that the terms of reference would be subject to further review later in the year after further details on the governance arrangements had been established following the merger of the North Central London Integrated Care Board (ICB) and the North West London ICB. However, Cllr Connor clarified that the NCL JHOSC had determined to continue as a five-Borough committee because a merged committee to cover both areas would involve thirteen Boroughs and was therefore considered to be too difficult to manage. She added that a future iteration of the NCL JHOSC could choose to revise the terms of reference if required.

Cllr White proposed that the first recommendation to approve the new terms of reference be agreed but that the second recommendation on a further review of the terms of reference later in the year should not be agreed because the NCL JHOSC had determined that the new terms of reference should remain in place. This proposal was approved by the Committee.

RESOLVED – That the amended terms of reference for the NCL JHOSC be approved.

RESOLVED – The proposed further review of the NCL JHOSC later in the year was not approved by the Committee, though it was noted that the NCL JHOSC could choose to carry out a review in future if required.

A)   To note the current 2025/26 work programme for the Committee.

B)   To approve Scrutiny Reviews (reports to follow):

-       Violence Against Women & Girls

-       Interim report: Provision of Services for Children Under One Year Old

-       Interim report: Walking & Cycling Safety

-       Communications with Residents (Adult Social Care)

Cllr White reported that there were four Scrutiny Reviews for the Committee to consider, two of which were ready to be approved and sent to Cabinet, while some further work was required in relation to the other two.

Walking & Cycling Safety

Cllr Gunes provided a summary of the Interim Report on Walking and Cycling Safety on behalf of the Culture, Community Safety and Environment Scrutiny Panel. The Review examined the walking and cycling action plan with a particular focus on safe cycling and issues relating to e-bikes. The Panel held evidence sessions with relevant Cabinet members, Directors and stakeholder groups. Key findings included that there had been an unfortunate increase in the collision rate for both pedestrians and cyclists over the past couple of years.

Regarding next steps for the Review, Cllr Gunes said that further work was expected in the next municipal year, including an analysis of best practice in other local authorities. Cllr White suggested that details about the progress of the Review should be included in the handover report to the 2026/27 Overview & Scrutiny Committee given that it was not yet known who the scrutiny members would be. (ACTION)

Communications with Residents (Adult Social Care)

Cllr Connor provided a summary of the Interim Report on Communications with Residents (Adult Social Care) on behalf of the Adults & Health Scrutiny Panel. She explained that difficulties in communicating with the Council had been a longstanding issue for residents and that it had also emerged as a prominent issue in the most recent ‘Scrutiny Café’ consultation event. The Panel had spoken to representatives of service users at local groups including the Joint Partnership Board to obtain details of specific concerns, such as issues with safeguarding referrals. The Panel had also received information about the redesigned adult social care directory on the Council’s website.

The evidence for the Review had been gathered with recommendations developed and so it was anticipated that a final draft could be provided to the first meeting of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee in 2026/27 without the need for any additional work by the new scrutiny members. (ACTION)

Provision of Services for Children Under One Year Old

Cllr Lawton reported that the Children & Young People’s Scrutiny Panel had conducted an extensive review of services for children under the age of 1 in the Borough. Due to the large scope of services in this area, the Panel had decided to focus less on healthcare services and more on services such as childcare, children’s centres and family hubs. Evidence had been received from various witnesses, including those involved with providing childcare services, and the Panel had visited children’s centres and family hubs. Specific issues had included:

·       The government provided some childcare funding for babies over the age of nine months but only for working parents. However, there was evidence that childcare was beneficial for most children, particularly those from more deprived backgrounds, regardless of whether their parents were in work. There was therefore a recommendation about lobbying the government regarding the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 101.

Meeting dates for 2026/27 TBC.

Cllr White advised the Committee that the dates of the 2026/27 meetings of the Committee were yet to be determined but would be published when available.

Noting that this was the last Committee meeting of the current administration, Cllr White also thanked the Councillors and officers for all their work on the Committee over the past few years. As vice-Chair, Cllr Connor also recorded her thanks to Cllr White for his work as the Chair of the Committee and this was supported by the other committee members.