Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Helen Kania.

Councillor Adamou declared a personal interest in regards to any discussions around Children & Young People Directorate, as both of her daughters worked in that sector.

Councillor Rice welcomed Councillor Goldberg, Councillor Strickland and officers to the meeting.

Councillor Goldberg gave a brief outline of the Medium Term Financial Plan.  This was the end of a three year settlement.  Budget pressures were higher than originally identified, which would lead to further cuts.  By 2016, the authority would have cut the budget from £285m to £144m.  The settlement for 2013/14 was not yet known.  Pressures included a £12m benefit gap, a change to business rate funding and the forthcoming council tax reduction scheme.

Further work was still to be done to reach a balanced budget – there was currently £1.2m to balance.

There was a high risk around the Legal Services deliverability as this depended on an increased reduction in the number of Looked After Children, and a quicker turn around of cases.

Councillor Strickland outlined the areas of his Cabinet portfolio which were covered by the Capital Programme – Growth on the High Road, Tottenham Regeneration and Bruce Castle.  He explained that the allocation for Bruce Castle was indicative, as this may be match funded – by the Lottery.  Funding for Tottenham Regeneration had been match funded by the GLA.

Capital Expenditure

·               Hornsey Town Hall

The planned capital expenditure was £5.3m.  Mountview were awaiting the outcome of the Heritage Lottery Fund bid and it was expected that the project would move forward.

·               Regeneration of Tottenham High Road

The high road was part of the whole regeneration programme.  The scheme stretched along the whole of the High road, with projects along different parts of the road.

Yvonne Denny requested a breakdown of which parts of the High Road were included in the regeneration programme.

ACTION:  Councillor Strickland

·               IT Capital Programme

The vast bulk of the savings was due to the desktop renewal project coming to an end.

Councillor Winskill requested a detailed breakdown of where the £250k was due to be spent.  Councillor Goldberg explained that there were no set plans for where this money was to be spent.  Applications for spend were made to the IT Board throughout the financial year and each application was assessed on service needs, benefits, costs/savings to the service.

Councillor Winskill requested a briefing note outlining projects expected to be funded from the IT capital pot with indicative savings that these projects were expected to achieve.

ACTION:  Councillor Goldberg

·               Alexandra Palace

Alexandra Palace had reduced expenditure to enable investment in regeneration.  The funding was in place to ensure that the Palace stayed open.  The funding was not in the form of a loan, due to the financial position of the Palace, and an increased debt would make it harder to sell.

Revenue savings

·               A13 – Voluntary Sector Strategy

The savings would be achieved through the implementation of the Voluntary Sector Commissioning Framework; more focused service specifications, better value for money and a greater emphasis on collaboration between agencies.  For example, looking at whether organisations that all offered advice could collaborate with each other to reduce costs.

The service was still in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 166.

Councillor Winskill in the Chair

Councillor Rice declared that he was a Governor of John Loughborough School.

Panel Chairs then each took the OSC through their draft recommendations.  Suggested inclusions / amendments were as follows:

Communities Scrutiny Panel

P9  - Leisure and Culture – deletion of mobile library service

The mobile library service was a valuable service, particularly to the housebound and those in residential homes.  Councillor Newton felt that the recommendation should be worded more strongly to ensure that the mobile library service was maintained.

Adults & Health Scrutiny Panel

No suggested additions or changes.

Environment & Housing Scrutiny Panel

P6 – Leisure and Culture – allotments increase in fees

An Equalities Impact Assessment should be conducted on the proposed increase, if this has been done then it should be provided to the Environment & Housing Scrutiny Panel to enable them to consider it.

Recommendation:  the allotments revenue should be revenue neutral and any surplus invested in capital renewal projects.  Any increase should only be considered with the full consultation and involvement of all relevant stakeholders.

P8 – Leisure and Culture – amend Council policy to allow more events in Finsbury Park

Greater clarity on any consultation should be provided.

Recommendation: considerations should be given to whether enough is charges for the set up and break down of events.

Recommendation: Any increase in revenue should be from an increase in the fees charged for holding events at Finsbury Park (and should fully reflect the short and long term cost to the borough of holding these events) and not an increase in the number of events held.

Cap. Programme 56 – Loft conversions

Recommendation: There should be an increase in the number of well designed loft conversions to help to alleviate housing pressures in the borough.

Children & Young People Scrutiny Panel

C9 – Prevention and early intervention – consolidation of arrangements for Youth Offending, Alternative Provision and Behavioural Support Services to achieve efficiencies

More information on what is happening with Haringey Education Business Enterprise (HEBP).

OSC noted that final recommendations from the Panel and from OSC would go to OSC on 22 January for approval and referral to Cabinet.  All actions therefore need to be completed by early January to allow for Panels and OSC to make any further recommendations.