Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed all present to the meeting and reminded attendees that the meeting would be webcast.

Apologies for lateness were received from Councillors McNamara and Newton.

Apologies for absence were received from Kevin Bartle.  Neville Murton was in attendance in his place for the Budget Monitoring item.

There was no such business.

Yvonne Denny declared a personal interest in respect of item 6 (St Ann’s Redevelopment), as she was part of the reference group, representing her estate in Edgecot Grove.

Councillors Bull and Winskill declared personal interests in that they were both Haringey Leaseholders.

The Chair invited David King – HaNSAH (Haringey Needs St Ann’s Hospital) – to make his deputation to the Committee.

NOTED:

·               HaNSAH were campaigning for improved, integrated, state of the art health services for now and the future at St Ann’s Hospital.

·               HaNSAH was made up of local residents and health campaigners.  Many of these members were also members of the St Ann’s Community Reference Group (CRG), which had been set up by the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust (BEHMHT), although they had since become disillusioned at the lack of information provided to the CRG, and the lack of influence the CRG has had on the redevelopment plans.

·               The BEHMHT have stated that much of the St Ann’s site was surplus to requirements – but no evidence had been provided to back this up.

·               Members of the CRG had requested information about the use of healthcare facilities in the borough to inform the planning process.  No information was provided to the CRG.

·               The CRG asked the Director of Public Health to carry out a needs assessment focused on the redevelopment, and this request was refused.

·               The CRG had asked for representatives from the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to present their vision of the site, and this has not happened.

·               As a result of this, HaNSAH have carried out their own research and believe that the plans presented for St Ann’s hospital do not meet the current needs, let alone future needs.

·               18 months ago, it had been announced that it would be in the best interests of Haringey residents for the mental health inpatient wards to be moved to Chase Farm.  This was challenged by service users and reviewed twice by the NHS, and was found in favour of the service users each time.  The decision to move the wards was then changed.

·               One year ago, BEHMHT decided to close Haringey ward, despite reports from CQC that seclusion rooms were being used inappropriately as there were no available beds for patients on the wards.  This was recorded 29 times in one month.  Haringey has the 3^rd highest referrals for acute care – closing wards and planning to reduce the number of beds down to 36 was not acceptable.

·               The Haringey JSNA states that 43% of acute admissions were people who were not registered with a GP – HaNSAH requested to know how these people would be reached after services were changed.

·               36 beds on St Ann’s will not meet the future need.  The Health and Social Care Act says that it should be demonstrated that the JSNA has been used in the planning and commissioning of services.  How has the JSNA translated to 36 beds?

·               HaNSAH requested answers to the following:

-       What is the vision?

-       Where are the integrated services?

-       Where are the care pathways?

-       How will patients benefit from this redevelopment?

-       Will it reduce inequalities in health?

The Chair invited Rod Wells to add any comments.  Mr Wells stated that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 256.

To receive a presentation on the St Ann’s Redevelopment, from Andrew Wright - Director of Strategic Development – Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust

Andrew Wright – Director of Strategic Development, Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust – gave a presentation on the redevelopment of St Ann’s (available on the website).

NOTED

·               There was a possibility that a Child Development Centre could be located within the development – it was currently run by Whittington Health, and discussions had taken place, although no formal agreement had been made.

·               There were continuing reviews of the number of patients on site, and there had been a significant demand for mental health inpatient care in London.  If funding was provided by the commissioners, there would be space for extra beds.

·               There has been a significant and unplanned increase in mental health admissions nationally.  It was believed that this was related to the economic situation and more people losing jobs but there has been no formal research done as yet.

·               An outline of the planning application would be available within the next few weeks, and the Local Authority would carry out a full consultation.

·               It was fair to say that it would be beneficial to have included the services provided at the Laurels as part of the bigger development and integrated care, but the contract with the developer was for 35years.

·               The money from the sale would be used to fund the development.  It was estimated that there would be a surplus of £29million – the project was set to cost between £26-29million.

·               There were 50 acute care beds.  The plans were to have 36 beds, which was a reduction, but there would be other care plans in place to help patients.  These include Home Treatment Teams, Recovery Houses etc and are in line with the national strategy of moving care more in to the community.

·               Initial discussions had taken place with Transport for London with regards to transport links to the hospital.  Their view was that it was too early in the process, and that once planning permission had been granted, TfL would engage more formally.

David Hindle (MHSA) stated that the planned Wards are three stories high with a courtyard in the middle.  Therefore the access to outside space for those on the Wards would not be as good at present and it would be very limited to those on the upper floors.  Access to outside space is very important.

Andrew Wright noted that he had not heard these concerns raised before but will have an urgent meeting with carer and user groups in order to discuss.  There was however scope for change in the plans as it was just outline planning permission being sought at this stage – essentially height and space.

The Chair thanked Andrew Wright for attending.

Actions

1.         The Chair of OSC to write to Jeanelle de Gruchy (Director of Public Health) to ask for more information on why a mental health needs assessment has not been undertaken for the St Ann’s redevelopment.

2.         For more information to be provided on the St Ann’s reference group, for example, how it was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 257.

An opportunity for the Committee to question Councillor Goldberg on the Finance, Employment and Carbon Reduction portfolio:

·               Carbon reduction strategies

·               Council budget, taxation and benefits

·               Asset management and investment policy

·               Procurement

·               Property

·               IT

·               Customer contact

·               Corporate Property

·               Employment

·               Youth unemployment

Note: Youth Services, Youth Democracy, and Youth Offending are covered by the Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel.

The Chair welcomed Councillor Goldberg (Cabinet Member for Finance and Carbon Reduction).  Councillor Goldberg updated the Committee on various aspects of his portfolio.

NOTED

·               The budget was in a good position, considering the level of cuts.  The process had been managed well so far, and it was important to continue to do so going forward.

·               Carbon agenda – a full report would be provided to the next Full Council meeting.  Emissions had been reduced, and continued to move in the right direction.  The Council was working in partnership with Durham University.

·               The Corporate Building review had advanced, although there was no significant outcome so far.

·               Youth unemployment – services were looking at how this could be improved and people helped into work.

·               There were 2700 children affected by the benefit cap.  This would have an impact on educational outcomes for these children.

Councillor Goldberg responded to questions from the Committee:

·               The continuation of the Blackberry contract was not an immediate concern.  At the time of signing the contract, Blackberry was the only compliant system.  The biggest concern with any new contract was the compliance with the security standard for the public sector.

·               Since the implementation of Bedroom Tax / Benefits Cap, there had been successful renegotiations with regards to rental structures with Temporary Accommodation landlords. 

Actions:

·               To provide a comparison of fixed assets from 2010 and 2013 – what had been sold, how much they had been sold for, and whether they had been sold on again.

Cllr Goldberg / John McGrath

To receive The Council’s Budget Management Performance – July 2013, as presented to Cabinet on 10 September 2013.

An opportunity to scrutinise the areas covered by OSC:

·               Performance

·               External Partnerships

·               Northumberland Park Project

·               Corporate Policy & Strategy

·               Communications

·               Legal services

·               Human resources

·               Organisational development

·               Council Budget

·               Corporate property

·               IT

·               Customer Services

·               Benefits

·               Regeneration

·               Employment/worklessness

·               Community cohesion

·               Tottenham Regeneration Project

·               St Ann’s redevelopment

·               Partnership arrangements

·               Carbon reduction

Councillor Goldberg and Neville Murton - Head of Finance-Accounting & Control – responded to questions from the Committee on the Budget Monitoring report.

NOTED:

·               With regards to the Adults & Social Care commissioning budget information, this was the usual kind of situation at this time of year, although there had not been a single year where Adult Services had not been able to significantly reduce this by the end of the year.  The service had assured Councillor Goldberg that the budget was well managed and dealing well with budget pressure.

·               Adults was the only Directorate to receive any growth.

·               Lordship Rec was part of a project costing a total of £5.3million.  This project had been completed in 2012/13.  The contractors were requesting an additional £500k – this was currently being investigated, but the full amount of risk was included in the budget papers.  It was too early to say whether this would be an overspend.

·               The discipline on Capital budgeting was not as good as it could be, and needed to be reviewed.  Better planning would lead to better decisions in terms of the capital profile.

RESOLVED to note the report.

To receive an update on the scope, objectives and benefits arising from a review of Customer Services across the Council, and an opportunity for Members to ask questions.

Stuart Young – Assistant Chief Executive – outlined the Customer Services Transformation Programme.

NOTED:

·               The Customer Services Transformation programme would change the way in which services were accessed.  Currently around 20% of residents were not using digital channels – these changes would help and encourage them to use them.  There would still be face to face services, to deal with complex needs and vulnerable clients.

·               It was noted that there were many languages spoken within the borough, and these people would be able to access face to face services.

·               Members would be used as a resource due to their regular interaction with residents.  There would also be residents panels in order to get feedback from residents.

·               The programme would be discussed in greater detail at the special Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting on 4 November 2013.

ACTION

·               Transaction costs to be included in the report due at OSC on 4 November 2013.

ACTION: Stuart Young

To receive an update on the recommendations of the Corporate Parenting Review, carried out in 2011.

Marion Wheeler – Assistant Director, Children & Young People – introduced the report as set out, and responded to questions from the Committee.

NOTED:

·               More engagement with care leavers was required in terms of getting them in to employment.  This had been picked up by HR (Helen Gaffney and Jackie McGeachy).

·               Haringey Active Passes were advertised through a number of channels – via social workers, direct mailouts and social media.

·               Jon Abbey - Assistant Director, Children & Young People – was now responsible for action 14.

RESOLVED to note the report

To receive the scoping document for Under Occupation of Social Housing and Housing Benefit Entitlement.

After a short discussion it was

RESOLVED to

i)          Note the contents of the report; and

ii)             Agree the aims, objectives and work plan.

To receive:

·               Scoping report – Adults & Health Scrutiny Panel – Mental Health & Physical Health

·               Scoping report – Adults & Health Scrutiny Panel – Mental Health & Accommodation

·               Scoping report – Environment & Housing Scrutiny Panel – Strategic Enforcement Scope

·               Scoping report – Children & Young People Scrutiny Panel – Two Year Old Free Early Entitlement

RESOLVED to agree the following scoping reports:

·               Adults & Health Scrutiny Panel – Mental Health & Physical Health

·               Adults & Health Scrutiny Panel – Mental Health & Accommodation

·               Environment & Housing Scrutiny Panel – Strategic Enforcement Scope

·               Children & Young People Scrutiny Panel – Two Year Old Free Early Entitlement

Councillor McNamara requested that his thanks to Martin Bradford for his work in preparing the scoping document for the EHSP be placed on record.

To receive:

·               Executive summary and minutes – Children & Young People Scrutiny Panel – 6 July 2013

·               Executive summary and minutes – Communities Scrutiny Panel – 25 July 2013

TO FOLLOW:

·               Draft Executive summary and minutes – Adults & Health Scrutiny Panel – 19 September 2013

·               Draft Executive summary and minutes – Environment & Housing Scrutiny Panel –  26 September 2013

·               Draft Executive summary and minutes – Children & Young People Scrutiny Panel –  26 September 2013

·               Draft Executive summary and minutes – Communities Scrutiny Panel –  26 September 2013

NOTED

·               Executive summary and minutes – Children & Young People Scrutiny Panel – 6 July 2013

·               Executive summary and minutes – Communities Scrutiny Panel – 25 July 2013

·               Draft Executive summary and minutes – Adults & Health Scrutiny Panel – 19 September 2013

·               Draft Executive summary and minutes – Environment & Housing Scrutiny Panel – 26 September 2013

·               Draft Executive summary and minutes – Children & Young People Scrutiny Panel – 26 September 2013

·               Draft Executive summary and minutes – Communities Scrutiny Panel – 26 September 2013

To receive the OSC work forward plan.

ACTIONS:

·               Councillor Bull to write to constituent boroughs to ask what was being done in relation to NLWA and to arrange an informal meeting.

ACTION: Melanie Ponomarenko / Councillor Bull

·               Legal to provide a briefing on exempt and confidential items.

ACTION: Stephen Lawrence-Orumwense

For Members to note and discuss whether OSC wishes to input into any forthcoming decisions.

NOTE – the Forward Plan covering 1 October-31 December will be sent as a 2^nd dispatch, as it will not be published until 1 October 2013.

ACTION:

Councillor Bull to speak to Councillor Strickland to see whether it would be feasible for the Tottenham Regeneration reports to come to OSC on 4 November rather than 25 November.

ACTION: Councillor Bull

The Chair had emailed the Chairs of Area Committees, but had not received any feedback.

None.

To receive and agree the minutes of the meetings held on 17 June 2013 and 14 August 2013.

RESOLVED that

i)          The minutes of the meeting held on 17 June 2013 be approved as a correct record.

ii)         The minutes of the meeting held on 14 August 2013 be approved as a correct record.

Monday 25 November 2013

Monday 16 December 2013 (budget)

Thursday 23 January 2014

Monday 17 March 2014

NOTED the dates of future meetings.

NOTED.