Agenda and minutes

The Chair opened the meeting, and informed all present that the meeting would be webcast.

There were no apologies for absence.

Apologies for lateness were received from Councillor McNamara.

The Chair informed the Committee that he had received a late request for a deputation from Mr David King, which he had accepted.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chair invited David King to address the Committee.

Mr King informed the Committee that the purpose of his deputation was to follow up on his deputation made at the Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting on 7 October 2013.  He wished to clarify that although it was important to carry out a mental health needs assessment, he had requested that a broader health needs care assessment be carried out.

Mr King requested more information on the discussions between Andrew Wright and the Clinical Commissioning Group, and enquired as to whether a meeting could be set up between Andrew Wright, CCG, OSC Chair and himself to explore these issues further.

The Chair agreed to this request and agreed to contact the CCG to arrange a meeting.

ACTION: Chair

To receive an update on the recommendations of the Breast Screen Scrutiny Review.

RECEIVED an update from Dr Tamara Djuretic on the breast screening scrutiny review.

NOTED:

·               This review was carried out in 2009.  At the time, breast screening services in Haringey were commissioned by a consortium of local PCTs and provided through the North London Breast Screening Service.  Since 1 April 2013, commissioning responsibilities for all screening programmes transferred from the NHS North Central London to NHS England.  The role of the local authority changed and the responsibility was now to ensure that plans were in place to deliver the services.

·               All of the recommendations had been implemented to some extent by the Public Health team, and breast screening coverage was now up to 66%.

Dr Djuretic responded to questions from the Committee:

·               Recommendation 2.2 – a company had been commissioned to go into GP practices and follow up on ‘DNAs’ (Did Not Attend).  An electronic system was now in place to flag these up with practices.  Currently, the local authority did not have access to GP data in order to monitor this, the data was made available by NHS England.

·               Recommendation 2.4 – before 1 April 2013 there had been an agreement that data clearing would happen every 6 months.  The authority had been given assurances by NHS England that this was still happening.

·               Recommendation 2.10 – a feasibility study had been conducted and a number of units identified.  It had been decided that a mobile unit would be placed at St. Ann’s.

The report was noted.

An opportunity for the Committee to question Councillor Kober on the Leader’s portfolio:

·               Performance of the Council

·               External partnerships

·               Northumberland Park project

·               Corporate policy and strategy

·               Communications

·               Legal Services

·               Human Resources and Organisational Development

The Chair welcomed the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive to the meeting. 

The Committee asked questions on the Leader’s portfolio and received the following responses:

·               Northumberland Park / Tottenham Hotspur redevelopment

The regeneration was not purely about ‘bricks and mortar’, it was about improving lives and outcomes for current residents, but while also considering what the requirements will be for residents in the future.  There was a commitment that tenants in High Road West will be given a right of return, on the basis of social rent.

Conversations with business were different to those carried out with tenants and leaseholders and the outcomes would depend on a number of factors.

Spurs were the biggest landowners in the area, and it was indeed correct that in order to complete their redevelopment they required more land than they currently owned.

It was not fair to say that Spurs were more important than local residents.  The High Road West consultation had been carried out entirely independently of Spurs.  Spurs were now part of the overall ambition for High Road West, not the main component.

There was a need for a mixture of housing in order to provide a balance in the community.  Private tenants, potential home owners and social tenants all needed to be provided for in order to achieve this.

Regeneration was about people and opportunities and it was important to make sure that the positive aspects of the area were talked about as much as the negative.

More information about the Tottenham Regeneration would be provided later in the meeting under the specific item.

·               Youth unemployment in the East of the borough

Youth unemployment was not just a problem in the East – there were pockets of unemployment across the borough.  An important part of starting to resolve the problem was to ensure that the educational offer provided to young people was right, in order to set them on the right path to success.  Young people needed to be provided with the building blocks to build successful lives.

A good news story was the opening of Sainsburys in Northumberland Park.  100% of the jobs had been provided to people living within 3 miles of the store.

For Members to be updated on progress against the Council’s outcomes and strategic priorities for 2013/14, and an opportunity to ask questions.

The Leader introduced the report as set out and took questions from the Committee:

NOTED:

·               The education targets were handed down by Government.  There was information available which detailed how targets were set, and this could be shared with the Committee.

ACTION: Richard Hutton

·               The audit function was an important part of the Council.  Part of the restructure proposals were to move audit to sit under the governance area.  It was dangerous to confuse scrutiny with audit, although it was important to have a clear connection between scrutiny and audit.

·               There were improved systems in place to track young people whose current situation was not known.  It was important to note that the levels of transients in the borough was at a higher level compared to other parts of London.  There had been a reduction in the number of these young people from 15.5% to 11.5% in the last year.  However, it was noted that the improvement needed to be quicker.

·               The joint adoption scheme was running across six boroughs.  It provided the opportunity to share experiences and examples of good practice.  The 3 year waiting time figure had been skewed by 2 cases which had taken longer than usual – without taking these cases  into account the figure was 423 days.

·               Although the teenage pregnancy rate was still high, it had improved since 2009/10 when Haringey was the worst performing authority.  However, it was important that work was still carried out in order to continue to reduce the figure.

·               Hornsey Central Depot and Haringey Heartlands would be included in future updates.

·               In regards to scrutiny of decisions before they went to Cabinet for agreement, the Chief Executive commented that this was the most common complaint of any member.  He explained that the Local Government 2000 Act made clear that the decision making process of an authority laid with the Leader and the Cabinet.  It was therefore important to look at how to better manage the process of scrutinising decisions where possible before they went to Cabinet.

The Chair thanked the Leader, Chief Executive and Richard Hutton for attending.     

An opportunity for the Committee to question Councillor Strickland on the Regeneration and Housing portfolio:

·               Regeneration

·               Promoting investment and economic growth

·               Culture

·               Financial and social inclusion

Note: Homes for Haringey, Housing investment, Engagement with Registered Social Landlords, Homeless families, Strategic Housing Policy, and Housing Allocations Policy are covered by the Environment & Housing Scrutiny Panel.

The Chair welcomed Councillor Strickland and Bernadette Marjoram to the meeting.

Councillor Strickland provided an update on aspects of his portfolio:

·               The gyratory works were underway at Tottenham Hale.

·               Sainsburys had opened in Northumberland Park.  The authority had championed for Tottenham residents to be given priority for work and although the recruitment process was open to everyone, all of the jobs went to people who lived within 3 miles of the store, and 105 of these to those living in the N17 postcode.

·               £16k funding had been made available for a ‘pocket park’ in West Green Road.

Councillor Strickland responded to questions from the Committee:

·               The consultation for Hornsey Depot had been run in the same way as any other consultation would be run.  There had been two consultations, two development management forums, and a number of opportunities for people to make their views known.  Pre-application engagement work would not be carried out by the Council, it would the developer’s choice to carry out this sort of work.

·               Retail was an important sector for Haringey, and the local community relied heavily on town centre jobs.

Clerks note – Councillor McNamara left the meeting for part of the item, as discussions on Hornsey Depot (a future planning application) were taking place, and he is a member of the Planning Committee.

Actions

·               Councillor Strickland to provide the Chair with the consultation responses to the 5 year tenancy strategy.

ACTION: Councillor Strickland

An opportunity for the Committee to receive an update on the regeneration in Tottenham, and to ask questions of the Lead Officer and Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Housing.

Bernadette Marjoram presented an update on Tottenham Regeneration.  Copies of the presentation are available on the website.

Councillor Strickland and Bernadette Marjoram responded to questions from the Committee:

·               When looking at regeneration, it would not be usual practice to list the things that you were not going to do.  However, as part of the consultation process, residents would be asked for areas that they would not want to compromise on, and then it would be possible to build proposals for the area.

·               It was agreed that it was difficult to engage with residents in the Northumberland Park area.  Councillor Strickland had challenged officers to engage more directly with residents, and over the past 4 months then Tottenham newsletter had been delivered to 43,000 homes, and regeneration and housing officers had visited the Love Lane estate to speak directly to residents.

·               Theme groups had been set up over the summer, and these would be drivers for the programme.  They would look at gaps in provision and develop projects.  Local people would be involved in the development of these projects.

Councillor McNamara made the following suggestions:

·               The 10 theme groups should report back every 2-3 months to Councillors – either in person or by means of a report.

·               Although the ‘vision’ was useful and important, we need to bullet point listed milestones for each forthcoming quarter.

·               The need for a ‘Street Level Regeneration’ document that lists our vision and approach to key low level issues such as:

-       Dog fouling

-       Fly tipping

-       Street furniture

-       Street drinking

-       Shop signage; and other issues

·               The need for mini-masterplans, drafted by local groups of stakeholders, e.g. Bruce Castle and its’ surrounding area.

·               Green Lanes Strategy Group works very well.  Need for similar strategy  groups in other areas e.g. Muswell Hill, Tottenham High Road etc.

·               Consultation must include key community groups such as Residents Associations, Safer Neighbourhood Panels etc.  A short consultation to all 57 councillors to ask who are the key community people in their ward to include in consultations.

·               Need for a ward based ‘who’s who’ for local peoples, including:

-       Councillors

-       Neighbourhood Action Teams

-       Neighbourhood Policing Teams

Action

For the above to be raised at the joint OSC / Cabinet meeting in December as an example of minor recommendations that could be decided by the relevant Cabinet Member and not have to go through the full Cabinet consideration cycle.

To receive an update on the Under Occupation of Social Housing and Housing Benefit Entitlement scrutiny project.

NOTED the update on the Under Occupancy project.

To note the minutes, and agree any recommendations of the Scrutiny Panels.

Minutes

·               Children & Young People Scrutiny Panel – 26 September 2013

·               Communities Scrutiny Panel – 30 September 2013

To follow

·               Communities Scrutiny Panel – 7 November 2013

·               Environment & Housing Scrutiny Panel – 19 November 2013

NOTED the minutes of:

·               Children & Young People Scrutiny Panel – 26 September 2013

·               Communities Scrutiny Panel – 30 September 2013

·               Communities Scrutiny Panel – 7 November 2013

To receive the Overview & Scrutiny Committee work forward plan.

NOTED the OSC Forward Plan.

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

NOTED the Forward Plan.

There was no feedback to the Committee.

None.

To approve the minutes of Overview & Scrutiny meetings held on:

·               2 October 2013

·               7 October 2013

·               4 November 2013

RESOLVED that

i)          the minutes of the meeting held on 2 October 2013 be approved as a correct record.

ii)         the minutes of the meeting held on 7 October 2013 be approved as a correct record.

iii)       the minutes of the meeting held on 4 November 2013 be approved as a correct record.

NOTED the dates of future meetings:

·               Monday 16 December 2013

·               Thursday 23 January 2014

·               Monday 17 March 2014

To note the actions completed since the last meeting.

TO FOLLOW

NOTED.