Agenda and minutes

Please note that this meeting may be filmed or recorded by the Council for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council’s internet site or by anyone attending the meeting using any communication method. Although we ask members of the public recording, filming or reporting on the meeting not to include the public seating areas, members of the public attending the meeting should be aware that we cannot guarantee that they will not be filmed or recorded by others attending the meeting. Members of the public participating in the meeting (e.g. making deputations, asking questions, making oral protests) should be aware that they are likely to be filmed, recorded or reported on. 

By entering the meeting room and using the public seating area, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings.

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 in respect of filming at this meeting, and Members noted the information contained therein’.

An apology for absence was received from Mr Kefale Taye (Co-opted Member).

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business. (Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with at item 14 below).

None.

None.

None.

To approve the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 26 March 2015.

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 March 2015 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

To receive and note the following minutes:

a.         Environment and Community Safety Scrutiny Panel – 10 March 2015

b.         Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel – 18 March 2015

c.         Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel – 18 March 2015

d.         Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel – 18 March 2015

RESOLVED to note the minutes of the Scrutiny Panel meetings listed below:

a.         Environment and Community Safety Scrutiny Panel – 10 March 2015

b.         Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel – 18 March 2015

c.         Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel – 18 March 2015

d.         Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel – 18 March 2015

To receive a verbal report from the Leader, Councillor Claire Kober, setting out the Council’s priorities for the municipal year.

The Chair welcomed the Leader of the Council, Councillor Claire Kober, and Deputy Chief Executive, Zina Etheridge who outlined the most pertinent priorities for the year ahead from the Council’s Corporate Plan 2015-18, which can be found using the link below:

Haringey Corporate Plan 2015-18

REPORTED that, in addition to further budget cuts,

a.         the Council’s regeneration aspirations were as important as ever as challenges with housing supply and sufficiency continued and there were more than 3,000 households in temporary accommodation in Haringey.  The Council had successfully won a Housing Zone bid for £40m in Tottenham Hale and was preparing a further bid for Housing Zone funding in Northumberland Park and other areas in Wood Green;

b.         the Post 16 and the skills agenda were concerning as cuts to adult learning budgets would mean a shorter supply of courses;

c.         Birkbeck College would be providing higher education courses in Haringey from September.  There were ongoing discussions with the new National College for Digital Skills about locating in the Borough and plans for a commission of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subject experts to work with schools to encourage take up of these subjects;

d.         the early intervention and prevention agenda continued to be a focus and looked after children numbers were lower than had been in recent years;

e.         a key area in environment was flytipping in parts of the Borough and the Council was working towards understanding the issues behind flytipping and taking action.  In response to questioning, the Council was thinking of ways to demonstrate how tax payers bear  the cost of flytipping, and, CCTV footage had enabled some enforcement;

f.          adults services and the health and social care integration agenda was a large piece of work for the current year with new public health responsibilities including implementation of the universal healthy child programme.

NOTED, in response, to questions and comments from the Committee in the following areas, that:

g.         the Council used various licensing schemes to improve the quality of the private rented sector, learning from other councils, and court action against private landlords where necessary. Building new council stock would take time as a result of funding cuts but in relation to new private builds, planning officers and the planning committee pushed for quality from developers.

The Council held its arms length organisations, such as Homes for Haringey, to account on performance.  Examples were with repairs, which had seen significant improvements and Veolia, who had been served with financial penalties for not meeting contractual requirements.  The Council was working on building staff resources to manage contracts as well as commissioning;

h.         City and Islington College was the main destination for students who moved out of borough for Post 16 provision. This was not understood to be for reasons of lack of provision or quality although reasons could include: the perceived reputation of Haringey institutions, difference of landscape, ability to exercise choice and whether or not young people received the right pathway advice.  Work  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To agree the recommendations in the report confirming the memberships and remits of the Panels, presented by Martin Bradford, Scrutiny Officer.

REPORT TO FOLLOW

RECEIVED the report confirming memberships and terms of reference of scrutiny panels and the tabled amendments to panel memberships following further group discussions, introduced by Martin Bradford, Scrutiny Officer, as laid out in the report.

The Chair thanked the previous year’s Co-Opted Panel Members, Helena Kania and Ian Sygrave.  It was explained that members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be reviewing the use of co-option onto scrutiny panel and would look at ways to broaden the opportunity for community engagement in the scrutiny process.

RESOLVED that

1.         the terms of reference and Protocol for the Overview & Scrutiny Committee be noted;

          2.         the following Scrutiny Panels be established:

§  Adults & Health

§  Children & Young People

§  Environment and Community Safety

§  Housing & Regeneration;

3.         the terms of reference for scrutiny panels (as set out in paragraph 5.2 of the report) be approved;

4.         the scrutiny panel membership (as set out in 5.7) be approved as set out below be approved:

            Adults & Health

Cllr Connor (Chair), Cllr Gina Adamou, Cllr  David Beacham, Cllr Clare Bull, Cllr Raj Sahota, Cllr Felicia Opoku, Cllr Denise Marshall

Children & Young People

Cllr Hearn (Chair), Cllr Clive Carter, Cllr Liz Morris, Cllr Charles Wright

Cllr Mark Blake, Cllr Reg Rice, Cllr Toni Mallett

Co-optees:

Mrs Yvonne Denny, Mr Chukwuemeka Ekeowa, Mr Kefale Taye, Mr Luke Collier

Environment and Community Safety

Cllr Jogee (Chair), Cllr John Bevan, Cllr Patrick Berryman, Cllr Barbara Blake, Cllr Bob Hare, Cllr Sarah Elliot, Cllr Sheila Peacock

Housing & Regeneration

Cllr Akwasi Ayisi (Chair), Cllr Emine Ibrahim, Cllr Martin Newton, Cllr Gail  Engert, Cllr Tim Gallagher, Cllr Eddie Griffith, Cllr Makbule Gunes;

5.         following the development of the Scrutiny Work Programme, the Overview & Scrutiny Protocol be reviewed in August 2015, to ensure it remained updated in light of experience.

The report sets out some basic principles of good work programming and highlights key consultative processes that will help develop the 2015/16 scrutiny work programme, presented by Christian Scade, Scrutiny Officer.

RECEIVED the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme Development report, introduced by Christian Scade, Scrutiny Officer, who drew attention to the principles of good scrutiny.

The Chair  invited all members and statutory co-optees to the Scrutiny Cafe at 6pm on Monday 15 June 2015 to develop the scrutiny work programme.

RESOLVEDthat

1.         the report be noted;

2.         the timeframe for the development of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme for 2015/16 be agreed.

To note the urgent report detailing the decision taken by the Chief Executive, London Borough of Haringey, in consultation with the Chair of Overview & Scrutiny.

RESOLVED to note the report detailing the decision taken by the Chief Executive, LB Haringey, in  consultation with the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny, to appoint Councillors Wright and Connor as the Council’s two representatives to the North Central London Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the 2015/16 municipal year.

To consider and agree the draft annual report reviewing Overview & Scrutiny work in 2014/15, introduced by Martin Bradford, Scrutiny Officer.

RECEIVED the draft Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report for 2014/15, introduced by Martin Bradford, Scrutiny Officer, who explained that the final draft would be presented to full Council for final approval.

RESOLVED that the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report 2014/15 be approved for submission to full Council.

To note the verbal update on continued scrutiny projects from 2014/15, by Scrutiny Officers:  Martin Bradford, Rob Mack and Christian Scade.

RECEIVED verbal updates on the following Scrutiny Reviews:

a.         Job Support Market

REPORTED, by Martin Bradford, Scrutiny Officer, that the Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel review into the job support market  which assessed how long term unemployed people were being supported, identified gaps in service provision and to hear the voice of the long term unemployed.  Evidence gathering including site visits to Job Centre Plus (JCP) had taken place and the findings were being developed into recommendations.  The final report would be presented to the Committee in July.

The Committee noted the challenges during the first three months of a long term unemployed person starting a new job.  The review had considered how people could be supported during this transition where they might experience the loss of benefits and potential housing issues.

A Committee Member commented on the lack of provision in South Tottenham and that it would not be practical for young people in South Tottenham to travel to the new JCP at 639 High Road.

b.         Council’s House Building Programme

REPORTED, by Martin Bradford, Scrutiny Officer, that the Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel review looked at the legal and financial mechanisms available to maximise the council’s housing development programme.  Research into how other local authorities used funds for housing development and the implications of borrowing from the various different funds. The final report would be presented to the Committee in July.

c.         Youth Transition

REPORTED, by Rob Mack, Scrutiny Officer, that the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel review had investigated how young people made decisions about their futures and the advice they received.  The Chair of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel, Councillor Kirsten Hearn, explained that further evidence from young people would be obtained before recommendations for good practice would be proposed in a final report to the Committee in the future.

RESOLVED that the final reports of the Job Support Market, the Council’s Re-housing Programme scrutiny review projects would be received at the next meeting on 27 July 2015.

None.

Monday 27 July 2015

Monday 19 October 2015

Monday 30 November 2015

Thursday 17 December 2015

Monday 25 January 2016

Tuesday 8 March 2016  

NOTED the following dates:

·         27 July 2015

·         19 October 2015

·         30 November 2015

·         17 December 2015

·         25 January 2016

·         8 March 2016