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’.

None.

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 17 below).

None.

None.

None.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 8 June 2015.

RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 8 June 2015.

To receive and note the following minutes:

a.         Environment and Community Safety Scrutiny Panel – 29 June 2015 (attached)

b.         Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel – 9 July 2015

(TO FOLLOW)

NOTED

a.    the minutes of the Environment and Community Safety Scrutiny Panel held on 29 June 2015 (pages 9-14 of the agenda pack), and;

b.    the minutes of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel Meetings held on 9 July 2015  (supplementary agenda pack Pages 1-6), and;

c.    that the minutes of the Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel and the Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel would be presented at the next meeting, but would be published on the Council’s website prior to this.

To receive a brief update on 2014/15 performance and the new performance assessment arrangements going forward and how scrutiny can influence this.

The end of year performance assessment report considered by Cabinet on 16 June 2015 can be found at:

http://www.minutes.haringey.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=118&MId=7297&Ver=4

NOTED the Council’s End of Year Performance Assessment – Quarter Four, 2014/15 report and presentation on the new performance assessment arrangements (pages 15-29 of the agenda pack), introduced by Charlotte Pomery, Commissioning Manager.

NOTED in response to questions on the new performance assessment approach:

a.    transparency of data would make the council more accountable to local communities and  enable public viewing of more interactive and live data which linked in with the corporate plan;

b.    the committee asked for the structure of each Priority Board to be circulated;

Action: Charlotte Pomery & Clerk

RESOLVED to note

1.         the progress made against the Council’s Corporate Plan priorities in Q4 and for the year 2014/15;

2.         the plan to report on delivery of the Corporate Plan 2015-18 in a more outcome focused and transparent way.

Councillor Arthur will attend to answer questions on the non-finance areas of his portfolio and will remain for questioning on the finance reports at items 10 & 11 below.

RECEIVED the Cabinet Member for Resources and Culture (Councillor Jason Arthur) briefing on pages 31-34 of the agenda pack, on the non-finance, areas of his portfolio.

NOTED further to questions:

Culture Strategy

The Cabinet Member talked to the Culture Strategy and answered a number of questions from Committee members about the strategy.

Customer Service Transformation Programme and Digital Framework

a.     The Cabinet Member talked to the adoption and implementation of the two programmes of work. Most particularly he talked about the link between the implementation of a new Customer portal which will help  increase public engagement.

b.     a residents panel would test the new digital aspects of services and the council would also use social media and the website to ensure transparency during the changes;

c.      The committee asked for details of the cost of the project, which was not available at the meeting and would be provided to the committee. 

Action: Councillor Arthur

d.     the committee recognised the many areas of high risk involved in delivering the projects presented in the briefing and requested to be kept informed on progress.

Action: Councillor Arthur

RESOLVED to note the Cabinet Member for Resources and Culture’s portfolio briefing.

To consider the provisional outturn position for the General Fund, Housing Revenue Account, the Dedicated Schools Budget, the Collection Fund and the Capital Programme for 2014/15, presented by Neville Murton (Head of Finance, Accounting and Control).

RESOLVED to note the Council’s provisional out turn position for 2014/15.

To review the budget monitoring report for quarter 1 2015/16, introduced by Neville Murton (Head of Finance, Accounting and Control).

RECEIVED the Financial (Budget) Monitoring 2015/16 Quarter 1 report, introduced by the Cabinet Member for Resources and Culture, as laid out on pages 61-78 of the agenda pack.

The Committee expressed concerns about the significant overspend in both the Adults and Children’s services and noted the following as a result of questions to the Cabinet Member and officers:

a.    the adults service in particular had experienced an increase in demand.  A member expressed concern that the finance report had told the same story the previous year.  It was emphasised that the net budget for adults services still represented a lower deficit than the previous year;

b.    it was too early to see the financial impact of new models focussing on early help and intervention, which were designed to specifically reduce the number of people requiring long term support;

c.    there would be further transformations to ensure the resources were available to deliver services more effectively and appropriately and re-procuring of services to reduce costs;

d.    cabinet members met with both directors regularly and had bi-monthly monitoring meetings with the Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive and the Section 151 Officer;

e.     the council paid its staff the London living wage (LLW).  Contractors were required to do the same but to enforce this across their sub-contractors would cost £8.5m, which may be at the expense of other services;

RESOLVED to note the Council’s latest financial position.

To receive a report on the implications of the events in Rotherham, presented by the Deputy Chief Executive.

RECEIVED the report entitled Learning from the Lessons of Rotherham – Implications for Scrutiny and Safeguarding, as set out on pages 79 – 122 of the agenda pack, introduced by Zina Etheridge (Deputy Chief Executive).

NOTED the following further to discussions and questions from the committee:

a.    a.  Safeguarding

1. the committee raised a number of questions about how referrals and information and intelligence about safeguarding issues were dealt with.  It was proposed that members were offered a training session, which could also include the Chair of the relevant Safeguarding Board;

2. members raised a number of questions about how they could be confident of performance on safeguarding.  The DCS outlined the performance management processes in place in Children’s Services, and the DASS noted that similar arrangements were in place in Adults.  In addition independently chaired Safeguarding Boards for both Children’s and Adults provided challenge across the local partnership;

b.    Hearing the Voice of the Child/ Vulnerable Adult

1. all council staff and partners had a role to play in safeguarding.  Hearing the voice of vulnerable people was important through a number of council services;

2. Hearing the voice of the child was a consistent theme in the LSCB’s (Local Children’s Safeguarding Board) work – they were carrying out further work on this area which could be reported to scrutiny in due course;

3. adult service users were involved in reviewing services and supporting safeguarding.

c.    Equality and Diversity

1. the lack of confidence to challenge specific communities in the Rotherham case was noted .  Members questioned how Haringey ensured people were supported in acting on safeguarding concerns without judgement being affected by the fear of discrimination;

2. officers noted that good relationships with all of the Borough’s communities were important so that safeguarding issues could be raised confidently – for instance female genital mutilation (FGM);

3. on the basis of current evidence, officers did not believe that CSE in Haringey was primarily being perpetrated by one community;

4.    in response to a question about responsibility for equalities impact assessments, it was noted that all areas of the Council were responsible for understanding and tackling equalities issues

5.    the council was building relationships with organisations such as Haringey Race Equality Council (HREC) to work with faith communities.

RESOLVED that

1.    the report be noted;

2.    the issues set out in the report be addressed as part of the Committee’s work programme for 2015/16, including;

·         an officer briefing to the Committee and Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel on the framework, the local arrangement for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in Haringey.  This briefing will form part of a workshop, co-ordinated by an external facilitator, on how the Overview & Scrutiny Committee can be effective in its scrutiny role relating to safeguarding children;

·         the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel to review the local arrangement for tackling child sexual exploitation in Haringey;

·         the Committee to review how the Council performs its corporate parenting responsibilities, including the extent to which all members understand and perform their role and how  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

To receive the interim Overview & Scrutiny Committee project report on the Job Support Market.

TO FOLLOW

RECEIVED the Job Support Market project review interim report, pages 7-23 of the supplementary agenda pack.

RESOLVED

a.    to note the interim findings and conclusions contained within the report;

b.    that a validation exercise be undertaken with local stakeholders to confirm interim conclusions and recommendations;

c.    that a finalised report is presented at the next meeting of this committee.

To receive the Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel project report.

TO FOLLOW

RECEIVED the Council’s House Building Programme Scrutiny project review interim report, set out on pages 25-39 of the supplementary agenda pack.

RESOLVED

a.    that the report be noted;

b.    that the emerging conclusions and recommendations contained within the report be noted;

c.    that the Chair of the review and the Chair of Overview & Scrutiny meet with the relevant cabinet member and officers in September to discuss the review recommendations;

d.    that a finalised report is presented at the next meeting of the committee.

To receive a verbal update on the Youth Transition Scrutiny review, from the Chair of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel, Councillor Kirsten Hearn.

RECEIVED a verbal update on the Youth Transition Scrutiny review, from the Chair of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel, Councillor Kirsten Hearn.

NOTED that further work included:

a.     visiting two local schools on to gather evidence on impartial advice and guidance and to talk to young people;

b.    a comparison exercise with other local authorities as part of the Post 16 review;

c.    a final evidence gathering session on 24 September to update panel;

d.    a final report would be presented to the committee at its meeting in October.

This report outlines the indicative scrutiny work programme for 2015/16 for approval by the Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

RECEIVED the report outlining the indicative scrutiny work programme for 2015/16 for approval by the Overview & Scrutiny Committee and appendices, as laid out on pages 123-187 of the agenda pack.

A scoping document for a rapid review on events held at Finsbury Park was tabled.

RESOLVED that

1.    the Committee agree the indicative scrutiny work programme for 2015/16 as attached at Appendix A;

2.    the scoping document for a rapid review on events held at Finsbury Park be agreed;

3.    during August 2015, in respect of the items agreed for inclusion in the 2015.16 scrutiny work programme, the Chair of OSC, and Chairs of each Scrutiny Panel, meet with appropriate cabinet members and senior officers to further clarify the work programme, including the following as a result of the discussions recorded in the Learning Lessons from Rotherham item above:

·         an officer briefing to the Committee and Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel on the framework, the local arrangement for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in Haringey, and the findings of the 2014 Ofsted inspection.  This briefing will form part of a workshop, co-ordinated by an external facilitator, on how the Overview & Scrutiny Committee can be effective in its scrutiny role relating to safeguarding children;

·         the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel to review the local arrangement for tackling child sexual exploitation in Haringey;

·         the Committee to review how the Council performs its corporate parenting responsibilities, including the extent to which all members understand and perform their role and how children’s safeguarding is reflected through out the Council’s functions;

·         the Independent Chair of the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board be invited to attend the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel for a review of the work of the Board and the effectiveness of partnership working in safeguarding children in Haringey;

4.    the Committee consider an appropriate time to meet collectively with Cabinet to support the development and monitoring of the scrutiny work programme;

1.    a review of the Committee’s effectiveness in developing and delivering an effective work programme be scoped during August 2016 to enable recommendations from reviews carried during 2015/16 to be considered;

5.    the possibility of developing a future work programme covering a 24 month period be considered.

None.

Monday 19 October 2015

Monday 30 November 2015

Thursday 17 December 2015

Monday 25 January 2016

Tuesday 8 March 2016 

Noted the following dates:

Monday 19 October 2015

Monday 30 November 2015

Thursday 17 December 2015

Monday 25 January 2016

Tuesday 8 March 2016