Agenda and minutes

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Noted.

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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 18 below).

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i)          To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 17 October 2016.

ii)         To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 8 November 2016 TO FOLLOW

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 17 October 2016 be approved as a correct record, subject to the following amendment:

Minute 47 to read - RESOLVED that the revised membership of the Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel (including the addition of Councillor Berryman, as advised at the meeting), the Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel and the Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel be approved.

To receive and note the minutes of the following Scrutiny Panels and to approve any recommendations contained within:

Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel – 29 September 2016

Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel – 19 October 2016

Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel – 3 October 2016

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel, Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel, and Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel be noted.

This report covers the fifth update and publication of priority dashboards, the original launch was in October 2015. It informs the Overview and Scrutiny Committee of performance against the  outcomes and strategic priorities in the Corporate Plan 2015-18, as at September 2016. It provides an overview of key performance trends and an assessment of progress against targets and objectives on an exception basis.

Charlotte Pomery, Assistant Director for Commissioning, introduced the report as set out.

The following arose during discussion of the report:

a.         There had been limited feedback from the public directly relating to the dashboards.

b.         Performance measures were discussed via Priority Boards, and a joint officer group looked at how the Council could learn through the delivery of priorities, with an internal Executive Board to look at performance across the 5 dashboards.

c.         In response to a request for further information on housing and homelessness (P5, page 34 of the agenda pack), Charlotte Pomery agreed to send a written report with background information, including numbers rather than percentages.

ACTION: Charlotte Pomery

d.         Members suggested that it would be useful to have ‘good news stories’ under each area to help in getting the message across to residents.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

This report sets out the 2016/17 Period 6/Quarter 2 financial position; including Revenue, Capital, Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG).

Tracie Evans, Chief Operating Officer, introduced the report as set out.

The following arose during discussion of the report:

a.         A number of actions had been taken in attempts to mitigate the £22m overspend, including a Council-wide Voluntary Redundancy campaign, and a reduction in non-business critical spending.

b.         The five year financial planning will help to plan for when grants are reduced and Business Rates are introduced, however, it was anticipated that there would be a further two years of financial pressures.

c.         The demand increases and reduction of funds had not been a surprise, however they had happened faster than anticipated, and therefore mitigation had not been as quick.

RESOLVED that

i.          The report and the Council’s 2016/17 Period 6/Q2 financial position in respect of revenue and capital expenditure be noted;

ii.         The risks and mitigating actions, including spend controls identified in the report in the context of the Council’s on-going budget management responsibilities be noted;

iii.        The increase in the capital budgets of £6.3m as set out in section 6.8 be noted; and

iv.       The virements set out in Appendix 1 be noted.

This report gives an overview of the Feedback process, highlights some key points from the annual ombudsman report and recommends some next steps.

Mark Rudd, Assistant Director Shared Services, and Sue Dyos, Feedback Team Leader, introduced the report as set out.

The following arose during discussion of the report:

a.         1800 complaints were received in 2015/16, with 83 responded to within 10 working days.  Where complaints were escalated to stage 1, 54% were partially or fully upheld.  446 had been referred for independent review and 214 had been referred to the Local Government Ombudsman.

b.         The service had recently transferred to the Shared Services Centre, and complaints procedures were being reviewed.

c.         Members pointed out that although Members Enquiries were all treated as stage 1 complaints, this was not always the case.  The Chair suggested that work could be carried out with Members to see how Members Enquiries could be dealt with differently.

d.         Members suggested that an annual report should be provided to Corporate Committee, and an update on the learning process should be provided to OSC.

RESOLVED that

i.          The report be noted;

ii.         An annual report be provided to Corporate Committee, starting in May / June;

iii.        A progress report on the learning process be provided to OSC in May / June; and

iv.       A training session be arranged with Members with regards to reporting Members Enquiries.

This report:

·                provides an update on the new £23,000 benefit cap and the roll out of Universal Credit in Haringey

·                summarises the findings of the Welfare Reform Club impact analysis report

·                summarises the approach to mitigating the impact of welfare reform

Richard Grice, Assistant Director Transformation and Resources, introduced the report as set out.

The following arose during discussion of the report:

a.         The report provided an update on the benefit cap reduction, and identified groups where the largest impact would be felt, and support would be required.

b.         There was a support fund available in earmarked reserves, and it was expected that the entire fund would be spent.

c.         The Council was reasonably confident that there was sufficient data and understanding to identify those who would be most affected by the reduction.

d.         It was a challenging situation, people were working in low income jobs, and it was hard for them to take the time to develop their skills to get better paid jobs.  Therefore it was important that targeted interventions took place.

e.         The Chair requested that a further update be provided to the Committee once further work support work had been carried out.

RESOLVED that

i.          The report be noted; and

ii.         A further update be to provided to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in 6 – 9 months.

This report sets an update on work undertaken to progress recommendations made by Overview & Scrutiny Committee’s Review of the Haringey Job Support Market.  The Review commenced in January 2015, with a final report that Cabinet responded to on 15th December 2015.

Vicky Clark, Head of Economic Development & Growth, and Ambrose Quashie, Economic Development Officer Policy & Projects, introduced the report as set out.

The following arose during discussion of the report:

a.         There were 16 recommendations in the report, and there had been progress in all areas, including an increase in partnership working across the Borough, and an increase in the use of the Employment and Skills Board.

b.         The target for apprenticeships within the Council was 20, although the service had helped people to find apprenticeships outside of the Council.

c.         The take up of childcare had been lower than anticipated and it was thought that the main reason was that families on lower incomes did not feel that it was worth working with the cost of childcare.  The service was exploring whether more hours could be added to the current free hours provided for 3-4 year olds in order to encourage people back to work.

d.         The Committee thanked Vicky Clark and Ambrose Quashie for the update and noted the progress of the recommendations.  The Committee requested that a further update be provided at a later date.

RESOLVED that

i.          The report be noted; and

ii.         A further progress update be provided to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

To review how the Councilperforms its corporate parenting responsibilities.

Councillor Elin Weston, Cabinet Member for Children & Families, and Neelam Bhardwaja, Assistant Director for Safeguarding and Social Care, introduced the report as set out.

The following arose during discussion of the report:

a.         It was suggested by Councillor Weston that the Committee could have involvement with Corporate Parenting by looking into areas where the Corporate Parenting Committee didn’t have the resources to do so, such as good safeguarding practices with partner organisations, for example, Fusion.

b.         There would be a focus on housing over the coming Corporate Parenting meetings, with the aim of developing a housing pledge for housing for care leavers.  It would be useful to have some input from OSC further down the line.

c.         The Aspire group had struggled to interact with young people, and further work was required to find other ways which could be used to encourage participation.

d.         Councillor Weston also suggested that it would be helpful for OSC to  look at how well safeguarding procedures and practices were implemented and understood across the organisation and its’ partners.

RESOLVED that

i.          The report be noted;

ii.         Bi-annual Corporate Parenting updates be provided to Overview and Scrutiny Committee; and

iii.        Refresher training be provided to all Members on their responsibilities as Corporate Parents, and to investigate as to whether such training could be made compulsory.

This report gives details of the proposed scrutiny work programme for the remainder of the municipal year.  

RESOLVED that

i.               The future Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Scrutiny Panels work programmes be noted; and

ii.             The scoping document for the Child Friendly Haringey Scrutiny Review be approved.

This report seeks a change to the membership of the Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel.

RESOLVED that the revised membership of the Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel be agreed.

None.

17 January 2017 (budget)

30 January 2017

9 February 2017

27 March 2017

Noted.