Agenda and minutes

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The Chair referred those present to agenda Item 1 as shown on the agenda in respect of filming at this meeting and asked that those present reviewed and noted the information contained therein.

Apologies for absence were receive from Cllr Hearn.

Apologies for lateness were received from Cllr Gallagher.  

There were no items of urgent business

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no deputations, petitions, presentations or questions received.  

The Committee advised that Paragraph 30.f on page 4 of the minutes should reflect that the under spend forecast of £108m consisted of £89m on the General Fund capital budget and £19m on the HRA  capital budget.

RESOLVED

That the Committee agreed the minutes of the 21^st November as a correct record of the meeting, subject to the above change.

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

Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel, 6^th November 2017.

Adults & Health Scrutiny Panel, 10^th October 2017.

Housing and Regeneration, 2^nd October

RESOLVED

That the Committee received and noted the draft minutes of the following scrutiny Panels and approved the recommendations contained within:

     I.        Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel, 6^th November 2017.

    II.        Adults & Health Scrutiny Panel, 10^th October 2017.

  III.        Housing and Regeneration, 2^nd October.

Cllr Wright handed over to Cllr Connor as Chair for Items 8 and 9 on Budget Scrutiny, as per Paragraph 7.4 of the Overview and Scrutiny procedure rules.

The Assistant Director of Transformation and Resources gave an update on Priority X to the Committee. The following points were noted:

a.    Priority X included a range of services across enabling functions such as the Shared Service Centre which included; Revenue and Benefits, Customer Services, Transformation and Resources, the Corporate Delivery Unit, IT and Libraries. Priority X also included the Chief Executive’s Office as well as the Communications team. The Committee was advised that the total budget for Priority X was £34.5 m.

b.    Over the last three years there had been an around 30% reduction the budget for the Shared Service Centre, with another 30% reduction being sought over the next 5 years.

c.    The majority of the savings agreed in Priority X for the MTFS period were agreed last year and the AD Transformation and Resources commented that this was reflected in the fact that there were only 3 savings put forward for 2018/19-2022/23.

d.    The Committee sought clarification on the progress received to date on the pre-agreed savings within Priority X. In response, Richard Grice advised that a detailed business case was being developed around the £3.2m savings within Shared Services and the additional £1m saving within Customer Services. It was anticipated that the business case would be available by the end of March. The AD Transformation and Resources advised the Committee that a lot of the savings within Priority X related to technology based investments and that they were seeking to bring about an increased level of online customer contact.

e.    In response to a question, the AD Transformation and Resources advised that the savings in relation to the Shared Service Centre and Customer Services from last year’s MTFS were on track, however given the size of the savings involved the Committee was advised that the risk rating was amber instead of green.

f.     In response to a request for clarification on potential staff losses, the Committee was advised that £3.2m saving in the Shared Service Centre equated to around 70 posts in 2019/20. However, the AD Transformation and Resources advised that it was not possible to give a robust assessment of the reduction in the number of posts as a significant proportion would likely be made up of contractors, as well as savings from the shared ICT service.

g.    In response to a request for further clarification, the Committee was advised that staff would be TUPE transferred to Camden as part of the shared ICT service and that they would remain on Haringey terms and conditions when transferred over, but would likely be integrated into Camden’s terms and conditions at a subsequent point in time. The Committee was advised that all ICT staff employed by Haringey on the last 18 months had been employed according to Camden’s terms and conditions of employment, in preparation for a transfer  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.

Verbal Update

The Committee received a verbal update from each of the Scrutiny Panel Chairs in respect of budget scrutiny recommendations and requests for further information, which had arisen from each panels as part of the budget scrutiny process.

Cllr Ibrahim raised concerns around the circa £58m underspend on the capital budget for P4 & P5 and advised that the Housing and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel had requested clarification on why the underspend was so high. Cllr Ibrahim advised that the Panel was concerned that a lack of progress on scheduled capital spending would have a significant impact on attempts to reduce revenue budgets.

Cllr Gallagher advised that all of the savings within Priority 3 were agreed last year and that there were no new savings for 2018/2019. Cllr Gallagher advised that the Environment and Community Safety Scrutiny Panel would advocate that next year’s panel carried out a review of the various changes to waste collection services.

Cllr Connor advised that the Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel had requested further financial and strategic information on the savings related to Haringey learning disability partnership, mental health and physical support, as well as the risks associated with those savings. Cllr Connor also advised that the Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel had requested further information on care packages. Cllr Connor commented that Osbourne Grove was no longer going to Cabinet and that the savings predicated on Osbourne Grove may need to be amended to reflect that fact.

The Committee was advised that the budget recommendations from the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel were being finalised and that they included recommendations for the Panel’s future work programme and a broad welcome for the proposals that they scrutinised. There were no amendments to the budget proposals or requests for further information.

The Chair advised that the Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and Planning had given his apologies as he was unwell.

The Committee AGREED to reschedule the final evidence gathering session to a future date, when the Cabinet Member was available. (Action: Clerk).

The Chair agreed to circulate the summary and recommendations from the independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, being led by Dame Judith Hackitt. (Action: Mike Kay).

29th January 2018

26th March 2018

The future meeting dates were noted as:

29th January 2018

26th March 2018