Agenda and draft minutes

 Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Wilson . Cllr Williams substituted for Cllr Wilson  in accordance with the  Constitution rules on substitutions as set out  in part 4, rules of procedures, section B, committee rules, paragraph 55.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late reports in relation to the items shown on the agenda.

(Please note that under the Council’s Constitution  - Part 4 Section B paragraph 17 – no other business shall be considered).

 No items of urgent business were considered.

A member with a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered must disclose to that meeting the existence and nature of that interest at the commencement of that consideration, or when the interest becomes apparent.

A member with a personal interest in a matter also has a prejudicial interest in that matter if the interest is one which a member of the public with knowledge of the relevant facts would reasonably regard as so significant that it is likely to prejudice the member's judgment of the public interest and if this interest affects their financial position or the financial position of a person or body as described in paragraph 8 of the Code of Conduct and/or if it relates to the determining of any approval, consent, licence, permission or registration in relation to them or any person or body described in paragraph 8 of the Code of Conduct.

 There were no declarations of interests submitted.

To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, Section B, paragraph 29 of the Council’s constitution.

The committee received deputations from  Sean Fox and Andrea Holden (Employee Side Union Representatives ) on agenda items:5 – Summary of the Children and Young People’s Service Restructuring Proposals, 6 Proposals for the reorganisation and Re – alignments of Core Statutory Services within the School Standards and Inclusion Service , 8 –  Financial Management Support Functions Review 9 – Future of Neighbourhood Management 11. Details of their  comments are recorded under the relevant minute below.

The report will provide an overview of the proposed restructuring of the Children &Young People’s Service and seek agreement for some restructure decisions in this service to be made by delegated authority by the Chair of the General Purposes Committee and the appropriate director following consultation and consideration of the equality impact assessments. Report to follow

The Director of the Children’s and Young People’s service  presented this report and  set out   the  context of the report and the necessary changes required to the service which were predicated on the loss of grant funding to the directorate. The Committee noted that the Children and Young People’s Service was to be restructured to respond to three key drivers:

• Becoming an excellent authority for the delivery of services to children and young people together.

• Dealing with the current budget position of considerable reductions in grant funding, core budgets and changes to the DSG.

• The changes in policy recently announced by the Government, particularly relating to the changed relationship with schools.

The proposals, set out in the report, sought to respond to these challenges.  The Committee considered the details of the transformation agenda for the directorate that would ensure the Borough (including partners) could secure support for the most vulnerable whilst not losing sight of the need for universal and early interventions that prevent escalation into greater difficulty. In summary this was the development of a clear balance, within available resources, of universal, targeted and specialist provision.

 In noting the reduction in the directorate’s delivery business units from four to two, It was important to understand that schools now had direct responsibility for their own improvements with funding from government directly provided to them for this function. Whilst schools could choose to continue to buy services from the local authority, this was implicitly (if not explicitly) discouraged by central government. There was also no indication from schools that they would purchase support functions from the local authority .Therefore the directorate was obliged to respond to these circumstances by making the necessary changes to the service.  Although the funding arrangements between schools and the local authority  was changing, this would not equal a total disintegration of support provided by the local authority but would mean that alternative ways and means of supporting schools to  ensure success with pupils could continue to be delivered. This was the current priority of the newly re –organised School Standards and Inclusion team. In further responding to the cuts in funding, there were also discussions with neighbouring borough, Enfield, on which functions can be shared which will accommodate the breadth and depth of the services.

A table setting out the proposed restructures and unit closures was included, in section 4 of Appendix 1, for the Committee’s comments and consideration.  For those still to conclude staff consultation, it was proposed that the Committee agree to either delegate the final decision to the Director of the Children and Young People’s Service (for those affecting fewer than 20 staff) or require a report to a future meeting of the Committee.  In all cases the final recommendations would be accompanied by a full account of the consultation, a response to points raised in consultation and an Equalities Impact Assessment.

In considering the table of proposals for the restructure and closure of services within the Children and Young People’s service, the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 91.

The committee will consider proposals for the reduction in staff at the Professional Development Centre (PDC) Administration Team following the cessation of a range of funding and the restructuring of the school improvement team.

Proposals were put forward to reduce the staff at the Professional Development (PDC) Administration Team following the cessation of a range of funding and restructuring of the school improvement team.  This was a commensurate decision, following the agreement by the Committee in October, to the reduction in professional staff based in the school standards service. The Committee considered the attached consultation document which set out the background information to the recommendations and provided a list of posts which were placed at risk, together with the processes designed to ensure the minimum number of redundancies ensued.

RESOLVED

1. That it be noted that formal consultation on these proposals began on 18 January 2011 and was concluded on the 18 February 2011.

2. That the comments received from staff and trades unions and the management response to these which were included in Appendix 2 of the report be noted.

3. That the proposed reduction in staff as set out in the consultation document (appendix 1) be agreed.

The report  will  propose a deletion of the Pupil and Family Mediation Service  officer.

Members considered the proposal for the deletion of the post of Pupil and Family Mediation Officer, a non statutory post.  This proposition was initially driven by the requirement to make budget savings by the Children’s Service. However the duties of this post would have been reviewed following the establishment of the Octagon School.  This new school would be supporting the work on behaviour across schools and as part of this new streamlined service there would be development and embedding of good practice around working with parents and children.  Mediation would be an integral remit of posts within the new structure.

RESOLVED

1. It be noted that formal consultations on these proposals was conducted between the 20^th January 2011 and the 21^st February 2011.

2. That the statement from the Pupil and Mediation officer be noted.

3. That the proposed reduction in staff as set out in the consultation document attached in Appendix 1 be agreed.

The committee will be asked to agree the  proposed centralised finance structure. Report to follow

The Committee were advised that as part of the Haringey Efficiency and Savings programme a review of the financial management function across the Council had been undertaken in order to arrive at a revised finance structure and a new model of delivery of the finance function of the Council. Essentially the report proposed a centralisation of the of the finance structure of the Council. This would involve a significant reduction of staff employed in the finance environment.  There would be a refocus of accountability for budget holders of services with transition work and training undertaken with them to fully ensure that their responsibilities were realised.

The Committee were asked to refer to section 6.4 of the report which set out the total reductions in posts and the costs between the current and proposed structure. The original target of 50% reduction in cost had been reduced to 40% to allow the Council to be in a safer position to deliver its statutory responsibilities and ensure that financial control risks were fully mitigated against. This would be particularly pertinent over the next two years.

The Committee learned that there had been three consultation events with staff on the restructure proposals, which had been well attended by staff.  The Employee side concurred that this had been an inclusive exercise where staff had participated in the consultation process.  The Lead Finance Officer had also offered a series of one to one meetings which had been fully utilised by staff.  There had been effective liaison with the trade unions and their comments on the consultation were attached.

Following concerns expressed by staff and unions in the consultation process on the grading structure and the number of posts being deleted at SO1, PO1, PO2 level, there had been some posts at this level added to the structure. There were also some range grades added to improve prospects in some positions.

The Committee expressed concern about the amount of responsibility for financial management  that would be given to managers and enquired  what mechanisms were in place to monitor their performance  and ensure that  the risks associated with this transfer of duties was managed. It was noted that there was a transition plan compiled with the support of Organisational Development to manage this change process.   There were also early plans to develop the SAP system to a more accessible and usable tool for managers which would in turn contribute to supporting them with their increased financial role. As communicated earlier, there would be additional courses offered to managers based on their knowledge and experience levels.

Clarification was sought on how single status rulings would be applied to posts in this restructure.  In response it was noted that this was an ongoing process, which would continue even after the agreement of the restructure,   to review posts in the old structure and resolve anomalies and understand if there was a right of appeal regarding single status. It was noted that this would not be applicable to the posts in the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 94.

The committee to consider the  feedback  from the  staff consultation  on the future  of the  Neighbourhood Management Service and the revised proposals concerning the deletion of some posts. Report to follow

The Committee had previously, at their meeting on the 15^th February 2011, agreed in principle to the deletion of the Neighbourhood Management Service and further agreed that the Director of Urban Environment with the Chair of the General Purposes Committee be delegated authority to agree the deletion of the service following the consultation process and providing nothing of a substantive matter arose during the consultation period and process.  In keeping with this resolution the Committee were informed that key issues were raised in the consultation period about the displacement of   eleven community development project officer’s posts when four similar posts were being created in the new single frontline service in the later part of the year.  Officers had investigated how these post holders could be given the opportunity to apply for these posts in the single frontline service. Advice from Human Resources and Legal services had been sought and it was proposed, to the Committee, that the creation of these four community engagement posts, in the single frontline service, be brought forward by use of delegated authority powers. This would avoid the Council’s budget incurring the cost of salaries unnecessarily and allow the eleven displaced staff the opportunity to apply for a similar position. The Committee were asked to endorse the waiver of consultation rights to allow these officers to be ringfenced for these new posts. The Committee noted that the job descriptions for these posts had been compiled but not as yet consulted on with the Trade Unions.  The Committee appreciated the work undertaken by officers to provide these staff with a redeployment opportunity and avoid as much as possible compulsory redundancy.

 RESOLVED

1. That notice is served on all posts within the Neighbourhood Management Service, except for the community development /project officer posts.

2. That the creation of four community engagement posts be brought forward and subsumed into the new single frontline structure. That the displaced eleven community engagement post holders, located in Neighbourhood Management team, be ringfenced for these four available posts.

3. That the Committee endorse the waiver of consultation rights, on these posts, subject to consideration by the Employee side, to allow the recruitment process to be expedited and avoid the Council incurring unnecessary salary costs.

To provide members of the committee with the Equality Impact Assessments , as at February 2011, relating to Rethinking Haringey.

Members of the Committee were provided with the equality impact assessment completed on re- organisation of the Council as at February 2011.

RESOLVED

1. That the contents of the attached Equality Impact Assessment as at February 2011 be noted.

2. That the full assessment be brought back to the Committee should any further decisions on Rethinking Haringey be required.

To establish Member appointment panels for staffing changes arising from Rethinking Haringey.

The Committee considered a report which listed the member appointment panels which needed to be established to agree the necessary staffing changes arising from the Rethinking Haringey report.

 RESOLVED

1. It be noted that the consultation on the proposed changes in Rethinking Haringey was ongoing and yet to complete.

2. That the Member appointment panels as described at paragraph 6.3 and 6.4 of the report be established.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late reports in relation to the items shown on the agenda.

(Please note that under the Council’s Constitution  - Part 4 Section B paragraph 17 – no other business shall be considered).

None