Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from the following:

David Anstey

Niall Bolger                -Tracey Turner substituted

Eugenia Cronin         -Susan Otiti substituted

Dave Grant

Judith Hanna

Cenk Orhan

Ellen Struthers

Esther Vanlith

The Chair noted Pamela Moffat had stepped down as HAVCO’s representative on the Board and expressed thanks on behalf of the Board for her hard work during her time as a member.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 6 October 2008 as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 6 October 2008 be confirmed as a correct record.

Members of the Board must declare any personal and/or prejudicial interests with respect to agenda items and must not take part in any decision with respect to those items.

No declarations of interest were made.

The Chair will consider the admission of any items of urgent business. (Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items of urgent business will be dealt with under Item 8 below).

No items of Urgent Business were raised.

A presentation will be provided.

The Board received a presentation on the forthcoming Comprehensive Area Assessment.

An overview was given of the scope of the CAA and it was noted that it was comprised of two key strands:

Area Assessment

This strand would consider how effectively local public services delivered local priorities, economic prospects, community safety and potential for future improvement.

Organisational Assessment

This strand would consider the use of resources and performance management and how the Council delivered value for money through their combined use of resources and performance management.

It was noted that Partners would be inspected by their own inspection regimes and that these would liaise with the Audit Commission.

In assessing this four key themes would be considered:

• Management of finances
• Governing business
• Managing resources
• Managing performance

In terms of the Area Assessment the following key areas would be focussed upon:

• How well do local priorities express community needs and aspirations?
• How well are the outcomes and improvements needed being delivered?
• What are the prospects for future improvements?

It was noted that the Local Authority would be required to produce and publish an Annual Summary, which would include an overview of key priorities, overall successes, challenges and future prospects. It was envisaged that these would form a tool for members of the public wanting to obtain an overview of the Borough.

In addition to this a system of red and green flags would be used to indicate areas where arrangements were considered inadequate to deliver improvement or where exceptional or innovative practice was demonstrated.

The Board was advised that that the CAA would take a more holistic approach to assessing performance and would gather evidence over the course of a year rather than focussing on a limited period.

The CAA placed a strong emphasis on effective partnership working and therefore Inspectors would be looking for evidence that partners had the capacity and capability to the Strategies and Plans agreed by the Partnership. In order to achieve a good Assessment effective partnership and tangible outcomes would need to be demonstrated.

In preparation for the Self Assessment a group consisting of representatives from Partner agencies had been established that was Chaired by the Fire Borough Commander for Haringey. In addition, a dedicated LAA web page had also been created within the Council’s website and briefing notes would also be posted and undated on a regular basis. There was agreement that a link to the web page should be circulated with the minutes.

In response to a query regarding the awarding of flags the Board was advised that there may be many Local Authorities that would not receive any flags at all as they would only awarded as an indicator of innovative practice or where there insufficient plans in place to improve performance. Local Authorities not awarded flags would not be perceived in a negative light.

It was confirmed that there representatives from both NHS Haringey and HAVCO on the Working Group established to oversee the Self Assessment process.

RESOLVED:

That the report be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Board received a report setting out performance against Local Area Agreement Performance Indicators and programme projects in receipt of Area Based Grant (ABG) funding during the Third Quarter of 2008/09.

It was noted that all of the programme projects within the Board’s responsibility were performing to target and were expected to deliver against agreed outputs in terms of budget by the end of the financial year. The Board was advised that one of the LAA targets within the Boards responsibility, N1 192: Household Waste Recycled and Composted, that had not been met during the third quarter.

The Chair noted that this was partly due to a change in the way that waste was measured. Waste from the seven North London Boroughs was now collected and then the overall collection was divided by seven to show the level collected by each Authority. Since this methodology had been employed Haringey’s levels had risen. In order to provide a more accurate assessment of the levels of waste being recycled.

In response to a query the Board was advised that there were recycling schemes in place to enable residents living in flats to participate in recycling schemes. At present a system that allowed people to put all of their recyclable waste into one bag was used and other initiatives were also being trialled.

The Board was advised that data collected to measuring NI 186, which related to CO2 Emissions, was two years out of date and as such should be treated with caution. However, based on the information available, the target had been met.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

The Board received a report presenting a draft Risk Register in relation to the delivery of LAA targets within its responsibility.

It was noted that page 21 of the report contained a typo and should be amended to read ‘Bermont Recreation Ground’.

There was agreement that in order to enable the Board to effectively monitor and assess risk against LAA targets where that were measured annually proxy indicators should be adopted where possible. This was particularly relevant to reducing CO2 carbon emissions where there was a lag in the information provided.

In response to concerns around the ongoing costs of maintaining Green Flag status, once the target number had been achieved, the Board was advised that a Parks Assessment and Management Plan was currently being established and that this would consider how funding would be allocated to address this.

It was noted that satisfaction amongst local residents was measured by a survey of park users carried out Mori. There was agreement that it would be useful if a link to the survey was circulated with the minutes.

The Board discussed the Community Transport scheme and concern was raised that smaller organisations found the cost of accessing this prohibitive and therefore the scheme was at risk. The Chair agreed to take this issue up outside the meeting to discuss what initiatives might be formed to address this problem.

In response to a query, as to whether Transport for London (TfL) had indicated when it was likely to finalise its target, the Board was advised that the Council was in constant dialogue with TfL around this and other issues. The Chair advised the Board that he sat on the London Council’s forum with TfL and he would raise this issue again at this meeting.

There was agreement that the Risk Register should be received by the Board at each future meeting.

RESOLVED:

1. That the Risk Register presented be adopted.

2. That the Risk Register should be received by the Board for monitoring at each future meeting.  

The Board received a report setting out the partnership initiatives that had been established to address priorities set out in the Greenest Borough Strategy.

Concern was raised that resources to fund potential projects should be identified prior to any commitment being given. This was particularly relevant in the current economic climate. It was noted that new initiatives may not require additional funding in every instance as there may be room scope to realign and existing projects to accommodate these.

The Chair reminded the Board that partners shared responsibility for delivering the Strategy and therefore it financing new projects needn’t necessarily fall entirely within the Council’s responsibility.

It was noted that projects to promote sustainable food resources and assist residents living on estates to grow their own food were being implemented. It was indicated that the NHS would be particularly interested in developing this as it was beneficial to people’s health in many different ways.

The Chair noted that as the meetings were held on a quarterly basis partners should contact officers within the Service directly if they had suggestions for projects. There was agreement that once these were submitted they should be evaluated and passed on to the Chair for comment before considered by the Board. He underlined the need to proposed projects to be sustainable and without the need for significant future investment once established.

RESOLVED:

1. That the report be noted.

2. That partners should contact officers outside the meeting to discuss any further potential projects and that, once agreed by the Chair, these would be developed and brought forward to the agreement at its next meeting.  

To consider any new Items of Urgent Business admitted under Item 4 above.

No new items of Urgent Business were raised.

To consider any items of AOB raised.

The Board was asked to note that the LAA target in relation to Carbon Emissions had now been confirmed.

The next meeting of the Board will be held on 16 April 2009.

The next meeting of the Board was scheduled for 16 April 2009.