Venue: George Meehan House, 294 High Road, Wood Green, N22 8JZ
Contact: Philip Slawther, Principal Scrutiny Officer, Email: philip.slawther2@haringey.gov.uk
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FILMING AT MEETINGS 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. Minutes: 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’. |
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Apologies for Absence Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Buxton and Cllr Barnes. |
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Urgent Business 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 as noted below). Minutes: There were no items of Urgent Business |
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Declarations of interest A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:
(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and (ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.
A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.
Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct. Minutes: None. |
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Deputations/Petitions/Presentations/Questions To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, Section B, Paragraph 29 of the Council’s Constitution. Minutes: None. |
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To approve the minutes of the previous meeting. Additional documents: Minutes: RESOLVED
That the minutes of the meeting on 6th March were agreed as a correct record. |
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Additional documents:
Minutes: RESOLVED
That the Panel:
I. Noted the terms of reference (attached at Appendix A) and Protocol (attached at Appendix B) for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and its Panels.
II. Noted the policy areas/remits and membership for each Scrutiny Panel for 2025/26 (as set out in Appendix C of the report).
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Housing Adaptations Minutes: The Panel received a report which set out how the Occupational Therapy (OT) Aids and Adaptions service operated and how it interfaced with Housing. The report provided an overview and service offer across Adults and Children’s services, with a focus on council housing stock, and the impact on council tenants. The report was introduced by Jahedur Rahman, Director of Housing, Christian Carlisle, AD for Asset Management, and Alexandra Domingue, Commissioning Programme Manager. Also present for this item were Cllr Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing Planning, and Cllr Das Neves, Cabinet Member for Health, Social Care and Wellbeing. The following arose during the discussion of this item: a. The Chair sought clarification about the £1k threshold for minor versus major works and whether this was across all tenures, and whether it was means tested. In response, officers advised that all works below £1k were not means tested. The organisation was reviewing means testing for works over £1k. Officers clarified that the threshold was £1k in total, so this would include a package of smaller jobs that added up to that amount. Cllr Das Neves advised that nationally the threshold for when means testing might be used tended to be around £30k. b. In response to a question about a drop in the number of cases in 2023/24 compared to the previous year, officers advised that it was possible this drop reflected a higher percentage of non-Council properties being fitted for aids and adaptions that year. Officers also set out that there were some resourcing issues around that time, which have subsequently been rectified, including the recruitment of additional surveyors. c. In response to a question, officers advised that the Housing Aids and Adaptions Policy was in draft and was being reviewed by Housing colleagues. It was anticipated this would be ready in a few months. d. In response to a question, officers advised that the CQC did an inspection of Adult Social Care and in general they had positive comments about OT, but were concerned about things like waiting lists. The Adults Health Scrutiny Panel had also asked officers to evidence how they were incorporating the voice of the residents in this. The Director of Housing advised that any policy that went to Cabinet for Approval would also go to the Resident Voice Board first for their feedback and consultation. e. The Panel queried whether aids and adaptions were carried out on to housing association properties. In response, officers advised that the aids and adaptions were carried out for the residents rather than the provider, so yes work was done on housing association properties, but their permission was needed. f. In response to a question about caseloads, officers advised that the number of cases was down to around 350 and that this was specific to the OT Sensory team. Those people on the waiting list were very likely to have already been seen by the OT Duty team and offered minor adjustments. g. In reference to recruitment of Occupational Therapists, officers ... view the full minutes text for item 241. |
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Housing Service Performance Scrutiny 2024/25 Outturn Minutes: The Panel received a presentation which provided an overview of Housing Service performance, comparing year-end results for 2024/25 and 2023/24. It included the KPIs used in the services monthly reporting and covered areas such as; repairs and voids, compliance, asset management, tenancy management, estates & neighbourhoods, income collection, leaseholder services, and support & wellbeing. The presentation was introduced by Jahedur Rahman, Director of Housing as set out in the published agenda pack at pages 61-92. Paul McCabe, Head of Repairs was also present for this agenda item, along with Christian Carlisle and Neehara Wijeyesekera, AD Housing Management. Cllr Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning was present for this item. The following arose during the discussion of this item:
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Housing Resident Engagement Impact Assessment April 2023 to December 2024 Additional documents: Minutes: The Panel received a report which set out a summary of the Resident Engagement Annual Review that covered the financial year 2023-2024. The Annual Review document was attached to the report at Appendix A. The report was introduced by Neehara Wijeyesekera, AD for Housing Management as set out in the agenda pack at pages 93-120. Reda Khelladi, Community & Resident Engagement Manager was also present for this item along with Cllr Sarah Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing & Planning. Afia Ankrumah, the chair of the resident voice board (and a Haringey tenant) was also present for this item. The following arose as part of the discussion of this item:
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Cabinet Member Questions with the Cabinet Member for Housing & Planning Verbal Update Minutes: The Panel undertook a verbal Q&A session with the Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning (Deputy Leader), Sarah Williams on matters arising in her portfolio. The following arose as part the discussion: a. A member of Panel commented that he attended an event during the day and that at the event he had a conversation with people from another London borough, who had raised concerns about the level of technological advancement in new build properties, compared to existing housing stock. Of particular concern was the heating systems and the fact that the repairs staff didn’t know how to work them. In response, the Cabinet Member acknowledged that councils hadn’t built any new homes in a generation and that this resulted in a lack of organisational memory. The Cabinet Member suggested that Haringey would be able to build up the skills in its workforce quite quickly. The Council has undertaken a separate contract of repairs for new builds, which was time limited and included a provision for our existing repairs staff to be trained up on mechanical heating and ventilation systems. The Panel was also advised that new build properties would have more wrap around care from tenancy managers for thinks like using air source heat pumps. In regards to landscaping, the Panel were advised that there was a two-year contract in place to manage landscaping on new builds, which should provide enough time to build in a programme of ongoing maintenance from existing staff. b. The Panel requested a summary of survey feedback that was collected from tenants who had moved into new build properties. In response, the Cabinet Member acknowledged that this was collected as an annual report and that she would circulate the Annual Council House Building report to the Panel. (Action: Cllr Williams). c. The Panel raised concerns about delays to works at Kenneth Robbins House and Stellar House. The Panel sought clarification if residents had been advised that reason for the delays was because of legislative changes brought in by the government. In response, the Cabinet Member commented that she shared the Panel’s frustrations. It was clarified that any works being undertaken to a building above a certain height now had to be cleared by the building safety regulator. The regulator had a two year backlog for approvals. The Cabinet Member advised that residents of both blocks had been advised of the reasons for the delays. The Director of Housing advised that the Council was as keen as residents to get the works underway. The contract had been awarded and the contractor was ready to start in March last year, but the works needed to be signed off by the regulator before they could start. The Panel was advised that the works could start from December 2025 onwards based on the current backlog. d. In response to a follow-up question, officers advised that the delays would not invalidate the original contract but that it was possible there could be additional costs arising from the delay. ... view the full minutes text for item 244. |
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Work Programme Update Additional documents: Minutes: The Chair commented to the Panel that he would like to do a scrutiny review around the downsizing policy later in the year. RESOLVED That the Panel:
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New items of urgent business To consider any items admitted at item 3 above.
Minutes: N/A |
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Dates of Future Meetings · 7th October · 17 November · 15 December · 9 March 2026 Minutes: · 23 September (amended) · 17 November · 15 December · 9 March |