Agenda and minutes

Please note that this meeting will be 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. 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, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings.

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’.

None.

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).

It was noted that the Panel would discuss the Work Programme at the end of the meeting.

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 Members’ Register of 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 interest are

defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

Cllr Pippa Connor declared an interest by virtue of her membership of the Royal College of Nursing.

Cllr Pippa Connor declared an interest by virtue of her sister working as a GP in Tottenham.

Cllr Nick da Costa declared an interest by virtue of his ownership of a company working with the NHS, medical providers and healthcare practitioners on a variety of projects, none of which, to his knowledge, work in Haringey Borough though they do work in surrounding areas and with service providers across London.

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

None.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting.

Cllr Brabazon requested on update on the action recorded in the minutes of the previous meeting to have further conversations with Barnet Enfield & Haringey Mental Health Trust (BEH-MHT) on difficulties with mental health-related casework. Cllr Connor reported there had been some initial dialogue on this with Andrew Wright at BEH-MHT by email and that he would then be looking into this in more detail. Further progress on this would be reported to the Panel. (ACTION) The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed.

RESOLVED: The minutes of the previous meeting on 17^th November 2020 were approved as an accurate record.

To scrutinise the revenue and capital proposals relating to the 2021/22 Draft Budget and the Medium Term Financial Strategy for 2021/22 to 2025/26.

Brian Smith, Business Partner, introduced the report on the Council’s draft budget for 2021/22 and 5-Year Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for 2021/22 – 2025/26 and proposals relating to the Panel’s remit, highlighting the following points:

• That, as noted in Section 5 of the report, at the start of the year the Council’s budget gaps for the two years from 2021 - 2023 had been assumed to be £1.9m and £3.1m.
• However, the impact of Covid-19 had resulted in considerable pressures on the Council’s budget. A Recovery and Renewal workstream had been undertaken to develop a better understanding of the new context.
• As a result of the Covid crisis and the consequent diversion of Council officers to other tasks, a slippage of £1.6m from pre-agreed savings plans had been reprofiled into the next two years.
• An element of growth had been built into the Adults & Health budget in order to meet rising demand.
• The Council budget for 2020/21 could be set with the use of £5.4m of reserves. However, the current budget shortfall for 2022/23 was projected to be around £8m.

Cllr Sarah James, Cabinet Member for Adults & Health, commented that the Council was in an unprecedented situation, not just due to the pandemic, but also with the impact of Brexit approaching. In terms of Adults and Health, she said that there was a need to tackle poverty and inequality, to meet a rising demand for services and to invest in prevention and early intervention to help stop needs from escalating which would otherwise cost more further down the line. Savings proposals therefore focused on income generation rather than cuts to services. In response to a question from Cllr das Neves about how Haringey compared to other local authorities, she said that while some other Councils may have greater reserves to rely on, Haringey’s position having invested services and being able to present a balanced budget put the Council in a relatively good position.

Cllr Brabazon queried the size of the budget gap, noting that it was quoted as £17m in paragraph 1.10 on page 23 of the agenda pack, but that she had heard a lower figure quoted in a previous briefing. Brian Smith said that the cost pressure to the Council remained at £17m, though this could change depending on the level of government grants provided. However, progress had been made on identifying additional savings to reduce the gap to the point that the Council needed to draw only £5.4m from reserves in order to balance the budget for 2021/22. Asked whether any of the additional savings that had been identified to achieve this had come from the Adults & Health budget, Brian Smith said that there were different elements to the Council’s position. Some of this related to increased income generation and there had been some savings slippage carried forward to the following financial year but there were no new savings to be considered by the Panel. Income generation relating to Adults & Health included addressing delays in assessments  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To consider any items admitted at item 3 above.

Cllr Connor provided a short update on the Work Programme reporting that:

• There had been a discussion with the Chair of the Housing & Regeneration scrutiny panel about a possible joint meeting on the health needs of people in sheltered housing. However, there was currently an issue with capacity in the Housing & Regeneration scrutiny panel’s work programme so there may be a delay until it would be possible to fit this in.
• The Scrutiny Review on commissioning was still incomplete and required a further meeting to complete the evidence gathering so it was hoped that officers would be able to assist with this early in 2021.
• She suggested that an informal meeting of the Panel could be arranged to discuss additional quick task and finish projects that the Panel could undertake in 2021. This was agreed by the Panel.

·         Mon 1st March 2021 (6:30pm)

Panel Members were requested to note that the date of the last meeting of the Panel in 2020/21 had been changed and would now take place on Mon 1^st March 2021 (6:30pm).