Agenda and draft minutes

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.

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’.

There were no apologies for absence.

Cllr Iyngkaran gave apologies for lateness and joined the meeting during item 9.

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).

None.

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 Thayahlan Iyngkaran declared an interest as a consultant radiologist and a deputy medical director.

Helena Kania declared an interest as a co-Chair of the Joint Partnership Board.

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.

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as an accurate record.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 17th December 2024 be approved as an accurate record.

A summary of action points from Panel meetings in 2024/25.

It was noted that, since the publication of the agenda papers, two further responses to action points had been received and circulated to the Panel Members. These responses related to Action Point 29 (Disabled Access to shops/restaurants in Haringey) and Action Point 43 (Self-neglect and Hoarding policy).

Asked by Cllr Mason about Action Point 37 (cost savings for transitions), Dominic O’Brien, Scrutiny Officer, clarified that this point would be addressed as part of a joint meeting on transitions between the Adults & Health Scrutiny Panel and the Children & Young People’s Scrutiny Panel which was expected to take place over the next couple of months.

Asked by Cllr Peacock about the progress on Action Points 30, 31 & 32 (Quality Assurance), Dominic O’Brien said that officers were preparing a response on Action Point 32 and that the CQC had been contacted about Action Points 30 & 31 but no response had been received.

To follow.

Eve Trimingham was introduced to the Panel and her appointment as a non-voting co-opted Member of the Panel was approved.

Cllr Connor noted that, as approved by the Standards Committee, the way that co-opted members were appointed to Scrutiny Panels was changing and that approval from the main Overview & Scrutiny Committee would be required for all new appointments in future.

Cllr Sheila Peacock commented that it was important to advertise the co-optee vacancies to attract a wider range of applicants. Dominic O'Brien agreed to provide further details to the Panel in writing about the proposed recruitment process for 2025/26. (ACTION)

RESOLVED – That Evelyn Trimingham be appointed as a non-voting co-opted Member of the Panel.

RESOLVED – That the non-voting co-opted Members of the Panel for the remainder of the 2024/25 Municipal Year be confirmed as Helena Kania and Evelyn Trimingham.

RESOLVED – That the revisions to the Protocol for Non-voting Co-opted Members as agreed by the Standards Committee in March 2025 be noted.

To receive an update report on progress towards previous recommendations of the Panel on aids & adaptations.

The recommendations were originally made by the Panel at a meeting in Sep 2022: https://www.minutes.haringey.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=74001

Previous progress reports on the recommendations were received in:

·         Mar 2023: https://www.minutes.haringey.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=75471

·         Feb 2024: https://www.minutes.haringey.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=78855

Cllr Connor introduced this item, noting that this was the fourth report to the Panel on this issue. The Panel had been tracking this closely following a series of recommendations made in 2022 after concerns were expressed by residents about delays and communication issues.

Alexandra Dominigue, Commissioning Project Manager, explained that a project board had been established to support implementation of the Panel’s recommendations and that her role had included support and development for the Board. Developments since the most recent update to the Panel in February 2024 included:

• Undertaking benchmarking work with neighbouring local authorities on the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) and have incorporated that learning into the team’s work.
• Expanding the Occupational Therapist (OT) adaptations function by appointing an OT Duty Team to triage cases and reduce the number of inappropriate referrals to the main OT Team.
• Improving communications with residents through a 4-6 week contact pathway to update them about the status of their case.
• Reducing waiting lists by commissioning an external team to provide additional support on assessments and support planning processes.
• Use of resident feedback, complaints and Members’ inquiries to improve monitoring of service satisfaction.
• Changing how equipment and adaptations are procured by using the Dynamic Purchasing System.
• Streamlining the commissioning process with a smaller group of suppliers.

Alexandra Dominigue then responded to questions from the Panel:

• Asked by Cllr Connor about the current data on cases with delays, Alexandra Dominigue explained that the case management system displayed how long individuals had been waiting and that reports were produced and reviewed regularly using this data with cases reallocated according to priority where appropriate. The overall waiting list had been reduced from over 1,000 in September 2024 to a current figure of 388. Over the same time period, the average number of days on the waiting list had been reduced from close to 200 days down to 122 days. The number of assessments completed in a month had increased from 50 to 210. In addition, the number of under-18s on the waiting list had been reduced from 33 to one.
• Cllr Mason reported that, in her experience as a ward Councillor, the number of people contacting her about OT cases and assessments had greatly reduced recently. She noted that the calls still coming through tended to be more complex cases, particularly relating to mental health, and requested further detail on how these cases were dealt with, including liaison with Housing services. Alexandra Dominigue highlighted the work on the Older People’s Housing Strategy which had enabled conversations on supporting Council, Housing Association and private tenants by ensuring seamlessness in services. This work was ongoing, but she felt that there were improvements so far in terms of the communications and working together between different teams. Jo Baty, Service Director for Adult Social Services, acknowledged that there was a long way to go in relation to cases where there were multiple layers of complexity. In some cases, there could be several different professionals working with someone and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56.

To receive a report on the approach to pandemic preparedness in Haringey including learning from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Introducing the report on this item, Will Maimaris, Director for Public Health, informed the Panel that the definition of a pandemic was an epidemic of an infectious disease beyond a single country and that this was an area that required input from emergency planning colleagues as well as public health.

Ahead of the discussion, Cllr Connor noted that the full plans on pandemic preparedness would not be produced until later in the year. Will Maimaris explained that there were two plans in development, one of which was a multi-agency pandemic response plan led by public health and the other was a separate Council pandemic plan focused on the broader response across Council services. He added that the plans would provide a framework for a response but would not set out the specific details of different possible scenarios.

Will Maimaris and colleagues from public health and emergency planning then responded to questions from the Panel:

• Cllr Connor requested further details about the coordination with hospitals, including on staffing, resilience and PPE equipment. Angharad Shambler, Senior Public Health Strategist, explained that the Hospital Trusts (North Middlesex and Whittington) had their own organisational plans with the Integrated Care Board (ICB) providing overall governance. She also noted that a national pandemic preparedness exercise would be taking place in the autumn, led by the Department of Health and Social Care, and would include actions and learning from the Covid pandemic.
• Asked by Cllr Connor how the potential closure of schools would be managed, Damani Goldstein, Consultant in Public Health, said that the partnership working with the Hospital Trusts and the ICB involved exercises to test responses and that this included schools, with headteachers part of the local planning. There was also some learning from the Covid pandemic on children’s mental health, wellbeing and safety from the recent UK Health Security Agency (UK HSA) national conference. Schools would also be better prepared for online learning and support, though issues such as the needs of children who didn’t have the necessary technology at home would need to be considered as the national and local planning progressed.
• Cllr Iyngkaran raised concerns about the impact of school closures on children and how schools could be supported to stay open. Will Maimaris emphasised the need to minimise any impact on schools, including learning from the Covid pandemic and probably setting the threshold differently for closing schools. A better overall pandemic response could also prevent school closures. However, he also noted that some concerning trends such as school absenteeism, mental health and the impact of social media, all predated the Covid pandemic. Cllr das Neves noted that she had been lobbied during the pandemic to use HEPA air filters in schools but that this kind of measure required national leadership to be implemented.
• Expanding on the issue of planning exercises, Luke Lambert, Emergency Planning & Resilience Manager said that a large national planning exercise was scheduled for August 2025 and that feedback to the UK HSA on the preparation for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57.

To receive a report on the outcome of the recent CQC Adult Social Care inspection.

Jo Baty, Service Director for Adult Social Services, reported to the Panel that the outcome of the recent CQC inspection had been published in January 2025 and highlighted some key areas requiring improvement that the Council was responding to. These included carers, waiting times, communications from the service and with residents, signposting and information/advice and co-production. Measures that were being taken by the Council to make improvements included:

• Proactive involvement of carers in co-production groups, which had begun over a year previously.
• Four more sessions with residents were expected in late April/early May, with one in each of the three physical localities in the Borough and one online. These sessions would be aimed at helping to refine priorities and timelines.
• Priorities for residents included improving availability of information and advice in a timely manner, access to respite services and reducing waiting times. In particular, a minimum standard of communication across the service was required, including improved letters, a more accessible website and striking the right balance between compassion and financial efficiency. 
• A process was being put in place for some detailed performance management reports which would help with monitoring progress and benchmarking against other Boroughs.
• There was ongoing work on co-producing service specifications for home care.
• There were plans for the involvement of residents as quality assurers of service provision.
• There had been mixed feedback from members of the Joint Partnership Board (JPB) on engagement with Adult Social Care and there had been a review of how the JPB had been operating and how Adult Social Care could better engage. The report from Community Catalysts had been circulated in draft and a special meeting with the JPB on progressing the actions was planned. There would also be a recruitment process for a new independent JPB chair.
• Community Catalysts had also produced a draft report following a review of the Learning Disabilities Carer Forum and there would be a meeting with the Forum on this shortly.
• Both of the above reports and the action plans that would follow could be brought to the Scrutiny Panel at a later date. (ACTION)
• The necessary savings and efficiencies through measures such as assistive technology and the day services review would require engagement with residents and a co-production element.

Jo Baty and Cllr Lucia das Neves then responded to questions from the Panel:

• Asked by Cllr Peacock which residents groups had been engaged with, Jo Baty said that there were long-established relationships with various voluntary and community organisations, tenants’ associations and residents’ associations. Recent conversations had been held with the Somali Community Association, the Kurdish Community group and there was a forthcoming meeting expected with Jewish residents. Cllr Peacock suggested that some of the written materials produced by the Council needed to use terminology that a wide range of people from all communities could easily understand.
• Cllr Mason commented that communications from statutory services in general was poor. She welcomed short briefings that were made available to Councillors and suggested that these could be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

Cllr Connor informed the Panel that it had not been possible to conduct another Scrutiny Review due to staff constraints. There would be a further meeting with officers to update the draft report on Hospital Discharge and the updated version was expected to be circulated to Panel Members soon after that.

Cllr Connor informed the Panel that she had discussed with officers the possibility of placing a standing item on finance to the Panel’s agendas for 2025/26 given the current importance of the pressures on the Adult Social Care budget.

Cllr Mason suggested that consideration could be given as part of the work programme to issues of poverty, particularly in relation to people with disabilities, given the pressures on welfare spending and on adult social care services.

Cllr O’Donovan suggested that issues on the work programme that could be prioritised included the Autism Strategy, support for carers, the impact of housing conditions and modern slavery.

Cllr Connor proposed that Panel Members could provide input by selecting their top three issues from the list on the draft work programme and provide their reasons for this. (ACTION)

Meeting dates for 2025/26 will be published shortly.

Dates for 2025/26 TBC.