Minutes:
The Leader of the Council, Councillor Claire Kober, gave the following “State of the Borough” address:
Madame Mayor I am proud to be making this state of the borough address, I would like to outline just some of the Council’s achievements this municipal year. I do hope that Members from all parties will join me in recognising the huge amount of progress that the Council and its officers have made in spite of very challenging circumstances.
In my address last year I touched on the looming recession and the impact it could have on Haringey residents. The Council has put in place a raft of measures over the year to support businesses and residents alike. I believe that the steps we have taken have made a real difference to the lives of the people living in this borough, and are a testament to the difference a Labour Council working with a Labour Government can make.
We recognise that the difficult economic climate has posed problems for many residents, and along with all the other Labour boroughs in London have pledged to freeze Council Tax. We hope that freezing council tax will relieve some of the pressure and ease the anxiety of rising bills. It has been through efficiency savings, and producing a costed budget that we have been able to achieve this. As Leader of this Council I could not stand here today and propose a Council Tax freeze without having fully scrutinised the numbers – we provide services that people rely on and cannot jeopardise them to make political gain.
I certainly hope the opposition won’t use this as a chance to scaremonger about the future of services under a Labour Administration. As a Labour Party we are committed to delivering the services that people rely on – yet I note the Liberal Democrat Leader has called for savage cuts. I think its time the opposition were honest about what they really have in store for residents.
Haringey is home to a huge number of small businesses and we have taken a number of steps to safeguard their future. Over 2009-10, five town centre business partnerships have met and developed a range of local improvements including a loyalty parking scheme, Christmas events, local newsletters, loyalty shopping projects, local festivals and shop safely programmes across the borough.
The future of young people in our borough is an absolute priority and we have also worked with the Labour Government to secure £1.4 million for the future jobs fund to create 221 jobs in 2010 -11. Double what the Lib Dems have called for.
In addition £647k was won from the Working Neighbourhoods Fund to spend on job training and job brokerage. This again demonstrates what a Labour team working together can deliver – solid job and training opportunities, giving our young people the chance of a brighter future. The Borough’s main employment support programme, the Haringey Guarantee, is on target for delivering its 218 sustained jobs in 2009-10.
I am extremely pleased with progress in the development of several major sites including Hale Village, Spurs, Tottenham High Road, Greater Ashley Road, and the Heartlands site. In working with developers our aim is always to use physical regeneration as a catalyst for social regeneration. This is Labour values in action.
Our commitment to becoming the Greenest Borough in London continues, we are gaining a national reputation for our ambitious 40% CO2 reduction target, and were the first Council in the country to do so. We have succeeded in securing external funding for many projects to help us in delivering this including Muswell Hill being selected as one of 10 Low Carbon Communities in London.
We have rolled out new and improved recycling services so that everyone in the borough can now recycle more items. We are One Borough and we want to ensure that every resident in this borough is afforded decent opportunities. I am pleased that residents in approximately 3,500 properties above shops now receive recycling collections from their home, which brings the council closer to our target to provide every single household with a dedicated recycling collection.
The car club that this Labour administration fought to fund and establish has been a resounding success with 27 car club vehicles at 14 on street locations around the borough, and 2,100 streetcar members. Next year we will invest further to ensure every resident of the borough can readily access a car club bay.
We have also been successful in our bid to become a Biking Borough, a TfL led initiative that will ensure we are part of a Cycling revolution in outer London.
14 of Haringey’s parks have been awarded green flags and we have planted 911 new trees as well as committing to the planting of a further 850 this financial year.
This administration recognises the importance of helping our residents to live in decent homes. For Strategic & Community Housing Services, the past twelve months have presented many challenges, but witnessed a lot of progress.
The most significant service issue is the forthcoming change in Housing Benefit subsidy rules for Temporary Accommodation (TA). We have made significant progress reducing the number of households in temporary accommodation and are now ahead of schedule to meet our statutory target to reduce the number of families in temporary accommodation by 50 per cent by the end of the year.
Providing homes for our residents is an issue we take very seriously, and that is why this administration has taken tough action to bring empty properties back into use. This not only improves the state of housing in the borough, but creates opportunities for families in need of a home. As a result of enforcement action to date 91 empty properties have been brought back into use.
Homes for Haringey have now delivered two years of the Decent Homes programme and are preparing for an Audit Commission inspection of cross-cutting themes scheduled for June 2010. The Council is currently spending £1 million pounds a week on transforming homes in our borough. This scheme is making a huge difference to residents’ lives and is yet another example of Labour delivering for local people. The Council’s Management Agreement with Homes for Haringey has been thoroughly reviewed.
The Council approved a new 10 year Housing Strategy in July 2009 following extensive consultation with key stakeholders. An Affordable Warmth Strategy was also launched on 2nd November 2009 by David Kidney MP, Minister at the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
The focus of the Children and Families service, and indeed the entire Council in the past year has been on improving our approach to safeguarding. Whatever Councillor Butcher may say, we have made a significant investment in the service. We have also made significant changes in the way referrals and assessments are managed, improved the support we offer our social workers through improvements to Framework-I, supervision, management and training.
The service has been re-organised with new managers taking on some new roles. Extensive auditing has demonstrated a steady improvement in the quality of practice. Better joint working with other areas of CYPS, particularly through Children’s Networks, and with other agencies is ensuring that the service we provide is better able to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children.
Ofsted will tomorrow be publishing their latest inspection of our safeguarding services. I am confident that this report will confirm that we are really making progress and heading in the right direction. That said, there is absolutely no room for complacency among the political leadership of this council and I pledge we will continue to drive the improvement agenda.
Children’s Networks services deliver both prevention and early intervention and support to children and young people who have additional needs, as part of a coordinated and joined-up approach to children, young people and their families.
The initial multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs) have continued to deliver in the geographical areas and working in partnership with both health visitors and Safer Schools Police.
We have responded to a significant rise in demand, with over 50% more referrals than in the previous year and have seen the numbers of children looked after and subject to child protection plans rise.
Our services to children with disabilities have been greatly enhanced by delivering the Aiming High programme which has resulted in a sharp rise in the number of families benefiting from short breaks. We have been working closely with Adult Services to improve transition.
We will continue to focus on improving safeguarding, developing multi-agency working and improving commissioning to extend the range of support for the most vulnerable citizens of the borough.
As well as working hard to improve the services we provide we have also been focusing on providing families with the information necessary to ensure they access the services they need. Haringey’s award-winning Family Information Services Directory has been operating for over a year, putting the borough in the forefront of local authorities providing a comprehensive information source on local facilities and services for children and young people.
As a Labour administration we have taken real action to provide young people with opportunities to get on in life. The levels of young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) successfully decreased in 2009 to a record low for Haringey which indicates the improvements made in getting young people engaged and re-engaged with learning and work.
We know how important the services we provide to residents are and the impact they have on quality of life. We want local people to have a hand in shaping the services they receive and are encouraging service users to shape services to meet their needs, by turning users into innovators and critics who design and commission their own services.
We have developed a Community Engagement Framework to help us work better with local communities on shaping the policies and services that affect their lives, which has been recognised by the Department of Health as effective practice.
Children and young people’s participation in Haringey has gone from strength to strength from a thriving Youth Council, a consultation event for 10- 12 year olds, including those with disabilities and special educational needs, to listen to their opinions on education and other services that affect them, through to young people’s input into senior appointments in children’s social care. History was also made in the autumn when the Haringey delegate to the Youth Parliament spoke in the Chamber at the House of Commons. This was the first time that the House of Commons had been open to non-MPs, and from their deputation to this Council we can see what an excellent job they are doing. We really should be proud of the young people of this borough.
In Haringey, 45% of people think they can influence decisions made by the council. That is one of the highest scores in London, but one we seek to improve further.
Area Assemblies have allowed residents to identify key priorities for their local area which have informed the development of local Area Priority Plans. A variety of approaches was used to identify the priorities including workshops and the use of Turning Point voting software. At least 266 residents as well as Members, Council officers and partners took part in the process.
We have made substantial progress with the personalisation of Social care with three pilots progressing in Physical Disabilities, Learning Disabilities and Older People. The Resource Allocation System is progressing and supporting the pilots. We continue the work to complete the cultural shift with front line staff and to help them adopt a personalised approach to care planning and the delivery of the personalisation agenda.
I have highlighted just some of our many achievements in what has been a very challenging year.
I am proud that in the face of many adversities we are able to assert confidently that we are in a much stronger position than last year, and look ahead to the next municipal year certain of our ability to innovate and improve.
The Leader of the Opposition spoke in response.
RESOLVED:
That the Leader of the Council’s “State of the Borough” report be received and agreed.