Agenda item

Briefing and answers to questions – Councillor Joe Goldberg, Cabinet Member for Finance and Sustainability.

The Committee received the briefing on the Cabinet Member for Finance and Sustainability portfolio and responses to the advance questions submitted. Committee members asked supplementary questions, the responses of which are recorded below.

Re. Q1 & Q2 – Corporate Property and Disposals – The Cabinet Member reported that property disposals were considered on a case by case basis including issues such as value, running costs, carbon emissions and regeneration. 

Re. Q3 – Public Liability Claims – It was reported that the number of public liability claims had fallen largely due to work with service departments to target high risk areas.  The Council was part of an insurance consortium which shared best practice among the local authorities.

The Committee enquired about whether the number of claims due to damaged paving and potholes, caused by the recent bad weather, had increased.  Officers reported that this was possible, however, there had been a gradual reduction in such claims over a period of 4 or 5 years and highways maintenance projects targeted areas which involved large numbers of claims.

Re. Q4 – Audit and Risk Management – The Cabinet Member stated that he was confident about the level of shared services being considered, particularly with Waltham Forest which was socially and politically similar to Haringey, and that some services were already being shared.  He recognised that there were risks and outcomes other than efficiency to consider such as delivering better services and economic development.

Re. Q5 – Benefits and Local Taxation – The Director of Corporate Resources reported that the Housing Department held discussions with central London Boroughs about a “handover” of clients receiving housing benefits. The Committee noted that the Council was looking at practical ways of improving processes including: investigating the possibility of using the Direct Payments scheme for housing benefits and being involved with an implementation group set up by the Department for Work and Pensions to consider making benefit payments fair.

Re. Q6 – Corporate Property Services - Committee Members noted that some NHS services would be moving into the 4^th Floor of River Park House and discussions were being held with other health partners about future sharing of office space. The Committee asked for a briefing note giving more detail about what NHS services would be moving into River Park House.  (Action No. 175.1)

The Committee requested a 1-page briefing note on the history of the Hornsey Depot for which a development partner was being chosen. (Action No. 175.2)

The Committee observed that the briefing on Page 23 of the agenda pack stated 93% of customer service calls were answered within 30 seconds but CS2 on Page 13 of the Period 9 Performance Monitoring report gave a 69% value for 2010/11.  The Cabinet Member explained that the 93% figure in the briefing was for November 2010 and the 69% was a year to date figure which took into account a very low performance in April 2010 of just 15% of calls being answered within 30 seconds.

The Committee expressed regret at the planned closure of the North Tottenham Customer Care Centre.  The Cabinet Member agreed with some of the comments made by the Committee including that local community hubs could not substitute for the closure of customer service centres. The Committee noted that better systems for managing queues were being considered and new online transaction systems should reduce the number of people using the centres.  The Committee requested a list of London boroughs that operated with only one customer service centre and whether they also provided one-stop shops. (Action No. 175.3).

RESOLVED to note the briefing.