The Leader, Councillor Claire Kober,
introduced four of the Council priorities for the forthcoming year:
unemployment, the welfare agenda, housing and budget
cuts. The Committee noted that these
were not the only issues that the Council was faced with but some
of the most prominent. The Chief
Executive, Kevin Crompton, reminded the Committee of the Rethinking
Haringey report presented to the full Council in February 2011,
which outlined new structures and sharing services with
partners.
The following was noted in response to
questions from the Committee:
- The Committee’s concerns about
last year’s overspend in Children’s Services were noted
but the Leader stated that she expected all directorates to remain
within their allocated budgets at the end of the financial
year.
- The Committee expressed concerns
about national indicator figures, particularly for children’s
safeguarding and housing, namely temporary
accommodation.
- The Leader recognised that it was
difficult to determine quality with the performance indicators but,
in relation to child protection the Council commissioned audits by
an independent social worker and results showed that the quality of
the Council’s assessments was improving.
- The Council housed more than 750
families in it’s own temporary housing stock and was working
successfully to reduce average re-let times.
- In response to concerns raised about
under-occupation the Leader highlighted that with the forthcoming
changes to the benefits system many claimants in under-occupied
properties would not be able to afford them.
- In response to concerns that health
inequalities was not highlighted by the Leader as a priority, the
Leader explained that the Health and Well Being Partnership and
other initiatives will reduce health inequalities in
Haringey.
- The Committee asked for an informal
session on the overarching corporate plan detailing how the council
would achieve its aims and priorities, which would be available in
September.
- Committee members expressed
disappointment that the new governance arrangements proposed only 5
Overview and Scrutiny Committees a year and highlighted that
scrutiny of health and child protection were important subjects and
required dedicated Overview & Scrutiny meetings.
- In response to questions on
encouraging more businesses to set up in Haringey it was reported
that some parts of Enfield and Haringey had submitted bids to
become part of the government’s enterprise zones, where
business growth was encouraged by offering discounted rates and
national insurance incentives to assist with tackling
unemployment.
- The Leader clarified details of the
Work Programme initiative, which was part of a scheme run by the
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Large organisations could bid to deliver the work programme
contracts and Haringey had submitted a bid to be a sub-contractor
for a number of contracts which were not successful within the Work
Programme tender process.
- In relation to the Tottenham Hotspur
Football Club stadium redevelopment it was reported that the
Council continued to meet with the Chairman of the football club to
discuss regeneration of the area but while the club was still going
through the legal process of appealing the decision against its bid
for the Olympic Stadium it was not possible to discuss any final
arrangements.
- The Leader highlighted that
performance figures for processing council tax and housing benefits
had improved recently but acknowledged that there were challenges
particularly due to the current economic climate where more people
were losing jobs and applying for benefits.
ACTION:
A Committee member asked if the
details of quality audits relating to NI59 (Initial Assessments
Completed in 7 days) and NI 60 (Core Assessments Completed) could
be shared with the Committee. The
Leader stated that the information could not be shared in its
current format but agreed to discuss with the relevant Cabinet
Member and officers about the possibility of providing some of the
information. (Action No.
17.1)
A briefing note on current
local Place Based Budget projects would
be circulated to Committee Members. (Action 17.2)
The Committee thanked the
Leader for attending. A member asked
that it be noted that the duration of this Cabinet Member question
time was 70 minutes when previously 30 minutes was sufficient if a
Cabinet Member briefing was supplied and written questions and
responses submitted in advance.