Agenda item

[Report of the Assistant Director for Corporate Governance. To be introduced by the Leader of the Council.]

Cabinet is asked to agree the establishment of the Corporate Parenting Advisory Committee and agree Cabinet Member appointments to the Community Safety Partnership, LHC and Shared Digital Joint Committee.

RESOLVED that for the 2018/19 Municipal Year:

Cabinet establish the Corporate Parenting Advisory Committee, and that the terms of reference for this sub -committee, attached at appendix A be noted;

Cabinet note the terms of reference for the Shared ICT and Digital joint Committee attached at appendix D;

The Community Safety Partnership membership and terms of reference attached at Appendix E be noted;

The changes to the LHC Constitution, set out in Appendix C, which now allows Cabinet to nominate 2 Members (one from the Cabinet and one other member) for a duration of four years be noted; and

Cabinet appoint the Members, indicated below, to serve on the Corporate Parenting Advisory Committee, and the LHC Joint Committee, Shared ICT and Digital Service Joint Committee and Community Safety Partnership:

Corporate Parenting Advisory Committee

Chaired by the Cabinet Member for Children Education and Families –

Councillor Elin Weston

Cllr Amin

Cllr Gunes

Cllr Dogan

Cllr Mitchell

Cllr Chenot

Cllr Palmer

LHC

X2 – Cllr Berryman, Cabinet Member for Finance and one non Cabinet Member -Cllr John Bevan

Shared ICT and Digital Service Joint Committee.

Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Insourcing

Cabinet Member for Finance

Cabinet Member for Strategic Regeneration

Community Safety Partnership

Cabinet Member for Communities, Safety and Engagement

Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Families

Councillor Ogiehor

Reasons for decision

To keep an overview of the Councillors statutory role as a corporate parent to children in care and young people leaving care.

The Council currently uses LHC frameworks as an efficient way of procuring technically complex products and services for its building refurbishment and maintenance programmes.

By becoming a Constituent Member of LHC the Council will benefit from:

-           influencing the future direction of LHC including the identification of new products and services which could be beneficial to the Council. Increased learning of procurement practices and technical know-how for use by the Council’s officers in carrying out its own procurement programmes.

-           Share of the LHC annual surplus.

The LHC Committee agreed, in June 2016, to amend their constitution to allow members to nominate for a term of office of four years duration, from 2018, to coincide with the local Council elections. They agreed that the Joint Committee shall comprise two members from each of the Authorities. Each Authority’s representatives on the Joint Committee shall be appointed by the Authority’s executive, a member of the executive or a committee of the executive, as appropriate and be appointed to serve for a term of four years.

The LHC agreed that the Joint Committee shall elect a chairperson of the Joint Committee and a Vice Chairperson of the Joint Committee from among the members of the Joint Committee to serve for a term of four years.

Participation and membership of the Shared ICT and Digital Service Joint Committee will provide the Council with democratic oversight of the strategic delivery of the shared service.

Appointments from Cabinet are required to the Community Safety Partnership to reflect statutory duties and enable high level, accountable, strategic, oversight of issues relating community safety.

Alternative options considered

The Constitution advises that all Advisory or Consultative Committees will continue in operation only until the first meeting of the Cabinet, in the next municipal year following their establishment, when they must be expressly renewed or they cease to exist. Therefore, the alternative option would be for the Corporate Parenting Advisory Committee to cease and this would mean that there is not a scheduled opportunity for members and officers to meet and discuss the wellbeing of children in care and to ensure that the Council is meeting its corporate parenting obligations. This Committee is different to the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel as it concentrates on Looked after Children and care leavers and reports directly to the Cabinet.

Haringey has been a member of the LHC, formerly the London Housing Consortium, for forty years. In February 2012 the Haringey Cabinet approved a recommendation to remain in the LHC Joint Committee and leaving this consortium would affect accessing some shared procurement expertise and support on compliance.

Not appointing Cabinet Members to the Shared ICT and Digital Service Joint was the only other option but this would not allow the Council to provide democratic oversight of key decisions affecting the joint service.

The Community Safety Partnership is a statutory partnership body and therefore not appointing Cabinet Members to this body is not an option.