Councillor Sufia Alam Chair

Apologies for absence was received from:

·         Councillor James King

·         Councillor Bex White

To note any declarations of interest made by Members, including those restricting Members from voting on the questions detailed in Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act, 1992.  See attached note from the Monitoring Officer.

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interest were received.

To confirm as a correct record of the proceedings the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 20^th May, 2019.

RESOLVED

That the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on  20^th May 2019  be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record of the proceedings.

To receive any petitions (to be notified at the meeting).

The Committee was advised that no requests to submit any petition’s had been received for consideration at this meeting.

The Committee received and noted the published Cabinet Forward.

No decisions of the Mayor in Cabinet in respect of unrestricted reports on the agenda were ‘called in’.

There were no items

The Committee received a presentation from Mayor John Biggs regarding his priorities for the year ahead.  This was with a view to identifying how scrutiny can support delivery of corporate priorities. 

The Mayor’s update covered a range of issues, stressing the importance of carrying out further action in respect of the following:

·         The delivery of his manifesto pledges, as set out in the Council’s Strategic Plan.

·         The next round of budget planning in view of budget pressures and uncertainties around Brexit.

·         School placements issues due to demographic changes.

·         Regeneration and progress with delivering new homes.

·         The continuous improvement of Council services, including the quality of children’s services.

·         Managing the move to an in house waste service and meeting recycling targets.

·         Community safety through for example action to address ASB and knife crime and initiatives to improve the quality of the street environment.

·         Promoting community cohesion, working with partners and maximising opportunities for residents. 

The questions and comments from Members on the presentation may be summarised as follows:

·         A Member asked questions about proposals for the Raines Foundation School, in terms of the land and property ownership issues.  The Committee noted the need to properly address the issues and the Children’s and Education Overview and Scrutiny Sub – Committee are due to consider their issues at the meeting tomorrow.

·         The Mayor noted the need to review the allocation of school places, particular around the west of the Borough in view of the demographic changes. Whilst there were no plans to close schools, there were challenges ahead that will need addressing.

·         Regarding the Tower Hamlets Rewards proposals, the Mayor noted that this was a staffing matter, so it was a matter for the Chief Executive and the Council’s General Purposes Committee to decide. He clarified he neither supported or opposed the proposals. The Mayor also provided an update in terms of the next steps.

·         In response to questions about the purchasing by the Council of Right to Buy properties, the Mayor noted  the merits of this- as a means of increasing the Council’s housing stock. The Mayor stated that he also wished to see more new Council homes built.

·         Regarding the shift to digitalised services, the Mayor provided reassurances about the availability of support for customers, particularly vulnerable residents, who may experience difficulties in accessing on line services at the Idea Stores. 

·         In terms of the biggest issues facing the Borough, the Mayor considered that the issue of community safety continued to be priority, as well as the task of maximising employment opportunities for local people and businesses -  as noted at the recent Business Summit,

·         Regarding the OSC work programme, the Mayor suggested that the Committee could review housing needs and ways of meeting the needs of middle income residents as well as the poorest residents.

·         The Committee could also review the task of ensuring the continued improvement of council services.

In conclusion, the Chair thanked Mayor Biggs for his presentation

The Committee noted the draft work plan which has been developed following away day held on 15^th June 2019.  . It was clarified that each of the Scrutiny Sub – Committees would have an opportunity to review suggest topics for the work programme, prior to the presentation of the scrutiny work programme to the Council meeting. Topics could also be added during the year as and when the need arose.

It was also confirmed that as Environment & Community Safety and Resources and Finance were two areas without a Committee, items would either need to be taken at OSC or considered by the Scrutiny Lead through a Challenge Session/Scrutiny Review.

The Committee suggested that the work programme could include the following areas:

·         A focus on insourcing of the waste service’.

·         Leisure contract management, particularly from a young person’s view point.

·         The quality of the customer services across the organisation

·         Community safety and local policing, particular with regard to the allocation of the local police force in the Borough through a spotlight with Borough Commander and Cabinet Member

·         Equalities issues in terms of the implications for Council policies.

·         Windrush and slavery issues.

·         The issue of extended family households and the financial pressures they face.

·         Review of recent scrutiny recommendations.

The following comments were also made -

·         The Committee noted the merits of holding meetings in community venues, visiting other boroughs to learn about best practice, encouraging greater levels of public participation, through for example receiving petitions.

·         Preference was expressed for scrutiny to focus on reviewing narrower issues in depth as opposed to carrying out reviews of wide-ranging areas.

 Councillor Motin Uz-Zaman (Cabinet Member for Cabinet Member for Work and Economic Growth) gave a presentation on the night time economy following the OSC review in September 2017. David Tolley (Head of Environmental Health and Trading Standards) and Vicky Clark (Divisional Director, Growth & Economic Development) were also present to provide an update and respond to questions.

Councillor Motin Uz-Zaman reported that the Council had made good progress in implementing the 11 recommendations, through carrying out the following activities: (the full list of actions were set out in the previously circulation presentation slides, that were published as a supplementary agenda)

·         The appointment of a Member and Officer NTE champion.

·         Exploring ways to broaden the current NTE offer to include early evening family entertainment to minimise ASB.

·         Working with partners and businesses to support needs. Officers were happy to share the feedback from the recent Business Summit.

·         The use of planning and licensing powers, including the Late Night Levy and the revised cumulative impact policy to minimise the impacts from the NTE.

·         Ensuring that the draft Local Plan contained measures to support and protect existing community facilities.

·         The  monitoring of ‘airbnb’s

·         The provision of information to enable residents to report breaches in licensing and planning permissions.

·         Provision of additional resources for community safety.

The questions and comments from Members on the report may be summarised as follows:

·         The Committee sought and received assurances about the initiatives to prevent violence against women and girls. In particular, they noted details of the Street Pastors project funded by the Late Night Levy. The Council took this issue very seriously.

·         Other measures included ‘pub watch initiatives’aimed  at achieving a safer drinking environment.

·         Councillor Motin Uz-Zaman reported that he had met with ward councillors and had carried visits to NTE locations in the Borough, such as Brick Lane. Regarding the provision of public toilets, it was noted that new ones will be installed. He would provide further information on this.

·         On the issue of ‘short-term lets, the Council had called on the Government to increase the level of regulations. The Council could employed a range of measures via other avenues to manage any impacts.

·         Regarding recommendation 11 (regarding the need to conduct a comprehensive impact assessment), Members noted the merits of collecting a solid evidence base and data from other areas on the NTE similar to the approach taken by LB Westminster. 

·         The Committee requested that further consideration should be given to the Executive’s response to recommendation 11 and that the Committee follow up on this

·         The Committee also noted examples of the efforts to encourage a more a family oriented activities, and the potential for this to succeed subject to such things as the available of premises and a market for this.

·         The Committee also discussed the work of Trading Standards, particularly in preventing underage sales.

In conclusion, the Chair thanked Councillor Motin Uz-Zaman, Dave Tolley and Vicky Clark for their presentation

To consider and agree pre-decision scrutiny questions/comments to be presented to Cabinet.

(Time allocated – 30 minutes).

The Committee received and noted those questions to be presented at Cabinet by the Chair in relation to unrestricted business on the agenda

The Committee also requested that the following question be presented to the Cabinet;

Item 6.1, Spitalfields and Banglatown Community Governance Review Update 

What is the total cost of the Spitalfields and Banglatown Community Governance review?

The questions are set out in Appendix A.

Councillor Danny Hassell (Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Young People), presented the progress report, highlighting the positive outcomes in terms of the following areas: (the full list of actions were set out in the previously circulated presentation slides, that were published as a supplementary agenda)

·         Imbedding a compliance and performance management culture.

·         Quality of practice – this had been an area of focus and had continued to improve.

·         Strengthening multi agency work.

·         Initial health assessment - It was noted that progress had been made and continued to be made.

·         Recruitment and retention, through for example reducing sickness and improving staff stability.

·         Self - assessments  - now strong.

·         Engaging with young people, families, staff and partners.

The Committee also noted a summary of key positive outcomes.

In terms of the next steps, Councillor Hassell reported on the launch of a new partnership plan and what this would involve.

He also outlined the future goals for the service, particularly the intention to focus on:  the delivery of a high quality consistent service, tackling neglect, youth violence and exploitation and strengthening the corporate parenting role.

The questions and comments from Members on the report may be summarised as follows:

·         The Committee noted the importance of partnership working with other services especially in the area of neglect cases and the provision of suitable accommodation. Members also noted the need for further work to be carried out to improve such links with housing providers.

·         The Committee asked for an update on performance indicators, identified as red and amber rated, highlighting in particularly the following indicators:

·                     % of CIN children visited within the past four weeks

·                     % children on a child protection plan receiving a visit within the past four weeks

·                     % of care leavers in suitable accommodation. 

·         In response, Councillor Hassell reported that the variations in the data could be attributed to a number of factors including recording issues,  He undertook to provide a more detailed breakdown of these figures. 

·         In terms of the future challenges, it was confirmed that tackling neglect and deprivation remained a key priority, as well as the task of ensuring all council services supported children in care where necessary.

·         Councillor Hassell also noted the importance of recruiting and retaining a sufficient number of social workers to deal with demand at the front door given the rise in referrals.

·         The Committee also noted the role of the Children In Care Council and the plans to strengthen links with the Youth Council.

·         The Committee also requested a briefing on the Council’s target setting approach.

In conclusion, the Chair thanked Councillor Danny Hassell for the presentation.

Councillor Marc Francis (the former Scrutiny Lead for Resources) reported on the scrutiny challenge session on customer services. He confirmed his intention to complete outstanding actions in the near future.

Councillor Sufia Alam, (Chair of the Children’s and Education Overview and Scrutiny Sub – Committee), reminded Members of the agenda items for tomorrow meeting and that she had visited a local school with a view to potentially holding a meeting of the Sub – Committee there.

To consider any other unrestricted business that the Chair considers to be urgent.

Councillor Marc Francis, (the Chair of the extant Grants Scrutiny Sub – Committee) thanked the Committee especially the co-optee Members for all their hard work and contributions to the work of the committee.  He asked that consideration should be given to encouraging their involvement in the scrutiny sub – committees.

In terms of the new process, it was noted that following the publication of the Grants Determination Sub – Committee agenda for 3^rd July 2019 meeting, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Members will receive notification and may put pre decision questions to the Grants Sub – Committee.

RESOLVED

1.         That the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the Grants Scrutiny Sub-Committee held on  29 April 2019  be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record of the proceedings.

Nil Items

Nil items

No decisions of the Mayor in Cabinet in respect of exempt/ confidential reports on the agenda were ‘called in’.

Nil items

To consider and agree pre-decision scrutiny questions/comments to be presented to Cabinet.

(Time allocated 15 minutes).

Nil items

To consider any other exempt/ confidential business that the Chair considers to be urgent.

Nil items