Apologies were received from Cllrs Asma Islam and Sabina Khan. Cllrs Sabina Akhtar and Mohammad Chowdhury attended as Substitute.

Members are reminded to consider the categories of interest in the Code of Conduct for Members to determine whether they have an interest in any agenda item and any action they should take. For further details, please see the attached note from the Monitoring Officer.

Members are reminded to declare the nature of the interest and the agenda item it relates to. Please note that ultimately it’s the Members’ responsibility to declare any interests form and to update their register of interest form as required by the Code.

If in doubt as to the nature of your interest, you are advised to seek advice prior to the meeting by contacting the Monitoring Officer or Democratic Services

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interest were received at the meeting.

To confirm as a correct record of the proceedings the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 25 March 2024.

The Chair Moved  and it was:-

RESOLVED

That the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 25 March 2024 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record of the proceedings.

Thomas French, Democratic Service Officer, introduced the report, for the committee to note the selection process for two co-opted members and appoint them to the two respective Scrutiny Sub Committees.

RESOLVED

• Members agreed the appointment of Hasan Chowdhury to the position of Parent Governor representative on the Children and Education Scrutiny Sub Committee for the period of the current administration.
• Members agreed the appointment of Jessic Chiu to the position of Healthwatch representative on the Health and Adults Scrutiny Sub Committee for the period of the current administration.

Review the Mayor’s year end delivery and priorities for 2024-25

The Chair reported that the Mayor had given apologies for the meeting and will present the spotlight item at the next meeting of committee.

Robin Beattie, Director of Strategy, Transformation, and Improvement, with Cllr Kabir Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Inclusive Development and Housebuilding, presented the action plan, seeking feedback from the committee.

The committee raised the following comments and questions:

• What engagement was there between scrutiny members and drafting this Action Plan? Officers stated that the Chief Executive made himself available to any member of the council to feed into the action plan. The Action Plan is a living document and can be updated based on member feedback.
• How has the action plan been amended since members provided feedback? Officers stated that many suggestions were found to be useful. Officers would welcome any further suggestions. Meetings with women councillors has been sought to ensure their lived experience is considered in the action plan.
• Do Officers feel that this action plan has the views of opposition members within it, or is it what the administration consider actions? Officers stated that the action plan comes from LGA feedback, which have been turned into actions. There has been no barrier for any member to give feedback to the action plan. Members could do this in writing.
• If the LGA peer review stated that the council needs to listen more to all member voices within the council and while the council is under Government Inspection, should there not been more member engagement between officers and members on this action plan? Cllr Kabir Ahmed stated that many issues that been brought up have been taken into consideration, particularly women’s safety, which the council is rolling out new safety campaigns to address concerns.
• When developing long term strategic vision in this action plan, what engagement has been made with residents? Officers confirmed that a lot of consultation material has been drilled down on to help to create this action plan, but after this draft stage more engagement will be sought.
• What measures have been taken to ensure accountability in reporting in the council? Officers detailed the range of activity around internal governance, highlighting a multi-layered approach to how audit is reported.
• What changes have been made to the Mayor’s Office since the Action Plan has been drafted and has this led to better working relationships with the rest of the council? Officers stated that the Mayor’s Office is under review, with the relationship between the Mayor’s and Council has been streamlined, ensuring that duplication of work being minimalised.

RESOLVED

Members noted the action plan.

Keith Townsend (Insourcing Leisure Project Director), Simon Jones (Head of Leisure Operations), Jahur Ali (Director of Leisure and Culture) and Cllr Kabir Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Inclusive Development and Housebuilding, presented the Leisure insource update.

The committee raised the following comments and questions:

• Members raised concerns about male staff members supervising women only sessions, which has had negative feedback from residents. Officers confirmed that there will be initial recruitment of new lifeguards and other staff to allow for full support for women only sessions.
• With the insourcing of leisure centres how will you ensure it will be financially sustainable? Cllr Kabir Ahmed stated that while there will be an initial investment, within the first four years, the council is expecting to see financial return on the insourcing.
• How will the new leisure centres insourcing help deal with the health inequality within the borough? Officers stated that the new health offer will be increased to allow for residents to take part in a range of services across the borough’s centres. Cllr Kabir Ahmed stated that there will be an increase in children from different backgrounds having new access and referrals to use the centres.
• What engagement is being done with residents to inform them of the benefits of insourcing? Officers shared best practice that has been shared from other London Council’s that have undertaken similar processes. Overall, the communications campaign will involve developing a new website and smartphone app.
• Will there be an increase in price for using existing services? Will the booking system be updated? Officers confirmed that there will be no increase in price to services to ensure business continuity. The booking system will be updated to an industry standard software, and will be more accessible.
• How many members of staff should be working at the leisure centres? And how many staff are subject to TUPE? Officers stated around 220 staff are coming in under TUPE, officers do not think the gap in staffing is significant and will be supported by recruitment.
• Members requested for the KPIs being used by LBTH to measure the performance of the insourced Leisure Services and the comparative data for recent years.

RESOLVED

Members noted the update.

Michael Darby (Head of Parking, Mobility & Market Services), Ashraf Ali (Director of Public Realm) with Cllr Kabir Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Inclusive Development gave a presentation on the update on parking within the borough.

The committee raised the following comments and questions:

• What is the council doing to control parking in big events. Officers confirmed that there will be introducing new event parking which will come into effect for football games, events in Victoria park and other large events. Enforcement will be looking at double yellow lines and parking near junctions during large events.
• Residents have expressed concern with customer service in parking permits. New systems seem to be put in place and residents have not been informed? Officers confirmed that it is not a new system, but it has been updated. Residents will find that their accounts have expired, as they have not used it within the year, for security reasons.
• Members expressed concern that residents are not informed about expiring accounts and better communication needs to be delivered to residents.
• Have the council done any analysis in the cancellation rate on parking tickets? Are they any patterns that have been found? Officers stated that work has been done to ensure that detailed parking tickets are issued, so residents are less likely to appeal as they understand why they have received a ticket. Patterns appear to come from bad signage and worn markings. Work has been done to ensure that blue badge holders are better supported in cancellations.
• Are there plans on electric vehicle charging points? What will underpin the layout of the new points to ensure residents have the best access? Officers reported that over the next 3 years, there will be over 2,000 charging points to be installed across the borough. Points will partly be dictated by where permits have been issued, to see where demand is.
• Members raised concerns about GP and other front line staff not having access to parking permits when they are in the community. Cllr Kabir Ahmed discussed having space on estate parking for front line staff to allow for community visits.

RESOLVED

Members noted the update.

Cllr Abdul Wahid, Cabinet Member for Jobs, Skills and Growth introduced the report, praising the work undertaken by members and stating work will be carried forward to cabinet.

Cllr Abdul Malik, scrutiny lead for Environment and Community Safety presented the report on the recent markets challenge scrutiny session and asked members for any comments.

The committee raised the following comments and questions:

• Previously the council developed individual market plans and it would be helpful to see what progress has been made against those plans, to go along with this report.
• The council should be supporting local markets with financial support for pitch fees and other ongoing costs. Markets do not need to be  cost neutral for community benefit.

RESOLVED:

• Members noted the Overview and Scrutiny Committee challenge session report.
• Members agreed the recommendations and for the reported to be submitted to the Mayor and Cabinet for executive response.

To consider and agree pre-decision scrutiny questions/comments to be presented at the 24 March 2024 meeting of Cabinet.

Nil items.

Members asked for an update on the number of incentive payments that have been made to landlords within the borough.

RESOLVED:

Members noted the action log.

To review forthcoming decisions expected to be taken by the Mayor and identify any areas of further Scrutiny for committee.

RESOLVED:

Members noted the forward plan.

Nil items

No decisions of the Mayor in Cabinet were ‘called in’.

Nil items

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

Nil Items.

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

The Chair thanked members for their hard work across 2023/24 as members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

As the agenda circulated had no exempt/confidential reports and there was therefore no requirement to exclude the press and public to allow for its consideration.

Nil items

Nil items.

Nil items.

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.