Agenda and draft minutes
Venue: Room C1, 1st Floor, Town Hall, Mulberry Place, 5 Clove Crescent, London, E14 2BG
Contact: Angus Taylor, Democratic Services Tel: 020 7364 4333 E-mail: angus.taylor@towerhamlets.gov.uk
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COUNCILLOR ANN JACKSON (CHAIR) IN THE CHAIR
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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE To receive any apologies for absence. Minutes: Apologies for absence were received on behalf of: · Councillor Tim Archer (Scrutiny Lead Chief Executive’s), for whom Councillor Peter Golds was deputising. · Councillor Ohid Ahmed (Deputy Mayor). · Sarah Barr, Senior SPP Officer, Chief Executive’s.
· Apologies for lateness were received on behalf of Councillor Sirajul Islam (Scrutiny Lead Development & Renewal).
Noted
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DECLARATIONS OF DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTEREST PDF 56 KB 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.
Minutes: No declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or other declarations of interest were made.
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UNRESTRICTED MINUTES PDF 124 KB To confirm as a correct record of the proceedings the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 12th March 2013. Minutes: The Chair Moved and it was:-
Resolved
That the unrestricted minutes of the ordinary meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, held on 12th March 2013, be agreed as a correct record of the proceedings, and the Chair be authorised to sign them accordingly.
Action by: Angus Taylor (Principal Committee Officer, Democratic Services, CE’s)
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REQUESTS TO SUBMIT PETITIONS To receive any petitions (to be notified at the meeting).
Minutes: There were no petitions.
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UNRESTRICTED REPORTS 'CALLED IN' No decisions of the Mayor in Cabinet (13th March 2013) in respect of unrestricted reports on the agenda were ‘called in’.
Minutes: Variation to Order of Business The Chair informed OSC members that Councillor Gibbs, one of seven Councillors who had “Called In” two decisions of the Mayor outside Cabinet on the agenda before the OSC for consideration, had requested that these “Call Ins” be considered in reverse order to that detailed in the agenda. The Chair considered it reasonable to accommodate this request, and therefore appropriate that the Order of Business be varied so that agenda item 5.2 be considered next and subsequently agenda item 5.1. Accordingly the Chair Moved and it was: -
Resolved
That the Order of Business be varied as below: · Agenda Item 5.2 “Budget Implementation 2013/14 (No 2)”be considered next. · Agenda Item 5.1 “Budget Implementation 2013/14 (No 1)”be considered thereafter. · Subsequently return to the order of business detailed in the agenda. However for ease of reference OSC deliberations and subsequent decisions taken, are set out below in the order detailed in the agenda.
Special Circumstances and Reasons for Urgency
Agenda Item 5.2 “Budget Implementation 2013/14 (No 2)”. Agenda Item 5.1 “Budget Implementation 2013/14 (No 1)”
The Chair informed members of the OSC that the special circumstances and reasons for urgency associated with both “Call Ins” were as below.
“The call-in of this decision was requested on 5th April 2013. In accordance with paragraph 16.4 of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules, once a call-in is made it is to be placed on the agenda of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on a date to be determined by the Assistant Chief Executive (Legal Services). The expectation is that this will be at the next meeting of the Committee. As the call-in concerns budget-related matters, it is appropriate for the Committee to deal with the call-in on an urgent basis.”
The Chair subsequently agreed the special circumstances and reasons for urgency, indicating that she was satisfied that the matter was urgent, as defined in the Authority’s Constitution (Part 4 Rules of Procedure, Section 4.2 Access to Information Procedure Rules, Rule 6 Items of Business, sub paragraphs 6.3 and 6.5. The special circumstances justifying urgency being as detailed above.
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Budget Implementation 2013/14 (No 1) PDF 108 KB Additional documents: Minutes: Please note that the order of business was varied by resolution of the OSC earlier in the proceedings in order to allow this item of business to be taken as the second item of substantive business (considered after agenda item 5.2), however for ease of reference OSC deliberations, and subsequent decisions taken, are set out below in the order detailed in the agenda.
Please note that composite “Special Circumstances and Reasons for Urgency” were agreed for this “Call In” at agenda item 5 above.
The Chair welcomed: Councillor Carlo Gibbs, one of seven Councillors who had “Called In” decision of the Mayor outside Cabinet (Decision Log Number 021 “Budget Implementation 2013/14 (No 1)” in accordance with the provisions of Part 4 of the Council’s Constitution. Also Councillor Alibor Choudhury, Cabinet Member for Resources, and Mr Chris Holme Acting Corporate Director Resources, who were in attendance to respond to the “Call-in”.
Councillor Carlo Gibbs presented the “Call-in”: summarising the reasons for “calling in” the Mayoral Decision, outlining the key concerns of the “Call-in” Members, and setting out the action sought from the OSC to address these. He also highlighted the additional point that Councillor Choudhury had indicated in his response to the “Call In” considered at agenda item 5.2 earlier in the proceedings, that Mayor considered the amendment to the Budget at Budget Council to have been politically motivated. To take a decision to change that would have political ramifications, and it must therefore be a ’key’ decision. By determining otherwise the Mayor had placed the Authority at risk of legal challenge
Councillor Alibor Choudhury, Cabinet Member for Resources, responded to the concerns raised by the “Call-in” Members and subsequently responded to questions from the OSC summarised as follows: · Referring to the above point on political ramifications of the decision, made by Councillor Gibbs, he had not used the word political in its literal sense in the previous discussion. · Legal advice made clear that the Authority could not lawfully place an artificial cap on statutory adverts, and it was wrong to suggest this. · The reduction in the Budget for East End Life (EEL) would lead to redundancy of12 full time staff, and it was therefore subject to the Authority’s processes requiring consultation on such matters with staff and trades unions. The amendment to the Budget had no regard for this process. Also a high proportion of these staff were women and BME, a matter the Mayor took seriously. · Due regard must be paid to the equality impacts of the proposals, and a full EQIA would need undertaken. Thought needed given to the people that accessed EEL, their reasons for doing so and the impact of closure. · Financial and contractual obligations needed consideration eg the Authority had recently joined a London-wide print contract and the implications of breaking the contract needed assessed. · The Authority had a duty to promote equality and social cohesion and used EEL to reach service users and the wider community and the Budget amendment did not take this ... view the full minutes text for item 5.1 |
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Budget Implementation (No 2) 2013/14 PDF 149 KB Additional documents: Minutes: Please note that the order of business was varied by resolution of the OSC earlier in the proceedings in order to allow this item of business to be taken as the first item of substantive business, however for ease of reference OSC deliberations, and subsequent decisions taken, are set out below in the order detailed in the agenda.
Please note that composite “Special Circumstances and Reasons for Urgency” were agreed for this “Call In” at agenda item 5 above.
The Chair welcomed: Councillor Carlo Gibbs, one of seven Councillors who had “Called In” decision of the Mayor outside Cabinet (Decision Log Number 022 “Budget Implementation 2013/14 (No 2)” in accordance with the provisions of Part 4 of the Council’s Constitution. Also Councillor Alibor Choudhury, Cabinet Member for Resources, and Mr Chris Holme Acting Corporate Director Resources, who were in attendance to respond to the “Call-in”.
Councillor Carlo Gibbs presented the “Call-in”: summarising the reasons for “calling in” the Mayoral Decision, outlining the key concerns of the “Call-in” Members, and setting out the action sought from the OSC to address these. He also highlighted the additional point that the Head of Paid Service had not signed off this Mayoral Decision in contrast to the Mayoral Decision for virements to fund East End Life.
He subsequently responded to questions from the OSC as follows: · The rationale for “Call-in” Members considering that the Mayoral Decision outside the Budget Framework set by full Council. Clarified that the full Council had little control over the actions of the executive Mayor, but setting of the Budget and Policy Framework (BPF) was a matter reserved to it. It set the Authority’s Budget every year, and had done so in March 2013. At that meeting an amendment to the Mayor’s proposed Budget, had been passed by a two thirds majority, resulting in the funding for mayoral advisors not being included in the Budget Framework. The Mayor had now vired money from reserves in order to put the resources for these back into the Budget Framework, and this contravened/ reversed the full Council decision. The OSC should request Officers to advise on this. · The stage at which the advice of the Chief Officers would be sought in relation to whether the Mayoral Decision was outside the BPF and whether it was key or non-key. · Had the work undertaken by the mayoral advisors been identified and an assessment made of its value to the Authority. If the work undertaken by them was unknown, how could a judgement be made as to value for money and the impact of cutting the budget for this; had an impact assessment been done. Had the Executive been asked for the expenditure figure for the advisors, had the supporting documentation been requested. Clarified that the work the advisors undertook was unknown, and without seeing the output or it being detailed, it was difficult to assess; it would be helpful to establish this and Councillor Choudhury may be able to provide details. Impact assessments had been ... view the full minutes text for item 5.2 |
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UNRESTRICTED REPORTS FOR CONSIDERATION |
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Children's Centre Scrutiny Review Update (To Follow) PDF 124 KB To consider a progress report on implementation of the Children’s Centres Scrutiny Review recommendations and whether further scrutiny is required or further progress monitoring.
Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Amy Whitelock, Scrutiny Lead Children Schools & Families, introduced and highlighted key points in the report, which: · Provided a progress update on implementation of the recommendations contained in the Scrutiny Review Working Group report ““Reviewing the impact of the Children’s Centres (CCs) restructure”” of May 2012. · Requested the OSC to consider whether further scrutiny of CCs should be included in the OSC work programme. Anne Canning, Interim Corporate Director Education Social Care and Wellbeing (ESCWB) and Vicky Allen, Strategy Policy & Performance Officer, were also in attendance for this item.
Councillor Whitelock, drew the attention of the OSC to supplementary recommendations/ requests that were the outcome of the recent scrutiny review of progress on implementation of each recommendation contained in the original scrutiny report, including: · Re: Recommendation 1: o The involvement of Members, including backbenchers, in the current redevelopment of the website and intranet was considered vital, and accordingly requested. o With reference to promoting of information by directorate communication advisers through regular meetings with Lead Members, that the following additional recommendation be made “That all Members be informed at the appropriate time.” · Re: Recommendation 2: Welcoming the current review of the Authority’s Organisational Change Procedure [by the People Board], an update to OSC on the refreshed procedure was requested, with a view to confirming improvements, and examining how communications and engagement with key stakeholders was covered in it. · Re: Recommendation 3 & 5: It was welcomed that there were no further funding reductions for CCs in the recent Budget. However, there were concerns about vacancy management savings in ESCWB and close monitoring was needed. Accordingly an update to OSC in 6 months time on service capacity in the context of VMS was requested. · Re: Recommendation 4: Since the progress review it was understood that the recommendation for higher visibility for the Authority’s policy for the allocation of places when there was high demand eg on the Council website, was in hand. · Re: Recommendation 6: Welcomed that work was underway. However, requested an update to OSC at an appropriate time, on the outcome of the business improvement exercise to reduce the burden of data collection on staff, taking into consideration the needs of the Ofsted Inspection Framework. · Re: Recommendation 8: o Welcomed the introduction of a new text messaging service, but consideration that there was more scope to use email and social media. Accordingly requested an update to OSC onom the findings of the review being conducted with the Parents Forum on accessibility of information relating to the service. o Consideration that the approach to promotion of children’s services at venues other than schools could be more robust particularly at Idea Stores. Accordingly that the following additional recommendation be made “That Idea Stores be pro-active in the promotion of Children’s Services.” · Re: Recommendation 9: Requested a review and update to OSC on the governance model for CCs after one year of operation, including any analysis of the diversity of parents that actively engage and feedback from parents themselves, to ... view the full minutes text for item 6.1 |
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Electoral Matters Update PDF 104 KB To consider the contents of the report.
Additional documents: Minutes: Please note that the greater part of GPC deliberations relating to this item of business took place in Part Two of the proceedings (Exempt/ Confidential Section of the agenda or “closed session”), for the reasons outlined by the Chair below. However, for ease of reference, the deliberations/ decision taken that pertain to the unrestricted report are set out below in the order detailed in the agenda.
The Chair informed the OSC that Appendix B to the report contained exempt/ confidential information, the consideration of which was required in Part Two of the proceedings (Exempt/ Confidential Section of the agenda: agenda Item 13.1). After an initial introduction of the unrestricted report and any discussion thereof in open session, it would therefore be necessary to exclude the public and press during consideration of the exempt/ confidential appendix.
Mr John Williams, Service Head Democratic Services and Returning Officer, in introducing the report, which provided an update on various matters concerning electoral registration and the conduct of elections, and summarising the key points contained therein: · Informed the OSC that the report of the Electoral Commission: ”Allegations of electoral fraud in Tower Hamlets in 2012 – Report on the outcome of investigations” had been appended to the report contained in the agenda pack at item 6.2, for Member’s ease of reference. · However due to an administrative error the pages relating to Section 4 “Recommendations for improving trust and confidence in the integrity of elections in Tower Hamlets” were omitted and these were nowTabled, a copy of which would be interleaved with the Unrestricted minutes.
The Chair Moved and it was:-
Resolved
That the contents of the report be noted.
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VERBAL UPDATES FROM SCRUTINY LEADS (Time allocated – 5 minutes each) Minutes: Scrutiny Review - Post-16 attainment Cllr Whitelock A focus group with young people, and a concluding session to distil recommendations were yet to be held.
Scrutiny Review - Co regulation and the Accountability of Registered Housing Providers (RPs) Cllr Islam All the review meetings and a Members Seminar had been held and the report was now being finalised.
Scrutiny - Chief Executive’s Cllr Archer Councillor Golds reported that Councillor Archer was in the process of conducting interviews with former Chief Executive’s who had worked in local authorities with and without an executive mayor.
Scrutiny Review - Removing the barriers to youth and graduate employment- Cllr Jackson A visit to Tower Hamlets College had identified good progress but also issues on the apprenticeship scheme and training. There would be a seminar on making access to employment easier on 2nd May.
The Chair Moved and it was:-
Resolved
That the verbal updates be noted.
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PRE-DECISION SCRUTINY OF UNRESTRICTED CABINET PAPERS To consider and agree pre-decision scrutiny questions/comments to be presented to Cabinet.
(Time allocated – 30 minutes).
Minutes: No pre-decision questions submitted to the Mayor in Cabinet [10 April 2013].
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ANY OTHER UNRESTRICTED BUSINESS WHICH THE CHAIR CONSIDERS TO BE URGENT To consider any other unrestricted business that the Chair considers to be urgent.
Minutes: None.
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EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC In view of the contents of the remaining items on the agenda the Committee is recommended to adopt the following motion:
“That, under the provisions of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985, the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting for the consideration of the Section Two business on the grounds that it contains information defined as Exempt in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972.”
EXEMPT/CONFIDENTIAL SECTION (Pink Papers)
The exempt committee papers in the agenda will contain information, which is commercially, legally or personally sensitive and should not be divulged to third parties. If you do not wish to retain these papers after the meeting, please hand them to the Committee Officer present. Minutes: The Chair Moved and it was: -
Resolved:
That in accordance with the provisions of Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985, the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting for the consideration of the Section Two business on the grounds that it contained information defined as exempt or confidential in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government, Act 1972.
SUMMARY OF EXEMPT PROCEEDINGS
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EXEMPT/ CONFIDENTIAL MINUTES Nil items.
Minutes: Nil items.
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EXEMPT/ CONFIDENTIAL REPORTS 'CALLED IN' No decisions of the Mayor in Cabinet (13th March 2013) in respect of exempt/ confidential reports on the agenda were ‘called in’.
Minutes: Nil items.
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EXEMPT/ CONFIDENTIAL REPORTS FOR CONSIDERATION |
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Electoral Matters Update To consider the contents of the report and Appendix B thereto.
Minutes: Appendix B to report tabled and contents noted.
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PRE-DECISION SCRUTINY OF EXEMPT/ CONFIDENTIAL CABINET PAPERS To consider and agree pre-decision scrutiny questions/comments to be presented to Cabinet.
(Time allocated 15 minutes). Minutes: Nil items.
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ANY OTHER EXEMPT/ CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS THAT THE CHAIR CONSIDERS URGENT To consider any other exempt/ confidential business that the Chair considers to be urgent.
Minutes: Nil items.
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Update on Election/Individual Registration |