To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence.

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 Chief Executive.

Councillor Oliur Rahman declared a personal and prejudicial interest in agenda item 6.1 on the basis that he was Member of the Cabinet when the original decision was taken, and he left the room during the Committee’s decision making and voting on this item.

Rev James Olanipekun declared a personal interest in agenda item 9.1 as he had been involved in the submission of a ‘Can Do’ grant.

To confirm as a correct record of the proceedings the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 30 November 2010.

The Chair Moved and it was:-

RESOLVED

That the unrestricted minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 30 November 2010 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record of the proceedings subject to the inclusion of apologies for absence from Councillor Ahmed Adam Omer.

To be notified at the meeting.

None received.

To be notified at the meeting.

None received.

(Time allocated – 30 minutes)

The Chair, Councillor Ann Jackson, advised that as she had been one of the signatories to the call-in requisition, she would take no part in the decision making or voting on this item and would ask the Vice-Chair, Councillor Ahmed Adam Omer, to take the Chair during this time.

Further to his respective declaration of a personal and prejudicial interest, Councillor Oliur Rahman left the room during the Committee’s decision making and voting on this item.

Councillors Ohid Ahmed and Alibor Choudhury who had not been present for the previous agenda item also left the room during this time.

At the request of the Chair, David Galpin, Head of Legal Services (Community) advised those present on the Council’s call-in procedure.

Councillor Bill Turner on behalf of the Call-In Members referred to the reasons in their requisition and highlighted the main issues that they held with the Cabinet’s provisionally agreed decision that the Acting Corporate Director – Children, Schools, and Families, be authorised to award the contracts for services to both Bupa and Allied Healthcare on behalf of the Authority.

Councillor Turner advised that the further detail provided to him by Mrs Cattermole had been very helpful, but this should have been included in the Cabinet report.

Councillor Turner stated that the report ultimately talked about awarding a care contract concerning vulnerable people to the private sector on the basis that it would provide a significant saving to the Council, and he asked whether this saving could be fully justified?

He further stated that disabled Bengalis required culturally matching care which local providers were able to give, and which a private company might not, and asked what safeguards and performance monitoring would be put in place to ensure continuity of care?

Councillor Turner then responded to questions from the Committee concerning the alternative course of action being proposed and the impact of any delays in the process, the fact that no local providers had submitted tenders, the switch to direct payments and the need to provide value for money.

He advised that the call-in was not necessarily asking for the contract to be re-tendered, but sought more information regarding how staff would be recruited, the possibility of smaller local companies being supported in order to win contracts, and whether or not contracting out was right for the Council.

Councillor Turner stated that smaller local companies were good at providing a service, but did not have the tendering ability of much larger companies. Also his main concern was whether or not existing service users would still be able to have the same carer. Value for money was also important but only if the level of service being obtained was the same.

Councillor Oliur Rahman, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, supported by Mrs Isobel Cattermole, Acting Corporate Director – Children, Schools and Families, then addressed the Committee on behalf of the Cabinet in response to the Call-in.

Councillor Rahman stated that his fundamental aim was to work with the services users,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.1

Following the request made by the Committee at the last meeting, Representatives from Transport for London have been invited to discuss transport issues in the Borough.

(Time allocated – 30 minutes)

This item was withdrawn as the representative from Transport for London was unable to attend the meeting.

The Deputy Mayor, Councillor Ohid Ahmed, will attend to report on his portfolio.

(Time allocated – 30 minutes)

Councillor Ohid Ahmed, Deputy Mayor, gave a detailed presentation on aspects of his portfolio, focusing on areas set out below:-

Services covered by Deputy Mayor portfolio

•         Highways & transport, street cleansing, waste, recycling, graffiti & flyposting removal, pest control, trading standards, licensing, markets & street trading, parking, animal wardens, noise team, food hygiene, incontinence laundry, THEOs, drug and alcohol team, domestic violence, hate crime, ASB, CCTV, parks and open spaces, civil protection, smokefree environment team, mortuary

Highlights and successes

•         Recycling rates increased from 19% to 26.5%

•         Successful deployment of Tower Hamlets Enforcement Officers

•         5% drop in overall crime (952 fewer crimes)

•         409 arrests under the ‘Dealer a Day’ initiative.

•         Successful introduction of first Cycle Super Highway network, and implementation of first London Cycle Hire Scheme docking stations

•         Successful HLF bid for Victoria Park worth £4.55m

•         Perception of parks, playgrounds and open spaces up by 8% to 61%

•         Community payback teams at work across the borough

•         ‘Bike it’ scheme won a London Transport Award

•         Major parking enhancement programme

•         Moving key partners rapidly towards the development and adoption of shared targets within a Public Realm strategy

Key Priorities 2011/12

Safer Communities

•         Strategic Review of Community Safety and a new Crime & Drug Reduction Plan

•         Adoption of Sexual Encounter Legislation

•         Street Markets Strategy Implementation

Public Realm

•         Parking Enhancement Programme

•         Recycling Improvement Plan

•         Waste Strategy

•         London Cycle Hire Scheme Phase 2

•         Winter Maintenance

•         Victoria Park

•         Integrated Public Realm & Safer Community Services

Members of Overview and Scrutiny Committee then posed a series of detailed questions to which Councillor Ahmed, supported by Mr Stephen Halsey, Corporate Director and Andy Bamber Service Head Community Safety, responded. The question and answer session was centred on the following points:

While the increase in recycling rates was reassuring, it was recognised that some residents were still unaware of how to recycle and that the ‘pink’ recycling bags needed to be provided more efficiently.

The Council was working with Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) and Arms Length Management Organisations (Almos) to try and ensure that anti-social behaviour on housing estates was being properly addressed, and this was also part of the ‘Great Place to Live Delivery Plan’ and CLC localisation and joint tasking work with the Police.

In response to a query about why no visible examples of recycling were not presented to residents, Mr Halsey stated that while there was no obvious visible reward from recycling for residents, any reduction in the amount of waste going to landfill was a financial benefit to the Community as it reduced the need for expensive land fill and carbon allowances to offset land fill tonnage exceeding the very limited government target and the carbon emissions generated by the Borough. This would also lead the Council to becoming more environmentally sustainable as well as reducing the financial pressures.

In response to a complaint that the pavements had not been properly  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

(Time allocated – 10 minutes)

Mr Keith Williams, Head of the Healthy Borough Programme, introduced the report which provided an update on the progress and work undertaken so far on securing sustainability of the work programme for addressing the environmental causes of obesity.

He reported that the recent Public Health White paper and the proposal to transfer public health improvement functions to local authorities by 2013 provided a potentially positive environment to consider how the programme could continue post March 2011 when the current funding would cease.

The Committee noted that once all the evaluation work had been completed the intention was to produce a comprehensive report pulling together all the evaluation highlights and evidence of learning with a set of recommendations to influence future strategic direction.

The Chair Moved and it was

RESOLVED

That the report be noted.

(Time allocated – 10 minutes)

Mr Saheed Ullah, Development Officer for Building Schools for the Future(BSF), gave a brief update on the design principles and aspirations driving BSF in relation to reducing childhood obesity via the provision of new sports and dining facilities, and advised that it was not yet possible to outline the effects of new lunch room areas and uptake of school meals as the evaluation exercise had not yet been completed.

The Chair Moved and it was

RESOLVED

That the report be noted.

Due to time constraints it was agreed that this item be deferred.

(Time allocated – 15 minutes).

The Chair Moved and it was –

RESOLVED

That the following Section 1 pre-decision questions be submitted to Cabinet on 1 December 2010 for consideration:

6.1       Proposed Cycle Hire Scheme extension (CAB 066/101)

1)                 LAP 5 has twelve cycle location areas, but only about 3-4 are in BowEast. Can you explain why this is?

2)                 Has the Council considered the option of partnering with RSLs and NHS Tower Hamlets to develop estate cycle routes for school journeys?

7.1       Update on Building Schools for the Future Programme including authorisation to enter into contracts: update on PFI and School Estate Strategy (CAB 068/101)

1)         The new school planned for Bow looks to be dependent on DfE contribution which could well be less then costs, and result in Bow not getting a badly needed secondary school. As there has been a need for another school for some years, why were the plans not progressed sooner to avoid the now almost certain funding shortfall?

8.1       Borough-Wide Drinking Control Zone (CAB 069/101)

1)         Will the introduction of a borough wide drinking control zone displace drinkers to other parts of London?

2)         How will we ensure that our support to drinkers with dependency problems is much more effective to ensure we reduce the problem of displacement and people are given the support required?

3)         What plans are there to work across east London to better understand the problem and develop a more co-ordinated and long-term response?

10.1    General Fund Revenue Budget and Medium Term Financial Plan 2011/2012- 2013/2014 (CAB 070/101)

1)                 Without the full Equalities Impact Assessment it is difficult to understand the full impact of the proposed savings on our community and in particular vulnerable sections of our community. Can the Cabinet therefore confirm when the full EQiA will be available?

2)                 What has been the monetary impact of the recent VAT increase?

3)                 In regards to paragraph 10.2 where the Council has discretion on what expenditure it incurs, it has chosen to curtail spending on Dementia Services and Learning Disabilities as they have yet to be fully commissioned, this along with a possible reduction in spending on Freedom passes does in fact seem to be reducing and providing in the first place support for the most vulnerable in the borough. Can the Cabinet outline how they are to make these savings and provide sufficient front line services.

4)                 What is the Council’s response to the Hutton Commission and its possible forthcoming recommendation to rebalance the future costs of the Council’s Pension Scheme between taxpayers and beneficiaries in favour of the taxpayer?

5)                 With reference to paragraph 14.3 of the report the resource available to fund capital programme is now heavily dependent on the sale of major assets and receipts from this source can therefore not be relied upon. Alongside this funding for the revenue budget which can also fund capital programme is very tight. Can the Cabinet outline how this has occurred and what is the plan to rebalance this if any?  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

None.

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.

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.