Agenda and minutes

Councillors Klute and Doolan

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Declarations of interest

 If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

§  if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

§  you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

*(a) Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

(b)  Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

(c) Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

(d) Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

(e) Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

(f)   Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have a beneficial interest.

 (g) Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

None

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 22 January 2015 be confirmed and the Chair be authorised to sign them

None

The Chair outlined the procedure for dealing with Public questions and filming and recording of meetings

The Chair informed Members that the report back on progress on the recommendations of the scrutiny review on Blacklisting would be coming to the May meeting of the Committee, and he was pleased to report that the recommendations were being implemented or in the process of being implemented.

The Chair stated that Councillors Ismail and Poyser would be elected as new Members of the Committee at the Council meeting on Thursday, and Councillor O’Halloran would be appointed as Vice Chair of the Committee.

To follow

Ian Adams, Director of Financial Services and Customer Operations was present and outlined the report.

During consideration of the report the following main points were raised –

·         As a result of the Local Housing Allowance, the number of private sector residents claiming housing benefit in the borough has significantly reduced. There are currently 2670 private tenant LHA claims, compared to 3207 in February 2014

·         The number of residents affected by the Bedroom Tax has been significantly mitigated through the Council’s efforts to work with households to find the best option for them. Many under occupiers have been supported to move, and Discretionary Housing Payment has been used to subsidise rent payments to support those families most at risk of falling into arrears, whilst efforts to find an alternative property/employment takes place

·         The Council  policy is not to evict anyone who is actively engaged with the support on offer

·         The Council is continuing to support tenants affected by the Bedroom Tax to downsize into properties which meet their needs. This has resulted in 339 moves to more affordable properties

·         The Benefit cap, introduced in April 2013, limited the amount of benefits a family or household can receive. Any money deducted from housing benefit places a family at risk of falling into rent arrears resulting in homelessness or eviction. The Council is using Discretionary Housing Payments to cover shortfalls in rent for those families most affected , whilst working with them to find a sustainable solution. Where work is a viable option the person is referred to iWork to move towards employment. The condition of receiving DHP is that the person must continue to engage with the support offered

·         Of the 247 benefit cap cases, 43 are currently receiving DHP and 136 are not and the remainder are being assessed

·         Islington is one of 11 pilot sites trialling how Universal Support Delivered Locally could work in practice and each area is piloting a different model for engaging with clients, assessing needs and delivering support. The aims of the pilot are to provide estimated costs per person of providing USDL support and sharing best practice of what works. This will inform decisions on the amount of funding made available by DWP to local areas once Universal Credit is rolled out

·         Islington are providing 3 bands of support –employment support, digital support and personal budgeting support . Staff at the contact centre at 222 Upper Street offered personalised support and since October 2014 over 400 residents had been assisted to appropriate services

·         It was noted that DHP would be reducing by £900,000 in the next 2 years and that this may cause problems in future

·         Members were informed that the recent successful judicial review, led by Islington in relation to the Government’s intention to reduce Local Welfare provision had resulted in £560,000 now being available, albeit that this had reduced from £1.44m

·         There were still ongoing difficulties with sharing of data by DWP

·         In response to a question as to what provision was being  ...  view the full minutes text for item 89.

Lela Kogbara , Assistant Chief Executive, was present and outlined the report.

During consideration of the report the following main points were made –

·         In 2014/15 the Council will spend just over £41m on services delivered by the voluntary sector. The voluntary sector is a key partner but will need to adapt to a harsher financial climate  and the Council and VCS will have to work more closely with less money in new and creative ways to meet the challenges that lie ahead

·         Members noted the funding awarded under the VCS Grants Fund and Advice, Discretionary Rate Relief, Local Initiatives Fund, Islington Community Chest, Community Festivals Fund and the free hire of the Islington Assembly Hall and also the Council’s contribution to the London Boroughs Grants Committee

·         Members were informed that there were processes that had been set up where discussions were taking place with the voluntary sector with the Leader to establish a basis for the future. There was a need to use resources more efficiently such as co-locating organisations or moving to cheaper premises could reduce costs, looking at the use of Section 106 monies to create hubs and in addition supporting organisations to bid for external funding to make them less dependent on Council funding. IT support, and support in the creation of a Business Plan could also be given and a monitoring role could be played by Islington Giving

·         In response to a question as to the funding of Cripplegate that a large proportion of the funding went on advice work it was stated that for the forthcoming year Cripplegate would be using the same criteria however they would be adding additional criteria. There was the need to have a balanced review of how advice was defined and whether there should be a core model that should be adopted

·         In response to a question as to whether there was a list of voluntary organisations and premises in the borough it was stated that there were over 2400 voluntary organisations in the borough and whilst there was not a comprehensive list of all these organisations however there was a list of organisations that the Council funded or who occupied Council premises. Members requested that they be sent the list referred to and the one being prepared by Finance and Property Services

·         In response to a question it was stated that Cripplegate would be advising voluntary organisations how to build capacity in local voluntary organisations and Cripplegate were better in some areas than the Council in identifying and meeting the needs of organisations, however a more joined up approach was needed

·         It was stated that there was the need for a more co-ordinated approach across departments as to funding to ensure funding was not duplicated to voluntary organisations for the same services. A Member expressed the view that this showed poor management practice if funding was not co-ordinated and appropriate action needed to be taken to remedy this

·         The Chair expressed the view that this was an area  ...  view the full minutes text for item 90.

Report of Chair of Housing Scrutiny Committee

The Chair of the Housing Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Mick O’Sullivan, verbally outlined the work of the Committee for the current municipal year to date

During consideration of the report the following main points were made –

·         Circle Anglia would be coming to be interviewed by the Committee at the next meeting

·         The Scaffolding scrutiny review was in progress and it was hoped the draft recommendations would be prepared for the May/June meeting. A site visit had taken place to a number of scaffolding sites in the borough which would inform the recommendations

·         The Estate Services scrutiny review is progressing and the next meeting would be taking evidence from GMB

·         The Committee had considered a report on the implementation on the ‘in house’ repairs service and that this would be kept under review by the Committee

Report of Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee

The Chair of the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Kaya Come Schwartz, verbally outlined the work of the Committee for the current municipal year to date.

During consideration of the report the following main points were made –

·         The Committee were carrying out a Scrutiny Review into Early Help for vulnerable families and that witness evidence would be taken from the Health Service, Voluntary sector and from families as to the measures that could be taken to assist them the most

·         The Committee had decided not to proceed in the current municipal year not to proceed with the Scrutiny Review on SEN, as the implementation of the now procedures had only just taken place and there was a need to address the effect of these before the scrutiny commenced

·         The Committee would be receiving a report from the Executive Member Children and Families at a future meeting of the Committee and in relation to educational attainment measures

·         The Committee had also set up a working group to look at child sexual exploitation

Report of Environment and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee

The Chair of the Environment and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee, Councillor James Court, was present and verbally outlined the work of the Committe for the current municipal year to date.

During consideration of the report the following main points were made –

·         The Committee had received a 12 month report back on the progress of recommendations on the Planning Committee structure scrutiny review and were conducting a Scrutiny Review into Fuel Poverty

·         In addition the Committee were looking into Community Energy and how to become an energy retailer and whether there was anything else the Council could do in terms of installation of smart meters etc.

·         The Committee were also considering communal heating systems and whether these worked effectively for residents and the costs involved

·         The Committee had also received a report back on the 20mph speed zone implementation and that there had been some enforcement. In addition a report back would be coming to the Committee on the scrutiny review on Air Quality and there would be reports from the Executive Members for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 91.