Agenda item

Question a) from Councillor Poyser to Councillor Ward, Executive Member for Housing and Development:

 

The Council quite rightly has taken all the actions it can to improve and maintain conditions, despite swingeing government cuts, to help social housing in Islington.

Islington Council recently took a private landlord who owned a multi-occupancy property in Hillrise ward to court after we found a series of hazards – including a lack of fire alarm, insecure handrails and banisters, and rotten window frames in a multiple occupancy property.  The inspection, in the autumn, also found a window in disrepair, a hole in the wall, and dirty kitchen extractor fans. The landlord, from Enfield, paid fines of £12,000 along with costs of £1,124 and a victim surcharge of £100.

 

Many of the tenants in Islington’s private rented sector live in appalling conditions, and some are paying a huge percentage of their incomes to live here. What can we do as a council to help these tenants?

 

Reply:

 

Thank you very much for your question. There’s lots of things the council can do to help tenants in the private rented sector. Environmental Health carry out a programme of activities to identify and improve the worst living conditions in the sector, for example we investigate and identify hazards that could be a risk to the tenant’s safety, we work with landlords to ensure they provide safe accommodation, and we carry out enforcement action if we have to.

 

We have a licensing system for Houses of Multiple Occupation, we carry out inspections, and we also use our own data to identify unlicensed HMOs and potentially unsafe private rented accommodation. We work with internal and external partners to share information on this, and we also work with Trading Standards to enforce letting agent requirements.

 

Supplementary Question:

 

Thank you for your work on this. Given the scale of government cuts, in the future will the council still be able to carry out this work in the private rented sector?

 

Reply:

 

This council will never stop working hard for the private rented sector, that is our job, regardless of what cuts are imposed on us by the government. I would encourage all councillors to contact the council about any concerns they have regarding private rented sector properties in their ward, or with any concerns about landlords.

 

Question b) from Councillor Ismail to Councillor Caluori, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Families:

 

According to the council’s Principal Risks Report 2017/18, serious youth crime has increased by 30% in Islington, and there has been a 9% rise in knife crime victims under 25 years old. What is the council doing about this, and how is it engaging with young people and the local community?

 

Reply:

 

Thank you for your question. Serious youth crime is a priority for the council. I think it’s important to say that involvement in serious youth crime harms both the victim and the perpetrator; everyone loses. Information on what we are doing to address youth violence is detailed in our new Youth Violence Strategy, Working Together for a Safer Islington. That plan sets out very detailed account of what we are going to do, focusing on prevention and early intervention. What we really want to do is make sure that young people are not being drawn into violent crime and offending.

 

Our new strategy builds on the original 2015 Youth Crime Strategy. We have protected youth funding and have invested an additional £500,000 a year into services for those at risk of offending and who are offending. In addition to this our Integrated Gangs Team is going to be working with more young people, including those on the cusp of gang involvement. We are pushing for stronger sentences for the adults who are exploiting and coercing children into carrying out criminal activities, such as county lines drug dealing. The Assertive Outreach Team includes St Giles Trust workers who are ex-gang members; they have been really effective since we brought them into the borough, and they will be working until very late on Fridays and Saturdays, advising and supporting vulnerable young people over the weekend.

 

We also have to work with the community on this. I think the original Youth Crime Strategy was right in indicating that we cannot succeed in all of our plans without support from the community. We have to make sure that everyone is on the same page with this, that the reporting is done right, that people are reporting when there are strange people in vehicles on estates talking to young people, and reporting when things seem wrong. It’s really important that these things are reported and that we have a community response that is united.

 

We have seen some early results. The number of first time entrants into the youth offending system has reduced ahead of target for a first time in a long time, but we still have that entrenched cohort of serious offenders who we need to deal with.

 

Supplementary question:

 

Given that young people are in structured education from early years until sixth form or college, is it surprising that young people are turning to such serious crime?

 

Reply:

 

Young people do have a very structured and regimented education, but the problem is that once they reach adolescence all of the support seems to end. As a society we suddenly stop caring for young people, they go from being people who we love and cherish, to people who we cross the road to avoid. Young people sense this and internalise it, this is something I have spoken about with the Fair Futures Commission earlier this week. What we want is for an understanding in the community that we have to cherish and look after adolescent young people, rather than making them feel unwanted or a hostile presence.

 

Given that so many young people are living in overcrowded conditions, is it any wonder that they congregate in outside spaces. They are treated like criminals before anything has even happened, and that is something we need to look at closely.

 

 

Question c) from Councillor Ismail to Councillor Hull, Executive Member for Finance, Performance and Community Safety:

The recent terrorist attack at Finsbury Park Mosque has shocked us all, and more and more parents are worried for young Muslim girls going about their daily life.

 

Are you aware of these concerns, and what will Islington Council do about this?

 

Reply:

 

Thank you for your question. Yes, we are very much aware of these concerns. Locally these issues are being tackled in a number of ways, including work on counter-terrorism and work on crimes against young girls. The Prevent Co-ordinator has been working very closely with a number of women in the area. Even before the terrorist incident, local women reported feeling afraid after leaving the mosque after evening prayers. This was relayed to local police and extra patrol cars were put on to have a visible presence in the area.

 

As a result of parental concerns we have delivered a Web Guardian programme, which is aimed at parents who do not understand computers well, and those who are concerned because they are unable to monitor what their children are doing online. This has become an increasing worry after the three girls from Bethnal Green were radicalised online and travelled to Syria. As a result of the course local mothers are able to use the computer, monitor the browsing history and set up parental controls.

 

A number of briefings have also been delivered raising awareness of the threats around extremism and keeping people safe. We are planning to run an advice session with a local Somali speaking police officer for local young women and girls.  Young women have been one of the main priority groups in delivering a number of other courses.

 

Today I met representatives of the Home Office and the Police to receive an update on security and counter-terrorism, and what is being done to tackle the global extreme right-wing threat. Two recent referrals have been made to our Prevent Programme about extreme right-wing individuals, so it is very important that we take this threat seriously.

 

The council has also just reviewed and updated its Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy. It includes a partnership approach to work with all communities to ensure the message of zero tolerance around unacceptable practices and violence against women and girls is strengthened across the borough. We want to do more to support young people to address trauma they may have witnessed in their lives and address harmful attitudes and behaviours early on. We also want to do more to support lower-risk cases to avoid escalation and limit the harm. These two areas will be a focus of delivery for the ‘prevention’ and ‘provision’ priorities in the strategy.

 

Finally, our Hate Crime Strategy was signed off in September last year, and one of the important commitments is to make sure victims of hate crime are supported and that there is a joined up response to ensure that the right support and safeguarding is provided.  We have been working with the police and partners to deliver awareness-raising sessions with different community groups who are most likely to be affected by hate crime in order to provide reassurance, improve community confidence, encourage reporting and identify issues of concern that require a response.

 

Supplementary question:

 

Is the council working with young Muslim girls who are vulnerable, and who may be targeted due to their dress code?

 

Reply:

 

Thank you. Some of those projects I mentioned are working with young Muslim girls, and if you want more information on a specific programme I can get that for you. I will say that our Hate Crime Forum is led by representatives of the local community, and they are very keen to ensure that hate crime is reported to the police, and want to make sure that hate crime is being dealt with effectively. There have been three hate crime reports in Finsbury Park over the last week, including one today, and I have been liaising with the Police to ensure that they are being taken very seriously and hopefully they will result in prosecution and conviction. It is important that those who report hate crimes see that action is being taken. We will continue this work, and please do let me know if you have any suggestions for how we can best support young Muslim women in Finsbury Park and elsewhere.

 

 

Question d) from Councillor Smith to Councillor Caluori, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Families:

 

What steps will the Council be taking to ensure the important outreach services to women provided by the Paradise Park Cafe will be restored to a five day a week service?

 

Reply:

 

Thank you. We met with the parents at Paradise Park, and we know that they really value the café that has been operated by Islington Play Association for many years alongside the nursery. The problem is that Islington Play Association felt that they were not in a position to fund the café anymore, because they wouldn’t be running outreach services from the building. This is because Islington Council’s new early years’ service will be running all of the outreach work, so the money they would have used to run the café isn’t there anymore.

 

This is a really difficult issue. We don’t run cafés and we don’t fund them. Given the tough financial position we are in we have to do some very difficult thinking about this. To be fair, I can understand why the parents really value the café, and that the nuance of why the service is moving back in-house isn’t important to them.

 

What we really need to do is a find a situation that everyone can be happy with. The café has re-opened for two days a week. What we are trying to do is look whether we can use the café facility as a resource for parents in the wider area, and see if the some of the area budget for the early years’ service can go towards that, but that will mean trade-offs, because there is a fixed budget for each of the different areas, which needs to cover all of the different services provided. We will keep on talking to the providers, parents and ward councillors, and hopefully we will find a solution. The parents have already come up with some really interesting fundraising and volunteering solutions, so hopefully we can come up with something that everyone is happy with.

 

Under the new early years model every area will have its own consultative body which involves parents, that will have a much more robust and direct way of intervening in how services are delivered, and there will be a budget for them to spend in line with their priorities, so there will be more opportunity for parents to decide how money is spent in future.

 

 

Question e) from Councillor Russell to Councillor Burgess, Executive Member for Health and Social Care:

 

Does Islington have a "Sports Pitch Strategy", as recommended by Sports England, and if not, does it intend to commission one?

 

Reply:

 

Thank you for your question. The council does not currently have a Sports Pitch Strategy. Islington’s last sports and recreation assessment was undertaken some years ago, firstly through the Leisure Needs Analysis in 2006, and then as part of the wider Open Space Sports and Recreation Assessment in 2009. Clearly these documents are out of date, but earlier this year the council commissioned a Sports Facilities Update. The results of this will feed in the Local Plan review which will be framed within the wider policy context of the London Plan and the Government’s National Planning Policy Framework which requires local authorities to plan for sport and recreation needs.

 

As you know, we have tremendous pressure on our sports facilities, not only the pitches, indeed we have the pressure of success rather than the other way around, which is positive but it does create problems. Nonetheless, Islington is the most active borough in London, Islington Tennis Centre is the most used indoor tennis centre in the country, and Highbury Leisure Centre is the busiest per square metre of any in London. I am pleased that we provide an amazing array of sport in the borough.

 

Supplementary question:

 

As there is no Sports Pitch Strategy, which is recommended by Sport England, do you not think that it might be a good idea to at least wait for the Sports Facilities Update before actually making the final decision on Barnard Park? Given you don’t have the overall strategic view of sports facilities in the borough, would it not be pertinent to make any decision in light of that strategic review?

 

Reply:

 

The Barnard Park decision has been a long time coming. I think it was first discussed with the local community in 2008. It has been through all the processes of the council, and I think to delay it any more would be of great disappointment to people who live in the area.

 

 

Question f) from Councillor Russell to Councillor Burgess, Executive Member for Health and Social Care:

 

Is the Council in breach of its statutory duty to consult on the proposed changes to the Sobell Centre?

 

Reply:

 

Thank you for your question. The Council is not under a statutory duty to consult on the trampoline park project at the Sobell Centre and therefore no question arises of the Council being breach of any statutory duty.

 

The Business plan and financial settlement was agreed with GLL on 3^rd March 2017 but was subject still to an agreement on how GLL would consult on the displacement programme with the users affected.  The displacement strategy will enable 96% of users to continue their sporting activity; over 80% of those will remain at the Sobell. Volleyball, netball, badminton and gymnastics will all be getting access to court time equivalent to current use. The Council has increased the amount of dedicated football provision at the Sobell Leisure Centre by providing two new floodlit artificial surface pitches, enabling competitive FA standard provision and competition to be available and the rest moved to other FA approved nearby facilities.

 

We are continuing to review the operational implications with GLL. Islington has actually increased the amount of dedicated Football Association approved football provision at the Sobell. The new floodlit artificial surface pitches are solely for football, whereas the indoor sports hall is multi-purpose and not dedicated, so there is a net gain in football provision.

 

Supplementary question:

 

My question was about the statutory duty to consult. I have some case law you may want to have a look at, which suggests that by removing footballers from the Sobell, it is possible that the council has failed to meet its public sector equality duty under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, in which case that would be discriminatory against the footballers on grounds of age. There was also a legitimate expectation of consultation, so the duty to consult had arisen due to GLL’s prior promise to consult. Will Councillor Burgess consider these points?

 

Reply:

 

Please send me details of this case law, I would be very surprised if we were in breach of our statutory duties. We are continuing to invest in football, there are alternative facilities less than a mile down the road, and they can still play football.