Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Chowdhury and Weekes.

Councillor Wayne substituted for Councillor Weekes.

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.

A member noted that the minutes of the previous meeting read:

Officers advised that they could circulate a paper to members summarising the latest position on the parking account and trends over time.

It was requested that this report be circulated to members of the committee.

RESOLVED:

That subject to the above, the minutes of the previous meeting be agreed as a correct record and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

The Chair advised that it would be her last meeting as Chair. The Chair thanked the members of the committee for their contributions and the officers who had supported the work of the committee over the past year.

The Chair advised that she would revise the order of business, to take Item B3, Corporate Performance, before Item B2, Update on Transformation Projects.

For members of the public to ask questions relating to any subject on the meeting agenda under Procedure Rule 70.5. Alternatively, the Chair may opt to accept questions from the public during the discussion on each agenda item.

None.

Councillor Woolf, Executive Member for Community Safety, presented his annual report to the Committee.

The following main points were noted in the discussion:

·        The Executive Member highlighted key actions in his portfolio over the last year. Partnership working with the Police had delivered a 10-point action plan for how the BCU would deliver the Met Police turnaround plan locally; the council had worked with the Police to deliver cultural competency training to 600 front-line police officers, approximately one-third of the 1,500 officers working in the borough. Walk-and-talk sessions had been held in 16 wards, and this included evening sessions. A governance review had been commenced to ensure that policing and neighbourhood structures were aligned.

·        Islington had seen the largest reduction in public order crime types across the 32 boroughs; motor vehicle crime, robbery, VAWG, knife crime and firearms discharges had all decreased. The Executive Member commented that it was important not to be complacent, but these figures reflected the strong partnership approach taken to reduce crime in Islington.

·        The Executive Member commented on the importance of the “critical friend” approach to working with the Police, calling out where improvements were needed, and championing examples of good practice.

·        The Executive Member commented that the Safe Havens scheme continued to develop. The council was also implementing Bleed Control kits across the borough. The borough’s knife bins had now collected 4,000 knives.

·        Implementing the recommendations of the ASB transformation programme had been a key theme over the past year, and the Executive Member thanked the committee for their review of ASB, which was aligned with the objectives of the transformation programme.

·        The Executive Member noted that the restructure of the Community Safety, Security and Resilience directorate had consolidated services in his portfolio, and some further amendments to the structure were being explored to enable a 24/7 response service.

·        A discussion was had on the prevalence of hate crime, and if the reduction in figures may actually be representative of under-reporting. This was a complex issue and there was a need to build trust and confidence in the police among all communities. The council had trained 50 Hate Crime Champions to raise awareness of hate crime in the local community. It was suggested that LGBT communities may be reticent to report hate crime, and a member suggested that engaging with local LGBT venues may be beneficial.

·        A member expressed concern at the Police posting photos of large knives recovered on social media, suggesting that this may be counter-productive, as young people may feel the need to arm themselves. The Executive Member indicated this would be considered further. Although it was a concern that 4,000 knives had been handed into knife bins, it could also be viewed as 4,000 positive choices being made.

·        A member noted that 824 HMO inspections had been completed and asked if this meant that 60% of properties had not been inspected. In response, the Executive Member noted that this was outside of his portfolio, however he would check.

·        Following a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 201.

Councillor Ward, Executive Member for Finance, Planning and Performance, Dave Hodgkinson, Corporate Director – Resources, and Joanna Dawes, Corporate Performance Manager, introduced the report.

·        In relation to the recruitment of agency staff, it was noted that Luton Council had an in-house bank of agency staff which had let to around £500k of savings, it was queried if Islington had explored this option. In response, it was advised that the Corporate Management Team regularly reviewed this issue; agency staff were typically used in front line roles that were difficult to fill. The report indicated that spend on agency staff had increased 25% since Quarter 1 and the committee expressed concern at this increase.

·        Officers summarised some of the roles occupied by agency staff and how temporary staff could be used to address specific issues quickly, for example staff working to resolve damp and mold issues. The Committee noted that around one in five members of staff were recruited through an agency and suggested that the council may wish to consider the base level of staffing required to deliver day-to-day services.   

·        Following a question on apprenticeships, officers explained how the council supported and delivered apprenticeships for local people, including offering roles to care leavers.

·        A member asked if previously deleted roles were now occupied by agency staff. Officers advised that this should not happen and that this would be reviewed.

·        A member asked about work to increase the take-up of funded childcare places for two year olds. The Chair of the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee noted that this had been reviewed in her committee and that there was a plan to engage with difficult to reach groups. It was also noted that there had been an increase in parents staying at home since the pandemic which had impacted on take up.

·        In relation to housing complaints, the Executive Member commented on the need to deal with simple transactional communications swiftly in order to resolve issues and stop them from escalating into complaints. Improving the resident experience in this way was a high priority and would allow for more efficient use of resources in responding to residents’ issues.

RESOLVED:

That the Quarter 3 performance report be noted.

Raj Chand, Corporate Director – Community Engagement and Wellbeing, and Charisse Monero, Assistant Director – Transformation, presented to the committee.

The following main points were noted in the discussion:

·        Officers summarised the progress of several transformation projects; their aims, impact and outcomes, and how they were targeted at improving service delivery and addressing challenges faced by residents.

·        A member welcomed the development of the Access Islington Hubs and in particular the work to ease transitions between Children’s and Adult’s social services, which had been an issue considered in previous scrutiny meetings.

·        The Committee noted that the satisfaction rate at Access Islington Hubs was 93% which was considered very positive given that they were a new service.

·        In relation to the targeted work with the Somali community, the committee noted the range of challenges, frustration and discontent experienced by the community. Officers explained the importance of designing services with residents, understanding their needs and developing solutions together.

·        The Committee welcomed that there had been 41,000 visits to the Access Islington Hubs so far and requested a breakdown of data on the types of issues residents were presenting with. Officers advised that data was collected and this could be reported to a future meeting. Officers summarised the wide range of services, support and advice offered.

The Committee thanked officers for their attendance.

The Committee thanked all of those who had contributed to the review.

RESOLVED:

That the report of the committee be agreed and submitted to the Executive.

RESOLVED:

That the work of the council’s scrutiny committees in 2023-24 be noted.

·       Council forward plan

·       Scrutiny review tracker

·       Verbal updates from committee chairs

·       Work Programme

The Monitoring Items were noted.

The Committee thanked the Chair, Councillor Flora Williamson, and the Chair of the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Sheila Chapman, for their work, noting that they would be stepping down from their committees to take up other roles.