Agenda and minutes

Councillors Jilani Chowdhury and Santiago Bell-Bradford

None

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

Members were informed that any outstanding actions arising from the last meeting would be circulated to Members as soon as possible following the meeting

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 30 September 2019 be confirmed and the Chair be authorised to sign them

The Chair stated that a Scrutiny protocol is being prepared for consideration by the Committee and would be submitted to the Committee for consideration at the January meeting. Prior to this it would be submitted to the meeting of Scrutiny Review Chairs/Vice Chairs and Councillor Hull for comment

The Chair added that following the recent flood at Finsbury Park Thames Water would now be attending the meeting of PPS on 17 December

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.

The Chair outlined the procedure for Public questions, and fire evacuation procedures

Members were informed that Councillor Russell wished to be added to the membership of the Sub Committee

RESOLVED:

That the Committee approve the establishment of the Sub Committee, the dates of meetings, terms of reference, quorum and the membership, as detailed in the report, with the addition of Councillor Russell to the list of Members appointed to serve on the Sub Committee

Councillor Andy Hull, Executive Member Finance, Performance and Community Safety was present and was accompanied by the Borough Commander, Raj Kohli.

Keith Stanger, Service Manager, Community and Crime Reduction, and Catherine Briody, Head of Youth and Community Services were also present

A presentation was made to the Committee, copy interleaved

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

·         SIP currently oversees five key theme area in crime and safety – crimes involving young people, Hate Crime and ASB, Violence against Women and Girls, Drug and Adult Offending, and Exploitation and Extremism

·         Overall crime in Islington has shown a slight increase of 1.1% after two years of decline, while London has seen crime rises of 8%

·         Violence against the person, including youth violence, and knife crime, remains a priority for SIP. There has been a 2.1% reduction in violence against the person, whilst London has seen a 4.9% increase. Overall youth violence has seen a 7.8% reduction, however there has been an increase in serious youth violence

·         The final knife crime task and finish group meeting took place in September 2019. There have been many positive outcomes, and Islington has recorded a 10.3% reduction in knife crime over the past 12 months, whilst London recorded a 1.4% increase

·         Racial and homophobic crime has seen an increase, while all other forms of hate crime have reduced. Sanction detection rates remain a challenge in this area. Whilst the proportion of Domestic Abuse sanction detections remain low, Islington has seen an increase from 15.6% to 16.5% in the past 12 months

·         Policing in Islington – From November the borough will have 2 neighbourhood inspectors – north and south, Op Guilt is focusing on key families, who are complicit in crime, Op Perch tri-borough operation for Finsbury Park, with co-operation of 3 boroughs, and British Transport Police. There are zero DWO vacancies – 66 Police Constables police the 16 wards. Problem solving teams have been launched, and a large amount of drugs recovered already. I call performance – attendance is 93% of emergency graded calls within 15 minutes. Stop and Search – 7353 with 1777 positive outcomes of which 1011 arrests over the last 12 months. A new intelligence team has been established

·         Violence against Women and Girls – Keel multi agency team launched, and has worked with 60 families. Female Genital Mutilation practitioners tool launched, and 112 trained. Islington signed up to Women’s Night Safety Charter encouraging local businesses to do more to help make Islington safer at night for women. New young Person Independent Domestic and Sexual Violence Advisor post in the North London Rape Crisis Service. VAWG multi agency training programmes 12 dates in 2019/20. 22 housing staff signed up to be Make a Stand to Domestic Violence response leads

·         VAWG challenges and Future work – Challenges - Domestic abuse homicides in England/Wales at highest level for 5 years. Ensuring Islington has sufficient resources to support Domestic Violence victims/survivors and their children. Domestic Abuse sanctions and detection  ...  view the full minutes text for item 161.

Councillor Andy Hull, Executive Member Finance, Performance and Community Safety was present, together with Alan Grant, Acting Head of Human Resources

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

·         The workforce strategy 2019/22 was approved in May 2019 and launched at the EPIC awards in July 2019

·         Noted that the vision envisages empowering staff to grow, learn from one another, and to develop their skills. Staff need to have the confidence to work to the highest possible standards, whilst working continuously to improve performance

·         Noted that the Council is undergoing an enormous period of change with increasing demand on services, creating a number of pressures. To ensure core values are achieved there needs to be a collaborative, empowering and efficient approach, and implementing the strategy will require both commitment and investment from the organisation, and its senior leadership. This includes investment in sourcing and developing subject matter expertise in new areas, and in meeting the cost associated with the delivery of elements of the strategy

·         Priority areas are – strategic workforce planning, modern streamlined enabling HR policies and processes, developing a high performing workforce. Senior leadership actions require a strategic overview to be taken, and a holistic understanding of how this strategy and strands fit in with other strategic activities/overall picture corporately. Also visible leadership and demonstrating organisational commitment to achieving the ambitions set out in the strategy, and the values that underpin it. Practical support and expertise is also needed to influence and drive delivery

·         Members were informed that Corporate Management Board were discussing the strategy on a quarterly basis as there needed to be a whole Council approach

·         A Member expressed the view that it was important that managers were very important in delivering this process and that this did not appear to be reflected in the strategy. There is also a need to demonstrate a change in leadership behaviours, and a zero tolerance approach taken to discrimination. It was stated that middle managers are extremely important in delivering the strategy and this would be a particular focus

·         Reference was made to the fact that expertise is being brought in to assist HR so that effective guidance could be given

·         A Member referred to the need to ensure that talented staff were targeted and offered opportunities and trained to a level to progress when opportunities present themselves. This could involve work with other Councils. It was stated that the strategy is a fluid one, however discussions were taking place in this regard

·         Discussion took place as to how empowerment of staff would occur and it was stated that staff would be offered support and make the most of skills to deliver Council values

·         A Member referred to the need to put in place an effective performance strategy and that a performance improvement strategy could be put in place with objectives being set for staff. It was stated that consideration of this is taking place and was all part of a cultural change that needs  ...  view the full minutes text for item 162.

Councillor Andy Hull, Executive Member Finance, Performance and Community Safety was present, and was accompanied by Annette Hobart, Strategy and Change Manager

The following main points were made –

·         The Chair stated that she was seeking the views of Members as to the future presentation of performance information to the Committee, given previous discussions at the Committee, with a view to a report being presented to the meeting in January making definitive proposals

·         The Chair added that if Members had any views these could be submitted to her or to the Scrutiny Clerk for consideration

The Chair thanked Councillor Hull and Annette Hobart for attending

A revised Forward Plan was circulated for the Committee

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted