Agenda and minutes

Councillors Gallagher, Gantly, Gill, Khondoker and David Hodgkinson – Director of Corporate Resources. Apologies for lateness Councillor O’Sullivan

Councillor Bossman-Quarshie for Councillor Khondoker

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 referred to minute 39 and that she still had not received a response to details of the increase in temporary accommodation

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 10 March 2023 be confirmed and the Chair be authorised to sign them

(b)  That the Director of Housing be requested to respond to the outstanding issue above in relation to details of the increase in temporary accommodation

The Chair stated that as this was the last meeting of the Committee she would wish to extend her thanks and that of the Committee to the clerk, Peter Moore, who would shortly be retiring after many years of service with the Council. Members concurred with this view

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

Councillor Sue Lukes, Executive Member Community Safety and Jonathan Gallagher Community Safety were present and outlined the presentation, copy interleaved

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

·         Noted overall crime has fallen by 2.4% in 2021 compared to 2020 and Islington has recorded  reductions across all acquisitive crime categories in 2021 compared to 2020

·         Islington recorded a 3.5% reduction in youth violence in 2022 compared to 2020

·         Islington recorded a 9.1% increase in Violence against the person in 2021 compared to 2020, and larger increases in violence against the person and sexual offences, and Islington were ranked as 21 out of 32 MPS boroughs for both offences

·         There have been significant and sustained knife crime reduction, proactive work in Safe spaces and Women’s safety conversations, increase in domestic abuse survivors being supported and committed to increasing safe havens

·         Services have seen increase in demand and complexity of cases. Need to review ASB strategy. Is an ongoing impact of the pandemic on serious youth violence and a new strategy will be introduced

·         Police response – increased Neighbourhood Policing teams in Finsbury Park, Junction and Caledonian wards. Violence suppression unit to target high harm offenders and violence hotspots. Cross border and council partnerships in Finsbury Park and EC1. Multi agency offender management programme and investment of officers embedded in Council. Regular weapons sweeps, safer schools delivery of violence/knife awareness programmes, enhanced VAWG policing plan in Finsbury Park/Blackstock Road

·         Knife crime trends – sustained reduction over 3 years attributed to Integrated Gangs team, partnership approach to youth offending, out of court disposal scrutiny panel, and introduction of the No Knife scheme to promote shops who do not sell knives

·         Noted the achievements, impact, focus and challenges of the youth crime in relation to youth safety

·         Noted the achievements, impact, of VAWG and women’s safety and safety on streets

·         Wider community safety – delivered over 50 separate multi-agency projects to reduce ASB and crime in the borough – an increase of over 40%, early intervention and co-ordination briefings, ASB early intervention scheme, MARAC support to complex ASB cases, effective tri-borough operational group to tackle crime and ASB in Finsbury Park area, increase in mobile CCTV

·         Hate crime – increased confidence in reporting is a key priority, reduction at transport hubs and an increase in residential areas. Successful hate crime awareness week

·         Rough sleeping – continued reductions, multi-agency work to manage risk of harm to know street based drug users. Seeking further funding initiatives to develop the offer. Noted street outreach service contract comes to an end shortly and there will be a procurement process taking place to identify the future service provider

·         Exploitation and extremism – noted initiatives on modern day slavery, Prevent

·         Noted that there is a cross borough policing plan in place and a violence suppression unit had been put in place

·         Noted that there was a local prevention plan to reduce pedal crime

·         Noted that initiatives were in place to train people in the community about  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

Paul Clarke Director of Finance was present and outlined the report

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

·       Reference was made to the below target figure of Freedom of Information requests, and it was stated that the numbers outstanding, and the longest requests for responses would be circulated to Members

·       In response to a question it was stated that officers were trying to be more proactive in responding to requests, and to manage expectations where a response could not be delivered in the statutory time period. It was stated that communication was key and this needed to be improved if there were going to be delays

·       It was stated that information could also be provided to Members on the volumes of requests and topics of FOI’s, and if there had been an increase int the complexity of enquiries

RESOLVED:

That the Director of Finance be requested to provide information to Members on the issues raised above

                  The Chair thanked Paul Clarke for attending

Paul Clarke, Director of Finance was present and outlined the report

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

·       Noted the Council is forecasting a net underspend of -£1.201m after the application of the Government COVID government funding and corporate contingency budget. Within this there are budget pressures of +£22.727m

·       HRA forecasting an in year deficit of +£9.298m, mainly related to capital financing costs. There are fluctuations in the budget due to a significant part of the budget funding the housing capital programme

·       Capital expenditure of £77.512m incurred against a full year forecast of £116.395m

·       Noted the amendment to the report relating to parking charges

·       In response to a question on the use of agency staff it was stated that a report on contingent workforce would be submitted in July detailing the use of agency staff, and that a new provider had just been appointed

·       In response to a question it was stated that the HRA was looked at over a 30 year period, and that the business plan could be adjusted where necessary

·       In terms of an enquiry relating to CARE UK and fire prevention suspensions it was stated that this issue would hopefully be resolved in the near future

·       Reference was made to the delay in Print services increased income and it was stated that details of the reasons for delays would be circulated to Members

·       Discussion took place as to the reduction of children’s centres income and it was stated that this was due to the pandemic and parents not sending children to the centres

RESOLVED:

That details of the delays in relation to the Print section issue raised above be circulated to Members

The Chair thanked Paul Clarke for attending

Julie Foy, Director Human Resources, and Astrid Keogh, Head of Organisational Development were present, and outlined the report

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

·       Noted the excellent report

·       Noted that long term sickness was a problem and was currently being discussed with the Trade Unions. Some long term sickness was mental health related, and that this needed to be looked at but at present the requisite data set was not available

·       In relation to the use of dashboards it was stated that quality conversations were not able to be collected on a data base at present but consideration was being given to this

·       In response to a question it was stated that Quality Conversations timescales varied between staff and managers and it was stated that there were issues with whether conversations were conducted less formally in some jobs. However Members expressed the view that this should be looked at as ideally conversations needed to take place every 4/6 weeks

·       Reference was also made to the inclusion of an objective in relation to diversity and inclusion and it was stated this could be considered

·       Noted that in relation to staff with disabilities who may be reluctant to discuss certain things with their managers and this may impact on their development it was stated that consideration was being given to opportunities to develop career pathways, especially for Islington residents. In addition a Disability and Welfare Officer had just been appointed, and disability awareness training was taking place with managers

RESOLVED:

That the recommendations be adopted and referred to the Executive for consideration

The Chair thanked Julie Foy and Astrid Keogh for attending

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted

It was moved by Councillor Russell and seconded by Councillor Clarke and -

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY:

That a vote of thanks be recorded to the Chair Councillor Debono for her service on the Council, and Chair of the Committee given that this was her last meeting due to her retirement as a Councillor in May