Agenda and minutes

Councillors Doolan, Klute and Ismail for lateness

Councillor Jeapes for Councillor Doolan

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 29 June 2015 be confirmed and the Chair be authorised to sign them

None

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

The Chair stated that following discussions, a further report on Regrading of Chief Officers would be considered at the next meeting of the Committee. In addition, consideration of the sickness absence figures, as detailed in the Quarter 1 Performance report, would now be deferred that evening to the next meeting of the Committee, in order that further information could be provided, and he added that both these items would be included in the future work programme

Steve Key, Service Director Finance and Property Services was present for discussion of this item, together with Peter Horlock, Head of Strategic Procurement, Finance and Property Services Department.

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

·         The Committee noted the revisions to the SID laid round

·         The Committee noted that Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance were not interchangeable terms and that Tax Avoidance is taking steps to minimise tax liabilities and is legal, provided that there is no objection from HMRC and you have been open about your action. It is often considered to be taking measures for a tax advantage. On a small personal scale this is ensuring the correct tax code may be used, money is transferred to an ISA, artificial unnecessary transactions for business etc. On al large scale this could be paying a tax expert to find legal loopholes in the system. Tax Evasion is taking deliberate steps to falsify, mislead or defraud the payment of tax. Tax evasion is illegals and may lead to individuals being subject to 10 years imprisonment. Examples of this have included hiding money offshore, significant physical or virtual(online) trading and not declaring the income, failing to file a tax return, actively filling in a false return i.e. not including your full income, hiding taxable assets

·         Tax avoidance is legal however tax evasion is illegal so it would be difficult to take action against anyone avoiding tax and it was stated that the Chief Contracts Lawyer would be attending the next meeting to advise the Committee on the legal scope for action available to the Council in relation to dealing with tax compliance during the procurement process

·         The Committee expressed the view that bidders should be advised with immediate effect of the responsibility of bidders for contracts to be mindful of their obligations in respect of evasion of tax

·         Members were of the view that whilst their powers may  be fairly limited it would be useful to get legal opinion as to what action the Council could take in order to preclude contractors and their parent companies that have been found guilty of tax evasion from bidding for contracts. In addition there may be future legislation from Government looking at this area

·         In response to a question it was stated that currently that he was not aware whether there is a register of companies who had been found guilty of tax evasion that could be accessed but he would look into this

·         If a a contractor make as false declaration however then action could be taken

·         Members were of the view that there should be a pan London approach to any action that could be taken against companies found guilty of tax evasion

RESOLVED:

That the Chief Contracts Lawyer be requested to attend the next meeting to give legal advice on the scope for action available to the Council in relation to dealing with tax compliance during the procurement process and to respond to the points raised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 149.

Councillor Andy Hull, Executive Member Finance and Performance, was present for discussion of this item and outlined the report.

Annette Hobart, Corporate Strategy and Performance Manager was also present.

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

·         There had been good performance in school admissions where 100% of applications were now on line and there had been improvements in planning applications and Business and Council Tax collection rates

·         The Registrars service was now on line however there were still improvements that needed to be made in on line parking permit applications

·         There were also problems with the performance of enabling adults to stay out of hospital and foster carer recruitment was not on target

·         There was also the problem that some tenants subject to the bedroom tax were accruing arrears and at some point there would be a need to address this. The Committee stated that they would like an update on the measures proposed in relation to this

·         A Member referred to paragraph 6.8 of the report and the children missing from care and Councillor Hull stated that he would ensure that Members received a response on the action taken and response of the Council when a child goes missing from care

·         A Member expressed the view that there should be a PI relating to physical incapacity and Councillor Hull stated that he would raise this at the next monthly performance indicator meeting

·         In response to a question it was stated that the number of PI’s the Council measured had reduced, however some were not solely in the control of the Council but involved multi agency working and were felt to be about right

·         Councillor Hull stated that he would wish to see faster progress on channel shift to reduce the number of visits to the Customer Care centre

·         Reference was made to employment and Councillor Hull indicated he would provide details of unemployment figures broken down on a ward basis

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the report be noted

(b)  That Councillor Hull be requested to inform Members of the information relating to unemployment statistics on the basis of ward, and children missing in care

(c)  That the EM Housing and Development and Director of Housing and Adult Social Services be requested to inform Members on the proposals for action with regard to tenants who get into rent arrears

Steve Key, Service Director Finance and Property Services Department and Peter Horlock, Head of Strategic Procurement were present for discussion of this item and outlined the report.

Councillor Andy Hull, Executive Member Finance and Performance was also present.

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

·         With regard to paragraph 3.7 and 3.8 of the report more work had been undertaken around the Procurement strategy and there were challenges in respect of each individual procurement and these took place before the contract went out to tender

·         The way the contract is designed took into account social value and commissioners were advised on how best to draw up the contract specification

·         There are liaison meetings held regularly with the voluntary sector

·         There is a social value champion who is a member of the Procurement Board

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted

Nicky Freeling, Business Engagement and Employment Support Manager was present for discussion of this item.

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

·         It would be useful for the Committee to ascertain how the various areas of employment both departmentally and at Executive Member level linked together in order to see if the work is being co-ordinated effectively

·         The Committee congratulated officers on the assistance that they had provided in compiling the report

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the report be approved and referred to the Executive for consideration

(b)  That a report be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee detailing the responsibilities for employment and how it is co-ordinated, as referred to above.

Catherine Briody, Victim and Offenders Support Manager, and Cathy Blair, Children’s Services were present for discussion of this item. Catherine Briody made a presentation to the Committee, copy interleaved.

 Councillor Paul Convery, Executive Member for Community Safety were also present.

During consideration of this item the following main points were made –

·         Concern was expressed that it appeared that younger children were becoming involved in criminal activity than was the case previously

·         It was noted that in August crime levels had fallen as the Police had allocated additional resources to the borough and arrests had been made

·         There were 3000 named individuals under 25 committing at least 8000 crimes

·         Levels of phone snatch reached unprecedented levels, around 300 per month

·         Serious youth violence increased  by 40% and knife crime by 16%

·         21% of all victims of crime were under the age of 25

·         There are 5 established gangs in the borough and three are ranked in the MPS top 20 for risk. The most arrested group are 15-17 year olds and there has been a significant increase in arrests of 10-14 year olds

·         In 2014/15 LBI ranked 30 out of 32 London Boroughs for highest crime levels

·         LBI had the worst youth reoffending rates in London

·         LBI is 81% higher than any other London Borough for theft person snatch offences

·         LBI has the highest first time entry rates in London and the second highest rate of young people in custody

·         LBI is currently offering early help and family support strategy in partnership with the voluntary sector, activities for young people, safer school plans in partnership with the Police, specialist services such as targeted youth support, the youth offending service, 18-24 Gangs Transition service, child sexual exploitation focus, integrated offender management, employment support, the Ben Kinsella exhibition about knife crime, targeted ASB campaign in hot spots across the borough, intelligence gathering and sharing and targeted communications aimed at young people

·         There is provision of Early Help to young people and their families to address the underlying risk factors that may lead to crime and anti – social behaviour and respond promptly at the first signs of an issue

·         There are sanctions, enforcement and reintegration that increase the chances of achieving positive behaviour and life changes for those that have committed crimes by delivering effective and high quality integrated offender management, youth offending service and 18-24 Gangs Transition service

·         There is community engagement that supports the wider community to be part of the solution, share responsibility, lead by example and actively make streets and outside spaces where everyone can go confidently about their daily life

·         There is now and integrated Gangs Team based at Tolpuddle Street Police station

·         The view was expressed that often a grouping of young people were referred to as a gang when this is not really the case, however it was stated this is the term used by the Police

·         A Member stated that there was a need to target bike theft as this is usually the method  ...  view the full minutes text for item 153.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted and the items on Regrading of Chief Officers and sickness absence referred to earlier in the meeting be added to a future meeting of the Committee