Agenda and minutes

None.

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.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 11 December 2023 be agreed as a correct record and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

The Chair highlighted upcoming evidence sessions as part of the Scrutiny Review of Complex ASB. This included attendance at a Safeguarding Adults Board meeting, a session with the Housing Intensive Team and joining the Street Outreach Team on an early morning patrol.

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 Ward, Executive Member for Finance, Planning and Performance, introduced the budget with the Corporate Director of Resources and Director of Finance.

The following main points were noted in the discussion:

·        The Executive Member summarised the proposals and emphasised the challenging financial position across local government. Islington Council had lost around £300m of funding from central government over the last decade. Due to increased costs arising from inflation and demographic pressures, and continued government austerity, it was essential that the council continued to operate efficiently. The budget identified £10.8m in savings, prioritising frontline services, however it was expected that the next financial year would be even more challenging.

·       The Executive Member commented on the need for a fair funding deal from central government. In particular, support was needed to help local government address the housing crisis through developing new social housing and maintaining its existing stock, and a fair funding deal was needed to ensure the sustainability of Adult Social Care. The cost of delivering Adult Social Care in Islington was increasing by £20m a year. 

·       The proposed budget reflects the current crisis in local government finance. There were currently significant budget overspends across London Boroughs and several councils nationally had declared Section 114 Notices. The Committee noted the cost pressures associated with inflation, demographic change, and the impact this was having across council budgets. There were acute pressures on school budgets across inner London and there were longer-term challenges associated with the funding of social housing.

·       The proposed budget made use of contingency budgets to balance the overspends in the current financial year. As a result, there was a decrease in the contingency budgets for proposed for 2024-25. The Council was not proposing to make use of financial reserves to balance the budget, while this was an option that several London Boroughs were having to resort to.

·       The Committee considered paragraph 4.9 of the report, which states

‘Ongoing and significant budget savings of a level not seen in recent budget processes will need to be delivered over the medium term to ensure the adequacy and robustness of reserves is at least maintained and, as an objective, significantly strengthened.’

The Committee queried the implications of this and the possible impact on future service delivery. In response, the Executive Member explained that the council may need to undertake a fundamental review of how services are delivered. Due to the unprecedented financial challenges in local government, it would not be sufficient to spread efficiency savings across services to minimise the impact of budget cuts. It would not be possible to continue to deliver services on the current basis without increased financial support from central government. The council would be prioritising frontline services for residents, but it was essential that services are joined-up and delivered as efficiently as possible.

·       Central government was aware of the significant financial challenges across the local government sector. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities was currently consulting on capitalisation plans, allowing councils to use capital receipts  ...  view the full minutes text for item 171.

Councillor Ward, Executive Member for Finance, Planning and Performance, introduced the report which summarised achievements and challenges in the Resources directorate over the past year.

The following main points were noted in the discussion:

·        The Executive member’s top priorities included (1) effective budget management, (2) ensuring that council staff were enabled to carry out their roles effectively, and (3) transforming how residents interact with the council through the Resident Experience Programme.

·        It was commented that the new approach to performance management had been successfully implemented. A staff survey would be issued in February allowing all staff to provide feedback on their experience of working for Islington Council.

·        A new structure had been implemented in Digital Services. This would allow the service to have a greater focus on supporting the organisation to transform the way it works, and also resulted in a decreased usage of contractors.

·        The Executive Member noted member feedback on the Member Enquiries system and commented that a centralised system was needed to support members in responding to residents.

·        Legal Services had experienced a fall in legal disrepair cases.

·        The Executive Member commented on the work of the Elections team in implementing Voter ID requirements ahead of the Mayoral and GLA elections in May.

·        Internal Audit’s work in reviewing the risks facing the council was particularly important in the current financial climate.

·        In response to a question on how the risks of implementing new IT systems were being managed, it was emphasised that the council needed robust IT systems and system upgrades needed to be supported through strong governance, rigorous testing, and well qualified staff.

·        A member asked how the council was working to educate residents on the changes to the voting system in London Mayoral and GLA elections. In  response, the Executive Member commented that this was a challenge, however the Elections Team would be well prepared for the election.

·        Following a query, officers summarised the work to ensure that local suppliers were paid within 10 working days. There had been a significant increase in performance over the previous year.

·        A member asked if it was possible to implement a target that within two or three years, 50% of the council’s senior staff were from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds. In response, it was advised that any targets would need to be carefully considered.

·        A member commented on the importance of member support and resourcing this to enable councillors to be effective in their role.

The Committee thanked Councillor Ward for his presentation.

RESOLVED:

That the Annual Report be noted.

Joanna Dawes, Corporate Performance Manager, introduced the report.

The following main points were noted during the discussion:

·        The Committee noted the proposal to change the Key Performance Indicator for council sickness absence from being under 7.5 days to being under the London Council’s Average (currently 9.27 days). The Committee was not comfortable with the proposed change, commenting that it was not aspirational and represented a high level of sickness absence. The member suggested that high levels of sickness can drive spend on agency workers, whereas services should have enough resilience to manage workloads without resorting to agency staff. In response, officers emphasised that the council did not accept high levels of sickness among staff; the current target was a contextual target set 5 years ago, based on the average number of sick days at the time. It was proposed to update the target to reflect current averages.

·        It was requested that the performance indicator targets be discussed with the Chair ahead of the new financial year.

·        A member noted the issue of vehicles not registering with the DVLA in order to avoid road fines, and queried if a new metric could be introduced to include the proportion of Penalty Charge Notices collected. Officers advised that this would be considered further.

RESOLVED:

That the Corporate Performance report for Quarter 2 2023-24 be noted.

·        Council forward plan

·        Scrutiny review tracker

·        Outstanding responses from previous meetings

·        Updates from committee chairs

·        Work programme

Noted.