THE LONDON BOROUGH OF CAMDEN
At a meeting of the OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMISSION held on TUESDAY 14TH JUNE 2005 at 7.00 p.m. in Committee Room Two at the Town Hall, Judd Street, London WC1H 9JE.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Councillor Peter Brayshaw
Councillor John Bryant
Councillor Pat Callaghan
Councillor Sheila Gunn
Councillor Janet Guthrie (Chair)
Councillor Abdul Quadir
Councillor Piers Wauchope (Substitute Member)
MEMBERS ABSENT
Councillor Charlie Hedges
Councillor Andrew Mennear
Mr John Beric (Parent Governor)
Mr Ricky Drackett (Parent Governor)
OTHER MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE
Councillor Raj Chada (Executive Member for Housing)
Councillor John Mills (Executive Member for Resources)
The minutes should be read in conjunction with the agenda for the meeting.
1. APOLOGIES
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Hedges and Mennear and from Mr Beric.
It was noted that Councillor Piers Wauchope was in attendance as the substitute member for Councillor Mennear.
There were no other apologies.
2. DECLARATIONS BY MEMBERS OF PERSONAL OR PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS IN RESPECT OF ITEMS ON THIS AGENDA
3. DEPUTATIONS
The Commission heard three deputations in relation to agenda item 10 on the agenda, the Overview and Scrutiny Commission’s Work Programme. These were as follows:
- Ms Ani Brown requesting that a Scrutiny Panel be set up in relation to capital works.
- Ms Larraine Revah requesting that a Scrutiny Panel be set up in relation to housing consultation.
- Ms Petra Dando of the Camden Association of Street Properties (CASP) requesting that a Scrutiny Panel be set up in relation to street properties.
Supporting documentation provided by the deputees was circulated to those present. A copy is attached to these minutes.
At the conclusion of the presentations by the deputees, Members of the Commission asked them questions. The Chair then thanked those in attendance for their comments and advised that their points would be considered when the Commission came to discuss the relevant agenda item.
4. ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Chair announced that at the Council meeting held on 13th June 2005, Councillor Dawn Somper had been replaced as the substitute on the Commission by Councillor Martin Davies.
The Chair advised that agenda item 11, the Overview and Scrutiny Commission Annual Report, would be considered after agenda item 5, Notification of Any Items of Business That the Chair Decides to Take as Urgent, in order to allow Councillor John Mills, Executive Member for Resources, to be present for consideration of agenda item 6, Officer Response to Recommendations of the Budget Scrutiny Panel, which would be considered immediately afterwards.
The order of consideration of the other items of the agenda was unchanged.
There were no other announcements.
5. NOTIFICATION OF ANY ITEMS OF BUSINESS THAT THE CHAIR DECIDES TO TAKE AS URGENT
There were no such items.
6. BUDGET SCRUTINY PANEL: OFFICER RESPONSE TO RECOMMENDATIONS OF BUDGET SCRUTINY PANEL
Members considered a report by the Director of Finance.
Councillor John Mills, Executive Member for Resources, and Mr Peter Ingham, Acting Director of Finance, were in attendance for consideration of this item.
Councillor Mills briefly addressed the Commission on the proposals in the report of the Budget Scrutiny Panel and, whilst welcoming the main recommendations, stressed the need to ensure that any new arrangements agreed for setting the budget in the future did not slow the process or make it inflexible. Mr Ingham then gave a more detailed response based on the agenda report and explained why certain recommendations had not been accepted by officers.
Members then went on to discuss the importance of ensuring that any changes to the budget setting processes were introduced at the best possible time and noted that the imminent appointment of a new Director of Finance and the selection of a new Executive Member for Resources in the autumn were factors which needed to be taken into consideration.
Councillor Brayshaw welcomed the officer response in relation to the Scrutiny Panel report recommendations which had been adopted and commended the Acting Director of Finance’s position in relation to ensuring that there was shared understanding of the Council’s corporate finance arrangements.
Members then made the following comments:
- The proposal for quarterly meetings involving the Chair of the Panel, the Executive Member for Resources, the Director of Finance and the Assistant Chief Executive to discuss implementation of any of the recommendations was welcomed.
- The Commission expressed some concerns about the proposed timescales for the implementation of changes detailed in the officer response as it believed these were too slow and requested increased urgency. It also noted that in some cases commencement times for implementation had not been included and Members asked that this be rectified.
- Members also highlighted a few areas where they believed officers had misunderstood the Panel’s recommendations in writing their response and this had resulted in occasions when officers were proposing not to accept the recommendations (recommendations 19, 20 and 29). Members requested that the Executive ask officers to consider the response to the latter again.
The Commission agreed to reconvene the Budget Scrutiny Panel to:
· Feed into the quarterly meetings.
· Monitor progress on the Action Plan to be agreed by the Executive from the officer response.
· Assist the Commission in its work of scrutinising the 2006/07 budget.
· Look at the issues of how the Commission might scrutinise the budget in future.
It was agreed that the Scrutiny Panel should not meet too frequently and should report back to the Commission with its final report.
The Commission also agreed to send a reference to the Executive explaining its views and detailing the actions.
It was then
RESOLVED –
THAT, subject to the comments detailed above, the report be noted and that a reference be sent to the Executive explaining the Commission’s views and detailing the actions.
ACTION BY: Director of Law and Administration (TR)
7. HOUSING DEPARTMENT ANNUAL REPORT
Members considered a report by the Director of Housing. It was considered in conjunction with agenda item 8, Draft Housing Strategy 2005-2010 and with agenda item 9, Review of Camden’s Allocations Scheme 2005.
Members present were circulated with copies of the following documents: A document entitled “Annual Housing Report 2004/5: Appendix II: London Authorities Comparative Performance Information 2003/4” and a document entitled “Lettings”. Copies of these documents are attached to these minutes.
Councillor Raj Chada, Executive Member for Housing, introduced the report and then introduced Mr Neil Litherland, Director of Housing, who made further comments.
Members then asked questions of Councillor Chada and officers from the Housing Department and made the following points:
- There was concern about the progress on trying to secure capital funding and the implications for the Borough if this was not successful.
- Members noted that the Decent Homes Standard was not the only measure of the quality of Council housing and that it did not include some areas which were of concern to residents (e.g lift repairs).
- The Government’s proposals for funding council housing (ie becoming an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO), transferring stock to housing associations or using private finance initiative (PFI) funding) were not acceptable to the Council with the consequence that the Government was unlikely to be willing to help provide funding for the essential works in the Borough. In relation to this, Councillor Chada confirmed that the Council would continue to try to lobby the Government but accepted the position was not currently satisfactory.
- Members expressed concerns about generating unrealistic expectations and Councillor Chada advised that it was important to ensure that information was available so that people could identify how long they might have to wait for Council accommodation.
Members then discussed ways of relieving the pressure on Council accommodation by incentives for people to move out into the private sector via a range of different options which were suitable for different people.
Officers undertook to writeto Councillor Piers Wauchope with details of what the “SAP ratings” referred to on page 38 of the agenda related.
ACTION BY: Director of Housing (SR)
The Chair then thanked all officers for their time and recognised the vast improvements in the quality of the service for Camden residents.
It was then
RESOLVED –
That the report and the comments made on the draft Housing Strategy 2005-10 as detailed above be noted.
8. DRAFT HOUSING STRATEGY 2005-2010
Members considered a report of the Director of Housing. It was considered in conjunction with agenda iItem 7, Housing Department Annual Report, and with agenda item 9, Review of Camden’s Allocations Scheme 2005.
Councillor Raj Chada, Executive Member for Housing, was in attendance during consideration of this item.
After discussion, it was
RESOLVED –
THAT the report be noted, subject to comments made by Members (recorded above under agenda item 7, Housing Department Annual Report)
9. REVIEW OF CAMDEN’S ALLOCATION SCHEME 2005
Members considered a report by the Director of Housing. It was considered in conjunction with agenda item 7, Housing Department Annual Report, and with agenda item 8, Draft Housing Strategy 2005 - 2010.
Councillor Raj Chada, Executive Member for Housing, was in attendance during consideration of this item.
Members had a detailed discussion on the proposed new allocations policy which was scheduled to be presented to the Executive on 27th July 2005.
Members accepted that the scheme had been developed to remove perverse incentives in the current scheme (eg where the benefit in “waiting list points” encouraged families to break up, etc.) but had concerns about the relative point values being awarded to different groups and in particular in relation to people in Group D who were at grave risk if not moved. Officers explained that the new points system gave weightings in relation to the competition for different categories of properties and so should not produce inequitable results in practice. Nonetheless, they undertook to ensure that if any new perverse outcomes had been inadvertently created the point allocations would be amended again in the future.
Members noted that there had been an equalities impact assessment on the proposed scheme but requested that the new housing allocation scheme should be presented to the Commission in a more finalised form before it was considered by the Executive.
ACTION BY: Director of Housing (MS)
It was
RESOLVED –
(i) THAT the review of the current Allocations Scheme be noted; and
(ii) THAT the proposed revised scheme be presented to the Commission in a more finalised form before it is considered by the Executive.
ACTION BY: Director of Housing (MS)
10. OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMISSION’S WORK PROGRAMME
Members considered a report of the Chief Executive.
It was noted that all Scrutiny Panels would need to be completed before the Council Election of May 2006.
Members had a discussion on the creation of new scrutiny panels.
Members agreed that there should be a scrutiny panel on Housing Consultation which should also consider the involvement of Council residents in street properties and consultation on capital funding for Council properties as follows:
- The terms of reference and membership to be agreed in Summer.
- The substantive work of the panel to commence in September.
- The Terms of Reference of the Panel to encompass consultation with street properties tenants and leaseholders and consultation on capital programme matters.
- The panel to tackle its subject in two stages:
Ø The first stage to finish before the municipal elections and to focus on the scope, principles and aims of housing consultation to increase clarity in these areas and particularly the distinctions between information, consultation and participation.
Ø The second stage to commence after the municipal elections and to look at the mechanisms for consultation.
Councillor Gunn and Councillor Bryant expressed support for a short scrutiny panel to be created to consider secondary school places in Camden, and it was agreed that the Commission in September would consider the possibility of creating a short life panel on this matter - with the expectation that any such panel would not commence before October.
Members then considered which items from the list of possible scrutiny panels identified in the report should be removed and decided on the following:
· NHS Hospital Waiting Lists
Members requested a briefing document on fair trade issues in lieu of a panel.
ACTION BY: Assistant Chief Executive (TY)
It was agreed that the proposed scrutiny panels on training and employment opportunities for disabled people and access to services by disabled people should be reinvestigated to see if there was a continued need for them.
ACTION BY: Assistant Chief Executive (TY)
Members then thanked officers for the work they had done in preparing the report.
It was then
RESOLVED –
i) THAT a new scrutiny panel on Housing Consultation as detailed above be agreed;
ii) THAT the list of possible future scrutiny panels be adjusted as detailed above.
ACTION BY: Assistant Chief Executive (TY)
11. OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMISSION ANNUAL REPORT
Members considered a report by the Chief Executive.
Councillor Bryant noted that, in relation to Health Scrutiny on page 212 of the report, there was no reference to the reporting of the Suicide Prevention Scrutiny Panel. Officers undertook to ensure that there was a cross reference to this rather than a duplication of information in the report.
ACTION BY: Assistant Chief Executive (TY)
Councillor Brayshaw stated that in a recent consultants’ investigation on central services within Camden, it had been noted that Camden’s approach to scrutiny was resource intensive. However, he highlighted that this was a deliberate policy position by the Council and it was agreed that the Chair should mention this in her foreword.
ACTION BY: Assistant Chief Executive (TY)/
Councillor Janet Guthrie
ACTION BY: Assistant Chief Executive (TY)
Tim Young, Scrutiny Manager, asked Members to provide him with any further comments on the report by Monday, 20th June 2005.
ACTION BY: Assistant Chief Executive (TY)
ACTION BY: Assistant Chief Executive (TY)
14. ANY OTHER BUSINESS THAT THE CHAIR CONSIDERS URGENT
(Subsequently to the meeting, it was agreed by the Chair that this report would be presented to the Commission later in the year).
The meeting ended at 10.00 p.m.
CHAIR
Contact Officer: Thomas Ribbits, Team Leader, Committee Services
Telephone No: 020 7974 1915
Email: Thomas.ribbits@camden.gov.uk
File: S:DemServ/ComServ/O&SCommission/Minutes/2005/050614 MINUTES END
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