LONDON BOROUGH OF CAMDEN
At a meeting of the HOUSING AND ADULT SOCIAL CARE SCRUTINY COMMITTEE held on TUESDAY 22nd JULY 2008 at 7.00 p.m. in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Judd Street, London, WC1H 9JE.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Councillor Chris Philp (Chair)
Councillor Penny Abraham - substituting for Councillor Hai
Councillor Frederic Carver
Councillor Jill Fraser
Councillor Arthur Graves
Councillor Syed Hoque
Councillor Roger Robinson
Councillor Keith Sedgewick
MEMBER ABSENT
Councillor Abdul Hai
ALSO PRESENT
Councillor Chris Naylor, Executive Member for Homes and Housing Strategy
Councillor Martin Davies, Executive Member for Adult Social Care & Health Councillor James King, Executive Member for Community Safety and Housing Services
The minutes should be read in conjunction with the agenda for the meeting.
1. APOLOGIES
An apology for absence was received on behalf of Councillor Hai.
2. DECLARATIONS BY MEMBERS OF PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS IN RESPECT OF ITEMS ON THIS AGENDA
There was none.
3. DEPUTATIONS
Camden Street Properties and Camden's Leaseholders Improvement Plan
The Committee received a deputation introduced by Petra Dando on behalf of Camden Association of Street Properties (attached at Appendix A), urging the inclusion of the views and concerns of Camden leaseholders in the Leaseholders Improvement Plan. In doing so, Ms Dando made reference to what she considered hugely inflated leaseholder capital works service charges, unaccountable contractors, unacceptable standards of work and the need for an in-house clerk of works.
A Member asked why it was thought that the clerk of works should be in-house, as it was the quality and stringency of checks that was the real issue.
Ms Dando replied that the leaseholders believed that only by being in-house would a clerk of works be able to represent the interests of residents and Camden fully.
Another Member endorsed this point, adding that Camden should stop relying on contractors altogether and use its own workforce, thereby facilitating a higher level of supervision and control.
The Committee generally supported the views expressed by the deputee and was of the view that there was a serious problem in Camden with regard to capital works and repairs.
The Chair thanked Ms Dando for her presentation indicating that her comments would be taken into account during consideration of the Leaseholders Improvement Plan item that appeared later in the agenda.
RESOLVED: THAT the deputation be received.
4. ANNOUNCEMENTS
There was none.
5. NOTIFICATION OF ANY ITEMS OF BUSINESS THAT THE CHAIR DECIDES TO TAKE AS URGENT
There was no urgent business.
6. MINUTES
The Committee considered the minutes of the meeting held on 27thth May 2008
RESOLVED: THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 27th May 2008 be approved and signed by the Chair.
Matters Arising
Councillor Robinson commented that a report on repairs had been promised for the July 2008 meeting. He added that he had already asked twice for a report on this subject and wanted an assurance that it would be an agenda item for the September meeting.
Karen Swift gave that assurance.
Action by: Karen Swift
7. HOUSING CAPITAL WORKS, EVIDENCE FROM RESIDENTS OF WHITTINGTON ESTATE
Consideration was given to written submissions by P.A. Gold and A. McNamara in relation to external repair works carried out on the Whittington Estate, N19.
The written submissions were introduced by Paul Gold who explained that they set out a number of concerns with the capital works on the estate. He described the estate as a ‘bombsite’ during the works and said that although works had been ongoing for over two and a half years, he was not aware of a completion date for them. He described a number of concerns with the quality of the works that had been completed. In relation to Resident Liaison Officers, he suggested that these should be employed by the Council rather than the contractor as was currently the case.
Referring to the concerns raised about Health and Safety, he produced a block of concrete alleging that it had recently fallen onto his sister’s balcony while workmen were drilling above to inject a drainage system, narrowly missing her.
A petition indicating what some of the petitioners claimed were problems with works on the Whittington Estate was also presented by Mr. Gold’s sister, Lydia Gold.
A Member noted the link to matters raised in the deputation presented earlier, and suggested that there were concerns across Camden regarding the adequacy of checks to ensure that work was proceeding in the right way and whether Health and Safety considerations were fully engaged. He was not convinced that this needed to be done in-house and thought that part of the problem was that the contracts were insufficiently stringent.
Another Member wondered if there were sufficient checks being carried out to ascertain how good contractors actually were. He referred to his own ward commenting that there were at least eight estates there where similar problems had occurred. He considered that leaseholders were not getting value for money. In his view the solution was for the Council to have its own well-trained force of workmen.
A contributor to the debate from the floor said that as a leaseholder she had received a bill for £20,000. She added that in her opinion the work was poor, it was difficult to get work signed off, there were so many private contractors and there seemed to be no one ultimately responsible whom she could approach.
Another contributor from the floor believed that the problem lay in the lack of a proper business model and that levying financial penalties for poor performance was the best solution.
A Member asked the Executive Member for Homes and Housing Strategy what he had done to prevent this sort of thing from happening.
Councillor Naylor accepted that there were serious outstanding problems but commented that these were a result of contracts let by the previous administration. He added that as a consequence of the system at that time and the way contracts were then written, it was difficult to penalise contractors who did not meet acceptable standards. A new way of doing things was being introduced to overcome this which encompassed more appropriate monitoring, quality checks and sign-off arrangements, with an element of the payment depending on customer satisfaction. He added that the new approach would place emphasis on officers going to estates to talk to residents. He assured the Committee that Health and Safety was regarded as a critical issue and that increased resources had been devoted to this. He explained that on a personal level he had visited estates to see the situation for himself, had spoken to residents and made a number of interventions. He concluded by pointing out that it was not all bad news. There would be no extra charges forthcoming for residents in respect of the Whittington Estate, there had been excellent communications with residents by contractors on the Ampthill Estate following a cracked gas main and that some 80% of urgent repairs were now being completed within government timescales.
The Chair asked that a note be sent to Members, at least two weeks before the next meeting, detailing what works were outstanding on the Whittington Estate, when they would be completed and the results of any recent customer satisfaction surveys. Philip Colligan indicated that he could answer the first two points, adding that the works had been completed and were now in a defects stage that lasted for one year.
Action by: Philip Colligan
The Committee concluded that there was an ongoing problem with capital works and repairs generally and urged the Executive Member for Homes and Housing strategy to implement the new arrangements he had outlined without delay.
Action by: Councillor Naylor
RESOLVED: THAT the submissions and petition be received.
8. YOUTH VIOLENT CRIME – DEBATE
Consideration was given to oral evidence on youth issues affecting the Somali Community from Abdulkadir Ahmed, a Youth Worker from the Somali Youth Development Resource Centre, and Mohammad Hassan, Director of the Somali Development Trust.
Mr Ahmed, began by explaining that many young Somalis were demoralised by lack of job opportunities and negative portrayals of them and he outlined the work the Somali Youth Development Resource Centre was doing to counteract this, albeit with limited resources. He explained that a youth engagement team had been set up to visit young Somalis, targeting those who were considered most vulnerable. The Centre provided an outreach worker, ran twice weekly football sessions and youth club sessions twice weekly. Work was being carried out with other ethnic groups to promote racial and cultural harmony and this appeared to be having some success, with Somalis often in the minority at the youth club sessions. The Centre was also trying to arrange visits to young Somalis at Feltham Young Offender and Remand Centre. There was much more they would like to do if they were better resourced.
Mr Hassan also reflected on the lack of resourcing. He commented that it had taken a long time to reach the current situation, which had been building for many years and should have been stopped when the first warning signs became apparent. He explained that when Somalis began arriving in this country from war torn areas many were already traumatised, whereupon they then faced many barriers with most local authorities at that time not having appropriate policies to deal with this. In many instances family breakdown subsequently occurred and was still occurring with young men no longer listening to their fathers. Many youths were leaving school without qualifications with life offered them little prospects. Children born in the UK could not even access the training available to asylum seekers. The result was a poor, dislocated community with its youth vulnerable to being preyed upon by criminal elements who were offering drugs to children as young as ten, for them to sell. He thought that more partnership working was required, with parents being involved and given the confidence to talk about children who were involved in crime. He also believed that more training and opportunities were desperately needed.
Consideration was also given to a tabled paper from Tony Brooks, Assistant Director, Community Safety, explaining how Camden was responding to Youth Violence and Disorder (attached at Appendix ‘B’).
Superintendent Clout then commented that it was important to view youth crime in perspective, as it was only a small proportion of individuals committing a disproportionate amount of crime. He indicated that he had only been in post for some six months but had been impressed with the positive impact being made by the high degree of partnership working, the range of enforcement activity and youth intervention projects, and the support offered to victims of crime. He added that as a consequence Camden was not suffering from the problems that were occurring in neighbouring boroughs and other comparable areas of London.
Paul Morris added that the sound strategy adopted in Camden had led to a position of some stability. In the final analysis it had produced an overt manner of policing with a line drawn on tolerance.
Councillor King, Executive Member for Community Safety and Housing Services, commented that there needed to be robust enforcement where a minority of young people were blighting the lives of others. Much of the enforcement was intelligence led with knowledge built up about young people engaged in gangs. He said that discussions were needed on how resources were used for Youth Services, particularly in relation to services aimed at youth in the post school period.
In response to questions Mr Ahmed and Mr Hassan commented that in their respective opinions:
· Dispersal notices did not work but simply shifted the problem elsewhere.
· The Chewing of Khat leaves was not seen as a significant problem in Somalia, but when its use in the UK was combined with unemployment and other social problems it became dangerous.
· Working with families would help prevent family breakdown.
The Chair thanked Mr Ahmed and Mr Hassan for their attendance and informative contributions.
In response to a Member’s question on why the Safer Neighbourhood Teams did not work at night, Superintendent Clout commented that the Safer Neighbourhood Teams had been a success. Peak demand for them was during the day although there was operational flexibility, which was intelligence based, and hours were extended to night duties for specific operations. He went on to explain that Safer Neighbourhood Team members had volunteered to be in the teams and some excellent staff had been recruited. However, he thought that the teams might be difficult to recruit to if work/life balance became an issue.
In the ensuing debate individual Members made the following suggestions:
· A Boroughwide apprenticeship scheme should be introduced.
· There should be Youth Councillor involvement in Safer Neighbourhood Teams and this Committee.
· Young people should be encouraged to learn new skills and to become involved in the regeneration of the Borough.
· Money needed to be directed more effectively to youth services.
· Youth services should be targeted to areas experiencing high levels of anti-social behaviour.
· A database of young people’s postal addresses was required.
· ASBO recipients should be identified.
· Greater efforts should be made to keep families together.
· The adequacy of youth funding needed to be considered.
· There should be more training opportunities for young people and more help to enable them to secure employment.
· Khat chewing should be discouraged.
· Licensees who sell to underage drinkers should face stiff penalties, including revocation of their licence.
· The Safer Neighbourhood Teams should be available more at night.
· The activities available to young people in the Borough need to be better publicised.
· Intervention was required at an early stage.
The Chair indicated that he would email relevant officers and Executive Members with the foregoing 15 suggestions made by Committee Members and invite responses.
Action by Chair/All to note
RESOLVED: THAT the evidence submitted be received
9. LOCAL POLICE PERFORMANCE – ANNUAL VISIT FROM BOROUGH COMMANDER
The Committee considered a presentation made by Chief Superintendent Dominic Clout on behalf of the Borough Commander (attached at Appendix ‘C’). In commenting on the figures Chief Superintendent Clout indicated that Camden was seen as a performing borough in terms its policing.
Richard Sumray, the Metropolitan Police Association representative, commented that over the last five years Camden’s performance had been very good. Work with the Community Safety Partnership had also been very good. He added that crime had reduced despite what the media said. Various initiatives had reduced street robbery for example. He considered that people should feel safer, but because of negative publicity they did not. He explained that new Home Office measurements would be looking at perception.
In response to questions by Members, Chief Superintendent Clout and Richard Sumray commented.
· That the detection rate for violent assault had improved so dramatically because Home Office definitions had changed. The frequency of these definition changes often made it difficult to compare figures year on year.
· There were no targets shown for gun crime and knife crime because, again, the definitions had been changed.
· Operation Blunt was not simply about stop and search but comprised many other activities around the operation. It would be intrusive locally and an impact would be seen. The Police were determined not to allow a small minority to disrupt the summer vacation.
· British Crime Survey Figures were not available by borough.
· The Police had no discretion in relation to the allocation of Safer Neighbourhood resources, which were ringfenced, although there was discretion in relation to the use of other officers who could be directed to crime hotspots.
· No decisions had been taken in regard to the closure of local Police stations. Consultation so far had been based on the asset rather than policing and part of the problem was that the way police teams function was not properly understood outside the Force. There would be a review at the end of the consultation when new proposals based on policing needs would emerge, followed by a further round of consultations. If closures were considered necessary they would not take place before alternatives were opened.
· Current levels of bureaucracy were keeping officers ‘chained’ to their desks and the Police were looking forward to the forthcoming Green Paper that aimed to tackle this.
In response to a Member’s question, Mr Brooks indicated that the £160m available through the Myplace project was aimed at Youth and Community Centres nationally, not just in London.
The Committee congratulated the Chief Superintendent and his predecessor on the reduction in levels of crime and disorder in Camden indicated by the figures.
RESOLVED: THAT the presentation be received
10. LEASEHOLDERS IMPROVEMENT PLAN
The Committee considered the report of the Director of Housing and Adult Social Care introduced by Stephen Platt. He explained that following the leaseholders conference seven areas of priority had been identified as set out in paragraph 3.3 of the report.
Councillor King, Executive Member for Community Safety and Housing Services, commented that there was room for improvement in delivering high quality, good value, services to leaseholders and he had ensured that developments on this initiative were being reported to Scrutiny at an early stage.
The Committee agreed with the seven objectives but wondered how they would be delivered and what new structures would be necessary.
A contribution from the floor from a leaseholder welcomed the report and hoped that residents would be sufficiently involved in further development of the Plan.
A Member suggested that the report should have drawn a distinction between leaseholders who sub-let their properties and leaseholders who lived in their properties.
RESOLVED: THAT the principles and objectives set out in the report be welcomed and the proposed specifics of how these would be delivered be reported to the Committee as soon as they were available.
Action by: Stephen Platt.
11. HASC PERFORMANCE MONITORING REPORT
13. FORWARD PLAN
The Committee considered the 84th edition of the Forward Plan as part of its discussion relating to item 14 ‘Work Programme’.
The Chair indicated that he had looked through the Plan and had no comments but, in view of time constraints, if any Member did, they should email him.
All to note.
14. WORK PROGRAMME 2008/09 – AN UPDATE
A Member commented that as housing repairs would be a major issue for discussion at the September 2008 meeting the remaining agenda items should be kept to manageable number.
Action by: Chair/Karen Swift/ Gianni Franchi
Another Member commented that he had repeatedly asked for an item on the control of dogs on estates to be considered at the earliest opportunity and he wished to see this feature as an agenda item at the September 2008 meeting.
Action by: Chair/Karen Swift/Gianni Franchi
RESOLVED: THAT the report be noted.
15. QUESTIONS TO HOUSING, ADULT SOCIAL CARE AND COMMUNITY SAFETY EXECUTIVE MEMBERS
There was none.
16. REPORT BACK FROM HOUSING DISTRICT MANAGEMENT COMMITTEES (DMCs) AND LIAISON GROUPS
There was none.
17. DATES OF FUTURE MEETINGS
It was noted that the future meetings of the scrutiny committee would be held on the following dates:
Tuesday, 9th September 2008
Tuesday, 14th October 2008
Tuesday 9th December 2008
Tuesday 27th January 2009
Tuesday 24th February 2009
18. ANY OTHER BUSINESS THAT THE CHAIR CONSIDERS URGENT
There was none.
The meeting finished at 9.59 p.m.
Chair
Contact Officer: Peter Blake
Telephone No: 020 7974 5240
E-Mail: peter.c.blake@camden.gov.uk
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