Agenda and minutes

To agree the procedures for the operation of hybrid meetings.

RESOLVED –

THAT the procedures be agreed.

Apologies for absence were given from Councillors Thomas Gardiner and Jenny Mulholland.

Councillors Douglas Beattie and Paul Tomlinson attended as substitutes.

Broadcast of the meeting

The Chair to announce the following: ‘In addition to the rights by law that the public and press have to record this meeting, I would like to remind everyone that this meeting is being broadcast live by the Council to the Internet and can be viewed on our website for twelve months after the meeting. After that time, webcasts are archived and can be made available upon request.

If you have asked to address the meeting, you are deemed to be consenting to having your contributions recorded and broadcast, including video when switched on, and to the use of those sound recordings and images for webcasting and/or training purposes.’

Any other announcements

Broadcast of the meeting

The Chair announced that the meeting was being broadcast live by the Council to the Internet and could be viewed on the website for twelve months after the meeting. After that time, webcasts were archived and could be made available upon request. Those who had asked to address the meeting were deemed to be consenting to having their contributions recorded and broadcast and to the use of those sound recordings and images for webcasting and/or training purposes.

No declarations were made.

There was no such business.

The Chair announced that he had accepted a deputation request that had been received from the Camden Town District Management Committee and Somers Town Neighbourhood Forum. The written deputation had been circulated to Members ahead of the meeting as a supplementary agenda.

The Chair then asked Fran Heron, Camden Town District Management and Slaney Devlin, Somers Town Neighbourhood Forum to present their deputation.

This report outlines the findings of the Community Investment Programme (CIP) Scrutiny Panel and makes recommendations on the future management of the Programme.

As this is the report of a scrutiny panel it does not contain an assessment of the proposals from Council officers regarding their implications. This information will be provided in the response to any recommendations that are endorsed by the Scrutiny Committee. 

Consideration was given to the report of the Community Investment Programme (CIP) Scrutiny Panel. The Chair of the Panel introduced the report, in which he thanked officers and Panel Members, before opening the meeting up for questions and comments.

Some of the Members commented that they thought the Community Investment Programme needed to be more transparent, they spoke about their experiences with the programme and said there was a lack of clarity in some areas.

In response to a question from a Committee Member, the Chair of the Panel commented that some residents had engaged with the Panel.

A Member of the Panel commented that they wanted the report to be noted but not endorsed as they said that they could not agree to all the recommendations outlined in the report. The Member thought that the recommendations had not been consistently evidence based and was concerned that key resident groups had not been engaged.

The Chair of the Panel disagreed with this suggestion as he felt that necessary people had been engaged and that the recommendation of endorsing a scrutiny panel’s findings was standard.

It was agreed by majority to agree the recommendations as set out in the report and so it was

RESOLVED –

THAT Resources and Corporate Performance Scrutiny Committee endorse the recommendations of the CIP Scrutiny Panel, and asks the Cabinet Member for Investing in Communities, Culture and an Inclusive Economy to prepare a response to the agreed recommendations

Report of the Director of Economy, Regeneration and Investment and the Director of People and Inclusion

This report provides an update on the apprenticeship delivery arrangements in Camden. This includes apprenticeship delivery numbers, levy, policy reforms and the work being undertaken by the Council to develop apprenticeships for new and existing staff.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Economy, Regeneration and Investment and the Director of People and Inclusion. The report was introduced by the EmploymentServices Delivery Manager and the Organisation Development and Learning & Development Principal Officer.

Members were keen for Camden to work closely with schools to increase understanding of apprenticeships, the Employment Services Delivery Manager said that Camden understood that education was a key tool in raising the profile of apprenticeships. It was Camden’s ambition to start engaging school pupils earlier in the education system, and more work was needed with younger people, primary schools and parents.

In his answer to Member questions about why Camden’s apprenticeship figures were poor compared to other boroughs, the Employment Services Delivery Manager commented that performance had been impacted by vacancy factors as organisations were not looking to hire new staff. He also acknowledged funding and the number of Camden students who decide to do A-levels as contributing factors to the poor statistics but agreed that more work was needed to understand this.

The Committee were interested in diversity statistics that the Council had around apprenticeships, the Employment Services Delivery Manager said that he would share this data with the Committee but noted that data was not held around disability due it not being disclosed.

Action by: the Employment Services Delivery Manager

Members also commented and agreed that all reports that came to the Committee should include diversity statistics.

Action by: Senior Policy and Projects Officer

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted

Report of the Borough Solicitor

The purpose of this report is to provide, as requested by the Committee, an update on the Procurement function at Camden.

The report highlights how the Procurement team continues to provide a comprehensive service facilitating legally compliant and value for money purchasing while also supporting the delivery of Council wide polices such as the payment of the Real Living Wage, Medium Term Financial Strategy and working with small and medium size enterprises. It also provides an update on how the Procurement team have been maximising Social Value from contracts.

In addition, the report recognises the ongoing challenges facing the Council in procuring goods as the Country emerges from the pandemic and the ongoing impacts of Brexit, inflationary pressures and conflict in Europe.  

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Solicitor, who introduced the report.

Members of the Committee highlighted the importance of seeking and learning from good practice shown in other authorities. The Borough Solicitor agreed with this and said that whilst procurement in Camden was not perfect, the experience when working with other authorities had been that Camden sought more from the procurement process than others.

A Member was interested in how the Council ensured that contracts provided value for money, to this the Borough Solicitor explained that value for money was looked at more broadly. It was not necessarily which option would be the cheapest but would factor in other elements such as whole contract life cost and potential hidden costs.

In response to a question from the Committee around capturing data around social value agreed in contracts and the enforcement of it, the Borough Solicitor commented that there were two stages that data needed to be captured. Firstly there was data around what had been agreed in the contracts, the officer in charge of the contract would to make sure that the provider delivered on contract specifications. The second stage was receiving back and capturing the data of whether the agreed commitments had been fulfilled.

Members were interested in seeing the full scale of insourced services and so the Borough Solicitor agreed to provide the Committee with a comprehensive list of insourced services.

Action by: the Borough Solicitor

RESOLVED –

THAT the performance of Procurement in Camden be noted; and

THAT the progress on the areas that remain a focus for the remainder of 2022/23 and beyond be noted.

Report of the Executive Director Corporate Services.

This paper provides an outline of the 2021/22 work programme and provides an update on actions requested at previous meetings of the Committee.

RESOLVED –

THAT the work programme be noted.

There was no such business.