Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies.

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.

Consideration was given to the report of the Executive Directors of Supporting People, Supporting Communities and Corporate Services.

The report was introduced by the Executive Director Corporate Services.

Members welcomed the report, saying that it was helpful and in an accessible format.

In response to a Member question about the 1% decrease in agency workers and whether this was attributed to labour shortages, the Executive Director said that there were challenges around hiring within certain industries with technical knowledge. He commented that a decrease in agency staff is not itself a negative, Camden were looking at reducing dependence on agency staff.

Concerned with the recent spike in positive COVID-19 cases, a Member asked whether Camden were replenishing stock of COVID-19 tests for staff. The Executive Director said that he would need to come back with a confirmed answer but tests were available for frontline staff.

Action by: the Executive Director Corporate Services

Replying to a question about the purchasing of energy requirements, the Executive Director said Camden were unable to purchase energy requirements all at once and would bring the committee longer briefing after engaging with energy procurement consultants.

Action by: the Executive Director Corporate Services

A member asked a question in relation to the strategy around leisure facilities, the Executive Director said that leisure facilities sits within the remit of the Executive Director Supporting Communities so he would go to them to provide an update.

Action by: the Executive Director Corporate Services and the Executive Director Supporting Communities

Members were interested in the progress and performance of the new casework management system. The Executive Director informed the Committee that more in depth information would be brought to them with the Annual Complaints Report. Members asked if the Complaints Report could include a breakdown of the nature of complaints.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.

Report of Cabinet Member for Finance and Cost of Living.

This report provides an update on:

·       The ongoing impact of Covid on the Borough including the impact on the local tax base

·       Our response to the cost of living emergency

·       Supporting the refugee crisis

·       An update on the ‘Fair Funding’ Review

·       The Council’s Medium Term Financial Forecast and the progress in developing a new Medium Term Financial Strategy

·       2021/22 Revenue outturn and allocation of reserves

·       2021/22 Capital outturn and updated capital programme

·       The finances of the Housing Revenue Account including the expected medium term budget gap

Consideration was given to the report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Cost of Living.

The Report was introduced by the Head of Finance, Corporate Services.

In response to key Member questions the Executive Director Corporate Services and Head of Finance, Corporate Services made the following comments:

·       The Census was taken at the height of COVID-19, Camden were querying the figures but it was difficult to know the impact any discrepancy would have on future funding. The Executive Director went on to explain that the Office of National Statistics (ONS) would use the Census data as baseline population figures, Camden would need to decide whether it was happy with the figures themselves and work with the ONS to build on those projections to ensure that the figures used by them were the most up to date and reliable.

·       A greater understanding of the funding deficit faced by Camden would begin to emerge between October and November, however, the full picture would take a number of years to become clear.

·       The Cabinet Member for Finance and Cost of Living commented that, for Local Authorities, the financial future was uncertain and it was necessary to prepare for the worst.

·       The legal fees for the Chalcots settlement had been factored in to the figures in the report, the settlement itself would be included in the figures for the next quarter.

·       Members asked if they could be given information on high, low and medium financial forecasts in more granularity.

Action by: the Head of Finance, Corporate Services

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.

This report sets out the context of the cost of living crisis in Camden and how the Council will work with residents and partner organisations to ensure residents can access the help and support they need to respond through short, medium and long term actions.  It will be critical to mobilise resources across the full range of partnerships and networks across the borough to respond, balancing immediate actions that can be taken at a local level with work to address structural and systemic issues which mean families, individuals and communities are vulnerable to external economic shocks. These solutions will need to be co-designed with our communities but will often require changes in national policy.

The report is coming to the Cabinet because it is proposed that a Cabinet led response group is set up to lead the work. Cabinet is also asked to agree the establishment and criteria for a new £2m Cost of Living Crisis Fund, the funding for which was agreed as part of the budget setting for 2022/23

Consideration was given to the report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Cost of Living who introduced the report.

Members agreed that it would be important to include Housing Associations in future conversations about the crisis fund, to ensure those in need were not left out of the scheme. The Director of Customer Services said it was important to hold Housing Associations to account in these conversations, where many were large organisations, it was important that they had a support offer to their residents. Members commented that it would be helpful for Housing Scrutiny to look at what support was being offered to those that were not Council tenants.

A Member requested that, when it became available, data that was broken down into the new ward boundaries would be helpful. They also suggested that having the data given as the percentage of population would be helpful.

In response to a question from the Committee regarding the £2 million figure the Council had decided on for the crisis fund, the Cabinet Member said that the figure was what decided Camden could best afford. This would unfortunately mean that demand would outweigh resources and claims could not be guaranteed.

Members were interested in how data was used to identify themes of financial vulnerability. The Director of Customer Services said that Camden used existing data sets to identify those in need, she commented that the data shared by the Department for Work and Pensions was not substantial enough to identify those requiring support and extrapolate themes.

Members agreed it was important to understand the full picture of someone’s poverty and welcomed the information from the Director of Customer Services that the crisis fund grants would be offered in the context of wider conversations with individuals about their financial health and resilience.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.

Report of the Executive Director Corporate Services.

This paper provides an outline of the Resources and Corporate Performance Scrutiny Committee’s terms of reference, the reports officers expect may come to the Committee in during the municipal year 2022/23 and suggest some broad areas the Committee may want to consider in its work programme. This is to support the Committee to have a discussion regarding its work programme at its first meeting in July 2022.

Consideration was given to the report of the Executive Director Corporate Services.

Members asked that the following be added to the work programme:

·       Communicating with diverse communities and changes to Council contact systems.

·       The Cabinet Member response to the Community Investment Programme Scrutiny Panel.

·       An update on the Camden Green Bond.

Members asked if the Chalcots settlement would be able to come to the Committee. They recognised it might be challenging due to the legal sensitivity of the settlement. The Executive director Corporate Services questioned whether this would be a topic that fell withing the remit of the Resources and Corporate Performance Committee. He said he would need to consult the Borough Solicitor for a legal response.

A Member asked if the performance of strategic partners and partnerships could be quantified more in reports so the success of them could be gauged.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.

There was no such business.