Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received for Cllrs Jenny Mulholland and James Slater.

No declarations were made.

To note the Resources and Corporate Performance Scrutiny Committee terms of reference:

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Resources and Corporate Performance Scrutiny Committee

1. To scrutinise the strategic and corporate policies and performance of the Council.

2. To assist the Cabinet in the development of the Council’s annual budget (capital and revenue) and to review and scrutinise the Council’s performance in relation to overall budgetary management.

3. To scrutinise the provision, planning, financing, management and performance of the Corporate Services Directorate (excluding parking operations), and any other Council functions not otherwise addressed by any other Scrutiny Committee.

RESOLVED –

THAT the Terms of Reference be noted.

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.’

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.

Requests to speak at the Committee on a matter within its terms of reference must be made in writing to the clerk named on the front of this agenda by 5pm two working days before the meeting.

There were no deputations.

There was no such business.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meetings held on 22 January 2024 and 27 February 2024.

RESOLVED –

THAT the minutes of the meetings of 22 January 2024 and 27 February 2024 be agreed.

Report of the Borough Solicitor.

The Housing Ombudsman requires all Landlords to produce a report annually. The report must contain the following key elements:

•                  Annual self-assessment

•                  Analysis of Housing complaints performance

•                  Any findings of non-compliance

•                  Service Improvements made

•                  Housing Ombudsman Annual Report on the Landlord

•                  Any other relevant reports.

It is a requirement to present this report to the relevant governing bodies and to publish the governing bodies’ response alongside the report and self-assessment.

In Camden the governing bodies have been agreed as the RCP Scrutiny Committee and Housing Scrutiny Committee. This is the first report following the new requirements and has been developed in an accessible and easy to understand format. Members are an important source of insight and intelligence on concerns raised by residents and communities.

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Solicitor. The report was introduced by the Service Manager – Information Governance and the Head of Property Customer Services and Engagement.

In their discussion of the report, the Committee made the following comments:

Members asked about the process of the self-assessment and the form that it takes. The Service Manager explained that the Housing Ombudsman stated areas where Camden needed to be compliant. The Council then needed to provide evidence of compliance and reasons for non-compliance.

The Committee were interested in lessons that the organisation had learned from the process. The Service Manager said that the process had allowed the team to look at where blocks were happening in the system and identification of training and improvement needs.

The Head of Property Customer Servies and Engagement said that previously, complaints within the Neighbourhoods and Property Services teams, that would usually have several elements to it, would be handled across teams by multiple people. this would be evident in responses given to residents. Learning from the complaints and assessment had led to assigning complaints to an individual officer increasing the cohesiveness of responses given to residents.

Using our existing independent customer satisfaction provider, they are making outbound calls to follow up with every resident after their Stage 1 complaint. This was to seek feedback of residents’ experiences of the process, whether the response was timely and professional. The new process for following up with residents allowed for more organisational learning and was an indicator of Camden taking ownership and responsibility for the complaints process.

A Member commented that if an issue had reached the stage of a complaint, there had been a failing earlier in the system. They asked what assurance could be given that trends in complaints were being investigated and learnt from, to tackle issues before they reach a complaint stage. The Head of Property Customer Services and Engagement said that there was now a ‘lessons learned’ lead who would look at complaints, trends and improvements. They were keen to hear from residents as part of the process. The Head of Property Customer Services and Engagement spoke about the new Customer Oversight Panel, a resident led panel that had been created to hold officers to account.

A Committee Member raised the rate of maladministration of complaints being significantly higher than the national average. The Service Manager – Information Governance commented that as the numbers were very small, any change would come out higher as a percentage. He would look into the request from the Member as to whether publishing cases of maladministration when they occurred, rather than waiting for the annual report, could be an option.

Action by: the Service Manager – Information Governance

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Cost of Living.

This report provides an update on:

·       The Council’s new Medium Term Financial Strategy and the Council’s financial

·       resilience.

·       The finances of the Housing Revenue Account including an update on action being taken to manage the financial pressures on the account.

·       Our response to the cost-of-living emergency and recommended investments to support the delivery of the We Make Camden Missions.

·       2023/24 Revenue outturn and allocation of reserves

·       2023/24 Capital outturn and updated capital programme

·       An update on the Council’s Capital Investment Strategy

·       Recommended new Fees and Charges

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.

Members reflected on the previous government and funding given for the additional services and functions being expected from local authorities. The Cabinet Member commented that there were a lot of benefits from government devolving services, however, when this was not properly funded it added to the financial pressures on local authorities. The Cabinet Member said that the local government sector would be conveying the experiences of authorities through the Local Government Association (LGA) and London Councils. In time, suggestions could be made about how to improve systems, but this shouldn’t be expected to come with lots of funding.

A member of the Committee asked about the increase fixed penalty notice fines and why some fines were increased to the maximum allowable amount, whereas others were not. The Head of Finance said that these amounts would be under review and that the amount needed to be enough to act as a deterrent whilst not creating undue financial hardship for people. In response to a follow up question, the Head of Finance agreed to provide the Committee with information of the support available for those who received fixed penalty notices and could not afford to pay them.

Action by: the Head of Finance, Corporate Services

The Committee discussed local authority funding from central government and welcomed plans for multi-year funding settlements. They agreed that it would be helpful for central government to receive feedback of how challenging single-year funding settlements had been.

The Committee thanked the Finance Team for their continued hard work and success in managing Camden’s finances.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.

Report of Executive Directors of Adults and Health, Children and Learning, Supporting Communities and Corporate Services.

This report focusses on the year 2023-24 using a broad range of measures from each directorate and division across the organisation. In this report, Camden Directors have been asked to provide a narrative covering key areas of challenge, opportunity, and learning.

This report is divided into two main sections:

·       An overview of key themes: a summary which highlights key responses from directorates and highlights particular cross-cutting themes

·       A more detailed account of individual service responses across each of our three Directorates.

Appendix A contains the data dashboard with key measures and data for 2023-24 from services across the Council.

Consideration was given to the report of the Executive Directors of Adults and Health, Children and Learning, Supporting Communities and Corporate Services. The report was introduced by the Head of Corporate Strategy.

In their discussion of the report, the Committee spoke about the recent election. In response to questions that arose the Head of Corporate Strategy agreed to provide members with the actions taken to engage voters for the general election and the information given on how to vote. They also agreed to provide information to Members on the timescale of the canvass.

Action by: The Head of Corporate Strategy and Cabinet Office.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.

Report of the Executive Director Corporate Services.

This paper provides an outline of the 2023/24 work programme and provides an update on actions requested at previous meetings of the Committee in the Action Tracker

Consideration was given to the report of the Executive Director Corporate Services, the report was introduced by the Corporate Strategy Portfolio Lead.

The Committee, who were joined by the Directors of Corporate Strategy and Finance and the Chief Experience and Information Officer, discussed the work programme for the new municipal year and suggested reports they would like to have at future meetings.

Through their discussion the Committee identified the following areas of interest that they wanted programmed into the work of the Committee:

·       Equalities

·       Maximising income

·       The Missions approach

·       Apprenticeships

·       HR Annual report

·       Implications on Camden Council arising from the King’s Speech

·       An update on the data, communications and the Camden website

RESOLVED –

That the report be noted.

There was no such business.