Agenda and minutes

No apologies were received.

For transparency, Councillor Jenny Mulholland declared that she worked for an organisation that provided apprenticeships.

The Committee congratulated the Chair on the birth of his daughter.

No deputations were made.

There was no business that the Chair deemed urgent.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 30^th October 2018.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 30th

October 2018.

RESOLVED

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 30^thOctober 2018 be agreed and signed as an accurate record.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation.

Continued austerity coupled with rising cost pressures and disproportionate growth in demand for services mean that the Council is projecting a budget deficit of between £35m and £40m by 2021/22. This report presents an overview of the Council’s financial position.

It provides details on how we have developed our financial strategy to address the challenging medium-term financial outlook while ensuring that the Council’s limited resources are aligned to achieving the ambition for our borough, residents and communities as set out with Our Camden Plan.

The report sets out the decisions required to ensure the Council continues to operate on a sound financial footing over the medium-term. It sets out a range of proposals that aim to meet the forecasted financial deficit by 2021/22 and seeks a wide range of approvals and delegations to Chief Officers to allow proposals to be developed and delivered on time.

Many of the proposals will have a significant impact on the way services are delivered and consideration has been given as to which of these require an equalities impact assessment to ensure any changes do not unfairly impact on particular people, groups or communities without mitigating measures being put in place. For those proposals that require consultation and/or equality impact assessments to be considered, whilst the associated budget reductions are being decided now, the final decision on how or whether to implement those specific savings will be made at a later date through delegation to relevant Directors or through a further decision by Cabinet. There are also some proposals that are ready for immediate implementation. The decision sought for each proposal is set out in Appendix 1.

Consideration was given to the report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation. The report was introduced by Jon Rowney, Executive Director Corporate Services.

In response to a question from a member about if inflation on expenditure would be negated by inflation on income, the Director of Finance stated that inflation would be partially offset.

In reference to Page 26, Paragraph 2.4, a Member asked whether Camden were challenging Central Government about not factoring in population growth into the current funding model. Jon Rowney informed the committee that the formula had not been updated since 2013 and it was something that the Government was looking to update. The Director of Finance said that Camden were lobbying the Government to include population growth in the model.

When asked for reassurance that the 2021/2022 budget gap of around £10million would be mitigated, Jon Rowney responded that the aim was to address the medium term financial challenge whilst keeping in mind the long term and retaining a longer term financial footing. He said he was confident that the medium term budget would be balanced.

A Member asked that as there was uncertainty with funding streams instead of looking at specific figures should the approach be to look more broadly at the future budget. In response to this, Jon Rowney stated that certain elements of the projected funding gap within the strategy had already been confirmed.

The committee sought clarity on the Local Government Settlement in relation to setting of the budget. The Director of Finance informed the Members that, whilst initially a decision from Central Government was due on 6^th December 2018, it had been announced that the decision would be subject to and affected by Brexit. She added the Government had an obligation to release the decision a minimum of four weeks before the budget was set on 11^th March 2019.

In reference to Page 48 and the proposed total savings of Category B projects, a Member asked how confident the Council were that the projects would be delivered. Jon Rowney said that quality assurance had been carried out early on in the process of putting together the strategy. The Director of Finance further stated that the deliverability of timescales had been checked and, in order to minimise slippage, the figures put forward had been checked for their accuracy and robustness.

The committee asked about the categorisation of decisions and whether the amount of delegated decisions was standard. Jon Rowney responded that the categorisation of decisions had been decided using and in adherence to the constitutional guidelines on decision making.

A Member raised concern, in reference to Page 32, Paragraph 6.3, that Category A decisions would not require equalities consideration. Jon Rowney reassured the committee that equality impact assessments had been carried out to see if protected groups would be effected and that the projects would have been examined on an individual basis before delivery to consider potential effects on certain groups.

Concern was raised that the general  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation.

This report recommends a Council Tax Reduction Scheme for working age people for the year 2019/20 to help people on low incomes pay their Council Tax. This helps those furthest from the labour market into work.

It looks at how the Council Tax Reduction Scheme operated in 2018/19 and proposes to retain the same scheme for 2019/20 whilst a wider review of the scheme is undertaken for a decision to be made during 2019 on the 2020/21 scheme due to the rollout of Universal Credit in Camden.

This report is coming to Cabinet because each financial year the Council must consider whether to maintain, revise or replace its scheme.

Consideration was given to the report of the Cabinet Member for Finance and transformation. The report, that recommends a Council Tax Reduction Scheme for working age people for the year 2019/20 to help people on low incomes pay their Council Tax, was introduced by Alan Porter, Head of Benefits.

RESOLVED

THAT the report be noted.

Report of the Director of Regeneration and Planning and the Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development.

This report provides an update on the apprenticeship delivery arrangements in Camden. This includes Apprenticeship 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 Regeneration and Planning and the Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development. The report was introduced by Mark Booth, Employment Services Delivery Manager and Sheila Kerins, OD and L&D Principal Officer.

Members raised that the figures in the report did not provide full detail. The Employment Services Delivery Manager stated that they had been conscious of overloading the report with statistic but would provide more in depth figures to the Committee.

ACTION: Mark Booth, Employment Services Delivery Manager.

In reference to Page 213, Paragraph 5.1 a Member asked if the unions were involved with the pay review and whether Camden could pay apprentices the London Living Wage. Jon Rowney responded that apprentices are paid the full amount when the point is reached that they are carry out the full job role, on full terms and conditions.

The Employment Services Delivery Manager said he would take the question of union involvement in the annual pay review of apprentices to HR for a response.

ACTION: Mark Booth, Employment Services Delivery Manager.

RESOLVED

THAT the report be noted.

Report of Executive Director Corporate Services.

This report covers the performance of the central services against the outcomes of the Camden Plan for Quarter 2 2018/19 (July to Sept 2018).

Consideration was given to the report of Executive Director, Corporate Services. Whilst introducing the report Jon Rowney told the Committee that his team were working on a new format for the report to change in the New Year. He agreed to let Members see the new format before it is decided.

A Member raised concern that the staff turnover seemed quite high. In response Jon Rowney said he would pick the issue up with HR and provide Members with an update.

ACTION: Jon Rowney, Executive Director Corporate Services

RESOLVED

THAT the report be noted.

Report of the Executive Director Corporate Services.

This paper provides an outline of the 2018/19 work programme.

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

It was agreed that there would be a discussion about the proposal of a panel to look at the Community Investment Programme (CIP) in the Work Programme item at the next meeting of the committee.

RESOLVED

That the Work Programme be noted.

There was no business that the Chair deemed urgent.