Agenda and minutes

To elect a Chair for the meeting.

The committee agreed that Councillor Meric Apak be elected Chair.

RESOLVED:

THAT Councillor Meric Apak be elected Chair of the Committee for the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor John Bryant, Chair of the Health Scrutiny Committee. It was reported that Councillor Keith Moffitt, would act on his behalf at this meeting though he could not have a formal vote as he was not a scrutiny committee chair.

Apologies for lateness were also received from Councillor Awale Olad, Chair of the Culture and Environment Scrutiny Committee.

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To discuss the Leader’s Annual Statement to the Council and other relevant cross-cutting matters arising from the business of the Cabinet.

RESOLVED:

THAT the terms of reference of the Joint Chairs of Scrutiny Committee be noted.

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 23 July 1012.

RESOLVED:

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 23^rd July 2012 be agreed.

Report of the Leader of the Council.

To consider the Leader of the Council’s Annual Statement to Full Council on Monday 24 June 2013. 

Consideration was given to the Annual Leader’s statement, as considered at the full Council meeting on 24^th June 2013.

The Leader and Deputy Leader gave the following responses to Members questions;

Housing and Adult Social Care

Voids – the Leader felt that the 19 week turnaround time for brining voids back into use was far too long, and she was looking to see improvements in the turnaround time in the near future.

Repairs Service – the Leader was looking to see the continued good work arising from the Right-First-Time (RFT) initiative to drive through service improvements. A review was currently being undertaken of the RFT programme to see if further savings could be made through the Repairs Service budget.

Allocations – the Leader informed the meeting that the Community Investment Programme was providing the authority with an opportunity to ensure that areas of the borough were being regenerated. These regeneration schemes would ensure that there were mixed communities with different types of housing tenure. These schemes would also go some way towards dealing with the housing shortfall in the borough. The authority would soon be undertaking a consultation programme regarding the outcome of the review of the Council’s allocations scheme. This would give local people an opportunity to give their views on the proposed new allocations scheme.

Housing Management Costs – the Leader informed the meeting that it was important to recognise that private rented sector management costs tended to be much higher than those of a local authority. She did though, understand leaseholders concerns about the cost of their bills and she was aware that the leaseholder services were seeking to improve service provision. As part of this process the officers in the service were seeking to ensure that in future leaseholder service charge bills that are sent out are timely, accurate, in plain English and did not seem unreasonable. Historically the authority had not been always able to meet this expectation. She felt that the authority had always sought to try and treat tenants and leaseholders equally fairly, though as the borough had many more tenants than leaseholders this may have given the impression that one side was being treated more favourably than the other.

Children, Schools and Families

Universal Childcare provision – the Leader recognised the importance that this provision provided for both parents and the children themselves. With regards to the continuation of funding for any Council Service then no guarantees could be given. The Council was facing further huge financial challenges with the Government requiring local authorities to face a single year budget reduction of 10% in 2015/16. This would require the Council to find an additional £58M on top of the £85M it had been previously required to save.

Request for Secondary School in NW6 – the Leader informed the meeting that there was no commitment to supporting the establishment of a new secondary school in the NW6 area. The area was currently well served by the popular UCL Academy, Hampstead and across  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

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