Agenda and minutes

To elect a Chair for the duration of the meeting.

It was moved, seconded and agreed that Councillor Alison Kelly be elected chair for the meeting.

RESOLVED –

THAT Councillor Alison Kelly be elected chair for the meeting.

Apologies were received from Councillor Don Williams.

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Joint Chairs of Scrutiny Committee – Terms of Reference

1.         To consider the Leader’s Annual Statement to Council at a meeting held shortly after the Statement is given (with the Leader’s Annual Statement being usually delivered at the first Council meeting after the annual meeting) and any other relevant cross-cutting business of the Cabinet, or business deemed relevant by the advice of the Chief Executive;

2.         To consider, in particular, areas and a programme of joint working by the scrutiny committees (see Part 3 of the Constitution) with the power, for the purposes of individual projects, of agreeing to vary terms of reference between the committees (subject always to statutory provisions) to facilitate joint and cross-cutting scrutiny working; and

3.         To agree the allocation of scrutiny panels between scrutiny committees for the forthcoming year based on the council’s agreed priorities within existing resources.

RESOLVED –

THAT the following terms of reference be noted:

1.         To consider the Leader’s Annual Statement to Council at a meeting held shortly after the Statement is given (with the Leader’s Annual Statement being usually delivered at the first Council meeting after the annual meeting) and any other relevant cross-cutting business of the Cabinet, or business deemed relevant by the advice of the Chief Executive;

2.         To consider, in particular, areas and a programme of joint working by the scrutiny committees (see Part 3 of the Constitution) with the power, for the purposes of individual projects, of agreeing to vary terms of reference between the committees (subject always to statutory provisions) to facilitate joint and cross-cutting scrutiny working; and

3.         To agree the allocation of scrutiny panels between scrutiny committees for the forthcoming year based on the council’s agreed priorities within existing resources.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 2^nd March 2017.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 2^nd March 2017.

RESOLVED –

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 2^nd March 2017 be agreed and signed as a correct record by the Chair.

Report of the Leader of the Council.

To consider the Leader of the Council’s Annual Statement to full Council.

Consideration was given to the Annual Leader’s statement as considered by the full Council meeting on 11^th September 2017, and set out in the agenda papers.

The Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council gave the following key responses to Members questions:

Resident and Community Safety

·         Resident and community safety was one of the highest priority issues for the Council, and the authority had put in place specific initiatives which would ensure this was maintained. These initiatives included the appointment of a Director of Resident Safety, the first local authority in the country to do so, who would seek to ensure Council processes and procedures met the highest standards of resident safety. The Director of Resident Safety would also seek to ensure these processes and procedures were transparent, and he would act as a challenge to the authority to ensure change took place within the Council. He would be working with, and listening to local residents to ensure that their concerns were being met. Another initiative the Council was taking forward was the creation of a Fire Safety Panel, where the fire brigade, councillors, tenants and residents and council officers would meet to discuss the change needed to Council processes and procedures, along with discussing issues of concerns raised by tenants and residents regarding their safety.

·         The Director of Resident Safety would be undertaking a survey of tenants and residents to ascertain what safety mean for them, which would help shape future policy development.

·         The Council would also seek to learn from any of the recommendations arising from the Grenfell inquiry, along with seeking to lead on the development of national standards and regulations on resident safety.

·         In relation to adult social care, occupational therapists played an important role in ensuring residents safety through the provision of the necessary support people needed to remain safe in their homes. This would include enduring appropriate aids and adaptations were made, the provision of wet rooms to their homes when necessary, along with having access to Careline.

·         When a resident was discharged from hospital care, officers ensured that they had the appropriate package of rehabilitation services to help then regain their health.

·         The Director of Resident Safety would be looking at the evacuation plans that were currently in place for people living in sheltered housing to see if they were fit for purpose. This report would be sent to the appropriate scrutiny committees and the Sheltered Housing Forum for consideration when available.

ACTION BY: Director of Resident Safety

·         Though Camden had some of the lowest youth related crime in London, it had been noticeable that even here youth crime was increasing. Councillor Abdul Hai and Keir Starmer MP would be co-chairing a task force that would seek to make recommendations for tackling youth violence (which would include youth related knife crime).

·         The Council would also be using other mechanisms to seek to find the best way of tackling youth violence. This included undertaking a special project that sought to look at  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Report of the Borough Solicitor

This report provides an update on the ongoing work to improve the scrutiny function

Consideration was given to the report of the Borough Solicitor.

Councillor Alison Kelly, Chair of the meeting, took the committee through the report which provided an update on the ongoing work to improve the Council’s scrutiny function. The report identified how scrutiny could work effectively; how the scrutiny work should be prioritised, including cross cutting work; how the impact of scrutiny could be improved; what the characteristics of effective scrutiny could be; the process for dealing with cross cutting scrutiny issues; new models for scrutiny and how it could be enhanced; the annual reporting of the work of the scrutiny committees; and the possible way forward for training, development and member induction.

The Scrutiny Chairs noted that each scrutiny committee could only have one scrutiny panel running any one time, so would need to consider when a cross cutting issue should be programmed. Examples already existed of where cross cutting scrutiny had been taken forward (e.g. the work of the Housing and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee, and the new panel regarding Air Quality).

The Scrutiny Chairs also noted the way scrutiny committees had been able to influence the development of Council policy and operational management. This influence could not always be measured directly but played an important part in the good governance of the Council’s overall democratic processes and procedures, e.g. the way the Children, Schools and Families Scrutiny Committee ensured confidence to parents and regulators that the Council had in place effective children’s safeguarding processes and procedures. 

The criteria outlined in the report for measuring scrutiny would provide a framework for Scrutiny Chairs when they produced their annual report to Council. Where necessary officers would assist the respective scrutiny chair to draft their report to Council. The Scrutiny Chairs felt that their annual reports helped them be accountable to the Council, along with enabling them to consider issues raised by Members which had not been identified during the work of the scrutiny committee.

As part of looking at how scrutiny committees were operating Councillor Oliver Lewis would be undertaking a review of the Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee, and would provide feedback against the suggested good practice criteria. The Scrutiny Chairs felt that this facility should be offered to the Chair of the Resources, and Corporate Performance Scrutiny Committee, and agreed that one of them would speak to him about this.

                                    ACTION BY: Chairs of Scrutiny Committees

As part of the process for supporting current and future Chairs of Scrutiny Committees, the existing Chairs agreed to produce some frequently asked questions along with the answers. 

                                    ACTION BY: Chairs of Scrutiny Committees

The Chairs of Scrutiny Committees agreed put forward their views regarding the proposed Member training and induction programme following the local government elections in 2018.

                                    ACTION BY: Scrutiny Chairs

RESOLVED –

THAT,

1.    the approach to joint working set out in para 2.3 be followed so scrutiny had the greatest impact across the Council.

2.    the scrutiny chairs work with the Leader and officers on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

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