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 as Chair for the meeting.

RESOLVED –

THAT Councillor Alison Kelly be elected as Chair for the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Douglas Beattie and Awale Olad.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no deputations.

Webcasting of the Meeting

The Chair to announce the following: “In addition to the rights by law that the public and press have to record and film public meetings, I would like to remind everyone present that this meeting will be broadcast live by the Council to the Internet and can be viewed on our website for six months after the meeting. After that time, webcasts are archived and can be made available on DVD upon request.

If you are seated in the Chamber it is likely that the Council’s cameras will capture your image and you are deemed to be consenting to being filmed and to the use of those images and sound recordings for webcasting and/or training purposes. If you are addressing the Committee your contribution will be recorded and broadcast unless you have already indicated that you do not wish this to happen.

If you wish to avoid appearing on the Council’s webcast you should move to one of the galleries.”

Any Other Announcements

Webcasting

The Chair announced that the meeting was being broadcast live to the internet and would be capable of repeated viewing and copies of the recording could be made available to those that requested them.  Those seated in the chamber were deemed to be consenting to being filmed.  Anyone wishing to avoid appearing on the webcast should move to one of the galleries.

There was no urgent business.

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.

The terms of reference were noted.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 13^th March 2018

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 13^th March 2018.

RESOLVED –

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 13^th March 2018 be approved and signed as a correct record.

Report of the Leader of the Council.

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

Consideration was given to the report of the Leader of the Council.

The Chair informed the Leader that questions would be themed around the priorities of Camden 2025.  Councillor Georgia Gould (Leader of the Council) and Pat Callaghan (Deputy Leader of the Council) then gave the following responses to the Committee’s questions:

Everyone in Camden should have a place they call home

·         The announced lifting of the cap on local authority borrowing against Housing Revenue Accounts was welcomed.  The Council had campaigned for this as it was a barrier to building new council housing.  However, to see a significant increase in housebuilding, further changes were needed from Government.

·         The Community Investment Programme (CIP) had enabled the Council use the assets it had to invest in the community house building programme and in schools.  Where the Council built new developments, it kept the freehold and where properties were sold, all profits were reinvested in new social housing and school buildings.  Housing was of high quality, sustainable and met the needs of residents.

·         While the details of Islington Council’s build cost details were not known, Camden Council did have a substantially bigger building programme than Islington.  Investment was in larger homes than in Islington and Camden invested heavily in quality and sustainability.  The Council worked closely with communities to ensure than housing met their needs.  This did add to build costs.

·         At the end of each building project, lessons were identified to be addressed for future projects.  With the Council’s aspirations to be a large-scale council house builder, it was necessary to build up capacity to manage programmes. 

·         The Council was working with Islington and Hackney on house building to share learning and capacity, and to identify efficiencies. 

Growth in Camden should be strong and inclusive – everyone should be able to access the work that is right for them

·         There was a need to improve employment outcomes for people with mental health problems, long-term health issues and learning disabilities.

·         There were good programmes in Adults and Community Learning that supports residents who are out of work, such as the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses, Maths and English courses and confidence building.  There had also been good work on Black and Minority Ethnic female employment.  Funds had been devolved to Central London Forward to take this forward.

·         Work could be done to build connections between the different sectors working on employment such as the Job Centre, colleges, adult social care and the Apprenticeship Levy.

·         Camden Council had, for the second year running, won an award for the best London Borough on delivering apprenticeships.

·         The Council works with faith groups on a number of policy areas but not in a formal way on employment issues. 

·         The Camden Society did good work in supporting people with learning disabilities and the Leader would be happy to meet with them and address this issue as a priority.  It was a challenge to persuade employers to take on people with learning disabilities.  However, there  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

There was no urgent business.