Agenda for Overview & Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday, 22nd May, 2019, 7.00 pm

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Civic Centre, Silver Street, Enfield, EN1 3XA. View directions

Contact: Stacey Gilmour 

Items
No. Item

5.

WELCOME & APOLOGIES

Minutes:

The Chair, Councillor Susan Erbil welcomed all attendees to the meeting.

 

Apologies for absence were received from Sarah Cary, Executive Director of Place.

6.

ELECTION OF VICE CHAIR

To elect the Vice Chair for the Committee.

Minutes:

Councillor Achilleas Georgiou was elected as Vice Chair for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the municipal year.

7.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members of the Council are invited to identify any disclosable pecuniary, other pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests relevant to the items on the agenda.

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

8.

CABINET PRIORITIES FOR 2019/20

The Leader, Councillor Caliskan to outline the Cabinet’s priorities for 2019/20.

Minutes:

The Chair invited Councillor Caliskan, Leader of the Council to outline the Cabinet’s priorities for 2019/20.

 

Councillor Caliskan congratulated Councillor Susan Erbil on her new role as Chair of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee and welcomed all Members to the Committee.

 

Councillor Caliskan said that having had a year in post, the Administration had now been able to dig deeper into some of the areas that affect the Borough and the Council. There were continued financial pressures on Enfield with more cuts coming down the line therefore the Council would have to look at how it could continue to deliver the best possible services in the hardest of times.

 

Councillor Caliskan set out the Cabinet’s main priorities for the year ahead as follows:

 

Decent Homes/Regeneration – to include:

 

·         Housing & Growth Strategy - culminating in the next couple of months

·         Estate Renewal Programme

·         Better Council Homes – addressing infrastructure issues and delivering £41m for planned improvements this year.

·         Repairs – insourcing day-to-day repairs services. A report will go to Cabinet in June.

 

Economic Development

 

·         Economic Development & Growth Strategy

·         Focus on boosting growth in the borough’s town centres including Enfield Town and Edmonton Green.

·         This will involve working with Traders Associations and small businesses to come up with a detailed plan about how the council can support them

·         Cultural Strategy- the current strategy ends in 2020 and Councillor Ian Barnes, Deputy Leader, is leading on the development of a new strategy. Cllr Barnes said the strategy would look at broadening access to culture so all people in the borough can have access and benefit from what the borough has to offer. Cllr Barnes outlined some ideas and stated he and officers are at the stage of developing possibilities. He said the plan should be ambitious and aspirational. The aim is to make this a transformational strategy, focusing on engagement and communication.  Cllr Barnes referred to the Gaming Industry for the borough boosting economic growth by tapping into London’s multi-billion-pound creative economy.

 

Community Safety

 

·         Measures to improve community safety would continue including funding extra police officers.

·         Needs to be long term investment for young people in the borough.

Burial Spaces

 

·         Identify long term provision for burial space in the borough.

·         Currently a burial consultation.

 

Tackling Poverty

 

·         There were plans in place for a fully independent Poverty and Equality Commission amid concerns over the rising number of children living in poverty in Enfield.

 

The following comments/questions were raised:

 

·         The plan to identify long term provision for burial spaces was welcomed.

·         Concerns were raised regarding the current level of public engagement/communication and it was felt that as a council we needed to market ourselves better and be smarter about the way we communicate.

·         Members welcomed the Poverty and Equality Commission and agreed that this would be a worthwhile piece of work.

·         Members were very interested in the Cultural Strategy and were keen to see how this would be developed.

·         The Improving Enfield Shopping Areas/Empty Shops Working Group had produced an interim report following its work over  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

9.

FUTURE OF THE RESPONSIVE REPAIRS SERVICE pdf icon PDF 273 KB

To receive a report from Joanne Drew, Director of Housing & Regeneration.

Minutes:

RECEIVED the report of Joanne Drew, Director of Housing & Regeneration.

 

Councillor Gina Needs, Cabinet Member, Social Housing introduced the report highlighting the following:

 

i)             The Councils current contracts delivering day to day repairs and compliance contracts to Council houses are due to end in April 2020.It is therefore time to consider the most appropriate approach for delivering the services going forward, with an aim to:

·         provide improved value in terms of enhanced resident satisfaction,

·         support the local community and local supply chain and

·         effectively improve the condition of our properties.

ii)            The day-to-day repairs service has seen an improvement in customer and technical performance over the past 6 months. However, there remains room for continued improvement and greater flexibility as we improve the condition of stock through investment.

iii)           The report identifies and recommends a solution which seeks to manage risk, secure the continuing improvement of the service whilst providing value for money. It includes:

·          A phased approach to insourcing the day to day repairs service whilst continuing to outsource compliance services;

·         Proposed transitional arrangements for the gradual in-sourcing of repairs services whilst securing back up provision from existing contractors including beyond the end of existing contracts in April 2020 as necessary;

·         Procurement of compliance, cyclical maintenance and major works, but with a view to consider bringing these in house in the future;

·         The development of in-house capacity to ensure the commercial management of the in-house service and effective client-side arrangements for the mixed delivery model;

iv)           Key priorities for a new service model have been identified and is set out in full in the report.

v)            A stock condition survey is currently in progress and this will provide the information to develop long term investment strategies which will also inform the nature of the intermediate repairs.

vi)           The Council is committed to investing in its stock and has developed the Better Council Homes programme, which will see some £41m investment in the stock during 2019/20.

vii)          Recommendations in the report include:

·         The creation of a multi-disciplinary Operational Board which will report on progress to the Repairs Task Force;

·         Approve budget of £1.2 million, allocated over 2 years, funded from HRA repairs reserve;

·         Note that a 5-year business plan will come forward as part of the annual HRA budget cycle for 2020/21

 

Comments and questions were raised, and responses provided by Officers were as follows:

 

·         The move comes amid concerns that many repairs are not done properly first time and money is being spent on fixing follow-up problems.

·         It is hoped that the proposed model will deliver better value for money, provide jobs for local people and boost local businesses in the supply chain.

·         The cost of setting up the in-house team has been estimated at £1.2 million, while the ongoing costs are expected to be within the £4.8 million per year already spent on repairs.

·         If the proposals are given the go ahead by Cabinet, day to day repairs will gradually be brought in-house as the current contracts with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

10.

WORK PROGRAMME & WORK STREAMS 2019/20

To agree the Chairs for the Crime & Health Scrutiny Panels.

 

The Committee to discuss Work Programme items and new workstreams for 2019/20.

Minutes:

NOTED the Chairs for the Crime and Health Scrutiny Panels as follows:

 

·         Councillor Lee David-Sanders was elected as Chair for the Crime Scrutiny Panel for the municipal year 2019/20.

·         Councillor Sinan Boztas was elected as Chair for the Health Scrutiny Panel for the municipal year 2019/20.

 

The committee discussed Work Programme items and potential work streams for 2019/20.

 

The following suggestions were made:

 

·         Continue with Empty Shops workstream – period of workstream to be defined;

·         HR issues –

§  Sickness, why losing staff and why recruiting

§  Employment of BME, gender -at what grades, stats, have we improved, are we attracting and recruiting black people, women returning to work- is this successful

§  Council’s policy of reducing the number of external consultants and agency staff

·         ACM’s to be invited to future OSC meeting to discuss roles and responsibilities

·         Cultural Strategy – if timing fits in with the Work Programme

·         Exclusions – possible workstream, 70% of all exclusions are BAME? Also, not in school or where they should be.

·         Procurement process – possible workstream – lack of clarity over process/whose responsibility is this? Is this a service issue?

·         Temporary Accommodation – how this is managed and costs and mechanism for managing. Including Housing Gateway and the future role of this.

·         Meridian Water – possible workstream – concern regarding number of jobs and Strategic Industrial Land (SIL)

·         Customer Experience (this is already a carry forward item on the Work Programme). Members wanted to include how do we engage with residents and how this affects the council’s reputation

·         Planning and Enforcement – Work Programme – Cllr Aramaz said that his Empty Shops workstream had looked at this and recommendations had been included in the interim report.

·         Report on population growth and housing targets, assumptions around this- item for the Work Programme.

·         Members were happy for last year’s Work Programme standing items to remain as appropriate.

 

The Chair advised that the Work Programme and work steams would not be agreed today. However, following this evening’s discussions and the above suggestions a draft Work Programme and list of potential workstreams for consideration will come to the next meeting of OSC on in June 2019.

11.

MINUTES OF THE MEETINGS HELD ON 11 APRIL & 23 APRIL 2019 pdf icon PDF 168 KB

To agree the Minutes of the meetings held on 11 April and 23 April 2019.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

AGREED the minutes of the meeting held on 11 and 23 April 2019.

12.

DATES OF FUTURE MEETINGS

To note the dates of future meetings as follows:

 

Provisional Call-Ins

 

Thursday 20 June, 2019

Wednesday 3 July, 2019

Thursday 8 August, 2019

Thursday 19 September, 2019

Thursday 31 October, 2019

Thursday 28 November, 2019

Thursday 19 December, 2019

Thursday 30 January, 2020

Thursday 6 February, 2020

Wednesday 4 March, 2020

Thursday 26 March, 2020

Tuesday 28 April, 2020

 

Please note, the business meetings of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee will be held on:

 

Tuesday 18 June, 2019

Tuesday 23 July, 2019

Wednesday 4 September, 2019

Thursday 7 November, 2019

Thursday 13 February, 2020

Thursday 2 April, 2020

 

The Overview & Scrutiny Budget Meeting will be held on:

 

Wednesday 15 January, 2020

 

Minutes:

NOTED the dates of future meetings as follows:

 

Provisional Call-Ins

 

Thursday 20 June, 2019

Wednesday 3 July, 2019

Thursday 8 August, 2019

Thursday 19 September, 2019

Thursday 31 October, 2019

Thursday 28 November, 2019

Thursday 19 December, 2019

Thursday 30 January, 2020

Thursday 6 February, 2020

Wednesday 4 March, 2020

Thursday 26 March, 2020

Tuesday 28 April, 2020

 

NOTED the business meetings of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee will be held on:

 

Tuesday 18 June, 2019

Tuesday 23 July, 2019

Wednesday 4 September, 2019

Thursday 7 November, 2019

Thursday 13 February, 2020

Thursday 2 April, 2020

 

The Overview & Scrutiny Budget Meeting will be held on:

 

Wednesday 15 January, 2020