Agenda and minutes

Councillor Susan Erbil welcomed everyone to the meeting. 

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillor Guner Aydin and, also from the Associate Cabinet Members – Councillor Ahmet Hasan, Councillor Mustafa Cetinkaya and Councillor Claire Stewart.

Members were concerned that the Associate Cabinet Members were not in attendance.  It was mentioned that the meeting had been specially arranged for this item.  A work programme report, for each of the Associate Cabinet members had been included with the agenda which had been circulated. The reports were given at items 3, 4 and 5 of the agenda.

Members had acknowledged that the Monitoring Officer had previously provided the following advice ‘OSC does not have the power to demand attendance of ACM’s to OSC meetings, this only applies to Cabinet members and officers at Head of Service level and above’

Members asked for the following points to be noted-

·         All Members of OSC should have been notified beforehand that the Associate Cabinet Members had sent apologies and would not be attending the meeting.

·         Members felt that whilst the ACM’s were not obliged to attend, in the spirit of scrutiny they should have attended, and felt it was disrespectful not to do so.

·         The Leader should be invited to a future meeting of OSC to discuss the ACM’s work programmes, if the ACM’s are unable to attend.

·         There had been a waste of resources, in terms of officers and councillors’ time in allowing the meeting to go ahead, as the ACM’s were unable to attend, and this was the main agenda item.

AGREED

·         The ACM’s would be invited to attend a future meeting of OSC. If they do not wish to be present the Leader would be asked to attend and speak on their behalf.

·         For future meetings it was agreed that all OSC members will be informed ahead of the meeting if apologies had been given which affects the majority of agenda items.

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

There were no declarations of interest.

The report was NOTED.

The report was NOTED.

The report was NOTED

A verbal update to be provided by the Chair of the Crime Scrutiny Panel Cllr

David-Sanders and the Chair of the Health Scrutiny Panel Cllr Boztas.

Crime Scrutiny Panel

Councillor Lee David -Sanders, (Chair of Crime Scrutiny Panel) updated the meeting on the work of the Panel.  He highlighted the following -

The Work Planning Meeting on 13 June 2019 had looked at priorities for the coming municipal year with the following items to be included on the work programme

• Update from the Fire Brigade on the work they are doing to reduce crime
• Prostitution
• Burglary
• Cuckooing
• Parks (issues of safety and vandalism)

The meeting of the 12 September 2019 had held discussions on the following:

·         An update from the Chief Inspector giving details of crimes in the borough recorded within parks, other crime statistics  and it was noted the increase in serious youth violence, knife crime and residential burglaries.

·         The Fire Brigade gave an overview of various initiatives being undertaken, in an attempt, to reduce crime.

·         The meetings are generally well attended.

Councillor David-Sanders said it was important to have good attendance of members at this meeting and it was a useful means for the public to engage with the police and members.

The following issues were raised:

·         Councillor Smith referred to his attendance at CAPE meetings for Cockfosters and said this was a successful means of bringing the police and members of the public together.  He also referred to the use of ‘Whats App’ for Neighbourhood Watch which had been very useful as a means for neighbours to keep in touch with the police about any problems. Whilst this may be useful as a means of communication – members said there may be issues with data protection.

·         Reference was made to the increase in car thefts and it was noted that there had been suggestions that people may wish to return to using steering locks as a means of securing their cars.

·         Councillor Lappage referred to the successful CAPE for Jubilee ward.

·         That the challenge for policing in the borough is that the borough command unit now covers two boroughs and often police officers who would normally cover Enfield may need to help in other areas. A recent example when officers needed to help with the ‘extinction rebellion’ protests.

·         It was thought it may be useful for new councillors to be offered training regarding CAPEs and how to promote them to encourage members of the public to participate.

Health Scrutiny Panel

Councillor Sinan Boztas, (Chair of Health Scrutiny Panel) updated the meeting on the work of the Panel. 

The Work Planning Meeting in June 2019 had included input from Cabinet Members and Senior Managers from Enfield Council and Enfield Clinical Commissioning Group.  The Work Plan for the year reflects issues which directly affect residents and includes scrutiny of hospital trusts, public health and primary care.

He highlighted the following:

·         Members of the panel attended a meeting with Enfield CCG in August to discuss services provided at the 4 GP Hubs in the borough.

·         In early September prior to the first Panel meeting members were given a tour of the new facilities  ...  view the full minutes text for item 310.

To agree the minutes of the meeting 4 September 2019.

AGREED

The minutes of the 4 September 2019 meeting were confirmed.

Under item 2 - Declarations of Interest, additional clarification was provided that Councillor Erbil had joined the meeting at agenda item 4 (Fostering and Adoption services in Enfield – Annual Report)

To note the Overview & Scrutiny Committee work programme for 2019/20.

Members noted the Work Programme for 2019/20 and agreed that the Associate Cabinet members should be invited to attend one of the next OSC scheduled provisional Call in meetings either on Thursday 28 November 2019 or Thursday 30 January 2020. 

To note the dates of future meetings as follows:

Business meetings of OSC

Thursday 7 November 2019

Thursday 19 December 2019 (Budget meeting)

Thursday 13 February 2020

Thursday 2 April 2020

Provisional Call-In dates

Thursday 28 November 2019

Thursday 30 January 2020

Thursday 6 February 2020

Wednesday 4 March 2020

Thursday 26 March 2020

Tuesday 28 April 2020

The dates of future meetings were noted:

Call- in meeting : Thursday 14 November 2019

Business meetings of OSC

• Thursday 7 November 2019

·     Thursday 19 December 2019 (Budget meeting)

• Wednesday 15 January 2020
• Thursday 13 February 2020
• Thursday 2 April 2020

Provisional Call-In dates

· Thursday 28 November 2019

· Thursday 30 January 2020

· Thursday 6 February 2020

· Wednesday 4 March 2020

· Thursday 26 March 2020

· Tuesday 28 April 2020