Agenda and minutes

Councillor Susan Erbil welcomed everyone to the virtual meeting of Overview & Scrutiny Committee. She said Councillor Achilleas Georgiou would chair the first part of the meeting when the call-in would be considered, and she would   then chair the remainder of the meeting. Councillor Yusuf would substitute for her for the call-in.

Apologies had been received from Councillor Lappage and Councillor Doug Taylor would be substituting for her. Councillor Aydin was absent.

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

Councillor Susan Erbil declared a non-pecuniary interest for the call-in item of the agenda. There were no other declarations of interest.

To receive and consider a report from the Director of Law and Governance outlining details of a call-in received on the Cabinet Decision taken on in-Sourcing of the Road Gully Cleaning Service (Report No. 254)

The decision that has been called in was a Cabinet Decision taken on 13 May 2020 and included on the Publication of Decision List No: 80/19-20 (List Ref: 3/80/19-20 issued on 15 May 2020.

It is proposed that consideration of the call-in be structured as follows:

·         Brief outline of the reasons for the call-in by representative (s) of the members who have called in the decision

·         Response to the reasons provided for the Call-in by a Cabinet Member responsible for taking the decision

·         Debate by Overview and Scrutiny Committee and agreement of action to be taken.

The Committee received a report from the Director of Law and Governance outlining details of a call-in received on the decision taken by Cabinet on-

‘In-Sourcing of Road Gully Cleaning Service’.

Councillor Georgiou invited Councillor Laban to give an outline of the reasons for call-in. Councillor Dogan, as Cabinet Member for Environment & Sustainability would answer the points raised.

Councillor Laban stated that the main reason for calling in this decision was the lack of information provided in the original report.

NOTED

Councillor Laban set out the reasons for calling in the decision:

1. The report stated that 20,000 gullies would be cleaned with an in-house team in comparison with the 15,000 that the current contractor carries out.  However, there was no evidence given in the report of how many extra gullies could be cleaned by the existing contractor if they were paid the additional sum of £11,000 mentioned.
2. The report states that there would be better performance management achieved by having an in-house team, however as we contract manage Ringway Jacobs for this work, it could be said that some of the problems are our responsibility.
3. The report provides no details of competition for the gully cleaning service. If this was more comprehensive, we should be able to benchmark with other outside providers to see whether having an in-house team would be more cost effective.
4. It has been stated that additional funding required for the service could be contained within our existing budget, however our finances are uncertain at present as a result of Covid 19 and with the possibility of a second wave in future.
5. It is likely that staff would TUPE over from Ringway Jacobs to our in- house team although it has been considered that a poor service had been provided by them.  The report does not say how we would ensure that an improved service would be achieved. 
6. The report does not explain how bringing the gully cleaning service in house delivers healthier communities, which is a council priority.
7. The council’s priority is to build our local economy however, by bringing the service in house it has discounted using local businesses to deliver a service which would support and build the local economy.

Councillor Laban stated that the report was light on detail. She said as members we must ensure that the most cost effective and best value services are delivered.

The proposed alternative action requested by the Councillors calling-in the decision was to refer the report back to Cabinet to review the decision.

Councillor Dogan, Cabinet Member for Environment & Sustainability and officers- Doug Wilkinson (Director of Environment & Operational Services), Stephen Skinner (Head of Highway Services), Jon Sharkey (Head of Public Realm) and John Grimes (Group Engineer Highways) provided information in support of the decision as follows:

1. The report recommends the in-sourcing of the road gully cleaning service and to deliver the service from within Public Realm Services based at Morson Road Depot. There are approximately 25,000 road gullies in the borough with road gullies on principal  ...  view the full minutes text for item 568.

To receive a report from the Executive Director – Resources.

Councillor Caliskan introduced an item on the Community Resilience Work undertaken during the Covid 19 period - the ‘Enfield Stands Together Programme’. 

The aim of the programme created by Enfield Council and Enfield Voluntary Action was to bring together key local partners and organisations to co-ordinate efforts across the borough to organise volunteers and get help to those people who needed it during the Covid crisis.

A presentation was given by Fay Hammond (Acting Executive Director Resources, Financial Management Services) which set out the methods of communication used and explained how the programme evolved and the services provided. It also explained the governance of the programme and its budget.

The following was highlighted:

• The initial meeting of the Community Resilience Forum was held on the 19 March 2020 which set out the terms of reference of the unit as a time limited task focused group established to assist the local authority with the help of key strategic community partners in managing the response to the coronavirus pandemic.
• We have worked with core partners including -  Age UK Enfield, Citizens Advice, Enfield Voluntary Action, NHS, North Enfield food Bank, The Felix Project, Healthwatch and many more.
• A call centre was set up using #1966, an inbound call centre which went live on 25 March. An on-line form is also available. Calls could be for a request for food, support picking up prescriptions also expanded to include financial hardship referrals.
• Outbound calls made which initially targeted the NHS shielded list for Enfield residents. Letters sent to all over 70’s in the borough letting them know of the telephone line. 
• The food distribution warehouse was opened on the 31 March and 645 food parcels were delivered in less than a week. Within the first week the call centre contacted all those who needed medication.
• The community pantry was set up in partnership with the Felix project. It allows groups and charities who support their communities with cooked meals to pick up essential food supplies and ingredients.
• All shielded residents have been called.  It was noted that many people were not previously known to us as vulnerable. 
• Members of staff who were taking calls were given ‘strength-based training’ and experienced managers worked with them.  It was necessary to ensure help could be provided from colleagues for those who called with mental health issues. It was essential that the correct people were placed in appropriate positions and that they had the necessary skills needed. Volunteers who already had DBS checks also provided help.
• The highest number of shielded residents were found in Enfield Highway and Turkey Street wards. The wards with the most deprived residents tended to have the most food packages delivered.
• Up to 5 May over 1,700 friendly phone calls were made to support people feeling isolated In the long term it is hoped that help may be sustained for these residents through the voluntary sector.
• Small grants for cooked food programme was launched – worth £20k to help local communities get  ...  view the full minutes text for item 569.

To note the date of the next meeting as follows:

Thursday 4 June 2020 (please note that this will be a virtual meeting)

The future meetings of OSC which will be held as virtual meetings at 6:00pm were noted as:

·         Thursday 4 June 2020

·         Thursday 2 July 2020 and

·         Thursday 30 July 2020

Meeting 4 June 2020 – Re-Opening of Primary Schools in Enfield. The ‘to follow’ papers would be published next week

Meeting 2 July 2020 – Public Health – an update should include Covid 19 data for Enfield.

The following issues were raised:

1. Cllr Georgiou said members had requested that the workstream on Meridian Water should go ahead.  He asked if we could get a date in the diary for this as soon as possible. We should look at the issue of Covid 19 in relation to this project– and how this might affect the project timescales.

2. Cllr Smith agreed that the Meridian Water workstream should go ahead but also that we should have a timescale for all other major panels including Health Scrutiny and Crime Scrutiny

3. Cllr Aramaz said that the workstream on ‘Empty Shops’ – was nearing completion and he requested that there should be a final meeting and final report on this matter.    He also asked how many members of the public had viewed this virtual meeting.

4. Cllr Georgiou suggested members should plan how to re-open some of the workstreams and other panels and discussions should be held with officers about how to take this forward.

5. Cllr Smith and Cllr Georgiou spoke about the Scrutiny Review. They asked if the report was now available and suggested it would be useful for OSC members to see this before it goes to Cabinet.

6. Cllr Aramaz said presentations for future OSC virtual meetings should be limited to 10 minutes. He also asked that Jeremy Chambers be asked to attend a future OSC meeting regarding ACM’s

7. Cllr David-Sanders said he had spoken to the Leader about the Local Control Plan re Covid 19.  It would be useful for OSC to have pre-scrutiny of this report before it goes to Cabinet. He suggested this be included on the 2 July 2020 agenda.

The meeting ended at 8:35pm