Agenda for Overview & Scrutiny Committee on Thursday, 1st April, 2021, 6.00 pm

Agenda and minutes

Contact: Andy Ellis 

Items
No. Item

1.

WELCOME & APOLOGIES

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Cllr Elif Erbil (Substitute Cllr Claire Stewart).

 

The Panel were reminded of the current Purdah period during the meeting as follows:

“We are now in Purdah and during this heightened period of sensitivity it is important that we ensure that Council resources are not used for political purposes. With this in mind, Councillors are reminded that when at Council events or public meetings, councillors must not use that platform for political purposes. If Officers in attendance at the meeting believe this is happening the Chair of the meeting will be informed.

 

2.

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.

 

3.

PARTNERSHIPS AND BUSINESSES pdf icon PDF 606 KB

To receive a report on Economic Development - Partnerships and Businesses.  

Minutes:

Mark Bradbury, Director of Property & Economy, and Bob Doyle, Head of Economic Development introduced the report.

 

NOTED:

1.    Cabinet approved the Economic Development Strategy ‘An Economy That Works for Everyone’ in February.

2.    The purpose of the new strategy is to:

·         Increase High Quality Employment Opportunities in the borough

·         Connect people with improved skills and training opportunities to be able to take advantage of the high-quality employment opportunities as they arise

·         Make better places in the borough in particular Town Centres

·         Craft a culture offer both for the people of Enfield and as part of London’s wider culture offer.

3.    The Pandemic has meant that the business support offer to the business communities has been enhanced. A business response team was established at the start of the pandemic. A range of grants was administered throughout the year, this is still ongoing.

4.    To date over £100 million in grants and rates relief has been distributed. The latest grant is the Additional Restrictions Grant totalling £9.6 m, phase 1 of this is currently underway. This money must be allocated before the end of June.

5.    To enhance the offer to the business community, an additional Head of Service has been seconded to the team to ensure that there is efficient delivery of the grants.

6.    £106 m in terms of grants and rates relief received is detailed on page three of the agenda report.

7.    There has been new investment and lots of interest in coming into the borough, examples of this being Metaswitch, a Microsoft company with global headquarters in Enfield Town. Troubadour Meridian Water Studios which has helped put Enfield on the map as a leading location for film and high-end TV production, the OMA Studios in the north of the borough and Global Streaming services.

8.    In terms of investment from the Council, examples were highlighted which are detailed in the report such as Montague Industrial Estate, the Kickstart scheme and Angel Edmonton projects (Good Growth Fund and African Caribbean Business Centre which will both be delivered within the current year).

 

Comments, queries and questions raised:

9.    The Strategy that went to Cabinet in February includes an employment breakdown in Enfield by industry. With regards to the wholesale retail trade covering the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, employee jobs were roughly twenty thousand. These industries have remained open during the pandemic, what support has this sector received? Officers confirmed that as the motor trade has larger premises than average this has meant that the rateable value was above the threshold for the early small business grants. Motor trade was a priority for the Discretionary Grant scheme. There were gaps in the earlier grant funding as they were not classified in the early criteria or their rateable value was too high. The Council have been looking at supply chains to ensure that these are supported. A lot of Enfield’s economy is around supply chains that feed into businesses and the hospitality sector across London. Officers have been looking  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

REFERRAL FROM CHILDREN YOUNG PEOPLE & EDUCATION SCRUTINY PANEL pdf icon PDF 191 KB

To receive two referrals from the Chidlren Young People & Education Scrutiny Panel.

Minutes:

Cllr Achilleas Georgiou, Chair of the Children Young People & Education Scrutiny Panel highlighted the following:

1.     Members of the Youth Parliament and the Union had attended the Panel meeting on mental health and their attendance and input was very worthwhile.

2.     On the first referral on mental health, this is an issue because of the lockdown and the pandemic itself over the last year.

3.     The Youth Parliament and the unions came forward with views and this is there suggestion. This is a referral to Cabinet to put together an action plan around mental health. It is requested that the policy and that resources are put into this policy and that Cabinet does this in consultation with the various stakeholders including the Youth Parliament, unions and the Children, Young People & Education Scrutiny Panel.

4.     The second recommendation is outlined in item 4 of the agenda report and is on Exclusions. This area of work started under a workstream. There are seven bullet points listed in terms of going forward. There items for consideration for next years Scrutiny Panel in their programme of work and some items to be bought to Cabinet’s attention.

5.     The overrepresentation of certain communities was highlighted. Exclusion figures have gone down but there are two groupings that are still higher. It was felt that action needs to be taken by the department, this is for the Scrutiny Panel to keep an eye on and this should be bought to Cabinet’s attention.

6.     Cabinet should also consider support to pupils going through exclusions and more support should be given to young people and also to governors.

7.     CAMHS the panel felt the referral process could be quicker and would ask Cabinet to look at this.

8.     The six-week statutory period for Speech and Language service is not being met. This is for the department to work on and should be bought to Cabinets attention.

9.     The final bullet point is around mental health.

10.  Page 14 point 22 and 23 states that there are no risks associated with this report. It was felt that there should be risks here. Officers confirmed that when the report goes to Cabinet risks will be identified and included in this report. Risks are put in around the purpose of the report. The Equality Impact Assessment will also be looked at for the Cabinet report. As the report was just for scrutiny to consider the item there are no risks associated with that.

 

Comments, queries and questions:

11.  Regarding the further work on overrepresentation, what is the timescale for this and what kind of data?  Cllr Georgiou advised that data at national level is behind, a timing was not set as to when this should come back to Panel.

12.  An observation was made that when mental health came to the Health & Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel to look at the impact of Covid on Enfield and surrounding boroughs. The Head of Service advised that the number of referrals had gone down  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

VERBAL UPDATE FROM THE SCRUTINY CHAIRS

A verbal update to be provided by the Chairs of the Scrutiny Panels.

Minutes:

The Scrutiny Chairs provided the following brief updates.

 

The Chair of the Children, Young People & Education Scrutiny Panel highlighted the following:

·         Two of the main items for the panel have already been covered under agenda item 4.

·         The Panel had six meetings and covered eleven topics.

·         The other topics included Covid and how the Council responded on a number of areas, Fostering, School Finances, Special Educational Needs & Disability (SEND); vulnerable children, and supporting schools and Headteachers.

·         The Panel also provided feedback on the draft Children & Young People’s Plan- Empowering Young Enfield and the draft Early Years Help for All Strategy

·         The Poverty & Inequality Commission report recommendations came to the final Panel meeting. The Panel recognised that the commission only met a year ago and due to Covid it was hard to track everything originally planned. It was suggested that the Panel review this again next year and that the Overview & Scrutiny Committee could look at this next year as part of their new work programme.

·         Members, Youth Parliament members and officers were thanked for the participation and contributions throughout the year.

 

The Chair of the Crime Scrutiny Panel highlighted the following:

·         The Panel have met four times including the work planning meeting.

·         The Panel covered at every meeting Safer & Stronger Communities Board performance management. The Safer & Stronger communities Board Partnership Plan is an annual item.

·         The Panel also covered the following areas; prostitution (in detail in November and a follow up report in March), burglary, serious youth violence, reoffending, including youth reoffending, Modern Day Slavery and the role of the London Fire Brigade.

·         One of the concerns that the Panel had was that lockdown has impacted on crime figures. The analysis on year on year crime figures will need to take this into account.

·         Members and officers were thanked for support and contributions and the Cabinet Member for her attendance at several meetings.

 

The Chair of the Environment & Climate Change Scrutiny Panel highlighted the following:

·         The Panel met on four occasions including the work planning meeting.

·         In September, the Panel received a presentation on the Meridian Water Environment Strategy, this was due to come back to a meeting at the end of April, but this has now been cancelled due to purdah.

·         In December, the Panel looked at Parks and Green Infrastructure Strategy and Waste Service Changes and Flytipping

·         In February, the Panel looked at Climate Action Plan Implementation

·         In March looked at Low Traffic Neighbourhood Scheme, the Leader of the Council attended for this item.

·         Members and officers were thanked for support and contributions and the Leader of the Council for her attendance.

 

 

The Chair of the Finance & Performance Scrutiny Panel highlighted the following:

·         The Panel met on four occasions including the work planning meeting.

·         The Panel looked at on average two items per meeting with seven items overall.

·         The items covered were; the Budget 2020/21, impact of Covid19 on finance and performance, Housing Revenue Account, Debts – (including income and debt recovery; supporting residents in financial hardship),  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

DATES OF FUTURE MEETINGS

To note that future meeting dates will be confirmed at Annual Council in May.

Minutes:

Members were reminded that there is a Call-in meeting on the 8 April and a provisional Call in meeting on the 27 April.

 

The dates for future business meetings will be set at annual Council.

 

Members were thanked for their participation throughout the year.