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), Grants – (including Council’s strategy and approach for grant applications), and Dedicated School Grant Approach.
· CIPFA Financial Management Code was added to the final meeting as this is a new code. It was suggested that an update on the progression of this is received as part of the 2021/22 work programme
· Monitoring reports went to every meeting.
· Members and officers were thanked for support and contributions and the Cabinet Member for her attendance at every meeting.
The Chair of the Health & Adult Social Care Scrutiny Panel highlighted the following:
· The Panel met on four occasions including the work planning meeting.
· The Panel covered a range of items the main one being Covid with several reports on these issues.
· Other issues considered were; Older People’s Assessment Unit at Chase Farm Hospital, Reconfiguration of the NHS (still in process), Adult Safeguarding Report, Reardon Court Extra Care Housing, and a report from Barnet, Enfield & Haringey Mental Health team
· One item on the follow up of the CQC Inspection on the North Middlesex Hospital Trust due to the pandemic was deferred.
· Members and officers were thanked for support and contributions and the Cabinet Member for her attendance at every meeting.
The Vice Chair of the Housing Scrutiny Panel highlighted the following:
· The Panel has met on three occasions including the work planning meeting with the final meeting scheduled for the 15 April.
· At Decembers meeting the Panel covered Building Safety and Capital Works, Housing White Paper.
· At February’s meeting the Panel covered Housing Advice Service/ Temporary Accommodation/Homelessness, Allocations Policy
· The final meeting is due to look at the role of Housing Associations.
The Chair of the Regeneration & Economic Development Scrutiny Panel highlighted the following:
· The Panel met on five occasions including the work planning meeting.
· There is a further workshop to look at local plans on the 14 April.
· The main areas were around estate regeneration around Meridian Water. The workstream on this was very helpful.
· Other areas included the Local Plan including Housing Needs and delivery; Skills training, improving Town Centres and the Cultural strategy
· Members and officers were thanked for support and contributions and the Leader for her attendance at every meeting she was invited to.
A question was raised on what the support will be for scrutiny next year and clarification on the detail as members are aware of a restructure of the Governance Team. Claire Johnson advised that in July 2020 the support to the Council’s Committee structure including scrutiny was considered in light of the changes that were agreed at annual Council and the feedback from the Centre for Public Scrutiny (CFPS). The revised committee structure saw a number of the Council’s formal committees streamlined and as a result of this the number of formal committees that the governance team supports has been reduced. The relevant departments will now lead on the work of the scrutiny panels providing the relevant information. Reports and briefings will continue to be provided by departments and the governance and scrutiny team members will continue to provide the constitutional advice and the administrative support to all the formal committees including scrutiny. This includes facilitating the coordination of the work programme, liaising with departments and chairs. The new structure reflects the revised workloads of the team.
There were new ways of working in terms of scrutiny which came from the CFPS report. There are now seven standing panels and no workstreams. The updates just provided demonstrates the amount of work the panels have achieved and the success of the new system. Over the next year this success can be built on.
Members sought assurance that will not be any change in the level of support received form officers in the governance team as they are aware of a consultation on a number of redundancies. A concern was raised on the independence of scrutiny and keeping the line between the executive and scrutiny.
It was acknowledged that these are difficult financial times and difficult decisions will need to be made going forward.
Officers confirmed that it is not appropriate to comment on the restructure. Members are reminded that the coordination, the liaison with the departments, the liaison with Chairs will continue from the governance team. The independence of scrutiny will continue to be championed.
Members requested that a briefing note is provided by the Monitoring Officer on details of what the plans are going forward.