Agenda and minutes

1.1  Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Brett, Buitekant, Bunt, Coban, Levy, Mulready and Sharer.

2.1  There were no declarations of interest.

3.1  RESOLVED to approve the previous minutes of the meeting held on 13 December 2016 as a correct record.

3.2  Matters Arising

List of Construction Waivers

Minute no 3.2 – The Chair reported that officers were working towards making granted construction waivers available on the Council’s website.

Committee reports

Minute no 3.3 – The Chair advised that she had written to the Chief Executive expressing the Committee’s concern regarding the contents of Corporate Committee reports and was now awaiting a response from the Chief Executive.

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A- Boards - Clearing A-board obstructions along the TfL Road Network,

Minute no 3.4 – The Chair noted the response from Transport for London, which was circulated at the meeting, confirming that Upper and Lower Clapton Road, Stamford Hill, City Road and Kingsland Road from Old Street to Dalston Junction had been included as priority locations in the TfL’s Operation Clearway.

4.1  This item was deferred to the next meeting.

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5.1  Dan Paul, Head of HR& OD introduced the report detailing a fair approach to the car parking policy following the transfer of Hackney Homes employees to the Council.

5.2  In response to questions from Cllr Stops and Cllr Fajana -Thomas seeking further clarification regarding the implementation of the policy and the impact of the policy on staff required to travel for work purposes.  Mr Paul confirmed that the policy will apply to all Council owned parking spaces and that employees that have to undertake travelling as part of their work such as Housing staff will not be affected by the changes in the policy.

RESOLVED to approve the Council Staff Car Parking Policy

6.1  Dan Paul, Head of HR & OD presented the report introducing an additional pay grade in the pay structure for council employees.  The additional SM2 grade was intended to better recognise the difference in jobs and would be beneficial for restructuring services, consolidate management posts and deliver management savings whilst ensuring that pay remained appropriate to the duties and responsibilities of posts.  The trade unions had been consulted on the proposal and that Unison’s response had been included within the report. 

6.2  Cllr Stops enquired about the issues raised by the unions.  Mr Paul stated that some of the concerns included factual inaccuracies and single status issues.  Mr Paul clarified that the SM2 grade was not a pay rise but recognition of skills to ensure the recruitment and retention of senior staff.  The new grade reflected a more transparent pay structure which incorporated market supplements.

6.3  Cllr Hanson commented that the SM2 grade was reasonable and transparent but expressed concern that the employee market supplements in the current structure could potentially lead to discrimination.  Mr Paul stated that the removal of the market supplements in the revised pay structure would remove any potential discrimination claims.

6.4  Cllr Fajana – Thomas asked how the additional pay grade would impact on the Council’s finances and the number of staff being transferred to SM2.  Mr Paul advised that it would cost the Council approximately £65k and that two of seven staff would be transferred to the new grade. 

RESOLVED to approve the addition of the grade SM2 to the pay structure and amend the salaries for points in SM1.

7.1  Steve Bending introduced the annual report which provided an update on the volume of noise complaints, a breakdown of the individual types of noise and associated matters within the services workload, including Temporary Event Notices, which continued to place significant demand upon limited staff resources and the council’s response to noise nuisance. He also briefly summarised the work of the new Community Safety, Enforcement and Business Regulation Service, which was scheduled to be introduced on 3 May 2017.

7.2  Cllr Sharman stated that more information relating to the service’s targets, objectives, resource implications and performance monitoring should be included in the report.  Mr Bending responded that due to the range of enforcement services covered by the team it had been a challenge to set objectives.  However, the new service would have access to more robust intelligence in order to set objectives and measure targets.  Cllr Selman advised that they were currently producing KPIs for the new service and indicated that a draft paper would be circulated to Committee members for their comments.

7.3  Cllr Kennedy commented that measuring the duration of the noise nuisance complaints as well as the volume would be useful for the Licensing Service.  Mr Bending advised that the new service would be more flexible and there would be a single point of contact to deal with reports of noise nuisance.  Under the new system reports of noise nuisance and anti-social behaviour would now be recorded under the address and all information would be held on one database. Enforcement action was also being focused on premises with persistent issues relating to noise nuisance.

7.4  Cllr Fajana–Thomas asked whether the Council could take any action to recoup the increasing costs of temporary event notices (TEN) following the significant increase in TEN applications.  Mr Bending said that the TEN application fee had been set at £21 since the introduction of the legislation and this fee could not be increased to cover costs for administration and resources.

7.5  Cllr Ozsen enquired whether the team had received any complaints relating to noise nuisance emanating from wooden floors.  Mr Bending confirmed that a few complaints had been received regarding this issue and that Hackney Housing Services had dedicated officers liaising with individuals to address this noise nuisance.

RESOLVED to note the content of this report

8.1  Steve Bending, Head of Safer Communities, introduced the final annual report on the Borough wide Designated Public Place Order (DPPO) introduced on 24 May 2010 which had been superseded by the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. The DPPO would either transition into a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) by virtue of the Act or cease to exist as an order if the transition did not take place before 20 October 2017.

8.2  Mr Bending summarised the key initiatives relating to the DPPO and the activities since 25 May 2016.  It was also reported that a public consultation on whether to prevent the transition to a PSPO would be taking place in summer 2017. 

8.3  Cllr Selman stated that consultation on the PSPO was not a statutory requirement, however it was necessary to consult prior to any measures being introduced.

8.4  Cllr Stops welcomed the reduction in street drinking in the borough but commented that street drinking continued to be an issue on The Narrow Way (Mare Street). Cllr Hanson referred to the second prohibition and indicated that there was no reference to whether the containers were ‘‘open or closed’ and sought clarification on how this prohibition would be enforced. Mr Bending responded that the service continued to engage with street drinkers to address this issue and enforcement officers had been given the power to use their discretion to enforce this condition.

RESOLVED to note the contents of the report.

9.1  Robin Jones, Team Leader Trading Standards,introduced the report providing an update on the Food Law Enforcement Service Plan 2016/17.  Mr Jones highlighted the work of the Hackney Trading Standards from April to December 2016 and outlined the Service’s achievements and future areas of interest. The Service’s achievements included the successful prosecution of two traders and recovery of £300k from financial investigations.

 9.2  In relation to food fraud in Hackney, Mr Bartlett stated that a dedicated food fraud officer had been engaging with local businesses as well as making unannounced inspections and taking enforcement action if necessary.  Mr Bartlett stated that phases 1 and 2 of the food fraud project had been completed and phase 3 was awaiting funding. The Council would be broadening the food fraud scope in the next financial year from illegal meat products to other products such as illegal alcohol, fish, olive oil and high value products.

9.3  Cllr Kennedy expressed disappointment at the lack of support by larger retailers to the Council’s policy on minimum unit pricing of alcohol.  Cllr Selman reported that it had been a challenge to gain access to larger retailers however, there had been significant support from smaller retailers for the policy and therefore a voluntary arrangement would be introduced.

9.4  Cllr Stops enquired about the enforcement action being taken to tackle the rising number of estate agents boards sponsoring school fetes while publicising their services.  Mr Jones confirmed that action had been taken to address this issue however in recent months there had been an increase in agents’ boards and the team would continue to take action to tackle this issue.

9.5  Cllr Sharman stated that the service targets had to be reviewed to ensure that they were relevant and measurable so that the service’s performance could be monitored.  Mr Barlett said that the performance was being monitoring in areas such as food and licensing and that a dashboard was being developed to capture data daily and this would enable the Council to monitor the Service’s performance against agreed KPIs and internal targets. Cllr Selman advised that the new service planned to measure performance and report the findings to this Committee.  Mr Jones confirmed that the new service would report bi-yearly.

 9.6  Cllr Fajana-Thomas enquired how the service engaged with minority groups to educate them on unsafe or unhealthy imported products such as palm oil, medicine and healthcare products.  Mr Bartlett stated that officers engaged with businesses by providing advisory literature on food, import control and supply chains for products.  They had also delivered education programmes to raise awareness among the public such as the health catering programme which provided information on food, nutrition and food hygiene and safety. Mr Jones added that traders were encouraged to surrender prior unsafe or illegal products prior to any enforcement action being taken. 

9.7  Cllr Stops asked how zero rated food premises were allowed to continue trading. Mr Bartlett stated that it was not mandatory for a business to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

RESOLVED to note the Corporate Committee Work Programme for the municipal year 2017/18.

11.1  There was no other urgent business.