Agenda and minutes

1.1  No apologies for absence.

1.2  Officer apologies from the Head of Community Safety, Enforcement and Business Regulation and Strategic Lead Policy and Strategic Delivery from London Borough of Hackney.

1.3  Councillors virtually in attendance were:

•  Cllr Nick Sharman,

•  Cllr Gilbert Smyth

•  Cllr Sam Pallis.

2.1  There were no urgent items, and the order of business is as set out in the agenda.

3.1  None.

4.1  The Chair introduced the item and explained the voluntary and community sector (VCS) had been through a transformation following the pandemic.  The Commission asked for an update about the sector; the boroughs volunteering service and the future of the sector.  The Commission was particularly interested in hearing from a mutual aid group because this was an area of development since the pandemic.

4.2  The Chair informed the meeting the presentations would commence with Sonia Khan, Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery from London borough of Hackney (LBH) followed by the following officers from the following VCS organisations; Tony Wong, Chief Executive Officer and Jessica Lubin, High Transformation Director from HCVS; Lauren Tobias, CEO from Volunteering Centre Hackney (VCH) and Euphemia Chukwu, Founder / Director from Woodberry Aid.

4.3  The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery from LBH commenced the presentation and made the following main points:

4.3.1  The voluntary sector was critical to the emergency response during the pandemic.  The grassroot activity and volunteering had been in collaboration and through the community partnership network.  The network was initiated by the Council.  This made use of existing resources and gaps were plugged with additional resources from the council.

4.3.2  This was in response to transitioning from direct delivery support (that was not sustainable) to tapping into existing activities.

4.3.3  This acknowledges the voluntary sector standing within the communities.  Therefore, any preventative approach from the outset responding to the pandemic needed to make sure the Council was valuing the VCS from the start.

4.3.4  The Council worked with the London Community Response Fund.  This was a group of funders that came together (this group consisted of some local authorities and some philanthropic funders).  This made way to focus its resources on the emergency response.  In essence this meant that if one project was not picked up by one funder it might be picked up by another funder.  This also enable organisations to support the most vulnerable and meet the needs of residents.

4.3.5  Although there was a big response to need during the pandemic it became clear that funders who were not on this initial journey, but involved in the immediate pandemic response, did not understand they were still in a crisis, in terms of poverty, inequalities and complex needs.  These have now exacerbated and present a potential threat to VCS organisations.

4.4  The Chief Executive from HCVS commenced his presentation and made the following main points:

4.4.1  During pandemic the voluntary sector was recognised for its role and the importance of the sector. 

4.4.2  Following the role of the VCS in the pandemic they have seen improved partnership and relationships with the statutory sector and amongst the VCS sector itself.  More collaboration in the sector.

4.4.3  They aim to solidify this work with the VCS enabler work which HCVS is leading on.

4.4.4  There is still concern around funding.  They do not feel that the funding arena for the sector is thinking about the future.  They acknowledge they  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.1  The Chair welcomed to the meeting Aled Richards, Strategic Director of Sustainability & Public Realm; Stephen Haynes, Strategic Director Inclusive Economy, Corporate Policy & New Homes; Suzanne Johnson, Head of Area Regeneration and Michael Toyer, Economic Development Manager.  Also in attendance for this item was the Cllr Susan Fajana-Thomas, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Daniel O’Sullivan Service Area Manager, Parking, Markets and Street Trading from London Borough of Hackney.

5.2  The Chair explained the first half of this item would be about the economic stocktake in Hackney.  The second half would focus on the night-time economy. 

5.3  The Chair commenced the item by saying following the unprecedented shock to the economy from the pandemic the Commission wanted an update on the health of the economy pre pandemic and post pandemic.  To assess the work by the Council throughout the pandemic to support the economy and the council’s analysis about the impact of those efforts.

5.3.1  The Strategic Director Inclusive Economy, Corporate Policy & New Homes from LBH explained the questions asked by the Commission were applicable to both service areas and would be covered in the one presentation.

5.4  The Head of Area Regeneration commenced the presentation and made the following main points:

5.4.1  The business statistics in Hackney inform us there are a total of 24,295 business units (Source: ONS Inter-Departmental Business Register 2021) and 98% of businesses in Hackney are small and micro businesses.

•  Micro employee numbers are between 0 - 9 and the business count in the borough is 21,970

•  Small employee numbers are between 10 - 49 and the business count in the borough is 2,005

•  Medium employee numbers are between 50 - 249 and the business count in the borough is 285

•  Large employee numbers are between 250+ and the business count in the borough is 30.

For high street businesses based on the business rates data it was estimated that in Hackney there were up to 3,000 retail, leisure, and hospitality units in the borough (based on Hackney Council Business Rates records for 2020).

5.4.2  The biggest sectors in the borough are:

•  Professional, scientific and technical

•  Information and communication

•  Business administration and support services

•  Retail

•  Arts, entertainment, recreation and other services

•  Property

•  Construction

•  Accommodation and food services.

5.4.3  The officer explained as set out in the presentation there are various sources of business and economic data, they access to assess the economy.  More recently the Council has been collating data on Hackney businesses from the business grants programme. 

5.4.4  As a result of the business grants program, they built a new IT system for businesses to engage with to obtain a grant.  This has given the council precise information about name, location, size of the business (number of employees), type of business (if registered as a company, sole trader or freelance or partnership model) and business sector. 

5.4.5  The officer explained the business set code is the category assigned by government  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.1  This was the end of the municipal year and the work programme had concluded.

7.1  There were no minutes of the previous meeting to approve.

8.1  None.