Agenda and minutes

1.1  Apologies for absence from Cllr Walker and Cllr Race.

1.2  Apologies for lateness from Cllr Potter.

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

2.2  The meeting is dedicated to the discussion about library services and Hackney’s Library Strategy.

3.1  The declaration of interest were as follows:

3.1.1  Cllr Smyth declared he is a member of the Musicians union and was a member of an Executive task and finish group for the libraries review.

3.1.2  Cllr Narcross declared he is a member of Unison.

3.1.3  Cllr Lynch declared she is a member of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and an accredited trade union steward for RCN.

3.1.4  Cllr Premru declared she is a member of National Unions of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) and Transport Salaried Staff’ Association (TSSA).

3.1.5  Cllr Webb declared she is employed by the RMT and a member of GMB.

3.1.6  Cllr Billington declared she is a member of Unite, Unison and GMB.

3.1.7  Cllr Potter declared she is a Member of the Council Joint Committee (CJC) and they have discussed library services at their previous meeting.  Cllr Potter was also part of the Members task and finish group and attended the first meeting and a member of Unite.

4.1  The Chair informed the Commission that the discussion would commence with 2 presentations one from Libraires Connected and the second from Hackney Young Futures Commission.  This would be followed by a Q&A from Members of the Commission.

4.2  The last 2 presentations would be from Hackney Council and the second one from Unison representatives in Hackney.  This would be followed by a Q&A from Members of the Commission.

4.3  The Chair informed the Commission that written information and the presentations were provided in advance (in the agenda pack) from Hackney Council, Unison and Libraries Connected.

4.4  The Chair provided background information about the Libraries Services review which was launched in April 2021 by Hackney Council. 

4.5  The review of Hackney’s library services entailed extensive conversations about libraries with residents and stakeholders to measure the satisfaction levels of the current service provision and identify the local needs and aspirations for the future of the service.

4.6  A new library strategy was developed following engagement with residents, councillors, staff and relevant council departments.

4.7  Hackney Council’s Library Strategy and associated service objectives, transformation vision, and service model was adopted by the Council in October 2022.

4.8  This meeting is to review the implementation plan for the library strategy, consider the future plans for library spaces and the workforce changes.

4.9  The Chair explained the purpose of this meeting was not to comment on the strategy itself because the strategy and vision had already been formally agreed by the Council’s Executive. 

4.10  The Chair welcomed to the meeting the following attendees:

Libraries Connected

·  Isobel Hunter, Chief Executive

London Borough of Hackney

·  Polly Cziok, Strategic Director, Engagement, Culture and Organizational Development and

·  Petra Roberts, Strategic Service Head for Culture, Libraries and Heritage.

Unison

·  Matthew Paul, Joint Branch Secretary and

·  Brian Debus, Branch Chair.

Hackney Young Futures (HYF) 

·  Thierry,

·  Luyanda,

·  Sudenaz, (virtual) and

·  Ceylan (virtual). 

Also in attendance from London Borough of Hackney to support the HYF representatives was:

·  Silvia Perin, Strategic Delivery Officer

·  Mia Guercini, Management Trainee Policy and Strategic Delivery.

4.11  Presentation by Libraries Connected

4.11.1  The Chief Executive from Libraries Connected (LC) commenced her presentation and the main points from the presentation were:

4.11.2  Libraries Connected is the membership body for public libraries in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the crown dependencies.

4.11.3  Libraries Connected are funded by the Arts Council as a sector support organization.

4.11.4  Their main work is to network libraries and support them in areas of innovation and service development.

4.11.5  They are focused on looking at the next steps for the sector and where libraries need to develop.

4.11.6  LC advised at the start of the pandemic they outlined a recovery model.  However, the fourth stage of the recovery model is not to put services back to how they were pre-pandemic but to stop and reflect on the changed world to review the changing needs of library services.

4.11.7  LC pointed out they had hit the point now where they can start to see  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.1  Members noted the minutes from the previous meeting will be on the next agenda.

6.1  The Chair referred to the work programme for the scrutiny commission on pages 361-371 in the agenda. 

6.2  The Chair updated on the upcoming agenda discussion items for the future meetings.  The Chair confirmed the discussion items on Economic Development was being moved to the March meeting date from February 2023.

6.3  Cllr Premru raised the Skills and Circular Economy report by the GLA with ReLondon and published in June 22 and suggested inviting in a speaker to scrutinise the report.

In response the Chair advised this might be useful to include in the agenda pack for a future meeting.  The Chair also explained that the focus would be on the Council to review their plans for this area of work.

Cllr Potter commented the report is quite wide and the focus of the next meeting was green skills.  Cllr Potter suggested this might be better with the skills CQT in April 23.

7.1  None.