Agenda and minutes

1.1  Apologies for absence from Cllr Webb and Cllr Turbet-Delof.

1.2  Officer Apologies for absence from the Strategic Director Economy, Regeneration and New Homes, Stephen Haynes.

1.3  The Councillor virtually in attendance was Cllr Chapman, Cabinet Member for Finance, Insourcing and Customer Services.

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

3.1  None.

4.1  The Chair introduced the cabinet question time for Cllr Williams.  By explaining that a key element of the scrutiny function is to hold the Mayor and Cabinet to account in a cabinet question time session. 

4.1.1  The Chair explained that in the municipal year, the Commission holds a question time session with the Cabinet Member and senior officers to ask questions about performance and decision making within the Council related to their portfolio that was within the remit of the Skills, Economy and Growth Scrutiny Commission.

4.1.2  The Cabinet Member was asked to provide information to the scrutiny commission about the work the Council is doing in the topic areas outlined below.  The 3 areas being discussed are:

1.  The Council’s Green Skills and Circular Economy Commission

2.  National and regional challenges impacting the delivery of apprenticeships.

3.  The Council’s role in delivering technology training to older residents to build their confidence and ability to access and use the internet.

4.1.3  The Chair highlighted that bullet point 3 was a topic raised by a resident in the O&S public consultation.

4.1.4  The information noted in the agenda packs for the item are outlined below.

·  Presentation on Green Skills and Circular Economy workplan

·  Presentation Apprenticeship Programme Evaluation.

4.1.5  The Chair also explained that there is a fourth topic area about the work of the Diversity and Tech Commission was written update on page 29-30 in the agenda.

4.2  The Chair welcomed to the meeting Cllr Carole Williams, Cabinet Member Employment, Human Resources and Equalities and Dujon Harvey,Assistant Director Employment, Skills & Adult Learning.

4.3  The discussion item commenced with a verbal update from Cllr Williams covering the three areas outlined in bullet point 4.1.2 above.

4.3.1  The Cabinet Member highlighted that the presentation in the agenda outlined the proposals to deliver the Green Skills Commission.  The work to date for the Commission’s work has predominately been desk-based research.  The insight runs up to April 2023 and provides insight into the London wide green skills demand for London and Hackney.  This is in addition to recent publications about green (London and Hackney) from the WPI Economics, Greater London Authority (GLA) and Oxford Economics research.

4.3.2  Primary indicators suggest that green jobs will be focused in power/energy, homes and building as well as in the reduce, reuse, recycle and repair sub sectors.

4.3.3  The council intends to review the data on a 6 monthly basis in preparation for green skills.

4.3.4  Central London Forward (a strategic partnership formed of 12 London boroughs) commissioned some early analysis of green skills that will provide details about the carbon retrofit labour demand across London.  The analysis was carried out by whole life consultants.  The analysis indicates that 81% of Hackney homes and 84% of other buildings have an ECP rating of up to C.  To achieve an ECP rating above C will require personal labour over a significant number of years.

4.3.5  The Council’s Employment, Skills and Adult Learning Service is using a proportion  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.1  The Chair welcomed to the meeting Cllr Rob Chapman, Cabinet Member for Finance, Insourcing and Customer Service, Rotimi Ajilore, Head of Procurement and Energy and Merle Ferguson, Procurement Strategy and Systems Lead from London Borough of Hackney.

5.2  The Chair introduced the item and explained the Council proposed to merge the current Insourcing Policy and Sustainable Procurement Strategy into a new merged strategy. 

5.3  The purpose of this item was to understand the key principles of the new strategy, how the new strategy had changed and how it aligned with the Council’s strategic plans. 

5.4  The Chair highlighted that Hackney’s sustainable procurement strategy was a key tool for the Executive to use to achieve the manifesto commitments related to:

·  Community wealth building

·  Voluntary sector (commissioning and bidding for contracts)

·  Promoting local businesses (sustainable procurement by being able to keep delivery of good and services local)

·  Sustainability and net zero ambitions

·  Inclusive Economy (good employment).

5.5  This session would also give the Commission to opportunity to input into the developed of the new strategy.

5.6  The Cabinet Member for Finance, Insourcing and Customer Service commenced the presentation and made the following main points.

5.6.1  The Council’s insourcing strategy had been in place since 2018.  The current strategy helped the council to promote a greener, better, and fairer society in their procurement activities - insourcing approximately 350 jobs.

5.6.2  The strategy was a refresh aimed at bringing insourcing and procurement together to establish a hierarchy.

5.6.3  The main purpose of the presentation tonight was to obtain the Commission’s views and input into the refreshed strategy.

5.6.4  There were plans for further engagement with Councillors and the local community especially the voluntary and co-op organisations. 

5.7  The Head of Procurement and Energy and Procurement Strategy and Systems Lead continued the presentation and made the following main points.

5.7.1  The strategy was being drafted and currently Procurement had received input from stakeholder groups within the council.

5.7.2  The officer confirmed that contributions from the Commission would inform the development of the strategy.

5.7.3  Since 2018 under the current strategy some services had returned in house, and they had delivered a wide range of sustainable procurement outcomes.  These are outlined in the agenda pack slides (supplementary agenda pack page 11).

5.7.4  It was pointed out that over 330 contracted staff have transferred into the council.  Providing them with better terms and conditions for employment being directly employed by the council.

5.7.5  Several contracts have been insourced over the last few years and some of the employees are residents of the borough.

5.7.6  The Council had secured 50 apprenticeship placements for residents in the borough. 

5.7.7  Procurement has worked with suppliers to ensure there are employment and skills opportunities available for residents in the borough.

5.7.8  Procurement plan to build on the achievements to date and introduce a new set of commitments that will deliver greater community benefits to residents and businesses in the borough.

5.7.9  The new strategy they are aiming to bring  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.1  The Chair introduced this item and informed the Commission that there were no offices in attendance for this item.

6.2  The reports attached in the agenda under item 6 was the joint scrutiny report on Net Zero the Chair pointed out that several recommendations in the report were made by the Commission and Cabinet had provided a response to those recommendations.

6.3  The Chair recapped on this item and outlined that it was recognised that to reach the UK’s net zero ambitions will require all tiers of government, businesses, institutions, and communities to work closely together.

The Council declared a climate emergency in 2019 and has been building its vision to transition to net zero since.  Hackney, and the UK generally, has made good progress in reducing emissions over the last decade, but it is recognised that faster and coordinated action will be needed to protect communities and the environment from the effects of climate change.

The Net Zero Review was established by Scrutiny Panel in October 2021. It was set up to look at what is needed to meet national and local net zero targets set by Government and the Council.  This review also looked at how the Council planned to meet its ambitions in a manner that was affordable, efficient, and fair.

The review was an amalgamation of work by the overarching Scrutiny Panel and the thematic Scrutiny Commissions: Health in Hackney, Living in Hackney and Skills, Economy, and Growth during the municipal year 2021/2022.

The report and recommendations were finalised and agreed by Scrutiny Panel in April 2023 and the Executive response was agreed by Cabinet in October 2023.

6.4  The Commission was being asked to note the Executive response.

6.5  The Chair highlighted that 14 recommendations out of the 27 submitted were made by the Commission.  The Chair asked the Commission to review the response and confirm the following.

a)  if they were satisfied with the Executive’s response,

b)  if they think the council was on track with the progress outlined

c)  if in their view further work was needed by the council. 

6.6  The Chair asked the Commission when reviewing the Executive response to consider if they were comfortable that the response is suitably ambitious and clear. 

6.7  Comments, observations, and questions

(i)  The Chair commenced the discussion by pointing out she had concerns around the risks of waiting for others to make progress instead of doing the work.  The chair wanted to see ambition and action in relation to the recommendations.

(ii)  Cllr Premru acknowledged the work was in progress and developmental and referred to the points on partnership on page 42.  Highlighting the current London wide picture of decentralised energy and pipeline schemes were a combination of future projects and collaborative investment opportunities.  The Member referred to the North London Waste Authority and asked if the council was actively building on this work with other boroughs?

(iii)  Cllr Premru also referred to page 43 and the impact of waste management work  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.1  The draft minutes from the previous meeting on 19^th June 2023 were circulated in the main agenda pack.

7.2  The draft minutes from the previous meeting on 19^th July 2023 were circulated in the supplementary agenda pack.

7.3  The Chair noted the draft minutes from the previous meeting on 25^th April 2023 area attached for public record because they were tabled at the meeting in July.

7.4  The Chair asked Members to agree the draft minutes from the meetings in June and July 2023.

Members agreed the minutes.

8.1  This item is about the work program for the Skills Economy & Growth commission for 2023-24. This working document is regularly updated.

8.2  The Chair explained that following the Commission’s comments and suggestions at the last SEG meeting in July, the Chair and Vice Chair finalised the work programme.  The full work programme was on pages 165-174.

8.3  The next meeting will be on 13^th December 2023 at 7pm.  At this meeting they will review the Levelling Up funding and the UK Shared Prosperity Funding.  The Commission would receive an update on the council’s allocation and how this funding will be spent and the expected outcomes.

8.4  The Chair informed the Commission that the items previously scheduled for the SEG meeting in October 2023 will be included in the work program for the new municipal year because there was no scheduled meeting in April 2024 due to purdah for the pending London Mayoral elections.

8.5  Cllr Premru asked if the Commission would be reviewing the libraries strategy post implementation.

The Chair confirmed this item was scheduled for January 2024 in the work program.  Explaining that the previously combined item of Libraries Services and Library of Things, would be taken as two separated discussion items in the work program.  The Chair confirmed that the commitment made by the Commission to review library services one year on was maintained within the work program. 

9.1  None.