Agenda and minutes

1.1  Apologies had been received from Cllrs Coban and Peters.

2.1  There were no urgent items.

2.2  The Chair noted that Members had asked that Item 6 – Chief Executive Question Time – be predominantly focused on the topic of ICT. He therefore suggested that this item be delivered at the same time as item 5 (ICT Update).

2.3  With Members agreeing to this, the recording of the discussions associated with both items 5 and 6 are recorded in the minutes under item 5.

3.1  Cllr Gordon noted that in pre meeting discussions Members had requested for an update on Universal Credit as part of the Quarterly Finance Update (item 7 on the agenda).

3.2  She declared that she was an employee of the Department of Work and Pensions and that she would therefore excuse herself from the meeting for this part of that item.

4.1  The minutes of the meeting of the 17^th July 2017 were agreed as an accurate record.

4.2  Two actions arising from the last meeting were due to receive responses in this one from Ian Williams, Group Director of Finance and Corporate Resources. The Chair suggested that these be received during the Quarterly Finance Update.

4.3  Cllr Nick Sharman, Chair of Audit Committee, fed in at this point. He brought Members’ attention to the discussion in the last meeting recorded in section 5.24 of the minutes. Giving an update on the development of a suite of key performance indicators, he confirmed that a data dashboard had now been finalised following liaison between the committee and the Business Analysis and Complaints Service.

4.4  He said that this now included a 2 page summary detailing the key indicators for the Council. He wished to thank Bruce Devile, Head of Business Analysis and Complaints for driving this forward.

4.5  He said that the dashboard had highlighted some good areas of performance but also some issues; most notably within Housing Services.

4.6  He suggested that the dashboard should be used by both the Audit Committee and Scrutiny Panel to inform their work.

4.7  He also recalled the points made by the Mayor in the previous meeting around him being happy to attend Audit Committee or Scrutiny Panel to discuss the issues that the work that the Audit Committee brought to light. The Chair of Audit Committee suggested that there might be further discussion around the forums in which the Mayor might feed into regarding the data.

4.8  The Chair thanked the Chair of Audit. As a way forward he suggested that the Group Director for Finance and Corporate Resources might circulate the data dashboard to Scrutiny Panel Members. This would then help the panel reach a view on how they might incorporate considerations around it into its work programme.

5.1  Guests in attendance for this item were:

·  Tim Shields, Chief Executive

·  Rob Miller, Director, ICT

5.2  The Chair welcomed the guests. He thanked the Director of ICT for having provided what he said was a concise and helpful report, which was available within the agenda packs.

5.3  The Director, ICT thanked the Chair. He said that he had joined the Council a little over a year ago, at what was a very exciting time. He had entered an organisation which had had strong ITC infrastructure and arrangements already in place. There had been a track record of investment and achievement, meaning that his focus had not needed to be on putting right issues. For example, on entering the role very few Council computers were run on the dated Windows XP system. The Council had been responsive in moving to Windows 10 at an early point.

5.4  A key element of this was the in-house model which had been in place since 2012. This had meant the Council had the strategic levers for change at its control. Moving forward, it could continue to respond to the rapidly developing changes in technology, without the risk of being constrained by any rigid external contracts.

5.5  A good set of information and assets were in place, including the Hackney One Account and Citizen Index.

5.6  Asked to explain the Citizen Index system the Director, ICT confirmed that this was a database of all of the Council’s residents. Its links to other systems meant that changes to records on this would automatically update other databases used by Council services. It also meant that the Council could better understand and meet the needs of residents by having insight into their interactions with areas across the organisation.

5.7  The Director, ICT said that successful projects had brought significant savings and service improvements to the Council. A project led by Parking Services and supported by ICT had enabled much greater use of online permits. The strength of the Citizen Index system had also enabled the service to verify address details through this rather than paying significant amounts to private providers (for example Experian) to fulfil this function. Improving online services for customers had enabled channel shift by many of those previously accessing them via face-to-face contact.

5.8  His service was now working to build on these successes. Work in progress included a redesign of the Hackney Works service to allow more ease of access for residents with employment or work experience needs, and a service enabling Council residents to check their rent account balances and report and track repairs requests in real time online. He said that a key aim of his service was to work very closely with users to shape the solutions being created. For example, the launch of the ‘check my rent’ tool had involved usage by 650 customer in the first week. This would act a pilot with which to create and drive further improvement.

5.9  This principle of working with people more  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.1  Item 6 was delivered jointly with item 5.

7.1  The Chair welcomed Ian Williams, Group Director of Finance and Corporate Resources.

Special Educational needs Services

7.2  The Chair asked for the item to start with a response to the action below arising from the last meeting.

Action: To provide further details of the targeted and exceptional policy to the Panel and what this involves.

7.3  The Group Director, Finance and Resources confirmed that this new policy was part of the response to the issue of the Council having needed to use its reserve funds to significantly contribute to the funding of high needs pupils in Hackney.

7.4  This policy replaced the previous ‘Resource Level’ system. The Resource Level system allocated one of 5 funding levels to schools to fund pupils’ needs as detailed within their Educational and Health Care Plan (EHCP). The targeted and exceptional policy created 5 ‘Targeted Funding’ levels to replace the bottom 3 levels within the Resource Level system, and a further 2 funding levels within an ‘Exceptional Funding’ category to replace the top 2 levels within the Resource Level model.

7.5  This along with other measures would help to narrow the gap between High Needs government funding and levels of SEND spend. He was working with colleagues across the Hackney Learning Trust   to identify whether there were different approaches which could help support children at earlier points to reduce their likelihood of significant support needs at later points. They were also exploring whether – in the context of the Hackney Learning Trust reserve now fully committed after meeting SEND cost pressures – it was actually legal for the Council to use portions of its General Funds for this purpose.

7.6  Alongside this work, the Council was actively lobbying government for change. With High Needs Funding having been effectively frozen since 2011 at the same time as an acceleration in the numbers of young people in need of and eligible for support (through both population growth and policy change by Government), both this Council and others were facing significant budget pressures. There was an estimated funding gap of £100 million in London.

7.7  The Chair thanked the Group Director of Finance and Corporate Resources. He noted that there was a working group in place which the Deputy Mayor and a number of other Councillors were part of. He suggested that the Group Director of Finance and Corporate Resources might attend this group and provide a briefing paper along the lines of what he set out above.

7.8  Another Member felt this suggestion to be a very good one. He confirmed that dates for the group had been set for the next 4 months.

7.9  The Group Director of Finance thanked the Members. He said that he would be very happy to attend and be involved with the working group.

Waste costs

7.10  Moving onto another planned theme for the discussion, the Chair noted the related paper in the agenda packs. This regarded waste and recycling costs, and the implications for the Council of the delivery  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.1  The Work Programme was noted.

8.2  Members agreed that the next Scrutiny Panel meeting of 11^th December should have a focus on Housing Services. It was suggested that the Group Director of Neighbourhoods and Housing and the Cabinet Member for Housing Services be invited to this meeting in addition to the Mayor who was already due to attend for a Question Time item.

8.3  Members noted that the Living in Hackney Scrutiny Commission was keeping a watching brief on contract management and housing repairs, with items relevant to this due to be discussed in its November meeting. The Chair suggested that he have further discussions outside of the meeting to enable the Panel to have oversight whilst seeking to avoid duplication.

8.4  A Member noted that a key role of the Scrutiny Panel was to provide coordination and oversight of the work of the different commissions. She appreciated that the last meeting had heard about the planned work programmes for each. However, she felt that consideration needed to be given as to how it should perform this oversight function on an ongoing basis.

8.5  The Chair agreed with this point. While he felt that this might not be a standing item for each meeting, he suggested that this might be incorporated into the agendas of alternative meetings. He said that he would give consideration to this.

8.6  He also agreed that he would work with the Head of Scrutiny and Ward Forums in seeking to produce a plan of items being submitted to Council by Scrutiny.

8.7  A Member noted that a new scrutiny structure was in place for this municipal year. She suggested that the Panel might hold a discussion item to take stock,

8.8  Members agreed with this suggestion. It was agreed that this item would be held in the meeting of 7^th February 2018.

8.9  As a final point the Chair recalled discussions around the non-take up of the Scrutiny Panel Vice Chair role by the main opposition. This had ended with an agreement that the Chair would explore any ways to secure involvement in the Scrutiny Panel of opposition parties.

8.10  Updating Members, the Chair confirmed that he had raised this issue with colleagues. Any constitutional changes which would be required to better enable opposition involvement would follow in fuller reviews of the constitution.