Agenda and minutes

Members noted the confirmed appointment to the position of Chair for the municipal year 2023/24, Cllr Margaret Gordon, as agreed by Full Council at its Annual Meeting on 17th May 2023.

The Chair updated those in attendance on the meeting etiquette and that the meeting was being recorded and livestreamed.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Joseph and Billington.

Cllr Laudat Scott, Cllr Troughton, Cllr Young, Cllr Terbet-Delof, Cllr Ogundemuren, Cllr Ozsen, Cllr Kam Adams all attended on-line.

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

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chair explained that a key element of the overview and scrutiny function was to hold the Mayor and Cabinet to account. The Mayor’s Question Time was the responsibility of the Panel, and for these discussions notice was given of the topic areas which will be the focus of discussion at the meeting.

The Chair outlined the key areas to which the Panel expected responses was as set out below.

Manifesto commitments

·  Update on the progress and monitoring of the manifesto commitments

·  Impact of budgetary pressures on the manifesto commitments

Senior leadership changes

·  The impact of changes to the senior leadership on the organisation and political leadership, and mitigations of any further impacts

ICT and hybrid meetings

·  Permanent ICT solution for formal council hybrid meetings

·  Update on the aftermath of the cyber attack

·  Digital divide and how the Council can ensure all residents are informed about council information and consultations

The Chair then invited Mayor Glanville to respond to the key questions sent in advance of the meeting. The key points are summarised below.

Manifesto commitments

The Council adopted its Strategic Plan in November 2022, which was framed around the Mayor’s priorities and reflected the 2022-26 Manifesto commitments of the Labour administration.

Since its adoption, significant work had been undertaken in response to the housing crisis. In December 2022, Cabinet approved a new house building programme which would deliver 300 of the 1,000 council homes the Council had committed to between now and 2026.

The operating context had become even more challenging, however, with build costs going up by around 40% in the last two years. Demand was increasingly outstripping supply in the rental market too.

The Council had continued to campaign to improve standards in the private rented sector and offer support to residents who were faced with eviction. £400k had been set aside for environmental health officers to help those in the private rented sector to secure the repairs needed to ensure homes were safe and free from damp and mould.

The Council also continued to invest in its leisure estate, developing proposals for a new teaching pool at London Fields Lido and improvements to the facilities at West Reservoir. In addition, the options for the refurbishment of Kings Hall Leisure Centre would soon be shared with the local community to get their views.

Improvements to Shoreditch Park had now been completed, including a new outdoor gym. A number of playgrounds had also been refurbished, and street public toilets would be free to use across the borough.

The Council had committed to exceeding its own climate action targets by installing 4,000 electrical vehicle charging points across Hackney by 2026, alongside significant investment in cycle provision.

The Council had worked with schools and community organisations to inform thinking about how it would spend Mayor of London funding for free school meals, and was taking on board the implications and opportunities for local work to complement this.

The Strategic Plan would be monitored year-round to measure and evaluate the impact  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Chair explained that the budget update was a fixed item on the agenda of Panel meetings to allow scrutiny members to retain oversight of the Council’s budget, receiving quarterly finance updates and conducting budget scrutiny sessions.

It was explained that the budget scrutiny process had been amended for the 2023/24 municipal year. It would now commence with an overview of the Council’s budget for 2023/2, accompanied with information about the spending priorities and pressures for each directorate.

To commence the budget scrutiny session the Panel asked the Mayor, Cabinet and Corporate Leadership Team to provide the following information.

·  Overview of the Council’s budget

·  The Directorate budget for 2023/2024

·  Directorate budget spend priorities for 2023/2024

·  Directorate budget service pressures

·  Update on the progress of budget savings that were agreed for implementation 2022/2023.

The Chair began by inviting the Cabinet Member for Finance, Insourcing and Customer Service to make some opening remarks.

The Council had seen a 40% cut in government grants since 2009/10. While more grant funding had been made available recently, for example for the Social Care grant, this did not cover the huge increases in demand and prices.

The local government pay award would also have an impact on the Council’s budget, as there would be no further funding available from government over the amount that they had assumed.

As set out in the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP), the Council was looking at a medium case budget gap over £22.162m for the current financial year, which meant that some difficult spending decisions would need to be made over the coming months to bridge the gap.

Whilst the scale of the financial challenge ahead was significant, the Council was committed to providing the services that communities relied on and, in setting its budget, would be completely focused on its strategic priorities and commitments.

The Chair then invited the Group Director Finance and Corporate Resources to give a short verbal overview of the Council’s budget.

The Council approved net revenue budgets of £255.4m for 2023/24 on 1st March 2023. This was broken down between directorates and the General Finance Account, which contained corporate items such as the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) levy, concessionary fares, provision for repayment of external debt and revenue contributions to capital and pay award provision.

The gross revenue budget was £1.2bn for 2022/23, a significant element of which was third party payments including the Housing Benefit Subsidy and Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) totalling £743.6m (57%).

The Council’s General Fund activities were funded by a mix of local taxation and government grants. For 2023/24, this included Council Tax (£103.3m), business rates including the Top Up Grant (£116.4m), revenue support grants and other non-ring-fenced grants (£78m) and specific grants (£57.7m).

The Council received around £230m in respect of housing benefits, the vast majority of which was directly paid out in benefits. The DSG after deductions for recoupment for academies, national non domestic rates and react funding for high needs by the Education and Skills Funding Agency  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The draft Overview & Scrutiny Public Engagement Protocol was presented. The Chair explained that the draft protocol was aimed at providing guidance and support to scrutiny councillors, officers and members of the public when engaging local people in the work of scrutiny.

The Panel RESOLVED to agree to the Overview & Scrutiny Public Engagement Protocol.

The draft minutes of the previous meeting held on 24th April 2023 were presented.

The Panel RESOLVED to agree the draft minutes as an accurate record.

The Char noted that there had been an unprecedented level of engagement with the work programme consultation process which had yielded a wide range of topic suggestions for scrutiny at Scrutiny Panel and across all Scrutiny Commissions.

A panel member enquired what would happen to the topic suggestion lists?

In response, it was noted that scrutiny officers were working through all suggestions and allocating these to scrutiny bodies for consideration and inclusion within their respective work programmes.

The Chair thanked the Interim Chief Executive and Group Director for his long standing contribution to sound financial management and leadership of the council and wished him well in his new appointment.

Meeting ends: 9:40pm