Agenda and minutes

1.1  Apologies were received from:

-  Cllr Joseph;

-  Cllr Potter.

1.2  The following members attended online:

-  Cllr Hayhurst.

2.1 There were no late items and the agenda was as published.

3.1 There were no declarations of interest.

4.1 A key function of the Scrutiny Panel is to retain oversight of council performance and the delivery of quality services.  To support this  role, Scrutiny panel receives a report on Complaints and Member enquiries annually.  The annual report of Complaints and Member Enquiries  provides an analysis of the nature and volume of complaints received, the performance of the authority in responding to these complaints, and how the complaints service uses this data to develop and improve the quality of local service provision.

Officer presentation

4.2 The Head of Business Intelligence & Member Services (HBISMS) presented the report to members, highlighting the following issues.

§  Complaints and Member & MP Enquiries continued to record substantial increases in 2022/23, which were now running at almost double historical norms (pre-pandemic). It was anticipated that the current level of complaints would continue for the foreseeable future.  Hackney was not an outlier in this respect, but was part of a wider regional and national trend. 

§  In 2022/23 there were over 5,400 Stage 1 complaints of which 344 progressed to Stage 2, an escalation rate of 6.4% which has been consistent for some time. This would suggest that there has not been an increase in escalation of complaints, just an increase in the volume of issues being raised.  There were over 4,300 MP and Councillor Enquiries and these figures are now twice that of the historical norm.

§  Despite the increase in the volume of complaints, the response time for dealing with Stage 1 complaints improved from 32.1 days in 2021/22 to 23.9 days in 2023/23, Stage 2 were dealt with on average in 22 days in 2022/23 compared to 23.5 in 2021/22.

§  Housing repairs remains the service area with the highest level of complaints followed by Benefits and Revenues.

§  The rise in the number of complaints resulted in a significant increase in workloads for those services handling these complaints, and whilst services were managing the volume of complaints there were significant pressures within these services.

§  Complainants who are not happy with the Stage 2 response of the Council can take their case to the Ombudsman, and whilst there has been an increase in the numbers of these cases which were escalated these were not significantly higher and, there has been an improvement in the Ombudsman outcomes for the council.  Again, this data is comparable to other similar authorities.

4.3 Cllr Chapman noted that, although Mayor Enquiries were not covered in the report, a new dedicated team of (5) caseworkers had been established to respond to Mayoral enquiries whose work was overseen by a newly appointed service manager. This should result in service improvements for members.

Questions from the Panel

4.4 (Chair) Whilst there are some encouraging signs within the complaints data, the fact remains that significant numbers of local residents are unhappy with local services that they have received.  Given the volume of complaints and the resources needed to administer them, what is the council doing on a more strategic level to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.1 Council Finance is a fixed item on the agenda of the Scrutiny Panel to allow members to retain oversight of the Council’s overall budget. Reports and updates below are provided for members to review: The finance update will also include a verbal update about the following:

1. The Council's communication / engagement plans with residents about the Council's budget;

2. Update on the budget setting progress and budget gap;

3. Update on the Audit Committee work looking at Section 114 notices

4. Update on the Audit Committee Task Group for Fees and Charges.

5.2 Cllr Chapman introduced the item highlighting the ongoing financial pressures that the Council was facing.  Due to reduced central government funding, the Council was now £150m worse-off now than it was in 2010 and further tightening was anticipated over the next financial period.

5.3 The DoF presented a series of slides which are attached which covered the following issues:

·  General fund forecast 2023/24

·  HRA forecast

·  London picture

·  Capital programme & borrowing

·  Update on Budget Process 2024/25 - 2026/27

·  Budget communications

·  Autumn Statement Update

·  Public Interest Reports & S114 notices

·  Income Generation Task & Finish Group

Questions from members of the Panel

5.4 The presentation noted that £14m of reserves had been used for this year. Can officers explain further about the use of reserves and the value of remaining reserves?  Does the council have an appropriate level of reserves / contingencies to meet unexpected demands in 2024/25?

·  (DoF) It was correct that £14m of reserves had been used, mainly for those services areas of high demand and spend such as children’s and adult social care.  It was anticipated that there would be a drop in reserves after this year, but next year significant growth monies had been put into these budgets to reflect the high demand for these services.  Whilst this growth would have covered the overspend this year, this would not mean that additional reserves would not be needed for next year.  The Audit Committee undertook a deep dive into the councils use of reserves which demonstrated that there was a long term decline of the amount of reserves available, a position which was common to many authorities across London.  The reserves position would be updated after the final settlement which was expected on 18th December 2023.  A stress test of the reserves available for next year was also planned to test out the financial resilience of the council.  There was an agreed level of reserves and this would be set out in the Cabinet report in February. 

·  (Cllr Chapman) It was noted that there was also an overspend of £9m this year which may impact on reserves.

5.5 (Cllr Hayhurst) In terms of the £9m overspend, is it the case that to mitigate this that a certain amount of money is set aside at the beginning of the year and a conservative figure is set for Council tax collection?  Once these factors are taken into account, how will this impact on the projected  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.1 The Scrutiny Panel set up the Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTRS) Task and Finish group to review the CTRS model in Hackney, the options and costs to the Council to reduce the liability of council tax contributions for relevant working age adults and the cost implications to implement a zero based CTRS model in Hackney. The Task Group reviewed the impact of localised council tax support schemes in England and Hackney and considered proposals by Hackney to reduce the local contribution rate paid by working age households eligible for council tax support from 15% to zero. The draft report and recommendations were finalised and agreed by the Scrutiny Panel in April 2023 and the Executive response was agreed by Cabinet in July 2023.

6.2 Cllr Chapman (Cabinet member for Finance) introduced the response and what progress had been made since July 2023.

§  The scrutiny exercise was helpful in setting out the implications of the different council tax reduction scheme options and helped to inform local plans and final agreed approach.

§  The newly proposed scheme had been formally consulted upon with a positive response from the community and local voluntary groups.

§  A Cabinet decision was expected on the agreed scheme by January 2024 Cabinet and be included within next year's budget.

§  This policy was important in the context of the lack of government financial support for such initiatives and the ongoing cost of living crisis experienced by local residents.

6.3 (Chair) Scrutiny Panel was pleased with the Cabinet response but would like to further assess the role of advice services in relation to this review.  An update on the implementation of these recommendations would take place in 1 year.

Agreed: That a follow up be undertaken to this review, to assess implementation of the agreed recommendations.

7.1 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 has made good progress in reducing emissions over the last decade, but it was recognised that faster and more coordinated action will be needed to protect communities and the environment from the effects of climate change.

7.2 The Net Zero Review was established by the Scrutiny Panel in October 2021. It was set up to look at what is needed to meet national and local net zero targets set out 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 draft report and recommendations were finalised and agreed by the Scrutiny Panel in April 2023 and the Executive response was agreed by Cabinet in October 2023.

7.3 The Chair welcomed the Cabinet response and invited the lead Cabinet member for this policy area (Cllr Coban) to introduce the report.  The following is a summary of the Cabinet members response:

§  The Cabinet member thanked the Chair and Panel members for their support for this work, and its efforts to focus on the delivery of these climate ambitions.  It was important to focus on the social justice aspect to the delivery of climate change and to make sure that residents were not disproportionately impacted, but also to make sure that residents had access to all the new green opportunities which may arise from this work.

§  Scrutiny involvement had been important in supporting the development of the Climate Action Plan so the council can track and monitor progress.

§  It was important that scrutiny continued to hold the council to account on its climate goals and ambitions and the Cabinet member was keen to ensure that local governance arrangements reflected this.

7.4 (Written question from Cllr Binnie Lubbock) What are the plans for community oversight for the council’s response to climate change plans and ambitions?

§  Local residents have had an opportunity to have a say on proposals via the initial public consultation on his work as well as the Green Recovery event as well as local Climate Summit.  Feedback from these events noted that there was a desire for wider engagement and involvement beyond the ambit of the council, that is, what the community could do to progress local climate goals and ambitions. There was a desire to engage in more democratic technologies which may be able to support more neighbourhood led initiatives (e.g. citizen assemblies or juries).  In terms of the consultation, there was an overrepresentation of responses from residents  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.1 The minutes of the previous meeting held on 13th July 2023 were noted and agreed.

Agreed: Minutes of the 13th July 2023.

9.1 The Interim Chief Executive Question Time was being held at the next meeting on the 30th January 2024.  Members were reminded to submit questions by the 18th December 2023.

9.2 Members agreed the work programme for the remainder of the year.

Next meeting to be held on 30^th January 2024.