Agenda item
Cabinet Question Time- Mayor Glanville (19:05 -19:50)
Minutes:
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 of the Council’s work, and to help it understand problems in a more holistic way. The Strategic Plan was being aligned with individual service plans through financial resource planning and performance and risk management, and looking at long-term outcomes and theories of change.
The Council would continue to work in the open by creating opportunities for residents to participate in this work, ensuring services and decisions were co-designed and informed by local communities.
The financial challenge in delivering the Strategic Plan was significant. The Council had faced £140m worth of cuts in recent years, coupled with the impact of the pandemic and cyber-attack. As well as this, demand in children’s and adult social care had hugely increased, with £27m of demand growth in children’s social care alone.
ICT and hybrid meetings
Cabinet was committed to finding a permanent ICT solution for formal council hybrid meetings. A working group had recently been set up which included both Cabinet Members, Scrutiny Members and backbenchers to look at the options and benchmark against other local authorities.
Significant progress had been made in recovering from the impact of the cyber-attack. There were very few areas of the Council’s work where the cyber-attack continued to be a reason why it could not deliver a service, although there continued to be a financial impact in terms of reconciliation.
Work would continue in terms of modernising the digital tools and systems used by services across the Council, for example in Housing Services and in particular its repairs and maintenance service. These would include both in-house and off-the-shelf solutions.
The Council continued to work to close the digital divide and make better use of digital technology to modernise and innovate to create better experiences for residents and staff. This included investment in the library estate digital capacity, extra staff in Hackney Service Centre to assist residents whilst using digital services, and partnership working with broadband providers to offer faster, more reliable internet services to residents living in council homes.
In recognition of the broader digital divide, the Council continued to publish newsletters such as Love Hackney which had recently been expanded to include over 120,000. Housing Services alone produced thousands of leaflets and posters to ensure the Council effectively communicated with residents living in council-managed homes. Community translation was also increasingly facilitated being in partnership with community organisations and elected members.
Senior leadership changes
It was recognised that there had been some uncertainty in terms of senior leadership whilst the Chief Executive had been on a period of extended leave. During that time the Corporate Leadership Team had been expanded and the Group Director of Finance and Corporate Resources had been made Acting Chief Executive.
As the Acting Chief Executive (and s151 Officer) would be leaving the Council in the coming weeks, there was a need to appoint both an Interim Chief Executive and s151 Officer. The Appointments Sub Committee had recommended to appoint Dawn-Carter McDonald as Interim Chief Executive, Jackie Moylan as s151 Officer and Louise Humphreys as Monitoring Officer (as Dawn-Carter McDonald was the current Monitoring Officer and could not hold the role of Head of Paid Service at the same time). This was subject to endorsement by Full Council on 24th July 2023.
Questions, Answers and Discussion
A Panel Member asked for further information on the expanded Corporate Leadership Team and how it would work alongside the Mayor and Cabinet to deliver on the Council’s strategic properties.
The Mayor explained that the Council had undergone a substantial period of recruitment during 2021/22 to appoint to a number of corporate director positions. It was now investing in senior management through an expanded Corporate Leadership Team, and continued to review the strengths and weaknesses of the corporate leadership structure as it stood.
With experienced senior officers moving on from the Council, it was particularly important to invest in existing staff to ensure a smooth transition and interim arrangements. There was confidence that the officers stepping up into new leadership positions would be successful, and would bring with them both professional expertise and place-based institutional memory.
A Panel Member asked whether the Mayor was concerned that the Council’s commitment to build 1,000 new council homes between now and 2026 would not be able to be fulfilled due to the financial challenges facing the Council.
The Mayor explained that a significant amount of financial modelling was undertaken by the Council in ensuring the commitment to build 1,000 new council homes between now and 2026 was deliverable. When the new council homes programme started there was a funding gap of around £1m, but this gap had almost been closed.
New council homes would be delivered through a mix of methods, including accelerating existing programmes for council homes, a new programme of council homes, buying back council homes and new town centre developments.
The Council would also continue to lobby the government alongside other London Boroughs and the Greater London Authority to make the case for higher levels of grant funding which would align more closely with inflationary levels.
A Panel Member asked for an update on the progress of delivering new council homes on Morning Lane (Tesco site) development in Hackney Central.
The Mayor explained that the Council had recently appointed architects to explore new ideas for homes, workspaces and community spaces Hackney Central and Dalston, and look at how it can maximise community and social return from them.
This included exploring the development potential of town centre sites, Morning Lane (Tesco site) and bus garage sites. In terms of Morning Lane (Tesco site), it was hoped that around 140-160 new homes could be delivered alongside retaining a Tesco supermarket, incorporating opportunities for businesses and more jobs, and high-quality and greener public spaces.
The Council was using the feedback and priorities of residents, community groups and businesses to ensure changes benefit local people, and was now looking to appoint a development partner to work in partnership to develop the site.
A Panel Member asked whether more could be done to communicate to residents aout the impact that the cyber-attack had on delivering Council services, and in explaining why it made and continued to make difficult decisions in response.
The Mayor explained that it was important to remember that the cyber-attack was a criminal act, and so much of the initial communication around the incident itself had to be limited both due to the investigation and the threat of any further issues.
Having said this, the Council had since worked diligently to explain the narrative of events as a means of addressing the concerns raised by residents and informing good practice and partnership working.
At some point in the autumn an independent cyber security assessment would be published, outlining what happened and a judgement of the Council’s response. This may be an opportunity to communicate with residents, as well as to engage Scrutiny members and backbenchers.
A Panel Member asked whether the Mayor was concerned that the Council’s work on maximising and shaping green employment opportunities and supporting a circular economy would be affected by the financial challenges facing the Council.
The Mayor explained that work was underway to support green employment opportunities through the Council’s employment and skills service. Hackney Community College and Guild East in the Olympic Park were two examples of training providers helping people find work in the green economy.
The Council was developing a Housing Retrofit Strategy for all council housing in line with the Climate Action Plan, and had secured over £20m of decarbonisation and retrofit funding across the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and General Fund. It was hoped that this would also unlock green employment opportunities for residents.
Hackney Light and Power had been set up as a publicly owned municipal energy services company to accelerate efforts to deliver renewable energy across the borough, and was employing and investing in local people to support its work.
Two zero emissions networks had been set up in Stoke Newington and Shoreditch, with plans to identify funding to scale this up across the borough. Two circular economy zones had also been set up in Hackney Central and Hackney Wick to increase sharing, little libraries, refill points and other community swap events and schemes.
The Chair of the Audit Committee asked about how the Council engages with residents to ensure they understand the steps it was taking to improve repairs and maintenance on council managed estates and to support estate regeneration, as well as the increasing financial pressures on both the HRA and capital spending.
The Mayor explained that it was important for the Council to have an efficient and effective repairs and maintenance service, as well increasing the supply of council homes within the borough. Investment in improving the way council homes are managed had therefore been identified as part of the 2023/24 HRA budget proposals.
There were real financial difficulties around the HRA, which was largely due to government decisions and inaction. Around £700m had been taken out of the HRA due to the decisions of the government around rent, which was roughly equivalent to the funding needed to retrofit the Council’s entire housing stock.
In terms of estate regeneration, it was important that all projects were delivered through close collaboration with local residents from start to finish and through meaningful engagement on smaller projects such as green infrastructure.
Supporting documents:
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