Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from Deputy Haines, Dr Martin Dudley, Emma Price, Alex Bain-Stewart, Elizabeth Rogula, Alderman David Graves, Chris Punter and Patrick Streeter.

Mr Gareth Moore declared an interest in all housing matters as he was a tenant on the Golden Lane Estate.

To agree the minutes of the previous Committee meeting.

Resolved – that the minutes of the previous meeting be agreed as an accurate record.

To receive a presentation from Lee Hutchings, Packguard.

The Committee received a presentation from Ian Hutchings of Packguard and noted that since the implementation of the Crime & Disorder Act 1997 local agencies had done a lot to tackle anti-social behaviour. It was no longer tolerated and the public could see that their areas are safer.

Generally people perceived anti-social behaviour in many areas to be less of an issue. However, this offered little comfort to the victims who continued to suffer at the hands of a small minority. This behaviour could cause misery for entire communities and it remains one of social tenants’ biggest concerns.

Members noted that to tackle this, in a time where there were increased demands on Police resources, and a necessity to reduce costs, the Patrol Service provided an accountable, open and equal access service on behalf of Social Landlords and Local Authorities to fill the gaps in current statutory provision. These services provided a dedicated and consistent provision in addition to other statutory services to help address local issues and enable other services to take wider action and better support residents, and make these communities even safer.

Members noted that the total cost for this one year pilot scheme would be £70,000 and would be met from the departmental budget of Community and Children’s Services departmental budgetr

Resolved – that the presentation be noted.

Report of the Town Clerk.

Resolved – that the terms of reference be agreed by the Committee.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk stating that in light of how recent national developments had impacted on the way local authorities exercise their health overview and scrutiny function, your Health & Social Care Scrutiny Sub Committee agreed to examine whether there were any areas where its health and social care scrutiny functions could be strengthened, and to evaluate the resource and governance implications.

A report presenting the options available regarding Committee governance was

considered by the Health & Social Care Scrutiny Sub Committee at its meeting on 2

November 2015. The Community & Children’s Services was now asked to approve the recommendations made by the Sub Committee regarding future governance.

In response to a query regarding the membership of the Committee, Members were informed that the Town Clerk had consulted the Comptroller and City Solicitor; the advice to Officers had been that although the guidance was not statutory it was the recommended course to ensure there were no Member conflicts of interest.

Resolved – that the following be agreed:

Subject to the approval of the Court of Common Council, the Community &

Children’s Services Committee agreed:

· The Health & Social Care Scrutiny Sub Committee’s recommendation of

dissolving the Health & Social Care Scrutiny Sub Committee;

· That no Member of the Community & Children’s Services Committee or the

Health & Wellbeing Board should serve on the Health & Social Care Scrutiny

Committee;

· In view of the proposed restrictions on the ‘pool’ of Members available to

constitute the Health & Social Care Scrutiny Committee, that the new Health

& Social Care Committee should be one of those listed as an exception under

Standing Order 29(3) in terms of dual Chairmanship;

Report of the Remembrancer.

The Committee received a report of the Remembrancer advising the Committee of the relevant provisions of the Housing and Planning Bill currently before Parliament. Among other things, the Bill would fund the extension of the right to buy to housing association tenants through requiring the sale of high-value local authority housing, will bring about a shift away from affordable rental housing towards ‘starter homes’ for first-time buyers, and would require higher rents to be charged to social tenants earning high incomes.

In response to a query, Members noted that the Bill would no longer allow the City Corporation to provide lifelong tenancies. These would now be issued on a 2 – 5 year basis with reviews when the tenancy drew to an end. Tenant who already had lifelong tenancies would continue to do so regardless of whether they moved property.

Resolved – that the report be noted.

Joint report of the Chamberlain and Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Committee received the report outlining the annual submission of the revenue and capital budgets overseen by the Committee.

Resolved – that the following be agreed:

· review the provisional 2016/17 revenue budget to ensure that it reflects the

Committee’s objectives and, if so, approve the budget for submission to the

Finance Committee;

· review and approve the draft capital budget;

· authorise the Chamberlain to revise these budgets to allow for further

implications arising from departmental reorganisations and other reviews,

corporate projects, changes to the Additional Works Programme.

· If specific service based review proposals included with this budget report are

rejected by the Committee, or other committees request that further proposals

are pursued, that the substitution of other suitable proposals for a

corresponding amount is delegated to the Town Clerk in discussion with the

Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the relevant Committee. If the substituted

saving is not considered to be straight forward in nature, then the Town Clerk

shall also consult the Chairman and Deputy Chairmen of the Policy and

Resources Committee prior to approving an alternative proposal(s).

Report of the Chamberlain & the Director of Community & Children's Services.

The Committee received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services outlining the annual submission of the revenue and capital budgets

overseen by the Committee.

Resolved – that the following be agreed:

·       reviewed the provisional 2016/17 revenue budget to ensure that it reflects the

Committee’s objectives and, if so, approve the proposed budget for

submission to the Finance Committee;

·       reviewed and approve the draft capital budget; and

·       authorised the Chamberlain to revise these budgets to allow for further

implications arising from departmental reorganisations and other reviews.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Committee received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services informing Members of the progress made during Quarter 2 (Q2 – July to September

2015) against the refreshed 2015–17 Community and Children’s Services Business

Plan. It showed what had been achieved and the progress made against the five

departmental strategic aims:

· Safety and early help

· Health and wellbeing

· Education and employability

· Homes and communities

· Efficiency and effectiveness.

Members noted details of complaints received by the Department at and the Department’s budget information. Departmental performance and progress for Q2 were overall good with some areas of outstanding performance. The set target for 13 out of 17 measurable performance indicators for this quarter was achieved or exceeded (the same as Q1) and four were within the tolerance of -10% of the set target.

Joint report of the Chamberlain and the City Surveyor.

The Committee considered a report of the Chamberlain and City Surveyor in relation to the Operational Property review and noted that this was a cross-cutting Service Based Review which was taking a more strategic view of the operational assets the City of London Corporation had. The review aimed to identify opportunities to rationalise the Corporation’s operational property portfolio and reduce the high and rising cost of property.

Members were informed that this report would now be considered by the Corporate Asset Sub Committee and then the Resource Allocation Committee in December 2015. Services Committees would then receive reports for decision from January 2016 onwards.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Committee received the Mental Health Strategy and noted that it was developed based on the findings of the Mental Health Needs Assessment for the City of London (2015). The mental health strategy set out the overarching aim for more people in the City to have good mental health, and described how the City intended to achieve this. It identified four priorities which are: Prevention, Personalisation, Recovery, and Delivery.

In response to a query, it was noted that the focus of the strategy was delivering better outcomes for residents, rough sleepers and workers. It aimed to improve the mental health of people in the City, keep people well and then ensure we provide effective support when mental health problems do arise. Members noted that the report would now be considered by the Community and Children’s Services Committee at their meeting on 11 December 2015.

Members drew Officers attention to two homeless individuals who currently resided in Moorgate station and asked for their status to be reviewed.

Resolved – that the Mental Health Strategy be approved.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Committee received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services informing Members of the lack of progress on the proposal to expand

Sir John Cass’s Foundation Primary School to a two-form entry (2FE) school,

following a decision at the Sir John Cass’s Foundation Board ( the Foundation) held

in October 2015 to once again refuse to grant a licence in order for the school to

expand.

As a point of clarification, a Member raised a query regarding the detail in the report referring to the Foundation’s 10% contribution towards capital costs. The Committee were informed that these monies were not being requested by the City Corporation but by the Department of Education.

Upon taking advice from the Town Clerk, it was agreed that the questions which Members wished to raise should be considered as non-public and therefore the remainder of this item was considered under Part 2.

There were no questions.

Members were made aware that staff from the Housing Service had raised nearly £6,000 for the Royal British Legion during the Poppy Appeal 2015.

MOTION - That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act as follows:-

MOTION - That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

To agree the non-public minutes of the previous Committee meeting.

Resolved – that the minutes of the previous meeting be agreed as an accurate record.

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

The Committee received a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

There were no questions.

There was no urgent business.