Agenda and minutes
Venue: Committee Room 4, Brent Town Hall, Forty Lane, Wembley, HA9 9HD. View directions
Contact: Toby Howes, Senior Democratic Services Officer 020 8937 1307, Email: toby.howes@brent.gov.uk
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Declarations of personal and prejudicial interests Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting any relevant financial or other interest in the items on the agenda. Minutes: None declared. |
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Minutes of the last meeting held on 22 March 2011 PDF 115 KB The minutes are attached. Minutes: RESOLVED:-
that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 22 March 2011 be approved as an accurate record of the meeting. |
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Matters arising Minutes: One Council programme update
In reply to a query from the Chair, Phil Newby (Director of Strategy, Partnerships and Improvement) confirmed that the resources were in place for the transition into adult life and special educational project to progress and it was at stage one of implementation. The project was due to report back to the Programme Board at the end of July. |
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Housing needs transformation project PDF 90 KB This report provides an overview of the Housing Needs Transformation Project and updates Members on current progress. The project is part of the One Council programme and focuses on the work of the Housing Resource Centre and Housing Solutions in the Regeneration and Major Projects Department. The report also provides some information about how the impact of the project will be monitored and evaluated. Minutes: Perry Singh (Assistant Director – Needs and Private Sector, Housing and Community Care) introduced the report and stated that the project focused on the work of both the Housing Resource Centre and Housing Solutions. The project built on successful improvement work already undertaken by the Housing Needs service to reduce homelessness applications and use of temporary accommodation. It also interlinked with the customer service and move to the Civic Centre projects. The project was also driven by the need to address budget pressures and a 30% reduction in resources was forecast between 2010/11 and 2012/13, including reduced capital funding for new build affordable housing. The project was required to deliver £0.75m in-year savings primarily through staff reductions and there would be a need to consolidate resources and use them as efficiently as possible. The situation was compounded by changes to Housing Benefit and this would affect around 8,500 households in Brent and place pressure on preventing homelessness.
Perry Singh then outlined the three central work streams of the project, which were service transformation, accommodation management and demand management. For service transformation, a key objective was to reduce duplication, whilst rationalisation was required in respect of accommodation management and managing expectations of customers and providing clearer advice in situations where they were not eligible in the case of demand management. Perry Singh advised that it was intended to fully implement the service transformation and accommodation management work streams by March 2012, whilst demand management would continue to operate over a longer period depending on the progress of legislation and would not commence until the autumn of 2011. Another central aim of the project was to provide a seamless customer journey from beginning to end, whilst the commissioning aspect of the project aimed to improve procurement. Perry Singh informed Members that seeing how other local authorities were addressing this issue was also being undertaken.
During Members’ discussion, Councillor Lorber commented on the large number of customers in category D of the housing waiting list and he enquired what advice were they given at the outset and did handling the number of cases of this type burden the council with additional costs. It was queried whether the length of time on the housing waiting list was still a factor in determining progress on it. Councillor Lorber sought clarification as to whether the council would have the authority to effectively eliminate category D from the housing waiting list. In respect of categories A and B, Councillor Lorber asked about the proportion of customers that made bids through Locata. Details were sought with regard to the extent of changes in commissioning and was the customer journey objective working effectively. Councillor B M Patel enquired if there were other ways to get on the housing waiting list and bid for housing other than on-line and whether assistance was provided in completing the necessary forms.
The Chair expressed concern about rationalisation of frontline staff and enquired how a customer-focused approach could be maintained. He sought further ... view the full minutes text for item 4. |
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One Council programme update PDF 164 KB The report is attached separately. Minutes: Phil Newby introduced the report, stating that the committee would receive regular updates on the One Council programme during the year. He announced that £11.8m gross savings had been achieved by the programme during 2010/11, with a further £28m savings forecast for 2011/12 and it needed to achieve 60% of the savings required overall. Phil Newby then drew Members’ attention to the various categories that the programme’s projects fell under. Referring to the cross council projects, he informed the committee that this included focusing on areas such as how customers accessed services and reducing face to face contract and looking at other contact techniques such as the internet and an improved telephone system. Another area was ways of working, of which the key driver was the move to the Civic Centre project which would lead to fundamental changes in the way staff worked and make the best uses of the technologies available to them. Support services were also being reviewed and it was noted that there was a big push within London to bring support services together for local authorities to share and the council was involved in a consortium with other local authorities in respect of Oracle. Strategic use of property was another priority, led by the strategic property project which aimed to make the most effective use of property and this was due to report back to the Programme Board in August. Consideration of how the council charges for services had been undertaken by the income maximisation project and the Commercial Opportunities Board would continue to identify opportunities for maximising income where appropriate.
Phil Newby then outlined some single directorate projects which involved reviewing process, commissioning on services and fundamentally changing a service and also some examples of multi directorate projects. There were also two partnership projects, including the transfer of public health from the Primary Care Trust to the council which would involve integration between Adult Social Care and Brent NHS and a more integrated approach to Health and Social Care which would focus on a preventative approach. Phil Newby drew Members’ attention to the savings targets from 2010-2014 and the RAG status as set out in the report.
Phil Newby advised the committee that there would be moves to extend the programme in the following year to deliver increased savings and the dependencies between the projects needed to be closely managed. Consultants would be used where they could provide skills to staff that the council did not have so that projects could be supported wholly in-house in the future. In addition, the programme had been boosted by the appointment of 14 council officers to the Project Management Pool from across the council and they would be allocated projects on a secondment basis.
During discussion, Councillor Lorber enquired about the RAG status of the waste and street cleaning review and commented that residents had yet to receive direct information of the changes to the service that would commence on 1 October. He asked how the message would ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
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Car repair and spray painting garages task group report PDF 62 KB The Car Repair and Spay Painting task group was set up following a motion to council. The attached report sets out the work and key findings of the task group. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Moloney, chair of the task group, was invited to address the committee. Councillor Moloney began by explaining that the task group was set up to investigate car repair and spray painting garages following the agreement by Council of a motion put forward by Councillor Allie. Although the activities of such garages were not widespread in the borough, there were cases of significant problems caused at some specific locations. Councillor Moloney stated that the task group had investigated sites which were considered hotspots, including Alperton, Dollis Hill and Willlesden Green with the relevant service area officers. Enforcement action had subsequently been taken at a premises in Willesden Green. Councillor Moloney drew Members’ attention to the recommendations of the task group in the report as set out below:-
1. That the complaint and referral form and log developed by officers at the task group’s request is implemented. Each department will nominate an officer responsible for maintaining and monitoring this.
2. That complaints made in relation to this type of premises should be monitored and reported back to members via the annual complaints report.
During discussion, Councillor Lorber enquired what measures were being undertaken to ensure that other relevant service areas were aware of the problems that can be caused by such garages and added that the problems can remain even after they have been reported.
The Chair welcomed the report and suggested that assurances should be made to residents that reporting the problem to any service area would lead to the problem being investigated by relevant officers. He added that residents should be encouraged to use all forms of contacting the council about such matters, including the internet, and a template form may well assist.
With the approval of the Chair, Councillor S Choudhary addressed the committee. Councillor S Choudhary welcomed the recommendations of the task group and stated that some garages along Hassop Road continued to cause significant problems.
In reply to the issues raised, Councillor Moloney advised that there was a long term plan to address issues in relation to Hassop Road, however it would require funding for the regeneration that was sought for the area. Members heard that the task group report had set out that problems could be reported to any service area of the council. It was also noted that there were many garages carrying out car repairs legally, however the measures recommended by the task group would be reviewed after a period to identify their effectiveness to date and to see whether any other measures should be considered.
Jacqueline Casson (Senior Policy Officer, Strategy, Partnerships and Improvement) added that the customer service project was also addressing matters in relation to reporting problems and submitting complaints to the council. The relevant service areas had attended site visits along with task group members and a referral form was in the process of being developed.
RESOLVED:-
(i) that the recommendations of the car repair and spray painting task group be agreed; and
(ii) that the report be ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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One Council Overview and Scrutiny work programme PDF 71 KB This report sets out sets some options for the One Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee work programme. These include issues raised by members at the Joint One Council, Children and Young People and Partnership and Place Overview and Scrutiny Committees meeting on 2 June 2011 and issues requested by the committee during 20010/11. Additional documents: Minutes: The Chair referred to the report that included suggested topics for consideration and also from suggestions that had been made at the Joint One Council, Children and Young People and Partnership and Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 2 June.
During discussion, Councillor Lorber commented that a report on renewing the agreement with Brent Housing Partnership (BHP) was shortly to be considered by the Executive. He felt that the contract between BHP and the council needed to be thoroughly scrutinised and he enquired how this would be undertaken.
In reply, Jacqueline Casson advised that a report on registered social landlords’ performance, which would include that of BHP’s, was to be put to the Partnership and Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Perry Singh acknowledged the importance of monitoring the contract in place between BHP and the council, although BHP had performed well to date. Members agreed to Phil Newby’s suggestion that this matter be discussed further and consideration be given as to a suitable overview and scrutiny committee to look into this matter.
Jacqueline Casson further advised that quarterly performance and finance information and waste and recycling were due to be considered at the committee meeting on 14 September. Some ideas with regard to topics for future working task groups would also be put forward. The Chair asked that an update on the Localism Bill also be presented at the next meeting. |
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Date of next meeting The next meeting of the One Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, 14 September 2011 at 7.30 pm. Minutes: It was noted that the next meeting of the One Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, 14 September 2011 at 7.30 pm. |
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Any other urgent business Notice of items raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Democratic Services Manager or his representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 64. Minutes: None. |