Agenda item
Pre-Cabinet Scrutiny of Proposals Relating to Tackling Illegal Rubbish Dumping and Litter with Uniformed Street Patrols
This paper has been prepared at the request of the Lead Member for Environment, Cllr Southwood. Cllr Southwood has asked that the formal report recommending options for the on-going deployment of litter enforcement patrols, and which is intended for decision at the April Cabinet, is offered first for pre-scrutiny.
Minutes:
Councillor Southwood (Lead Member for Environment) advised that the report before the committee was a draft report which would be finalised and submitted to the forthcoming Cabinet meeting on 13 March 2017. The report reviewed the uniformed street patrol pilot which had been undertaken with Kingdom Security Ltd, outlined the available options for taking the service forward from June 2017 and concluded that the creation of an in-house service would be the most advantageous of these options.
In the ensuing discussion, several queries were raised by the committee including whether formal minutes had been taken of discussions between officers and Kingdom Security Ltd. Further information was sought regarding the intended balance of enforcement activity for minor littering offences with larger-scale illegal rubbish dumping and how amending this relationship could affect the viability of the model. Members questioned whether Kingdom Security Ltd were London Living Wage accredited and whether the anticipated wages for an in-house team were of an appropriate level. A member expressed the view that a private company undertaking the service could realise greater benefits for the council and questioned why the option of partnering with other authorities was not favoured.
Responding to members’ questions, Amar Dave (Strategic Director of Regeneration and Environment) advised that the outcome of discussions between officers and Kingdom Security Ltd was detailed in the report before the committee but no formal minutes had been taken. Councillor Southwood explained that the revenue generated by Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) issued for low-level offences had been reinvested into the service, enabling additional CCTV cameras to be installed and financing targeted interventions in problem areas. It was emphasised that many of the low-level offences had serious public health consequences and it was important to take a zero tolerance approach to this kind of activity. Discount for early repayment was not offered as this was consistent with the approach employed for other types of FPNs and the message that littering and other such offences were not acceptable. The current relationship between the enforcement activity undertaken by Kingdom Security Ltd, the work of Veolia (the council’s public realm contractor) and that of the council was explained to the committee. Members heard that Kingdom Security Ltd had provided support to Veolia in searching illegally dumped rubbish for evidence of ownership which would then be passed to the Council’s Waste Enforcement Team for investigation. Kingdom Security Ltd did not receive any additional payment for undertaking this work.
Officers confirmed that Kingdom Security Ltd were not a London Living Wage (LLW) accredited firm but did pay employees working in Brent wages consistent with the LLW. It was acknowledged that this was not clear within the report and this would be amended. The costing for equivalent in-house positions had been based on an evaluation of how the various roles would fit within the council’s pay structure. The in-house option was considered financially viable and enabled flexibility to shape the service going forward, including the possibility of bidding to provide services for other authorities.
RESOLVED – that the report be noted.
Supporting documents:
- kingdom_covering_note, item 12. PDF 70 KB
- Restricted enclosure View the reasons why document 12./2 is restricted