Agenda item
Report from the Leader or members of the Executive
To receive reports from the Leader or members of the Executive in accordance with Standing Order 42.
Minutes:
The Leader welcomed Christine Gilbert to the meeting as the Council’s new interim Chief Executive. He referred to the recently held leadership awaydays and stated that the issues discussed would feature in the First Reading debate. Councillor Butt spoke in support of the White Ribbon Campaign against violence towards women, which was to be launched within the Council on Monday 26 November 2012 and he hoped all members would sign up to it.
Councillor R Moher stated that the recent budget awaydays had not been easy because of the lack of financial detail available to the Council. The local government settlement was due to be announced shortly before Christmas. In the meantime the Government had drip fed proposals affecting the resourcing of local government. Councillor R Moher referred to the localisation of Council Tax support. Preparations for a scheme were progressing as far as possible on the basis of it being at no additional cost to the Council. The proposed scheme would be put before members at a special meeting of Full Council on 10 December 2012. The current level of spend by the Government had been reduced for passing on to Councils. However the Government had recently invited bids for additional resources which appeared to be on a one-off basis. The short notice of the availability of these funds and the consequent need to change the scheme if a bid was successful presented a high risk to the Council so the Executive had decided to continue with its current plans.
Councillor Hirani referred to the partial transfer of the public health function to local government as from 1 April 2013. The Executive had agreed an integrated model of work headed by a full time director. Three public health areas would focus on – health intelligence, public health commissioning and health improvement. Councillor Hirani reported that the Executive had agreed the establishment of a carer services hub advice and support service. A consultation exercise had identified what carers thought was important resulting in the following seven priorities being mandatory priorities to be delivered as part of the contract:
· Information and advice
· Access to health and wellbeing services
· Whole family support
· Money and benefits advice
· Access to work and training
· Caring support and training
· Emergency support.
Councillor Hirani stated that Supporting People was a national preventative programme administered by local government. In Brent this programme also extended to provide a range of non-statutory welfare services. The Executive had agreed a contractual arrangement with providers that had led to an improved service and saved £1.6M.
Councillor Arnold reported that the Executive had agreed a Plan for Children and Families in Brent which underpinned the Council’s ambition to improve outcomes for children and their families. She urged members to look at the plan and note the priorities set out in it. Councillor Arnold reported that the £5M redeveloped Roundwood Youth Centre had been launched on 1 November 2012. She recommended that members watch the video of the opening on the b my voice web-site. Councillor Arnold reminded members of the successful work undertaken to attract myplacefunding for the project and referred to some of the out of school activities that would take place at the centre. Councillor Arnold stated that the Executive had endorsed an action plan for adoption which focused on addressing drift in the placement of children largely through better data collection, more robust performance management systems and an increased focus on the quality of planning. A recent inspection had shown the service provided good support to children and families in Brent but there was an issue around the time it took to secure a placement.
Supporting documents: