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 reported that the Executive had agreed to the Council seeking accreditation as a London Living Wage employer as part of the vision for Brent to be a fair and equitable employer and for people to receive a fair days pay for a fair days work. He added that local government was leading the fight for paying the London Living Wage and he hoped this would send a clear signal to contractors in Brent that they must pay a fair wage to their employees. Councillor Pavey was leading on this matter.
Councillor Arnold reported that the Working with Families Strategy had been agreed by the Executive. The strategy would provide a kick-start to the project aimed at improving the services delivered to the borough's most vulnerable families. She outlined the three strands that comprised the project:
• to develop a multi-agency front door (incorporating a multi-agency safeguarding hub) for Brent by July 2013
• to develop a family support service with an integrated short term crisis intervention service by April 2013 working with families with children of all ages
• to develop an aligned services strategy by the end of the month in order to improve and strengthen a wider range of aligned family support services across services and partners.
Councillor Crane paid tribute to the hard work of staff who had gritted the roads and helped maintain services during the recent cold weather. Councillor Crane referred to the report submitted to the last meeting of the Executive which set out a projected need by 2020/21 for up to 21 forms of entry primary school places and 19 forms of entry secondary school places. A strategic review of the Council's secondary school estate had been completed which would pave the way for a phased expansion of places. Phase 1 would see an additional 2 forms of entry provided at Queens Park school by September 2014. Phase 2 included Kingsbury High school accommodating an additional 4 forms of entry by September 2017 and the redevelopment of Gwenneth Rickus building providing additional 6th form capacity. Phase 3 included the redevelopment of Copland and Alperton Community Schools. In the meantime the Crest Academy would be completed in 2014. Councillor Crane expressed his concern over the position the Council was placed in of being accountable for providing school places but not for providing the necessary schools. Plans were not final because pupil numbers could change and because of the impact of the potential establishment of Free Schools.
Councillor Crane referred to the location of Vicar's Green primary school being in Ealing but close to the borough border. In October a joint project with Ealing had been agreed to expand the capacity of the school. Given that 50% of the pupils at the school were from Brent it made sense to share the cost of the project.
Councillor Powney stated that a wide range of environmental projects were underway and two highlights were that the reduction in carbon emissions was exceeding 25% and the amount of waste recycled was up from 30% to 45%.
Councillor Hirani reported that the Executive had agreed to delegate to officers the authority to award call-off contracts from the Supporting People Framework for a period of 2 years with discretionary extensions of one year (x2). He also referred to the change agreed to the Blue Badge scheme which now allowed the Council to levy a charge for the standard issue of a blue badge.
Supporting documents: