Agenda and minutes
Venue: Committee Room 4, Brent Town Hall, Forty Lane, Wembley, HA9 9HD
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 meetings held on 30 November 2010 and 9 December 2010 PDF 157 KB The minutes of 30 November 2010 are attached.
Minutes of 9 December 2010 to follow. Minutes: RESOLVED:-
that the minutes of the last meetings held on 30 November 2010 and 9 December 2010 be approved as accurate records of the meetings. |
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Call-in of Executive decisions from the meeting of the Executive held on 13 December 2010 Decisions made by the Executive on in respect of the following reports were called-in for consideration by the Call In Overview and Scrutiny Committee in accordance with Standing Orders 6 (b) and 18. Minutes: Decisions made by the Executive on 13 December 2010 in respect of the reports below were called in for consideration by the Call In Overview and Scrutiny Committee in accordance with Standing Orders 6 (b) and 18. |
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Adult Social Care Direct Services review PDF 145 KB The reason for the call-in is:-
· To give full consideration to the alternative proposal submitted by Brent LD Carers.
The Executive report is attached. The Lead Member and Lead Officer are invited to the meeting to respond to Members’ questions.
Additional documents:
Minutes: The reason for the call in is:-
· To give full consideration to the alternative proposal submitted by Brent LD Carers.
Councillor Lorber, one of the councillors who had call in this item, explained that it had been because he wished that the committee consider the alternative proposals that had been made by Brent carers. He stated that the carers had felt that their views had not been sufficiently considered and neither had the item been considered in the detail they felt was necessary at the Executive meeting held on 13 December 2010.
With the approval of the Chair, Anjna Manek, a Brent carer, addressed the committee and circulated a document detailing the Brent LD carers’ alternative proposals. Anjna Manek explained to Members that she had asked some carers to volunteer information about their particular cases and the sample used was representative of the various situations that they faced. The questionnaire she had used had asked for information on the service user profile and the carer’s situation. It was usual for there to be one primary carer per household and the paper circulated provided a synopsis of their response. Members heard that there were 138 users for the Stonebridge Centre and 100 for Strathcona. The level of disability amongst users varied, however nearly all also had underlying health issues and the average age of users was 49 years for the Stonebridge Centre and 46 years for Strathcona. Anjna Manek explained that most users had little connection with the community at large and many had difficulty in building relationships. Members noted that any user over 40 years of age were not likely to have been through the education system and the day centres provided users with the opportunity to meet with their friends and around 200 families in Brent were affected by the proposals. Anjana Manek drew Members’ attention to comments with regard to costs for the personal budget, day centre costs and transition to care home costs, the figures of which were calculated using a number of different sources, including voluntary, public and private sector providers. With regard to option four in the report that was agreed by the Executive, she queried the accuracy of the financial costings and sought a further explanation of these. Anjna Manek also sought further details of how personalisation for users and carers would work for them, such as how could users maintain friendships where their interests differed. She suggested that she could identify six users for the council to create personalisation plans from Monday to Friday to see how it would work.
Turning to Brent carers’ alternative proposals, Anjna Manek stated that of the Special Educational Needs teachers she knew, none had been consulted over the council’s proposals. She acknowledged that those users on both the older and younger age of the spectrum were less likely to use day centres, however there was a sizeable number in between who wished for a building based service. She felt that even if one building had ... view the full minutes text for item 3a |
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The reason for the call-in is:-
· To give full consideration to the impact on services of increases in fees an charges.
The Executive report is attached. The Lead Member and Lead Officer are invited to the meeting to respond to Members’ questions.
Additional documents: Minutes: The reason for the call-in is:-
· To give full consideration to the impact on services of increases in fees and charges.
Councillor Lorber, one of the councillors who had called in the item, commented that he felt the proposals had been drafted over a relatively short period of time which included some substantial fee increases in some cases, whilst other fee changes were being proposed to start earlier, from January or February as opposed to the beginning of the new financial year. He felt that fee and charges increases would have major implications in some areas, such as sports activities and in shopping areas.
Members then discussed the item. Councillor Denselow asked what the impact of the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) was with regard to consideration of fees and charges and he requested information on fees and charges in comparison with other local authorities prior to the savings required by local authorities. He commented that costs for pest treatment such as rats may be unaffordable for poorer households and enquired whether this would be means tested. Councillor Mashari suggested that the introduction of a free service to remove bulky waste would reduce fly tipping and therefore reduce the risk of pests. She asked whether any other measures were being considered to tackle pest infection, including working with other relevant agencies. Councillor Mashari also enquired whether more information could be provided to businesses to advise them in respect of making waste disposal arrangements. Councillor B M Patel sought reasons for the large increase in charges in respect of illegal deposits.
Councillor Lorber stated that the service to address rat infestation had been free because of environmental health reasons and he enquired what the consequences would be of introducing a £95 charge. He felt that rat infestation was a big problem in the borough, especially near shopping centres and that this represented a retrograde step. He asked what fees and charges changes required consultation with users, such as for allotments. In respect of the timing of the decision, he felt that as the council had been planning savings and had known about the VAT rise for some time, it was surprising that the proposals had been put to the December Executive. He felt that the VAT increase would not incur any additional costs to the council in any case. Councillor Lorber commented that the loss of take up in using services because of the increased charges could mean a fall in income and he asked whether this had been taken into consideration when devising the proposals. He queried the reasons for the difference in charges between on and off-street parking and asked when a review of the proposed fees and charges would take place to assess the impact both financially and on services.
The Chair asked if an exception to remove the charge to deal with rat infestation could be considered if there was a marked increased in rat-related diseases.
In reply to the issues raised, Councillor Butt (Deputy Leader of the ... view the full minutes text for item 3b |
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The list of decisions from the meeting that took place on Monday, 13 December 2010 is attached for information. Minutes: RESOLVED:-
that the Executive list of decisions for the meeting that took place on Monday, 13 December 2010 be noted. |
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Date of next meeting The next meeting of the Call In Overview and Scrutiny Committee is scheduled for Wednesday, 2 February 2011 at 7.30 pm and will take place in the event of there being any call-ins of decisions made by the Executive on 17 January 2011. Minutes: It was noted that the next meeting of the Call In Overview and Scrutiny Committee was scheduled for Wednesday, 2 February 2011 at 7.30 pm and would only take place if there were any call-ins of decisions from the Executive meeting held on 17 January 2011. |
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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. |