Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Mitchell and J.Patel, with Councillor Maurice attending as an alternate member on behalf of Councillor J.Patel.

Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting, the nature and existence of any relevant disclosable pecuniary, personal or prejudicial interests in the items on this agenda and to specify the item(s) to which they relate.

Councillors Ahmadi Moghaddam and Long declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 7 as members of Brent Friends of the Earth. Councillor Georgiou also declared a personal interest due to his close association with Brent Friends of the Earth.

The Committee agreed to vary the order of business on the agenda to allow items that required a response from the Cabinet Member for Customers, Communities & Culture to be heard first. As a result of the change in order the Scrutiny Progress Update - Recommendations Tracker was the first substantive item discussed by the Committee. The minutes reflect the order in which the items were dealt with at the meeting

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on Wednesday 22 February 2023 as a correct record.

It was RESOLVED that the minutes of the previous meeting held on Wednesday 22 February 2023 be approved as a correct record.

To consider any matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting.

None.

This report updates the Committee on the Scrutiny Recommendations Tracker.

The Committee was invited to consider the progress and updates provided in relation to the Resources & Public Realm Scrutiny recommendation and information request tracker. The Chair invited Committee members to ask officers questions relating to the progress of the previous recommendations, suggestions and information requests made by the Committee as detailed in Appendix A of the report. The following queries were raised by the Committee:

6.1   Multi Agency Flood Planning – 22 February 23

In relation to the recommendations made on Multi Agency Flood Planning the Committee were advised that updated responses were available in full on the revised report link in Appendix A of the Tracker.

Officers clarified that confirmation was being sought in liaison with Thames Water to ensure that all areas of the borough that fell within Thames Water’s remit were accurately reflected in Thames Water’s flood plans. An update would be provided at a future Committee meeting.

6.2   Brent Council Grants Programme – 8 November 22

Following an update provided on the You Decide participatory budgeting scheme, the Committee sought further details on why the decision had been taken to introduce a revised model of Community Grants, given that when the Committee had reviewed the scheme in November 2022, it was felt that it had been a successful pilot.

Councillor Donnelly-Jackson, Cabinet Member for Customers, Communities & Culture, advised that following the comments made at the previous Committee it was felt that despite the successes noted from the scheme it was important to recognise and respond to the issues raised in relation to the governance of the process, with particular reference to the concerns in relation to the voting system. Following the knowledge acquired from the pilot, a revised model of Community Grant Allocations with increased robust governance arrangements was submitted and accepted by Cabinet on 17 April 2023. It was hoped that the model going forward would build on the success of the You Decide pilot in harnessing community participation whilst providing a more transparent robust system in grant allocations.

The Chair thanked Councillor Donnelly-Jackson for clarifying the rationale behind the decision to introduce an alternative community grant scheme to the You Decide programme, however added that the Committee felt strongly about being involved in the decision making process on items that had been brought to the Committee for scrutiny.  This was in view of the need to ensure that scrutiny recommendations were retained and actively considered to support and continue informing policy direction.

The Committee looked forward to receiving a further update on Brent Council’s Grants Programme at a future Committee.

6.3   Re-defining Local Services – 15 December 22

The Committee were pleased to note the feedback provided following previous recommendations and information requests made, however there were some outstanding points that the Committee felt required further exploration. The following points were discussed:

·             The Committee appreciated the feedback provided in relation to the community communications and engagement plan, however sought further detail as to how the focus groups to seek community feedback would be undertaken.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To hear any deputations received from members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 67.

Councillor Conneely welcomed Sheila Simpson from Brent Friends of the Earth to make a deputation in person to the Committee.  The deputation related to Item 8 on the agenda - Climate & Ecological Emergency Strategy Update: 2022-2024 Delivery Plan & Green Neighbourhoods.  The following key points were shared:

·             Ms Simpson explained that on behalf of Brent Friends of the Earth she wanted to raise awareness of the grave concerns they had in relation to the urgency of the climate and ecological crisis at both a local and national level, parallel to the work Friends of the Earth were doing to encourage a prompt effective response from local and central government.

·             It was hoped that good local progress could be made with positive partnership collaboration.

·             In terms of the Council’s approach, Brent Friends of the Earth recognised the rational for a narrower focus of resources on the selected Green Neighbourhoods to maximise impact and test solutions, however it was felt that this may not be the most effective use of time, given the scale of the emergency as well as leaving the majority of the borough without significant environmental intervention.

·             It was felt that Brent’s commitment to consulting with residents to create a sense of community ownership in terms of projects going forward to reduce carbon emissions was positive, however it was not clear which projects would be prioritised and how they would cohesively work together to support both short and longer term impacts. The example shared was that supporting active travel through the increased provision of bicycle hangars would be of practical immediate help to some, whereas the longer-term vision of creating safe cycle/pedestrian friendly Green Corridors would support longer term sustained change.

·             It was suggested that there was further scope for quick wins with wider long term impacts, such as increased installation of solar panels on school roofs and supporting schools to encourage plant based diets amongst their pupils to address the over consumption of meat and dairy products as a major source of emissions. It was noted that this had been successfully carried out in other local authorities and there were several organisations that were already set up to support this.

·             Ms Simpson thanked the Committee for the opportunity to represent Brent Friends of the Earth and welcomed the future collaboration with Brent Council to offer support in achieving Brent’s climate ambitions.

The Chair thanked Ms Simpson for making her deputation and advised that the Committee would have the opportunity to respond to the points raised as part of the consideration of the following item on the Climate & Ecological Emergency Strategy Update: 2022-2024 Delivery Plan & Green Neighbourhoods. It was therefore AGREED to note the deputation and thank Sheila Simpson and Brent Friends of the Earth for their participation in the scrutiny process.

This report seeks to update the Resources and Public Realm Scrutiny Committee on the current key focal points of the council’s Climate and Ecological Emergency Programme. This includes the 2022-24 Delivery Plan which was adopted by Cabinet in June 2022, and the new, localised, Green Neighbourhoods action plans.

Following on from the deputation, the Chair then invited Councillor Krupa Sheth, Cabinet Member for Environment, Infrastructure and Climate Action to introduce the report that updated the Resources and Public Realm Scrutiny Committee on the current key focal points of the Council’s Climate and Ecological Emergency Programme. This included the 2022-24 Delivery Plan which had been adopted by Cabinet in June 2022, and the new, localised, Green Neighbourhoods Action Plan. Having introduced the Delivery and Action Plan, Councillor Krupa Sheth thanked Sheila Simpson for highlighting the urgency of the climate issues faced both nationally and locally, as well as drawing attention to the necessity of a collective rapid response from the community, local government and central government to ensure significant impacts could be made swiftly.  The Chair then invited the Committee to raise any questions, comments or points of clarity in relation to the report and the accompanying deputation from Brent Friends of the Earth. The following issues were discussed:

·             The Committee noted that Brent had ambitious plans to tackle the climate emergency and acknowledged that despite the magnitude of work that was needed, Brent was in a strong position to make good progress in reaching net zero by 2030 as a result of the strategies and plans in place.

·             The impact of the social housing rent cap applied by central government in relation to funding of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) on progress with decarbonisation of Brent’s social housing stock, given the significant funding identified as required to progress the works needed.

·             The Committee expressed thanks to Sheila Simpson for highlighting Brent Friends of the Earth’s concerns and actions they felt were required to effect positive steps forward in achieving Brent’s climate ambitions, with particular reference to the importance of seeking wider community and specialist stakeholder engagement to support the most effective plan.

·             In recognising the proactive work being undertaken in the borough, the Committee felt that in order to measure success it would be helpful to have benchmarking in place to support a greater understanding of Brent’s starting point, how Brent measured against other boroughs and to enable the public to track the progress being made.  The Committee were advised that at present there was no national or pan London bench marking data available, however there were various professional networks across London that Brent were involved in where the development of this type of benchmarking data and performance indicators were being discussed.

·             The Committee noted the challenges in obtaining comparable data given the number of variables in different boroughs in respect of difference in wealth, political priorities and emission sources.  The Committee were, however, keen for Brent to take an active role in the ongoing development and advancement of a benchmarking framework. Officers recognised the value a benchmarking framework would add to the support and monitoring of Brent’s progress in achieving net zero and agreed to take this as a forward action.

·             The Committee were re-assured that in Brent there was a focus on empowering residents to support  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

This report presents the Resources and Public Realm Scrutiny Committee with with the 2022/23 Q3 Financial Forecast report that was presented to Cabinet in January 2023, which is part of the committee’s role in undertaking budget scrutiny throughout the year.

Councillor Conneely welcomed Minesh Patel, Corporate Director, Finance and Resources to present a report that updated the Committee on the 2022/23 Q3 Financial Forecast report which it was noted had been presented to Cabinet in January 2023. Having presented the report, the following key points were discussed:

·             The Committee felt that it would add value to the budget and scrutiny process if the timetable for the Committee to receive future financial updates was co-ordinated to allow time for scrutiny to consider them ahead of their presentation to Cabinet.

·             Officers acknowledged the issues raised, however due to the tight timescales the Finance team were required to work within, it would be difficult to adjust the schedule of the reports coming to the Committee. The Committee were advised that as the reports were provided quarterly, there were opportunities throughout the financial year for the Committee to comment and make suggestions with regard to any key concerns identified.

·             The Committee were advised that given the challenging economic climate, it was felt that the budget had been well managed and had incorporated key Budget Task Group recommendations to continue to provide services to support the most vulnerable residents.

·             It was noted that the Children & Young People (CYP) department continued to show an overspend as it had done in previous monitor updates. The statutory and responsive nature of services provided by CYP was, however, recognised in this respect along with the increasing demographic demand driven by the numbers of families and children presenting to the service coupled with increased complexity, high inflation of care costs and post Covid recovery in creating exceptional financial pressures within the service.

·             The Committee queried whether it was necessary to increase the CYP budget allocations to ensure that the vulnerable residents who required support services would not be detrimentally impacted due to spending concerns. In response the Committee were advised that increasing the CYP budget would create further budget deficits in other departments. It was felt that the service was given an appropriate budget allocation, however due to unprecedented external factors the service had faced increased financial challenges which plans were being developed to address.

·             In response to a Committee query in relation to whether the General Fund could be used to support the delivery of the decarbonisation of the Council’s housing stock, officers confirmed that this would not possible given the requirement for works to housing stock to be funded from within the Housing Revenue Account.

·             The Committee noted the statutory override in place to allow the Council to hold the High Needs Block of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) deficit until 2025/26, however queried how the Council would address the deficit once the statutory override was removed. In response the Committee were advised of the plans to address the pressures in relation to managing the deficit on the DSG High Needs Block given the potential impact on the Council’s budgetary position.

At this stage in proceedings, the Committee agreed to waive apply the guillotine procedure under Standing Order  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

To provide an update on the changes to the Resources and Public Relam Scrutiny Committee’s work programme.

The committee noted that as this was the last meeting of the 2022-23 Municipal year, an updated Work Programme for 2023-24 would be presented to the Committee at the next scheduled meeting on 19 July 2023.

Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Head of Executive and Member Services or her representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 60.

None.

Date of the next meeting: Wednesday 19 July 2023

The meeting closed at 9.15pm