Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Mitchell, Miller and Shah. Councillor Molloy attended as an alternate member on behalf of Councillor Shah.

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.

Councillor S Butt declared an interest as one of the directors of First Wave and I4B Housing.

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

The Chair agreed to vary the order of business on the agenda to allow the Scrutiny Progress Update – Recommendations Tracker to be considered first. The minutes therefore reflect the order in which the items were dealt with at the meeting.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on Wednesday 6 September 2023 as a correct record.

It was RESOLVED that the minutes of the previous meeting held on Wednesday 6 September 2023 be approved as a correct record.

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

None.

The purpose of this report is to present the Scrutiny Recommendations Tracker to the Resources and Public Realm Scrutiny Committee.

The Chair advised that all responses on the tracker were up to date, however raised one query in relation to a previous Committee request to receive a cumulative equality impact assessment spanning the previous 5 years to understand the impact of budget cuts on services to residents, that had since been deemed unfeasible. Councillor Tatler, Deputy Leader, Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources & Reform and Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Planning & Growth advised that the reason the recommendation was no longer feasible was due to reduced staffing and resourcing since the original recommendation had been agreed. The Committee was advised that the recommendation would be kept under review and if capacity increased efforts would be made to deliver the request.

This report provides the Scrutiny Committee with a breakdown of complaints received by department and the top 5 issues of complaint for those respective departments. The report also provides a breakdown of the number of complaints that have been upheld, not upheld, partly upheld, rejected or withdrawn for each department along with a correlation between the root causes and their issue types and outcomes of complaints.

The report also includes the Annual Complaints report (approved by Cabinet on 16 October 23) detailing complaint’s performance for the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 and also focussing on the nature of complaints and the learning they provide to inform Brent’s future approach to service improvement.

Councillor Tatler introduced the report that provided the Committee with a breakdown of complaints received and the Annual Complaints report as approved by Cabinet on 16 October 2023 that detailed complaints performance for the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023, with a focus on the nature of complaints and the learning gained to support informing Brent ‘s future approach to service improvements.

The following key points were discussed:

·                The Committee queried the effectiveness of the comms strategy in relation to how residents were informed of the different ways that a complaint could be made. In response the Committee was advised that residents could find information on how to make a complaint via the Brent website, options included using the dedicated complaints phone line or registering a complaint via the portal on the website, additionally residents who came to the Civic Centre could be supported by the Customer Services team to make a complaint.

·                Officers agreed that steps could be taken to share the dedicated complaints line telephone number more clearly on the website and also to utilise the ‘Your Brent’ magazine to promote the complaints procedure.

·                The Committee questioned if adequate efforts had been made to resolve residents’ concerns at an early stage so that issues did not escalate to a formal complaint. Officers advised that it was a key priority of the Council to effectively manage residents’ concerns and seek resolution before it reached the stage of a formal complaint, it was noted that in some areas of the Council service requests were regularly utilised by residents more than complaints.

·                Following a Committee query in relation to the quality of the responses provided to residents, the Committee was advised that resident satisfaction was measured by how many complaints required further escalation. The Complaints Team were in the process of completing some focused work in relation to the quality of responses provided in order to identify training points that could be used to support training for officers in managing complaints more effectively to increase resident satisfaction; this included bespoke departmental training and checklist criteria to ensure comprehensive responses were provided.

·                The Committee heard that patterns of complaints were looked at to identify particular themes that required attention, the learning achieved from this was used to inform service improvements moving forward.

·                The Committee felt that where service improvements had been made as a result of residents’ dialogue with the Council, it would be positive to promote this to residents to demonstrate the Council’s desire to actively work with residents to improve service delivery.

·                It was clarified that complaints in relation to commissioned services were treated with the same level of response by officers within their remit who would liaise with the commissioned services to seek a resolution.

·                It was confirmed that the Annual Complaints report was published in full on the Brent website, the Committee felt it would be helpful to also publish a shorter user-friendly version of the report that listed key areas of concern.

·                The Committee noted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

This report sets out the financial forecast for the General Fund revenue budget, the Housing Revenue Account, the Dedicated Schools Grant and the Capital Programme, as at Quarter 2 2023/24.

Members are asked to note that the report was considered and approved by Cabinet on 16 October 2023.

Councillor Tatler, Deputy Leader, Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources & Reform and Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Planning & Growth introduced the report that set out the financial forecast for the General Fund revenue budget, the Housing Revenue Account, the Dedicated Schools Grant and the Capital Programme, as at Quarter 2 2023/24. Members were asked to note that the report was considered and approved by Cabinet on 16 October 2023.

In noting the particularly challenging financial circumstances the Council were in due to the national economic climate and limited funding from central government it was recognised that Brent’s financial challenges were not unique and were in line with other Councils.

The following key points were discussed:

·                     It was confirmed that measures were in place to mitigate the £13m pressures as a result of temporary accommodation costs, however these measures were unlikely to have an impact until 24/25.

·                     The Committee queried if increased overspending was anticipated in the future, given the economic climate. In response the Committee was advised that despite the Council’s prudent approach, the challenges in continued reduced piecemeal funding from central government and the pressures from statutory demand led services such as Housing, CYP and ASC could lead to Brent and many other councils incurring overspends in order to deliver essential services to residents.

·                     The Committee was assured that the Council held a healthy reserve fund at present, some of which would need to be used to support the temporary accommodation issues. If it was necessary to withdraw further funds to support other financially challenged areas of the Council, steps would be taken to action this, however this action would not be taken without thorough consideration as any withdrawal from reserve funding would have to be paid back and this would impact budgets across other council services.

·                     It was noted that some reserves were ringfenced for specific purposes and could not be used for broader purposes.

·                     The Committee queried if the Council could generate increased revenue via business rates and collecting increased council tax on vacant properties. In response the Committee was advised that the Council was bound by central government legislation, so were unable to change collection rates. The Committee was informed that central government were due to review business rates and consider the devolution of business rates to councils; if Council’s were given the authority to manage this, Brent could explore increased business rates to generate more income, however this was not currently an option.

·                     Officers recognised there were a number of vacant homes in the borough and continued to explore ways to bring these vacant homes back in to use to support temporary accommodation as well as generating Council income. The identification of vacant homes was supported by public intelligence, Ward Councillors and the empty homes property team who went out into the community to identify vacant properties.

·                     The Committee felt it would be advantageous to reactivate a previously successful campaign to report vacant homes in the borough that the Council had promoted through the ‘Your Brent’ magazine.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

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

The Committee noted there were no changes to the work plan since the last Committee meeting. The Committee noted that it was a live document and in addition to the agreed items, additional items may be added as and when necessary, when brought to the Committee’s attention.

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.