Agenda item

To receive reports from Chairs of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees in accordance with Standing Order 41.

Councillor Gladbaum (Chair of Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee) reported on behalf of the chairs of the overview and scrutiny committees.  She first welcomed the two new Chairs, Councillor Kabir and Councillor Ashraf to the scrutiny function and stated that all the overview and scrutiny chairs would soon be meeting to discuss co-ordinating work programmes, agreeing the annual report, scrutiny training and engaging with residents.  She thanked the outgoing chairs, Councillor Ogunro and Councillor Castle, for their work.

Councillor Gladbaum reported that since the last update to full council three overview and scrutiny task groups had either reported or were about to report.  These were:

Fuel Poverty in Brent, chaired by Councillor Long – this report looked at the work being undertaken in Brent to tackle fuel poverty, how the council, NHS, voluntary sector and the private sector need to work in a collaborative way to tackle the issue and the need to tackle general poverty to address fuel poverty.

Car Repair and Spray Painting Garages, chaired by Councillor Moloney – this task group was set up following a motion to Full Council.  The main areas the task group looked at were the scale and nature of the problem, enforcement activity and enforcement action.

Preventing Youth Offending, chaired by herself.  This task group would be reporting to the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee the following evening and its key findings centred around:

·         a change in emphasis to effective early intervention

·         changes in practice

·         collaboration between agencies

·         the crucial role of schools

·         yhe crucial role of parents, and

·         other organisational issues.

Councillor Gladbaum reported that for the first time three of the committees – Children and Young People, Partnership and Place and One Council had held a joint meeting.  The agenda enabled all members of these committees to have the opportunity to hear from and question the Leader of the Council about the administration's priorities for the year ahead and to receive a presentation on key issues facing Brent including:

·         demographic and population projections

·         health and well-being

·         child poverty and the local economy, and

·         housing 

Information on the implications and responses to the Localism Bill was also provided so that Members of the committees could make suggestions for the overview and scrutiny work programmes.  She added that the committee’s work programmes were flexible enough to pick up issues as they arose and strongly encouraged Members to make suggestions for agenda items or task group reviews at any time.

The Health Partnerships Committee had met to discuss plans for the North West London Hospital Trust, provided comments on the North West Hospital NHS Trust Quality Accounts, received an update on GP Commissioning Consortia and agreed to start a new task group looking at the health and social impact of Khat.

The One Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee had recently discussed the Housing Needs Transformation Project which focuses on the work of the Housing Needs Resource Centre and Housing Solutions.  It also received an update on the One Council Programme, its status, risks, dependencies and management. 

The Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee was to meet the following evening and would be receiving its regular updates from Brent Youth Parliament and on school places.  The input from representatives of the youth parliament continued to have a very good impact on the work of the committee.  The committee would also be looking at the provision of services for children with disabilities and the implications of Government policy on Academies and Free Schools.

Finally, Councillor Gladbaum reported that thePartnership and Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Budget and Finance Overview and Scrutiny Committee were due to meet later in the month.