Decision details

4.1       Simone van Elk (Scrutiny manager) introduced the report. The following key points were noted:

·           That the draft work programme contained suggestions from officers, items considered each year, items considered by virtue of the Committee’s Terms of Reference, and suggestions from last year’s Committee.

·           That some meetings already have four or more items scheduled.

·           That the Committee might find the prioritisation process on page 17 helpful in prioritising its work.  

4.2       In the discussion that followed, the Committee agreed to:

·      To move the Tuesday 6 September meeting to Thursday 15 September.

·      To remove the item on VAWG service from the draft work programme and to incorporate information on work done more broadly against VAWG into the report on Safer Lewisham Plan monitoring and update scheduled for the September meeting.

·      To combine the item on the Council’s employee survey 2015 and the Council’s employment profile into one report scheduled for the 4 July meeting.

·      That the item on the Leisure Centre Contracts may fall within the Terms of Reference of Healthier Communities Select Committee but the Committees specifically requested that this item was also presented to them.

·      That the item on the Criminal Justice System and the Probation Service are brought to the same meeting on 19 October.

·      To receive a report on the London Fire Brigade at the 4 July meeting, instead of inviting Lewisham’s Borough Commander for the fire brigade to the 19 October meeting. The item was to include information on which decision was taken by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority to save £6.4m for 2016-17, the Council’s submitted response to the consultation around the two options for this budget saving, and any available information about drafting of the 6^th London Safety Plan.

·      That the item on Developing capacity in the voluntary sector be considered for a short in-depth review instead of an agenda item for 28 November meeting. The topic would include questions around how the voluntary sector could be best supported in developing and maintaining capacity. The topic should also look at how volunteering could be encouraged as well whether there would be opportunities for crowdfunding activities.

·      That the report on Local Assemblies be scheduled for the 28 November meeting. The item should contain information about how each assemblies’ grant programme was managed. Evidence should also be sought from fellow Councillors and members of assembly coordinating groups in addition to Council staff.

·      That the item on the Evaluation of changes to the voluntary sector accommodation be moved to the 8 March meeting.

·      That, while this item and its scheduling still needed to be discussed with the Lewisham Disability Coalition, the item on Lewisham Disability Coalition: Accessibility of the public realm for people with disabilities could be considered as an item for the Sustainable Development Select Committee.

·      That the item on Library service performance monitoring should include information on any lessons learned from the experience with the community libraries set up in 2011. The item should also include information about the building maintenance of community libraries, their general facilities and provision of IT. The item should be scheduled so that any new contracts with community groups to manage any of the libraries had been in existence long enough to provide the Committee with a meaningful opportunity to evaluate their performance alongside the rest of the libraries. This could mean the item would be considered in 2017-18 municipal year.

·      That the item on The impact of welfare reform would be removed from the work programme. That the Committee instead consider  short in-depth review to look at modelling of the demographic changes in the borough so the Committee can evaluate the balance of socio-economic groups across the borough.

4.3         RESOLVED: That the Committee’s meeting scheduled for 6 September be moved to 15 September, and that Committee’s suggestions be incorporated into its draft work programme for submission to Overview and Scrutiny Business Panel.