Agenda, decisions and minutes

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 29 October 2019 be agreed as an accurate record of the meeting.

1.1       RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 29 October 2019 be agreed as an accurate record of the meeting.

RESOLVED: That the following declarations of interest be noted in relation to item 3 on the agenda:

Councillor Wise - Director at Lewisham Homes

Councillor Ingleby - Director at Lewisham Homes

Councillor Kelleher – Lewisham Homes tenant

Councillor Penfold – Employee of Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network

Councillor Adefiranye – Wife is a volunteer at the Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network

2.1       RESOLVED: That the following declarations of interest be noted in relation to the Cabinet Member Question Time item on the agenda:

Councillor Wise - Director at Lewisham Homes

Councillor Ingleby - Director at Lewisham Homes

Councillor Kelleher – Lewisham Homes tenant

Councillor Penfold – Employee of Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network

Councillor Adefiranye – Wife is a volunteer at the Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network

RESOLVED: That the updates provided be noted.

3.1       The Chair invited the Select Committee Chairs to give a brief update on the work of their committees.

3.2       The following updates were noted:

            Cllr Muldoon (Healthier Communities):

·           The Committee had made three recent referrals to Mayor & Cabinet.

-       One concerned the reconfiguration of adult social care day services. It was noted that a service users group would be established at the Calabash Day Centre.

-       Another concerned adult safeguarding and the need to more widely publicise the methods of getting in touch with the Council in the event of concerns.

-       One concerned charging for overseas visitors - the Committee had questioned a senior manager from Lewisham Hospital on how national policy was being implemented, including the scope for local discretion, but wanted further information to be provided.

Cllr Sorba (Children & Young People):

·           The Committee was following up on its exclusions review and would have an update at its next meeting on progress in implementing the Committee’s recommendations.

·           The Committee was feeding into, and monitoring, the Early Help Review and was keen to ensure that a comprehensive needs analysis would be completed.

·           Waiting times for mental health appointments were a key area of concern, although it was noted that there had been substantial reductions in waiting times recently.

·           Other key matters being scrutinised by the Committee included the Children’s Social Care Improvement Plan and educational attainment.

·           Information on (a) relevant guidelines in relation to waiting times for mental health appointments for children and young people; (b) the key milestones in the improvement plan for Children’s Social Care and the extent to which they are being met; and (c) any specific actions that are being taken to reduce exclusion rates for groups that are disproportionately affected, would be provided.

Cllr Mallory (Public Accounts):

·           The Committee had focussed attention on the Children’s Social Care Budget as it was dissatisfied with the way it had been managed and the Adult Social Care Budget which had, to some extent, been cushioned by the Better Care Fund.

·           The income generation and commercialisation review being led by the Vice Chair was progressing with recent evidence sessions/visits to Barking and Dagenham and Waltham Forest.

·           Members were invited to the Committee’s meeting in February, where the budget would be discussed.

·           The Chair had been asked a Council question about the state of the Council’s finances.

Cllr Bernards (Housing):

·           The Committee was reviewing the engagement of residents in relation to housing developments and felt that:

-       Early engagement was key

-       Engagement should start with a blank sheet of paper

-       Engagement should be ongoing

-       A wide range of people, including the hard to reach, should be included.

·           The recommendations would be circulated to Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee once agreed.

Cllr Rathbone, on behalf of Cllr Campbell (Safer, Stronger Communities):

·           The Committee had moved away from performance monitoring to strategy development and did a great deal of pre-decision scrutiny.

·           It was particularly focussed on crime & disorder and equality of opportunity (including deprivation).

·           The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

RESOLVED: That a referral to Mayor and Cabinet be made, outlining the further information requested by the Committee.

4.1       Cllr Bonavia was questioned first. In response to questions from Members of the Committee, the following points were noted:

·      The accessibility of polling stations would be looked into.

·      Liaison with trade unions was improving. The works council had been largely dormant as issues had increasingly been resolved informally. However, the Council was now looking to reinvigorate councillor involvement, alongside trade unions, in the development of proposals for improving the work environment and the sharing of concerns.

·      More resources had been directed towards the handling of Freedom of Information requests – the Council target was to respond to more than 90 per cent within the standard timescale.

·      The Lewisham Migration Forum worked with all cohorts of refugees, including LGBT+ refugees but connections would be made with groups providing specific support to this group.

·      Consultation by identity, rather than geography, had been considered by the Local Democracy Working Group and the Cabinet Member agreed that a future report to the group would specifically cover this matter.

·      The removal of the embedded Home Office worker from the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) team had not had a detrimental impact on the work of the team. The culture within the team and the behaviour of staff towards clients was being looked into and a general training day was planned which would cover this, amongst other things. Thorough guidance on how to deal with clients would be provided.

·      The Council sought to ensure that all schools provided free school meals to NRPF children and that funding was not an issue.

·      A communications plan would be developed to ensure that parents fully understood the school admissions process and their options.

·      Refugee children had access to a dedicated budget which could be used to purchase school uniform. Contingency funds were also available.

·      IT had been an issue when Ofsted inspected children’s services. The Liquid Logic issue had been resolved and work to improve the resilience of all systems had commenced. It was imperative that all applications were up to date with staff properly trained to use them. A draft digital strategy had also been prepared.

·      The Local Democracy Working Group had looked at the 2019 Citizens’ Assembly held in Camden on the Climate Crisis. However, after analysing the cost-benefits of Citizens’ Assemblies, the Working Group agreed not to recommend that a Citizens’ Assembly be undertaken by Lewisham. Cheaper alternatives were being looked at.

·      Telephony needed to improve with a proper call back system put in place.

·      There was a £30k grant to support volunteers working with refugees so this should be able to fund DBS checks if required. [Following the meeting it was clarified that £20k of grant funding had been made available to Lewisham Refugee Welcome for the voluntary support of refugees in Lewisham.]

·      Webcasting was available in the Council Chamber and rooms 1 and 2 (when used together and when each participant had a microphone) so Business Panel, for example, had the potential to be web cast.

·      The Council wanted all public organisations  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

A referral was made in relation to the item on the agenda entitled “Cabinet Member Question Time”.

A referral was made in relation to the item on the agenda entitled “Cabinet Member Question Time”.