Agenda, decisions and minutes

There were none.

There were none.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on October 22 2014 be

confirmed and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on October 22 2014 be

confirmed and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

RESOLVED that the suggestions made the Overview and Scrutiny Business

Panel in respect of the Parker House Surplus Declaration and Approval to

Demolish be accepted in full.

The Mayor received a referral from the Overview and Scrutiny Business and

resolved that it could be accepted in full without the need for further debate.

RESOLVED that the suggestions made the Overview and Scrutiny Business

Panel in respect of the Parker House Surplus Declaration and Approval to

Demolish be accepted in full.

Having considered an officer report, and presentations by two relatives of

Somerville residents, a representative of Healthwatch and the Cabinet

member for Health, Well Being & Older People, Councillor Chris Best, the

Mayor agreed that:

(1) the information about the process that has been carried out to date, and in

particular the physical conditions and shortcomings of the two schemes, the

existing cost of the two schemes, and the details of the consultation process

that has been carried out with tenants and their families, be noted;

(2) the comments made during the formal Adult Social Care consultation

which had taken place in line with the recommendation from the 25 June 2014

report on the Council’s in-house extra care service at Somerville and Kenton

Court be noted;

(3) the comments made by secure tenants in response to the statutory

consultation undertaken pursuant to Section 105 of the Housing Act 1985 in

relation to the proposals be noted;

(4) consultation taken place with staff from the in-house extra care

service in line with the recommendation from the 25th June 2014 report on the

Council’s in-house extra care service at Somerville and Kenton Court be

noted;

(5) Having considered the comments made for the three consultations, the

Council-managed extra care service at Kenton Court and Somerville

should be closed;

(6) the building at Kenton Court should be closed for its current use and

proposals for the Council to develop alternative general needs housing at the

site be further developed;

(7) the building at Somerville should be closed for its current use and

proposals for the Council to develop alternative general needs housing at the

site be further developed;

(8) officers should present plans for re-development of the two sites, as part

of future phases of the New Homes, Better Places Programme, to the Mayor

for approval at the earliest opportunity;

(9) officers should continue to discuss with existing tenants options for other

services that would meet their needs and put in place individual and

personcentred plans for services which will meet those needs; and

(10) as part of this process, in due course and as a last resort, Notice of

Seeking Possession be served under Ground 10 of Schedule 2 to the

Housing Act 1985 and possession proceedings brought against any remaining

tenants at Kenton Court and Somerville in order to protect the Council’s

interest and potentially to safeguard vulnerable residents.

The report was introduced by the Cabinet Member for Health, Well Being &

Older People, Councillor Chris Best and officers from both the Community

Services Directorate and the Customer Services Directorate.

The Mayor was then addressed by Chris Tolson, the sister of a Somerville

resident who criticised the consultation process with residents which she

regarded as very poor. She said the staffing support in alternative sites was

inferior for the very vulnerable affected residents and she called for

modifications to be made to expand the Somerville site and provide modern

amenities.

She was supported by Mrs Rowley who said the proposals had been badly

planned and poorly executed and failed to fully consider the needs of some

very vulnerable people.

Jade Fairfax of Healthwatch Lewisham added that their findings suggested

that some of the affected residents did not feel properly supported by the

Council.

In response, Councillor Best acknowledged to the Mayor that processes could

be improved and that learning points for the future had emerged. She made

reference to the comments of the Housing Select Committee which had been

tabled and pointed out a revised equalities impact assessment had also been

completed. Councillor Best explained the range of opportunities which would

be available to the residents and said full engagement with the eight residents

who had not yet agreed a transfer would follow once the Mayor had given his

approval.

The Mayor received clarification from officers about staffing levels in

alternative facilities and on the facilities that would become available to

residents. The Mayor stated his belief that people’s expectations were

constantly changing and that the high level of voids in Kenton Court and

Somerville were directly related to the inferior provision. Some residents

wished to remain come what may but prospective applicants were just not

interested. He recognised the proposals represented a very difficult issue

which aroused a deep strength of feeling. The Mayor said he believed

approving the proposals was the best course of action but that the

consultation had to be measured and sufficiently supported to ensure that it

was done correctly.

Having considered an officer report, and presentations by two relatives of

Somerville residents, a representative of Healthwatch and the Cabinet

member for Health, Well Being & Older People, Councillor Chris Best, the

Mayor for the reasons set out in the report:

RESOLVED that

(1) the information about the process that has been carried out to date, and in

particular the physical conditions and shortcomings of the two schemes, the

existing cost of the two schemes, and the details of the consultation process

that has been carried out with tenants and their families, be noted;

(2) the comments made during the formal Adult Social Care consultation

which had taken place in line with the recommendation from the 25 June 2014

report on the Council’s in-house extra care service at Somerville and Kenton

Court be noted;

(3) the comments made by secure tenants in response to the statutory

consultation undertaken pursuant to Section 105 of the Housing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 83.

Having considered an officer report and a presentation by the Cabinet

Member for Children & Young People, Councillor Paul Maslin, the Mayor

agreed that:

(i) the process of engagement with the school and the Education Funding

Agency to develop a satisfactory building scheme to support the enlargement

of Sir Francis Drake Primary School be noted;

(ii) a maximum sum of £200,000 be committed by the London Borough of

Lewisham to enhance the delivery of the scheme beyond that funded by the

Educational funding Agency (EFA).

The Mayor confirmed he was happy to provide additional funds to ensure the expansion of the school was a success.

Having considered an officer report and a presentation by the Cabinet

Member for Children & Young People, Councillor Paul Maslin, the Mayor

for the reasons set out in the report

RESOLVED that:

(i) the process of engagement with the school and the Education Funding

Agency to develop a satisfactory building scheme to support the enlargement

of Sir Francis Drake Primary School be noted;

(ii) a maximum sum of £200,000 be committed by the London Borough of

Lewisham to enhance the delivery of the scheme beyond that funded by the

Educational funding Agency (EFA).

Having considered an open officer report, and a presentation by the Cabinet

Member for Resources, Councillor Kevin Bonavia, the Mayor agreed that:

(i) the financial forecasts for the year ended 31 March 2015 and the action

being taken by the Executive Directors to manage down the forecasted year-

end overspend be noted;

(ii) the mid-year treasury strategy and the Council’s Minimum Revenue

Provision Policy be noted; and

(iii) Council be recommended to approve the following amendments to

Treasury Management Strategy:

• Inclusion of Certificates of Deposits as a specified treasury instrument,

• Increase in the limits of Treasury Bills from £20 million to £60 million.

The report was presented by Councillor Kevin Bonavia who outlined the

measures being put in place to combat a £10.6M budgetary overspend.

Having considered an open officer report, and a presentation by the Cabinet

Member for Resources, Councillor Kevin Bonavia, the Mayor for the reasons

set out in the report:

RESOLVED that:

(i) the financial forecasts for the year ended 31 March 2015 and the action

being taken by the Executive Directors to manage down the forecasted year-

end overspend be noted;

(ii) the mid-year treasury strategy and the Council’s Minimum Revenue

Provision Policy be noted; and

(iii) Council be recommended to approve the following amendments to

Treasury Management Strategy:

• Inclusion of Certificates of Deposits as a specified treasury instrument,

• Increase in the limits of Treasury Bills from £20 million to £60 million.

Having considered an open officer report, and presentations by the Cabinet

Member for Resources, Councillor Kevin Bonavia, the Chair of Overview &

Scrutiny, Councillor Alan Hall, and by Mr David French on the Youth Service,

the Mayor agreed that:

(i) the officer proposals for budget reductions set out in Appendix 1 be noted;

(ii) officers be authorised to carry out consultation where public/stakeholder

consultation is necessary in relation to any of those proposals;

(iii) consultation with staff be authorised in respect of any proposal which

would involve staff reductions;

(iv) following due process decision making in relation to the following

proposals be delegated to officers:

A5       £275,000

A7       £250,000

A10     £600,000

E2       £1,125,000

E3       £200,000

E4       £595,000

E5       £134,000

F1       £1,900,000

G1       £950,000

I1         £2,090,000

J1        £751,000

K1       £594,000

K3       £200,000

L2        £280,000

M1       £1,000,000

O2       £50,000

O3       £600,000

P1       £229,000

(v) in respect of all other savings, officers be required to bring a full report on

the budget savings proposals back to Mayor and Cabinet for decision at the

earliest opportunity, but in any event not later than 11 February 2015; and

(vi) savings previously earmarked for 2015/16 in earlier years' budget reports,

as summarised, be approved.

The report was presented by Councillor Kevin Bonavia who highlighted the

significant level of savings that had to be achieved which he attributed

directly to what he considered the mistaken and unnecessary policies of the

Coalition Government.

Councillor Joe Dromey reported to the Mayor the initial outcomes of the big

Budget Challenge which he was to present in greater detail to the Council

meeting at the end of November.

Councillor Alan Hall, Chair of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee, next

addressed the Mayor and presented the written views of the Public Accounts

Select Committee which also summarised the considerations made by all the

other Select Committees. He said he expected scrutiny members to be able to

assist in the detailed examination of certain proposals and in respect of two

areas, Public Health and the Youth Service, task and finish groups would be

established to facilitate this. He emphasised that equalities reports would be

needed on all proposals.

The Mayor responded by stating he found the work undertaken by scrutiny

very helpful as it had opened up the detail on many proposals and he

expected it to be reflected in the decisions made. He also said he found the

Big Budget Challenge to have been a useful exercise and while it had not

discovered solutions to the Council’s financial problems, it had raised

awareness of the immensity of the task the Council faced.

The Mayor then considered each service area individually and agreed the

recommendations shown below. In doing so he highlighted the following

aspects

Savings A6 & A8 – Public Health Programme Review – the Mayor noted

these would be considered by the Health & Well Being Board, the Healthier

Communities Select Committee and the Scrutiny Task & Finish Group.

Savings F1 & I1 – Corporate Business Support Service & Management and

Corporate Overheads – the Mayor required future consideration of shared

services to begin.

Saving G1a –Blue Badge Charges – this was to be removed from the

consultation process with resubmission in 2015.

Saving K1 – Prevention and Inclusion Service – although this was to be

delegated to officers for decision the Mayor expected an update report to be

provided for Mayor & Cabinet and for Overview & Scrutiny.

Saving M1 – Housing Strategy and non-HRA funded services the Mayor

stressed that he expected all decisions delegated to officers to be taken on

the basis of the consideration of full reports with legal and financial

implications.

Saving O1 – Discretionary Freedom Pass scheme – this was to be removed

from the consultation process with resubmission in 2015.

Saving Q2a – Review of Youth Services – The Mayor was addressed by Mr

David French, the Chair of the Children and Young People’s Voluntary Sector

Forum. He urged the Mayor to reject Option 2 and consider Option 1 as a

starting point to talk about the future of the service. He believed a staff seeded

mutual could work but that it was important to ensure safeguards were in

place to prevent any mutual from undercutting voluntary sector providers. He  ...  view the full minutes text for item 86.