Agenda and minutes

1.1  Simone van Elk (scrutiny manager) introduced the item, and invited Members to confirm the election of Councillor David Michael as the Chair of the Committee and Councillor James-J Walsh as the Vice-Chair of the Committee.

1.2  RESOLVED: that Councillor David Michael was confirmed as Chair of the Committee and that Councillor James-J Walsh was confirmed as Vice-Chair.  

2.1 That the minutes of the meeting held on 9 March 2016 be agreed, subject to the following amendment:

·      That paragraph 5.3 include that the Committee wanted to be kept informed about the progress of the community payback scheme.

2.2 The Chair asked about the Committee’s referral on the Comprehensive Equalities Scheme to the Overview and Scrutiny Business Panel. Simone van Elk (Scrutiny manager) related the following based on the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Business Panel: that the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Business Panel suggested that all members briefing on the Comprehensive Equalities Scheme be arranged.

2.3 RESOLVED: that the minutes of the meeting held on 9 March 2016 were agreed, subject to the following amendment

3.1 The following non-prejudicial interests were declared:

Councillor David Michael is a working patron of the Marsha Phoenix Trust.

Councillor John Paschoud is a member of the Voluntary Action Lewisham’s Children and Young People Forum (under agenda item 4 Select Committee work programme).

Councillor Jim Mallory is a member of the Lee Green Lives community organisation (under agenda item 4 Select Committee work programme).

Councillor Brenda Dacres is a Trustee of the New Cross Gate Trust (under agenda item 4 Select Committee work programme).

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  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.1 Geeta Subramaniam (Head of Crime Reduction and Supporting People) introduced the item.

·      The new service was created following a proposal from the Lewisham Future Programme, which had been agreed by Mayor and Cabinet. This report details a review of the service after it had been operating for 6 months.

·      All staff had received training on all aspects of the work of the new service including PACE, which teaches staff to interview people under caution.

·      Information about the new service was not yet available in one place on the Council’s website. This was area that the service was looking to improve.

·      There had been a lot more activity in the area of licensing than originally expected, but no deadlines had been missed.

·      There had been 15 unauthorised traveller encampments in the borough since August 2015. In the same period last year, there had been three.

·      Some services had had to be stopped following budget reductions and the subsequent forming of the new service. A monthly surgery for any enforcement issues used to be organised for every month. This has now stopped as a standard practice. Instead a risk based approach is taken. A lot of preventative work in schools around good citizenship and Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) has been decreased. A number of road shows to raise awareness about enforcement services have also stopped.

·      There are a number of risks for the service and its performance. Changes are happening in partner organisations such as the police, fire brigade and probation while the new service has been developing which could lead to problems in the future.

5.2 Geeta Subramaniam, Gary Connors (Strategic Community Safety Services Manager) and David Edwards (Food Safety Manager) responded to questions from the Committee. The following key points were noted:

·      Officers would investigate the issues raised by Committee Members that residents had found it difficult to reach the noise abatement service over the weekend to report noise, and would provide feedback to the Committee. The number of complaints around noise was greatly reduced compared to the same period last year.

·      The work by the contact centre that captures issues raised by residents was under constant review. There were currently two members of staff whose main job was to respond to any contacts made within 48 hours, and ensure an appropriate follow-up to the issue was put in place. Issues around trading standards could sometime take more than 48 hours for a reply as specific advice could be needed before an appropriate response could be provided. Where residents were suffering from alarm, distress or harassment they would always be referred to the police.

·      There are areas where there is a clear overlap between the work of the CER and planning enforcement, but there are also clear areas where the work of planning enforcement ties in more closely with the work of the rest of the planning service. One consideration for the future could be to look at including planning enforcement in the CER, but this would need to be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.