Agenda, decisions and minutes

Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting held on 10 September be agreed as an accurate record.

Resolved: that the minutes of the meeting held on 10 September be agreed as an accurate record.

Councillor Morrison – non-prejudicial – Chair of the Ackroyd, an organisation in receipt of funding from the main grants programme.

Councillor Michael – non-prejudicial – patron of the Friends of Marsha Phoenix Memorial Trust, Catford Wanderers Cricket Club.

Councillor Eliot – non-prejudicial – elected representative of the Lewisham Disability Coalition.

Councillor Walsh – non prejudicial - Lewisham LGBT community group.

Councillor Kennedy – non-prejudicial – Marsha Phoenix Memorial Trust.

Resolved: that the Committee’s views be referred to the Public Accounts Select Committee.

3.1      Councillor Alan Hall (Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee) informed the Committee that a proposal would be put before Council to establish a process for further scrutiny of the youth service proposals.

3.2      David Austin (Head of Corporate Resources) introduced the Lewisham Future Programme report; the following key points were noted:

• The Council faced a difficult set of financial circumstances, meaning it had to save £85m from its budget over the next three years.
• The report set out proposals for £40m of savings.
• The context for the savings was set out in section five of the report – and the specific proposals were set out in following sections.
• The proposals would be considered by Mayor and Cabinet on 12 November.
• A number of the proposal would be subject to consultation with staff and service users before they could be implemented.

3.3      Aileen Buckton (Executive Director of Community Services) provided an overview of the qualities impact of the savings proposals; the following key points were noted:

• A decision on whether or not to move ahead with the savings proposals was due to be taken by Mayor and Cabinet on the 12 November. Once this had happened, officers would work to begin the implementation of any savings proposals that were agreed.
• Consultations would take place with any staff or service users affected by the proposals.
• Once this had taken place, officers would return to the Committee with information about the overall equalities impact of the proposals.

3.4      Ralph Wilkinson (Head of Public Services) introduced savings proposal O1: End of the discretionary freedom pass scheme:

• There would be no impact on the statutory freedom pass scheme, which provided passes for disabled people.
• The proposals related to the discretionary scheme, which allocated freedom passes to people meeting mental health or mobility criteria set by the Council.
• 1051 passes were issued under the mental health criteria and 195 were issued under the mobility criteria.
• The scheme cost £200k per year.
• An initial review of discretionary freedom pass holders indicated that 68% would qualify for an alternative travel scheme: 63% would qualify for travel schemes run for job seekers and 5% would qualify for 60+ oyster cards.

3.5      Ralph Wilkinson (Head of Public Services) responded to questions from the Committee, the following key points were noted:

• There were no plans to divert funds from other areas of the Council’s budget to pay for discretionary passes.
• To meet the criteria for a discretionary pass, applicants had to be able to walk less that 300m unaided without discomfort or to have an enduring mental health condition, which required access to secondary services in the preceding 12 months.
• The criteria had been agreed by Mayor and Cabinet in 2009.
• 200 (over 10%) users had been sampled to determine the figures about eligibility for other transport schemes.
• Changing the eligibility criteria for the scheme would require re-assessment of all of the existing holders as well as detailed work to bring forward and consult on new eligibility criteria.
• The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Resolved: that the report be noted.

The content of this report was considered alongside savings proposal L1: review of the main voluntary and community sector grants programme.

Resolved: that the report be noted.

Resolved: that the work programme be agreed.

5.1      Timothy Andrew (Scrutiny Manager) introduced the report. The Committee discussed the report and agreed the work programme for the following meeting.

Resolved: to refer the Committee’s views under item three to the Public Accounts Select Committee.

Resolved: to refer the Committee’s views under item three to the Public Accounts Select Committee.