Agenda and minutes

The Chair asked the Head of Business & Committee to report the Mayoral

response that appointments connected to Catford Regeneration would be

made at Mayor & Cabinet. The Head of Business & Committee said the

Mayor had given an undertaking to ensure significant appointments were

made at Mayor & Cabinet. The Chair then successfully proposed that a

referral be made to the Mayor confirming that the appointment of an architect

would be deemed to be a significant appointment.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meetings held on March 13 and March 20

2018 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

None were made.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

Social Impact Bonds

The Chair reported that Councillor Bell, who had raised concerns over Social

Impact Bonds was unable to be present. However the questions he had

raised had been addressed as shown below and Councillor Bell had

confirmed in writing to the Chair that he considered the responses made to be

satisfactory and that he had no objections to the Mayor’s decision.

Questions from Councillor Paul Bell on Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) and

the officer response:

1) Written assurances that Bridges pay UK tax on income

Bridges Fund Management Ltd is incorporated in the UK, and as such is

liable to tax on its profits at the standard UK corporation tax rate.

2) Written assurances that De Paul offer guaranteed hours to any staff

involved in the project, do not use zero hours contracts and recognise trade

unions

All staff employed on this project will be employed on permanent or

fixed term contracts. Depaul will not be using any zero hours contracted

staff to deliver this project. All staff are paid above the London Living

Wage. Depaul incorporate TU representation into all ‘people’ processes, although they don’t have a recognition agreement in place with a

particular union. 

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3) A copy of De Paul’s equal opportunities/equalities statement, particularly

relating to LGBT+ care leavers

I have attached separately the current version of DePaul’s Equality,

Inclusion and Diversity Statement.

4) That elected representatives (MPs & councillors) can intervene and have

some control when/if things go wrong

Elected representatives can raise concerns through members’

enquiries, either directly or via the lead member, officers can further

provide reports to the corporate parenting, CYP partnership boards

and/or CYP Select Committee

5) That annually (subject to the CYP Committee agreeing in its work

programme) the SIB is reviewed for its benefit to care leavers and a robust

analysis of what De Paul and Bridges have been doing including financially

Officers will be requiring detailed performance and financial information

quarterly as part of the contract monitoring process and will require

even more detailed information annually.

6) That LBL ask resolutely that the SIB is subject to FOI and public scrutiny

and that neither De Paul nor Bridges hide behind commercial confidentiality

Both Depaul and Bridges have committed to supporting us to respond

to FOIs as fully as possible.  

 7) Written assurances that we will not tolerate failure

an approach where we maximise the return from the investor for our care

leavers and those of Greenwich and Bromley, frustrating attempts for the

investor to make profit from tax payers.

We will be monitoring performance closely, as well as seeking to use the

grant from DfE to its maximum to deliver outcomes from young people.

The SIB is set up so the investor is paid for outcomes, and won’t be paid

for those they do not deliver.

Having tabled these responses, the Executive Director for Children & Young

People then presented the report and confirmed there was no financial risk to

the Local Authority.

Councillor Sorba sought details on performance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 100.

The report was presented by the Interim Scrutiny Manager who highlighted

the suggestion that scrutiny reports should all be considered at Council

meetings. The Chair endorsed this suggestion.

Councillor Muldoon suggested the Parliamentary report did not go far enough

and he was concerned that the new wave of Metropolitan Mayors were

completely exempted from the scrutiny process.

The Chair proposed that this report be considered at the AGM of the

Overview & Scrutiny Committee in May.

RESOLVED that the report on the Effectiveness of Local Authority Overview

and Scrutiny Committees be considered at the AGM of the Council’s

Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The Interim Overview and Scrutiny Manager reported that because of the

need for induction and member training only six meetings of each of the

Select Committees had been scheduled for the next Municipal Year.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

RESOLVED that under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972,

the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of

business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt

information as defined in paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12(A) of

the Act, as amended by the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements)

(Access to Information) (Amendments) (England) Regulations 2006:-

 9. Decision made by Mayor and Cabinet (Contract) on 21 March 2018.

All consideration of confidential Contracts matters took place in the open part of the meeting.

The meeting closed at 7.31pm.