Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the open meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Business Panel held on 28 September 2021 and 12 October 2021, be confirmed as accurate records.

Councillor Luke Sorba declared an interest in respect of item 4, as the Council’s appointee to the South London and Maudsley National Health Service Trust, an organisation that is involved in the drug and alcohol contract decision, which he had requested should be submitted for further consideration by the Panel.

The Head of Committee Business introduced the Key Decision Plan report to the Panel, and it was

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

Councillor Paul Maslin, Chair of the Panel announced that he had received requests for the Panel to consider three decisions made by the Mayor and Cabinet on 3 November 2021 as follows:

·         Award of Contract Drug and Alcohol Services (Core Contract) Part 1 (open) and Part 2 (closed) – from Councillor Luke Sorba

·         Shared Ownership: Approval to Market, Sell and Manage – from Councillor Louise Krupski; and

·         Consultation Results and Feedback on Proposed New Parking Arrangements on Housing Estate Land Part 1 (open) and Part 2 (closed) – from Councillor Mark Ingleby.

1.            Award of Contract Drug and Alcohol Services (Core Contract)

Councillor Sorba addressed the meeting in relation to the “Award of Contract Drug and Alcohol Services (Core Contract)” Item, advising that the issues he wanted to address could fall into Part 2 of the report upon which the Mayor and Cabinet decision was based.

The meeting noted that under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public should be excluded from the meeting on the grounds that the matter could involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12(A) or the Act, as amended by the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Access to information) (Amendments) (England) Regulations 2006.

The Chair directed that the meeting should move into a “closed” session to consider the matter, and that was at 7.10pm.

Officers who responded to questions raised by Councillor Sorba were the Executive Director of Community Services, Director of Adult Joint Commissioning (National Health Services Lewisham Clinical Commissioning Group), and Assistant Director (Integrated Commissioning).  Councillor Chris Best, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care was in attendance, and also responded to questions raised.

Members noted that the current Core Contract was due to expire on 31 March 2022, and Officers had undertaken a full review and developed proposals to better meet the need of users.  Thus, the recommendations that informed the Mayor and Cabinet’s decision were in relation to the procurement approach, which consisted of an open tender exercise for a three-year contract, with two one-year’s extension options.  Members also received an assurance that the approach taken by Officers would deliver best value and provide stability within the treatment system.  Information that the nature of the contract would allow flexibility in responding to a changing policy landscape was welcomed by Members.

The meeting resumed into an open session at 7.17p.m.

2.            Shared Ownership: Approval to Market, Sell and Manage

In addressing the meeting following her request, Councillor Krupski welcomed the Council’s effort to develop policies aimed at delivering housing for the benefit of Lewisham’s residents, and she enquired about the level of engagement undertaken to support the review of the Shared Ownership arrangements.  In response, the Head of Strategic Development confirmed to the Panel that the approaches to marketing of Shared Ownership homes would be determined on a site-by-site basis.  Notwithstanding that, the Council had taken an approach to utilise  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Head of Overview and Scrutiny introduced the report to the Panel, advising that next cycle of scrutiny meetings to commence in January 2022 would be considering budget cuts proposals.  The Panel also noted that the next meeting of the full Overview and Scrutiny Committee would take place on 30 November 2021 to consider the climate emergency and the Future Lewisham theme, “A Greener Future”.  It was stated that an update on the implementation of the recommendations on improving the resident experience would also be provided at the November meeting.  The Head of Overview and Scrutiny concluded by providing an overview of the work of the Council’s task and finish groups to the Panel.  It was noted that that the programme of task and finish groups were all progressing well, and a large number of evidence and engagement sessions had taken place.

The Panel also noted comments from Councillor Muldoon that an all-Members’ briefing should he held early in 2022 to consider the Health Bill that was currently going through Parliament.  Councillor Muldoon also informed that spaces were still available for Members’ registration to attend the annual conference organised by the Centre of Governance and Scrutiny on 1 December 202. He also reported that at the last meeting of the London Scrutiny Network, amongst other issues, resident engagement by housing providers was discussed.

Commenting on the date for the conference, Councillor Ingleby pointed out that it should be noted that the Public Accounts Select Committee would be meeting on 1 December 2021 to consider the Council’s Capital Programme initiatives.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The meeting closed at 8.19pm.

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Chair