Agenda, decisions and minutes

That the minutes of the meeting held on the 9 September be agreed as an accurate record of proceedings.

1.1         RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on the 9 September be agreed as an accurate record of proceedings.

There were no declarations of interest.

2.1       RESOLVED:

There were no declarations of interest.

How the Council embeds equalities across its service provision

That the response be noted and an update report be presented to the Committee in approximately six months.

3.1       Paul Aladenika, Service Group Manager, Policy Development and Analytical Insight, presented the Mayor and Cabinet response to the Committee’s in-depth review: How Lewisham Council Embeds Equalities Across its Service Provision.

3.2       Members of the Committee welcomed the report and that the Committee’s recommendations were being taken forward to improve equalities provision within the Council.

3.3       Members of the Committee particularly welcomed news that the Committee’s recommendation to create a “Fairer Lewisham Duty” to help tackle socio-economic inequality in the borough was being actively worked on.

3.4       RESOLVED:

That the response be noted and an update report be presented to the Committee in approximately six months.

Presentation only

That the presentation be noted and Chief Superintendent Atkin and Superintendent Ricketts be thanked for attending.

4.1       Chief Superintendent Atkin, BCU Commander, South East BCU, and Superintendent Ricketts, South East BCU gave a presentation to the Committee. A full copy of the presentation is included in the agenda documentation.

4.2       The Committee requested additional information on stop and search positive outcomes such as broken down by age and ethnicity. James Lee, Director of Communities, Partnerships and Leisure, said that information was available as part of the work undertaken for the update on the Committee’s review looking at Stop and Search and Prevent. He would be able to share this information with the Committee. Chief Superintendent Atkin said that they were looking to commission Greenwich University to do further work to better understand any disproportionality in the tri-borough.

4.3       Members of the Committee confirmed they would be interested in viewing training sessions. Chief Superintendent Atkin confirmed this would be possible and good opportunity for both Police Officers and Councillors. 

4.4       RESOLVED:

That the presentation be noted and Chief Superintendent Atkin and Superintendent Ricketts be thanked for attending.

5.1       Tom Brown, Executive Director for Community Services, introduced the report to the Committee, the following key points were raised:

·         Responding to the Covid-19 pandemic had created a budget shortfall of £68m of which approximately £30m was due to costs and the remaining circa £38m was a result of lost revenue. While some central government funding was being provided, this would not be enough to meet the entire cost.

·         Additionally there would be a CYP budget overspend of slightly less than £10m at the end of this financial year, and some would flow into the next financial year, largely due to the cost of social care placements for children.

·         Even without the additional financial pressures brought about by Covid-19, there was expected to be a £40m budget cut over the next 3 years, of which £24m was to be made in the next financial year.

·         Officers had taken a themed approach to finding ways of making savings and cuts, with each Executive Director leading on a theme that was not directly related to their business area.

·         The current proposals totalled £26.9 million, £15 million of which was for the next financial year 2021/22. The Target overall for 2021/22 was £34 million, so an additional £18.5 million still needed to be found for next year.

5.2       Members of the Committee highlighted that the importance of considering the cumulative effect of savings and cuts was essential both in terms of equalities implications and in HR terms. There were many areas where multiple cut proposals would have effects on some of the same groups of people and a thorough understanding of the overall effect was essential.

5.3       Members of the Committee thanked Council officers for their work and for the clear report and expressed concern and sadness at the extent of the cuts due to reductions in central government funding.

5.4       Members of the Committee thanked Gary Connors for his excellent work at Lewisham Council and wished him well for his new position.

5.5       Councillor Slater, Cabinet Member for the Community Sector, praised the voluntary sector for their work with the Covid-19 Hub response to the pandemic. Over 10,000 “extremely vulnerable” people were supported and over 43,000 calls made. 2000 volunteers signed up through Lewisham Local.

5.6       Councillor Brown and Cllr Rathbone proposed referrals for the Committee to make to the Public Accounts Select Committee. Following discussion with the Committee the referral was agreed and is listed in full below.

5.7       RESOLVED:

1.    That the report be noted

2.    That the following be referred to the Public Accounts Select Committee:

·         That Service Equalities Impact and Human Resources Impact assessments be carried out which consider the proposed cuts on a cumulative basis

·         That the likely impact of the proposed cuts on individuals with multiple and complex needs be considered in more detail.

·         That the proposal be examined to ensure that they do not contain cuts that would have a detrimental effect on the achievement of other savings.

·         For upcoming Budget reports the following information  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

1.    That the item entitled “Voluntary sector response to COVID” be removed from the Committee’s 2020-21 work programme.

2.    That the item entitled “Violence against women and girls strategy” be moved to the March meeting of the Committee.

6.1       Katie Wood, Scrutiny Manager, introduced the report to the Committee and highlighted the proposal from the Chair and Vice-Chair that in light of the on-going pandemic, the Committee would prioritise consideration of budget cuts. Other items could therefore be removed or postponed from the Committee’s January agenda. This was unanimously agreed by the Committee.

6.2       RESOLVED:

1.    That the item entitled “Voluntary sector response to COVID” be removed from the Committee’s 2020-21 work programme.

2.    That the item entitled “Violence against women and girls strategy” be moved to the March meeting of the Committee.