Agenda and minutes

Apologies for Absence were received by Cllr Thaxter.

Apologies for lateness were received by Cllr Isse.

Any member of the Council who has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a matter to be considered at the meeting is reminded to disclose the interest to the meeting and to leave the Chamber while any discussion or vote on the matter takes place.

Members are also reminded that if they have any other significant interest in a matter to be considered at the meeting, which they feel should be declared in the public interest, such interests should be declared to the meeting. In such circumstances Members should consider whether their continued participation, in the matter relating to the interest, would be reasonable in the circumstances, particularly if the interest may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interests, or whether they should leave the Chamber while any discussion or vote on the matter takes place.

No declarations of interest were made.

The minutes of the meeting of Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 21 February 2024 are submitted for confirmation.

The minutes of the meeting held on 21 February 2024 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Chair invited the Lead Member for Finance, Customer Services and Net Zero Council, Cllr Johnny Thalassites, supported by Chief Executive, Maxine Holdsworth, Callum Wilson, Strategic Director for Grenfell Partnerships, Communities and Corporate Transformation, and Sophie Evans, Director of Customer Delivery to introduce the report:

The Committee:

4.1Asked what was meant by transformation in relation to the organisation’s working culture. The Lead Member confirmed transformations targeted becoming the best Council through efficiencies and better service to residents despite financial headwinds. Officers embraced better business process efficiencies rather than relying on traditional savings cuts and programme delays. Officers indicated that transformation and savings could not be carried out at the same time. Work was beginning to look at whether some vacancies needed to be filled, so tests could take place as to whether outcomes could be achieved differently.

4.2Asked if cuts and programme slippage were not enough to bring about transformation. Officers agreed they were not and accepted the concern that the report did not provide clearly worked, costed, examples of beneficial transformation opportunities

4.3Asked why the Council was continuing to recruit given it had a higher staff to resident ratio than other London local authorities. Officers indicated that if recruitment was immediately halted, it would potentially expose services to the risk of service reduction. The Lead Member highlighted there were some areas of the Council that were more complex and noted that if you looked at outstanding areas of performance at the Council, other areas had a lower ratio of caseloads per social worker.

4.4Sought clarity on why staff surpluses were difficult to identify in departments. Officers noted an example was the recent disaggregation of Digital Services from Westminster where, despite a need to reduce the number of people in the department, they were heavily involved in the ERP implementation.

4.5Indicated that staff reductions would be better focused on support staff and highlighted the need for more detail. The Lead Member reassured that the intention was not to rationalise frontline staff. Officers noted that the new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system would improve analytics and provided a self-serve function that would enable a reduction in support staff. It was also highlighted that a change in service delivery would require a staff consultation and operational buildings could also be used slightly differently to produce savings. The focus was primarily on exploring inefficiencies and processes rather than individual staff.

4.6   Sought reassurance that the impact on service delivery of staff reductions, especially in housing and licensing, was being monitored and noted the need for monitoring pre and post transformation. Officers explained that an Equalities Impact Assessment had to be performed in response to any restructure looking at the impact on residents and expressed the importance of reviewing restructures once they had been completed.

4.7   Expressed concerns about licensing and highlighted an action from Licensing Committee on 12 March 2024 related to staffing and recruitment. Officers indicated they would follow this up.

Action by: Governance Officer

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

The Chair invited the Leader of the Council, Cllr Elizabeth Campbell, supported by Strategic Director for Grenfell Partnerships, Communities and Corporate Transformation, Callum Wilson, to introduce the report to the Committee.

The Committee:

5.1Cautioned against the possibility of the outcome of the consultation being shaped by the way questions were asked and potentially exclusionary language such as ‘most affected’ and ‘those who need it most’ as this was not an either/or issue.

5.2Explored what learning had been taken from the ongoing consultation. Officers indicated that significantly more time had been spent on it, along with door knocking and meetings organised around Ramadan to ensure residents could break their fast; while the External Scrutiny Team (EST) may have slowed the pace, residents may have been suspicious to trust the process without it. The Leader acknowledged that the EST had been challenging and helpful in examining the consultation questions and the Council was thankful that people had taken the time to communicate their thoughts.

5.3Suggested exploring whether voluntary and community sector (VCS) partners had any useful learning from the last six years and queried whether there were any plans to consult and work with VCS and partner organisations directly on the consultation. Officers highlighted that, while they had consulted with VCSs in the past and provider workshops had been carried, the primary focus was on residents and a distinction had to be made about whether providers should be steering the future of spend for residents.

5.4Queried how attendance could be increased for future phases of the consultation on future Grenfell support. Officers highlighted that some residents struggled with giving up two to three hours of their time and suggested that Phase 4 would return to workshops, with everyone in the area receiving a survey to provide an opportunity to comment on what would be happening next. Officers acknowledged that while the response from bereaved and survivors and children had been strong, it was not as strong among the immediate community.

5.5Highlighted that an older group of young people had not felt the support had been as it needed to be and queried what the feedback on this was. Officers noted that most of the feedback came from young people leaving school who were considered to be a challenging group to engage and accepted the Council had to own that feedback.

5.6Asked about the timeline for the remainder of the consultation. Officers explained that Phase 3 would be completed in the coming weeks, with feedback being pulled in to consider final proposals before they are checked by the EST. That would be followed by Phase 4 commencing from April 15 with completion in May. A paper would then go to Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Leadership Team. The EST would significantly ramp up their consultation efforts at the final proposal stage.

5.7Requested more detail on how the Council had tried to contact the other 35% of the bereaved and survivors who were unable to be contacted.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Chair opened the discussion on the item.

The Committee:

6.1Requested a report on Options for Vacant Grenfell Acquired Properties KD1007115 for the Housing and Communities Select Committee in the Summer.

6.2Highlighted that it wished to conduct post-decision scrutiny on Issuing an Anti-Social Behaviour Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) in Earl’s Court KD1007740.

6.3Asked for the Key Decision report of Award of Contract For Phase 2 Works – Kensington Aldridge Academy KD1006990 to be circulated to the Family Services Select Committee for scrutiny.

6.4Raised concerns that grants keep being frozen for youth clubs and suggested that Family Services Select Committee may want to examine this.

6.5Identified a number of Key Decisions related to the Lancaster West Estate and suggested a report on refurbishment of Lancaster West, in advance of procurement, come to the Housing and Communities Select Committee.

6.6Noted that the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Housing and Communities Select Committee were receiving a briefing on Transfer of homes into Council ownership KD1009106. A decision could then be made about whether more in-depth scrutiny was required. 

6.7Requested more information on Five-Year Support Agreement for the delivery of Notting Hill Carnival 2024 to 2028 KD1009101 as Environment Select Committee so that a report could be developed for Committee.

6.8Asked for more information on Acquisition of a property to enable its use as respite and crisis support by the Bi-Borough Commissioning Department KD1008989.

6.9Acknowledged this would be an Urgent Decision and requested a briefing on Notting Hill Police Station KD06139 in recognition of its sensitivity.

The Chair concluded the discussion.

The Committee opened the discussion on the item:

7.1Requested that the response to the recommendations from the Budget Working Group included on the agenda for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting of 8 May 2024 be circulated in advance of the meeting once agreed by the Lead Members.

Action by: Governance Officer and Scrutiny Manager

7.2Agreed to invite the Borough Commander to the July meeting of Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Action by: Scrutiny Manager

The Chair concluded the discussion on the item.