Agenda and minutes

To approve the Part A minutes of the meeting held on 24 October 2023 as an accurate record.

The Part A and Part B minutes from the meeting held on 24 October 2023 were agreed as an accurate record.

Members are invited to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and other registrable and non-registrable interests they may have in relation to any item(s) of business on today’s agenda.

There were no disclosures of interest made at the meeting.

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no items of urgent business for the consideration of the Scrutiny & Overview Committee at this meeting.

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is presented with the Exit Strategy of the Improvement & Assurance Panel, as considered by the Mayor in Cabinet on 25 October 2023. The Committee is asked to: -

1.            Review the information provided in the Cabinet report on the Improvement & Assurance Panel’s Exit Strategy, and

2.            Decide whether there are any comments or recommendations it wishes to make on the Exit Strategy.

The Committee considered a report on pages 19 to 48 of the agenda that provided a copy of the Exit Strategy prepared by the Government appointed Improvement and Assurance Panel. This report was included on the agenda to provide the Committee the opportunity to question the Panel on the report and consider whether any changes were needed in the scrutiny work programme to take account of the strategy.

The following people were in attendance at the meeting during the discussion of this item: -

·       Tony McArdle - Chair of the Improvement & Assurance Panel

·       Brian Roberts – Improvement & Assurance Panel Member

·       Jason Perry - Executive Mayor of Croydon

·       Councillor Jason Cummings – Cabinet Member for Finance

·       Katherine Kerswell – Chief Executive

·       Debbie Jones – Corporate Director for Children, Young People & Education

·       Annette McPartland – Corporate Director for Adult Social Care & Health

·       Jane West - Corporate Director for Resources & Section 151 Officer,

·       Elaine Jackson - Assistant Chief Executive

·       Allister Bannin - Director of Finance

·       Huw Rhys Lewis – Interim Director for Commercial Investment & Capital

The Chair of the Improvement & Assurance Panel, Tony McArdle introduced the Exit Strategy, during which the following points were noted: -

• It was within the remit of the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to determine how long the Improvement & Assurance Panel would remain at the Council, with the end date currently set for July 2025.
• Guidance had been published earlier in the year, setting out best practice for government intervention. This introduced a requirement to produce an exit strategy to specify what should be the realisable ambitions of the Council by the time the Panel was due to leave in July 2025.
• There was a thread running through the Exit Strategy with its starting point being what went wrong at the Council through to where it should be by July 2025. There were three specific areas of activity identified in the Exit Strategy, which the Council should be achieving by July 2025, these were: -

1.   The Council ceased to behave in the way it did prior to 2020 by using an evidence based approach to decision making that was subject to proper scrutiny.

2.   By July 2025, the Council should be able to demonstrate that it was set on a path of continual improvement, which it would not slip back from once the Panel left Croydon.

3.   By July 2025 the Council should be recognisable against other local authorities. This did not mean being the best local authority, but roughly equivalent to others.

• The Panel recognised that the Council had made progress since 2020, but at the same time there was still steps to taken to reach the expected level of improvement, which was reflected in the actions set out in the report.
• It was highlighted that although it was the Panel’s report, it had been produced in cooperation with Members and officers of the Council, which was welcomed.
• It was advised that the Exit Strategy did not address the Council’s debt burden.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 78/23

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is presented with the latest Financial Performance Monitoring report (Period 5 – August 2023) for its information. The Committee is asked to: -

1.         Review the information provided in the report on the 2023-24 Period 5 Financial Performance Report, and

2.         Consider its conclusions on the latest budget position for 2023-24

3.         Consider whether there are any recommendations to bring to the attention of the Mayor.

The Committee considered a report on pages 49 to 86 of the agenda that provided an overview of the latest budget position for 2023-24 up until the end of Period 5 (August 2023). This report was included on the agenda as part of the Committee’s ongoing scrutiny of the delivery of 2023-24 budget.

The following people were in attendance at the meeting to answer questions during the discussion of this item: -

·       Jason Perry - Executive Mayor of Croydon

·       Councillor Jason Cummings – Cabinet Member for Finance

·       Katherine Kerswell – Chief Executive

·       Debbie Jones – Corporate Director for Children, Young People & Education

·       Annette McPartland – Corporate Director for Adult Social Care & Health

·       Jane West - Corporate Director for Resources & Section 151 Officer,

·       Elaine Jackson - Assistant Chief Executive

·       Allister Bannin - Director of Finance

·       Huw Rhys-Lewis – Interim Director of Commercial Investment & Capital

During the introduction to the report, the following points were noted: -

• The General Fund budget was still forecasting a balanced year end position, which given the current climate for local government finance, was evidence of the Council’s improved financial discipline. Other similar councils, such as Havering and Barnet were predicting £20m overspends in the current year.
• There was still a small overspend in Childrens and Adults services, but there was an expectation that there would be further improvement in forthcoming reports. Work was also ongoing to identify how the overspend in Education could be rectified.
• There was a significant change in the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), which was primarily down to addressing cases of disrepair and void recovery. Work was also underway to rebased the budget for the HRA to take account of the repair backlog.

Following the introduction, the first question from the Committee asked whether there was a full understanding of the extent of the HRA overspend and could it be met from reserves. It was advised that the overspend of £12m against the HRA was a year-end forecast based on the current prediction. Unless there was a significant change, further escalation was not expected. There had been a lot of modelling of the HRA since the last Committee meeting to look at different options. Additional controls had been put in place with sub-budgets for specific types of repairs which had review points built in based on the level of expenditure. A review panel had been set up to approve any work that was going to cost over £5,000. Should the combined cost of a series of repairs on an individual property exceed £40,000 it would be escalated to the Housing Departmental Management Team to pick up possible links to wider regeneration work. As mentioned in the introduction, work was also underway to right size the budget for housing repairs.

In response to a question about what was the driver leading to a reduction in the previously predicted overspend for the Childrens service, it was advised that forecasting was based on the cost of placements, which are regularly reviewed and will vary from month  ...  view the full minutes text for item 79/23

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is provided with the confidential (Part A) Cabinet report setting out decisions to be considered by the Executive Mayor on asset disposals and an update of the Community Asset Transfer Policy. The Committee is asked to: -

1.   Review the information provided in the Part A & Part B report on Asset Disposals and updated Community Asset Transfer Policy, and

2.   Decide whether there are any comments or recommendations on the scheme to bring to the attention of the Mayor during his consideration of the report.

The Committee considered a report set out in the agenda supplement that presented a draft Cabinet report updating on the first tranche of asset disposals, identifying assets for potential disposal in tranche 2 and setting out an updated Community Asset Transfer Policy. This report was included on the agenda to allow the Committee to conduct pre-decision scrutiny on the decision in the report, allowing any concerns or recommendations to be highlighted to the Mayor when taking the decision at the Cabinet meeting on 6 December 2023.

The following people were in attendance at the meeting to answer questions during the discussion of this item: -

·       Jason Perry - Executive Mayor of Croydon

·       Councillor Jason Cummings – Cabinet Member for Finance

·       Katherine Kerswell – Chief Executive

·       Jane West - Corporate Director for Resources & Section 151 Officer,

·       Elaine Jackson - Assistant Chief Executive

·       Huw Rhys-Lewis – Interim Director of Commercial Investment & Capital

During the introduction to the report, the following points were noted: -

• The report presented the second tranche of assets targeted for disposal. As the asset disposal process progressed, it was recognised that the process would become more complex as the easier disposals had been targeted in the first tranche.
• It was not necessarily the case that all Council assets would be sold, with options such as extending current leasing arrangement or identify assets for Community Asset Transfer to be considered on some properties.
• It was highlighted that due to the short timeline to bring the report to scrutiny before its consideration by the Mayor at the Cabinet meeting on 6 December, it had not been possible to carryout all the expected communications with tenants. Communication with tenants around the potential disposal was ongoing but would be completed before the Council proceeded with any disposal. 

To help inform the meeting, the Chair had invited the Chief Executive of Mind in Croydon, Emma Turner and the Chief Executive of Croydon Voluntary Action, Steve Phaure, to address the meeting on the concern of the local community and voluntary sector about the potential loss of premises leased from the Council as a result of any disposal. From this concern was raised by Mind about the lack of notice of the disposal and the potential loss of confidential spaces for counselling. The CVA raised concern about the potential loss of Cornerstone House and the impact this may have upon the future sustainability of charity and voluntary groups based in the building.

The Vice-Chair detailed for the Committee a visit he and the Chair had made to Cornerstone House prior to the meeting to meet with the various community and voluntary sector groups that were based in the building to learn how the possible loss of the building may affect their ongoing viability.

Both the Executive Mayor and the Cabinet Member for Finance, Councillor Jason Cummings, extended an apology to the tenants who had not been contacted before the list of assets was made public. The Council would work with existing tenants around their leases,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 80/23

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is presented with a report setting out two amendments to the memberships of its sub-committees as confirmed by the Conservative Group. The Committee recommended to agree the amended appointments to the Sub-Committees.

The Committee considered a report set out on pages 87 to 88 of the agenda which presented for agreement a change to the reserve membership of the Children & Young People Sub-Committee and a change to the membership of the Streets & Environment Sub-Committee.

Resolved: That the changes to the membership of scrutiny sub-committee are agreed as set out in the report.

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is asked to

1.    Approve the recommendations made by its Sub-Committee’s for submission to the Executive Mayor for his consideration.

2.    Review the response provided by Mayor to recommendations made by the Scrutiny & Overview Committee.

The Committee considered a report set out on pages 89 to 100 of the agenda which presented recommendations proposed by the scrutiny sub-committees for sign-off ahead of submission to the Executive Mayor. It also presented the response of the Mayor to previous recommendations submitted by the Scrutiny & Overview Committee for consideration.

Resolved: The Scrutiny & Overview Committee agreed to: -

1. Approve the recommendations made by its Sub-Committee’s for submission to the Executive Mayor for his consideration.
2. Note the response provided by Mayor to recommendations made by the Scrutiny & Overview Committee.

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is asked to: -

1.    Note the most recent version of the Scrutiny Work Programme presented in the report.

2.    Consider whether there are any other items that should be provisionally added to the work programme as a result of the discussions held during the meeting.

The Committee considered a report set out on pages 101 to 122 of the agenda which presented the most recent version of the work programme for the Scrutiny & Overview Committee and its Sub-Committees.

Resolved: The Scrutiny & Overview Committee agreed to note the most recent version of the Scrutiny Work Programme 2023-24.

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

“That, under Section 100A(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 it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

This motion was note required.