Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 14 October 2024 as an accurate record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 14 October 2024 were agreed as an accurate record.

Members and co-opted Members of the Council are reminded that, in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct and the statutory provisions of the Localism Act 2011, they are required to consider in advance of each meeting whether they have a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI), some other registrable interest (ORI) or a non-registrable interest (NRI) in relation to any matter on the agenda. If advice is needed, Members should contact the Monitoring Officer in good time before the meeting.

If any Member or co-opted Member of the Council identifies a DPI or ORI which they have not already registered on the Council’s register of interests or which requires updating, they must urgently complete the disclosure form which can be obtained from Democratic Services at any time, copies of which will be available at the meeting for return to the Monitoring Officer.

Members and co-opted Members are required in general to disclose any relevant DPIs, ORIs or NRIs at the meeting.

-       Where the matter relates to a DPI they may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must not stay in the room unless granted a dispensation.

-       Where the matter directly relates to the financial interest or wellbeing of an ORI they may not vote on the matter unless granted a dispensation.

-       Where a Member or co-opted Member has an NRI which directly relates to or affects their or a relevant person’s financial interest or wellbeing, whether they can participate in any discussion or vote on the matter or stay in the room depends on the detailed rules in paragraphs 7 to 9 of Appendix B of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

The Chair will invite Members to make their disclosure of interests orally at the meeting and they will also be recorded in the minutes.

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.

Note: It was agreed that the running order of the agenda would be varied to that listed in the agenda, with the Equality Annual Report being considered first, followed by the Gambling Act item, then the Annual Complaints Report and finally the Period 5 Financial Monitoring report.  

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is presented with a draft copy of the Equality Annual Report 2023-24. The Committee is asked to: -

1. Review the information provided on the Equalities Annual Report as set out in the draft Cabinet report, and
2. Consider whether there are any recommendations to bring to the attention of the Cabinet.

The Committee considered a report set out on pages 123 to 182 of the agenda, which presented the Equality Annual Report for 2023-24, updating on the delivery of the Equalities Strategy agreed by full Council in October 2023. The report was presented for the review of the Committee ahead of its consideration by the Cabinet and full Council in December 2024.

The following people were in attendance at the meeting for this item:-

·                     Cllr Andy Stranack – Cabinet Member for Communities & Culture

·                     Marie Snelling – Interim Assistant Chief Executive

·                     Carol Squires - Director of Policy, Programmes & Performance

·                     Helen Reeves - Head of Strategy & Policy

·                     Dean Shoesmith – Chief People Officer

·                     Stephanie Wilson (Borough of Culture)

·                     Barbara Grant (staff network perspective)

·                     Velma Bennett (Black on Board Programme)

·                     Carolyn Forsyth (Culture equality lead for Borough of Culture)

·                     Debby MacCormack (Guardians programme)

The report was introduced by the Cabinet Member for Communities & Culture, Councillor Andy Stranack, and the Head of Strategy & Policy, Helen Reeves. During the introduction, the following points were noted.

·         The report outlined the progress made in delivering the Equalities Strategy since it was agreed by Council in October 2023. To date, 23 objectives had been completed, 48 were on target and although 1 was now not planned to be completed, it would be delivered in a different way.

·         The Resident’s Survey had shown that 82% of respondents believed that Croydon was a place where residents from different backgrounds got on well together.

·         It was clarified that an amber rating had been given to actions that were expected to be delivered over the life of the four year strategy, for instance around staff appraisals, which would be ongoing.

Following the introduction, representatives from the Borough of Culture, Staff Networks, the Council’s Black on Board Programme and the Guardian’s Programme, were invited to outline how the action taken within the Equalities Strategy was having a positive impact.

After the presentation, the Committee began to scrutinise the information provided. The first question asked how the Council’s approach to information gathering, particularly how it informed any judgement made on the delivery of the Equalities Strategy, compared with good practice at other local authorities.  In response it was highlighted that the responsibility for monitoring the delivery of the Equalities Strategy had been delegated to the Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion Workforce Board, which was co-chaired by the Chief Executive and Chief People Officer. The Board met monthly, with agenda items including a regular update on the delivery of the strategy. This resulted in a number of sources of information already being available to use to judge the progress made. It had been a collaborative effort to compile the information required for the reports, with different areas of the Council asked to lead on areas that were relevant to them. 

In terms of a comparison with other local authorities, it was highlighted that in Croydon a high level of visibility had been given to the strategy, which was led at a senior level to ensure buy-in across  ...  view the full minutes text for item 76/24

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is asked to: -

1.    Note the recommendations from Licensing Committee that will be presented to Full Council;

2.    Consider the report and appendices, the verbal update provided by officers following Licensing Committee and to comment on the proposals as they consider appropriate.

The Committee considered a report set out on pages 183 to 234, which presented the results of a review of the London Borough of Croydon Statement of Principles under the Gambling Act 2005. As the Gambling Strategy was one of the Council’s Budget & Policy Framework documents, it was a constitutional requirement for Scrutiny to be consulted on the statement, prior to its consideration by the Cabinet on 20 November 2024 and full Council on 11 December 2024.

The following people were in attendance at the meeting for this item: -

• Nick Hibberd – Corporate Director for Sustainable Communities, Regeneration & Economic Recovery
• Karen Agbabiaka – Director for Streets & Environment
• Michael Goddard – Head of Environmental Health, Trading Standards & Licensing

During the introduction to the report, it was explained that the main role for the Council, as a licensing authority, was to process and review licenses for gambling establishments. As part of this the Council was required to set out its statement of principles upon which licenses would be considered. It was a statutory requirement for the statement of principles to be reviewed every three years, the outcome of which was now being presented to the Committee for comment.

In response to a question of clarification from the Committee, it was confirmed that much of content of the statement of principles was governed by legislation and statutory guidance from the Gambling Commission.  It was confirmed that the Council did not have licencing control over online gaming.

It was questioned whether there was any disparity in the location of gambling establishments in the borough, particularly areas with a higher number. It was advised that the establishments tended to be focussed towards district retail centres where there was higher footfall.  In follow-up, it was questioned why there was no reference to the cumulative impact from having a number of establishments in one area. In response it was advised that there was no provision for cumulative impact in either the Gambling Act or any of the statutory guidance issued by the Gambling Commission. 

It was highlighted within the report that the number of premises in the borough had reduced over the past few years. There was a national decline in the number of betting shops due to a variety of factors, including the rise of online gambling, the regulation of fixed odds betting terminals and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The next question asked whether there were any licensing conditions the Council could use to help safeguard young people from exposure to gambling premises. It was advised that each case needed to be treated on its own merits and officers could not arbitrarily attached conditions to a license. If there were representations made relating to a specific premises, it would trigger a review by the Licensing Sub-Committee, who would need to consider whether there were any conditions, such as controlled entry, that need to be added to the license.  The Council was not able to include a wider principle within the Statement to say it would not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 77/24

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is provided with an overview of complaints for 2023-2024, alongside the complaints report for 2023-2024 for their information and is asked to consider whether they wish to make any recommendations based on the content of the reports.

The Committee considered a report set out on pages 17 to 122, which presented the Annual Complaints Report for 2023-24. The report was scheduled on an annual basis as part of the Scrutiny Work Programme and provided a key indicator for the Committee on the improvement journey of the Council.

The following people attended the meeting for this item: -

·         Marie Snelling – Interim Assistant Chief Executive

·         Nick Hibberd – Corporate Director for Sustainable Communities, Regeneration & Economic Recovery

·         Susmita Sen - Corporate Director for Housing

·         Lisa Wheatley – Head of Resident Contact

·         Kim Hyland – Complaints Manager

·         Lara Ashley – Housing Transformation Lead

The first question noted that 52% of Stage One complaints had been responded to on time compared to 64% in the previous year. It was questioned how this level of performance compared to other London boroughs.  In response, it was advised that benchmarking against other boroughs was difficult to provide as the data available was limited, with many authorities not publishing their complaints data.

It was commented that the report could be improved by the provision of additional context to explain the reasons why the level of complaints had changed for specifc service, as otherwise it made it difficult to understand where increases may be indicating an area of concern.

It was questioned whether there was any work with individual departments to analysis the complaints received to identify potential issues. It was highlighted that there had been a surge of complaints related to housing, many of which could be attributed to the change in contractors for housing repairs, which had led to increased demand. The level of increased demand and subsequent rise in complaints was not unique to Croydon, with other local authorities and housing associations experiencing similar issues, due to a push for residents to report issues. As part of the new housing repairs contract, the Council was now managing the contact centre for repairs in-house, which had brought about a higher level of transparency on complaints received. It was suggested that future complaint reports should look to provide more context to explain any significant increases in the level of complaints received.

In response to a question about the most common method for resolving complaints, it was advised that this information was not currently captured within the complaint software, with individual services responsible for reaching a resolution with a complainant. It was agreed that it the changes needed to ensure that this information was being captured on a corporate level in future reports would be explored.

Further clarification was sought to define what constituted a complaint, whether only complaints received via the online form or emailed to the complaints in-box were counted, or whether others received directly by services or through Members were included. It was confirmed that a complaint could be made to the Council through any mechanism with the majority logged by the Contact Centre. Specific services also forwarded complaint emails to the Complaints team to be formally logged. Reassurance was given that steps  ...  view the full minutes text for item 78/24

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is presented for its information with the Period 5 Financial Performance report, due to be considered by the Cabinet on 20 November 2024. The Committee is asked to: -

1.      Review the information provided in the draft 2024-25 Period 5 Financial Performance Report, and

2.      Consider its conclusions on the latest budget position for 2024-25

3.      Consider whether there are any recommendations to bring to the attention of the Cabinet at their meeting on 20 November 2024.

The Committee considered a report on pages 235 to 278 of the agenda that provided an overview of the latest budget position for 2024-25 covering Period 5 (August 2024) This report was included on the agenda as part of the Committee’s ongoing scrutiny of the delivery of 2024-25 budget.

In attendance for this item were the following: -

·         Councillor Jason Cummings – Cabinet Member for Finance

·         Jane West – Corporate Director for Resources and Section 151 Officer

·         Nick Hibberd – Corporate Director for Sustainable Communities, Regeneration & Economic Recovery

·         Allister Bannin – Director of Finance & Deputy Section 151 Officer

During the introduction to the report, it was noted that there had been a small improvement in the forecasted overspend position, but there was still a significant shortfall to recover. The report also included an expanded section on the recovery plan as previously requested by the Committee. It was also highlighted that the Housing Revenue Account General Fund forecasted overspend had increased from £2m up to £8m as a result of the dealing with the backlog of repairs, damp and mould work, and fire safety work. Finally, it was noted that there was £19m of slippage in the Capital budget, but reassurance was given this was as a result of work that would now be delivered in the next financial year.

The first question noted that demand led pressures were a large contributor to the Council’s overspend and as such it was questioned whether there had been anything announced in the Government’s recent budget that would help to alleviate these pressures. It was advised that there was a lot included in the Autumn Budget and although further detail was required on many of the announcements made, it was not expected that any of these will improve the in-year position.

It was questioned whether there had been any new initiatives launched to boost the recruitment of foster carers. It was advised that the Children’s Service had been working with their transformation partner, Impower, on foster care, which included benchmarking against other local authorities. As this work was still in progress, further detail was not available for the meeting, but it was agreed that this may be something for the Children & Young People Sub-Committee to follow-up at a future meeting.

Although it was acknowledged that it was good news that the overspend within the HRA General Fund account had been created from the work to address the backlog of outstanding housing repairs, reassurance was sought on the potential longer term impact on HRA reserves. It was advised that the HRA reserves currently stood at approximately £40m, which was considered to be healthy. However, the amount of reserves held would not remain healthy if the current high level of repairs continued in the longer term. There was a push towards clearing the backlog of outstanding repairs within a year, which was leading to higher than anticipated expenditure. Once the backlog was cleared it was hoped that the cost for the repairs service would remain within  ...  view the full minutes text for item 79/24

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 279 to 296 of the agenda which presented the response of the Mayor to previous recommendations submitted by the Scrutiny & Overview Committee and also recommendations made by Scrutiny Sub-Committees for sign-off by the Committee.

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 297 to 322 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 2024-25

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 not required.